JoshC.

The trouble I'm having at the moment is that I do actually like Chessington (well, maybe I should say 'liked Chessington' now, I don't know...). But last year's visit and this year's visits haven't left me think 'I want to come back here'. I hoped that last year was a blip, but it seemed not. At least the people I went with came away with more positive views than me, but for me personally, I just feel so apathetic about the place at the moment. You can tell they are trying, and things like the Market Square revamp are good and nice to see. But then Scorpion Express just screams out missed potential and shows that sometimes trying isn't enough. Zufari had the opportunity to be incredible and, seeinghow Chessington is a theme park and zoo, should be the icon attraction. But again, there's missed opportunity and it doesn't reach the potential it should make. Then there's little things that have just made the visits that little less good. Tomb Blaster for example. Last year, my gun didn't work. This year, again my gun didn't work, and the spare one next to me also didn't work (of course, I did mention it to staff after coming off). From this perspective, you can see why I'm coming away disappointed. The operational procedures on Black Buccaneer are just horrid too.. Little things like that are, for me at least, just taking away from my enjoyment of the day... Due to the missed opportunities with Zufari and Scorpion Express, I do find it hard to get excited about hearing of new projects. After all, my fears are that it will wind up having the chance to be incredible, and then fail to deliver and be an okay experience missing that extra something... Anyways, this is going wildly off the Bubbleworks topic, so... I didn't ride Bubbleworks on my most recent visit.

Best looking resin yet.

I've been doing some thinking about all this now... Merlin have dealt with a fair few IPs in recent years - Saw, Sonic (kinda), Madagascar, Ice Age, Lionsgate in general, Shrek in the future as well as CBeebies Land and Angry Birds Land this year. They've probably looked into more as well (I heard murmurs of Smiler possibly having a Halo IP for example). Anyone remember in 2011 when Shrek almost happened at Alton Towers? It didn't go ahead because Dreamworks thought the quality of the area was poor. So, as you'd expect, Merlin work closely with whoever they partner with to ensure they get the best quality they can. But the Shrek/Towers thing shows if who Merlin are working with aren't happy, they can and will pull out. We know Thorpe and Rovio are working together on this; just look at any article / press release. Some articles also suggest that this is the first of many places to show Angry Birds 4D, so I'd hazard a guess that Thorpe have got exclusivity for a year or two before other parks can roll it out. However, Rovio will want to ensure Thorpe's Angry Birds Land sells the idea. They'll want it to look as good as possible to show to other parks and say 'Look at what you can do if you buy Angry Birds rights off of us'. This investment is just as important to Rovio as it is to Thorpe, possibly more so. So I fully expect Rovio had a lot of input with the land, specifically the theming, so that it shows of what you can do with the Angry Birds theme and rights. Also, look at Lightwater Valley's Angry Birds play area. Okay, it's nothing special, but it shows off the Angry Birds style well. Bare in mind that everything there is designed to played on/with, so has to abide by certain safety standards. Thorpe have 3 times the budget, and Rovio have probably worked more closely with Thorpe than LWV to show of AB4D, and they don't have to create themed structures for a play area, but instead have the option to create ones which look amazing and don't have to played on. Neither party will want to miss out on that opportunity. Also, what we have to remember is the entirety of Angry Birds Land is currently accessible (of course, not the actual rides, but I mean the actual pathways, etc.). I imagine it's not easy to place 3D structures/theming when there's guests everywhere. Instead, I'm guessing lots of it has been made offsite and is waiting to be placed in a couple of weeks before opening when the land is closed off for final touches. I expect all we've seen at the moment are the 'easier' touches to put in place, and the more complicated (and more likely, more impressive) bits of theming will come later. It does seem like the opposite way round to how things are done, but I guess we've got to remember it's not being built during Closed Season. tl;dr - Rovio will have had a say in the theming, and will want it to be as good as possible. I expect we'll see 3D theming in the land, just put in closer to the opening of the ride.

You're going to have to elaborate a bit more here Sids, as I'm not quite sure what you're trying to say. Do you mean the current theming shows how Merlin don't care about customers? That this project and choice of IP show this? Or something else? Whilst I'd agree that installing Angry Birds as a theme is an obvious attempt to attract families, I don't see how it means they don't essentially care about them? Or I've just completely missed the point of your post

"Oh look, there's a car on fire, instead of getting as far away as possible, let's take a photo of it!" How on earth does that happen?! :S

Very true, and I do agree with you! But, it's easier market 'You don't pay for parking whilst others do' instead of 'You're saving £x amount more per visit'. Almost like capitalising on a superiority complex of guests

I may eventually get up to writing a trip report from my trip a couple of weeks ago, but just want to say it wasn't great... Operations were poor, staff for the most part were meh (or TOO friendly, which was just annoying), there was little atmosphere about the place. It just didn't feel right. Yeah, there's been improvements around the place, and it looks nice, but it didn't compensate for the fact the place feels very 'meh' to me. Plus the fact that Scorpion Express was poorly executed, Tomb Blaster feels like it's going down the drain, etc. Chessington may be 'improving right in front us' and they may be trying to improve problems they've been left with, but my visit in 2013 and visit a couple of weeks ago haven't left me wanting to go back, and there's just a lot less enjoyment I get out of the place. Even 2 years ago, I loved the place and, whilst areas needed attention, it felt like it was going in a good direction. Now, I'm struggling to actually care about the place...

One repocussion of getting rid of charged parking, though, is that Premium MAP holders lose out on a perk, and some may feel they're benefitting less from getting one. In reality, it's stupid I know, but it has to be remembered that charged parking is something that Merlin use to their advantage. Getting rid of it means Merlin have to make slight changes to accommodate it, and that's just something I can't see happening

Neat TV ad for Helix.

Of course not. It is by no means great, immersive theming which we should all be clambering over and applauding Merlin for. In fact, I am surprised that we are seeing 2D stickers there of all places. I was thinking that - especially on the higher up ledges - some 3D bits of theming could easily be placed there, away from vandalism of guests, and could be secured down with relative ease at a low-ish cost. So I do see why people think this is a bit iffy and are having concerns. However, that part of my post was more referring to the point people will jump the gun. No doubt there's people thinking that the area is going to look awful, and will be using this 'theming' as the basis of their thoughts. However, we know there's more to come - the Angry Bird 'figures' themselves, the entrance structures (basing that off the plans admittedly, but they look good in the plans and I see no reason to doubt why they would not be built), plus there's the dodgems, which will likely come with some styling / theming. Another thing to remember here is that this is quite a low investment. Yes, that doesn't excuse everything ('why should a company the size of Merlin be adding in 'cheap' investments?' is a question you could ask, and rightfully so too), but a balance has to be struck between creating a good experience and meeting a budget. Whether Thorpe will have gotten the balance right with Angry Birds Land, we're yet to see. I think that, once completed, the area will look nice. I can see where people's concerns are coming from, but I do think it is just a hasty reaction at seeing some of the (hopefully cheaper) theming being put up and people judging too quickly. I'm not saying it's going to be an amazing themed experience as it won't be, but I don't think it will be awful like some people have said, and are probably still thinking.

*Awaits a 'This is just 2D stickers on a wall, Angry Birds Land will be awful' style post*. Assuming this type of style is adopted onto many of the buildings in the area along with the 3D models and entrance signs that we know of, the area should look quite nice. Fingers crossed there's going something a bit more special with the area though!

Oh, well that's that then... It's no secret that I don't like the ride and think it's not worth keeping, etc., but it's really unfortunate that it hasn't opened yet. It just seems like they overcome one problem with the ride and then it throws up another one.

Still not open yet as far as I'm aware. There's no indication when it will open, but if it's been testing with water dummies, then it should *hopefully* be soon.

So this has opened and stuff now: (Avoid the second half the video if you don't want to see Alvey screaming) Looks good, even if a bit sluggish at some points. Then again, we all know how difficult it to judge B&Ms from their POVs. If it is a bit tame at the moment though, I give it a few years before it's a bit of beast.

http://www.bd.nl/regio/tilburg-en-omgeving/loon-op-zand/efteling-bouwt-nieuwe-achtbaan-met-val-van-37-5-meter-en-investeert-36-miljoen-1.4320839 - An article about this, which can be translated to give some vaguely understandable English (darn Google Translate...). Looks like they're also getting 400 more rooms in a hotel extension. By 2020, the park wants 5 million visitors as well, and this 'first stage' to achieving that has an investment of almost £30 million. Looking forward to how the park theme this more than anything else to be honest!

Would love to go to this, but unfortunately I'll be back at uni for my research project. Have fun all that attend! I'll be going the week before - on a weekday - if anyone wants to try Angry Birds Land before the meet though!

I'll do my utmost to attend this meet! Costs and timing are a bit of a grey area for me at the moment, but given the large fore-warning, fingers crossed I can make this!

I thought 2012 was the last time they had the scroller, which updated with general info, including if rides were closed? Could be wrong there though. Still think it's a worthwhile thing to do; not just for Thorpe, but for all parks really!

From Marketing Director's Twitter. So the models will be displayed on the beach for Easter weekend. I still fully expect that either these will be used within the area, or there will be 3D objects that will. No doubt they just want to push the area as much as possible so people want to come back.

Most suitable place for this I think... http://www.thedrum.com/news/2014/04/15/pizza-hut-comes-out-top-social-brands-100-poll-while-google-amazon-and-youtube-fail Thorpe Park have ranked 23rd in a Social Brand poll. The poll measured how good brands were at building and maintaining relations with 16-24 year olds via social networking, and the quality of such relations. Good to see Thorpe are doing well at this sort of thing!

Whilst it's true no one is going to cancel their trip because Zodiac is closed, it's just good customer service really to display somewhere on the website if a ride is going to be unavailable on a certain day. Nicer to know before you arrive as opposed to when you get through the gates, isn't it?

Official POV!

There is the '2013 only' poll - http://www.ushsho.com/riddenthisyearsteelpoll2013.htm X ranks 215th. Of course, this is out of all coasters ridden in 2013 by those who voted, which skews it a fair bit I assume. Would be interesting to see how it would have faired had it only been based on people who rode it 2013 though, I agree. It's always pretty difficult to know how serious to take this poll, simply because of how varied rider numbers are, people's own preferences, etc. etc. However, it's always interesting to see general trends like Mark says, as well as how consistently good (or bad) some rides or ride types of viewed. On the other hand, it's nice to see your favourite coaster(s) rate highly and see how many people agree with you.

I agree with you about the website thing, and it's not good to have 3 rides at any time of the year, worst of all during holiday-time. It's even worse that the park are trying to build up they're reputation with families again and they've had this bad luck. However, I disagree with you about the lack of family attractions: X Flying Fish Storm Surge Loggers Leap Rumba Rapids Zodiac Quantum Depth Charge Banana Boat Rocky Express The last two are more orientated to younger audiences as well in my opinion. You could even throw in Tidal Wave to that list if you really wanted, but more for really hot days. So that's a good 10 or 11 family rides I see there, about the same number of thrill rides. I grant you, if you were a family going in the next few days, ride-wise, there's probably not enough to keep you entertained for the entire today, but there's enough there for the most part. I think what needs to be kept in mind is whilst Thorpe are going for a family audience now, it seems like they're wanting families with slightly older kids; possibly with kids from ages 8 upwards. From about 8 or 9, I bet a fair few kids will be able to go on the likes of Rush and Detonator as well, so in some respects, they are rides which will appeal to a Thorpe-going family. I think once Angry Birds Land opens as well, there's a good number of family rides to keep that sort of family entertained for a day. Given a couple more years, I'd hope - and am expecting - Thorpe will be a fantastic family park. It's just a case of they need to start somewhere..

This is why I link the idea of having a scroller on the main page, which has the latest updates about ride closures, weather disruptions, etc. It is quite bad that no where on line have they mentioned about Slammer being closed, for example. We can only hope the website update next month will bring about a way for guests finding out if a ride will be closed...