JoshC.

I guess the concern from the park's perspective is that if someone has a camera out, they won't be holding on, which risks a person falling out of their seat / into the water. There's also the case where someone could drop their phone into the water and jump in to grab it. Unfortunately there's a lot of stupid people out there. Towers do say on their map and website that filming and photography isn't allowed on any attraction (so technically not even the monorail or Skyride if we wished to be pedantic). To say it doesn't explicitly say it on a ride restriction board is a bit of a grotty loophole which ends up with us having stupid, spoon-fed restrictions and over the top safety rules. This specific situation is obviously all the more high profile because we're looking at a well known enthusiast, who is an ex-employee of the park. It sets an example to over 20,000 people. Can understand why Towers don't particularly want them to go 'hey, we're breaking park rules and we get cool stuff from the park'. There's also the cynic in me which wonders if this is Theme Park Worldwide trying to just get more publicity. All publicity is good publicity as the saying goes..

I hope the minimal theming at the entrance, etc is there because they plan to remove it on weekdays (IE keep it as a bonus thing for Apocalypse Weekends). Less theming means it's easier to remove / put back up each weekend. Makes you wonder if it would have been better to have a 'Month of the Apocalypse' in June though, and have every June day as one of these things. Means they wouldn't have to worry about theming and signage being relevant, and they could spring out a bit more. My main issue with the Apocalypse Weekends is the fact it exists to give people a free return ticket in September. I know September is traditionally the quietest month of season, but why encourage people to collect a free return ticket when you should be encouraging people to buy an Annual Pass? If you're a first-time visitor, and you buy a ticket online for £30, and then enjoy your day, what are you more likely to do - spend an extra £19 to come back whenever, or be given a free ticket to come back in September if you want? More people are going to take the freebie. Feels like they're shooting themselves in the foot a bit if I'm honest. Should have been a different giveaway with the app - maybe free parking for the day if you upgrade to Annual Pass, £5 discount of an Annual Pass. I dunno. Just anything to drive people towards buying an Annual Pass whilst still making them feel like the app thing is worthwhile.

I've heard Chessington suffered from a minor power cut today (due to external factors), which affected rides like Tiger Rock and Tomb Blaster, as well as many of the queue boards. Problem was sorted out within an hour or two and the park extended ride close for some rides, including Tiger Rock, as a result. Not a bad gesture for what is still a very quiet day for the park.

I imagine it's similar to Big 6 Challenge Alton Towers did and the Island 7 challenge thing Thorpe did last year. You'll download the app, and you need to check in / take photos at certain points across the park. Probably themed around taking out Walkers or something. Once you've done so many, you've completed the challenge and huzzah.

Interesting to hear from someone who prefers the ride section to the pre-ride section! I agree that the pre-show is very basic, for lack of a better word. It creates a bit of anticipation, but it does feel like a missed opportunity, in that they could have done more / really emphasized the walkers attacking you from behind. As Marc says, the corridors to the station is a bit of a subtle bit. As you walk through, the audio and lighting effects are triggered, meaning as you walk into a new section, the previous section blacks out, and you're told the section you're in is compromised. If you're towards the front of the group, or even in the middle, and you're walking at a reasonable pace, you might not necessarily notice it.

The park are now open until 5pm this Thursday and Friday (instead of 4pm), due to the good weather. Shame that 5pm isn't the standard of course, but good to see they're extending.

And another photo just to show how amazing the blue is: The helix is pretty tight too!

Wonder if the TVs in the queue line still work? Good opportunity for queue line entertainment if they do, especially during Fright Nights..

And done:

I believe that, for whatever reason, Tidal Wave doesn't have its second boat ready until late May. This has been the case for a good few seasons. I guess in the culture of budget cuts and stuff, it's not seen as a necessity to have 2 boats ready until that time and usually the weather doesn't warrant it. Obviously when we get weather like this that thought process is screwed. It's a stupid, narrow minded decision.

Just for clarification - MAPs were accepted up until the park reached capacity. May Day bank holiday weekend is always packed because of the Star Wars Event. That is well known, and Merlin Annual Passholders are never guaranteed entry, and as soon as the park hits capacity (which was at 1pm yesterday), they physically can't let more people in. I do agree that the communication should have been better, but this is nothing new. If you're an Annual Passholder and you were planning to rock up to Legoland halfway through the day on one of their busiest weekends of the year, you're asking for disappointment in my eyes. I imagine there's not much they can to increase capacity. Space will be a limiting factor (in case of an emergency), and they can't exactly expand much more in that sense. Would also imagine the council would be against it anyways. A booking system would be interesting. Much like Thorpe at Fright Nights, you'd have to charge a booking fee to stop hundreds, or even thousands, of people booking and not going. But people would kick off about having to pay, especially since people would have to pre book a space for little ones who technically go 'free'. It's certainly not a bad idea, but it wouldn't be without its controversy.

The ride chocolate has proven to be very popular. I believe the supplier is having trouble getting enough sent to the parks regularly. At Thorpe, the chocolate is normally found in the following locations: -Megastore, with all the sweets -Island Shop, just opposite the entrance of the queue for the tills -Each ride shop has the corresponding ride's chocolate, usually at the till The flavours available at Thorpe seemed more varied and interesting than the ones at Towers too, which is nice.

How's this for you then...

Orrrrr nothing to do with Thorpe at all..

I s'pose the optimist can argue the wood had to removed quite last minute and there's currently not the time / budget available to properly replace them, so painting them is a short term solution until, say, closed season. There's also some new fencing in the queue line I believe.

The accidents keep on coming... Take details with a pinch of salt as this comes from Looopings, but there was an incident on Walibi Holland's go kart track. Apparently a guest got their hair caught in a wheel, someone crashed into then and their scalp was ripped off. Both an ambulance and air ambulance attended the scene. The attraction remains closed and the condition of the person is not known. Source - https://www.looopings.nl/weblog/10020/Kartbaan-Walibi-Holland-blijft-gesloten-na-ongeluk.html

The park have said they expect it to open today. It's almost a bit concerning that two trains can bump into one another and they're able to brush it off and reopen it in less than 24 hours. We all know how sophisticated the tech involved is, so it either takes a major over-ride to go against that (in which case, how was that so easily done on its first day of operation?) or a mechanical fault with the ride (in which case, how has that happened so quickly?). I've no doubt when the ride reopens it'll be safe and fit to run, but there's still a voice in the back of my head saying 'Really?'

27 is a big thing in IT. There were some rumours that IT was going to be the big IP last year.

Nice shop. They've clearly seen how successful and appreciated Merlin shops are and how important they can be, so taken some inspiration from that. Looking forward to seeing the rest of the project come together.

The generator scene is on the final brake run before you go into the offload station. The exit corridor has had some more audio and lighting effects put in, as well as some changes to the pitch black area (where ropes were hanging).

From the Twitter account of Tessa Maessen, the park's Communications Manager: It's beautiful

The park's rethemed rapids soft opened today, with an official opening on Monday. The entrance reveal didn't quite go to plan though... ?

Lots of improvements and subtle changes made to the ride lately: -New siren in the pre show area. -Walkway from pre show to station is darker and more intense. -New dispatch sequence (lights dim to near pitch darkness, plus either new audio or louder audio) -New speakers on the lift hill -Lots of special effects at the end of the ride (generator), with flashing lights, loud audio and air blasts. -Even LOUDER fog horn in post show -Changes to the exit corridor, with more stuff throughout It's great to see lots of tweaks being made to get this right. For me, the corridor between the pre show and station is a real highlight - genuinely unnerving walking through near darkness, hearing that each area you walk through had been compromised, and all lights going out behind you.

I believe that's already been closed. And I'm sure they've said in the past they planned to convert that space into a modern dark ride at some point, so we will see. (Anyone visiting this year for the first time - don't worry. Their dark ride was the biggest pile of turd at the park so you haven't missed out on anything!)

Maybe this is Project Zer0???