JoshC.

I doubt it'll be a Flying Fish retheme as we saw a photo of it testing in the snow last week, and it's also opening for February half term. That Vine really doesn't give enough away to be able to have any concrete ideas. At this stage though, my guesses would be: -Retheme of Mr Monkey (though that seems doubtful, especially as I think some closed season pictures have shown the ride with all of its original theming still?) -Sealife centre? A small could be possible.. And they could probably transform the Marquee or part of the Dome into a suitable area. Seems doubtful as well. -Teacups retheme into something Angry Birds. It's something that has always made sense to do, though that Vine doesn't suggest that in any way... -Work to Neptune's Kingdom / beach / dome area. That's something they can do cheaply, secretly and with no planning permission. Could quite easily theme it to sharks and add a couple of sideshows or something (which I personally think is most likely). But yeah, could be anything at the moment, what a shocker!

From Thorpe's FB: Hmmmm....interesting...

Not particularly sure why people are keen to have an outdoor seated restaurant open in February? Lack of Bar 360 is peculiar though if that list remains accurate...

I still don't see how that makes it a laughing stock though? I agree it doesn't make sense how it is (and personally I think it's a shame they didn't retheme it), but I don't think they've made it a laughing stock. They played it very safe, renamed it so they could say it's part of ABL, and then done nothing to it. Personally, I felt that that specific area was very much a dead spot, so by actually creating some sort of theme / feel to the area, they've done good. But I still think the point holds that there's not exactly much continuity between Tidal Wave Amity side and Stealth Amity side beyond the name Amity and Big Bob Jones in the background.

I don't particularly see how they've made a "laughing stock" out of Detonator when they've literally changed the signs and put bird by it? The ride is exactly the same as it has been for the past decade and a bit... I still also don't get why people moan about Amity Cove being 'split up' too. The area that how has the Dodgems and Peckish used to be a games area and a loosely pirate-themed chippy, which had no relation to Amity at all. Also, Stealth never really felt like part of Amity Cove to me - sure, it's got similar audio and the name Amity appears, but Amity Cove and Amity Speedway are two different things. They really should be made more distinct. The only problem now is the Teacups seem out of place. Fingers crossed the Tetley sponsorship ends soon and they just shoehorn it into ABL to be honest. Despite my criticisms of some of the following, Sub Terra, Smiler, CBeebies Land, Zufari, Cloud Cuckoo Land... are all better investments than ABL. Ignore; turns out I can't read.

Would have to agree with pluk. For all of Storm Surge's faults, it is at least a ride which can be enjoyed (yep, some people DO actually enjoy it). It also made a dead area a bit more lively. Time Voyagers on the other hand was something that was so poor, so lazily executed (Gardaland logo at the end - come on!) and in general just not enjoyable.

Have you seen your's?

Just to say it's actually 18 years (they've added new attractions every season since 1998). Makes the point even more blatant though that Thorpe have dug themselves into a hole. They went through an accelerated period in the early 2000s where not only did they add ride after ride, they also added pretty big ride after ride (okay, so something like Vortex or Samurai or Rush may feel like a filler nowadays, but they were big at the time). It's something that wasn't sustainable for so many reasons, but they now have that expectation on their shoulders to add large thing after large thing. Unfortunately, some of the more recent non-major years (in my opinion, 2008, 2010, 2011) have no only failed to reach that expectation, but also been disappointments in their own rights. 2013 and 2014 were better on the whole. So it will be interesting to see how this season compares...

Turns out Thorpe made a video just after Fright Nights ended (don't think it made its way on here either)... A very nice video really showing off attractions!

YAY, EVERYONE JUMP ABOARD THE MERLIN-BASHING TRAIN FOR THE LOLZ AND LIKEZ. Also, Scream is built on car park. No amount of paint can excuse that.

Nah, they'll want to make it as accessible as possible, so I'd be pretty confident they will do it on a weekend.

The Oblivion repaint got a reasonable amount of attention at the time, but people quickly forgot about that. Unfortunately, I remember a fair amount of discussion (though I don't think on these forums, fortunately) being about how they hadn't painted the track inside the tunnel, which could be seen since the place where they stopped was visible from some angles... Anyways, future of Chessington... Well it can't be any worse than 2013.

I'll be there! I'll hopefully be around for the entire day this time, but unsure if I'll be able to make any post-meet things.

Oblivion had its track repainted for the 2013 season.

Air (3) Congo River Rapids (4) Duel (6) Gardens (5) Hex - The Legend Of The Towers (6) Nemesis (7) Nemesis Sub-Terra (5) Oblivion (5) Ripsaw (5) Runaway Mine Train (5) The Smiler (6) Th13teen (5) Sonic Spinball (3) Air + Ripsaw -

Thorpe Park is open March to November - the Annual Pass covers you for any non-special events during that time. If you're getting to access the park in February, then I'm pretty sure that's a perk. An "Annual Pass" gives access to whenever the park is open, and last one year. It does not give access to the park for one year, and that's something that has always been the case!

I think the idea is that by making passholders pre-book, they can control numbers more easily and ensure it doesn't get too busy. I'm sure they'll still allow people to turn up on the day, but they just want to know numbers and ensure that they have the appropriate number of staff and such to make the day enjoyable for everyone.

The way I see it, an event is something whereby the park offer more than their standard line up of rides during their main operating hours. So, Fright Nights is an event (more stuff), Summer Nights is an event (outside main operating hours), as was things like The Big Easter, Sun Scream (more stuff), etc. So regardless of what there is in the line up or what happens, opening during February Half Term is an event in my opinion, since it's outside the main operating hours of the park. And Thorpe/Merlin say they can charge passholders for Thorpe's events if they want.

They are charging £5 for the event. The event includes Brainiac Live. This does not mean they are charging for Brainiac Live. Also... -Merlin. -What's this got to do with Merlin? It's more a Thorpe thing charging for events like these.

Hope everyone has a great day today!

http://www.justshowingoff.com/site/websites/saw/ Looks like 'justshowingoff' made the Saw minisite (which is now offline). It doesn't include all the videos or the delightful Disciples of Saw game where you had to saw off your own leg, but shows how nice the site was. Just a shame they couldn't recreate a similar tone for the ride's building! (NB: If you're planning on opening link, make sure your volume isn't up TOO loud! )

A headless monk who is disappointed that he cannot haunt Storm Surge?

Thorpe's video advertising their half term event is much better than Alton Towers' and Chessington's videos advertising their respective half term events...

Hasn't posted in a non-Off Topic thread for ages (and hence why has had a post count of 80 for ages).

Hasn't been to Disneyland Paris Resort.