JoshC.

I mean, it does depend on what the flat ride is, the theme, etc tbf. But in general, any big coaster will bring in more people than a flat.. I still don't get why anyone would want Thorpe to invest in a 32 year old coaster, that would need a lot of work after being SBNO for 5+ years, when they could spend that money and get a brand new, modern ride which - chances are - would be significantly better?

A fair point, and certainly Thorpe / Merlin should be taking note of the successes of Winter Wonderland. However, the attendances aren't really comparable. WW is a free event, with a significantly broader market, and a very different focus (Christmas). Theme parks ultimately exist because of the rides. Winter Wonderland ultimately exists as a Christmas market with rides. Very different things. Tulley's doesn't get anywhere near any of the parks. A busy day for Shocktoberfest is in the region of 4000 people, and they get about 60k visitors across the whole event in a year. Thorpe can get that in 4 days. Towers get that many in their fireworks event (over 2 days). I've never known if it's true, but one rumour which floated about when it was introduced back in 2010 was that it was an agreement with the council, to help ease traffic on public roads. Of course, that doesn't give reason for the high price or the chaos that ensues in the car park, and that's something which needs addressing. Practically every major theme park charges for car park these days. It's just a thing now. Doesn't mean it's necessarily right, but that is the situation. Bringing this back to Icon / BPB.. I wonder how the park performed financially? Attendance is of course one way to measure success and popularity, but it's hard to gauge (and they never publicly release stats). But if attendance is down, it might not be all doom and gloom. If the park is making more money per person (and based off the significant amount of Icon merch I've seen about, that alone could have helped), or seeing improvements elsewhere, it's a good start. Of course, we'll never know, but I wouldn't be surprised if BPB have seen some form of a small, instant hit as a result of Icon. As a general commentary though, it's funny seeing people express concern about Icon's lack of instant success. It's well known Merlin follow the thought process of 'any (major) new ride needs to be an instant hit'. And many people mock that philosophy. Yet when a different park does something which isn't an instant success, and very easily could be a long term success, people panic.

Simple topic again - what's parks / attractions are you looking at visiting in 2019? I'll start it off... Definites -UK Merlin quartet -Phantasialand -Walibi Belgium -Walibi Holland Most Probablies -Linnanmäki -Paultons Maybes -Fantasy Island -Lightwater Valley -Europa Park -Hellendoorn -Slagharen -Duinrell -Drievliet Longshots / I'm hoping -Heide Park -Hansa Park -Skyline Park -Legoland Deutschland -Gardaland

Build a brand new coaster that isn't Knightmare would be my option.

The structure is coming up... Source - Coaster Fans and News

And the public vote has ended. Huzzah. Tl;dr - Nemesis is still the best, Thorpe still has the best flats, but sucks at Fright Nights and dark rides. Next year's best-looking ride might not open till 2020. Cedar Creek won basically everything. Benin is still sarcastic. MattyMoo is still funny. I'm a charlatan because people think I know as much as Wumbamillo. But thanks for voting me best member guys (5th year in a row!)

What sort of pillock breaks into a theme park and records themselves, including their face?

It's that time of year. Did quiet a bit of thinking and done a fair amount of rejigging... 1. Taron, Phantasialand 2. Helix, Liseberg 3. Nemesis, Alton Towers 4. Balder, Liseberg 5. Joris en de Draak, Efteling 6. Troy, Toverland 7. Lost Gravity, Walibi Holland 8. The Swarm, Thorpe Park 9. Black Mamba, Phantasialand 10. Hyperion, Energylandia Swarm has dropped down massively, in part down to me just having done it so much I guess. But I still think it's pretty darn good. Lost Gravity is a weird one, because I know I really enjoyed it, but I'm not sure how much of the ranking is based on a bit of rose-tinted glasses. Look forward to riding it again next year.. Lech at Legendia just misses, due to it being too intense. It's a shame, because if it was a little less intense on the drop / first inversion, it'd be a Top 5 coaster easily...

Little over 24 hours to cast your vote. It only takes a few seconds!

Thorpe said themselves that TWD was more than a roller coaster. As a roller coaster, it is a bit naff, and everyone knows it. It's a good thing Thorpe don't acknowledge it as one of the country's top coasters. It isn't, so it helps manage expectations.

Energylandia have confirmed via the latest edition of the German Kirmes and Parks Revue magazine that Zadra will open sometime in autumn 2019, with the rest of the Dragon's Castle area opening in 2020. On top of that, the park will also open their Vekoma multi-launch (which may or may not be over water, not quite clear) in 2020. Up until now, it hadn't been clear when that would open. The coaster will be an extended version of Vekoma's new off-the-shelf Shockwave model, the first of which is opening in Dragon Valley Theme Park, China. Below is the standard Shockwave model... The standard Shockwave's stats: Speed: 62.1mph (100kmph) Length: 1095m Height: 38.5m Inversions: 5 (loop, batwing, 2 corkscrews) Energylandia's version: Speed: 62.1mph Length: 1320m Height: 38.5m Inversions: 4 (loop, batwing, corkscrew) [Thank to CoasterForce member eKs_Prod for posting the info] So it seems the first half of Energylandia's is much the same as above, with changes presumably after the batwing to incorporate the second launch. The Shockwave model looks really good fun, and with new Vekoma being fab, I'm sure this will be too. Can't help but feel turning it into a multi-launch seems a bit forced and for the sake of it; should have gotten a custom multi-launch. But can't really complain too much. The only other point I have is that I wonder how similar it will feel to Formula, the park's current Vekoma launch, or if it will end up rendering it obsolete already...

No one.

Walibi Rhône-Alpes' Gerst has a name, description and logo...

It's official - 2018 was the tightest year yet! Some spectacularly close fought contests were had, and there's even a TPM first. But more on that later... For now, the winners... PARK AWARDS Best UK Park 1) Alton Towers (13) 2) Blackpool Pleasure Beach (6) 3) Thorpe Park (3) Best UK Coaster 1) Nemesis (7) 2) Icon (4) 3) Stealth (3) Best UK Flat 1) Rush (8) 2) Detonator (5) 3) Samurai (4) Best UK Water Ride 1) Valhalla (12) 2) Tidal Wave (6) 3) Tiger Rock (3) Best UK Dark Ride 1) Hex (13) 2) Derren Brown's Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon (3) 3) Duel (2) Worst UK Ride 1) Derren Brown's Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon (13) 2) Hero (3) 3) Storm Surge (2) Best International Park 1) Europa Park (8) 2) Phantasialand (5) 3) Cedar Point (4) Best International Coaster 1) Steel Vengeance (5) =2) Taron, Helix & Shambhala (3) Best New-for-2018 Attraction 1) Wicker Man (9) 2) Icon (5) 3) Steel Vengeance (4) Most Disappointing Merlin Moment 2018 1) Fright Nights; specific mentions included Vulcan Peak (10) 2) 'Everything' or words to that effect (4) 3) Alton Towers' infamous "It's better than nothing" tweet (3) Best-Looking New-for-2019 Attraction 1) FLY/Rookburgh, Phantasialand (5) 2) Untamed, Walibi Holland (4) =3) Rulantica, Europa Park & Taiga, Linnanmäki (3) Best Manufacturer 1) Mack (8) 2) B&M (5) 3) RMC (4) MEMBER AWARDS Best Member 1) @JoshC. 2) @Mattgwise 3) @Cedar Creek Best Team Member 1) @Marc 2) @Mattgwise 3) @JoshC. Best Quality Posts 1) @Wumbamillio 2) @Coaster 3) 4 runners-up (see below) Most Knowledgeable =1) @Wumbamillio & @JoshC. 2) @Coaster 3) @Benin Most Dedicated 1) @Cedar Creek 2) @JoshC. 3) @Mattgwise Most Sarcastic 1) @Benin 2) @Cedar Creek 3) @Coaster Most Likely to be Banned in 2019 1) @MarkC 2) @Coaster 3) Thorpe Park's Twitter Page Funniest Member =1) @Martin Doyle & @MattyMoo 2) @Benin 3) @pluk Biggest Fanboy 1) @Cedar Creek 2) @Marhelorpe 3) @Marc Sexiest Male 1) @Cedar Creek 2) @Ryan 3) @Martin Doyle Sexiest Female 1) @terrortomb 2) @jessica2 3) @Cedar Creek Storm Surge Award 1) @Ivsetti 2) @Cedar Creek 3) @Coaster Member You'd Like to See More Of 1) @Coaster 2) @BenC 3) @pluk Congratulations winners! This year was one of the tightest yet, so wear your victories with pride! As for the six-way ties, these will be decided by a...*cue dramatic X Factor music*...public vote. Head over to this thread and cast your! The nominees are... Best Member @Cedar Creek, @Coaster, @JoshC., @Martin Doyle, @Mattgwise and @pluk Best Quality Posts @Cedar Creek, @Coaster, @JoshC., @Marhelorpe, @pluk and @Wumbamillio The votes will be open until Thursday, 23.59, when hopefully a winner will be decided! These votes are anonymous, but you can see how many people have voted for a particular person at any given time. In the nature of good sportsmanship, nominees - don't vote for yourself! Happy voting all!

If you haven't already heard, this year's TPM Awards were the tightest yet, and two categories had a six way tie. The only way to decide who the real winners are is a fight to the dea-I mean, an orderly public vote. Vote for whoever you like. No one will be able to see who you have voted for, but you can see who has how many votes. Nominees - please don't vote for yourself! The vote closes this Thursday, at 23.59!

What exactly do you mean by stall?

LESS THAN 24 HOURS TO VOTE. If you don't vote, the results will be worse than Brexit. SO go on, vote.

I don't know where you've been looking, but I've never paid that much for a hotel room when I've gone away on a theme park trip. For some context for Phantasialand, their most expensive hotel room for one night during a weekend in summer is €246 - split between 4 people that's about £55pp for the room. But you can get that down a lot - their cheapest rooms for that time are going for £35pp at the mo. Travel, again, look in the right place and book far enough in advance, and you can get good deals.

Me changing my username to my real name despite everyone knowing my real name...

The current rumour I've heard circling round is that if Geister is the one to go, they'll be basically closing off the whole of China so they can actually do something with it. That in itself will be difficult to deal with though, given the China entrance, hotel entrance, routes round the park, etc. It's the crazy sort of thing Phantasialand would do though...

We're approaching the 48 hour mark - don't forget to vote. This is by far the closest vote we've ever had, with multiple ties at the moment. Your vote will make all the difference!

Now that is an interesting question. I would say no. Simple reason being that Phantasialand will have their time scale pretty set. I am under the impression that Rookburgh did experience some delays last year with groundwork, but the park obviously have a target they're working towards. When rumours float around, especially as long as these have, there's usually something behind it. No smoke without fire if you will. So I fully expect something to be closed down.

Thing is: 1) They won't cost £250 a night 2) They'll be themed, because it's Phantasialand 3) All things point to this hotel being within the park area (somehow), making it very different 4) If they did cost £250 a night, I'd moan and wouldn't stay there

Yes, yes is it!