JoshC.

Both an unfortunate yet humorous typo there.

Went to Chessington yesterday, since family wanted a go on Bubbleworks before it gets its retheme. As ever, I don't really have much positive to say, so I'll keep it short.. -Tried the Smokehouse. Food wasn't very nice, overpriced and the service wasn't great either. Bring back Greedy Goblin. -Queue times seemed quite over-exaggerated. -Painfully slow operations. Kobra being the worst offender - had a queue which should have taken 15 minutes, took 40. That wasn't helped by staff stopping the ride mid-cycle because someone was screaming, and they thought she wanted to get off... -Fair few staff (a minority of staff I stress, but still enough for it to be noticeable) seemed quite low in mood, and in general not very pleasant to be around. Yeah, it's the height of summer and it's busy and stressful, but that doesn't excuse not smiling and deliver basic customer service.. -Pandamonium was naff, and didn't seem well received by the audience in general. A couple of positives though... -Park close time has been extended till 6pm for the rest of summer it seems, which is good. -Lorikeet Lagoon is still fab. -We left early. If it wasn't for Bubbleworks going, don't think family would have gone, and I certainly wouldn't have initiated any sort of visit any time soon. But the problems in and around the park are still plain to see, and it doesn't feel like they're going to be sorted any time soon.

I went on Bubbleworks yesterday and the whole experience seemed very...quick. I haven't been on it for a few years, so I'm not sure if memory is serving me poorly, but does anyone know if the ride has been sped up in any way (by, say, making the flow of the water faster)? Another reason for me thinking this is that they seemed to struggle to fill every boat because ride staff couldn't organise people quickly enough, and an overflowing queue only took 25 minutes ish, despite being advertised as 55. As for the ride itself, it was dreadful and depressing. I'm so glad they've decided to give it a lot of attention, since it's actually pretty embarrassing in it's current state.

Which rides have you experienced on low capacity out of interest? When I've been there, major coasters have opened on full capacity all but one time. X is the main offender with its 2 trains for so long, but that's on 3 now, which is seemingly the mot we get now. And any other multi-car rides have been on high / full capacity for me. Also, to be fair to the park, until recently, the only ride which was suffering any sort of problems / closures was Ghost Train. Everything else was going good. But then Stealth died and things seemed to go downhill and the worst possible time. It's all very frustrating and unfortunate, but the park have handled it very well in terms of compensating people. Handing out free tickets to return this season might not always be the answer, but people are very happy to get that it seems.

I think people are being a bit harsh on Fright Nights as a whole here. Yes, Big Top last year wasn't great theming-wise (though I believe that was more down to Scruffy Dog than Thorpe, but that's neither here nor there when it comes to the experience). And I think Thorpe will know and accept that, and take action to improve upon it. Let's also not forget that Big Top is the only example of Thorpe not 'finishing' a maze to a high enough standard. However, from a creative standpoint, Thorpe have been pretty out there. Since Experiment 10 (a maze which, whilst brilliant, was something which would only ever have had a short life span anyway in my opinion), we've seen... -The Passing. Cheap, but effective and reasonably well received once the flaws were ironed out. -Cabin in the Woods. An award winning maze which gained a lot of attention within the industry. Did something that wasn't really done in the past. -Blair Witch Project. Not great in its first year, but massively improved in 2014/15 and a very different maze. -My Bloody Valentine. Nothing special in all honesty, but the claustrophobia thing seemed to work for many people. -Studio 13. Bog standard maze. -Containment. Catching on with the escape room craze, hopefully sees some improvements / adjustments this year. Okay, they weren't perfect and had their flaws (some more than others), but they all showed flairs of orignaility, an attempt to push the boundary or just try and do something really well. On top of that, there's been a massive increase in roaming actors, Face it Alone and overnight experiences. So as a whole, Fright Nights has really grown recently, and really does have potential to be something special, with the right push. Platform 15 is also again something original, something which will seemingly mix indoor and outdoor elements, and has the chance for a good in-maze story and length. In honesty, I haven't noticed much difference in terms of quality between the Lionsgate mazes and original mazes. They've always had suitable theming, similar-ish lengths and used the same tactics. I prefer the themes of the original mazes, but that's about it. Clown mazes are done a lot, yes, but that's because they're well received by the public. If there's a demand for something, why not play to it? The copious power cuts last season were very frustrating, but I don't think it's anything that we can blame Thorpe for given it was problems externally. Towers did step their game up last year, but every other year, Scarefest was just a standard, unremarkable event, which ticked along. Yes, it had decent attractions, but they were always very safe and just did things well. Hopefully it does give Thorpe a push to up their game a bit though!

New for 2017 - What's in a Number? Thorpe Park presents this new, free, interactive show, explaining in great, enormous, detail the reasons behind adding numbers to some of their Fright Nights attractions. Show length: 30 seconds

Thorpe did do an afternoon-evening ticket thing last Summer Nights (or it might have been the 2014 one, can't remember), but it made next to no difference on the popularity. They also tried summer fireworks in 2006, but cancelled them due to lack of demand. I know I'm probably coming across as somewhat dismissive, but I honestly do think it's a case of there's not enough demand for late summer openings in the UK. Halloween events work because of the ever growing scare market (which mostly only works on a large scale in October anyway). I'd love to see it happen, but I can't see any way of it substantially happening in the UK.

As said above, AI benefits greatly from being a seaside park. And if you exclude the seaside parks, Thorpe have the second-best summer opening hours in the UK (with the oh-so-popular Oakwood having the best...). So in context of the UK, Thorpe's opening times are very decent, and aren't really the ones which need sorting out. I honestly do think it's a cultural thing. People in the UK like to start early so they can leave early it seems. The parks are always so busy in the morning, with a huge rush of people coming in at the start of the day. And between 5-6pm, Thorpe, for example, are quite quiet. And I don't think it's a case of 'leaving early to beat the closing rush', as that doesn't happen with parks that have a 5pm close. So it just seems like a larger majority of people naturally leave by 5pm-ish anyway. And even with things to entice them to stay late (Summer Nights, concerts, fireworks, etc.), there doesn't seem to be that many people willing to stay late during summer. That's why late closes seem to work so much better in European parks in my opinion. Different culture, with people more willing to stay later (and maybe even arrive later). Obviously there might be other reasons and I might be completely off the mark, but it just seems like late openings at UK theme parks don't really work during the summer.

This is a good point, and one which always left me concerned from a marketing perspective. Can Thorpe continue to grow and bring people in with no new coasters for an 8 year period (assuming 2020 is the next big investment and is a coaster)? Without good medium sized investments, I'm not sure. As I've said 100 times, I'd love to see the park invest in racing/duelling Vekoma junior boomerangs. Great family investment, but fun for everyone, a legitimate and easy-to-market world first, visually stunning, decent enough throughput and come at a good price. The only issue would be space; even by removing a flat ride, it wouldn't be easy to achieve.

Here's the official line: https://www.thorpepark.com/faqs/

Not necessarily. The UK theme park industry only really got into swing in the early 90s, so UK theme park enthusiasm really only started in the mid-to-late 90s. Very few people would be "enthusiasts" in the way we're talking, then move onto being park management. Of course, the people who run many of the theme parks do enjoy theme parks and are enthusiastic about them, but there's a different between being enthusiastic, and being an enthusiast. Seems a bit of a needless dig at him when he's the one who's openly agreed with many enthusiast comments (love of woodies being a notable one), and was also one of the (marketing?) driving forces behind Nemesis, an enthusiasts dream ride...

It'd be funnier if it said 'When the ocean bed is full' to be honest, but points for originality.

UK enthusiasts taking over the UK theme parks?

I believe the spooky shed was used for access to underneath Loggers' first lift hill. Was just themed for the sake of theming! Aside from the train theme, Platform 15 and DBGT are no way related though. My biggest concern about using the old CCR loop for a FN maze (which seems almost certain now) is the proximity to Saw. Even if you enclose the sections that are close to Saw, there's still going to be a lot of loud, distracting noises nearby. Could potentially spoil the atmosphere. No doubt it's something that's been considered and they've got a way round it, but it seems like one of those things you can't be 100% certain about until it goes live.

Seems a shame to chuck a ride into that nice big open space to be honest. The area worked nicely as just a plaza with no ride in my opinion. Then again, if it's done right, then I'm sure it could be a nice focal point for the park. Not to dissimilar to the chairswing at Phantasialand really. But it comes down to if they do it right, which given recent investments, feels like a big if.

Oh definitely. I suppose it was a poor choice of words, but I agree; 2 major rides out is enough for anyone to want to at least consider asking for a free return ticket.

Crust has indeed closed. The only time it was ever busy was the 2011 fireworks event, because it was right next to the viewing area. And even then, it wasn't exactly popular because of the prices and lack of quality. One can only assume they were locked into a contract, which was why they didn't leave sooner.

Completely forgot this meet was a thing. Alas, won't be attending due to working.

They're now also serving sirloin steak (cooked to order) and Bratwurst hot dogs!

It's all well and good saying things need to improve operationally, but when their headline coaster is closed (due to unfortunate, unseen circumstances) and their big new ride is suffering teething problems, it already backs them into a very difficult position. Even if all other rides ran flawlessly, there would likely be plenty of people who would be clambering for a free return ticket.

NB: Capacity - Number of people in one train at any one time Throughput - Number of people through the ride per hour

I'm sure the ride will be fixed. I don't think they're planning on just leaving the ride there broken forever. Unfortunately, machines do break and some breaks can take a long time to fix.

For all the geeks out there, Phantasialand have announced that Taron is 1320m long (making it the 9th longest coaster in Europe, and "the longest multi-launch coaster in the world without an inversion"), and 117 kmph / ~73mph, making it the 7th fastest in Europe.

It hasn't been confirmed either way yet. However, if this page is accurate (which I believe it is), then I think we can infer that Containment will be an upcharge attraction.

I've wanted to complete my BelGerAnd2 "trip report" for a while, mostly for sake of completion, but I've really struggled to figure out what to say about Phantasialand. It's easy to sing the praises for the park, and most of those praises would see me reiterate myself. So let's get those out of the way... Maus au Chocolat and Chiapas are the perfect examples of how to a shooting dark ride and water ride respectively. Black Mamba is a great coaster that really turns into a beast in the afternoon, and Winjas is a fine example of how to blend coaster and 'other' elements into one ride. Colorado Adventure is a neat little family ride, though nothing *that* special in my books. River Quest is disgustingly terrifying and yet amazingly fun, and the new theming it's received thanks to Klugheim is great (though I wish they disguised the lifts a bit better). The Berlin area is generally fab too. The park's general atmosphere, theming, sense of showmanship and storytelling is surely one of the best in Europe. And, in an unusual twist for me, I'll focus a bit more on the negatives... Mystery Castle I honestly do not get the fuss over this ride. I went into it last year with no real idea of what to expect and was left disappointed. Though after hearing there's 2 cycles, one of which is not great, I was left with a glimmer of hope. But this year, I realised that what I had previously experienced was in fact the 'good cycle', and I had the joy of experiencing the not-so-good one. Disappointed is probably the best word that describes my feelings about this. Underwhelmed also springs to mind. But at least the queue is fantastically themed! China Though the China area looks good, the two dark rides (a madhouse and omnimover) are far from good. The madhouse is definitely my least favourite one I've been on, and the omnimover is more outdated than anything else. The trouble these rides have is that whatever park they were in, they would only ever be 'okay' or 'passable' at best, and so their quality - or lack of - sticks out like a sore thumb in Phantasialand. I know not everything can be sorted out all at once and these are on the potential hit list, but that doesn't mean it's acceptable. Temple of the Nighthawk Jack and Matt seemed to adore this because of the new music it has. But I still found it awful and boring and just generally a waste of space. Again, it's another ride like the Chinese duo; it's lack of quality sticks out so badly within the park. And, unlike China, it feels slightly forgotten and neglected, almost as if the park are just waiting to axe it. Operations Perhaps a bit of an odd one, but one thing I noticed during our visit was that some of the operations weren't great. Not really talking about throughputs or getting through the queues here, moreso how they dealt with them generally. Queue times weren't that accurate (especially on the not-so-big rides) and queue boards weren't updating properly (the boards were advertising a 6pm close for a few hours when it was in fact an 8pm close, leaving some confusion). And when one of the Winjas coasters closed, they still allowed the queue to split, creating confusion in the queue and havoc in the station area. Something that should have been dealt with better, especially since the side that did close seemed to have a problem which didn't have a quick solution. Klugheim Not to leave this blog post on a negative note, let's talk about Klugheim. It's reason enough to make the effort to go to Phantasialand. Taron might not be everyone's cup of tea, and it might not break into everyone's Top 10, but I can see it being appreciated by almost all of the enthusiast community (and the general public as well). Raik is a solid family coaster, and Klugheim in general is a fantastic area to explore. Oh, and the staff uniforms for that area are just incredible. Also, much to whole group's excitement, we got to (albeit briefly) speak to Chris, one of the park's managers who was seen in build up videos to Klugheim's opening. He was a super nice guy, and he let us queue up for front row on Taron at the end of the day, despite them closing the front row queue. Only wish we had more time to talk to him because he genuinely seemed so passionate and excited about the coaster when we saw him in the station area; very hands on too! I really hope that despite my laziness in writing this up, and focusing a bit too much on the negatives, the absolute joy I had at Phantasialand is still shining through somehow. Yes, there's a couple of niggles and a few rides that are getting past their shelf life, but recent investments indicate that when they kick the bucket, something incredible will come in its place. I genuinely cannot wait to go back, and I really hope more and more people but Phantasia on their radar!