JoshC.

Two things to take into consideration when looking at attendance data... 1) The data published online is not always accurate. Many parks will announce numbers which look good for them, and avoid the truth. Some parks get around this by not publicly announcing bad years. Big parks, like the Merlin parks, just tweak the numbers because they like the shout about how they're second biggest to Disney in terms of attendance. Equally, some companies which own multiple parks sometimes understate a park's attendance number. Imagine investing in a big new ride at one park, and nothing in the second park, and the second park gets a dramatic increase, whilst the first gets nothing. Companies are afraid that it reflects badly on their investment choice, and aren't in a position to publicly defend the reasons why. 2) Constant growth is not sustainable. Of all the parks in Europe, I think only two (Europa and Efteling) have successfully increased or stabilised attendance year on year over the past 10 years. And if you look at any five year period, most parks will suffer a dip or a period of stagnation. Some Merlin parks have their own individual issues which can explain some of their attendance issues over the past 5 years.. Alton Towers - Smiler crash. It's been a slow recovery, on top of the park already making cutbacks prior to the incident. Just by visiting in 2018, though, you can tell that's done the trick. Thorpe Park - Failed major investment in Ghost Train. Lack of direction and additions to get people coming back. Heide Park - Colossos closure hit the park majorly, along with increased thrill competition from Hansa Park. That's not to say what you've said is wrong. Merlin are struggling to get the basics right in many cases, and there's some strange investment choices. And Merlin in general still haven't learnt how to utilise things such as Trip Advisor to their advantage (this is a big reason why Paulton's has been so successful of late in my opinion). But, at the same time, this is arguably a natural dip / stagnation period for many Merlin parks, which is being made worse by the issues you say. If you were to look at the Merlin parks and compare them to other parks between 2008-2013, say, you'd see Merlin attendance truly booming, whilst other parks struggled. The true test is how the parks perform in the next 2-3 years. That'll indicate whether the parks are simply in a dip or if they've regressed for the long term.

And it's now confirmed... Let's not forget that Untamed was also said to have a 'never before seen' element before. So in all likelihood, this will be a new type an inversion.

I'll just take a second to jump off the Merlin bashing bandwagon and note that Towers' tweet about MAP holders says "at present, MAP holders do not get free entry". I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it will either be free at some point this year or, failing that, free next year in some respect. There are a lot of annual passholders out there, and the Dungeons experience will have a limited availability. If it's free to passholders, they'll then hog out far too many spaces, causing disappointment for non-passholders wanting to visit it, and the attraction will make limited return in its first year. I agree it's ridiculous to offer a lite version of something that passholders get for free elsewhere and charge for it. I feel like they should have followed suit with the premium season pass and offered one free entry per pass, but I guess that has added complications. It's fairly common for parks to restrict access or charge for new attractions to passholders, and not just within Merlin. This isn't a good thing, but I don't think that this scenario is as big a slap in the face as many of their other decisions to be honest. Within the UK, yes. The Dungeons brand is oversaturated and too much carbon copy and paste. I don't mind that it's easy to replicate, as it makes sense to have it multiple countries, where people are unlikely to visit more than one Dunegons. But even then, Merlin have shown they can create unique and tailor-made Dungeons experiences with the recently open Shanghai one, which is by far the most unique out of them all. It's a shame we can't get that in the UK any more.

Chengdu Wanda City, in Sichuan (central-ish China) are opening a Taron clone, and here's a rendering...

In terms of time and distance, this will be our most accessible. But Energylandia is also very easy to get to as well, and I imagine if you hunt around, the cost of flights isn't that different. So we're spoilt for choice! Just need one in the UK now please..

Screenshot for people who haven't found the original source.. It's...interesting. The biggest issue is they don't have a natural place for a meet and greet to take place (aside from outside Angry Birds 4D, and even then that's a bit forced), which makes things difficult. And I don't think a character for younger guests roaming around the park past the likes of Swarm, Saw and Ghost Train really fits.. I really hope it isn't the Rangers though. Aside from Mr Monkey's Banana Ride, they have no relevance to the park any more. It would be a lazy way of having characters, and almost definitely a way for Thorpe to say "hey look, we bought something old back, that means everything's okay right??". I wouldn't mind them appearing as a once off for a 40th birthday event, as that actually makes sense, but bringing them back would be a bad move. Wonder if they'll just resurrect Max Thrill, the short-lived character they had in 2008?

First Drop (the ECC's magazine) are reporting that Untamed will have 5 inversions, 2 more than any other RMC.

I don't see the size of the building being an issue. We know Merlin are good at doing dark, scary things, and they've got plenty of experience with Dungeons attractions. They'll utilise the space well, and I don't see that causing issues. Though the (presumed) lack of floor changes will be an interesting one.

Pricing structure partially revealed... https://www.altontowers.com/theme-park/dungeon/ On the day - £7.50 Book in advance - £5 Combo ticket (park and Dungeons) on the day - £63.50 Combo ticket in advance - £38 Season Pass (no Dungeons) - £55 Season Pass Premium (with Dunegons) - £70 Time slots are in 15 minute intervals and from the park's first day. No word on any Annual Pass pricing as of yet, so it's possible there is no special rate for AP holders.. In fairness, £5 for a Dungeons experience, even if a mini version, is decent.

Over the past few years, China has very much burst onto the theme park scene, with many parks being built from the ground up and seeing substantial coasters added. It's probably fair to say that some of B&M's, Intamin's and GCI's best-looking coasters over the past few years have ended up in China. And that investment doesn't seem to be slowing down, so here's the thread to discuss all things China! I'll start with a few good looking things... (All images sourced from VHCoasters on Facebook/Twitter unless said otherwise) Daxing East / Great Xingdong Tourist World Guizhou, south-west China Opening in 2018, this park features a tilt coaster, SLC, spinning coaster and dive coaster all from Golden Horse, along with a few other smaller coasters... Tilt coaster Dive coaster On top of that, they've got an 11 inversion coaster (basically same as the standard 10 inversion coaster, but with an extra vertical loop) that will be opening soon... Guangzhou Wanda Guangzhou, south China (near Hong Kong) For those that don't know, the Wanda name is one of the biggest in Chinese theme parks, and indeed in Chinese entertainment in general. They're a massive thing in cinema, hotels, shopping centres, etc - if you visit China, chances are you'll come across / use something owned by the Wanda group. Fun fact though - Wanda sold all 7 of their open theme parks, plus 5 others under construction / development, to another Chinese group - Sunac - in October last year. So there could be some name changes afoot soon.. Anyways, the thing that makes Guangzhou Wanda so special is their duelling Intamin semi-shuttle launch coasters, Dual Dragons. One track is inverted, the other a standard sit down, and they share the same vertical loop... \ Definitely one of the crazier coasters out there! Wanda City Jiangsu, east China (just next to Shanghai) Another Wanda park, also scheduled to open this year. This includes a crazy themed B&M wingrider which is almost 200ft tall.. And some concept art, for comparison.. This park will also feature a Mack Blue Fire clone and a family thrill coaster too. I think that's enough to whet the Chinese whistle now, but there's plenty out there which I've probably forgotten about, missed or don't know about.. Look forward to seeing what else comes from the east over the coming years..

To celebrate world popcorn day, Walibi are doing a bit of advertising for Popcorn Revenge in Belgian shopping centres... Loving the terrible punny names. I don't think the scenes in the ride will be inspired by those particular IPs (I believe it's more generic). In saying that, who wouldn't love to shoot popcorn in a Walking Dead universe?

Merged with the existing thread. The official rule for working at Merlin is that you do not post anything about the business on social media. This includes posting anonymously, etc. The rule is essentially the same for other companies too. In saying that, there are plenty of people who no doubt bend those rules. Especially in this day and age where social media is so important, staff posting about work (in a positive light) is probably a good thing. You only have to read between the lines of certain members' posts to see who those people are. Also, I'm sure that rule is pretty much thrown out the window these days given one of Thorpe's marketing team runs their own theme park fan site and regularly cross advertises the two... There are a fair few people here who work in the industry, or have done (hello!). The big points you'll hear from anyone who has worked in the industry are... -Pay. Pay is pretty minimal, regardless of department, until you reach very senior figures (at which point, it grows pretty exponentially). Working at a theme park / in the industry is a labour of love. -Staffing. Most theme parks are seen as summer / weekend jobs for people, so usually attracts people who aren't that dedicated and could leave at the drop of a hat. That's true even for giants like Universal and Disney. That puts added pressure on those who do it out of a labour of love. -Atmosphere. People working at parks, especially younger ones, will regularly mention how fun it is, how they make lifelong friends, etc. Working at a theme park, even through all the bad things, can be amazing. In my experience, many people have a romanticised view of working at a theme park before they get there, especially theme park enthusiasts. You truly don't know what's it like until you've been there and done it.

A fair point. But equally, one would hope / expect that they're able to dedicate 4 people a day to getting Ghost Train open. Indeed in the interview, the engineer says he works pretty much exclusively on the ride! The video talks about checking all theVR headsets, etc. I don't think they'd need to check them on a daily basis, so I imagine they're talking about it during open season. Which yeah, weird for a 'what we do over winter' series. Is the whole thing not very prototypey though? Is there any other thing that has to cope with a large number of computers whilst moving the way Ghost Train moves? There were definitely oversights and design flaws, but at the same time, if you're choosing to forgive one issue down to it being a prototype, then you may as well forgive pretty much all its issues. Presumably the ride you're talking of is Ninjago (based off the entire list of one other UK dark ride that could fit that description). Ninjago has been done multiple times throughout the world, and the ride system itself has been used in other ways too. I imagine a lot of the back end stuff is based off similar rides too. Obviously makes it easier to iron out flaws, etc. 16 hours, minimum, is a lot, and no doubt that large period of time was extended down to poor design, not enough invested in improving the system, etc. But given everything it has to do, and the issues, I don't think it's that crazy a number.

Engineers usually start at 6am, so with 4 engineers working on the ride, in theory it's possible to complete the 16 man hours of maintenance by 10am. The problem is that the 16 man hours is probably a minimal figure, and it takes longer due to them find problems, etc. For context, I believe the major coasters usually take 8-10 man hours every day. (Complex) Dark rides in theory should require a similar, or even more, man hours to check since they can have things like multiple triggered effects to go though and check. 16 hours is a very large number, larger than many things, but I don't think it's ridiculous. As I say, the main issue is that it probably takes longer than 16 hours because they always find problems which need fixing..

That area is the maintenance area. The areas the train passes through are pretty much just blank spaces.

Next episode of Making Of Untamed series is up... Key takeaways: 40 degree lift hill, at a height of 36.5m 80 degree, 35.4m drop Mini airtime hill after first drop

The worst part is that this has been their most liked and commented Facebook post since December 27th (a Throwback Thursday to Stealth's construction). Given the amount of social posts they do, it's concerning. I've said before how I don't like their social media strategy of posting stupid 'funny' things. It just doesn't work. Obviously we'll never know how many people are truly interacting with their posts, but based off pure interaction numbers, it's not good. Comes across as cheap and desperate. Makes you wonder if they've simply been told "you need to get X number of interactions this year", and they're just putting quantity over quality. And then throwing darts aimlessly until they get lucky and hit the bullseye.

Little bit of insight about the engineering checks involved for DBGT. Interesting for them to be open about it, given how secretive they tried to be over it in the past. Almost like they've given up caring? Also, no idea why they decided to do the silly flicker from Part Seven to Part Six, given that they did Part Six last week. Achieves nothing..

One thing which I think Thorpe should consider is turning Stealth's top hat upside down. I'm being deadly serious here. Though no doubt very difficult and rather costly, I'm sure it's not outside the realm of possibility, and within a similar budget to some of the park's other crazy investments. But from a marketing standpoint, it's an absolute win. You get a new ride experience to market. You get a world record of the highest upside moment on a roller coaster - a meaningless record, but something a lot of people would lap up. You can do a mrawS with it, and if/when the novelty wears off and they lose the record, change the track back. And from a ride experience point, it's pretty damn good too. Inverted top hats are fun. And hanging upside down at 200ft would be great. The view you get at the top of Stealth is decent, but nothing to exactly scream about. So yes, it's a crazy idea which is partially inspired by the park's philosophy of world records and instant returns. But I genuinely reckon Thorpe should look down that route and do it if it's possible.

It usually would have done by now, or at the very least the park would have announced times. Best bet is to contact the park to see if / when they are doing it this year.

I guess it depends on what the charge is. For example, a £5 charge for a 30 minute mini Dungeons experience is reasonable enough in my eyes. I guess it also depends on the size of groups, etc, as to how much personal interaction you'll get too.

Bobbejaanland have released concept art for their new Gerstlauer triple launch...

After the rumours of lift hill chain issues over Fright Nights, Swarm has received a new chain this winter (much like Inferno). Whether this was always the plan, is anyone's guess...

Can hardly blame them when not even Merlin knows the difference...

Towers are introducing two Frog Hoppers into CBeebies Land this year, adjacent to Mr Bloom's Garden Plans - http://publicaccess.staffsmoorlands.gov.uk/portal/servlets/ApplicationSearchServlet?PKID=127678 They will be second hand (not quite sure where from though). Presumably this spells the end of the Frog Hopper in Cloud Cuckoo Land, and leaves a question of how wise it is to dump all the children's attractions in one area.