JoshC.

A photo of Symbolica's roof, featuring the garden and 800 solar panels, from the park's Facebook. Less than a month to go...

A disappointing Mack is still probably better than, say, your average Intamin. Also if people are finding this disappointing, UK enthusiasts should lower their expectations for Icon. Slower, likely weaker, launches, and a more drawn out layout that doesn't exactly do much more than this. Dragging back to Star Trek, I standby my original views that it looks fun, and is easily in the top 3 best-looking coaster additions for Europe this year.

I have a review, with spoilers, of Ninjago here - It is a fun ride, and something which will definitely help appeal to the older kids who visit Legoland. It's clear that the queue line wasn't finished on Saturday - exterior walls still needing to be built, interior walls and floors needing painting / dusting, etc., but the ride itself is fully ready, so it's only a very minor thing which I doubt many people picked up on. The ride team were really getting people through quickly (and safely of course), so the throughput must be good. Fingers crossed they can keep that up. Means that a full queue would only take about an hour, which is impressive. Also nice to see themed uniforms (ninja cloaks) for the staff. There's also this nice Lego feature, where people can build their own Lego things and attach it to the hill: So yeah, Ninjago is a fab attraction really. It won't set the world on fire, but it's fun and perfect for Legoland. Would recommend people try it if they can.

It's been a while since I dedicated a whole blog post to a ride review, but this seems like a suitable time to do one. WARNING: There will spoilers. If you don't know what the ride system is, or want to completely avoid knowing what some of the effects used in the ride are, turn back now. For those completely unaware, it is a 3D-screen based shooter ride, where you use hand motion to 'fire'. Sitting in rows of four, with your 3D glasses, a lap bar comes down with a motion sensor. In the queue line, a short (and badly presented!) video explains you must swipe your arm forward to fire, keeping it at least 8 inches above the sensor, and to aim high, point your hand / arm higher. Vague, but simple enough I suppose. The ride passes a variety of screens, some you stop at, some you don't, along with the odd bit of physical theming. There is also some real theming in front of the screens that the animations did interact with which was awesome. There was also a few special effect, include heat blasts, mist, wind and flashing lights (which cleverly disguises the ORP), all matching up with what's happening on screen. During the first scene, you quickly realise that the fire and aim idea isn't very simple. It is difficult to really know where you ball of energy that you're firing is going to land. So you just have to resort to the 'fire as many times as physically possible' tactic, hoping for the best. Towards the end of the ride, I got the hang of it a bit more, but that is a bit too late in the ride. It's a shame that there isn't a more involved / detailed explanation in the queue line as to how the system works, as it does take a while for most to adjust to it - and judging from the low scores from families, it does seem to be a difficult one for many to grasp. There is a vague story to the ride, but it's difficult to follow. You start off in training, before having to take down various bad guys, which leads to the big finale of the defeating the Great Devourer; a giant snake. But things happen so quickly that it's easy to get lost. You also battle alongside different ninjas during the ride, all of whom have their own special power. When they appear, you hear them say 'Use *insert their power there*', and I must admit I was confused as to whether I should be making different hand movements or if this was generic talk. However, the ride is very fast-paced, and it doesn't really need a story beyond 'Beat the bad guys', so it works well. After coming off, I was left surprised. Most shooter rides I'm just keen to find out if I've got the best score, but this left with a big smile on my face, and actually wanting to talk about the ride itself. It was a great ride, and I wanted to talk to others about how the cars moved, about the special effects, about what happened in terms of the story. The score wasn't the forefront of my mind. And the only other shooter to leave me feeling like that was Maus au Chocolat at Phantasialand. And, I was also keen to do it again, so I could experience the ride again. Not just so I could compete with people again, but so I could experience the fast-paced, crazy middle section, so I could get more interaction with the heat and wind effects. So I could experience the ride again, and not just some game. After a second time, I did understand things a bit more. The hand motion system was easier to use (though I ended up with a worse score...somehow). The story made more sense (when a different ninja with a different power appears, the shape of the balls you fire changes for example). Things seemed much clearer. And again, I loved the ride, not just the competitive element. Ninjago really is a great investment for Windsor. It feels very different to the rest of the park (in a good way), has a great throughput (full queue only takes about an hour!), themed uniforms, and offers something for the older end of the target market (and the adults!). It's something that has major re-ride value, and feels like something which would only improve as you ride it more (since things make more sense / are easier to use).

What Dom said. Review to come in the next couple of days.

It's a Ninjano from me...for now...

One could argue you're the lazy one, for not putting the effort in and posting pictures... Older photos: Disgustingly well themed. Also, hotel plan... I also believe that the next major coaster is coming on 2019. No idea what mind.

Water parks aren't normally something I pay much attention to, but there is no denying that that does look incredible..

I heard they hired a real demon. His salary is the affection felt for SBNO rides, such as Slammer.

If it follows the trend of Swarm and Ghost Train, it'll be calling *something*C20. I'm betting on it being GC20.

A- American theme parks have more accidents, and deaths, than European parks. Don't think that because they have certain measures we don't it means they're safer. B- The rapids rode in Australia had seatbelts.

I'll definitely be there then.

Are you going to build a wingrider behind the Magic Valley any time soon for the full Toverland experience?

Is that meant to be "sec (c!)" or "sec (c)!"? In either case that random factorial makes no sense. [/BoringMathematician]

Wasn't their a rumour a few years ago that the park looked into repainting Vampire but were quoted something around the £1 million mark to do a basic repaint? Especially at that time when money was seemingly being cut left, right and centre, it's not hard to see why they didn't repaint it at the time. I'm a bit surprised they didn't do what Towers have done in the past and repaint it to coincide with a big development (Smiler and Oblivion's repaint, and arguably Galactica and Nemesis' repaint)...

Thorpe don't have any pop badges this year (or at least haven't released any yet). A couple of years ago they tried doing them with kids meals but the idea never really took off like it has at Chessington and Legoland. All of the Thorpe ones are probably considered quite rare, and aside from the Ghost Train one (which was given out when people bought their Annual Passes), most were just staff swaps. These days it's a case of just looking out for badges on staff lanyards and hoping you can swap / be given one or two from them.

Hearing rumours that this investment (new entrance, plus new land) is totalling 30 million euros (just over £25m). This is a park that isn't even receiving 750,000 visitors a year.

An image of how the new area may look has surfaced over on...shudders...Theme Park Review.. The layout of the boat ride can be seen in dark blue. The first helix does seem to take some inspiration from Swarm's helix. Bit of a shame the pathways won't go closer if that's accurate though.

Anyone who says they enjoy Colossus clearly experiences too many knocks to the head on the ride and suffers such severe concussion they forget how bad it is.

Platform was 'announced' in April last year, but that was only because it accidentally was published online. Maze announcements tend to be July / August time of late, as they can then capitalise in the busy crowds with on park advertising. Certainly the past 4 years it's been that way. Before then, announcements used to be in September!

Following the delightful announcement that Slammer is no more, I want to be that annoying guy who creates the way too keen topic about what people would like to see in its place... I guess there is a serious undertone to this though. Unlike Loggers, for example, Slammer is quite visible around the park, and leaving it SBNO is quite obvious. So presumably the park will want to physically remove the ride sooner rather than later, if at all possible. So what would you like to see replace it? Would you like a new ride, and if so, what? Would you prefer the area to become a more open space, say to be used for small events? A redevelopment of Bush BBQ to extend that area? Leave the area blank and use it if / when X leaves the park? Bring your ideas TPM...and no suggestions of spins of the top variety...

Yay it's gone. I'm happy. Never got all the love over it. Never will. A picnic area would be better than Slammer, so I'd be happy with that. New ride would be a bonus though.

The park have now officially confirmed both attractions (the boat ride is going to be made by Mack) to be forming the new land, along with a new entrance to the park. Serious investment from such a small park...

The new water ride is just set to be a calm boat ride (like Tropical Travels for example). Given how nicely Toverland theme most of their rides, there's plenty of potential for it to be lovely. Depends how much money they're dumping to the new land though, as that wingrider won't be cheap...