JoshC.

Press Night is this Thursday. I believe the event has been made more exclusive this year and there will be significantly less people there - both from fan sites and mainstream media. TPM will be there - be sure to keep an eye on our social media channels and website for all views and the latest updates.

It's changed to Screamplexx for Fright Nights, yes, with shows starting from 3pm. I can't remember what happened last year, but I assume this year they're planning to run shows of Angry Birds at 12pm, 1pm and 2pm? Which is confusing, since the signage for Screamplexx will be up, putting people off. Unless, of course, they're simply planning on running this on 28th September (a non-FN day), and be done with it. That's my concern with this. All well and good offering this, but if people don't use it, they'll end up retracting it. And given the time of year, I don't see anyone really using it..

Such Clever Very marketing? So Nope.

More parks = more new creds Just double checked: unless things have changed, if the park don't want to upset the EU funding people, this should open by 6th April next year

Only if you're planning on visiting before next Spring I'd imagine!

Jora Vision have been confirmed to be doing the theming and such for the Vekoma, which will be called Aqualantis. Jora Vision do a lot of theming projects in Europe, and should mean this ends up being Energylandia's best themed investment (though that isn't exactly hard!)

Angry Birds will have a 'relaxed' performance at 12pm daily...from the 28th September A nice idea, but odd to start to trial when Fright Nights starts (when people with additional sensory needs are less likely to want to visit).

Nope, take off the Merlin-tinted spectacles for a minute. 1) This event is taking place on a Friday afternoon; most people will not be available. 2) When the park have done stuff like this in the past, staff eventually just get tired of non-AP people asking to go in and just let everyone in. It basically just ends up as another test run. 3) This represents a further devaluation of the MAP. Full events have been reduced to a couple of hours of 'you can go on these attractions at a set time'. This stinks of budget cuts and a lack of care for Annual Passholders.

Link - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/fright-nights-2019-merlin-and-thorpe-passholder-maze-preview-tickets-72966421531?fbclid=IwAR1MJ_GYbsHGta7AD_WsfHqpFIEjhxjI6evO-o58BRFlP0iYoaaSkEyDwv4 Apparently we're seeing the return of Living Nightmare Extreme? Agree with Coaster; a poor excuse of an event if you ask me.

I don't disagree. I wouldn't say totally mediocrity wins "again" though, as there's few cases where it does. Swarm is one of those rarer cases where people have responded well to what's there. Feels like you're treading a fine line between opinion and fact here.. For the record, I like Swarm, but it recent years, my enjoyment of it has gone down. This year in particular, where I haven't had a smooth ride this year. Guess that's more unpopular opinion for now.. ^-^

I'd still say you're looking into it too much. The only theming feature you mention here is the ambulance, and you passingly mentioned 'upturned trucks' earlier. But for many people, the theming of emergency vehicles plus the plane and helicopter works. Sure, ambulance aside, they're neatly and conveniently placed, but it works. I don't think people care that much about the fences, they don't pay attention to the TVs (most are broken anyway let's face it), the station is vague church-enough that people realise what it is. It's a very simple, paint-by-numbers, Merlin-ly themed ride. But sometimes that's enough for people, and I think Swarm is one of those times when it just worked for the majority, even if it does still miss the mark.

It will be open for the first weekend.

No. At the top of the page it says "Next on 28-29 Sept", then at the end of the description it says the other dates it's on. It's a weird way of saying it, but that's how they've done it the past couple of years. As for extreme, it seems Thorpe need a thesaurus. This is a description of Blair Witch...

A blog about the score for Creek Freak Massacre, which isn't being done by IMA Score or Thorpe bae Nick Hutson... https://www.thorpepark.com/blog/a-theme-park-like-no-other-the-sound-of-fright-nights

Walibi Holland had their fan event this weekend, which gave us a little insight into their future.. Next year they're retheming the area next to Untamed / Wilderness (includes a Lumber Jump ride, Enterprise, Space Shot and Goliath into the 'Speed Zone'. The theming will be done by the same group who did Wilderness. I don't expect Goliath to receive any major work, but instead the other rides since they're close together. It just happens that Goliath is at the dead end of that area. In 2021, the park plan to give new trains to Condor, their terrible, terrible SLC. They've talked about this for a few years, but they finally seem prepared to do it. A shame, as it would be better to rip it out. No word yet on when the park's next major investment could be. We've of course seen big investments in 2016 and 2019 (and before that, their last coaster was Goliath in 2002). 2022 could be a reasonable guess since there seems to be regular investment into all Walibi parks, but we shall see..

Final video for Wastelands. Feels a bit more disjointed from the previous teaser.

Since it's been re-put back together, there's a chance it could reopen this year. But given how late it is into the season, and normally how they're stretched for staff over Fright Nights (and staff focus is on the mazes), I'd genuinely be surprised if they bother at this point.

I would hate for any maze to be bought back. Nostalgia always plays a role in this things and it's difficult to get things back to how people remember them. It also smacks of unoriginality. Let the past be the past. The only maze I'd be okay for them to bring back is Big Top, but that's only because it was substantially different in each of its 3 years. Being different was part of Big Top's charm. But even then, could the park pull it off so that Big Top 4 was anywhere near the quality of 2 and 3? Cabin's first year still remains my favourite. A maze where you go round in small groups, enter a room, close the door behind you and then something happens. And something happened in every room. That was a very original concept and different to Sub Species' premise. I'd love a maze of similar interactivity, where you choose a route throughout, and each scene is tailor-made to having something happen. Of course, throughput would be a nightmare, but still, it'd be nice.

I think the reason you don't like it is simple: you're looking into it too much. Swarm is just a generic end of the world / apocalyptic / alien theme. There's not really anything more to it. I think enough people piece that together, go 'heh, neat', accept it and move on. Like any other wingrider, it looks really cool, and people respond well to the generic apocalyptic theme, regardless of the quality. People take it at that face value and move on. If you look into it too much, think about the potential it had, etc, etc, you enjoy it less and less. But for the majority, Swarm gives enough for people to get the gist, enjoy it, and move on. It could be more of course, but it does the job. I think the thing with Mack launches is that their launches just aren't very powerful. They give you the speed, sure, but they do it so calmly you don't truly appreciate the speed they reach. And their designs are (for lack of a better word) so eloquent, that you don't really feel the speeds they go at either.

Yay, I can spend one whole hour extra at the park on a random Friday. That definitely makes all the difference in the world.

An article in The Sun (sorry) suggests that there will be multiple routes / groups split up in Creek Freak Massacre:

They definitely get more than that. They've hit 1m every year since the early 2000s (maybe even late 90s; not sure off the top of my head). 2010/11 they hit above 2m. Since then, they've probably varied between 1.5-1.8m people a year, and it's slowly been going down. The trouble with published attendance figures (like the TEA Attendance Report) is that parks and companies don't want to reveal when they're doing badly if they can avoid it. So they'll fudge their numbers to avoid that, which can make them inaccurate. The Merlin parks in particular regularly have their numbers fudged.

I know you're joking, but don't expect them to ever RMC their woodie. It's part of the park's history, is well loved and clearly looked after very well. I got free entry to SeaLife thanks to some free tickets. Otherwise it was about €14 with a Linnanmäki wristband or €18 without.

Weird funky layout, but lol at that claim.

Official video.. -206ft tall (second tallest in world) -91 degree drop -76mph (fastest in world)