JoshC.

I don't know what you're talking about... (thanks!)

Decided to be a negative so-and-so and have come up with my 10 most-hated coasters (from least most-hated to most most-hated)... 10. Kirnu, Linnanmäki Intamin's first Zac Spin coaster. It's awful. 9. Shockwave, Drayton Manor Intamin stand up. It wasn't awful the first time I rode it. Second time I was worried I'd be castrated. Never again. 8. Tornado, Hellendoorn An almost 30 year old Vekoma sit down looper didn't sound appealing. Funnily enough, it wasn't. When I rode it, operator offered the group I was in a ride at the back because it's better there. I politely refused. 7. Boomerang, Bellewaerde One of the first Vekoma Boomerangs. Not the worst Boomerang I've done, but still, nope. 6. Vampire, Walibi Belgium The first SLC to appear on the list. It's painful, so so painful. 5. Cobra, Walibi Belgium Another Vekoma Boomerang. It's crazy how a coasters with the exact same layout can feel different, but this is just less appealing than Bellewaerde's one. Even crazier thing is I can tolerate (and kinda enjoy) Walbi Holland's Boomerang... 4. Hero, Flamingo Land Whoever thought of putting people in a flying cage needs their head checking. 3. Ukko, Linnanmäki A Maurer Sky Loop. The sheer pressure your head experiences when you're being hung upside waiting for the train to disconnect from the lift chain is actually one of the most uncomfortable moments I've ever experienced in my life. 2. MP Express, Movie Park Germany Another SLC! This one looks ugly, sounds ugly and smells ugly (not even kidding, the stench of manure is overpowering somehow). It also rides terribly. 1. El Condor, Walibi Holland Another SLC? Whodathunkit! It's the first SLC too. And it's just dreadful from the moment you sit in the seat until about 2 hours later when the headache finally subsides. Why couldn't Vekoma have stopped after this one? --- Looking at it it's actually a boring list since all but Shockwave are off-the-shelf models. Near inclusions were Colossus (Thorpe), Smiler (Towers), Viking Roller Coaster (Energylandia) and Tulireki (Linnanmäki).

Nice idea for an event I wonder if it'll be popular, given how previous club events have been received over the past year or two, along with it being before the season starts. Then again, being before start of season might help, what with it being an early chance for night rides too

This is a bit of a weird stance no? Sweden is Europe, sure, but it's a bit more detached from the mainland. You say Icon is a novelty because the UK doesn't have anything like it, but Helix is the same because Sweden doesn't have anything like it (and until last year, no where in Scandinavia did). I get the whole "there's greater competition in mainland Europe" argument, and that definitely helps improve quality from those parks. But it's very odd to say you have a not-positive reaction for a coaster because it's surrounded by other good coasters? This is a very common thing in Europe. The closing time for the park is when the rides stop running. So if closing time is 11pm and a ride has a 30min queue at 10.20, the ride staff will get ready to shut the queue at 10.30. Obviously not an exact science and it relies on staff being good at knowing how long a queue is and keeping guests informed of those times (easier said than done), but most people will understand that. Admittedly it's becoming less common now in my experiences, but this is an complaint I've seen from a lot of UK people who are used to the 'closing time is when the queues close' logic, who don't realise that this isn't so much the norm.

Certainly used to. I expect the lack of use these days is due to overzealous internal H&S more than anything else tbf

I think this is the thing with Helix, and probably all Mack launch coasters (at the very least, all Mack launch coasters I've done). Helix shouldn't really be thought of as a 'launch coaster'. It is a coaster that happens to feature launches. They are not there as a way of making you go very fast very quickly. They are there as a way to maintain and/or build up slight speed in unnatural positions of the layout (ie: flat / inclines upwards). There's nothing wrong with that. It's good. But it certainly can make it underwhelming if that's not what you're wanting / expecting. Helix's layout more than makes up for it in my mind (and clearly in the majority of people's mind too!). Plus the location, length and such really adds to it. But I think there is a managing expectations vibe to it as well, given it was the first 'modern' multi launch coaster and really burst onto the scene in that sense. It says a lot the most powerful Mack launch coaster I've done is probably Pulsar: a ride which is regarded by Mack as 'a coaster with a launch', rather than a 'launch coaster'!

I guess the issue with steps / stools is that the point is you need to be able to get in / out of the seat in case of an emergency. If there's a time sensitive reason to get people out the ride, they don't want to have the additional responsibility of getting a step to get someone out.

This comes from a fun feature Towers have on their website: https://www.altontowers.com/40-years/model-my-map/ It's clearly a bit of silly fun, but I wouldn't be surprised if some of the questions have been designed to get some insight into what people want (especially the non-ride stuff). I'm a big fan of everything Towers are doing right now for their 40th. A solid plan has been laid out, and I really hope they follow through with it. And, forgive me for making the obvious comparison, this is how you do it Thorpe. On top of a proper new addition, proper events all throughout the year, which are all varied and have a clear identity, whilst linking it back to the overarching theme of being the 40th anniversary.

Better than neon or florescent ones tbf

I'm with you here. I love Helix and Balder (both are in my Top 5), and Lisbergbanan too. But outside that? There's nothing that really grabs my attention. It's all a bit bland, coupled with the burdensome layout. I guess the fact I don't like spinny rides (Loke and Mechanica are 2 immediate nopes from me) doesn't help my feelings either. I've never really understood the pedestal it's put on within enthusiast circles. I adore Phantasialand, but it always strikes me as interesting at how forgiving I am for the large chunks of rubbish they have. When visiting with a first timer last month, there were plenty of times I was saying 'this is a joke ride' or 'don't expect much here' or whatever. China, Hollywood Tours, Temple / Crazy Bats stick out. Mystery Castle's different settings. Parts of Fantasy aren't exactly in great shape. Colorado Adventure looks surprisingly tired in place. I detest all of their shows too. But for every piece of junk, they have two pieces of brilliance. And much of the brilliance is really up there with some of the best of the best. And those modern areas have such a charm to it as well. I guess the junk can be forgiven because it's clear to see they're getting rid of it all slowly. I genuinely can't imagine how the park will feel when they update China and Hollywood/Crazy Bats, which could easily happen over the next decade. I genuinely believe that Efteling (along with Phantasialand, albeit that's more of a stretch I admit) is a park everyone should visit, regardless of whether they like theme parks or not. The Fairytale Forest can takes hours if you do it properly and take your time. Their dark ride selection gives something for everyone. Their coaster selection is quite varied and decent. Then they have the shows too. And even on busy days, it copes and manages to keep a hold of it's charm. The fact that basically everyone who lives in The Netherlands has been to the park speaks volumes for its appeal.

Skyline Park, a park about an hour or so west of Munich, have announced that their Maurer Spike coaster - Sky Dragster - will not be returning. Sky Dragster was the first Maurer Spike coaster, a coaster where you sit on a motorbike-like car on a single rail track, and control the speed at which you go round the course. It was weird. The ride model has been plagued with unreliability and other issues. Currently, the only other park to invest in the ride type is Mirabilandia in Italy, who invested in the a duelling pair as part of their Ducati-themed land. They have been even less reliable. The model is also set to appear on a Cruise Ship next year. So good luck there... Skyline Park have a very good relationship with Maurer, so it's a shame to see them giving up on this. In other news, the park are opening a 466ft/142m Star Flyer this year; making it the tallest one in the world: https://www.parkerlebnis.de/skyline-park-2020-neuheit-hoechstes-kettenkarussell-weltweit-ankuendigung_107082.html

Some nice updates: Source Not sure if it's been mentioned yet, but whilst both coasters will open this year, it is rumoured that the theming may not be completed until 2021.

After years of being left there, Knightmare is finally being demolished (key word there: not taken apart, just out right demolished)

Some nice theming has been delivered: Source

Love the 40th anniversary video. Very fun and a nice shade of different. (Shame they added 1 to the opening years of Mutiny Bay, Cloud Cuckoo Land and Dark Forest though) Also, am very sad they didn't mention Nemesis Sub Terra. Gone but not forgotten 💔

An article was recently posted discussing the accessibility of some UK theme parks. Within it, there's an interesting quote re Thorpe: Taking this at face value, and keeping in mind that the park can't change the H&S rules for who rides certain rides, this sounds like Thorpe are going to make some rides easier to access for those, say, in a wheelchair. In particular, this could mean Inferno (which hasn't had a lift to the station since like 2004, for...reasons) or improvements to Saw's lift (which I recall being temperamental). Given there's also been lots of scaffolding around Inferno too, this could make a lot of sense, and would be good to see.

Towers are introducing some form of Oktoberfest event in the last weekends of September and first weekend of October. I don't quite know what they'll do for it, but I'm very much down for this sort of thing..

Aaaaand they've announced they're closed for the whole of half term: It's hardly a secret that Drayton aren't doing fantastically at the moment, so this is a massive hit for the park.

I'll be blunt: this means nothing. Every park has a rough idea of what it wants to do in 3/5/10 years' time. Thorpe, and Towers, in the past have in the past had to submit Mid-Term Development Plans (MTDP) and Long-Term Development Plans (LTDP) respectively to their respective councils. This wasn't a necessity, but - especially in Thorpe's case - it helped get applications through quicker in particular. Thorpe would decide roughly what they wanted to do over the next 5 years, submit rough ideas to the council, then go from there. Towers was much less committed, but nice for locals to see. Thorpe have submitted an MTDP since 2010, which took them up to 2016. That's partially down to the fact they're probably not planning many things which need planning applications. It doesn't mean they haven't had any sort of mid-term plan though. The trouble Thorpe have had is that, whilst they've always had a mid and even long-term plan, it has changed countless times. This isn't just down to changing management, but also an indecisiveness about what market to target, managerial changes within Merlin (ie - above Thorpe), significant changes in budgets given from Merlin, as well as Merlin's changing investment strategy. In the past when Thorpe had managerial changes, it didn't drastically alter much. But right now, there's a cocktail of reasons for the ever-changing road to the future.

Drayton closed this weekend and until at least Wednesday because of Storm Dennis. Ouch.

The storms have given us an accidental sneak peek of Rookburgh:

Another post with the hashtag and some blurry editing

Looks like a neat little ride. Cars do look a little cramped but make sense for a family ride system I think. Agree that the Garmendale guy wasn't exactly a natural on the camera so didn't come across as a 'everything has been plain sailing' kind of guy. Nothing wrong with that though of course.

I think you're overestimating the influence fans have here. Thorpe (and any park really) aren't going to rush a big new investment because fans (which make up less than 1% of visitors) are "pressuring" them. In this sense, fan opinion really means nothing: they'll add a new coaster when they want to. They won't do that until they replace them. Sad fact, but true. tbh, Loggers doesn't even need removing for the sake of removing really. You can hardly see these days. I'd rather them invest the time, money and effort into something else. And anyways, the only thing I can see replacing Loggers is a roller coaster, since they wouldn't be able to open a new log flume there. Slammer is easier to replace, but since Merlin rarely seem to invest in flat rides - and there's a very small list of suitable flat rides for Thorpe - it's hard to see what they could replace that plot with. I think it's more realistic to expect a coaster to go there and in the surrounding area than a new flat ride, for example. So really, the bigger issue here is Merlin's "risk free" strategy. They won't invest unless they feel basically certain they can make some money from said investment. If this is true, then just..wow. Wickerman bought a noticeable increase in numbers. The brand is reasonably strong and I've seen quite a few people with related-merch. It's a slow burner of an attraction too; it had the instant hit, and it'll also have to repeat value of people coming back to it in years to come. If everything that Wickerman has done for the park hasn't led Merlin to say it's been a financial success, then maybe, just maybe, they're setting the bar too high.

I'm fairly certain that's from a few years ago - it certainly used to be painted that vibrantly in the past! Nice find though; the Tidal Wave photos are particularly interesting