JoshC.

With the recent Black Lives Matter protests, Efteling's somewhat questionable representations of race have come into question. Monsieur Cannibale is the park's teacups-like ride, and the centrepiece is of a black character, with the ride being that you're riding in various cooking pots whilst he cooks you. A look for those unacquainted: Looopings reported that a couple took signs and posted on social media that "Monsier Cannibale is Racism": The park's original response was that only when major maintenance is needed would a change to the ride's look be considered, with it being emphasised that the character is a caricature. However, the ride is now "closed for maintenance" until June 20th. This isn't the first time Efteling has come under fire for racist attractions in recent years. Carnival Festival, which takes you round the world with different figures in an omnimover system, came under fire for its depictions of Chinese and African characters. These have slowly been changed though. The Netherlands itself has quite a few issues with racism, such as a blackface sidekick to Santa Claus for many years (I don't know how prevalent that is in today's society, but I know it's still been a recent issue). It'll be interesting to see what the response is from Efteling now. Having these sorts of character and depictions be allowed is something that comes from a different time, and now more than ever is the time to move forward arguably. Other parks have slowly moved away from these 'possibly-racist' ideas too (for example, Phantasialand haven't exclusively had black workers in their Africa land since 2017). It's a sensitive issue that needs to be responded to correctly.

More corona-updates. Energylandia Energylandia opened on Saturday, which was the earliest date Polish parks could open. They are running the park at a reduced capacity (allowing 1 guest 30 square meters of space in terms of pathways) and doing temperature checks on arrival to everyone. Unlike most places, they're not putting social distancing measures on rides, but are strictly enforcing that you wear masks on rides. They also have a cleaning brigade out, some of who look like they're actually cosplaying Ghostbusters... The park were originally making people book online, but they have now dropped this: This is because at this time of year, about 20% of visitors are foreign tourists and 60% are school groups, all of which currently aren't visiting. As such, the park aren't too worried about hitting their new temporary capacity, so don't see a need to enforce that. This post also explains their strategy for increasing the park capacity too. Belgium Belgian parks have reluctantly accepted the government's decision to allow parks to reopen from July 1st and are pushing that date. Borders are still set to reopen on the 15th and Dutch parks like Efteling are pushing for Belgian visitors. Efteling Speaking of Efteling, they have made the decision to not run of the three "tours" on Symbolica. For those who don't know, there's three different routes in Symbolica - you choose which one to go on by going in a different part of the station before bordering. During the ride, the ride cars get very close to each other. As such, they have stopped running the 'Knights Tour' to ensure social distancing between groups remains. Source - https://www.looopings.nl/weblog/14583/Coronacrisis-Efteling-kan-een-van-de-drie-Symbolica-tours-niet-aanbieden.html Efteling have also had to revoke some people's Annual Passes after they forged online reserved tickets to get into the park. Two people were also fined by the police for this, due to it being classed as entering private property illegally. Blackpool Blackpool have stated their intention to reopen on July 4th:

I don't think Thorpe have ever released a Teacups pin (at least, not yet!), so that might be why you're having trouble finding it!

Toverland have invested in a second train for Booster Bike: (Images from Looopings) The ride is only capable of running one train, but obviously having a second means if there's an issue with one, they don't have the shut the ride down. For now, the original train will receive some work, and then they'll have both available. Coaster trains aren't cheap, so this is a solid investment from the park.

Sexy update: And aerial shots from this account: Looks great already ❤️

Sorry to divert from the media rant, but... I confess when I saw this, I was a little confused. I think anyone who had big plans this year is frustrated/annoyed/upset. And I don't think it's unreasonable for people to have a moan online about it to vent those feelings. But then I've seen a ton of drama on social media within the 'enthusiast community' crop up this week. Claims, with evidence, of people being homophobic, racist, bigoted and who knows what else. Digging deeper, I saw many self-entitled people going on and on about how unfair things are, I've seen people making statements like "parks abroad are open, so why aren't our's". Some absolutely crazy things, coming from adults who are all just within their own crazy bubble. It's mental, and a bit disheartening. It made me happy though that at least forums like this aren't like that. Sure, TPM has never been perfect, and sadly it's quieter than ever on here, but for the most part these days, it's drama-free and pretty civil. Lords knows I'd prefer that over whatever happens on Twitter and other social media pages. I stopped following a few people involved in the crazy drama, so hopefully I won't see any more of it and continue to live in blissful ignorance about the situation forevermore...

Whilst Energylandia does benefit hugely from EU funds, they would not necessarily struggle if it was lost. The original grant was only for investments up to this year (including the Vekoma Mine Train, which is on site but hasn't started construction yet, and I personally doubt would open this year, especially with Covid). However, they did successfully apply for more funds, which is helping them "accelerate" plans they had for the next few years, which has included the building more accommodation, and further expansions. Should those EU funds no longer be made available, their investment would likely still be large, but just more spread out. If the country's homophobia increases further, it would be interesting to see how badly tourism is hit, and how it would affect the park. I don't know how many of their visitors are international, but they certainly have got the attention of the enthusiast community, which no doubt helps in drawing more people in. This is particularly prevalent with Zator being just inside a region that's declared itself LGBT-free. A drop in visitors could hit the park harder than them not having access to EU funds. Obviously what happens to Energylandia pales in comparison to LGBT rights in Poland.

It was confirmed a few days ago that Pirates in Batavia will reopen at the end of July. Here's a look at a boat:

In that case, it's time to move this thread

Thorpe plan to open on July 4th, assuming the Covid situation does not change. They are postponing Black Mirror until 2021. https://www.thorpepark.com/about-thorpe-park/coronavirus/

Yep, the general rule is that parks are encouraging social distancing between different groups of people. So within in your group (ie - household), you can stand as close as you like to each, sit together on rides, etc. Anyone outside your group, you have to maintain the 1.5m / 6ft / 2m (depending on country) distance and you should be sat away from them on any rides. Many reports I've seen, however, have suggested that enforcing this is particularly difficult / staff just aren't bothering with it, particularly in queues and pathways

And the update is as follows: -Theme parks are allowed to reopen from July 1st -Fairgrounds, etc are allowed to reopen from August 1st -Belgian borders open June 15th, leaving just over 2 weeks where Belgians are free to go to other theme parks.

With Germany and the Netherlands now having most of their parks open, Polish parks opening this week and Scandinavian parks reopening throughout the month, two big countries that are still yet to reopen parks are Belgium and France. Parc Asterix are set to reopen on June 15th, with a max of 5000 people a day. Haven't looked into other French parks in much depth, but with the exception of Disney (which I believe is classed as within the Paris region, which is still hit quite hard?), I believe other parks are reopening soon too. As for Belgium, the story is a bit more interesting. The current date set Belgian government was June 8th, which is set for review this week. The current plan however is that this date could be pushed back until July 1st or August 1st, to which all the big Belgian parks have reacted...in an upset manner... https://www.looopings.nl/weblog/14563/Belgie-wil-pretparken-tot-1-augustus-gesloten-houden-attractieparken-reageren-woest.html With Belgian people able to cross borders to Netherlands and Germany soon (if not, already), they're particularly worried that when they do reopen, they'll have lost the reopening boost that would come, along with the fact they miss half of the summer season.

Indeed, I was wrong. Why exactly Heide haven't got any of their dark rides open is unclear to me. It could potentially be guidance from the Lower Saxony region of Germany. Alternatively it could be down to staff not being fully trained on the rides yet. Or maybe budget cuts. Or any other reason. Still curious..

IoA are building a thrill coaster themed to Jurassic Park for 2021. It's expected to be a multi-launch Intamin coaster, on a similar scale to Taron and Taiga: Launch track has been in place for a whole now, but more supports and track have recently been erected. Certainly one to keep an eye on!

The Amsterdam Dungeons reopened today; pre-book only with limited numbers. Here's a fun video: Basically, you're asked to wash your hands before entering and don't touch anything unnecessarily. Before going in as well, you're assigned a logo to stand by in each scene too.

Thorpe are releasing a retro line of merch this year: The park have also said they'll be doing an online shop, though I understand they encountered some complications in getting it finished. I wonder if it'll launch this week then?

Foots have been placed: Various sources, but these came via Coasterforce. Hard to know how much work will take place whilst the park is open given this is almost slap bang in the middle of the park and would almost definitely require the closures of pathways and the like for construction to continue. Still really not keen on the location of this.

For those who want the original source*: As I mused in the Coronathread, it appears that no dark rides at Merlin parks are opening for now. This could be coincidence (especially since they're planning on opening Dungeons attractions - with Amsterdam Dungeons opening on the 1st June), but there's a very clear trend happening now. For comparison, none of Heide Park's dark rides have opened, but all other dark rides across the country have been fine. Would be a good explanation as to why a perfectly ready to open ride isn't opening. Also, if my rambling musing is the case, how would a day at Towers feel without the likes of Duel and Hex? *wait, do they still have sponsorships with Merlin? Who knows...

German parks update... Phantasialand Honestly, Phantasialand doesn't look that different. They are limiting numbers, making it pre-book only, etc., and practicing social distancing. However, rather than 1.5m markers stuck to the floor, they've done it with fencing and expecting people to use their judgement (something Germans are largely very good at). Their park map has some details: These are markers are at / near entrances to rides, shops and restaurants: (images from phl-info.de Facebook) Crazy Bats is currently running only without VR. Everything else is business as usual. There's no major new Rookburgh updates. Europa Park Europa and Phantasialand are pretty similar with social distancing rules and the like. Europa have also introduced virtual queue options to Blue Fire, Arthur, Euro Sat and Euro Mir. The park are, interestingly, still offering some of their VR experiences. Heide Park The main thing to note from Heide Park, which opened on Monday, is that they are not running any of their dark rides. This appears to be a Merlin-wide thing, so I fully expect that when the UK Merlin parks reopen, we won't see any dark rides open.

I get your point, I do. But how often have Merlin's investment been "good"? How often have the hit the mark and truly got it right? Not often in my opinion. So it's hard to expect a good investment when their track record is so hit-and-miss. I want stuff to be good, I hope for stuff to be good. Doesn't mean I can expect it though. For now, all I can expect is for it to not make things actively worse than they were before: this children's area seems to do that (indeed, the addition of the log flume is a great step forward imo). And honestly, I hate feeling this way. New additions at theme parks should come expectations they'll be fun and great additions. Having a personal expectation set low isn't a good thing. A company such as Merlin do have the ability and staff to be able to make things great. But it just doesn't happen all that often.

In fairness, I expect that any IP will be understanding of the situation and not expect an attraction to open if it's not safe to do so. It may means some renegotiations are had when it comes to money and that, but that'd all depend on the fine wording of the contract.

I guess it comes down to expectations. What have Merlin done over the past 10 years to make anyone think that their attractions should be classed as world class? Even moreso over the past 5 years. Merlin's investments do the job. They're better than quite a few parks, and at an individual park level their larger investments are more regular than quite a lot of other parks (although it has stretched out further admittedly). "It's fine" sums it up quite nicely. We can want Merlin parks to do fantastic things. We can want every park in the world to do fantastic things. But honestly, Merlin don't hit the fantastic mark often, so it just feels unrealistic to expect that. You could argue it's a pessimistic outlook, but equally it's quite realistic imo

Walibi Holland reopened for the first time yesterday. Here's a run down of what they've done: There's an indoor area near their entrance (similar to the Dome at Thorpe, but smaller), which is now divided into two; each side is a one way system. There's similar markings on some pathways There's lots of hand sanitising points everywhere Barriers have been set up outside food places and restaurants to encourage social distancing, and create clear entrances and exits. Their train is only stopping at one of its three stations People are only let into toilets one household (ie group) at a time. After they leave, the toilet block is cleaned. This means there's a staff member constantly in every toilet, and they effectively batch you in. Nice branded signs though Three attractions are closed: Neurogen (VR experience), their dodgems and their Skydiver upcharge attraction. Furthermore, their enterprise and frog hopper rides, which are part of a rethemed area, are not built back up yet. On that topic, here's a look at the newly themed Speed Zone, which looks decent: As for queueing for rides, the park have opted for a virtual queue system. You reserve on your phone, and book a slot, and wait the queue time virtually. Presumably not all rides you have to do this, since some will constantly have no queue. Walibi's QuickPass system utilises virtual queueing (with options of waiting 10%, 50% or 90% of the queue), so it's nothing new to them. Once you wait the entire queue length virtually, you go to the entrance of a ride, a member of staff (stood behind a screen) scans your phone, then you're in and wait very little time. Reports I read said the longest virtual wait was 40mins for Untamed, but the queue once you get in is less than 5. The park also have a small number of phones people can hire for the day, with a €100 deposit. Any cattlepens have had large barriers put in place to allow people to walk through: Goliath Lost Gravity All photos from Looopings It's an interesting set up, especially with the virtual queueing, and some stark differences to Efteling (especially the toilet thing).

Max and Moritz will open on June 20th, with annual pass previews taking place from June 2nd... Also this shows how much of a horrid cattlepen queue this is going to have. Eurgh.