JoshC.

Nice name; I like it. Doesn't exactly scream spinning coaster to me, but who knows!

For me personally, the standard expectation for any ride should be that it will be enjoyable and "good". So having low expectations is essentially the same as assuming something will be bad. I do get what you're saying though, what with the 'future of theme parks' and all that. But whether that claim is worthwhile or not should have no leanings towards the quality of the attraction itself.

You see, I just hate that argument personally. If you're "pleasantly surprised" that an attraction is enjoyable, when they're meant to be enjoyable, then quite frankly, there's something up. With any ride / attraction / experience, you should go into it expecting that you will enjoy it and have fun. Or, failing that,at least appreciate it for what it is. You shouldn't have to hype it up as a best ride ever, or expect it to be bad. Then, if a ride fails to meet that expectation, it's a bad ride. If it meets it, you have a good ride.

I get where a fair amount of the negativity comes from. In particular, I can see why people I very sceptical about whether a Merlin theme park can sustain a large-scale dark ride long term. But for people to go into it with low expectations is just silly really. If you're going into an attraction expecting it to be bad, then why are you going into it at all? It seems pointless. I can get it in some circumstances - for example, if you're riding a coaster which is known to be rough, but you still want to try it out, etc. But if you're following the construction of something completely new and expect it to be bad, why even bother?

Yeah, as Ryan says, this happens quite often, at all different times, on all the forums: http://forum.maniahub.com/topic/3156-samurai/?p=141946 http://www.coasterforce.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=33243 http://forum.towerstimes.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=115&t=36548&p=635207 it's just the stock image that the 'Ride Traders' site uses.

Some new concept art for the wooden coaster, from Plopsa's FB: Confirms the name too. Looking forward to this!

Answer spoilered, in case you're only wanting Creeky's answer...

There's a report about it on the Guardian's news site: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/07/syrian-civilians-killed-us-airstrike

Oooh, interesting. It's a bit more than an inverted top hat, but not quite a banana roll. Whatever sort of coaster this turns out to be, it's sure going to be full of surprises!

I wouldn't want to see Thorpe 'bring back' mazes in the way people are suggesting; I don't get the appeal of it. The only maze I'd like to see return is Experiment 10, but even then, I'd like to see it with an improved layout / more isolation chambers so that it could deal with its own popularity. But since we're listing our 5 favourite Fright Nights attractions... -Studio 13: The Motel -Experiment 10 -Blair Witch Project (well, in 2014/2015) -Cabin in the Woods -Se7en

Creek hit the nail on the head - the excavation of, and construction in, Oblivion's tunnel will have been very expensive. Also, even back then, the investment costs of rides at Towers will include everything, from construction to advertising. Oblivion had a lot of advertising go into it during 1997, and it will all add up.

Yeah okay.

I don't disagree with any of that. However, Charlie's point was he was disgusted how many people are Conservative. My point is that only 24% of people identify themselves as Conservative to the level where they can be bothered to vote. And that's not a majority of people.

Anything + Matt Creek's YouTube videos -

Well Chessington HAS lost its sparkle in recent years..

11.3 million people voted Conservative in this year's General Election. A quick Google search said that the population of the UK was about 64.1 million. Hence the 17-18% figure. That number includes all those who can't vote though. So it turns out about 46.5 million people were registered to vote, and only 11.3 million voted Conservative - about 24%. Again, still hardly a majority. You can count non voters since they will not vote for a variety of reasons and, more importantly, they did note vote Conservative.

Only about 17-18% of the country voted Conservative at this year's General Election. Hardly a majority. As for the bombing of Syria, I know very little about the whole scenario, so can't really give any views.

This gif was recently posted on Coasterforce... Looks pretty darn cool!

Apologises for creating a thread about a ridiculously obscure park that next-to-no-one on here will likely visit any time soon, but I think it's worthy of its own thread.. So, Ankapark is a new park being built in Turkey, due to open in August 2016. And amazingly, they're planning on opening not 1, not 2, not 3, ... , but FIFTEEN roller coasters. Insane really. A full list of the coasters confirmed so far is on RCDB: http://rcdb.com/12017.htm Most interesting ones are naturally the Intamin 10-inverting (new style layout and presumably trains, like Altair) and an unknown Intamin family launch coaster (possibly like Juvulen). Unfortunately the rest of the coasters are pretty much cheap, off-the-shelf coasters, and even a couple of random Chinese manufacturers. So, for the most part, the park have gone for quantity over quality, but I guess it's an exciting development for Turkey. But then again, with 2 coasters completely unknown, there might still be a surprise in store.. Anyways, a few of the coasters have already been built. Here's a photo of the 10-looper:

Update on the 2 other coasters (images from VHCoasters' Facebook): Some of the track for the SFX coaster has gone up, showing one of the inversions. Here's another photo, from earlier on in construction. I think it really shows the scale of the track: And a photo of the Intamin shuttle coaster. Apparently, it's meant to go through the glass and the track is meant to spike vertically upwards..

This video and style is a lot better that the random Swarm dancing people in London that Thorpe did. So that's good. I hope that we see a Smiler-style promotion with loads of posters marketing the attraction - it would work especially well at many train stations. With Derren sharing these sort of stories, and him having a massive following, it should do some good in gearing up some interest.

Ooooohhhh, wing rider style coaster - did not see that coming! Feel like this could be in a similar vain to Intamin's wing riders (Skyrush) than B&M's ones. Not that that'd be a bad thing. Also the marketing points to a theme similar to that of Smiler's. Nice.

Really? I got the impression that the Shark Hotel was just under temporary approval until 2024, and there was no condition to remove it if the proper hotel was built beforehand. The council have said they can't have more than 250 hotel rooms on site at any one time, but since the hotel will be built in phases, that won't be a problem until at least 2020. But other than that, Thorpe will want to keep the Shark as long as possible - one of the reasons for the 2024 date was so that it was financially viable to invest in the Shark hotel in the first place! I do expect them to keep the Shark Hotel as long as possible, and I don't see it leaving as soon as the hotel opens. But equally, I do see it going before 2024 in all honesty!

Low-key news, but Thorpe recently submitted an Invertebrate Report to the council, outlining all the different species of invertebrates on the proposed hotel site. The report, from an external company, says that with sufficient on-going landscaping management of a field near the hotel (which Thorpe have agreed to), there should be minimal disruption to wildlife, and perhaps even an increase. This was the last report that Thorpe needed to do and send to the council before they could go ahead with the hotel. All seems positive, and the council will no doubt give the green light. tl;dr: Hotel work will start next year.

I thought the restaurant was meant to a FoodLoop? Or was that just an unconfirmed rumour? Anyway, looks phenomenal, etc etc. Kind of run out of good things to say about this.