JoshC.

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?

There's some rumours going around that the theming feature (which obviously once housed the stuff for the fireball explosion) is being replaced. Certainly those photos make it look necessary. I doubt the fire feature would ever return of course, but it would be nice to see a nicer looking theming feature take its place.

Picture the scene. It's some point in 2021 and you're allowed to leave your house. You might even be allowed to leave your county. Depending on how much the rest of world hates us, you might even be allowed to go abroad! And you've decided to go to some parks... So yeah, Covid-pending, do you have any parks you'd like to get? For me, the following feels pretty achievable... -UK Merlin parks -Paultons Park (for Tornado Springs) -Phantasialand (for FLY) -Walibi Belgium and Plopsaland (hopefully at Halloween) I'd also like to do Hansa Park and Heide, as well as a trip to Europa; trips which were cancelled last year. But the motivation is a little less strong due to the lack of new things they have compared to the above. After Grona Lund announced their B&M a couple of years back, I had a big Sweden trip pencilled in for this year too, but that feels quite unlikely given the situation. Obviously it's impossible to plan anything at the moment given the situation. But fortunately a lot of European trips can be planned on shorter notice, so it's nice to have a few ideas on the back burner if nothing else.

How Detonator made it to the final two is beyond me given the sillyness. Then again, I don't like pirate ships, so... Detonator: Bomb's Away (4) Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride (2)

The whole project looks fantastic and genuinely just one of the best complete coasters out there. In some ways, it gives me Taiga-vibes, except with Taron-esque amounts of theming. Intamin's recent track record is much more positive too. So I fully expect this will be one of the most universally praised rides out there, similar to the levels of Taron, Steel Vengeance, Helix and Lightning Rod. Especially since, like the first three of those rides, this will have an extremely high ridership across both European and American enthusiasts.

Bringing PY on board last summer does seem to have been a wonder move for this project. This is certainly the most optimistic I've ever felt about this project ever happening. And I think a large part of the reason it's at the stage it is now is because of PY's influence and lead. I still won't believe this will happen until I see construction start. And even then I'll still have an air of doubt. If it ever gets to a stage of opening, I don't see it being the quality or draw that they expect, at least for the first few years. But who knows...

Work is still happening with Aqualantis and theming, but they've also started on their mine train: (from FOMO Coaster Facebook) I've heard conflicting reports about whether this will open in 2021 or 2022. I expect 2021 will still happen, especially as it's right between Dragon Zone and Aqualantis, but we'll see

The park have been very forthcoming with updates. Here's the latest, which does come with a light spoiler warning... https://www.instagram.com/p/CJOlhaXq17g/?igshid=nyj1bqj2js1j

Track is complete: Their Spinning Sunday series (of which this video is the 9th) is worth a look for loads of updates of construction.

The name is confirmed to be Kondaa It made its first test run a couple of weeks back: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?ref=external&v=381612839605104 It's also expected that it will form an entirely new area (which Walibi Belgium call Worlds), rather than being an extension to the neighbouring Exotic World. All very exciting stuff.

However you're celebrating, in whatever Tier, TPM wishes you all a Merry Christmas. Hope you're staying healthy, and looking forward to a, hopefully, more enjoyable 2021! Now get off TPM, ignore that silly ride game for a day 😉, and get on that Zoom call with those family members who you can't meet today (whether you want to or not!)

Depth Charge (3) Detonator: Bomb's Away (3) Flying Fish (3) King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems (3) Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride (3) Quantum (3) Rocky Express (3) Rumba Rapids (3) Rush (4) Samurai (3) Saw - The Ride (3) Stealth (3) Storm in a Teacup (3) Tidal Wave (3) Timber Tug Boat (2) Vortex (3) Stealth - TTB + Make it sillier

I guess the main one these days is the controversy which occurred earlier in the year, with people involved in the channel having allegations against them. Obviously they're not (actively) involved any more, but Shawn's handling of it was certainly far from good, in my opinion. And this even went further with some, less serious, allegations against Shawn's views, and how he acts in person to some people. Even before then, there was this anti-TPWW thing. I wonder if part of it was a little bit of envy/jealousy being thrown against him, because he was one of the first theme park vloggers, and so when it became mainstream, he was already huge. But I also think a part of it is down to how he has acted in person to some people, and it's just spiralled from there. My personal opinion is that he's obviously got a good set up which works for him, and something like that takes hard work and doesn't happen on a whim. But the past year has shown he doesn't quite know how to handle himself in difficult situations. And I'm not quite sure he has a grasp on how to handle himself around others, in that he doesn't realise how big an influence he has in person, as well as online.

Looks like only a toilet block and store cupboard have been affected, which is a good early sign considered how bad it could have been... https://www.facebook.com/DraytonManorPark/posts/10158136932472669?__cft__[0]=AZXSYkSN7nCFRlOoRuG3wsKqKZVEnmdNTqYNNSpU3SW-XqXRs1ImKigx8w45DwAuV-yulVcQEd5sBVwTE-wuMQZuMjWPCd6w6fqMOQxnlXx1KaDB7iRz-56JqU6fdBJexSOI6C60ggAJCCFQ0pZ6sKyA3PIzQJXj1EiVS1hayPjG9O3F5NC26l3AKbwAMZOdB6M&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R

At least it happened whilst the park was not open. If the park had been open at the time this could be a very different story.. Hopefully any damage is minimal. If not, who knows what state the park will be in next year.

In fairness, attractions can only do so much to enforce the guidance given from the government. Realistically, no attraction is going to check the address of every person, and then check what tier that address is in. It's the same for restaurants: no restaurant is going to be actively checking that every person in a group is from the same household. This conversation is presumably coming from Theme Park WorldWide's visit to the park, despite the fact Shawn lives in a Tier 3 area and the park is in Tier 2, with his justification being 'TPWW forms his sole income, so he's travelled for work'. If you live in a Tier 3 area, you are told to avoid travelling, but you are not banned from it. So Shawn/TPWW aren't breaking any rules. Attractions and venues can, in theory, stop them from entering under their own T&Cs, but almost definitely wouldn't unless people were causing issues. Ultimately, it's a bending of the rules, not a breaking of them, and you could argue it's morally a grey area. And it shows how easy it is to exploit the government's recommendations, and how important it is for every single person to play their part, and use their own judgement and common sense.