JoshC.
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Posts posted by JoshC.
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Project 'Brain Trip', the rumoured to be abandoned 2017 thrilling dark ride attraction, is still in fact happening, with an open date of 14th April. Assuming nothing had changed, it's still going in the old 4D cinema which is near Lost Gravity.
Marketing started today, with this 'teaser' on the park's Facebook:
A construction picture is also on the park's Snapchat, @walisnaps. I'll link the Looopings article, which has more details and the pictures of construction: http://www.looopings.nl/weblog/6849/Walibi-Holland-geeft-eerste-hints-over-nieuwe-attractie.html
I believe Walibi Holland's director has also mentioned it won't feature virtual reality / has expressed a dislike for VR stuff. But with the project name and being located near Lost Gravity, it'll be interesting what the theme will be.
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Ha that's awesome. A bit un-Toverland in some ways but I'm sure they'll make it work.
The 100m ride thing is intersting - drop tower anyone?
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https://www.thorpepark.com/2017
NEW for 2017, experience Derren Brown’s Ghost Train: Rise Of The Demon.
Take your one way ticket on a horrifying journey into the chilling depths of the unknown. With intense live action and thrilling physical effects, the grasp of the Demon awaits.
Are you brave enough to come face to face with the Demon as it rises from the darkness? -
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Just now, Coaster said:
True, however it's more cuts in terms of different rides closing.
Saw Alive at Thorpe, and I was thinking of IAC (though that only closed on a temporary basis over FN). It just seems that a lot of Merlin's more recent investments (not only IP ones) are short term with no longevity.
I guess the way I'm seeing it is that it's not "more" cuts, in the sense that less money is being pumped into running the attractions.
I would assume that Hex and Driving School require more staff, and are more costly to run, than Toadstool and Ice Age? So in comparison to 2016, there aren't any 'cuts'. Obviously we can make the argument that the 'cuts' are still there because rides are closed, but I just don't see them as any 'more'.
Saw Alive is a weird one, since it still opens, though I did forget about that. IAC feels a bit of a non-point since it just doesn't open over FN; it's not 'closed' and a fair few theme parks do choose not to open some attractions over their Halloween events for various reasons (be that the space is used by FN attractions, operational demands, or whatever).
Do agree that a lot of Merlin's recent investments, especially the smaller scale stuff, do seem to be more short-term focused though.
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31 minutes ago, Coaster said:
Glad that Hex is reopening, but a shame to see yet more cuts to the lineup meaning it'll still be a sparse offering in 2017 (both in terms of rides and opening hours).
Ice Age is yet another IP attraction to close soon after opening.
Also if I recall correctly, wasn't CATCF closed "for TLC" last year? If so, why has it just been removed from the website?
I guess if we were to be pedantic, we're not seeing "more cuts to the line up", just a different reduced offering - two attractions are (re)opening, and two attractions are not running instead. So it's the same level of offering as 2016.
What other IPs have closed soon after opening? I wouldn't count CATCF as a 10 year stint (which was the rumour contracted length) is a reasonable time frame in my opinion, and I can't think of any others?
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Not the worst line up they could have produced to be fair.
Good to see them just opening rides for the event again to be honest!
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Colour me surprised they haven't milked the return of Hex and Driving School with 'BACK FOR 2017' or 'REFURBISHED FOR 2017' slogans plastered over them. Not that I'm complaining!
The loss of Toadstool is actually reasonably major though given how few rides there are for the market it targets.
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+1 for the Magic Valley soundtrack being fab.
I've heard the 'IMAScore music sounds very similar' point raised a few times, but it doesn't really bother me. All of their stuff works with the attractions they've been designed for, and with little knowledge of audio tech, I (and I guess the majority of people) don't really pick up on all the niggles that some do.
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55 minutes ago, Mitchada04 said:
Could we do Drayton with the Towers weekender this year? It's been 2 years since we last did it and with Towers going downhill fast it might be preferred?
If Towers Fireworks is a definite, could I perhaps even be daring enough to suggest the possibility of replacing the Towers weekender altogether?
Drayton is meant to maybe get a big-ish thing in 2018, so might be worth missing it this year. And there's loads of other places that could be done!
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According to the park's Facebook, Colossos will be closed for the 2017 season because they work required is more expensive and takes longer than initially expected.
Sad times.
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I've studied maths at university level for 5 years and memorised pi to 4 decimal places.
I'd suggest knocking those numbers out of your head and learn something; anything. It'll be more useful.
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Towers really has enthusiasts wrapped around their little finger.
Post a picture of a set of stairs being repainted on Twitter, get 100+ interactions, multiple fansites positively comment on it on their social media and pages of discussion across many forums. Means that hundreds, possibly thousands, of people become aware of something that otherwise would have gone unnoticed by the large majority and many enthusiasts wouldn't have commented on.
I might not like the idea of the Twitter account, but it's easy to see why they'll continue using it.
- MattyMoo, SteveJ, streetmagix and 2 others
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Echoing what others have said, prepare for it to be busy since it will be the middle of the Easter break for kids. Being a Sunday though, it might be a bit quieter than other days.
As others have said, in terms of the coasters, your best bet is to head towards Colossus and Saw first, then make your way towards Nemesis Inferno and Stealth afterwards. Swarm is best done in the early afternoon (2-3pm).
In terms of flat rides, the likes of Slammer, Samurai, Rush and Detonator are always well received. Slammer usually opens later in the day, and during 2016 was closed between 3-3:30pm most days.
Ghost Train should be done - it's certainly not everyone's cup of tea, but it's worth experiencing it to at least understand what it's all about! It's hard to say when is best to do it since 2016 was so temperamental - maybe check back after the park opens and see how it's been doing for the first couple weeks?
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This article was shared by IAAPA via Twitter: http://www.travelpulse.com/news/features/travel-trends-2017-what-can-we-expect-from-amusement-parks.html
The following might be of interest...
For example, Plopsaland De Panne in De Panne, Belgium, has a new virtual reality wooden roller coaster called “Heidi The Ride.” It reaches speeds of more than 43 mph.
Of course, should be taken with a pinch of salt, since there's been no word of this from Plopsa and this 2017 oriented article talks of Mackpool18, but who knows...
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1 hour ago, 'Airtime Falcon' said:
Something I don't understand, if they spent three years creating the experience then surely they would have enough time to make the 2nd VR section high quality. For example, the demon looks horrifically rushed (the rendering is crap); was a last minute decision or something?
I probably should've said this back in the summer but I may as well mention it.
The three year thing shouldn't be taken so literally either.
Major attractions will always take a long time to develop behind the scenes. It'd be interesting to find out any more details about the timeline of the attraction's development tbh; when was Derren contacted, how long he took to get on board, when they decided to go for a dark ride, when they decided to go for VR, etc. etc. I imagine after the perceived-failure of Swarm, 2013 was around the time they started to consider a non-coaster major investment, and there were first rumours of a Derren Brown attraction in 2014, so that gives a vague timeline, but nothing specific.
Certainly whatever happened, VR must have been later on in the process. It seems plausible to say that the core idea was always going to be a 'ghost train', with the idea of moving scenes without you noticing, and as time went on, VR became a more viable solution to consider as a way to distract you from the movement. So the time spent designed the VR is only a fraction of the 3-year time frame.
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That was the most popular name in a poll last year, though partly because it appeared twice...
https://uk.toluna.com/polls/5098013/A-UK-theme-park-is-considering-opening-a-ride-based-on-the
None of those names seem particularly appealing, though I'd have preferred The Gruffalo Riverboat.
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4 hours ago, Coaster said:
In my opinion, theme parks should be about taking you away from everyday things like screens, and letting you enjoy the thrill of a coaster, or an immersive dark ride with REAL theming and effects.
There's no escapism or fun about having a screen on your face, but that's just my personal opinion.
Just out of interest, how many dark rides have you done that involve screens?
I completely get your opinion and stance; theme parks are one of the few mediums that can put you in a 'real' place with real things, and get you to interact with them, be that by zooming past them on a roller coaster, slowly moving through them as things happen all around you or whatever.
However, that doesn't mean screens (and in turn, VR) have no place in parks. For me personally, I love Maus au Chocolat at Phantasia, at the use of screens allows it to do what it does - there's no way you can create hundreds of mice-shaped targets running around a chocolate factory causing havoc with real theming and make it look believable. And look at rides like Spiderman and Forbidden Journey at IOA; screen based rides which are almost universally adored. Yes, screens might be everyday things, but that doesn't mean you can't do extraordinary things with them.
I only ask if you've done screen-based dark rides because I'm curious as to whether you just aren't keen on the idea, or if you've just not liked any you've experienced, or what. I know in the past I was somewhat unsure of the idea of the idea. Whichever it is, I hope you get the chance to experience one which could show you that not everything has to be real.
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I'd say it has a place.
With VR becoming more widely available, I reckon the fad of chucking cheap VR on roller coasters (see Six Flags' attempts) will die away very quickly and lose all appeal. And I don't see VR roller coasters have too much of a long term future - having them as optional add-ons seems like an okay idea, or having them in special events, but that's still an awful lot of work for what it is and that effort probably could be spent elsewhere in most cases.
However, high-quality VR used in an appropriate manner certainly has a place. It could be the new-age simulator attractions. It could be used as a way to disguise unsightly ride systems. It could be used as a way to distract people from movements (such as how DBGT does - you think the train movements are all to do with the VR, and forget / don't realise you're actually moving until you leave).
So yeah, tl;dr - VR has a place in theme parks, just not on coasters, thrill rides, etc
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A couple of pictures of the Old Town area courtesy of 'UK Theme Parks' Facebook...
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The animal motive is working well for Chessington though. Incorporating animals or real-world areas into attractions has worked well for the park - Scorpion Express, despite my personal opinions, seems to have gone down well. Wild Asia is probably the second-best investment Chessington have made this century. Zufari further integrated the park and zoo and has been received alright. The zoo itself is still a big draw for people to visit the place. etc
Yeah, they've gone a bit mad on the Africa-side of things, but the animal theme and integration between zoo and theme park is one of the few good things Chessington had/has going for it. So I don't see an issue with having a carousel whose aim is to try and show that off. It's basically what the old one did - show off everything good about Chessington!
2017
in The Past
Posted
Are you suggesting that painting coasters makes them smoother?