JoshC.

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.

Remember that The Curse used the smaller side of the beach and a similar area and was a lengthy enough maze. Interesting that they've gone for separate tents and such rather than one big tent. Definitely means we won't hear complaints of unthemed tents though which is fab.

Have you tried speak to the park about this? I'd be surprised if they hadn't come across this situation before, so they might be able to offer more advice / help. Depending on when he finishes and where he lives, the train might not be possible since that usually stop running just after midnight.

We genuinely had no clue what to expect from it, and I guess the waiting did build a lot of suspense. But it just ended up being very anticlimactic and disappointing. Will be interesting to try it again and see what I think of it knowing what to expect.

But if we're judging Valhalla as a water ride, which is where this whole conversation stemmed from, then its merits as a dark ride surely mean nothing? I haven't ridden Valhalla for the record, but it'd take an awful lot for it to beat Chiapas for me.

Love this comment - still 18 months away from a possible roller coaster possibly opening at a UK park and it's already being described as a possible Nemesis beater.

Keep the rides and rename your park 'Chessington Resort'. Invest in new hotels / resort things and retheme rides constantly. For the truly authentic feel, make sure you have rides closed for months at a time.

I think this is the most important thing here. Practically every park in the world will run on reduced capacity if they can get away with it. I saw it happen at places like Phantasialand and Efteling for example (even Baron was on 2 out of 3 cars during our stay, a day after it opened!). So let's not moan at Thorpe for wanting to run 1 train operations. The trouble is that they're giving this reason of "low demand" publicly. We all know that behind the scenes, it is likely that cost cutting is the root of this issue, but they won't want to say that. But saying that it's low demand is quite frankly just the park shooting themselves in the foot. Arguably, anything above a constant 15 minute queue warrants full capacity at Thorpe, and that doesn't seem to be the case.

The pit is meant to be 3.5m deep; so actually a lot deeper than what it looks! Here's a quote from the plans:

There will be roaming actors around the park. Their job will almost definitely be to add to the atmosphere and indeed scare people. Some may go around with the intention of going to people and trying to scare them, others may wait for people to approach then before interacting. It can be pot luck whether you see them or not though. They might also be instructed to not scare guests outside of mazes of they look particularly afraid of the actors, but that's not something I'd say with certainty to be honest!

I noticed this too. What I think is the case is that this £1 fee is a "reservation fee" (as opposed to a "booking fee" like originally assumed). So, what the park are essentially saying is "You can reserve your space in advance for a £1 charge, or arrive on the day for free, but risk being turned away". Last year, the park were essentially saying "You can reserve your space in advance for free, or arrive on the day for free, but risk being turned away". It's no different to what was initially expected I reckon (that this is happening to stop people bulk pre-booking for days they may not go to), but they've phrased it rather badly.

They are doing one on the 8th; they have confirmed this over social media. I guess they'll announce it officially and start selling tickets slightly closer to the event (possibly after formally announcing Breakout?)

Better late than never ey? I've condensed down this entry so that it's easier for me to write / more people read it / I actually decide to write it... With Baron already ridden, and 2 full days (10-8) at Efteling left, we knew we'd be able to take our time with the park, and were in no rush to do anything straight away. We covered the whole park easily within those two days, and had plenty of time to reride our favourites too. So, to cut to the chase, I adored Efteling. I wasn't expecting to love it as much as I did, as usually the fairytale thing isn't always my 'thing', but I just loved the place. From the rides, to the ride themes, to just the general setting and atmosphere of the park - it's all just beautiful and brilliant. I won't go through both days extensively like I did with the other days, but just touch on some stand out attractions to me... Vogel Rok, the park's indoor coaster, was surprisingly fab, mixing a fun layout, with nice theming and effects, and pretty cool onboard audio too (and you don't realise just how loud it is until you get back into the station!). Solid ride. Whilst Vogel Rok was an instant hit for me, Droomvlucht left me a bit unsure after my first go. Droomvlucht is an awesomely themed dark ride with a great story and neat finale. But after my first go, I was left a bit unsure what to think of it; I could really appreciate the theming and everything, but the ride didn't leave me with as big a smile as everyone else in the group. I'm not too sure why; I think it might have been because it was one of the first rides we did on our first day there, and I still hadn't got into the proper fairytale mindset (if that makes sense). I enjoyed it more on the second day, but again, still not as much as everyone else. I can really appreciate it as a ride, and do think it is a great attraction, but I guess it's just not really my cup of tea.. Had a mighty impressive entrance though! Sticking to the dark ride theme, Villa Volta - the park's madhouse - was a ride that left me a bit disappointed. The ride itself was actually great and I really enjoyed it, but one thing which really ruined the overall experience for me was the doors. You could easily see that there were two sets of doors to the ride area when they opened and closed, and it spoils the illusion completely for me. Maybe because this was my 4th madhouse in 5 days I was subconsciously looking for flaws, but it's just a shame really, as it did let the experience down for me a bit. To round off my noteworthy dark rides from Efteling, I'd have to mention Fata Morgana, the absolutely fab boat ride. The sets, theming and effects are just outstanding, and I really was blown away by the quality of it! The park's headline show, Raveleijn, has clearly had a pretty penny Euro spent on it. It's a good show, and it was easy enough to follow the plot despite the language barrier. Some real top quality effects used as well. But at times, it felt like there was just too much going on, and you just didn't know where to look. Maybe not necessarily a bad thing to some people, but it just felt like too much was being crammed in at times. Turning attentions to a couple of the more thrilling rides the park has to offer, the first ride we headed to was De Vliegende Hollander (aka Flying Dutchman). This water coaster was beautifully themed (naturally) and had a decent outdoor section to go with it. Unfortunately, much like Supersplash at Plopsaland, I found the actual coaster somewhat uncomfortable, which is a shame. The thoughts of the discomfort have stayed with me almost as much as the amazing effects, theming and atmosphere inside the attraction, so it's just a bit of a shame. I did really enjoy it, and did it a couple of times of course, but the discomfort just stops it from being a truly magnificent ride for me. The park's duelling GCI woodies, Joris en de Draak, were much more of an overall hit with me however. The layouts of both the coasters are brilliant fun with some good airtime moments. I do like how the coasters do actually 'race' as well, with the winner being announced and everything. Originally, we thought it was fixed to some degree (as we were seeing alternate sides winning), but it does seem to be a true race? Of the two sides - fire and water - I slightly preferred the fire side, just because it seemed to have slightly better airtime. I also enjoyed the theming for the ride, including a fully animatronic, fire-breathing dragon, though I guess it's a bit of a shame you don't really notice it on ride. (As a side note...After being treated to brilliant rides on Troy as well, it was hard to tell which woodie I preferred. I think if you had asked me after my first day at Efteling, I'd have said Troy. However, after my second day, I would have to say Joris; it's just got sheer fun and joy factor in its side!). The other attractions on park are a bit of a mixture. I enjoyed Piraña, the park's rapids, but then rides like Python (Vekoma looping coaster), Carnival Festival (carnival-themed dark ride) and Bob left no impression on me other than disappointment unfortunately. Some of the other filler rides are fun though. Worst attraction in the park goes to Spookslot, a completely random 'show' which was laughable for all the wrong reasons. The Fairytale Forest area, however, was absolutely fantastic - we spent a good couple of hours walking round on our second day! Also loved the Aquanura fountain show; fantastic way to end the day. The only good thing about Python is the signage. Fairytale Forest is full of characters. And, because I love it so much, just one final word about Baron. Despite the lengthy queues during our visit for it, I ended up riding it 5 times. I guess that it speaks volumes about how much I enjoyed it that I was happy to wait up to an hour for it when other rides on park had 10 minute queues, and even leave the rest of the group to join the single rider queue whilst they did other rides.. Overall Efteling thoughts: Like I said at the beginning, I adored Efteling, perhaps more than I thought I would. Genuinely somewhere that I just love and can't wait to go back to. --- Leaving Efteling was a hard thing to do, and after having dinner at the Bosrijk restaurant, we left and set our sights back to Belgium. We arrived at our last hotel of the trip just before 11pm, and fortunately was only 10 minutes away from Bobbejaanland.. Though more on that park next time...

Agree with Altitude that this is the weakest one this year; obviously one just to keep the hype train chugging along. BWP was very meh in its first year, but last year it was fab. There's still loads of room for improvement of course, but I do think they're heading in the right direction! Would be interesting to see them try the tension idea in an indoor maze though.