JoshC.

The park's director said back in February that 2019 would be a unique coaster costing more than Lost Gravity (though there's been no mention of how much Lost Gravity cost). 2017 was said to be a thrill ride, though no sort of monetary budget was rumoured.

Can we please stop the all this petty bickering now - any more of it here will just be deleted. If absolutely necessary, take it to PM. Thanks.

Goliath, the park's headline coaster, is getting a repaint to help celebrate the ride's 15th birthday next season... I like the colour, though some of the community seem to be a bit wary of the loss of the iconic green. In other news, the potential new ride for next year (which was said to be a thrill ride replacing the old 4D theatre near Lost Gravity) might not be happening. One of their Halloween attractions, The Clinic, used the space this year, and had a lot of money thrown at it apparently, and is also returning next year (if you're a fan of scare attractions, I'd recommend looking it up!). But given that this is Walibi, who knows what they're planning...

Ooh, nice thread idea! UK-wise, Vampire's tunnel immediately springs to mind. Also, The Antelope at Gulliver's Warrington had a surprise drop somewhere which 8-year old me loved (see my blog post: http://forum.maniahub.com/blogs/entry/317-what-was-the-thing-with-the-antelope/ ). European-wise, Huracan at Bellewaerde is a standout for it's awesome pre-lift dark ride-esque section; the coaster section is a complete waste of a theme and location! The vertical loop on Typhoon at Bobbejaanland deserves a mention for being so darn intense.

Canada Creek Railway back in 1994. [/OldSchool]

I don't even need to add a comment.

I think we need a "Most Desparate to Want an Award" category at this rate...

Couple of photos of the demon costume in making from the company hired to make it if anyone is curious... http://www.plungeproductions.com/archives/7668

I don't get people's problems about this topic being made at this time of year. Not like there's much else to talk about, and with this year's event still reasonably fresh in mind, improvements will still come to people's heads.. Not only that, Fright Nights is Thorpe's headline event, their busiest part of the season and one of the UK's biggest and well-known Halloween events. With Thorpe growing in popularity and getting more attention overseas, it's also expanding into being well known across Europe, which is only a good thing. So what's the harm in discussing such an important time in the park's calendar a little bit early, and throwing out some opinions? I'm totally against reviving mazes though; especially ones which have been gone for years. I'm not even a fan of having a maze's name brought back in name as a sequel after so many years (so no "Experiment 10: Contamination" please). I don't mind if mazes are sequentially year-on-year (like the Black trilogy at Warwick Castle), but bringing back mazes / maze themes just doesn't sit right with me. Might just be me though.

UK-wise, I guess it'll be the standard Merlin quartet. Would like to be doing Paultons next year since I couldn't fit it in this year.. Abroad, Liseberg, Efteling and Phantasialand are all high up on the list and pretty much must-dos. Plopsaland (if Heidi ever opens), Movie Park Germany and Bagatelle would all be very nice too. Aside from them, I'd like to look into Port Aventura, Disneyland Paris, Europa Park and Walibi Holland (for Halloween), but all of them would very much be time and cost dependent..

It's come to that time of year again - it's the Thorpe Park Mania Awards! Once again, we are using SurveyMonkey to collect the results. If you've never used it before, don't worry - it's dead easy! By popular demand, we've kept the same awards as last year, which are... PARK AWARDS: -Best UK Park -Best UK Coaster -Best UK Flat Ride -Best UK Water Ride -Best UK Dark Ride -Best UK Themed Experience -Worst UK Ride -Best International Park -Best International Coaster -Best New-for-2016 Attraction (can be in the UK) -Best International Themed Experience -Most Uncomfortable Ride -Most Disappointing Merlin Moment 2016 -Best Looking Attraction for 2017 -Best Manufacturer FORUM AWARDS: -Best Member -Best Team Member -Best New Member -Best Quality Posts -Best Official TPM Meet -Most Knowledgeable Member -Most Dedicated Member -Most Sarcastic Member -Most Likely to be Banned in 2017 -Funniest Member -Biggest Fanboy/girl -Sexiest Male -Sexiest Female -Storm Surge Award -Cutest Couple -Member you'd like to see more of And here's some clarifications in case any of the above are confusing... You don't have to vote for all the categories if you don't want! Please you forum usernames rather than real names - makes things easier For the park awards, feel free to vote for parks / rides you like the look of the best (especially the case of International Awards, where members might not have been on many / any foreign rides). Team Members are any member with an orange box underneath their username. We're working on a way of finding a list of new members for 2016 as we speak. Member's join dates can be found on their profiles if you have someone in mind! Storm Surge Award: Vote for the member who you think reminds you of Storm Surge or should be awarded a Storm Surge for their efforts in TPM. Member you'd like to see more of Award: Vote for the member who you'd like to see post on the forums more often / see at meets / generally get to know a bit better! These are of course meant to be a bit of fun, so just enjoy the ride! CAST YOUR VOTES HERE! Voting will close at 8pm on Friday 16th December. Please do not vote after this time as your votes will not count but you may be charged... If there's any questions, problems or whatever, please PM me and I'll get back to you. Happy voting!

This chap wants the full experience though: I can see The Mirror headlines now... 'Backwards Facing Alton Towers! Theme park fails to provide suitable experiences for extremely flexible people; discrimination!!!'

Hope you all grabbed some popcorn or something during this brief intermission. Anyways, here's the second half... #7 - Cabin in the Woods (2013-2016) Years experienced: 2013-2016 To be honest, Cabin has gotten progressively worse each season for me. I'm sure that's partly down to getting used to it all, as newbies in the maze really are blown away by the idea. However, the original version in 2013 was by far the best. The idea of the maze was that you would enter a room, close the door, and something would happen. Every room had an actor and seemed to have a special effect to go with it. Maybe I just got a good run, but it felt a lot more interactive and the aim was actually achieved. It wasn't scary, but it was certainly a lot of fun! #6 - Saw Alive (2010-2016) Years experienced: 2010-2016 I'm including this as a Fright Nights attraction, even if it didn't start off as one. I've experienced Saw loads of times, due to it being open all season in 2010 and 2011, so I guess it show how much I like it given how high up it is. It's got a good use of effects, which is something a fair few of the other mazes lack. And it later years, it's become a bit more theatrical, which gives it a different feel to the others. I've definitely got a soft spot for Saw Alive, and I might be over-rating it a tad, but I really have enjoyed it the past couple of years, which I guess helps! (Concept art from Thorpe Park) #5 - Containment (2015-2016) Years experienced: 2015, 2016 2015 Containment was average at best to be honest. But Containment for 2016 was fabulous; from the nice pre-show, to the fun tasks to the fantastic actors. Everything just worked, and left me with a huge smile on my face. The fears included were of a nice range, from the common to the not-so-common: numerophobia (numbers), chronophobia (time), trypanophobia (needles) and haemophobia (blood). It might be because this is the only escape room that I've done that I enjoy it so much, but it's at least set the bar high, and got me itching to try and another horror escape room! Image from Scruffy Dog #4 - Experiment 10 (2011-2012) Years experienced: 2011, 2012 Experiment 10 was one of the most difficult ones to place on the list. The beginning was pure genius, and the first time I experienced it, it did shock and surprise me. But from there, it went downhill, with little to write home about. And let's not talk about the 2012 version and ending shall we. Nevertheless, the reception scene, decontamination sequence and isolation rooms were absolutely fantastic, and a brilliant way to start off a scare attraction. If the same atmosphere and intensity from actors could have been matched during the rest of the maze, it certainly would have been higher up! Image from scare-zone.com #3 - The Big Top (2015-2016) Years experienced: 2015, 2016 Obviously for this, I'm referring to the 2016 version. Don't get me wrong, 2015 Big Top had a lot of potential and was fun on some runs, but it just wasn't up to scratch when all was said and done. 2016 Big Top had a nice mix of everything though. The Madame Mephisto scene was nice, the playground area was fantastic, and showed me how a mesh-strobe-scene can work. Then the rest of the maze had plenty of theming and nice, open, sets which all worked really well - especially the clown wash room! Yeah, chainsaw ending doesn't quite fit in with the rest of the maze, and it's a bti cliché, but it still works at least! It is just so much fun and is designed so that it's really easy to scare people. #2 - Se7en (2006-2011) Years experienced: 2009-2011 I honestly think that Se7en was quite under-rated during it's time at Fright Nights. It got a lot of hate for being in a white tent, and I think its first couple of years weren't that well received generally, but the times I experienced it, it was a solid, dependable maze, featuring fab theming, great smells and effects and a variety of different scare tactics. 2011 was a stand-out season for Se7en though - actors seemed to have been given more leverage on what they could do, and were very full on throughout. Sure, some of the rooms had lost their appeal after going through it multiple times (in particular the Envy room), but things like the Gluttony room remain in my mind - and nostrils! - to this very day. I know tents aren't the ideal situation for a horror maze, but based on how this and Big Top have gone down, I'd be happy to see more of them back in the future for greater in-maze experiences. Image from Theme Park Tourist #1 - Studio 13 (2014) Years experienced: 2014 I adored this maze. It's the only scare attraction where I've truly felt part of the story. The beginning felt like a backstage tour of a film studio where something wasn't quite right. The middle felt like being part of a horror film. The end was executed brilliantly, with the horror film spilling out into real life, and definitely gave me a shock (moreso because of my expectations than anything else, but still...) The theming was largely very good as well, and the actors all seemed to work well with the maze in my runs. It all just gelled really well to create quite possibly my favourite scare maze to date! Image from lukedysonphotography.org And that's a wrap! Here's to more gorious years of Fright Nights...I look forward to what next season brings...

When I visited Walibi Belgium Pulsar did seem to have a few issues with the turntable not working. Not too unexpected I guess given it's new technology and all that. There was no obvious clunk or roughness over the turntable section either, but how it will stand the test of time is a concern. But since its Mack, I'm sure it's been thought through.

Isn't 5D basically just 4D but with a physically moving transit system? So still meaningless marketing dribble in one sense, but I guess you could argue 5D is a legitimate thing...

Figured we may as well have a Mack thread since they're awesome. At this year's IAAPA, Mack revealed their "Xtreme Spinning Coaster" concept... (Image from CF Twitter) In short: -3 launches -Spinning cars train -4 track inversions The interesting parts come with the ability to add a turntable in the station (like Pulsar at Walibi Belgium), so there can be 2 trains, with one in load and one on the circuit - see 1:18 in the video. However, more interesting is the ability to have two separate stations and a traverser between the circuit; allowing for 2 different types of trains, with the video showing spinning car trains and BigDipper trains (like Lost Gravity at Walibi Holland) - see 1:41 in the video. It has been said that a park has bought one; though not sure if that's for the 2in1 or the turntable station. Looks like an interesting concept, and we now see what that test spinning car on Blue Fire was for.,..

Efteling released some concept art of the preshow room for Symbolica a while back. Spoilering because Efteling concept art is so realistic... Also, Python is set to be closed for pretty much the whole of April, May and June for its refurb, with rumours of a whole track replacement rife..

http://www.looopings.nl/weblog/6461/Acht-buren-klagen-over-Plopsaland-vanwege-ontbreken-vergunning.html?coockie=accepted Plopsaland have revealed that during this saga, there's been 8 formal complaints about the lack of environmental permit, as well as general noise and traffic issues. They have, however, also received formal letters of support. So in other words, nothing to worry about, they'll get a new permit and all will be fine. Bring on Heidi!

I'll give a +1 to whoever can put this list in alphabetical order. It's annoying me way more than it should.

Please no.

It does - you just have to ask them to change the setting!

We're in a country where thousands of people voted to leave the EU without knowing what the EU is. We're in a country where millions of people read the likes of The Sun, Mirror and Daily Mirror, all of whom have been thrashing 'Alton Towers is unsafe' headlines down people's throats for the past 18 months. We're in an age where everyone has an opinion and overlooks facts, thanks to the rise of social media and ridiculous 'news websites' which are just full of click bait. Don't overestimate the general public's ability to see the obvious. Despite what we as enthusiasts see and think, the public can be very very stupid and gullible.

This is precisely an example of social media being evasive. "Loggers Leap is under redevelopment for 2017" - this can have two meanings. One meaning is that it's being developed to open in the 2017 season. The other is that it's being developed during the 2017. It's ambiguous. "We hope for it to make a splashback soon" - this is related to the ride opening; "hope" and "soon" being key words. Hoping means nothing really - you can hope for anything to happen, but it doesn't mean that it will or that it won't. Saying soon gives an endless timescale, since there's no real way to measure 'soon-ness'. Put all that together and what they're saying is "Loggers Leap is closed for 2017, and it may or may not reopen in the future". But they're giving people an evasive response to try and stop people questioning about it all the time. And people will buy it.

I've moved this topic to 'The Future', for two reasons... 1) It's funny seeing people get over-worked up over where a topic on a forum is being placed, and this place seems rather inappropriate. 2) If Loggers Leap does return, and that's a pretty big if, I reckon we would see some changes. Related to the second point, if anyone genuinely believes that Loggers Leap is reopening in 2017, they are surely kidding themselves. No work has been done to it. Social media is very evasive over the subject. There's been no firm rumours about its return. And Merlin wouldn't miss the opportunity for a minor spruce up to go down as a major refurb which should be heavily marketed. It all points to it not reopening in 2017. If anyone does feel particularly strongly about the location of this topic and can put forth a genuinely compelling argument as to why a SBNO ride should remain in a subforum about present day things, then please contact a team member...

Maybe the idea is to make it more Christmas, and Christmas Grotto, focused leading up to Christmas? So the whole idea of people going is for the Christmas stuff and all that, as opposed to going on a zoo day where there just happens to be a couple of Christmas bits? If done right, then I don't have an issue with there being a slight upcharge for Annual Passholders. Then again, £16pp is still too much for Passholders in my opinion...