JoshC.

Stage in the Dome has received a bit of low key theming. From Thrill Nation's FB I really like this shark / aquatic feel. I do hope they can spend a lot of money is sprucing up the Dome in full though - it does seem a bit of a mish-mash of styles, and the Dome is very dated!

I thought it didn't have any actors at all now, and only had the 'themed ride staff'? Unless things have changed?

*First off, apologises for the far-too-long rambly post. I've wanted to get my full thoughts and opinion down on the system for ages now, but never really had the time or the patience to put it all down...* The way I've read it is that the system has changed from last year in the following ways: -You can only access the system from WiFi on park. -When you sign in, everyone in your group needs to scan a valid ticket / pass. These two things combat two of the biggest flaws in the system last year. Firstly, it stops people who aren't on park reserving a ride. This stops trolls from ruining the system, and it stops people reserving a ride when they're travelling to the park (if they're arriving after park opening). Secondly, it stops people from the same group doing multiple reservations. For example, if you're in a group of 4, one person would need to login, and then scan everyone's tickets. So, if anyone else in that groups tries to sign in with a different account, they can't, as their ticket has already been scanned for that day. That's a massive improvement. This makes the system a lot harder to abuse. In fact, I can't see any way the system can be abused now? Between x people, you can make 1 reservation at a time for x people, and no more. Also, many people bring up the point of 'What if someone doesn't have a smartphone?' or 'What if I don't take a smartphone to the park?'. Well, you only need 1 person in a group to have a smartphone with them. Out of every group that goes to Thorpe Park, how many of them will not have a smartphone (or a smart device with access to the internet) between them. I'd be willing to bet almost all. Of course, there are still potential problems with the system... -What happens if 'the leader's' phone dies? I guess you can sign in on other devices; you're not tied to one phone, just one account. But the problem still stands - not many smartphones last more than a day of battery problem, and it is a potential problem (especially on the longer days). It can be worked around, but it is something Thorpe should look into a big more if they want to make this work in the long term. -What if the WiFi system on park crashes/is very slow/whatever? Simply put, chaos would happen. Wireless technology can always have glitches, especially with a large number of users, and it could really cause chaos if a problem happens. I guess the good thing here is that the system is quite reliable these days, and will surely just continue to improve, so hopefully any system crashes will be minimal / non-existent. -The system just spreads people around the park, putting pressure on the filler attractions. This is always the big problem. At this moment in time, Thorpe just doesn't have enough non-coaster things to do. Yes, it's got a wide range of flats and water rides, and it's getting more 'other' attractions (like IAC, Angry Birds 4D, etc.), but it's still not enough. It's good to see that a lot of the trials are occurring during Island Beats / Fright Nights, as that gives people other free options that aren't rides. So yeah, at this moment in time, Thorpe don't have enough other things to do to roll this out on the big scale. However, I still think people over-exaggerate what will happen. There is cause to I suppose, given how bad some of the Fright Nights trails went. On a very busy day, you're looking at about 5000 people that would potentially be queueing for the coasters being spread all around the park (that figure is a 'guesstimate', not one plucked from thin air). Given the number of other rides available, as well as the fact there would be other things to do, that won't make too much of a difference to ride queue times. There will of course be a difference, but assuming the system doesn't muck up, it shouldn't be that noticeable. ----- A perfect example of what I was just saying above about people possibly over-exaggerating the worse possible scenario. Leaving myself a big opportunity to have egg on my face here, but I just really can't see ridiculous queues like that happening on X. Fright Nights was a weird one. My personal experience was positive; the park was very busy, but I was able to get all 5 mazes done, plus Swarm, in just over 5 hours. I didn't cheat the system, though do admit I was lucky in some cases, and will also say there were some problems (had a very long wait for Saw Alive, for example). I think operating RnR on the coasters over Fright Nights instead of the mazes could be better. The trouble is, many people were still prepared to wait in the standby queue. Of course, they had a small allocation planned for the standby queue, but if many more people than expected were using the standby queue, then it creates problems. They could adjust the allocation to get more people in the standby queue through, but then that increases the RnR wait, and they causes a backlog on the system. But then if they leave it as it is, they then have the problem of a 3 hour standby queue (which will feel a lot longer too). It was lose-lose really. It was a brave decision to trial it on the mazes, especially since they couldn't be certain of things like throughputs and queue lengths. Trialling it on the coasters instead is a much safer bet, since they will have a better knowledge of what allocation works best. And, again, it shouldn't affect the queues of the mazes that much, sense everyone virtually waiting will be spread all around the park. It sounds like you have to scan each individual ticket - let's hope it is that way! As for finding tickets on the floor, it's not really going to lead to abuse. If everyone who wants to use the system has to scan their ticket, then hopefully the vast majority of tickets will be scanned. And for the ones that aren't scanned, then it doesn't matter unless you find the same number of unscanned tickets as there are people in your group. To be honest, if anyone is desperate enough to pick up multiple tickets from the floor in the hope that they can get in a few more rides during their day, they should probably evaluate their life a bit... The system has had plenty of positive feedback as well. Do you really think if the system was really poorly received on the whole, they would still keep it? Yes, the Fright Nights trial was poorly received, but I wouldn't be surprised if, internally, Thorpe accept there were faults of their own there (plus the fact it was one of their busiest times in years didn't help I'd assume). Should one or two bad trial make them say 'Well, we've had plenty of positive feedback, but we've had one bad trial, let's call it quits'. Of course not. We've seen Thorpe (and Merlin parks as a whole) make changes when they've had attractions / systems receive poor feedback, so they wouldn't break habit with something this big. Also, maybe I'm just in my own little world away with the fairies, but are there really that many people in Thorpe's core demographic that don't have a portable device that can access the internet? More or less everyone I know who would be in Thorpe's core target market has some sort of device that can access the internet. And then if you take a group of 4 people say, surely one of them will have a smartphone? Maybe I am away with the fairies and wrapped up in my own little bubble in thinking that though... ---- I think in general there's a couple of things to bare in mind about all this. -These are still trials. From what I've heard/understood, Thorpe wanted to trial this over a 3 season period (so 2013-2015). They wanted to try the system in many different ways, see how it developed, how it was received, and so forth. The long-term goal of the system is to create a "queue-less park" (or, more specifically, a park where you never wait more than 15 minutes for a ride). However, that still seems to be a long term goal. From the plans for WC16, we can see there's a long queue line planned for the ride. So Thorpe clearly understand this isn't something that will happen overnight, and will no doubt be aware they need to become much more of a resort before they can offer a place which is queue-less and has enough to do. -They've got to 'battle' against the common viewpoint that you have to queue at a theme park. Even with RnR in place, people are still happy to queue in the standby queue, even if it's a longer wait. People expect that they will have to queue, and are fine with that simple system. If Thorpe really want to make this work, they've got to encourage people the RnR is the best way forward. The only way I can see them being able to do that is if they offer so much that the only way to get everything done is if you don't queue; again, something they are a long way off. -The trials have been well received! The vast majority of people who have used the system have been positive about it. For your average guest, it no doubt allows them to be able to do more. As can be seen even in this thread, there's people on here who have been able to get more done as a result of the system (me included!). And if the system continues to be well-received, Thorpe will try their best to make it work. ----- Whilst I am quite positive about the system overall, I'm still not sure if it will have long term success. I'm not sure Thorpe is big enough to be able to offer enough to do to make the system work and I'm not sure they'll be able to convince people that this is the way forward. More importantly, I fear that a queue-less park could stop the natural and fun exploration that a theme park should have, and just suck the fun away from the whole theme park experience..

I'd assume Port and Basecamp is the Dome / Port Atlantis. Old Town is a weird one though; maybe a retheme of Canada Creek / a relation to the 2016 attraction? They're a bit of a mixed bag, but Swarm Island and Jungle ones look a bit meh to be honest. On the other hand, the rest look relatively nice.

Ride has been officially announced as 'Cobra's Curse'; a new twist on a spinning coaster... http://seaworldparks.com/en/buschgardens-tampa/attractions/rides/cobras-curse/ Certainly looks like an interesting line up; though those trains are a bit..odd.

Pretty sure the same discussion cropped up with Nemesis. I guess the reason why some parks celebrate a 21st birthday is because it's a big milestone for people, and some parks can cash in on that to help advertise it. Celebrating a 21st birthday of a ride is no big deal in my eyes, though it would be nice if they did acknowledge it. Personally, I've never really cared that much about a ride's anniversary beyond the point of it being a fun little fact. The only one that's ever really got to me is the fact that Thorpe didn't cash in on Colossus' 10th birthday a couple of years back - that was a marketing idea sitting right in front of them, and they did next to nothing about it!

Blair Witch, MBV and Cabin in the Woods are all on a 3 year contract I believe, so that's why they'll always be the most heavily advertised along with Saw Alive. I'd expect Blair Witch will remain in the same location; the removal of the shed is nothing to worry about yet. Simply put, if Thorpe want more mazes, they're going to have to start using tents again. Whilst they're eyesores, they can also be efficient. And I'm sure if they wanted to, they could loosely fit it in with the theme of a maze. I'd guess MBV would either go on the unused island or the beach (though I remember hearing they couldn't use the beach with the shipping containers, so maybe that rules the beach out?). I'd expect Studio 13 or a spin-off of it (ie The Motel) to return also; a custom layout within a tent would be fine. And if Studio 13 doesn't return, I'd expect something new to come about - Fright Nights is far too popular for them to lose a Fright Nights attraction. It'll be interesting to see what happens to I'm a Celeb over FN. Fright Nights is primarily aimed at an older audience, so it would make sense to 'up the intensity' a little bit. But at the same time, what could they actually realistically do whilst still keeping within the spirit of the attraction? Not a lot in my eyes. I think it's worth remember that Fright Nights has seen something new each year since 2010. They've done a lot to keep the event fresh, original and interesting each season. If it does so happen that nothing new is added this season, I don't think it's a bad thing. Perhaps a focus more on park-wide theming should be put in instead (yeah, I know it's said every year )..

And so begins the posts updating us of Slammer's operational status. I expect 100 posts before the end of half term.

Fair point that it could be more than £100k, but whatever amount it is, it's still surely only a negligible amount compared to how much the UK parks must make? I'm not surprised by the increase, as the pass was under-priced for what it gave really, but it just feels like a bit of a kick in the teeth to what are in theory Merlin's most loyal customers (an argument I hate using usually, but is true in this case really).

By making the renewal price £100 more than last year, instead of, say, fixing it, they're making at most £100,000 more than they would. Given that not all 1000 people will renew and how much Merlin make, the amount of extra money they're making is minuscule.

Kind of feel bad for any current VIP holders who were thinking of renewing. I know renewal prices aren't guaranteed to be cheaper than the regular price you paid, but to have the prize increase by £100 with no extra benefits in comparison is quite steep in my mind. Would have been nice if they could have at least fixed it at £500 for them, but hey ho.

Surely Chessington can't be attracting 2 million people a year?! Thorpe have only hit that figure once or twice, and Chessington still have dead days, whereas Thorpe rarely do..

The scream the ride makes seems to get louder and higher pitched each season. Poor thing.

Sad news after a girl was hit by a loose foot rail from Hero: http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/flamingo-land-probe-after-two-9320361 Ride is of course going to be closed for a while. Hopefully the girl makes a full recovery!

When I did a lift hill climb on Colossus a couple of months back, I asked about whether they would repaint it. I was told it's something they'd had on the cards for a long time, but felt it was difficult to get it all done in one closed season and it was slightly difficult logistically to get it sorted. Wasn't given any indication that a repaint would happen, so clearly something has happened since then. I guess starting now to make sure they can get it all done for next season is the aim.

A photo from 'Theme Park Xtreme's' Facebook showing the colour...

Yes, here's a photo from yesterday (from TPM's FB): It'll probably be a while before it reopens (it will have a lot of testing to go through before it can be signed off presumably).

Didn't even know it had been closed, but according to the park's Twitter, only Slammer is closed.

EDIT: Spent too much time trying to find a vaguely decent original gif. :/

Heide Park seemingly have launched their own version of Towers' 'Big 6' campaign... Pretty decent idea really!

Glad that's now been confirmed, mostly because that's when I arrive at Efteling.. Excited is an understatement; just to see this thing will be incredible!

Even though Detonator is (loosely) in Angry Birds Land, it still is a great thrill ride and really does pack a punch. The drop on it is very good; I found it better than Apocalypse at Drayton, which is almost twice as tall. Whilst taller drop towers have the intimidation factor, Detonator has the edge of being able to provide a better ride experience. There's also the problem that Thorpe at restricted in how tall they can go, which would make a ride like Falcon's Fury more difficult to achieve.

With regards to the lack of roof theming... I think it's natural to 'look up' when in the maze; you're in a jungle with trees and such, it's something people will do. It's definitely disappointing that they didn't disguise it. But when I first went through it and noticed it, I didn't actually care. I was having fun within the maze and it didn't detract from my experience really. It certainly would have added to my experience if the ceiling was themed, but we have what we have I guess.

They're fun, little collectible things which are free. Anyone would be happy with them, even if they're geared towards a younger audience. Also, just because a child is too small to go on a ride, it doesn't mean they won't want a badge with that ride on (especially if they've collected others from Chessington/Legoland).