JoshC.

Some quotes from the park: The ride will close in September, and open July 1st next year. There'll be a new name and theme. https://www.looopings.nl/weblog/9499/Walibi-Holland-vervangt-Robin-Hood-door-hypermoderne-houten-achtbaan.html Fantastic to see more serious investment in the park, and more stuff in The Netherlands

And in a twist, it looks like the park have decided to do their big new thing for 2019, and it'll seemingly be an RMC of their Vekoma woodie, Robin Hood: https://www.facebook.com/walibiholland/posts/1857198800988568

Colour me... intrigued. I have said time and time again that scare attractions don't work in theme parks outside of Halloween. And for now, I stand by that. Yes, demand is growing, but there's so many independent events all around the country all year round that the parks can't really outperform them consistently enough. However, this seems to be giving a good mix of scare stuff. An 'extreme' maze (whether that's marketing speil or they're actually doing a Face it Alone style thing I remain sceptical over, but we'll see) for a week, the scary weekends and Saw Alive in summer. Also, the Zombie Hunt sounds awesome might I add - imagine a proper scare zone survival type game on the island behind Swarm or Treasure Island. If that's what we're getting, I'm down for that! That's a good mix of stuff, and with their limited availability, it can definitely draw on that appeal and be kept fresh. So there's definitely a huge amount of potential there. And frankly, it's good to see more events at the park again. On the other hand, my biggest concern is the fact that for the third year in a row, we've got yet another super scary thing as headline marketing draw. Have they decided that the family marketing route isn't going to give them enough of a draw? So are they just targeting the adult market again whilst knowing that families will still come regardless? Who knows. But it's definitely a weird direction they're going in at the mo.

The track replacement is going along quickly: https://twitter.com/Jaysen_Leslie/status/960466186894041090/photo/1

I go down the local papershop and nick a pack of fruit bastilles...

From the park's Facebook It's coming along nicely!

A neat little rendering of how this will look: Saucey: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=144980915

They don't normally release them till later in February if memory serves me correctly. I'm sure that when they do release them they'll give a warning a couple of days before. Are Towers doing a preview day this year? They don't normally do Annual Pass previews, only staff and John Lewis usually.

Pretty pictures

Yeah I'll be there too!

More from Blackpool's almighty leader... https://twitter.com/MandsThompson/status/959376905316298752 That last photo

This has made a lot of progress... https://twitter.com/veilstrup/status/958986143818833921

Hex is sad - all that TLC for nothing...

Sounds like rubbish to me imo - as a manufacturer, Mack wouldn't care for what Merlin do. All they'd really care about is if they'd give them the money to build whatever. And aren't Mack the European representatives for GCI (one way or another)? Would be hard to see Wickerman getting the go ahead if there was a very reluctant and awkward middle man involved!

Nemesis TLC is complete!

Construction of their new coaster is going vertical... (From the park's Facebook) That is a lovely colour!

If you need a bit of a lift this Tuesday, say thanks to Liseberg's Facebook...

Video has seemingly been taken down. I watched it, and it looks as I've always expected it to look. A simple, fun, low key family experience.

Oh no, not you too Benin.

I guess it depends on how you stretch the definition of 'fused'. Is having a flamethrower / explosion effect / whatever by the track a fusion of wood and fire? Towers could say no, especially if Wickerman has effects where it makes it look like the wood is on fire or whatever. It's a very twisted, wishy-washy, silly and specific claim to make (even worse than Galactica's 'fully dedicated' because we're forcing people to wear VR glasses for a week before making them optional claim), but you could say it's there.

Legoland are getting a new 4D film this year, themed around Ninjago, along with some Ninjago themed rooms. There's also going to be some American themed Miniland stuff. All in all, a decent quiet year for the park in my books.

There's murmurs that the world first claim was only meant to be used for the name announcement (to grab the attention of people a bit more), and for it to disappear shortly after. So potentially this is a load of rubbish and the change occurred of Towers' own accord.

Also, for those curious, it has been confirmed that the Rapids will be open from start of season, in the 'open by 11am' category.

Towers should invest in a Vekoma boomerang, so their coasters go back on themselves as well...

So the park are going to retheme their rapids ride, which is currently a rip off of the Neverending Story: IMA score are doing the music (after having done the music for the Star Trek coaster), and it'll be themed around King Arthur/ Merlin. An...interesting choice. Would have much preferred them to just revamp / tart up what they had rather than change it all up, but I guess we have to embrace the new. More interesting that they're going to be in one sense competing with Toverland theme-wise, since their new land is similarly themed. In other news, there's also rumours that the park's indoor water ride Bermuda Triangle, which is fab and weird and fun, might be entering its last season in 2018. If so, that's a real tragedy.