JoshC.

The trouble with the island behind Swarm is that'll require a lot more infrastructure investment, since it is literally blank. And as the space is very large, it'd be much more suited to a large scale investment (both in terms of size and cost) than just some filler ride. The area where Sanctum is wouldn't really be suitable for anything long term, as that area is used for access a lot. I'm surprised they were able to put Sanctum there at all in honesty! The only real blank area Thorpe have at the moment is where Fungle Safari was. It was just used as a service road for Ghost Train construction so is now just empty space. But then again, monks still haunt that area so it's probably a no go...

The rumours of X and Slammer closing (along with Loggers) were back at the end of the 2015 season. The thought process was that after the Smiler crash and loss of profit, Thorpe were going to close multiple rides to save on costs. Obviously only Loggers closed, and that doesn't necessarily seem to be solely down to cost cutting.

So I've seen a couple of rumours on Facebook and on other forums that X is saying its goodbyes and being closed forever at the end of the season. Obviously this isn't the first time that X has been rumoured to be gone forever - rumours flirted around in 2014 and 2015 that it was being taken down / closed, and there were times in the 2000s it was rumoured to go. I hope it doesn't go as there's a distinct lack of family coasters at Thorpe, and there's arguably not enough time for a like-for-like replacement to be built in time for next year. And these rumours do seem to have appeared rather suddenly, so it does feel weird, but who knows. A retheme / retrofit (VR, spinning cars, adding laser guns...whatever) could be possible I spose. If it does go though, it does open up a lovely large space with X, Slammer and even Bush BBQ for redevelopment.

Ah thanks - I couldn't for the life of me remember what exactly it was called! In sad news though, it has been confirmed that the man has died due to his injuries.

NEW SCENES for The Walking Dead. Platform 15b. Big Top IV. Talk about Saw Alive sinking. New scenes in Containment would be nice too. I actually missed Blair Witch this year. Seriously. Bring it back, rethemed as a Headless Monk Hunt. Please Thorpe. If I say it every year, it'll happen eventually right... But yeah, I don't see any maze being rethemed for next year and aside from Blair's pathway, there's little space for a maze elsewhere at the moment. So it'll be interesting to see what Thorpe come up with!

Just a quick review of my Howl'o'ween experience, and indeed my first Halloween event at Chessington... Curse of the Lost Tomb Meh. I don't really know how to describe this, it had the elements to be a fun enough family attraction, but it was all just very meh. Theming looked nice (except in the finale). The story was there. I guess the main issue was the acting and number of actors. Some of the actors were hard to hear. Some seemed so unenthusiastic - one looked and sounded like they'd been dragged off of Staines high street and plonked in the maze. From what I've heard, there's a lot less actors this year too. So yeah, there's potential, but it also falls flat. Also, can I just point out the hilariously placed e-stop at elbow height right by the entrance door as far away from the actor as possible - who thought THAT was a good idea? Park Atmosphere There was a bit of park theming about (plastic pumpkins, cobwebs, etc), but not a lot. And with the mazes very hidden away and not in your face (unlike Towers and Thorpe), it's easy to forget there's a Halloween event at all. There were LOTS of roaming actors about, which was nice. Even had a few hiding in ride queue lines - we had 4 in Tomb Blaster's queue and the first one successfully caught me off guard. They also did a flash mob dance thing outside the main shop, but it was at the most random times (it was so silly of us to not think there'd be a show at 5:06...) that we missed it. Creepy Caves: Unearthed Okay, let's start off with the bad - the time slots for this were poorly managed. Either they were selling too many or letting people in far too early / late, but it wasn't working. It meant that on Wednesday, for a 4:15 slot, we queued 80 minutes, and that was after we queued 30 minutes to actually buy our tickets... I hear that later in the event they went to the other extreme with the timed tickets, and not letting people into the time slots early, resulting in a queue to be let in the queue at many points, but still letting people in at any time if they'd missed their slots. Still wasn't working great. Anyways, the maze. It's actually great. And as someone who's been largely unimpressed with Chessington's offerings over the past several years, it's great to see something so well themed, executed, presented and fulfilling at the park. This IS a scary attraction, and certainly will truly terrify and haunt those around the young-end of its 10+ age recommendation. But this is the type of attraction Chessington needs to offer if it's actually going to become a family park. The 'pre show' before entering with the actor is fantastically scripted. The first scene gave me Experiment 10 vibes, but in a suitably toned down way. The laboratory scene is again well scripted and has nice effects which, though nothing special, work great on scaring younger audiences. What follows (the actual 'cave' section) is brilliant - jump scares, nice theming, a plethora of things hanging from the ceiling and plenty of lively actors. The balance between scaring adults and kids seemed to work too. The ending is nice, nothing special, but VERY loud and certainly enough to get the younger audience screaming and crying out. As a side note, the maze was free flow, which really did surprise me for a family attraction of this nature. As a scare attraction for adults in context, it's not that scary, it's not special and it won't leave you in trembling (though I would be interested in doing it in an adult-only group, sort of a 'Creepy Caves After Dark' thing...they could ramp it up..). But for a family scare attraction, this is fantastic, perhaps even a little over the scary line, but still a great scare attraction for the park and surely one of the better examples of a family scare. So yeah, Creepy Caves is fab. I hope it returns next year, that they don't tone it down (up the age recommendation if needs be), and they can sort out the operations a bit (sell less tickets!). Chessington truly are onto a winner this year!

Plenty of parks across Europe have their advertised closed time as the time when rides will be stopped. Efteling do exactly what Phantasia do and close queue lines ridiculously early or, worse, apparently stop running rides with people in the queue. Movie Park Germany closed all their rides at random times to ensure everything was done by 6pm. Liseberg were very sharp with their closing times too (especially for their games and food places!). Maybe it's just the parks I've visited, but it's a common theme amongst many of the parks that they try to make sure most things are done by the close time. And no one really seems to mind; it's almost expected. It's a shame you've had bad experiences with Phantasia, and hopefully you'll get less awful experiences next time. I'm sure I'd be thinking the same in your shoes to be honest. But honestly, the park truly shone as something special when I've been there, and it just has this feel about it - it can't be properly described, and you don't really get 'it' until you visit. Maybe you're just an angry German magnet? That's one thing which sticks in my memory actually - there's lots of hills and steps in main pathways around the park. I guess part of it is a necessary evil, what with the park being so compact and having so much on top of each other, but that doesn't help ease the pain. It must be a killer for anyone with mobility issues or anyone pushing wheelchairs!

I've done it as a one day park (granted, usually with extended opening hours), and, like Benin, never had any issues with feeling rushed. There's a couple of people who have had bad experiences there, sure, but there's also plenty of people who have had good experiences; in this thread alone it's an equal split. I'd be willing to bet the number of people here having good experiences far outweighs the number have bad. Phantasialand is a park which really shines once you're actually there (and not being screamed at by staff in a toilet for 15 minutes...which seems excessively long might I add ). If you're put off by the sound of some parts on paper, just give it a chance and you'll be surprised.

This was a genuinely terrifying-sounding incident since it was an alone attraction as well. The section had no actors in, so the person in question went into a restricted area unknowingly, going to dangerous areas all thinking it was part of the experience. It's hard to imagine how the build up to that must feel. --- In other news, Bobbejaanland (again!) - A man was seriously injured after falling between cars on the park's waltzer-like ride: https://nos.nl/artikel/2200183-man-zwaargewond-door-val-uit-attractie-bobbejaanland.html

Just to say, during my visits to Phantasialand, I've never had any issues with customer service. It's not perfect, but never negatively affected my day. Smoking in queue lines is a huge issue though. The park operates so that the advertised closing time is when everything is finished. Queue lines are cleared, rides closed, shops shut, etc. That's why ride queues shut early. Visitors seem fine with that (it's largely a European thing it seems); it's eerie just how quiet the park was at 6:05pm on a 6pm close day that was fairly lively. So yeah, something to keep in mind for any Phantasialand goers..

Go to Phantasialand. Go to Phantasialand. Go to Phantasialand. You won't regret it. Spring time isn't too bad apparently (especially if you back during off peak time, it'll be dead). You'll miss out on their new coaster (if it even ends up opening next year at all), but that's no big issue as there's still bucket loads of quality there. If you've got the extra cash available for a longer trip / more parks, and a hire car is also an option, Movie Park Germany, Toverland and Efteling are all reasonable driving distances, so consider one of them. For a non-flight option, and if you're close enough to Dover, you could always get on a ferry to Calais or Dunkirk, and then you've got Plopsaland 30-40 minutes away. Very accessible and good fun, though more a family park / one you do as part of a bigger trip. And if driving is your thing, you could combine it with another park or two nearby (Walibi Belgium for example) and get a nice mix of creds, culture and travel all in one trip. And then Phantasialand is only a 2 hour drive away... But if that's not an option for now, just go to Phantasialand.

It is basically a requirement from high up, yeah, but it doesn't necessarily have to be world firsts. The idea is that new additions need to have a killer image and memorable slogan / catchphrase. You see it with practically all new rides (check any reasonably sized investment from the past 8 years across Merlin theme parks and you'll see), with the only exception that springs to mind being Tiger Rock; it has the killer image but there's no memorable slogan...yet, at least. Of course, it doesn't HAVE to be a world first - see DBGT and 'A ghost train reinvented for the 21st century', Scorpion Express and 'A mine train with a sting in its tail', Smiler's original 'world beating' message. It just so happens that world first's are the easiest to twist, and still do grab people's attention, though people's minds do sort of trail away after seeing 'WORLD FIRST'. It's very much the easiest way of doing things. As can be seen by plenty of rides all across the world, you don't need that style to create a successful marketing campaign, create hype, etc., and even Smiler's original marketing worked really well in that case; the 14 inversion was only officially announced in May 2013 and it wasn't a focus. But it's just easy, largely effective and avoids taking risks. Not a bad shout in fairness. Every other Walking Dead maze that's operated across the world started off as a seasonal attraction in one form or another, before eventually becoming a permanent offering. Makes you wonder if it's something AMC request or if the cost of the licence means that the parks have felt it necessary to milk the brand for everything they can. I don't think Thorpe really want to go down that road though. They've got I'm a Celeb and Ghost Train actors to pay (and with IAC opening days reduced, you do wonder if they've got the budget), and it's been proven time and time again that scare attractions don't perform well in the UK outside of the Halloween period. But I guess stranger things have happened before. You're trying my patience here. You really are.......

I agree with Creek that a Chessington meet would be nice. Certainly would be a shame for a predominantly Merlin-orientated forum to not go to a park when they're adding a medium-sized investment. International meet has plenty of potential - Phantasialand would be great (especially if Rookburgh opens next year), Parc Asterix, Liseberg and dare I say Poland (Energylandia and Legendia) are all reasonable options, but happy to go with the flow. Looking forward to what 201 throws up!

The queue board for IAC did say 'Returns 2018' when it.it closed (same as Rush and Rumba), so I could see that returning next year. Not to say it couldn't receive work or something, but I think that'd have a low chance of being replaced for now.

Yeah sure I'll be there.

Walibi Belgium held it's annual fan day a few days back, and released a POV on their new coaster for next year... blob:http://www.dailymotion.com/0787a929-cf88-43f9-8183-837b84ec4271 (The video is a recording of a screen, so quality isn't great) And here's some more stuff related to their 100 million euros general expansion which deserves some light here... # An outline of the all the park's areas (called a "World of Walibi") that will be created, and when they'll receive treatment. As can be seen, EVERYWHERE is getting work done to it over the next 5 years, and apparently by 2023, about 75% of the park from today will be completely different in one way or another. Proposed new entrance: 77 Some more concept art related to Popcorn's Revenge... The film genres that are featured are Fantasy, Superhero, Sci-Fi, Horror and Pirates. Since these are all taking inspiration from actual films, there is possibility for it to be pretty humour-filled I think. The mascots alone are pretty funny I think... Some concept art for the New Orleans inspired retheme of the Werewolf / Vampire (and relocated Ladybug)... All pictures from here - http://wonderworldweb.over-blog.com/ A lot of the theming work will be done by Joravision, who are pretty big in mainland Europe. There is also a video (in English!) of the Marketing Manager from the park presenting all this at the Fan Day. Haven't watched it yet, but it does cover everything in some detail...

Figured we may as well have a new topic for Tiger Rock, the retheme of Dragon Falls that will also bring an end to the Mystic East area, which will now be renamed 'Land of the Tiger'... https://www.chessington.com/2018/ On park advertising is also about... Images from 'UK Theme Parks' Facebook

It does depend on what the weather conditions were like all day, and how many people were there. If it's been raining all day, there's been strong winds all day, and the number of people who actually turned up in the first place is probably less than normal. I expect that come 5:30ish (say), most will have done everything they wanted to do and it was more a case of re-rides, but being out in the conditions all day, some will want to retreat home / inside to warm up / dry off / whatever. Which would leave numbers dwindling further. If that was the case, then I'm sure the people who did remain would be understanding of the hour loss at the end of the day. It's all about that context. It's easy to say that a park shouldn't close early, etc, but these things aren't black and white. When a large storm has battered the park and visitors for the majority of the day, few people are really going to want to stay in the early evening when things are getting colder, darker and gloomier. Sure, maybe there were loads of people still willing and wanting to stay, maybe Blackpool made the wrong call. But without any first-hand accounts, I guess we don't really know.. Thorpe and Towers rarely close early due to weather (though I'm sure it has happened in the past, with Thorpe at least). But remember that neither of those parks are right by the coast, and are comparatively much further away from the location of a large storm...

I guess it's all about context. If there's next to nothing open and next to no one there, I don't think many, if any, people will complain if the park closes early.

I assume the Swarm VR rumour has come about because the merch was reduced during the summer? I noticed that come September, the merch was back up to normal price, which would just indicate that it was a just a summer special offer or similar. So it would be weird to see Swarm get VR and not retheme / rename it, as you lose out on a big marketing opportunity. One would hope that after the trouble they've encountered with all their VR stuff (Ghost Train, Galactica and Shaman at Gardaland all suffered major delays and technical difficulties at one point), Merlin would want to steer clear of integrating VR into rides. If they really wanted to go down that route, a VR 4D cinema, or even AR show, would be something different enough to be...interesting I guess, whist more manageable from a technology viewpoint. Merlin's use of world firsts is so vague and downright silly at points it's hard to know what this could to be honest. And to highlight this point... After The Walking Dead announcement, Living Nightmare was being called "the world's first Walking Dead maze to feature scenes from Season 7 of the show". As Thorpe's Facebook post said they were "dropping a world first in the summer", I guess the idea might have been they were going to announce Living Nightmare as a world first during the summer and hype up from there, but things changed and they announced it a bit later / decided not to focus on the silly world first..

Something new is coming to Thorpe Park in 2018. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10159652058415624&id=283706330623 Some form of 'world first' (of course, it's Merlin ), though no other indication as to what or where though. No idea what this could be, but suggestions welcome (anyone who suggests a top spin in any way will be banned forever though )

There is a possibility this could be pushed back to 2020. I imagine they're keeping one eye on Efteling as they're getting a huge in 2019 or 2020 too, so they might not want to compete (or they might do, who knows with Walibi...) Don't get me wrong, I've nothing against these things, they look fun and I do want to try one and it'd be nice to see one closer to home. But another bog standard off-the-shelf model is not what the park should be getting, nor what they're capable of doing now...

Rumour has it now this could be an S&S free spin coaster, following an S&S spokesperson confirming to Looopings that they've been in talks with Walibi Holland. It'd be the first in Europe. Not going to lie, would be a bit of a shame if this is what they got. There's potential for much more at the park in my opinion, and given the amount they're pumping into Belgium, this is a bit of downer.

The 4pm ride close is probably something that wasn't updated from yesterday. Bit of a whoops moment but will probably be fixed now.

Personally, I think that we'll see little to no investments in smaller years now. Major investments do pull people (even if the likes of Swarm and Ghost Train haven't done so to the level they expected). So I'd be surprised if they do go ahead and stall on major rides, even at Thorpe. I expect we'll see less I'm a Celebritys, Galacticas and Pandamoniums now though...