JoshC.

In fairness, Zufari's plans weren't submitted until February 2012, and Swarm's were in February 2011. So there's still plenty of time for planning to be submitted for something noteworthy. That, and any new ride at Chessington would be something of note.

It's mostly sight; the noise impact of the coasters and rides (and associated screaming) is pretty minimal in the development zone. Hence why Stealth is white for the majority of the top hat (since that's the best colour to blend in with the skyline), and Swarm's high points were carefully chosen to minimize 'sight pollution' outside the park. The majority of the noise concerns the park have heard have been about MoS nights (which have actually been largely unfounded) and the volume of the speakers (which has caused a few issues). The rides themselves don't cause much problem amongst locals.

I've seen many people suggest using that pathway along the back of Inferno, Rapids and up to Loggers many times for a coaster, but I just don't think it would work. The pathway is used for access by staff (maintenance, engineering, landscaping, etc), so removing that means they would all have to enter the park from by Depth Charge. That could be particularly troublesome if they need to get to the back of the park whilst the park is open. Also, it's very close to Monks Walk, which, as has been said, is a public walkway. What would happen if a guest had a loose belonging that flew off the ride and unfortunately hit someone who was walking down that way? It could get very messy. Likewise, what would happen if someone tried to sneak into the park from Monks Walk (it does happen!), and walked into the ride area? And don't forget, that area is actually quite narrow. There's no reason why they couldn't put a coaster in there, but I just don't quite see the point, when they've got plenty of other spaces where it could go? So yeah, it's a nice idea and could possibly work, but I just can't see a coaster ever going there.

This is the trouble though; they're quite limited in what they can practically do. They've started with a completely blank piece of land, and haven't need to to change that. They can't let you weave in and out the ride (like with, say, Colossus) for obvious reasons, which already rules out a great queueing method. So with limited space, and likely wanting to avoid a multi level queue, there isn't really much else to do other than a cattle pen. Hopefully they'll add some bits in to make it interesting. If the queue stays true to the plans, they'll be some spaces for some theming features (not too dissimilar to Saw's queue), and possibly some queue line TVs which will help. I'd love it if there were some subliminal messages or something hidden throughout the queue; that would really help create the "experience starts when you enter the queue" vibe which theme parks should go for.

Oooh, I hadn't thought about this either! I guess with the large amount of track squished into one space, self-duelling moments at some points are practically an inevitability. If they have planned it so that they can work in some awesome self-duelling moments, then that would be pretty spectacular!

Except Hartenhof essentially has happened.

Not even a peep of a rumour for what this major investment could be since October? Even before Zufari's plans were submitted, the idea of it had been strongly rumoured for a while. Just seems strange, is all...

As in the whole queueing system for the attraction is RnR style with no 'real queue'? Would seem to be a huge waste of the extremely long queue they're going to build, no? And would go against Thorpe's decision to pull RnR usage from FN?

I guess it depends on how good the throughput is. Look at Swarm; that has a good capacity and did from day 1, so Fastrack was on sale from the get go. But the likes of Saw and IAC only had Fastrack introduced later when the throughput had improved / became consistent. I would expect it to be avaliable during summer unless there are major problems; too good of a profit avaliable not to really!

Zero-g roll! Source: http://www.looopings.nl/weblog/4897/Twee-keer-over-de-kop-in-nieuwe-achtbaan-Walibi-Holland.html

Realistically, I could only do August-time, but even then, I'm not sure I'd be able to make it due to the cost of it and other plans. So a wait and see.

I might go.

From Phantasialand... It looks...I don't know even. I don't like the look of that front, but I don't know what I was expecting really...

To be fair, I'm pretty certain all Intamin coasters built in the last few years have had lap bars, so it would be surprising if either Intamin or Phantasialand decided to not on have them on this project.

I believe it was mentioned in an article (which I cannot find now) that the parts of the headsets that go against your skin were made of a special fabric which meant that things like sweat and moisture wouldn't affect the riders' comfort in any way? My guess for the way it will work is that there will be 3 collections of headsets per train. One collection being used on ride, one collection given to people in the pre-show area and one collection being cleaned. This gives an approx. 3 minute window for 28 headsets to be cleaned. The headsets seem to connect and lock to an additional bit of the restraint, which will keep them secure, but also ensure each headset has sufficient charge for the ride. Of course, that all sounds very labour intensive, and will require a large about of headsets (that'd be 84 headsets for one train alone, so you'd be looking at 168 for two, and then you also want spares in case some break). But it's the best way I can see to ensure that the headsets are cleaned, checked to see that they are working, kept safe on ride and minimise damage to throughput.

Simworx are still relatively young in the theme park world, so it's hard to judge. I feel like they'd be more like the Gerstlauer of transits though, in a few years time.

In the most recent MTDP which Thorpe submitted to the council, they said that they would not plan to build coasters that "did not exceed 850m in length". There's no obvious reason for it though (unlike with say, maximum height or number of supports in the lake, where the reason they have limits introduced is rather obvious). So no one really knows I guess. I don't know if the number had been a reoccurring one in all the MTDP or not, so it's hard to even say if this is a long term thing, or if in 2010 Thorpe simply didn't expect to introduce a particularly long coaster. But given Colossus is the longest coaster on park, at 850m, it could well be. Of course, as we've seen with WC16, the MTDP is by no means binding, so in theory, they could have applied to build a longer coaster if they wanted. When the next MTDP appears (either this year or next), we'll no doubt see whether Thorpe have the chance to build a longer coaster.

Purple headrests are purple.

The latest rumours I heard were that Paulton's were spending anything up to £8-9 million on the Lost Kingdom investment. I don't know how true that is, but if it is, then they've gotten a pretty good deal for being able to get 2 new coasters, a few new attractions and what looks to be good theming for the most part.

Since last Tuesday, I have had trouble breathing, and indeed living. I've now realised what the problem was... THERE'S NO AIR, NO AIR

Wrong subforum

I believe Dynamic Attractions retweet several articles and announcements about several attractions, some of which they have nothing to do with. It could be an indicaton that Dynamic ate involved, or just shows how exciting this actually could be within the theme park industry. Either I'd be happy with to be honest.

It's alright, the latest rumour I've heard is that they've stretched the budget to £43.30.

Th13teen is a decent family attraction in itself, but when it was marketed as a "psychoaster" that would have 16+ age restriction, where you had to sign a waiver and could only ride it once a day, some people just can't trust the press releases any more.

Just realised I didn't actually contribute to this thread. Whoops. UK stuff: Aside from the Merlin 4, Paultons should almost definitely happen. Might be able to do Blackpool, Dreamland and maybe a couple of little places elsewhere. Europe stuff: Walibi Holland, Phantasialand, Plopsaland and Efteling are high up on the list. Moviepark Germany, Europa, Liseberg, Hansa and Heide are also on the radar, but seems unlikely at the moment. Maybe a few smaller places depending on travel arrangements. So not as much new stuff for me this year, but should still be relatively varied.