JoshC.

About right for this time of year I'd say. Engineers have still been able to work during the Lockdown, and they've had a full closed season. If they were working on an optimistic schedule if being open to open in late March like normal, it would be around now that they would need to get rides staff in for training, etc., and so engineers would be doing their final tests. Noteworthy that Rush still has its top off. When it received major work in the past, it hasn't opened at the start of season. At the moment, I still don't expect it to be able to open on April 12th tbh.

As I'm sure everyone is aware, UK theme parks are set to be allowed to reopen from 12th April (assuming all goes to plan). However, the circumstances are slightly to different to when they reopened last July.. Last time, they were among the last things to reopen. Now, they're opening before indoor restaurants and indoor entertainment, and hotels. Obviously it means no indoor attractions (which is how the Merlin parks started out anyways last year). But it does raise some interesting questions: -How will the parks cope without the ability to offer indoor, sit down restaurants? Will that reflect the number of people they choose to let in? -What will the rules be for rides with indoor stations / that are partially indoors? See, for example, Smiler: will that be allowed to operate? If so, what conditions? -Being open is great, but how will some parks (Towers, Blackpool and Flamingo specifically) fare whilst hotels are closed? Whilst I doubt that these will impact the openings of the parks outright, I certainly think that that first month of opening will be different to how the parks felt last year. Again, take Towers as an example. If rides with indoor sections can't open, that affects Smiler, Th13teen and Galactica. Arguably Wickerman too. But then what of the likes of Nemesis and Oblivion, with their open, more shed-like stations? It's something which certainly could have a huge impact.

Vekoma are teasing something... https://www.instagram.com/p/CLKXsg0BKQo/ Energylandia have mentioned in the past their intention is open a new generation Vekoma Tilt Coaster in 2022, so it could very much be this. But equally, I wouldn't count out a random surprise park announcing some crazy new Vekoma outta nowhere.

Oh yeah, this is testing now. There's some videos about if you want to find them. But enjoy these pictures for now: https://www.facebook.com/walibibelgium/posts/10159130403846276

That POV really shows how much Colossus has changed. Obviously there's water in the cobra roll pit, but there's the inline twists too, where the Saw / Saw Alive land has been infilled, along with the concrete that's appeared around the bottom of the drop too. And yes, the person on the lift hill during operation of the ride is something which would no longer happen at a Merlin park. Those sorts of thing do still happen in parks (usually ones abroad), but in general, it's not something that happens much these days. Different times and all that

Haven't done Europa at all sadly I did do a Plopsaland-Walibi Belgium-Phantasialand-Walibi Holland trip a few years back though, yes (as well as many variations). Trouble I've always had with Europa using own car is justifying the distance, since it's harder to create a sensible loop that went back towards Calais/Dunkirk. Though it's certainly not impossible to do.

That's an interesting, quite spread out trip. I've never actually used public transport for any of those parks, because I've always been in a position that a hire car has been much more sensible. As Benin says, you really would need to look at a car for that trip. Toverland in particular isn't the easiest park to get to with public transport still. But a car is more valuable than just the convenience of getting to some of the more awkward parks. If you're planning on going from Phantasialand to Toverland for example, you have to come up with a plan to travel to a convenient location between the two, which is no easy thing. Either that, or you add in non-park days, but that then ups the cost of the trip. With a car it's much easier to get to the parks and break up the travel appropriately. But then if you hire a car in Germany, I don't know what the rule would be about returning it in Holland (you might be able to, but might be more expensive). And if you can't, that then changes the dynamic of the trip somewhat. If you're flexible with the parks, you do have other options where you could a similar number of parks that are closer together: -You could stick round Stuggart, maybe adding an extra day onto Europa and doing Tripsdrill as well as Holiday Park. -Or you could take off the Dutch parks and do Movie Park Germany instead. -Alternatively, cut Europa/Holiday Park and do Efteling and Movie Park instead. Some of those trips might be a bit more convenient if you want to avoid hiring a car. An out-there suggestion if you want to jump on the new-ride bandwagon would be to take your own car across the channel. You could do Plopsaland and Walibi Belgium, then also do Phantasialand and Netherlands. I've done similar trips to that before, and it's not significantly different to driving times you could potentially be looking at. You avoid the car hire/public transport issues, but obviously there's other issues that come up (insurance, how close you live to a channel crossing, etc). But something to think about if you haven't already! Obviously depends on what you want to do park-wise, but I do think the parks you have lined up at the moment might be a bit optimistic to do effectively, whilst also not breaking the bank.

POV of Abyssus from the park's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?ref=external&v=2577530899208373 And a video, in English, explaining all the new stuff in Aqualantis:

What's this, a post, in the Next Big Thing thread? "Is it spam? Someone making a stupid RMC joke?" I hear you ask. Nope, there has been activity on the local council's planning application website, related to Thorpe Park! For the first time in almost 3 years!! But don't get too excited. Way back in 2017, Thorpe submitted an application to the council to effectively change how they submit for plans for stuff. In short, the current method involves the park having to submit a detailed application for pretty much anything (eg: Containment required planning application, and that's just 2 shipping containers!). Thorpe wanted to change that so they didn't have to submit plans for buildings below 5m in height, or rides below 25m in height (similar to an agreement which Towers have). Decisions and stuff had stalled and there was some opposition to them from local residents. No formal decision has ever been made. A document appeared on the application a couple of months back indicating an extension of time regarding the proposal until the middle of April this year. After that, who knows what will happen. In short, this means nothing for the 'Next Big Thing' as it would presumably exceed 25m in height and require a planning application in any case. But it's still interesting. tl;dr - a boring planning document got an update a couple of months back. It means nothing in the reality of any new investments at the park for now. (but hey, I'm sure I got at least one person excited for a split second )

Ahhh interesting! I made quite a conscious effort to keep things brief as I know that (in general) I have a tendency to waffle on lose focus. And looking back it does seem I still did that with the island blog! The point I was trying to more get across is that the bridge and island concept are things I've always loved and have left a huge impact on me The Island Like No Other branding has been the only time that I've visited the park that they really doubled down on that island concept, and it was the perfect opportunity to recreate that huge impact, but in a more explicit way. Can only go off what I've heard for this, but it sounds like some of the American parks which have Western themed stuff seems to go down a bit better. How much of that is a culture thing or something is hard to say of course. But yeah, for me, it's still a 'for any I've experienced, no' answer

Hi everyone! For the past few weeks I've been toying with setting up a theme park blog, and it's now finally in a ready-to-share state. So introducing... Just Another Theme Park Blog There's 3 posts on there already, with plenty to come in the future of course. It's going to have a bit of everything and anything theme park related, with a bit more of a focus on the theme park which has inspired everybody's favourite theme park forum, Thorpe Park Mania. Does mean there might be some cross posts / familiar topics in the future, so please forgive me. Would love if you could have a read! And any feedback (on anything: content, writing style, blog look, whatever) would be appreciated. Thanks x

A wonderful, if slightly sad, video from Efteling about how they're doing during the Dutch Lockdown:

I haven't gone through the documents in detail, but I would very much imagine that the projected numbers are always for the resort generally. Or at the very least, 'park + something'. Then again, I seem recall earlier documents saying the whole resort thing would get 30million+ people a year. So 6.5m seems conservative now. Who knows.

I feel like ever since I did this this project has actually made real progress. I still won't believe it till it's open, but if it does open, I will definitely 100% totally claim I was being serious and not in the least bit sarcastic.

I've been contemplating a visit to Lightwater this year, but honestly it's harder to justify it with those closures. The uncertainty over Ultimate is also somewhat worrying, though I guess the fact it hasn't been removed from the website yet is something to cling to. A shame, but not wholly surprising if we're being honest. One can only hope they still have a market and enough visitation to keep them going in the short term.

Given this is the first B&M invert to open since Banshee, it'll be interesting to know whether the vest restraints are simply an option B&M provide (since it can allow different elements to be done comfortably), or if it was a failed experiment. There's been a mix with the new Dive Machines, some having vests, some having standard OTSRs. But the ones with vests all happened around the same time. So hard to tell. I guess we'll be waiting a long time for another B&M invert before we can gain any further insight though..

I agree that the targeted March reopens for the parks are unlikely in the UK. Mid-to-late April sounds more realistic at this point. I don't blame the parks for advertising those dates either. If things do get to a state where they're allowed to reopen in March, then it's good to be ready. And I'm sure their preparations are still done with March as the target, but an almost unspoken expectation that they won't open then. Things probably have an added layer of complexity this time around due to the fact they need to re-hire and re-train staff again before opening (something which was done before lockdowns occurred last year). However, I doubt we'll see a lockdown in the summer. Last summer, case numbers were down (whilst testing was increasing), and most places were open. There were definite failings, still, and I'm sure the reported numbers aren't a totally accurate reflection of the situation. But there's certainly some optimism to suggest that Covid has a sense of seasonality to it (like the flu, common cold, etc). I fully expect there to be extra caution and things to be different to last summer, but anything resembling a lockdown would be extremely unlikely imo So yeah, the parks should be able to open in summer. The trouble with extending into winter is: 1. If Covid has a sense of seasonality and the population isn't vaccinated, we could be hit again this upcoming winter and have another November lockdown. That means preparations made for nothing 2. It has a knock on effect for winter maintenance 3. For Thorpe in particular, a larger proportion of their rides struggle in cold temperatures. They might be able to cope in November, but any further is a risk!

I can't remember if it's included in the CD or not, but the simulation includes the Amity-style 'Thorpe beat' that IMAscore have done. Don't think it ever really places at Stealth (I believe it's part of the bridge / entrance loop?), but still nice to hear!

Find it funny how @Charlesberg called it by it's project name, Blue Harvest, originally. Much better than Monster imo. But the branding looks cool...

Well we needed a way to contain your larger-than-life-maximum-attachment-size personality Matt!

Vekoma madhouses are a well loved ride type for UK enthusiasts, because, yknow, Hex exists. Arguably the best example of its kind. And in the UK we're treated to 2 other pretty decent ones too. But is it actually your favourite? And how would you rank the others you've ridden, be they Vekoma or from another manufacturer? [Basically I'm just trying to come up with some sort of thread to kill closed season/covid blues which isn't that ride game... ] Here's mine... 1. Hex, Alton Towers I'll be honest, I'm not as fond of this as many others (not even my favourite dark ride at Towers...), but it's still the best. 2. Le Palais du Génie, Walibi Belgium I can't quite explain why, but I've always really enjoyed this one. Just really well presented and the ride sequence is fun. 3. The Haunting, Drayton Manor I think I've preferred this more for the pre shows than the main show, but eh, it's still great. Definitely feels miles better than most of the other stuff at Drayton. 4. Haunted House Monster Party, Legoland Windsor Mostly for the soundtrack. But it's a good blend of fun and spooky too in fairness. 5. Houdini, Bellewaerde A madhouse themed to magic has buckets of potential, and I'm surprised it's not a more common theme. But this misses the mark a bit. Still think it's alright though. 6. Villa Volta, Efteling Never really been a fan of this; pre shows drag on for way too long. 7. Merlin's Magic Castle, Walibi Holland For some reason, I see lots of people rate this quite highly. Never got why though? It's just so...eh? 8. Verlies des Grauens, Belantis Really didn't like this. The queue is a saving grace, since it's basically in a castle and genuinely unnerving. But the ride sequence is trash. 9. Le Défi de César, Parc Asterix This comes with a disclaimer, in that I rode this last year when no pre shows were running because of Covid, and half the effects weren't working during the ride sequence because of a shutdown just before I got on. But what I experienced was bad and highlighted ineptitude on how to run a dark ride, frankly. From what I've heard, the full experience does sound really good, but can only go on what I've experienced for now... 10. Feng Ju Palace, Phantasialand Phantasialand is the park of extremes - I either absolutely adore their rides, or think they make a flaming pile of rubbish look attractive. This firmly belongs in the latter choice. From the confusing story, the weird pre show, the poor ride segment, it's just bad. So go on then, how would you rank your madhouses?

Yes and no I guess. The Stealth incarnation of 'a launch coaster at Thorpe' had been in the works since around late 2002, to my knowledge. Maybe earlier even, depending on the sort of relationship that was had with Intamin at the time and the confidence that was had in Xcelerator (which opened in summer 2002). The Hulk style coaster from Premier was the first time Thorpe had plans for a launch coaster. And that idea probably stretches all the way back to the late 90s shortly after Tussauds took over and planned to turn it into a thrill park. Plans were submitted and I think might even have been approved for that as well, but the park obviously changed their minds. No idea why. They also considered a Rock n Rollercoaster clone for the Inferno site at one point too. So a launch coaster had long been in the plans for Thorpe. A coaster matching Stealth's vague description had been toyed with for a good 3-4 years before it opened though.

The valley wooden coaster did have plans submitted in early 2003, but were withdrawn. I think there were loads of potential problems which meant the plans probably would have been rejected. Presumably they would have at one point intended to to tweak and resubmit the plans, but that never happened. I'd say Rita was a replacement for that coaster in the sense of they wanted a new thrill ride for 2005, and it opened in lieu of the wooden roller coaster, which was the first plan. A launch 'icon' coaster had long been the plan for Thorpe. Presumably that simply fit in with the direction DIC wanted to take the park in too, but likely saw changes to keep it cost effective.

Ahhh, this old chestnut. The story is quite simple, but a sort of Chinese-whispers effect has led to some confusion over the years. That image is from the MTDP from around 2003. The MTDPs only show loose ideas that the park have at the time. That drawing, for example, shows the top hat being the other side of the Stealth area. The layouts mean nothing; they're just there as a rough indication of size. When Thorpe were drawing up ideas for Stealth, they wanted a longer ride, more akin to Xcelerator (hence why the MTDP shows that). Ultimately, it never happened, for a variety of reasons: space, money, visual impact of the ride, etc. There is no online copy of any longer layout they may have considered. The "Stealth and Rita were meant to be one ride" thing is one of these 'fun facts' that the parks liked to say during behind the scene tours. However, that's very much an embellishment of the truth. Thorpe had long planned for a tall and fast icon ride and, as stated, did look at a longer ride too. Eventually they settled for the standard Intamin accelerator top hat-airtime hill combo we have. Alton Towers were in need of a new thrill ride to stay fresh and competitive, especially after encountering issues with planning for their wooden coaster. With the company in advanced discussions with Intamin over Stealth, they were able to work with them further to get another coaster, Rita. There was likely some sort of deal that they were able to haggle as well. The layout of Rita is kind of just plonked how it could fit really. It's certainly possible that Rita's layout featured inspiration from Stealth's extended layout, if the design process ever got that far. But it's more likely, in my opinion, just its own separate thing. So history would tell you "Thorpe wanted an Intamin accelerator, which eventually ended up being Stealth. They considered getting a longer one but didn't. Alton Towers also got an Intamin accelerator due to their other plans falling through, and it just so happens that the layout, with some tweaks, would have worked well after Stealth". But to say "Stealth and Rita were planned to be one ride" is a more fun story. We'll probably never know exactly how things went down (in part because we're never told these things, in part because most who were involved with it have probably moved on), and we'll never see exactly what Stealth's extended layout could have been. As touched on earlier, Thorpe's MTDP is a very loose thing. It just shows locations and vague scales of what they're considering at the time. But these ideas can and do change (Ghost Train was never mentioned in the 2010 MTDP, for example). The reason Thorpe submitted them is because it made the planning process for the rides easier, and kept up good relations with the council. When Thorpe do submit plans though, they have to stick to them very precisely. They have little room to change anything, everything must be done pretty much exactly as agreed. So they'd never be able to hide anything. Towers is slightly different, in that a large part of the park is covered by a General Development Order (GDO), which means that, within that area, they can do lots of things without submitting planning applications. This is how they were able to build Octonauts without a planning application, 'hide' some inversions in Smiler's application, and change the profiling on Wickerman's drop.

Soooooo, The Ride to Happiness, presented by Tomorrowland, anyone?