JoshC.

Theoretical throughput of Red Force: 1200pph Theoretical throughput of Duelling Spike Coasters: 800pph (Also: Capacity of Red Force: 12 Capacity of Duelling Spike Coasters: 4 )

The park is owned by Parques Reunidos. They seem to at least be pumping money into their parks at the mo (and Slagharen and Movie Park Germany have seen good investments this year imo). But this makes no sense. I'm also dumbfounded where €25m is going for this; I imagine the Ducati brand isn't THAT expensive...

How did you miss out on TWO creds in one park is the most important question... I dunno, their indoor log flume and rapids are fairly decent. And I was fond of their immersive tunnel. But on the whole the park is pretty awful...

Promo art for the €25m(!) area... The area will also feature simulators and VR attractions...

I'm not wholly sold on the colour at the moment; it just looks a bit...dirty? Hopefully I'll warm to it when more track is up / I see it in person.. Still doesn't seem real we're getting a Mack double launch coaster in the UK...

What's better than one VR coaster in a park? That's right, TWO VR coasters... https://www.looopings.nl/weblog/9061/Bobbejaanland-krijgt-tweede-virtual-reality-achtbaan-in-2018.html Belgian park Bobbejaanland are giving the VR treatment to their suspended Vekoma coaster Dream Catcher. The park's indoor coaster got the VR treatment back in 2016, and has set times during the day when the VR option is available (the goggles aren't attached to the cars like on Galactica). Dream Catcher is the park's oldest coaster, 30 years old this year, and will have the station tarted up for next year. Coaster itself is rather rubbish, and had a terrible throughput, and I doubt VR will improve it. The park didn't have the greatest of year's this year, with a couple of incidents (see the Park Accidents thread) and a lot of complaining customers... They have been doing questionnaires to see what sort of attraction people would like to see next, with a launch coaster, a non-looping coaster and a drop tower being options. The park have only added 2 'new' things this decade, a poor spinning coaster in 2011 (which was rethemed this year) and an alright Holovis Immersive Tunnel in 2015. So probably not really one to watch...

Anyone interested in this coaster, make sure you like the park's Facebook page. They're doing vlogs and general construction updates. Here's an image from a couple of days ago, showing the tunnel which will be after the first drop...

I was going to post about this in the Small Parks Thread but it turns out we do have a thread for this park... http://www.ilrestodelcarlino.it/ravenna/cosa fare/mirabilandia-ducati-1.3564935 The park are opening a Ducati themed land in 2019. I'd never heard of Ducati, but apparently they're a motorcycle thing... Centrepiece of the land is a coaster, which is naturally expected to a motorbike coaster of some variety. Some early rumours are suggesting that it won't be one of the more well known Vekoma or Intamin varieties, but instead a Maurer Spike Coaster... https://rcdb.com/13786.htm http://www.spike.de/ Looks like a fun enough ride, but not something I really would have seen Mirabilandia going for...

Hey guess what, Phantasialand are awesome and spent probably a large amount of money and tarted up a part of the park that didn't necessarily need it... Before: After: (Images posted on CF by CSLKennyNI) Looks nice, though I kind of preferred the brown colour. I'm sure it still looks great in real life though. Nonetheless, it's still impressive that they managed to do this in the space of about 5 weeks... This was naturally done by everyone's favourite rock work company, Universal Rocks, who are now reportedly working on the Rookburgh site...

Little construction update on Fenix's and Merlin Quest's station areas / building, as well as the restaurant for the Avalon area - http://tvlfansite.nl/2017/11/28/bouwupdate-avalon-28-november-2017/ Also, theming is arriving on site... Source is obvious. Things are coming along nicely.. I imagine we'll start to see support and track sooner rather than later now...

We recently had a Q&A with Jordan, Thorpe's social media manager. Check out what she said about what it's like running the park's social media, the tone of voice of the Twitter page and the mysterious Safe Zone... https://www.thorpeparkmania.co.uk/articles/27-11-2017/Jordan+Middleton+Q+and+A

I would find it awfully suspicious if you voted for Jart on every category and Jart voted for you in every category. But there's nothing in the rules against it, so looks like you've found a loophole...

'Only' €13m is going to be spent on the coaster. Majority of the investment is going into infrastructure and theming. And I believe that DBGT's cost has been overestimated online (closer to £20m than £30m), so Symbolica cost rather a lot more...

It's been revealed that Avalon and the new entrance is now going to require an extra €5m investment to get everything to standard. That means this is now a total investment of €35m (approx. £31m), the same as Symbolica at Efteling. Mental really. Source - https://www.looopings.nl/weblog/9042/Uitbreiding-Toverland-kost-5-miljoen-euro-meer-dan-verwacht.html

Keep 'em coming guys... In serious news - a reminder that if you wish to change your votes in any way, please contact me and do not submit in a new poll. Anyone doing so in the future will have their votes not counted and an extra vote for the not-so-prestigious Storm Surge award added to their name...

That sounds like something someone who knows that X will become TWD themed would say...

A new page has appeared on the minisite, with a new video... https://www.thewelcoming.co.uk/the-beornen The ruins translate to 'Pay homage and unite' This teaser feels a lot less horror / scare in feel to me. Feels more mysterious and tribal; more akin to Hex in style. If they can translate that into the ride (pun intended), then I'd be happy and it'd work for a family-oriented attraction in my eyes.. And as you can see, this page is called 'The Beornen' - presumably the name of the tribe / people involved, and not anything to do with the Hobbit character... Though Beorn comes from an Old English term meaning warrior, so the Berornen could be some form of warriors against technology, blah blah blah, I'm reading too much into this...

It does look like a ton of fun. But that one backwards rows is incredibly frustrating to me for no real reason...

Gothenburg is a nice city too. We spent a day going round it and doing general touristy things. If I'm honest, I'm not that into the whole sightseeing / aimlessly wandering round a city thing, but for those who are into it, Gothenburg is no doubt a good place. And as has been mentioned plenty of times on here, easy to get to too...

A couple of aerial images from Instagram account kazuch1983... The 4th image gives a good overview of the Rookburgh site, showing how big it is and how little construction has taken place. Launch track is onsite though, currently under the green tarp (not yet installed though). The latest rumour is that a majority of the track has been fabricated and is waiting at Vekoma to be sent over. Phanatasialand had several issues with groundworks on the site which has caused delays, hence why little construction has happened now and things slowed down. Apparently an announcement is due from the park in February, which will probably confirm a 2019 opening date..

A little timelapse video is now on the SW8 minisite... https://www.thewelcoming.co.uk/story-so-far/taking-shape Naturally is skips the construction of the mysterious theming feature...

So I visited Liseberg back in July, and I just wanted to share a few thoughts on the park... Majority of my photos were like so bad so I'm just stealing photos from the park's website to break things up. Ultimately, I was left a bit...unfulfilled? by the park. I don't know how to describe it. The quality of some of the attractions at the park is really good, but the park itself just do 'it' for me. Helix Let's get this out the way. Helix is truly fantastic. It's got everything - a lengthy layout, inversions, speed, airtime, a nice style and good audio...everything. And it all works, which is more important in some ways. I really loved the style of the ride - the slightly futuristic / game feel just works SO WELL. It's a bit of a shame that the queue is a bit worn - it needs a good clean and spruce up really. But aside from that, I have no real flaws. The ride is fantastic wherever you sit. The back is fab. The front gives you the force and speed. And at night is great <3 It's just great! Balder Balder was a wonderful surprise. So much airtime, a really decent layout, that's nicely concealed, and just really good fun. It's glass smooth which makes it feel weird, but a good weird I s'pose. It's easy to see why it's so highly rated, and it's high up on my list too - my favourite woodie for certain! Lisebergbanan This classic Schwarzkopf is perhaps a bit of a hidden gem in the park now. Which sounds weird to say given it's not hidden at all. But in a park with Helix, Balder and soon Valkyria screaming in your face, it's perhaps something which will slide out of view. Lisebergbanan was the only coaster where staff didn't bother stapling me in on every go (the staff on Helix and Balder seemed determined to split me in half...), which resulted in some awesome airtime and being flung about in every direction. We also had a couple of rides in the rain which really added to the experience. Just a shame about that final brake... Rebalder & Stampbanan A couple of small creds finishes up the coaster line up. Nothing special, but Rebalder ended up being my 100th cred - woohoo! AeroSpin I'd always wanted to try a Gerstlauer Sky Roller since I first saw them, so I was excited for this. I rode is 3 times over the course of 2 days - I struggled on my first go to get any spins, but managed a solid 27 on my second go, which made me very queasy... Goodness knows how people cope with 50+ spins... Uppswinget So this is basically Rush on a hill. It has loads of potential, but it just didn't deliver. The ride cycle was disappointing, and the location just didn't work - instead of making it more intimidating, it makes it less. It meant the ride experience was rather lacking all in all. AtmosFear A really tall drop tower with Stealth-style restraints. It was alright, gave nice views of Gothenburg, but that's about it. I think after Detonator's forcefulness and brilliance, other drop towers feel lacking for me.. FlumeRide & Kallerado The park's log flume is a nice scenic tour really. It's also gives a good pop as it starts down the drops. Nothing special, but good fun! The rapids were great - they start quite slow, but gradually builds up and up and it just works really well! Liseberg Wheel Oh god. This was blooming awful. It's a ferris wheel, but the loading procedures were bad. It got every pod emptied / filled (which naturally takes ages), and then cycles round 3 times, and then starts the unload/load process again. It's just so boring. It didn't help the views were poor because of rainy weather, but even with clear weather, there's not that much you'd see again a second. third or fourth time round... Loke & Mechanica The two newest rides at the park; unfortunately they didn't appeal to me. Loke, an Intamin gyroswing, is a ride that makes me feel awful after riding these days, so I didn't fancy it. And I didn't want to waste time with Mechanica when there was other stuff I could do.. Majority of their other attractions are all standard stuff, and they weren't that great really. A bit of a shame. Their dark ride (which is closing soon / might already be closed?) was truly awful though. However, one final noteworthy attraction... Gasten Ghost Hotel An upcharge scare attraction (priced £5/£7 depending on what ticket you have). Themed around a spooky abandoned hotel which is over-run by spiders. I hate spiders, which naturally put me on edge. The maze was very good; a good length, VERY well themed, and some fantastic use of special effects (smell and feel were particular scents that were attacked!). The only downside was that it lacked in actor numbers, which is a bit of a shame. Nonetheless, a good scare attraction which did leave me cowering at some points... On a more general note, operations at the park were generally very good and quick. I'm not a fan of their shutdown policy (Helix shutdown when we were near the station, and it resulted in a full queue evac. It opened about 10 minutes later and must surely have only been a small problem), but I guess that's a small grumble. I love all of the sideshows and games they have - so many of them were themed which was fantastic, and they just had such a good atmosphere about them (it was also good that staff weren't pressuring people to play). So yeah, Liseberg was a weird one. I enjoyed their 3 major coasters, and they have a couple of other good attractions. But the park feels lacking in...something to me. But I don't really know what. Despite wanting to go back and ride Helix, Balder and Lisebergbanan, I don't really feel compelled to visit Liseberg as a park any time soon (even their new coaster isn't that tempting). It's disappointing in some ways, as I want to like the park, but I just don't as much. I think it's at least partially down to the fact it's more or less an amusement park, rather than a theme park, and I'm more of a theme park guy.

If memory serves me correctly, Vortex hasn't received this extensive maintenance checks in quite a while (if at all!)... At the very least, I can't remember ever noticing Vortex standing lower down before whenever I've passed the park. Presumably an extra check following the incident in America this year. Still always nice to see behind the scenes in any case..

Proposed look of the cars for Popcorn Revenge... They're just so perfect for the theme! Couple more design images of the 'popcorn' themselves on Fan Club Walibi's Facebook..

Genuinely a fantastic idea - I love the idea that those using the VR can have a link to those on the ride, so that they're sharing the experience. Such a clever idea, and it'll really make the difference. Good on Efteling, hope it works...