JoshC.

But the chance to meet Benin IS tempting..

In fairness, there's a difference between creepy forest with wraiths horror and graphic flesh eating zombies / baseball bat smashed heads horror...

Yeah yeah you can keep it. But if you win it 7 times in a row, you can officially sponsor the award... Win it 10 times and it gets named after you...

Don't forget to vote!

In other news, Symbolica currently has had its interactive features (touchscreens on the front row that let you play mini games and dance the car at certain points) disabled, whilst the park decide what to do with it. The touchscreens added next to nothing to the experience, arguable they were more a distraction, so it'll be interesting to see what they do.

Yeah, there was space marked for another room (I believe some early floor plans of the maze do have it marked as 'Saw VII room'). However, that space is now largely used as an actor green room and storage. In theory they could turn it into a new scene, but with the large number of mazes they have that use the space as a green room now, it would perhaps be impractical to change it now. Would be interesting to see if they did incorporate the new film into it, but I personally don't see it happening.

It's come to that time of year again - it's the Thorpe Park Mania Awards! Once again, we are using SurveyMonkey to collect the results. If you've never used it before, don't worry - it's dead easy! There's been two new awards added (and none spited!) - Best UK Scare Attraction, and Friendliest Member. The full list... PARK AWARDS: -Best UK Park -Best UK Coaster -Best UK Flat Ride -Best UK Water Ride -Best UK Dark Ride -Best UK Scare Attraction -Best UK Themed Experience -Worst UK Ride -Best International Park -Best International Coaster -Best New-for-2017 Attraction (can be in the UK) -Best International Themed Experience -Most Uncomfortable Ride -Most Disappointing Merlin Moment 2017 -Best Looking Attraction for 2018 -Best Manufacturer FORUM AWARDS: -Best Member -Best Team Member -Best New Member -Best Quality Posts -Best Official TPM Meet -Most Knowledgeable Member -Most Dedicated Member -Most Sarcastic Member -Most Likely to be Banned in 2017 -Funniest Member -Friendliest Member -Biggest Fanboy/girl -Sexiest Male -Sexiest Female -Storm Surge Award -Cutest Couple -Member you'd like to see more of And here's some clarifications in case any of the above are confusing... You don't have to vote for all the categories if you don't want! Please you forum usernames rather than real names - makes things easier For the park awards, feel free to vote for parks / rides you like the look of the best (especially the case of International Awards, where members might not have been on many / any foreign rides). Team Members are any member with an orange box underneath their username. A list of new members since the last Awards can be found here. There's 6 pages of new members, and they're in alphabetical order. Friendliest Member - Any particular member who you've found particularly friendly / helpful at meets and on the forums! Storm Surge Award: Vote for the member who you think reminds you of Storm Surge or should be awarded a Storm Surge for their efforts in TPM. Member you'd like to see more of Award: Vote for the member who you'd like to see post on the forums more often / see at meets / generally get to know a bit better! These are of course meant to be a bit of fun, so just enjoy the ride! CAST YOUR VOTES HERE! (Alternative link in case that doesn't work - https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5WH29QP) Voting will close at 8pm on Friday 15th December. Please do not vote after this time as your votes will not count but you may be charged... If there's demand, some winners may be revealed at the TPM Christmas Meet on the 16th (read - if I have nothing better to do on a Friday night before the meet, I might tally up the votes). If there's any questions, problems or whatever, please PM me and I'll get back to you. Happy voting!

In fairness, Ghost Train is a unique attraction, which does blend together a lot of different techniques in an unusual way. The quality of it is always going to be up for debate, and maybe some think it's something which need not have been made at all. However, I think it is deserving of some recognition within the industry. The scale, idea and concept of the ride is impressive, and I reckon it is / was the start of a new breed of a dark ride. The idea of multiple scenarios / stories is slowly becoming more common. The mixture of a ride system and live action scenes is still something many parks wouldn't go near, but can work successfully if done right. Ghost Train does have its flaws, but it could end up being something which has a positive impact on the industry in the long run.

Posted over on TT forums by member 'burgertaster': Looking at its size, I'd say it's most likely not related to the main theming feature. Could easily see something like that being part of an entrance feature though.

The first airtime hill tries to chuck me out to the middle of Bruhl. Not to dissimilar to THAT airtime hill on Helix that tries to chuck you out to the middle of Gothenburg.. I wouldn't call Helix intense, or say it has many moments of intensity. I don't mean it in a bad way, but I just don't see Helix as a coaster that's intense, or really trying to be intense. Each to one's own I spose.

It's a weird decision given that, perhaps Legoland aside, none of the parks are exactly heaving to the point of reaching capacity during August. So, during their busiest prolonged period, they're stopping people from potentially turning up and spending money. Instead, they're trying to encourage people to spend the extra £50 for a Premium Pass, when they could probably make a little bit more out of people by giving them the opportunity to visit more. I guess the idea is to try and get passholders to visit during quieter times, but it just doesn't quite work that way. Still, the Merlin passes do represent great value for money currently, and you can easily get a lot of worth out of it. I agree with others that an overhaul and rebrand for them would be better though, as currently it's a bit of a mish-mash of ideas and tiers which don't truly reflect what Merlin are offering these days.

Update on the new entrance area, which will provide some nice views of Troy... All images from Freizeitpark News' Facebook

I think the reason why I love Taron so much is because it does what it does so well. Sure, all it does is twist and turn - that's all it sets out to do. But those twists and turns are all brilliant; fling you out of your seat, some take you by surprise, etc. Plus the launches are incredible and some of the airtime is absolute joy <3 I love Helix too - though I slightly prefer Taron's trains (though that's more because Liseberg loved to staple me), and I wouldn't call it more intense than Taron. And Black Mamba shows how when a coaster doesn't do what it does as well, it suffers. Great ride, but the corners at the end just don't work with the ride. >Says it doesn't have any standout elements >Lists 2 (hopefully!) universally loved standout elements

Oh no, not another Taron-shunner. There's too many of you cropping up on here...

25th December is the meet date Creek...We'll all see you there...

My Symbolica review is here - The Loonsche Land hotel was very nice. The rooms were huge, beds were comfy, and it had the Efteling feel to it, much like the Bosrijk Village hotel did. The included breakfast was very nice; plenty of variety and all nice quality. The surroundings are very nice (though our room had a lovely view of the waste management area...), and the little animal areas are nicely done. There's also some jungle trial style equipment for everyone to use - great fun for the most part...unless you slip on them when they're wet... The separate huts looked very nice too!

Oh, I totally agree. In all honesty, I don't think it's THAT likely, and more than likely people putting 2 and 2 together and getting 5. By not giving a straight answer, it just makes people talk about the coaster all the more.

The park have been approached a couple of times with questions about whether VR would be part of the experience, and they've refused to give a yes or no answer. Can't find the source where I read it though unfortunately. Read into that as you will... Frankly, I'd be very surprised if it did have VR in any capacity, especially as VR equipment has apparently been around the park's SLC, but yet to be offered to the public. Nonetheless, it would be a simple way to, for lack of a better word, distract people from the possible views of Auschwitz. I imagine a fair few people could feel uncomfortable with the prospect of being able to see it.

Nah definitely didn't open this year. Though I think they had a water ride open (I want to say a rapids but not sure?). I don't think the lateness was completely down to Intamin - for once! - and was a mixture of poor planning and general construction / groundwork difficulties.

The hyper coaster has started to be marketed, and the park revealed the name to be Hyperion, and released some concept art, which appear to show it'll have standard 4-seater rows, as opposed to semi-winged seating like Skyrush and Flying Aces... The space theme is very nice, I hope the park can pull it off! One thing to note, however, is that - when asked - the park refused to deny that VR could in some way be apart of the ride. Potentially an interesting way to distract guests from the fact they can see Auschwitz, which is only 10 miles away... Ground for Hyperion has only recently just been broken, but it's being advertised for 2018. Part of the agreement between the park and ERDF and local government is that these new investments which they are partially helping to fund is completed by a certain point - and Hyperion needs to open in 2018 as part of that. The park's water coaster, which was meant to open in 2017 but didn't, has put the park under a bit of pressure to keep to their opening deadlines. Still, exciting times for the park and Poland in general!

Only taken me 3 and a half months to finish this TR... We spent 2 and a half days at Efteling this year, and there was bucketloads of stuff going on during that time. We stayed at the newly opened Loonsche Land Hotel, experienced Symbolica on it's opening day (along with all the pomp and faff to accompany it), and had a 14 hour day on park thanks to their summer festival event starting. So I could probably pad this part of the trip into 2 or 3 blogs itself (and I kind of have already with my Symbolica review, but heyho...), but I'll just do photos and quick explanations so I can get it done... Symbolica's opening day (which was also the park's first Summer Festival day of the year) wasn't as busy as we expected. The park opened at 9am, Symbolica opened at 10am. During that time void, the park's mascot Pardoes was out and about, press were interviewing staff and guests - one Dutch news company tried to interview us, but funnily enough they wanted Dutch speakers. There was a fun countdown when the ride opened, and we a mad rush occurred, put fortunately we were in first group of the day in. Good thing too as I wouldn't have wanted to queue this... The park's summer festival they ran was incredible. For no extra cost, the park opened till late (11pm), and held tonnes of extra side-shows, events, extra food stalls, and general fun stuff. This was all from 6pm, which started off with a parade of all the acts: OJ Punctuel from Symbolica A living statue from Flying Dutchman In the 5 hours from when the parade started, we did a few rides (I can't remember what exactly off the top of my head, but fairly certain we did Joris a couple of times, Baron, Bob and maybe Flying Dutchman?), we saw a ton of the acts, including... Random singers Raveijlin fayre - the whole area was transformed into a mini Warwick Castle. They had sword fights, random actors spinning yarn and goodness knows what else to create an atmosphere. Random singers / marching band. They were a massive laugh - a lot of their sets can be found here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDSnv09tVMQ South American dancers Comedians 1001 Nights area, include magic performances, 'snake charmers', sword swallowers, a guy giving away free ice cream if you can get it from him, and someone trying to sell rugs... 3 different versions of Aquanura And much much more, including live music performances from plenty of other acts, randoms pianists, some kids radio station, loads more dancers and plenty of other things I've probably forgotten now and didn't get a chance to take a photo of it. It was truly a fantastic atmosphere, and it was a wonderful day. 14 hours on park flew by, and though it felt long enough, a couple more hours would no doubt have helped us see even more the acts, and sneak in a couple more night rides. Speaking of which, some Efteling at night photos... Dragon wasn't blowing fire during our trip unfortunately I got a photo with the wonderful OJ Punctuel. I think I insulted him with my commonness and unshaven face. Though serious note - I love how copious the costume characters are in numbers and appearances - always created such a good, fun atmosphere. In terms of rides... Baron 1898 left me disappointed this visit. After riding it 2015, I truly adored it - it was fun, floaty and just really enjoyable from start to finish. Unfortunately, it has aged liked B&Ms seem to do, becoming slightly more forceful and punchy. This is normally a good thing, but in Baron's case, it means it loses the floatiness which made me love it so much, making it less enjoyable. It really slid down my Top 10 as a result - if it wasn't for the amazing theme and surrounding, it certainly would have fallen out. Joris en de Draak stood the test of time however, and I still really love it. I still prefer Fire slightly over Water, but it definitely cemented itself as my favourite Efteling coaster. Flying Dutchman remained fantastic, Python remained slightly painful and generally disappointing, whilst I enjoyed Bob significantly more this time! My opinions on many of the park's other rides remained the same - I still don't quite get Dreamflight, I enjoy the park's other dark rides and their filler selection is nice. I also got the chance to try the park's 3D cinema, Pandadroom, after it was down for technical difficulties in 2015. I actually quite enjoyed the premise and the real effects it has, but the 3D itself was terrible, and the awkward wait before the show needs some serious attention. I also enjoyed my time in the Fairytale Forest, with this new addition since my last visit being the highlight... All in all, I enjoyed Efteling again this year, for what was my second visit to the park. After my original visit, I did class it as my favourite park. However, since then, Phantasialand has grown on me all the more, and Efteling just misses the mark for me a bit now. It's still a fantastic park and I really enjoyed my time there (even though 2 and a half days is a bit too much for the park), but it's not really a park for me I guess.. And so that concluded FreBelGerAnd. We left the park slightly earlier than planned so we could get allow plenty of time to drive back to Dunkirk for our evening ferry, and as per, travelling home posed no issues at all... Next up - my Liseberg review; it's only 2 months late fortunately!

In other news, Bayern Park in Germany have announced they're getting a new dark ride, which is similar to Popcorn Revenge, the new-for-2019 dark ride at Walibi Belgium... http://wonderworldweb.over-blog.com/2017/11/une-premiere-mondiale-interactive-pour-le-parc-d-attractions-allemand-bayern-park-le-parc-d-attractions-et-animalier-allemand-bayern The ride, called Farm Fair, is a 4D interactive shooter from Dutch company Lagotronics Projects, and forms part of the park's new farm-area. The ride rotates through certain scenes, whereas Popcorn Revenge has the possibility for non-linear routes and such. Nonetheless, it's an interesting project, and certainly a good way for small parks to introduce shooting rides like this (which are always popular) on a budget and in a small footprint!

The Loggers rumour is the best one. So the rumour goes that if Thorpe didn't get a contract with a company for a couple of Fright Nights mazes (and potentially a short term, year-round maze), they were going to instead spend the money on sorting out Loggers Leap? Even though they will be completely separate budgets and departments, and Loggers would require significantly more money than a contract with AMC... lol Slammer removal will happen sooner or later. If it doesn't happen this winter, I'm sure there will be a rumour amongst staff next year it's being removed next winter. X closure / retheme is something which has been doing the rounds very recently. Though it seems to crop up most seasons, so who knows.. A permanent Walking Dead maze makes sense in many ways. It is a huge brand, and other parks that have had the IP have always had a permanent attraction shortly after signing the contract, so it could even be something that AMC require to get on board. Yeah, there's questions of whether scare attractions work in theme parks outside of Halloween (ultimately, Saw Alive was declining in popularity, even though the decision to close it was based on costs), but it'd likely be popular in the short term. A coaster getting the VR treatment will probably be thrown around for a couple more years. It's an easy way to get a new attraction, which is obviously something Merlin love. I reckon it's something which has been thought about, but hopefully it's a dead idea now. So yeah, always take rumours from staff with a HUGE pinch of salt of course. The Loggers rumour is hilariously off the mark that it makes me take any of the above with a bucket load though, sorry.

Remember that Europa is a near 4 hour drive from Phantasialand. Not saying it's impossible, but combining Phantasia and Europa in one trip would make it a lot more expensive. Keeping it to parks more local, or just multiple days at one park, would keep costs lower and make things more practical.

I guess calling it a shame isn't the right phrase. What I more mean is, if parks did a variation of Blue Fire rather, something that was clearly inspired by it, as opposed to a like-for-like clone, we'd be seeing more and more great, different rides. There's the park in Australia, for example, which has a Eurofighter with a layout extremely inspired by Saw's layout (the indoor section is a clone actually). It doesn't detract from Saw in any way, but the new layout looks to be just as good, if not better. And the cost and development is probably no different than sticking in a clone really. Of course not everyone will get to ride all these different things. And it doesn't bother me if clones pop up elsewhere as it usually means quality rides are coming to small parks. But it'd be nice if they had the chance / ability / bravery / whatever to deviate from the clones to potentially create an even better experience.