JoshC.

Europa Park, as previously mentioned, will be reopening from May 29th. It's been said they will max the daily capacity at 15,000, a quarter of their usual capacity (just for a fun comparison in park sizes, 15k is around Thorpe's capacity these days I believe...) However, to book tickets you have to get in a virtual queue (similar to buying concert tickets and the like I guess). At time of writing, the virtual queue has over 28,000 people are is estimated to take an hour. Will be interesting to see how it levels out in the future, and what this means for booking park visits in general over the next couple of months.

Holovis (who were involved in the pre shows of Wickerman and Walking Dead Ride, and have done rides like immersive tunnels) have also developed a similar style app: http://www.holovis.com/free-social-distancing-app-to-help-destinations-re-open-safely/ There's a webinar where they explain it in detail, though I've yet to watch that. Obviously the idea of virtual queueing is being thrust into prominence once again. And since parks will be operating at a reduced capacity, it does help with the problem of "won't the pathways be rammed?". It doesn't solve the problem of what people will actually do when waiting for their slots, especially since entertainment offerings will be diminished / basically non-existent. Psychologically, it could very much change how a day at a theme park goes. For the most part, you'll be waiting around in pathways, with very little to do, waiting for your booked slot. Though similar to the concept of waiting in a queue line, you lose the sense of anticipation, the buzz, etc. After all, a good ride experience starts when you start queueing. It also just leads to the issue of people waiting outside the ride's entrance, which defeats the object entirely. Reserve n Ride's long term aim was to stop people waiting in queues so they could other things instead. In this set up, you just can't do that. I believe Walibi Holland's Fastlane system operates on a similar logic (depending on how much you pay, you wait a percentage of the ride's queue time outside the queue - ie virtually - free to do other things, then go on the ride). So it'd be interesting to see how they would operate it on free scale.. I'm not sure on the worthwhileness of virtual queueing when the parks reopening in response to Covid. Parks should be reducing their capacity anyway, which will inevitably mean that queue times (or, at the very least, the number of people in a queue) will be shorter. If you introduce virtual queueing, you then have the majority of people visiting the park in the pathways, where it's going to be harder to maintain social distancing. Surely it would be better to have people in organised queues, where you can clearly mark social distancing markers, etc, making it easier there. Any cleaning procedures on rides will take time, and increase wait times. But that's counteracted by the fact there's a smaller number of people on park, and clear communication that queues will move slower due to cleaning. And of course, as has been mentioned in the coronavirus thread, no amount of reduced numbers and social distancing will matter when you're on a fast moving ride. If someone at the front of a train has Covid and coughs, it's likely those droplets will land on riders behind them. Knowing and accepting that, you have to question at what point parks draw a line as to what measures they implement. And I'd say that introducing a tech-heavy, experimental virtual queueing system is crossing the line of "not really worth it".

I get where you're coming from. There's definitely some people who have become overnight experts just because they've read a few things online (which usually features a lot of hindsight), who then use whatever they find to blast the government. Equally though, I expect the exact same thing would be happen had we had a Labour government. It might not necessarily have been so prominent online, but definitely would be still be there. That in a large part comes down to the fact there's very much a strong political divide at the moment in my opinion. Fewer and fewer people these days seem to have the ability to look unbiasedly and go 'hmm, the other side could be right here'. It's very much "us vs them" all the time. There might be no right and wrong at the moment, but there is good and bad. Good choices, bad choices. From what I gathered, the choice of this "herd immunity" and avoiding lockdown made in early March was the best possible choice for the UK with the data available. Sure, it might not have been what other countries were doing, but we were in a different position to other countries. With hindsight it's likely it wasn't the best choice, and in time we might come to learn it was the "wrong" choice, sure, but at that time, I think it was the right call. But equally, more should have been done. Why did Johnson not attend early Cobra meetings? Why were borders not tightened? What about the hot topic of PPE? These are all choice which were made then, and are all causing issues now. Hindsight playing a part now, yes. But at the same time, it's difficult to understand why those choices were made then - at the very least, what was there to lose had different choices been made? As has been said above too, I think it stings the most when you look at other countries who have made all the right choices, and countries who have made many more right choices than us. They weren't easy choices, and I don't think everyone could have gotten it right of course, but it's a hard pill to swallow. I do think people are overstating the confusion for a joke / a cheap pop at the government, but there is still confusion. What does "stay alert" mean? It's something you'd more say a teenage girl going clubbing for the first time or something..."have fun, but stay alert...". There it's more clear cut. Here, not sure much, because it's open to interpretation - "Stay alert" of yourself and symptoms? "Stay alert" of other people? "Stay alert" and maintain everything we've done so far, but keep in mind we're relaxing some rules so this will be slightly harder? If you look at some MPs who have tried clarifying this (on Twitter for example), they've all had very different interpretations. And it feels dangerous to tell people to exercise their common sense when making decisions...anyone who has worked with the public knows that people very quickly lose their common sense in groups! It's all a bit muddled. Tabloid press has been hugely irresponsible over the past few days, definitely. I'm somewhat confused how some details trickled down to the press before Johnson's announcement. I don't know how that happens and if blame should lie somewhere, but surely with something this big, it should be embargoed and then come straight from the horse's mouth first, so to speak? Then let press report, speculate, whatever. It very much hasn't helped. On a general note, one thing which has surprised me is the lack of mention of the reproduction number (R-number) in the UK until the last few days. It's not a difficult concept, but it's something that needs explaining clearly and simply to the public so they can understand it. It was mentioned vaguely in March time (albeit not called the R-number), and then again recently. Why? This is something that should be continually drilled in. Again, look at other countries (many across Europe): from the early days, they've provided details of what the R-number is, and been making clear and simple updates about it. Here, it's been put on us at a time when we're transitioning between stages, when people have other questions. And then people have questions about this R-number. Which just piles on this confusion and the questions raised. It's something I don't quite get on the government's behalf?

Hard to tell if this response is sarcasm, from someone living under a rock or someone who genuinely believes the Covid-situation has been well handled across the board...

On the Dutch theme, Efteling plan to be reopen by May 20th: https://www.efteling.com/nl/blog/nieuws/20200508-efteling-gaat-weer-open They will be open before then, with very small crowds (relatives of staff, maybe passholders, etc), and slowly building up so staff can adjust to new routines. The plan come May 20th is that the park will be at most at 1/3 capacity. Their Bosrijk Holiday Village is already open, since people stay in their own self-contained cabins. Also, a few images that have been circulated by the Dutch Theme Parks and Attractions Association, who have put plans in place for how Dutch parks should go about when opening. These measures have been approved by European safety board TUV: (Image of Joris en de Draak at Efteling) Some form pole can be used to check restraints. I've also heard (but not seen a link) that staff are allowed to use feet. An example of how Python (a 28 seater / 14 row / 7 car train) could be loaded. The idea is that a maximum of 14 guests from a maximum of 5 families can board any given train, with certain rows blocked off. Other things in place are standard 1.5m distances between groups, encouraging paying by card/apps wherever possible (Netherlands, similarly to Germany, use cash a lot more than we do in the UK), blocking of every other urinal and sink in toilets, etc. Efteling have also been redesigning and rebuilding some of their cattlepen queues.

Annnnd for a separate, non-German post, Walibi Holland has said they will open on May 25th: https://m.facebook.com/walibiholland/photos/a.204047486303716/3815438515164577/?type=3

Expect plenty of German parks to reopen this month. All regional governments are in charge of relaxing restrictions and have laid out their plans; North Rhine-Westphalia (the region with Phantasialand and Movie Park Germany) have said that theme parks can open again from Monday. Both parks said they'll await further details as to what measures exactly they should follow - as that still isn't clear - before announcing a date to open. Lower Saxony (Heide Park and Hansa Park) have said the 25th. Hansa Park haven't commented yet. Baden Württemberg (Europa, Tripsdrill, etc) have said the 29th, which includes hotels as well. Europa have also said they'll be reopening their hotel restaurants in phases from the 18th, with outdoor seating only. Rulantica remains closed till further notice. No other parks in the region have confirmed their opening plans yet. Obviously the challenges now are having plans in place to make sure parks are following their local restrictions, as well as getting staff trained up (as many European parks weren't meant to open till April, they may not have started their pre-season training schedules before lockdown). Scandinavian parks are also in a position to be opening in early June.

I mean I wouldn't have thought Ripsaw or Rameses would have needed a documentary either, but each to their own I guess.

When I hear Candymonium, I think it fits more with a dark ride or a spinning flat ride. For me, calling a 200ft+ coaster Candymonium just doesn't fit or work. It just feels really jarring.

Vaguely related to this, but you could argue the most interesting part of the ride's history is when the park ultimately decided not to build the GCI where Saw is. The GCI would have seen the tunnel redeveloped since it would have shared that tunnel. It probably would have seen the park spend a bit more money to fix it up, and I can't imagine the park would have left Loggers SBNO (for longer than a year..) when it interacted with a major ride as much as it did. But yeah, when the most interesting part of a ride's history is either a tunnel or when a neighbouring ride wasn't built, you probably don't need a documentary about it...

Looks alright. Doesn't particularly interest me, but a solid-looking addition for the park. Still hate the name though. Doesn't not fit at all imo.

There's no simpler way to state this: Thorpe were not inspired by Swayzak. They had a tiny bit of money and did the easiest thing with it. There was no research about what would be good. There was no outside inspiration. It was just "we've got a bit of money to freshen up X:\No Way Out a tiny bit, let's make some videos for the queue line. Oh, because it has X:\ in it, let's make the video about a computer virus". It's nice there's a vague coincidental link between what Thorpe did and a TV show you like, but it is nothing more than a coincidence.

And the voting is done (since I've been told it would be "morally questionable" to restart....)! It was a close-run final, but was the winner ever in any doubt? 1st: The Asylum 2nd: The Freezer 3rd: The Big Top (2016-2017 edition) And here's the completed tournament bracket... Nice little bracket with some surprises along the way! Thanks to everyone who took part. Maybe we can do more nonsense games that aren't that infamous-ride-game in the future...

It's like the World Series in baseball. Just a name to make it sound more important than it actually is

Only if you vote against Asylum at every possible moment

Annnnnd here we go, with The Freezer and The Asylum winning: So we have the 3rd-place match: 4. The Curse vs 31. The Big Top (2016-2017) And we have the final: 24. The Freezer vs 19. The Asylum Place you votes by Monday 4th May, 8pm, when the winner will be crowned! Will there be an upset? Who knows... My votes: 3rd place: The Big Top Winner: The Freezer

Have my Top 10 dark rides... 1. Maus au Chocolat, Phantasialand. I love the theme. Simple story. Ton of fun. 2. Popcorn Revenge, Walibi Belgium. Same as above. Had this been a little bit longer this probably would be my #1. 3. Bazyliszek, Legendia. Love the interplay between screens and real sets. Incredible ride especially considering the low budget. 4. Duel, Alton Towers. Okay, I know it's a watered-down, bastardised version of the original, but I love the fact it's basically a shooting ghost train...and in case you can't tell, I like shooters. 5. Area 51, Movie Park Germany. First non-interactive ride! Not technically a dark ride since it has an outdoor station and the end of the drop is outside, but it basically is. And it's pretty clever. 6. Challenge of Tutankhamon, Walibi Belgium. It's incredible Walibi has two amazing interactive dark rides really. This has aged really well. 7. Symbolica, Efteling. The grand-ness of this is what makes it really. Some incredible sets too. 8. Hex, Alton Towers. I enjoy madhouses, but honestly I think the ride type is a little over-egged. Hex is by far the best example of it though. 9. Kyöpelinvuoren hotelli, Linnanmäki. Brilliant ghost train with lots of great sets, great effects and a nice mix of jump moments. 10. Fata Morgana, Efteling. I remember the first time I rode this and not getting it. But after a second ride, I ended up really liking it and it became an instant favourite.

McKamey Manor's "success" is down to how well they've - for lack of a better word - marketed it. But it's not a scare attraction. If you look within scare communities and scare attractions, very few people have done and even less have taken inspiration from it. The types of people who do it are people who don't usually do scare attractions as much, and are more inclined to something to challenge their mental survival capabilities, or people who are 'into' that 'sort of thing'.

Corrr, someone's a keen bean.. Updated bracket, for sake of completeness: And so the semi-finals: 24. The Freezer vs 4. The Curse 31. Big Top (2016-2017) vs 19. The Asylum Votes will be open until Saturday 2nd May at 5pm! And my votes: The Freezer (choosing between two mediocre mazes in the semi-final is not what I expected from this...) The Big Top

We have a better testing video: Still not sure on that turnaround yknow..

And quarter-final winners... The Freezer The Curse Big Top (2016-2017) / Experiment 10 - TIE The Asylum THERE'S A TIE. The first person who didn't vote in the quarter-final to cast a vote between Big Top and Experiment 10 gets the deciding vote. If no one has voted by 6pm tonight, it opens up to people who already voted. Once that's cleared up the semi-finals will start...

The Taron clone at Chengdu Wanda is looking pretty damn good, if not a little empty at the back: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/xghl4-WpmioCuOEWWqybQg

All this love for Se7en, and yet people are voting for flashy chain-mesh walkthrough. Blasphemous in my opinion...

I don't think it's really sink or swim. Vekoma are doing really well for themselves and have a firm base. Their junior boomerang is a hit. Their newer models are booming in Asia. If the new gen flyer works out well that'll diversify them further. As will the new gen tilt coaster they have in the works. They've also still got a good relationship with Disney. The issue with them breaking into America is that they face stronger competition from Premier. They're not competing with Intamin, because many of their rides are different, and aside from the not-yet-fully released flyer, they're not competing with B&M. And no doubt American parks would prefer to go for the likes of Premier (or S&S), simply because the locality can help reduce costs. Mack have had similar issues, and I can barely think of a handful of big Mack rides that have been built in America over the past 5 years. And yet Mack are doing fine. It's a shame there's not more of these new Vekomas out in the world yet, but they're building up and doing well. It'll be fine.

I'm guessing it's more just perspective (and also the fact it's the first run), but the exit out of the turnaround looks a lot awkward to me. Be interested to see how that beds in, and how it looks from different angles. Also, the station for Volldampf looks fab. Vekoma's redemption has been been ongoing for the last 4 years. This is the point now where they should be hitting full speed with their new products. Between their STC, flying coaster and their variety of sit down models, along with their family ranges too, they've got enough that most parks should consider them in most cases now.