JoshC.

I'd certainly take Merlin's numbers with a pinch of salt.. Efteling's increases are still remarkable tbh and show that there's a very bright future ahead for the park if they get their expansion plans. If true, it's good to see Phantasialand stabilising around the 2m mark. Taron has bought that stability back to the park and long may that continue.

Have an update from Walibi, highlighting the 270 double inverting corner stall (which I can't help by abbreviate to 270dics from now on...) in all its glory: And one from RMC, showing some nice upsideness: Still on track to open July 1st this is...

oooh, this is an interesting one. I wouldn't go as far to say they're awful, but they definitely get more praise than they arguably should (coming from someone who previously has said they're my favourite spinners and top rides). The gimmicks have massive shock value and are completely unexpected. But the second half doesn't compliment the first half at all. It's two very different experiences. And whilst they give you the wtf-factor when you leave the ride, you've completely forgotten about the fun coaster that precedes it, and are left with the memory of a gimmick and a rubbish coaster section. If the gimmicky stuff happened earlier, or there was more theatrics to the second half the ride, I think it'd be fine. NB: I enjoy Winjas in their own right. It's a good mid-tier attraction. But they do get over-praised and have their faults swept aside by many.

The Polish Plopsa park, Majaland, have been making good progress with their woodie.. Source: SkyScraperCity Pretty much a clone of Heidi at Plopsaland (which itself is pretty much a clone of White Lightning at Fun Spot, Orlando), and will be Poland's first woodie.

Tbf it's less about trying to hide something and more about trying to advertise it. No screen there and it just looks like (another) dead attraction. Screen there and it looks like something is being done, and draws people to look.

How much dust did you have to blow off your account when logging back on Phill? But yeah, I'll be there.

Dino Splash update... In a slightly concerning repeated trend from Plopsaland, Dino Splash won't be ready when the park planned. The park plan to reopen the log flume in July still, but the theming won't be finished; in particular, it won't include any dinosaurs or effects, and some of the rock work will be incomplete. Pictures: Still looking good though! The rest of the theming will be completed over winter and the finished ride will open in 2020. Speaking of 2020, the park had planned to open their hotel, as well as a new area themed with a dark ride and a kiddie coaster around one of their key characters, Bumba the Clown then. This was to celebrate the park's 20 year anniversary. The hotel is still scheduled to open in 2020, but the Bumba area has now been pushed back to 2021. Plopsa have been ambitious with their new additions and expansions in recent years, but have seen many delays. Heidi was meant to open in 2016, but was pushed back to 2017. Their hotel was meant to open end of 2018, but obviously pushed back to 2020. Now with a half-finished retheme (which tbf, does still look good), a delayed big new area and a themed hotel which is meant to open in a year but has had no work started yet, it makes you wonder if they're being too ambitious..

I've been told the opposite, in that he quite liked it. Wasn't a fan of the exterior/ queue, but liked the actual attraction itself. It isn't wholly surprising, given Varney's love for interactive / people-led experiences.

The 40th anniversary merchandise has its own separate area though

I'd love to see a ride about Victor the Virus, who is valiantly victorious versus vicious vacuous villains. They could call it V:\ No Vay Out

Except they haven't and are in stock on the Island Shop and Megastore..

Speaking of Bobbejaanland, they've pulled a major wild card out of their hat with Fury When Fury leaves the station, it makes its way to a turntable, which then spins to allign with the launch track. It then proceeds to do a swing launch (one forward launch, rolls back, then a backward launch, then a forward launch into the circuit). Fairly standard. But it's been revealed that Fury will give riders the option to vote on whether the train itself will face forwards or backwards for the majority of the circuit. Each lapbar will have a button to choose forwards or backwards which must be pressed between leaving the station and before going on the turntable. Whichever way has the most votes 'wins'. If it's a tie, it's decided randomly. It's a crazy idea, but I love it. And the idea itself is pretty cool and opens up so many more possibilities for coasters in the future! (Source)

Zadra looks big.

1) No it isn't. 2) Even if it was, so what? People moan that Thorpe don't list to fanboys, but when they do, people moan. Damned if they damned if they don't. I don't disagree about how poor it looks, or how rubbish it is that Thorpe aren't doing anything of note. Especially given how on trend it is to do these celebrations. But there's a difference between the departments that organise the merchandise and those that organise events. It's not an overriding decision of "we'll just do X over Y".

Track has arrived for the Taron clone that's going to Chengdu Sunac Land (formerly called Chengdu Wanda City)... Still find it kind of crazy that this is actually happening. Like good crazy, but still crazy.

Bobbejaanland's Gerstlauer is coming along... (From BJLCentral on Twitter)

And this has quietly been pushed back to May 13th... The question is: a typo or a delay?

I get what you're saying here, but I don't think it's just a cash grab. This is the park responding to what people have wanted in terms of merchandise: items which reflect the older Thorpe, with classic ranges not too dissimilar to what Towers have been doing with their 'old ride' pin collection. And it's not just fans who want that stuff, it's a wider audience. I agree it's a shame they're not doing anything else (especially since there were plans being tossed around, but nothing happened), but let's not kick the park for responding to what people wanted in the first place..

I've changed the topic title. Certainly a much more accurate name

So it opens Friday, you have to hunt to find it on the website, tickets aren't available yet and the only big piece of advertising we've had is this illogical 'puzzle'... All clues so far point to this being a flop, which is a shame as something like this really does have potential.

From FOMO Coasters:

Think they should go back to playing this at the end of the day: The chorus would certainly work...

Took my little brother (4 years old) through Broom today. And he didn't really like it. He wasn't a fan of the forced interaction: a stranger trying to encourage him to go forward and interact with stuff just didn't work. He's not shy or anything either; just being a small dark space made him not want to interact. The effects were decent and got a good reaction, but it makes it a passive experience. So yeah, someone who's bang in the target market for this didn't like it. My personal opinion means little in that sense, but I was even less keen: it's an experience which is too focused on young children, the scenes are very cramped and awkwardly paced and it just doesn't seem like something which the whole family can enjoy. Particularly a shame given the theming and effects are good.

Septuple posting? Must be a record, but it's worth it because FLY'S TRACK IS FINALLY COMPLETE: Saucey

I guess so yeah. But in the same way there's a possibility I could go on to win an Olympic Gold medal in the 100m.