JoshC.

Containment sounds fun. For £10, a 10 minute escape experience isn't too bad. It suits a theme park environment, where you don't want it to be too long so that you can't do other things / you get enough people experiencing it, but you still want it to be a suitable length. I guess it's possible that it will be longer too (it's split across 2-3 shipping containers I believe, so you could feasibly have 2 groups in there if the timings are right). Will definitely be giving it a go for £8. Also, for those interested, I've heard there's going to be a slight change to Face it Alone this year, whereby you don't get to choose your maze, but instead your maze maze is chosen for your on the night in a carnival-like game. Quite a cool idea, and should help spread the numbers more evenly across the mazes.

Very odd. Surely a knee jerk reaction to some incident we haven't heard about? Hopefully this is just a temporary measure until they can sort out something better.

They created a very strong brand with Smiler. That's possibly why Swarm didn't draw in the crowds as much as Thorpe would have liked; the brand was rather weak and bland. The actual marketing and promotion for the ride was fantastic and spot on for the most part (I can't remember anyone faulting it at the time), but tbd overall brand fell short. That's why IPs are seemingly the answer. Pick the right one and you've got a pre-established brand to work with and it makes things easier. Creating a new brand requires more work and can be more "risky", but can end up being so much better (a la Smiler). With what we've seen so far, the park could easily take things further and make a 'Big Brother' style brand, with the idea and watching you and the like. Mix it in with recruiting minds or whatever and they could create a strong - albeit not necessarily original - brand; regardless of any IP.

I'm guessing the maze set up depended on the actor, but on my go, the story was set up as "You're visiting Studio 13, where you get to go on set of our latest film, The Motel." They'd then point out the posters plastered on the wall saying how they were other films made by the Studio. I don't think that there was any more story to it than that was there? The theming made sense - you first go through the studio / backstage areas, where there were editing and make up rooms, and naturally some plain corridors, before you went onto the set of The Motel, which featured motel things. You'd then leave the set into the exit corridor (again, just "film posters", so presumably a backstage studio area) before the fictional "film" bled into reality and it turns out the characters in the film are actually trying to kill you. Maybe I just put too much thought into it, but everything just worked for me whilst I was in the maze. My guess is that the park are combining AP night with media night again, and 6-8pm is exclusively for media people.

I certainly think that was rubbish. It suggested that a focus group had taken place to gather views on the ride and the ride's theme, after they had been decided. Basically, it was apparently a session where people were told all about the ride and asked what they thought of it. In reality, focus groups are there to pick up ideas and see what might or might not work. Not to see what people think of pre-determined rides before they open.

ha, knew someone would mention it. To be honest, I'm expecting some similarities between the two mazes to a degree, and some will probably say the whole maze is a rip-off too I bet, but that's because CoS did the carnival / clown theme well, and the fact that it's quite a common theme. I do doubt it. They look different in terms of sizes (it's hard to be sure based on the photos of course) and it just doesn't seem to make sense to change something so much when they could get a new bit of theming for a similar cost. I genuinely think the CoS entrance feature is probably either destroyed or gathered dust in a warehouse. Interesting view. Whilst Studio 13 didn't have in-your-face, high quality theming from top to bottom, it did all fit in with the story of the maze.

I *think* the HSE investigation will be made public to some degree, and so that will be reported on. Given how open and honest Towers and Merlin have been about the situation, I'd be surprised if they didn't make some form of closing remark about what went wrong.

Blimey, that's tall! This should silence those who are worried that it will just reuse CoS sets too!

Probably in the contract somewhere that they can't mention it until a certain time. Although, I don't think manufacturers announce projects they've worked / are working on until after the park have announced the manufacturer anyway?

Could an immersive tunnel be a possibility? Chuck in a couple of pre shows and then you have a decent family ride. Whilst I'm not a huge fan of the ride hardware, the overall experience could be pretty good, especially for a Lego park.

To be fair, Merlin's marketing has improved a lot since then and the silly campaigns are few and far between these days.

Big Top has been confirmed as a free attraction. Their response is probably worded like that since Containment is a paid-for extra.

If I bought Thorpe Park I would ensure that anyone on TPM who even jokingly suggests about the park getting a topspin is banned from the park for a season.

Have you tried contacting Thorpe over Facebook / Twitter / email? They'd probably be able to clarify it. I think it only works with tickets that you've purchased, but not entirely sure.

World's first DIY roller coaster?

Obviously means a Konami game IP!!!! There's a YuGiOh film coming out next year, so it must be YUGIOH - THE RIDE. Case closed. Next.

Wouldn't be surprised if loads of these clues end up being totally ambiguous and could lead to several different outcomes, but the Doctor Who theory is actually pretty good.

The Minds Wanted website has had a bit more added to it: https://mindswanted.co.uk It now includes an 'About' section (which features nothing new) and a 'Mind Gap' section which is acting partially as a construction blog, and also has some teasers.. Intriguing!

I was waiting to finish my trip report before doing a Top 10, and now that I've actually done more coasters, I feel justified enough to be able to do a 10 coasters instead of 5... 1=) The Swarm (Forwards), Thorpe Park: I was genuinely surprised that this remained on the top spot for me. I think one of the reasons this has remained on the top spot for me is because I really love the story that it's trying to get at; there's enough there for it to be acceptable, but it leaves some bits to the imagination, which I like. The actual coaster itself is fab too. 1=) Baron 1898, Efteling: Again, another ride which climbs so high because of the story. Unlike Swarm, it has a much stronger story, with theming that flows. It feels a bit more complete, but the actual coaster just needed a bit more. 3) Nemesis, Alton Towers: Unsurprisingly, the beast still remains high up on my list. I really do love this and forceful coasters, but I guess I'm more of floaty / elegance boy than an intense coaster man. 4) Joris en de Draak, Efteling: I'm not letting a duelling coaster take up two spots (dunno if that's controversial or not, but meh). I really loved this, and I'm surprised it made it so high up this list, but I'm not complaining. 5) Troy, Toverland: Woodies filling up the middle of rankings quite nicely. A quality coaster, but again, Joris just sneaks ahead because of the 'fun factor'. 6) Anubis, Plopsaland de Panne: I'd heard so many good things about this, and I was glad it lived up to expectations. It's so surprisingly fab, even more so when you look at it; it packs more of a punch than what I was expecting! 7) Black Mamba, Phantasialand: Not a Nemesis-beater like I'd heard a few say, but still a fantastic coaster with a nice layout and fantastic surroundings. 8) Nemesis Inferno, Thorpe Park: A bit of a surprise. But Inferno is a ride that just gets better and better with age, more than any other coaster I've ridden. I can't wait to see what it's like in 10 years time. 9) Winjas, Phantasialand: Another duelling coaster pair. Winjas mixed a decent coaster with decent non-coaster things. Second half of the rides are a bit bare theming-wise, and it just doesn't quite work. Still doesn't stop it from being a fab little ride! 10) X, Thorpe Park: Probably going to get funny looks for this one, and have sanity checks called for. I don't think X is a good coaster, far from it. But I really enjoy it. I think the reason for that is because it's a fun ride in a park that lacks many 'fun rides'. It probably shouldn't even be in my Top 10, and should more be an honourable mention, but there were so many vying for this 10th spot that I had no clue what to put.. No doubt this will be knocked out very swiftly next year..

Has it happened to you more than once? If it was just on the one occasion, might it be possible that all the ones on park were down due to an external fault, and the one in the hotel was on a different system? (I assume the hotel one doesn't charge, whereas the on park ones do, which could be a cause for the problem).

Have they also got rid of the last weekend? I thought the park closed on the 8th (Sunday), but it now looks like it's closing on the 6th (Friday)? A shame that this has happened. I wonder how much of this is an aftermath of Smiler's incident, and how much of this is Thorpe themselves?

The last day of BelGerAnd is here! And unfortunately it's not ending with a bang, but rather a slur of 'b's and 'a's in one word - Bobbejaanland. For those curious, it's pronounced Bob-e-yan-land (we didn't fully know this until about half way through the day). Being close to the park meant that after our free breakfast, we arrived with plenty of time for the 10am opening. We got there at about 9:45 and let through the main gates, where we were immediately bombarded by a costumed character and member of staff forcing us to having a photo with them. Whilst this was happening, Adam had seen a hidden A4 sign saying that the park was closing at 6pm, instead of 7pm as advertised on the site. This filled us with some hope, since it indicated that the park might be quieter than the park originally expected, especially for a lovely (33 degrees) Saturday in July. The entrance area can be likened to Towers Street at Alton I guess, in that there's a street with a few shops and stuff. At the end of the street, they had gates which would open at 10, after a little intro show my The Smurfs (yeah, bit random). So whilst we waited for the gates to open, we went to the customer service kiosk to ask where we got maps; turned out they were 2 euros each!? Fortunately I had some loose change I was trying to get rid of, so did get one, but the cost for a map is ridiculous. My 'How on earth do I pronounce this?' face. Even the Smurfs had no clue why they were there. With the entrance show done, we headed into the park. We realised that a map wasn't really needed for the park quickly, since the park was just based around an oval lake, with nothing particular hidden. So we essentially just went round the lack and ticked off the rides as they came. Bobbejaanland had the most coasters out of all the parks on the trip, with 7. Just a shame that none of them were very good... Our first ride of the day was Typhoon, the world's second Gerstlauer Eurofighter built. I was quite keen to try out another Eurofighter, and was looking forward to it. But the ride just doesn't really do a lot. After the standard (and VERY slow!) vertical left and 97 degree drop came a vertical loop, which was actually very intense and the highlight of the ride. The rest of the ride slowly meanders abouts, doing some turns, some twists and some inversions, but it just feels slow and boring. A real shame. The coaster opened on 3 cars (out of a possible 5 by the looks of things), but at one point in the day, was down to 1 car it was so quiet! We didn't bother riding it again because there were other, better rides, on park. We had planned to do the nearby Dizz, the Maurer spinner, afterwards, but since it opened at 10:50, apparently, we moved onto Revolution, the indoor coaster with a rather impressive 30 car train (and thus being able to hold 60 people per train), and a very long-winded spiral lift hill. I was expecting a coaster with such a ridiculous gimmick to be a bit boring, but it was surprisingly fun. It wasn't a 'good' ride (indeed, it just about scrapped onto my 'Top 20' list for coasters ridden during this trip), but it was fun. The remaining coasters quickly followed. Speedy Bob, a Wild Mouse, was very meh, and it really shows how much theming can do to a ride, as it feels completely different to Rattlesnake. Dream Catcher, a suspended Vekoma coaster, was next, and was very forgettable. The junior coaster Oki Doki was a surprise; a nice fun coaster. The powered coaster Bob Express was also pretty neat, featuring an interesting enough layout. We eventually rode Dizz in the afternoon, but it was by far the worst spinning coaster I've done; the layout doesn't lend itself to allow the cars to spin that much.. Bob Express geek board. We also watched the first showing of their new show, featuring magicians Rob and Emiel. I don't know how big they are in Belgium / Netherlands, but they have their own website, so they must have made a bit of a name for themselves I guess? Unfortunately the show wasn't very good (a lot of the stuff was very visual, so the language barrier wasn't much of an issue), though they did seem to be a bit nervous, and there were some crowds troubles. They did speak to us before the show though, after noticing we were English, and did have a bit of a chat with us. The redeeming feature for Bobbejaanland though is in some of its other rides and, surprisingly, their indoor attractions. The park has many small attractions, like boat rides, water slides, slidey slides, and a few flat rides / dark rides. However, there are four that really stand out: The first of which is El Rio, a park's rapids. With the majority of the layout hidden away, it was hard to tell what to expect. But the ride had a decent layout - featuring a whirlpool! - and got you a good level of wet. It was nice to see a decent rapids at the park. What is most interesting about this ride though is the ferris wheel feature on its ride: Don't get too excited; it's not in operation. Essentially, what would happen is a boat would travel onto a platform, the wheel would rotate, and the boat would go down a long, steep-ish drop, likely making a very nice splash. Unfortunately, the wheel hasn't been in operation for about 9 years, according to TPR, because it was an operational nightmare. Boats instead take a route around the wheel. The next stand out ride was Indiana River, an indoor log flume. This is one of two log flumes on the park, though the second, outdoor, one is very meh. Given the looks of the outdoor rides on park, it was a pleasant surprise to see this ride so well themed. It was very jungle-like, and the majority of the route had some nice features to look out. The ride seems to get the front of the boat soaked, and the back of the boat stays dry (we tried a couple of different seating configurations on our goes and this always seemed to be the case), which is a bit odd. (Above photo taken with flash on; the place feels a lot more atmospheric in low light!). Another water ride which stands out is Banana Battle, an indoor splash battle. The layout has LOADS of interaction points, meaning that you get drenched. It's a great ride all in all, and even if it's a bit too wet for my liking, I still enjoyed it. The ride smelt a bit too much like chlorine for my liking though.. Finally, the best attraction on park is, by some way, The Forbidden Caves (warning: spoilers!). New for this year, it's an immersive tunnel ride. In a similar vain to Hex, the ride has 2 pre shows before the main ride. The premise of the ride, from what I gathered/remember, is that we're going on a Cave Tour, inspired by explorer Jasper Dubois. He had many adventures, but got lost on one whilst trying to find some treasure, so we're going to go find him. The group is taken around by a 'tour guide' during the pre shows. Usually this is in Dutch, but on our second go, it was only us and an English-speaking French couple, so we were fortunate enough to be given the pre shows in English (lucky that the staff member spoke very good English too!). The first pre show takes place in an elevator, descending us down "several thousand meters very quickly", and the guide tells a few jokes. It was a standard effect, but done well. The second one involves a lot of talk about the treasure and the guide touches a found gem, which, in turn, activates loads of effects, with things shaking of the walls, loud noises, smoke, lights, and a evil force warning us to go away. It was very dramatic and very well done. The ride itself then follows. Unfortunately, it's a bit of a letdown. It's either too hard to see the screen (if you sit too far back), or all the immersion is ruined if you sit too close to the front (you see the trough the ride carriage travels in, etc.). The video itself is alright and it's not a bad simulation experience, it's just that the ride hardware is very meh and average. All in all, Forbidden Caves was a fab attraction, and its overall quality feels out of place at an average park like Bobbejaanland. Indeed, in terms of quality, and even theming, it wouldn't have felt out of place at some major parks that I've now visited! So kudos really need to be given to the park for opening such a solid attraction! The one thing which was a bit of a shame was that is opened at 1, and closed just before the park closed. Overall Bobbejaanland thoughts: Bobbejaanland is a very odd park, and it's not surprising that a park of this size and quality cut it's opening times by an hour at such short notice; they clearly weren't getting the guests to warrant it. But, despite its overall average-ness, there are a couple of neat little rides there, and if Forbidden Caves is the sort of level of theming and quality we can expect from the park in the future, it might be one to surprise us all in a few years time. --- And so that's it! We left Bobbejaanland and hit the road for the long drive back to Calais. Funnily enough, we actually passed Plopsaland on the way, which made the trip feel nice and closed in a way. Unfortunately, when we got to Calais, we were told that no ferries had gone to Dover all week (because of the immigration problems at the time), and so we had to try our luck at Dunkirk. Fortunately we managed to get on a ferry there, but it meant we didn't get back till rather late (I tucked myself into bed at the cool time of half 3 in the morning...). Thanks to anyone that did read all the entries or leave comments; t'is greatly appreciated!

Pretty certain the mirror maze is just a section of Big Top, so I don't think they'd be completely separate. An undercover queue would be nice actually; could even lead to some 'circus acts' performing underneath the tents, which would be pretty cool. --- On a slightly different note, this link would suggest that the mysterious new attraction is not called Breakout, but instead called 'Containment': http://www.thorpebreaks.co.uk/fright-nights.html

Even in the UK, there's stiff competition from the likes of Storm Surge.

Ooh, if the maze ends up using both sides of the beach, then that would be great. Leaves opportunities for a good, long maze, as well as some larger scenes. Colour me intrigued.