JoshC.

Congrats Ben! The level of dedication to get something with Thorpe on it is incredible (though it's a shame they couldn't agree to get the official Thorpe logo on the medal, especially after last year..). Can we expect you to be at the Thorpe Triathlon this September or the Chessington 10k Wild Run in November? You'll actually get to go through the parks then! And hey, I might even take inspiration and do the Chessington one myself...though I'll stick to the kids' challenge thanks...

There will be a Gruffalo themed dance show in the main arena this year, entitled 'The Gruffalo Groove': https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10156139450454035&substory_index=0&id=21321734034

I think his point is more that the public are fickle: faster = better. I don't think it'll be that much of a problem, people will love and see it as a great coaster if that's how it is. But it'll certainly take a lot of convincing for some people. And even then, if people focus on the launches (which I reckon a fair few will), the quality of the rest of the ride will be a bit lost by then. Like "Yeah, Icon was good, but Stealth is so much quicker!" and stuff like that.

I think it will have a very positive reaction by those who ride it. But it's just a case of making sure people do ride it. The public reaction will always be negative online in the build up (Helix received a lukewarm reception from the masses when POVs were released), and the lack of inversions and slower speed compared to other major coasters in the country, and other popular theme parks across the world. But when they actually ride it, they'll enjoy it, and want to do it again and again (again, as Helix shows). Blackpool's marketing will of course be vastly different to Merlin's too. Merlin have told the UK audience what they want for the past ten years, to the point where that is what the public want. Blackpool are going away from that, which could very well go against them. Will enough people go and will word of mouth be enough to get enough people going for it? Especially with it being so different to what the public expect. Who knows, but it'll definitely be interesting to find out.

I... don't really like them. Looks more like some cobbled paving than something that should be on a coaster? Hopefully it looks better when finished and in context, but I'm really not a fan at the mo..

Lovely marketing stunt. Reminiscent of the Nemesis drink campaign. I like it; good stuff.

Yeah, the park confirmed it's a Gerstlauer: https://www.bobbejaanland.be/de/pressemeldungen It'll be the fastest, highest, steepest and have the most inversions on a triple launch coaster in the Benelux. Such a fabulous claim.

I refuse to make a thread for Bobbejaanland yet because it doesn't deserve one. But... The park have announced that in 2019, they will open a triple launch coaster. Whether this is something akin to Goldrush at Slagharen, Star Trek at MPG or Pulsar at Walibi Belgium (or even like Cheetah Hunt) is unclear. It will form part of a new themed area. https://www.facebook.com/bobbejaanland/videos/10156016148985822/

Most ridiculous/hilarious/wtf moment of the year... The China car park is not owned by the park, but instead a local who lets the park use it (for a handsome profit, naturally). Phantasialand have tried to buy it, but with little success. Now, though, the car park owner has banned any pedestrians not parking in that car park from walking through there. Doesn't sound like a big issue, right? Wrong. Anyone parking in the park's reasonably new bus and coach park next to the car park has to walk around the park to the Berlin entrance. It also means that any non-hotel guests who visit the hotel after park close (for a meal, say) have to walk around the outskirts of the park if they're not parked in China. Oh, and because the owner is that way inclined, he's building a private railway in the car park... Image from TOTNHFan on PhantaFriends forum. Words cannot describe my thoughts.

Another nice overview, also showing the Tiki Trail, from Walactu's Facebook...

The 3 closed rides aside from TWDTR are weird one. Rush closed early and was having work done before season ended, and Quantum and Rocky are just... odd. Presumably the latter two are down to parts not arriving in time more than anything else?

Yes.

I am led to believe that there was a press / media event planned for this Wednesday for Wickerman, which would have included riding off the coasters, etc. However, due to the forecasted snow, this has now been postponed/cancelled. Presumably means the ride is literally ready to open in its complete form though!

From previous experiences, the most recent ones seem to be reasonably limited. It's far from busy, probably about half as busy as your standard weekend in Spring I'd say...probably a bit less actually. Of course, there's always a few more hiccups than normal, with staff being a bit slower as they find their feet, maybe a couple more engineering issues, but on the whole it is usually a very relaxed day, for lack of a better word. This season's one might be better, since it's the first one in a good couple of years that will have the Big 6 (7 including Ghost Train I s'pose) open.

Got excited at first because I thought it was going to be new Hyperion pictures.. :'( I know the park have been planning accommodation, but I didn't realise they were getting this before a proper hotel. The proper hotel, which will be Venician in style, is due for around 2020 I believe. Lovely to see this get a theme and style; hope that translates into real life. Especially since it's meant to open this year in time for summer and construction hasn't started.. Western isn't really my thing though, and a Venician hotel sounds amazing anyways. Wonder what the prices for this will be... But yeah, rapid expansion is rapid. The park clearly are setting themselves up for the future. They've got rich people behind the scenes too, so when the EU subsidiaries stop coming in, they should be more than a good enough situation to continue development and bring in visitors, and money, for years to come.

It's funny because I think the whole overgrown vines and such worked really well. Say what you want about it being such a common trait amongst Merlin attractions these days, but there are cases where this does work, and really well at that too - Duel was one of them. It's good to see they've only half trimmed them back, giving a good mix of that natural, overrun feel, whilst still showing off the fab themed façade.

If you mean in terms of whether it'll be open, I see no reason why it wouldn't be. Project seems to be on or ahead of schedule and could probably open to the public tomorrow if they wanted. Of course, still expect the odd teething problem as with any new thing, and expect it to be busy and swarming with enthusiasts. But I'd be very confident of you being able to go and ride it and enjoying a day at the park..

That launch track is a lot shorter than I expected (even taking into account perspective and whatnot). From my experience of Mack launches, their acceleration on the launches is always a bit of a minus point, but this looks like it could buck that trend.

A nice overview of Tiki Waka, featuring a completed lift hill... Image from Wonder World's Facebook I'm also under the impression that the layout will differ slightly to the video linked a while back, but that's not confirmed..

Couple of construction images from Toverland Fansite's Twitter... Overview of Avalon. Left hand side is Fenix's station, middle build is the new restaurant, building near the bottom is the boat ride's station. Given there's just over 4 months till this is scheduled to be open, I'm a bit concerned. Though B&Ms always seem to fly up these days.. The entrance area is coming along nicely though, with theming already showing. Feel a bit more confident that that may be ready come July 7th...

Quoting this so we can bathe in Steven's wrongness in a little over 3 weeks' time.

The park have given a sneak peek of the TUNNEL... Oh also, there's more supports.

Optimistic but realistic too. The VIP holders are too busy in the marquee enjoying their free dinner buffet and what have you to really bother with the rides. On these days there's usually quite a lot about, but you don't really notice them..

Fastrack is there for hotel guests, but that's only till 11am as per normal. And the VIP holders will have little impact Fastrack-wise.

There'll also be no Fastrack sold on the AP day. In other news, parking now costs £7 per car this season.