JoshC.

Nice aerial view from the park showing the site and what track has been installed. Didn't realise how close it was going to be to Balder...

A twist in the tale... https://www.ad.nl/binnenland/efteling-gaat-uitbreiden-en-opent-nieuwe-attractie-in-2020~a73bf047/ Efteling's director has seemingly hinted that the 2020 thing won't be a coaster... Efteling are able to build up to around the 60m mark on the land they're expanding into, but that seems to be for the distant future in the remaining 5 hectare expansion. This part of the expansion will add to the Reizenrijk area, which is loosely themed around travelling, and includes the Pagode, Vogel Rok and Carnival Festival. So really, it could be themed around anything. A flying theatre would be a likely option I reckon. Suits Efteling down to a tee, suits the theme and explains the 'not small but won't make you scream' idea. At the same time, part of me hopes for something else - would love to see a log flume a la Chiapas and that'd be a great space for one...

Interesting how Towers made a Wickerman post a couple of hours after all this was announced, talking about finding a hidden clue in the poster, which was naturally overrun with backlash over this. Seen some speculation that Towers did this on purpose to try and get the powers above to give them more money so they could reconsider these changes. Those opening hours are bad. Very bad. Dread to think what the mornings will be like when one of the Intamins throws a hissy fit or or lovely new GCI has some teething problems...

Isn't it more of a sponsorship as opposed to an actual IP? Like how Skips sponsored Dragon's Fury when it opened, but it was never the 'Skips Coaster' (couldn't think of a better example, sorry).

Snow isn't stopping them... From SkyScraperCity

As far as I know, it's still standing. The chances of another park buying it are basically zero, due to the sheer amount of work it would need.

I guess Thorpe (and by extension, Merlin) have sort of dug themselves a hole with small investments. Thorpe had its accelerated growth / development period in the early 2000s, which continued for the rest of the decade, throwing in new investments every year, and each year those were worthwhile, needed investments which added to the line up and help them grow. It set them apart, in that whilst every other park would have a year or two (or longer) with nothing new, Thorpe could shout 'look at us, we have new stuff'. Do that for long enough, and the public expect something new every year. If Thorpe didn't, they'd potentially lose visitors 'because there's nothing new'. It worked well in the naughties, and it worked well in the early 2010s when Chessington and Towers adopted those strategies. But there's only so much worthwhile stuff you can add before it becomes fad stuff / short term investments for the sake of it. Very few large / established parks have good 'small years'; many will just add nothing at all. And that's fine, because they've established themselves as somewhere that doesn't need new stuff to bring visitors back every year. Merlin haven't been able to establish that thought process with their UK market, and it's what sets them apart in Europe. Thorpe have struggled the most out of the parks with small investments, thanks to changing target markets and whatever else..

To be fair, Wickerman and Icon are huge investments for their respective parks. The Safe Zone thing is a very small thing, which is more likely there to represent a 'look at us we do have something new' style investment, which Thorpe have done since seemingly forever. If you look at their other small investments, they're always announced late. And in some cases, like the original X retheme, they didn't even announce it, it just sort of...appeared..

A collection of mine through the years... And a lovely TPM thing...

Duel has been earmarked for refurbishment this winter since last closed season, and was hinted at on the TLC page a week or so ago, so a case of watch this space I guess!

So after all that, the park have decided to go back to their old slogan, Hard Gaan. Because, y'know...

More photos of an airtime hill featuring AIRTIME From Club PBE Facebook From Temleh on Coasterforce Oof.

Ooh, another thing I forgot to mention.. On the 'An Island Like No Other' track (which I believe specifically plays on the bridge?), there's a nice mix of all the sounds of the island. There's a nice section after The Swarm noise which is surely perfect for Swarm - hope that this year new music for Swarm is on the cards, and that it ends up being a longer version of what we can hear there!

The third, and final, part of Nemesis TLC has been taking place... https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=402095776883777&id=215306002229423 Regardless of anyone's opinion of how the TLC is being presented, this IS good and great to see they did follow through with it.

This ought to Mack up for the loss though... From Inawe Media I think this is largely the second half of the coaster (though feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!)

Gold standard effort from Liseberg, as first piece of track on Valkyria was installed this week...

Since there's snow place to go, I'll lend you guys some support from SkyScraperCity...

Coincidental that Thorpe knock out a video shortly after enthusiasts discuss how there's nothing to talk about / no interest in it... Certainly captured interest on social media. For those who didn't work out the message, it's binary and says 'SAFE ZONE X 05/03/18 09:00'. So there's our announcement day.

That was my thinking too. I guess if it was more coaster than dark ride and had a different enough theme, the distinction could be made. Launch coaster seems more likely than that, thank goodness.

Efteling have more formally announced their intentions for expansion: By 2030, they want to expand the park by 8 hectares, of which 3 hectares will be done for the 2020 new attraction (which they're still keeping secret for now). Planning permission had been put in today, and they've worked closely with locals, so the granting of that seems little more than a formality now. 2020 is still rumoured to be a major coaster, and I keep hearing a launch coaster crop up. Another one I've heard recently is a Mack suspended coaster a la Arthur, which would be very Efteling..

Ferrari Land is getting 5 new kids rides this year, including a Zamperla family coaster (called Junior Red Force for the lolz). Other rides include a couple of spinning things and a little drop tower thing.

For anyone thinking of paying Toverland a visit this year, Avalon and the new entrance area (which they're calling Port Laguna) will be opening July 7th... Plenty of details and concept art here too (best one of new entrance area attached) - http://tvlfansite.nl/2018/01/18/toverland-onthult-in-het-nieuwe-entreegebied-port-laguna-kan-echt-getoverd-worden/

Be interesting to see if The Welcoming opens during the main season at all. Logic being that they advertise a family coaster with a heavy theme, and for those wanting the extra scary factor, they can experience the maze. Stops the thrill seekers being as disappointed that way. Then open the Smokehouse in 2019. Doubt it'll happen (except maybe on the odd special day), but doesn't seem out of the realm of possibilty.

Things do seem to have tightened up recently. After the Derren Brown leak in 2015, rumour mill very much seems to have dried up. No one really knew what Ghost Train was before it opened (and even after 2 seasons, people don't really know what it is now..), no one knew what Rise of the Demon was - leaks just didn't spring up. The Walking Dead was a poorly kept secret, but I don't think Thorpe were that bothered by that, as it was a big reveal to the masses (majority of the GP had no clue). I guess it's a mix of lack of knowledge being leaked out and lack of care though. No one was wanting or asking for an X retheme, no one was wanting a 'Year of The Walking Dead', etc. If people really cared, I'm sure someone would do enough digging to find out, then leak it for the street cred.. Happiness is always around the corner - we just need a Jart post..

You see, I think it's easy to underestimate how much Mack and Intamin have been innovating. Mack's launch coasters have really taken off. Discounting Blue Fire (which I guess could be said to be almost an advert for the product), it's only really since Helix that they've become a big thing and have gone from strength to strength. And the semi-shuttle variety is working out well for them too. Then they've got the spinning coaster, and even if it is a natural progression, for them to be the first to include launches and 90 degree drops says something. With Lost Gravity they've entered the winged market too (and there's rumours the next BigDipper will be their take on a dive machine too). So they've got innovation with those products and more. Intamin are making constant improvements. With Mack's launch market improving, they've upped their game, with Taron coming about and plenty of awesome looking ones cropping up in Asia too. They tackled the inverted coaster market again with Drage Kongen at Djurs (and more on the way), and their sit down coasters look fantastic (Flying Aces, Soaring with Dragon, Hyperion, etc). It's not as much, but it's definitely something. B&M aren't coming up with much. They've brought out the wingrider (with great success) and one launch coaster (seemingly successful, but I dunno), and they've got the reputation for building reliable, consistent rides. But that's just it - parks will go to them these days with the logic of 'we can get the equivalent of X at our park', and not 'we can create the next big thing with them'. I certainly think they've been left a bit behind by Intamin and Mack in that sense. There's nothing wrong with that either, not by a long shot. And I'm sure B&M would always be open to creating a new craze just like they did with the wingrider. But equally, I really don't see any parks turning to them and saying 'let's build the next generation of 4D coaster'.