JoshC.

As much as it pains me to say anything good about Storm Surge, it is better for the park the park then Octopus Gardens in my opinion. At the end of the day, Octopus Gardens was a collection of dated rides which would look more comfortable in a high street than in a theme park. Their popularity was declining (well, of course, considering the target market), and it just wasn't for the park. Storm Surge, despite its list of flaws longer than the Great Wall of China, is a family ride which can be 'enjoyed' by the majority of people. Now the target market is families, but they seem to be focusing on families where the children at slightly older. Chessington and Legoland have family markets that are more geared towards families with younger children, so it makes sense for Merlin to turn Thorpe to do what they're doing. When a child hits 7-8, they'll likely be 1.2m anyways, so can do a lot of rides there now. Octopus Garden just didn't have a place in Thorpe any more, and I think even if Thorpe had always been a family park, it wouldn't have deserved a place any longer than what it got.

It seems that, despite the Haunted House ride for next season being recommend for approval, the council have refused the approve the ride! Why you ask? Fears over extra traffic... http://www.windsorexpress.co.uk/News/Areas/Windsor/Legolands-haunted-house-proposal-refused-planning-permission-14082014.htm Such a shame. I wonder what Legoland's next step will be... EDIT: After looking through the plans and such - http://www.rbwm.gov.uk/pam/view.jsp?ID=14%2F01251%2FFULL - it seems like there was a LOT of objection from locals, with traffic being one the major concerns. Also sounds like there was a disagreement between how much it would encourage new visitors to come to the park. What's most interesting about the comments received is the ones from the Highway Authority. At first, they didn't seem in favour of the project, but then changed their minds.. I wonder if we will see an appeal on our hands then..

^This is just a list for what people would pick; so it may or may not include ones that are currently there! Just wondering; does anyone know how long the current playlist is? I think for me, what's actually played is less important, but more the length of playlist, to keep it fresh and such.

You have some Bantille lyrics in your signature.

^Would actually love to hear that played in the area during Fright Nights! They probably won't change anything. If they go for park-wide theming, I guess we could see some small bits adding to the area. Given that Fright Nights is aimed towards the older audience, there's no need to do anything to ABL really, as the majority of people going for Fright Nights will be less interested in it. Roaming actors will probably be told to not focus on younger children I expect.

According to Screamscape, it's the state of New Jersey that have put the restriction on (though they themselves find it hard to believe!) - http://www.screamscape.com/html/six_flags_great_adventure.htm They mention about how the control systems for both rides are linked, so essentially the rides cannot operate at the same time. I've definitely read this somewhere else, though where I cannot find. Certainly doesn't surprise me; though I do hope the two can run simultaneously in the future.

Looks like a new maze is definitely on the cards: http://www.prweek.com/article/1307467/thorpe-park-hires-prettygreen-fright-night-sessions (Loving that MBV photo as well ) Here's the company Thorpe are working with - http://www.itsprettygreen.com/ . They seem pretty good; looking forward to seeing how they go about with the PR!

I don't have any jokes unfortunately. I guess you could say I'm a pun wit wonder.

Helix cost just over £21m, but I guess the difficult landscape could add to the cost. According to Wikipedia, Blue Fire cost between £5.5m-£6.5m without "decorations", which I guess means theming. Alpina Blitz at Nigloland only cost £5.5m as well. So they certainly seem quite affordable, and at say £6m, it's not unreasonable to say that one of the smaller parks here could splash out and get a smaller one. I do wonder if the lack of Mack is because the parks are waiting for more to be made, to see how good the quality is - I don't think Mack have done many major coasters for example.

Stealth won't be able to get the additional supports to get one, because of the council restrictions. Thank goodness as well in my opinion - Detonator is a great drop tower. Plus I wouldn't want to see the park's icon coaster have to deal with troubling throughput to accommodate for a drop tower.

Yeah, Jessabelle's released has been continuously put back - with it currently having a limited release in November now. I'd be surprised if that was turned into an attraction to be honest, but if it was, it'd make for a create chance for to have a maze which uses atmosphere more than actors jumping out at you. Still holding onto a sliver of hope for a Hostel-themed attraction, however 'out there' that sounds, but TCM seems like a likely choice.

Disappointing.

I'm still with The Resistance. I dunno how well we'll do; spent most of the pre-season training fighting off swarming alien races and convincing people they're Lez Cougan...

I doesn't look like it's going for the accuracy of the likes of RCT, with more the 'it's meant to be preposterous, let's have some fun with it'. Given that, I think it looks okay to be honest.

^Yep, it is that model! Great theme for an indoor spinning coaster and should be a nice little addition to the park. Definitely high up on the list of US parks I want to visit one day for sure!

^I dunno if it's that simple; from what I've seen, the public can't normally access the underneath of top hat sections of launch coasters (could well be wrong there, just what I've seen from pictures). So it just seems to be a more general thing of not letting people underneath the ride section. From what I've seen, the station and queue line are quite enclosed on Zumanjaro(?), so I guess that minimises risks of getting hit by loose items and whatnot.

Zombies are in Cabin in the Woods, so it could be reference to that. I don't think there's a Lionsgate-distributed film that's main focus in zombies though and is particularly popular (someone correct me if I'm wrong though!). I've noticed that on this link - http://www.thorpebreaks.co.uk/fright-nights.html , they say: Since it says 'some', that probably means there'll be more. Not groundbreaking news, but it does confirm that there'll probably be at least one new IP this season, meaning that there should be an Asylum replacement of some kind. Well, hopefully at least!

If you want something to facepalm at today - http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/whats-on/family-kids-news/watch-lightwater-valley-flamingo-land-7594234 There is no 'best' coaster - it's all so personal. You cannot come up with some sort of systematic formula for deciding how good a ride is. Indeed, things like this annoy me all the more, as it can lead to Maths getting a bad image in the public...

Verbolten (Let's see how quickly we can reach Farup from here!)

(which JoshC. dislikes)

No more progress yet unfortunately; too much work going on unfortunately. Hopefully some more progress will come sooner or later though.

Summer Nights is meant to be minimal queues though, not no queues. Yeah, it's nicer to have with no queues, but it's not like the event is any different to what it's being advertised if there's short queues.

Favourite coaster manufacturer is a difficult one. B&M do make some quality, but at the same time, they can be very formulaic with their rides. Then again, that could just be down to the parks who order their rides. Then there's Intamin; despite all their flaws, they are very innovative, and do contribute to the industry. Perhaps too innovative though, but heyho. But then you get the 'smaller' ones, like Mack and even Gerstlauer, who are improving their ride selections, and being involved in bigger and more exciting projects. So really difficult to choose. In terms of rides I've ridden, I've always favoured B&M rides, so I'll have to go for them. As for flat rides, I'll have to go for Fabbri. Just because they've got a great selection of rides and seem to be quite reliable.

Given that the plans valued the project at £2.3 million, yet we got everything that was including in the plans, it's a bit weird (unless there was some sorta crossover whereby the plans were changed before submitted, but the value of the project wasn't?). To be honest, for under £1m, I think the cinema experience alone is worth it. Shame though; double the budget could have seen some very nice things!

http://www.altontowersguide.com/gallery/behind-the-scenes/the-smiler/ Behind the Scenes / Lift Hill walk of Smiler!