JoshC.

I think (read - hope) that one of the reasons for the shipping container hotel, if you will, is that there are troubles with the building of the actual hotel. The fact that it's been in their long term plan for so long, and they've gotten planning approval for a hotel twice (I think?) says to me that there must be something big up behind the scenes that we don't know about, and it's not just the cost (even if it is a contributing factor). I'm pretty sure the Snoozeboxes wouldn't have been cheap to hire from the company (I think it was Sidders who found out they cost Silverstone £15million a couple of years ago or something?). Whilst it's risky for the park to take it into their own hands, hopefully the full control they can have will work in their favour. Crash Pad / Waterfront Hotel / whatever is, and hopefully always will be, a temporary - almost kneejerk - solution to the problems that the proper hotel has been plagued with. It's probably also a kneejerk to the bad year Thorpe had last year as well. The whole thing does really feel very sprung on and out of the blue, but I really do hope it turns out the be a short term thing. You could view it as polishing a turd I guess, but it is at least making the best out of a bad situation.

So, some good news about all this... Thorpe are changing the colours of the Waterfront Hotel to fit in with the idea that it's on the water front: http://planning.runnymede.gov.uk/Northgate/PlanningExplorer/Generic/StdDetails.aspx?PT=Planning%20Applications%20On-Line&TYPE=PL/PlanningPK.xml&PARAM0=186334&XSLT=/Northgate/PlanningExplorer/SiteFiles/Skins/Runnymede_AA/xslt/PL/PLDetails.xslt&FT=Planning%20Application%20Details&PUBLIC=Y&XMLSIDE=/Northgate/PlanningExplorer/SiteFiles/Skins/Runnymede_AA/Menus/PL.xml&DAURI=PLANNING Whilst it will be made exactly the same (ie shipping container esque), it won't be painted grey, but instead we have: 'Wedgewood blue' containers, with 'Saphire blue' doors and a wavy canopy on the top painted in a nice 'Cornflower'. So, the colours are a lot brighter and will hopefully look more inviting. Also, as the park are planning these top canopies instead of 'steel solar sheets', it reduces the maximum height of the containers by almost a meter (max height 6.1m instead of 7m). Not exactly anything which will shake the earth, but nice to see better colours which reflect the overall idea are hopefully going to be used!

Couple more pictures from the minisite - http://www.heide-park.de/wingcoaster2014/baublog/ Dat ruined church-esque feel, ey? Bag drop in the station area. Apparently, you drop your bag in one section, and it then rotates around so it is safe and the next person has a free compartment to use. It then rotates again when you arrive back in the station for you to collect. Seems like a nice idea - hopefully it will work out (and it can then be installed in Swarm's station )

Going for another lost / ancient world theme for Chessie then? If they invest in another theme like this any time soon, my days I'll scream.

Amazing piece of marketing is probably the wrong way to word it actually. What I mean is they've created a story which no one knew was fake and, in turn, drum up plenty of attention. They've got loads of support from people, and for those who they annoyed, they can show they're a 'good company', which might help them in some ways. They made it into the papers and multiple online sites even after the park had closed; surely that's something? I do agree that there's other, less controversial, ways they could have gone about it. The 'movie studio' idea could have been milked so much more for example. That said, if the park did make up the initial compliant (which is how I've understood Chaz's post), then I'm pretty amazed at how they've pulled it off.

Wait, so are you essentially saying that Thorpe made up the initial compliant?! And then let it build from there and just continually market it? Or that they just capitalised from the initial complaint to market Asylum? If it's the former, then well done Thorpe for creating an amazing piece of marketing...

Let's not expect it to return. They're going down the film route. If rumours are to be believed, it was meant to have a retheme this year anyway. It's all but gone in my opinion.

Santa does seem to have gone on an extreme diet this year!

So that's what Storm Surge's box is for...recording marketing material... Dat backwards front wheel wheelie down a hill at 3:44 though

ScareTOUR have said on their FB page that Thorpe and Lionsgate have a 3 year agreement for FN and the usage of their characters. So, there we go! I assume we'll have new films every year; can't wait to see what they come up with. (Would lift the direct quote, but I'm on my phone and I can't seem to copy things from FB!)

Did anyone else watch Barry and Stuart's 'The Happenings' in Watch tonight? If not, watch it! Absolutely incredible stuff I thought!

Colossus (5) Depth Charge (5) Detonator (5) Flying Fish (5) Loggers Leap (5) Nemesis Inferno (6) Quantum (5) Rocky Express (5) Rush (5) Samurai (5) SAW: The Ride (5) Slammer (7) Stealth (5) Storm in a Teacup (0) Swarm (7) Tidal Wave (5) X (5) Swarm + Teacups - May as well kill it...

I think that part of the approval of Wanyama Village was that it would be available all year round, and as such, Zoo Days need to happen otherwise they'd be breaching what the council approved. Is anyone expecting it to be impressive at all in the first place?

The addition of Sub Terra is great. Must say, all in all, the event looks good value for money and has a well balanced line up for everyone, so good stuff really.

Colossus (5) Depth Charge (5) Detonator (5) Flying Fish (5) Loggers Leap (5) Nemesis Inferno (6) Quantum (5) Rocky Express (5) Rumba Rapids (3) Rush (5) Samurai (2) SAW: The Ride (5) Slammer (7) Stealth (6) Storm in a Teacup (3) Swarm (8) Tidal Wave (5) X (6) Rumba Rapids + Samurai -

I'm pretty sure that an updated Crash Pad isn't all we'll get. There's likely to be something new / other things improved which will keep the park feeling fresh.

All of those dates I'll be at uni unfortunately - so it's a no for me. (Yay for the first of many standard Josh responses to meets )

So I had a 'meeting' with my Personal Tutor at uni today. Basically, I needed to get him to approve my essay title, so that I could write it up over the Christmas break and give my tutor a draft to check over. When I went to his office, he seemed to think that at first that I was in a completely different year group and didn't even realise I was one of his tutees.. When I asked him whether my essay title was okay, he just gave a generic 'That sounds okay' response, with no further help or advice (everyone else I know has had a fair amount of help from their tutor when it comes to finding books or how to write the essay). Then, when I asked how I should hand in my draft, he said 'You don't hand one in' and that the next time I should see him is for the oral presentation at the beginning of March... So, basically, it has no idea who I am, no idea I'm in his tutor group and has no idea how the essay I'm meant to be doing operates. All this from the person who's meant to be my first point of call if something goes wrong, or if I need help in day-to-day uni life. Fantastic. In saying that, I'm going to put a request in change my tutor so I can get someone who's actually vaguely competent in being a tutor.. Fingers crossed...

Somewhat sad that I can immediately tell I won't be able to make 7 of those Meets... Hopefully I can make a few next year. I only made one this year, but really enjoyed and I have no complaints to make about it!

To be fair, it's the only Maths essay I have to write for my degree (the 2500 one is for Philosophy), whereas you probably have a fair few to write every term! I'd much rather do a one-off long essay during my degree than several long-ish ones.

First of all, great entry - really enjoyed reading it! In some ways, I don't like judging scare attractions on just one run through, simply due to the very nature of them. However, in other ways, it makes it a lot better as, after all, the mazes should good quality all the time. So, based on my one experience of all the mazes... Cabin in the Woods was great. The tone it created was great, and I didn't think the lighting was weak at all. Each scene was effectively designed and it all worked very well. The latter parts of the maze were poor due to how the maze operates - everyone has choices in the first half, before being rammed down the second. That was the maze's main fault, along with a lacklustre ending which I cannot remember. As for the other mazes - Saw was lit up very well and effectively. Blair Witch was too dark in some ways, so you couldn't take in some of the theming around. What was worse was the lack of audio - pre-recorded rustling in the bushes, screams and gusts of wind would have been great. This was the one attraction which required atmosphere, and it was ruined by the fact it tried to use the surroundings to create an atmosphere. It was like the park tried cutting a corner and paid the price. Asylum's strobes weren't as annoying as previously, but it is a pretty boring feature after a while. MBV was just rubbish. Did the IPs improve the mazes? Well, Cabin is certainly an improvement on Hellgate and Passing (even though I quite liked Passing). Blair Witch, which has essentially served as a replacement for The Curse is actually alright. Okay, so it wasn't scary and wasted so much potential, but for a 2 star attraction, I think it was actually okay. Still needs work of course. MBV was just poor and NEEDS a rethink. The beginning speech was actually really good - something I really enjoyed - but everything else was distinctly below par. I mean, I had some sort of inflatable bed pushed against me at one point - like, what?! So, the answer is yes and no. I think Thorpe need to experiment a bit more with IPs; work out how best to execute them. One thing which they haven't tried is something which actually utilises a story. At best, we get a quick minute blurb at the beginning of a maze. We need something which actually has a story which is strung across the entire maze; a level of interactivity. Hopefully they will try it again next year. I don't think IPs restrict creativity of designers per se: they can still create whatever they want, they just need to work with a story which isn't their own. Based on the levels of theming we saw (which I thought was quite good), we should see the designers become more creative with stories and how to scare people. I'm going to feel like a bit of a broken record saying this, but I think that Face it Alone shows the Thorpe can create good, effective scares. However, it's a case of they need to strike a balance between doing these scares and getting people through. We saw them try with Passing charging for a maze; unfortunately, the idea and the maze itself were met with mixed responses. We saw them try something wild with Experiment 10 in 2011, but that resulted in horribly long queues. The trouble I'm seeing the park having is that they haven't found the best way to balance scares and 'getting the numbers' - let's see how they deal with that next season. So I do agree with you in some ways, but I think there's a much bigger picture to this all. Thorpe are constantly trying to improve Fright Nights, even if the quality of mazes we get doesn't improve (or gets worse). They are trying new, and sometimes innovative, ideas to them, and experimenting with what works and what doesn't. Whilst it doesn't mean we get the high-class Halloween event now - which is shame - I can see that being the case in a year or two from now...

After what feels like an eternity, I've finally finished all my assignments for this term at uni! My life will definitely feel strange without having to spend 20-40 hours a week doing a ton of Maths questions. And once term finishes on Friday, it will be nice to have time to relax as opposed to spending 60-70 odd hours a week either doing uni work, or travelling to/from uni! Roll on the Christmas holidays (even though I have a 5000 word essay and a 2500 word essay to write, I'm trying to think positive!)

I believe that due to the need to keep the water clean (as so much of it is dumped on you on-ride), Tidal Wave is one of (if not, the) most expensive rides on park to run!

Colossus (5) Depth Charge (4) Detonator (5) Flying Fish (5) Loggers Leap (5) Nemesis Inferno (5) Quantum (3) Rocky Express (5) Rumba Rapids (5) Rush (5) Samurai (5) SAW: The Ride (5) Slammer (7) Stealth (5) Storm in a Teacup (4) Swarm (7) Tidal Wave (5) X (5) Swarm + Quantum -

Colossus (5) Depth Charge (4) Detonator (5) Flying Fish (5) Loggers Leap (5) Nemesis Inferno (5) Quantum (3) Rocky Express (5) Rumba Rapids (5) Rush (5) Samurai (4) SAW: The Ride (5) Slammer (7) Stealth (5) Storm in a Teacup (5) Swarm (6) Tidal Wave (5) X (6) Storm in a Teacup + Quantum -