JoshC.

I still don't know what to think about all this. All the reviews I've read about Alpen Express' VR treatment have been good (in that, it's a nice, novel, way to experience a coaster). And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit excited to try this out. But then all the standard worries crop up. How will throughput be affected? How will the VR vs non-VR work? How will the cleaning (of the goggles) work? Why on earth do we have to now have a blooming green screen photo point in the queue? What's this mean for Forbidden Valley? Is Air the right coaster to be doing this on? Is it really worth it? Will it have return appeal? As I say, I'm excited to try this out, and I'm sure that it'll be a good thing to experience at least once. But, at this stage, I have so many niggling concerns that just make me fear for this..

Only severe weather will cancel them. I've done one in very cold and windy conditions, and one in wet and windy conditions and had no problems. If the weather is particularly bad on your day, email them and just double check if it's still on / if you'd like to rearrange. They're always quick to respond and very helpful. Enjoy!

(Source: TPR) The Flying Aces entrance looks surprisingly good!

Or just close your eyes.

Wait, what? You mean we're not getting a Darude Dark Ride themed around a Sandstorm? The throughput of that Robotic Arm Ride would be fine given a suitable number of cars. It looks like it'd be pretty awesome, but I don't think that's what this'll be. Would love to be proven wrong though.

A short Press Release from the park has also been released: http://www.efteling.com/NL/Over-de-Efteling/Pers-en-Publicaties/Persberichten/persberichten-persberichten/persbericht-nieuw-in-2017.html (warning: it mentions roughly what the ride system is, so is best avoided if you want to avoid all spoilers). The dark ride itself is costing 35 million euros (approx £26 million), and is of course being designed for all the family and to be suitable for all nationalities. It sounds as if they are planning to make it all very interactive too. So all sounds incredibly exciting. On a completely different note, was anyone else amused by the similarities between the press release for this and WC16?

Efteling have announced on their Facebook page that Symbolica, the long awaited dark ride, will open in 2017 in the centre of the park. EDIT: Concept art...

^In fairness, most staff members at Thorpe won't have a clue what Derren's exact role is. Most will know as much as we do, and have likely just been told what to say if anyone asks; which will be the same vague response.

I'd retheme Stealth to Stealth VR. Riders would wear VR headsets, and the video would be of an extension of Stealth (twice the track length) that you go through at twice the real speed. Pretty sure it'd be the world's first Launched VR Coaster too, which is great.

Plopsaland aren't going to be Heiding away from posting construction pictures it seems... (From Plopsa's Twitter) I don't think it's been mentioned here yet, but apparently the construction of this is being split into two halves, with the coaster opening this year, and the majority of the theming coming next year.

Crudely speaking, marketing is designed to get people talking. And let's face it, for a video that probably took 30 minutes to shoot and edit, this isn't half bad.

Loggers Leap.

Just noticed there's some new photos on the Mind Gap section. Nothing too exciting, unless you like seeing bricks being laid or looking at beams, but it's...something I guess?

It also appears Clue 6 is now live. Clue to the clue: It's another video that tells us next to nothing.

A new Tweet from Thorpe; most likely designed to keep the hype train ticking along. https://twitter.com/THORPEPARK/status/685385502313152512/photo/1 Bit of an obscure one; had to look at it a few times...

A shame that it's finally bitten the dust, even though it was an inevitability given its form from the past couple of seasons. I wonder if they've considered ripping it out and doing a full out replacement of it in their long term plan?

A view of the station, airtime hills and inclined top hat.

Rush is meant to receive more specific attention every 3 to 4 years. The last time it had such extensive work done to it was the 2011/12 closed season I believe.

Fixed that for you

Which is exactly what I was saying; it's a Shrek attraction, so I would only expect Shrek. I wasn't aware of the 'and friends' idea.

^ I believe you are mistaken. The 3 queues all join up at a 'batching area' outside the building and enter through one door. It's possible the queue line will change from the plans, but there is only one door for all queues to go through into the building.

I've no problem with the name really; it sells itself and will no doubt make people want do a double take when deciding where to eat. Does seem like a missed opportunity though, especially with Air's space retheme, to not go for a more snazzy / quirky name.

Roughly opposite the entrance/exit to the arcade. It's the octagonal shape in the first picture I posted (though the tower will be square).

How does 13 tables compare to the likes of other restaurants like this? It just doesn't sound like a lot. Wonder if this will require you to reserve a table?

I must be missing something here... Why is the idea of me seeing Shrek lol-worthy?