JoshC.

I am certainly interested in meets resuming (and know a few others who are too!) I think a summer meet (maybe for Carnival?) and Fright Nights meet is a good start for this year. Obviously, we're still in a pandemic (even if it doesn't always feel like it), but I think people have gotten used to a more cautious way of living that we can successfully have a meet and cater for everyone and their respective comfort levels

I don't know what the reason is, but it won't be this. It will never be this with Merlin. There will be three key departments involved here: a rides department, an engineering department and a Fastrack department. Obviously they will all work in conjunction with each other, but they are all very separate and with different aims. For example, the rides department will have two key aims: 1. Ensure the ride gets as high throughput as possible 2. Ensure operational downtime is minimal (ie downtime not caused by mechanical / engineering problems that they cannot control) Obviously this is all done with safety being the top priority, etc etc. The rides department will not care how people got on the ride (ie if they queued normally, Fastrack, RAP), just how many got on. They have to manage this as good as possible though, but they're not motivated by sales in any way. They also may need more staff to run some rides on full capacity, but again, they will not be motivated to bring in less staff so the Fastrack department earns more money, for example. Equally, the engineering department's aim will be: 1. Ensure the ride opens on time 2. Ensure the ride is available on as high a capacity as possible / as demanded 3. Minimise downtime caused by potential engineering problems Again, with safety being a priority still, etc Their targets and motivation will again have nothing to do with Fastrack. The Fastrack department has one aim: make as much money as possible. They'll have targets for each day, depending on budgeted guest numbers, etc. If a ride has a reduced capacity, it increases the queue time which can allow them to sell more. But then there - should be! - a point where sense and logic overtakes profits and they stop selling them. tl;dr - Merlin parks never reduce capacity / inflate queue times to purposefully increase Fastrack sales. However, it is a convenient side effect which does happen.

The spacing between boats was non-uniform. The spacing between some was minimal and no different to, say, 10-15 years ago. Other boats had some space between them, which really was just down to the a reduced number of boats imo

As with Benin, like the idea and sure it'll be fab. Little concerned by location, as it will be difficult to effectively compliment the park's current entrance.

I visited yesterday, and honestly? The park was 'fine'. It wasn't that busy for Easter holidays. Operations were standard for Chessington. That's not to say they were objectively good, but they were the usual I come to expect from Chessington over recent years. Dragon's Fury opened late and Tomb Blaster wasn't open by the time I left. So a bit of poor form there. My biggest bugbear with Chessington is their advertised queue times being wildly wrong. Just as some examples: Kobra listed as 30mins, was one cycle wait Tiger Rock as 90mins, was 40mins Dragon's Fury as 50mims, was 80mins Gruffalo as 60mins, was 15mins This has regularly been a problem for the park, and seems to be a bigger problem this year. They have new systems for scanning Fastrack and RAP which might be affecting things and highlighting these problems even more. But it's concerning just how awfully wrong these times are.

Was up to a grand total of 12 boats yesterday.

The thing with Enso compared to Mack Xtreme Spinners (like Ride to Happiness at Plopsa) is that there is no induced spin on the launch. This means that the spinning is entirely dependent on the weight of the car and how the layout spins the car. As Icon was not designed as a spinner, and the cars are just a row of two, rather than a 2x2 like most spinners, the opportunity for spinning is limited. And with no starting induced spin, it's a struggle for it to even get going. It seems the best way to ride is as a solo rider, as that gives a significant uneven weight distribution. That in turn is giving a good chance for spinning which even a 20kg difference between two riders doesn't seem to give. It's a shame, as there is potential really. But I'm just not convinced that adding on a 1 row car that spins will be anything more than an industry fad that will peter away after a few years. True Xtreme Spinners ars the way forward.

Thorpe Park and Fright Nights have been nominated for five awards at this year's ScareCON event, which they are hosting next month. These are... Best Theme Park Event Best Entertainment Best Set & Design (for Trailers) Best Costume & Makeup (for Trailers) Best Scare Zone & Roamers (for The Crows of Mawkin Meadow) Thorpe usually get a nomination or two every year, but to hit five is impressive. Wouldn't be surprised to see them get at least one award too..

Please see my previous post: "Rocky Express is closed and will not be reopening. It will not be relocated either. At best, we will see part of the ride included somewhere around Project Exodus as a theming feature. If not, the ride will just be scrapped."

It just ain't going to happen The only good thing to happen so far is that Merlin can cite it as a way for investing in their parks, even if they don't think it will happen.

Lower Dome toilets have reopened and look very nice: Couple of highlight features: -Lights above cubicles indicating if someone is in there -3-in-1 sinks featuring soap, water and hand dryer in one location

Rocky Express is closed and will not be reopening. It will not be relocated either. At best, we will see part of the ride included somewhere around Project Exodus as a theming feature. If not, the ride will just be scrapped.

The most anticipated new investment for 2022 in the UK, High Striker!, opened yesterday! It has its own custom soundtrack which is pretty neat. Think cheesey classic board walk style test-your-strength game and you're most of the way there. Doesn't quite fit in with the Amity area, but let's face it, themed areas don't exist at Thorpe. The ride looks nice enough for what it is. Shame about the operator box being very bland, and the back of the ride (which of course faces the beach) being exposed and not looking pleasant.

This is such a difficult thing to answer, because it can entirely depend on crowd levels. Efteling for example is a park I would call relaxed, but I've had a particular day filled with school trips that was a nightmare and just stress. So I'll try and pick parks which I think would be relaxed/stressful regardless of visitor numbers... Relaxed Linnanmaki (Finland) - The park is well designed and has rides that are designed to cope with its crowds. Go variety of rides, good indoor and outdoor selections, good food. It's a nice city park on the outskirts of a city, creating a surprisingly relaxed and chilled out atmosphere. Hellendoorn (Netherlands) - A spacious park with a good variety sprinkled all across the park. Nice green spaces too. Stressful Fantasy Island - The worst parts of a theme park mixed with worst part of a seaside resort. The market and arcade is just noise and eurgh. Drievliet (Netherlands) - Awkwardly small space and just weird and annoying. Probably slightly basing this on the fact I visited when a million school kids were there which didn't help, but in general, I think this park would just be annoying and stress. Parc Saint Paul (France) - Visiting the park feels morally dodgy tbh

The two BigDippers currently open have height restrictions of either 1.3m or 1.4m. The 1.4m, Lost Gravity, is in a country where their B&Ms have a height restriction of 1.32m. The BigDippers don't need loading either side and only go up to cars of length 4. They're more akin to Gerstlauer Eurofighter and Infinity coasters than wing rider coasters. B&M Junior Invert designs have appeared in concept arts for the 3 Legolands set to open in China over the coming years, along with 2 of those parks getting wing rider coasters of a similar look. Legoland Deutschland is also getting one of these wing riders. Obviously until we get absolute confirmation, we can't say anything for definite. But it very much seems like Merlin and B&M have worked together to create a new, family friendly, style ride.

Some more plans for Exodus have been uploaded, showing the theming for the entrance and other areas. Looks like they're going for an abandoned forest plus mountain exploration theme. I guess the idea is that the forest hides the lake, and climbing the mountain allows you to find the tranquil lake? All of the new plans are over on TPM! EDIT: If you weren't fooled - and if the link didn't give it away! - this was an April Fool's. The images were hastily mocked up by yours truly using images from Ghost Train's and Swarm's planning applications, and are not real. Glad I caught a few people out though

It's a weird name change to happen, especially since the logo still features "Bomb", the black bird from Angry Birds. So it would suggest that it's still part of Angry Birds Land, and possibly part of any new contracts that Thorpe and Rovio have. Part of me wonders if the park made a late call to remove the 'Bombs Away' suffix as a result of the current situation in Ukraine. Probably reading into things too much tbh, but it's something which crossed my mind. Aside from that, I can't really think of a reason why they'd do it randomly now.

An unlikely thing to happen outside of closed season to be frank. As others have said, it seems like they haven't been actively used in a while. I must admit the difference in ride expedition isn't as much as I expected, but is noticeable enough. Very curious why it's happened...

It's likely referring to Rocky Express, which the park have said they have "retired". The Canadian retirement home will be because the area used to be called Canada Creek.

I would imagine some internal H&S measure says only so many boats can be on the lift, in case of a stoppage and need for an evacuation, for example. I also think they're very much against boats bumping on the drop; something which could happen if there's many boats on the lift and one comes to a stop on the slide.

Storm Surge requires a minimum number of boats on the circuit to operate (this goes even for testing purposes). Effectively, the boats need to be nudged onto the conveyor belt, which can only practically happen when there's a certain number of boats. This - I think - is the same for all of these boat rides made by WhiteWater West.

I'm under the impression that there's been changes as to which departments look after the audio within the park now. This may be causing transitional problems with getting them sorted. Not a good look for start of season. Hopefully this is just a teething problem and can be gotten on top of quickly.

Was operating yesterday, but shut down part way through the day. The draining of the water might not necessarily mean a length closure per se. But it's never normally a good sign, admittedly.

There's some pretty neat signs, clearly geared towards enthusiasts, that can be seen through the construction fences, as seen by Theme Park Guide: The plans should a standard 10 rows of 2 train, with no room for spinning. So I would think it's unlikely. Certainly not impossible, but very unlikely.

^Yep, different parts are run by different companies. I saw the video yesterday and it...yeah. Wish I hadn't seen it. Regardless of what caused the incident, I don't even want to imagine what anyone involved is going through. From those who know the person, to those watching, to those on the ride. Whatever they're feeling, it won't be pleasant.