JoshC.

This is a very tricky subject and it's purely because of the idea of putting any restriction on Rap users is discrimination. I remember when Chessington attempted to restrict the amount of use on their rides (you got one go on the major stuff for example) and there was complaints that autistic children only liked riding Vampire so stoping them from riding that all day was against the law. And it isn't, it just isn't.

I think what's been frustrating with me this for a long time is that whenever something is suggested, its immediately shut down as being anti disabled, so that change doesn't take place and the problem of long RAP queues just continues. I've also seen a few videos suggesting that it's Merlins fault for limiting ride line ups and taking away entertainment. Which would be fine if the park that seems to be most affected by RAP is Thorpe which has lost very little over the last ten years and had very little entertainment to begin with.

As for the European/other UK park thing. Well we've seen across the industry, big changes to Annual Pass systems. The Merlin pass remains incredibly affordable and cheap and is a great deal. And I personally think it drives the RAP use. A lot of coaster enthusiasts are on the spectrum or have a physical disability. Why wouldn't they have an AP to get in all the time and a RAP to bypass long waits. You have a Rap system that is always full on popular rides (Wicker Man, Hyperia for example) and you add in a fastrack system that will always be a priority....

If I were Merlin I would make the Annual Pass much more expensive or remove it entirely. We've seen several parks do this like Phantasialand and Tokyo Disneyland and it has proved to be a good move for them. I know there's the argument that the pass pushes for repeat visits. But these repeat visitors are driving up queue times whilst spending very little on food and merchandise. It has a detrimental effect on the average day guest who just sees people going past them in every direction all day long. And that isn't discriminatory language, that's just the reality of three different queues diverging at one point and everyone moving just that little bit slower.

I do think Merlin are their own worst enemy on this whole situation as well. For years they don't implement their policies properly or have tried around the edges to make changes but they backtrack or ignore things so often that ititss led to this.

I wonder if it’s something that became a victim of its own success, and because of that just spiralled out of control over the years.

Many parks can be busy but still have fast moving queues, and actually to be honest if theoretically Merlin somehow abolished RAP (and fastrack) all together, you could almost argue that queuing would barely be an issue for anyone at all, even on busy days, because the single queue would simply just keep moving at a pretty fast pace, at least on the high capacity rides anyway.

I wonder if the issue is that over the years RAP and Fastrack have made standby queues at UK Merlin parks appear unbearable on peak days, causing RAP to appear more essential…. Which in turn causes queues to worsen…. Which in turn causes RAP to appear even more essential… and so on.

Just a thought. But I do think this idea that standby queues on peak days can be silly might be the reason RAP is relied upon by so many.

Now this is timely.

Metlin and Nimbus have rejigged the qualifications for RAP as a result of all the various issues they've had over the years. This has, rather naturally, peeved people off, especially as this announcement was tucked away on Monday when they were releasing the first booking slots for RAP this year.

What has actually happened? Nimbus have split their "Difficulties With Queues" into two new categories. "Difficulties With Crowds" and "Difficulties Standing".

Going forwards at Merlin parks you will only qualify for RAP with a "Difficulties Standing", "Level Access" and "Toilet Needs" box. Naturally a lot of those with neurodivergency based disabilities have been given the Crowds box instead.

Here's the thing, RAP in its current guise could not continue. Prior to pre-booking requirements the queues were ridiculous and defeated the point. And of course there was a fair amount of "abuse" of the system through poor staffing (I.e. not writing down correct times) and terrible guests shouting until they got their way. Pre-booking meant a limitation on numbers which worked but being able to book for specific dates was a nightmare when no idea when they would go up. Plus still had a few people unaware they needed to pre-book specific dates in first place.

Sadly it's always felt inevitable given the whole "free Fastrack" perception on top of people gaming the system ruining it for those who need it.

Fortunately for my end the changes do not affect us. However it should be noted that other UK parks will still accept the Crowds box for their equivalent system. However, why is it such a problem at Merlin parks at all? I've seen it busy at Efteling which is understandable, but at Europa last year felt like we were the only ones really using their system (and they don't even time you out on stuff really).

Currently Merlin have termed it as a trial for Feb Half Term. Though it's probably just to let the PR storm settle before main season begins.

So thoughts? Who's affected by the change and will you renounce your MAP as a result if you have one? Have Nimbus just randomly allocated you the wrong box for your disability?

I've very little memory of it, but the game was likely made by Playable: https://playable.com/cases/thorpe-park/

If memory serves me correctly, the Survival Games one was a 'Subway Surfers like' game where you had to swipe left and right for your character to avoid assassins. I'm very much not sure on that, but that feels right to me.

What I do remember is all these games were very basic and simple, verging on what I'd call cheap. They were clearly made very simplistically, and whilst they did fit the box of being a themed game, they were only entertaining for a minute or two before becoming repetitive and stale.

Looks like it is happening, with this being a project that was tendered over a year ago...

Something that I often find weird is how much the height restrictions can differ between similar rides at different parks.

For example, to ride Marauders Mayhem or Dobble Teaparty you have to be 1.1M tall, but Mad Hatter’s tea party at DLP, essentially the same ride, can literally be ridden by a newborn baby as there are no restrictions.

That same newborn baby could also ride Pirates of the Caribbean with its drops and spooky scenes, but would have to wait until they’re 0.9M to ride Curse at Alton Manor.

Similarly Runaway Mine Train at Alton Towers has a min height of 1.3 meters, but the likes of the far more intense Wickerman and Big Thunder Mountain is only 1.2. Although Wicker does have individual restraints rather than the single bar between 2 people on runaway and BTM

Tower of Terror can surprisingly be ridden by someone just 102CM tall. So most 4 year old children can ride that before they’re allowed on the teacups at AT & TP.

Is anyone else aware of any bizarre height restrictions, or any of the reasoning behind some of them?

For the record I’m not arguing against any of these restrictions, clearly there’s a reason for them, I just find it an odd and interesting quirk.

The prices at Towers are probably such to avoid hitting the local B&B market too hard.

It does feel expensive though considering the lack of overall quality. Though my visits the last two years were fine, wouldn't really wax lyrical about them either.

Just looking at possibly doing Efteling for a week in May and one of their 6 person renewed lodges is comparable to Splash Landings price wise. However I know the trip will be just... better.

CBeebies Hotel pricing is just awful though.

I was hoping that with the theme being a literal cinema, the park had a plan to change the 4D film regularly. It'd be a simple win to change the film shown yearly (albeit maybe a bit of a faff).

Who knows what the contracts are like for these things. I know Merlin in the past liked to go for 3 year rolling contracts with IPs. Whether that's still the case - and the case with a 4D show - I have no clue.

I agree that it would be nice to see something new in there for 2026 though.

I took a wander down Monks Walk on Monday and I didn't take any photos/videos, simply because there was nothing to take photos of.

I think in some ways we've been spoilt over recent years, with lots of works visible from Monks Walk (from Hyperia, to Fright Nights, etc) as well as many in-park updates. But it hasn't always been like that - rewind 10+ years ago and Monks Walk never really showed anything particularly interesting beyond the odd glimpse, despite many things happening. Okay, we still got the odd in-park update too, but right now the level of updates is going back closer to a reset of what was once the norm.
I do also think compared to many other seasonal parks, Thorpe gets a heck of a lot of eyes put on it out of closed season, with many updates shared and visible. Thorpe have, in some ways, been the exception to the rule in that case.

That's not to say the lack of any visible updates isn't disheartening though. Finishing off Colossus' repaint would be amazing. Inferno and Swarm would benefit from TLC. Rumba Rapids is dying. The fact there's been no visible work there is a shame, and indicates we're unlikely to see much there. The Beach area cannot really be seen from outside the park, so we're none-the-wiser about anything happening there.


The 'New for ___' is a double-edged sword. New stuff each year can be beneficial, but Thorpe in particular are seeing the dangers of adding in new hardware/rides yearly as now they have several 'old' rides which are going to require more work all close together. New events can be okay, but gimmicky and don't really draw people in.

If you look at some of the better-received parks, the likes of Phantasialand and Efteling, they don't add in many new things. Since 2015...
Phantasialand have added in 3 new coaster, rethemed a coaster and a 4D show and added in a couple of walkthroughs / play areas.
Efteling have added in 2 new coasters (I guess technically 3 as one is a duelling coaster), 2 new dark rides and rethemed a couple of things.
In that same time, Thorpe have added in 1 new coaster, 1 new dark ride, rethemed some things and done a couple of walkthroughs.
The level of investments isn't as big a difference in the overall park experience and quality. And that's the bigger issue - Thorpe haven't consistently been able to upkeep their attractions (or revitalise them) the same as other parks that invest at a similar frequency.

I think the other issue - which is Merlin-wide - is Thorpe does rely extremely heavily on returning visitors, as opposed to new visitors. Whether that's them, over a 10-20 year period, having exhausted the market and not been able to expand it or a purposeful strategy to not try and reach more people, or another reason entirely, is unclear. But it is certainly the bigger issue that the park face. They've had a huge new coaster for 1 and a half seasons - that's still a big deal, and not really something that should be viewed as stagnation.
But when the park aren't pushing it and rely too heavily on repeat visits, then it will feel like that.


You say that, but then they've recently announced Legoland Germany are getting a Lego Harry Potter Land, which will be Merlin's single biggest investment into any theme park. Legolands California and Florida are getting substantial new coasters next year. Chessington are getting Minecraft World soon, and Towers' big new coaster seems to still be going ahead. Gardaland invested 12 million Euros into retheming their indoor boat ride this (where that 12m went I don't fully know, but that's what they did).

They're financial issues have been documented in the press, and their selling / closing down of midway attractions, outsourcing and structural changes are further signs of that I expect. But they are still making investments, and notable ones at that, in many places. But it feels like Thorpe is being brushed aside a bit right now (along with Heide Park...if I didn't know any better, I'd have thought Merlin forgot they still own it).

I agree it is a huge shame that there is quite literally nothing going on.

Although to be fair over the last decade there has been a lot of rubbish advertised as “new” - the various year-round mazes and some of the events for example. The absence of those sort of things isn’t that bad in my opinion, and realistically something new isn’t needed every year. Not many parks do that do they.

In recent years they have also made a lot of improvements to the areas other than the rides - the toilets to name one example.
Thorpe is probably one of the (if not THE) best Merlin park in terms of general upkeep.

I agree though that it is a shame there doesn’t appear to be anything at all happening again. It’s been a few years now since they’ve been able to boast anything notably new.

I wonder if Colossus will finally be finished in the next couple of months at least? Despite all the cuts to spending at Merlin I’d at least expect that to be done before opening, as well as Zodoac getting sorted.

I wonder if the beach project will ever happen now? I can’t help but think the money would be better put towards a larger project.

Some would say it's the past of theme parks.

Sonic Spinball had to be rethemed for similar reasons, the allegations that Knuckles filed meant they had to quickly drop the brand in closed season so it's definitely possible they could reopen as just David Land and drop the Walliams.

Closed season bingo!

We've got a green light from the government, this is happening!

BBC News
Universal Studios gets green light to be built in Bedford...
The park is expected to attract more than eight million annual visitors and open in 2031.
Construction will start next year if all goes to plan.

Just for Josh, (who did his top 10% in 2024 as well), here is the rest of my top 10% from (11-61). This won't be in any order because after the top 10, it becomes impossible to put them in preference order. On any given day I could prefer Oz'Iris to Taron and so forth.

Stardust Racers Yellow
Oz'Iris
Katun
Helix
Wodan
Blue Fire
Copperhead Strike
Afterburn
Wildcats Revenge
Stealth
Black Mamba
Fly
Superman la Atrocciones de acero
Manta/Acrobat
Incredible Hulk
iSpeed
Shambhala
Kumba
Griffon
Alpengeist
Juvelen
The Smiler
Medusa (discovery kingdom)
Tatsu
Taron
Alpina Blitz (Nigloland)
Monster (Walygator)
Icon
Karnan
Flug der Demon
Raging Bull
Twisted Timbers
Behemoth
Magnum XL 2000
Maverick
Gatekeeper
Untamed
Dwiverlwind
Velocicoaster
Monster (Grona Lund)
Wildfire (Kolmarden)
Hyperion
Abyssus
Dominator
Pantheon
Farenheight
Candymonium
Mako
Steel Dragon 2000
Nitro
El Toro
Batman Gotham city Escape
Iron Grawzi
Goliath (Six Flags over Georgia)
Aerieforce One
Thunderhead
The Beast
Fianna Force
The Voyage
Piraten
Dragons Fury
I love lists so much.

Parm Pap has gone so crazy they think their name is Parm Pom

Honeslty when thinking about the next major investment, like towers the park doesn't need "just another coaster"
The coaster line up is probably pretty stable and more than enough veriaty and capacity.

What the park is lacking is secondary experiences that the crowd who ride the coasters want to do.

Looking at the parks history, the last brand new thrill flat investment was Slammer and Rush in 2005.

You had Storm Surge in 2010 which was a relocated ride, the dodgems in 2014 which straddles the line of a thrill flat.
and of course Ghost Train in 2016 but due to the complexity in maintenance and staffing I would class this more like a coaster in its operation than a thrill flat. But even if you did thats almost 10 years since the last proper flat ride (mainly due to habit of making walk through 'Merlin midway' mazes as attractions)

What the park needs is a thrill flat package similar to how Zodiac, Vortex and Detonator where done, and more recently the Rumour that Toxicator at Towers was bought in a multi ride package.

With the right ride choices this would work as a solid coaster level investment with the benefit of also being able to spread out queues around the park.

Just returned from my very first Wintertraum event. Was very impressed with the park decoration, and it was busy, but not too busy. We stayed in Charles Lindbergh. Arrived around midday, after some shenanigans with delayed flights and an hour queue for passport control at Cologne airport.

Checked in and one of our rooms was ready so we went up and chucked all our luggage in there. Noticed that a FLY train was stopped on the first launch (empty). They started doing test runs as we were walking down from the room. Managed to get a walk on straight away as it just reopened as we entered the park. When we came off, the queue was 40 mins. Managed a back row ride on this, and it was crazy!

Did Taron front row in the rain which was a painful experience haha.

Had our first go on Mystery Castle - wtf!! This thing is insane.

Braved Chiapas in the cold (stayed on and did it twice). Got soaked and had to go back to the hotel to dry off.

Did a night ride on Black Mamba and found this way better than the last time I rode it. Thought it was a bit tame originally, but it was hauling in the evening!

Fireworks were decent in the evening. Had a better nights sleep this time around (as last time I couldn't get comfortable in the small cabins).

All in all was a good trip, got to do the majority of the park, probably should have booked an additional night. Also shout out to the thoosies we met at breakfast (think they were from the midlands). Was great chatting coasters over coffee and bacon!

Park Count
Thorpe - Loads
Phantasialand x2
Towers x1
Legoland Windsor x1
Chessington x1
Efteling x1
Holiday Park (now Plopsaland Deutschland) x1
Walibi Belgium x1
Bellewaerde x1
Gardaland x1
Movieland Italy x1
Walibi Holland x1

Coasters
New coasters: 26
New parks: 4
Current cred count: 434

Top 5 new coasters
Kondaa, Walibi Belgium. Sitting just outside my Top 10 outright, this is absolutely bonkers in the best possible way. The only mark against it is the double down which starts off the final third of the ride, which just feels a bit unnatural to me.
Karacho, Tripsdrill. Gerstlauer with some of their finest work. It sits just outside my Top 10%, is a great deal of fun. If the MCBR was slightly less harsh, this would be a lot higher in my rankings.
Expedition GeForce, Holiday Plopsaland Deutschland. It's good. The middle third is a bit boring, but the first drop and finale are fab. It's very classic early 00s Intamin.
Raptor, Gardaland. Good, not great. But theming is fab.
MecaLodon, Walibi Belgium. The Gerstlauer family triple launch coaster is something which people have raved about. I like it, especially once it warms up, but I'm not as big on it as most. The ride type has buckets of potential though.

Disappointments
YoY, Walibi Holland. I liked Jersey Devil at Six Flags Great Adventure. I was disappointed by YoY, which didn't offer much even with the duelling. I also have aged and the leg arrangement was uncomfortable for me.
Gardaland. It was nice and I enjoyed my day there. But it did feel a bit meh at the same time.
Hals-uber-Kopf, Tripsdrill. Unlike Mark, I haven't been blown away by either of the Vekoma STCs. They're fine, I can see why people enjoy them, but they don't click for me.

Other Notable Things
Danse Macabre, Efteling. This thing is superb.
Movieland Italy. What a strange park. But I had an absolute blast of a time.
Amazonia, Bellewaerde. A fantastic rapids-esque ride from Intamin with lots of cool quirks.
Slaughterhouse, Walibi Holland. I returned to Walibi's Halloween event, and this alone experience is so raw and visceral and just genuinely fabulous.
Us vs You, Walibi Holland. An international scare maze which feels like it's slipped under the scare attraction's radar, because this is bloody great.

Ah love these.

Unfortunately my lists are very short nowadays, but I've had a fair year theme park wise (considering how life is now!)
Thorpe Park x1
Alton Towers x1
Legoland Windsor x1
Disneyland Park Paris x3
Walt Disney Studios Paris x2

I do miss the days when I had huge lists, and I was at Thorpe & Towers 10-20 times each!

Sad to have not been to any fireworks events or halloween this year, for the first time in... I don't know how long.

Still, could be worse.

Paulton's next year for the first time in 20 years!

Park Count
Thorpe - Loads
Phantasialand x2
Towers x1
Legoland Windsor x1
Chessington x1
Efteling x1
Holiday Park (now Plopsaland Deutschland) x1
Walibi Belgium x1
Bellewaerde x1
Gardaland x1
Movieland Italy x1
Walibi Holland x1

Coasters
New coasters: 26
New parks: 4
Current cred count: 434

Top 5 new coasters
Kondaa, Walibi Belgium. Sitting just outside my Top 10 outright, this is absolutely bonkers in the best possible way. The only mark against it is the double down which starts off the final third of the ride, which just feels a bit unnatural to me.
Karacho, Tripsdrill. Gerstlauer with some of their finest work. It sits just outside my Top 10%, is a great deal of fun. If the MCBR was slightly less harsh, this would be a lot higher in my rankings.
Expedition GeForce, Holiday Plopsaland Deutschland. It's good. The middle third is a bit boring, but the first drop and finale are fab. It's very classic early 00s Intamin.
Raptor, Gardaland. Good, not great. But theming is fab.
MecaLodon, Walibi Belgium. The Gerstlauer family triple launch coaster is something which people have raved about. I like it, especially once it warms up, but I'm not as big on it as most. The ride type has buckets of potential though.

Disappointments
YoY, Walibi Holland. I liked Jersey Devil at Six Flags Great Adventure. I was disappointed by YoY, which didn't offer much even with the duelling. I also have aged and the leg arrangement was uncomfortable for me.
Gardaland. It was nice and I enjoyed my day there. But it did feel a bit meh at the same time.
Hals-uber-Kopf, Tripsdrill. Unlike Mark, I haven't been blown away by either of the Vekoma STCs. They're fine, I can see why people enjoy them, but they don't click for me.

Other Notable Things
Danse Macabre, Efteling. This thing is superb.
Movieland Italy. What a strange park. But I had an absolute blast of a time.
Amazonia, Bellewaerde. A fantastic rapids-esque ride from Intamin with lots of cool quirks.
Slaughterhouse, Walibi Holland. I returned to Walibi's Halloween event, and this alone experience is so raw and visceral and just genuinely fabulous.
Us vs You, Walibi Holland. An international scare maze which feels like it's slipped under the scare attraction's radar, because this is bloody great.

Movieland Italy is a fantastic park purely due to its bizarre Mafia led nature.

There's likely several factors in play.

Theme parks being closed environments, which people have to pay to get into, which are surrounded by CCTV, probably detracts potential thieves anyway.

Very few people are focused on other people's belongings too; they just want to get their own and go. And any thoughts of 'I could take someone else's belongings' is little more than a common, healthy, intrusive thought.

Yep, the Merlin Platinum Pass now includes one Fastrack per day on any ride, which does include Hyperia. It will presumably not include major new additions the year they're included, but Hyperia is now old enough that they can get away with it.

Presumably such things will come out of each ride's standard Fastrack allocation. Which will then affect their profits. Will be interesting how that hits the park in mid-to-longer run.

Hello. How was your year?

Here's mine-

Parks visited
Efteling X5
Animal Kingdom X3
Hollywood Studios X1
Southend Adventure Island X1
Chessington X1
Schwaben Park X1
Tripsdrill X1
Legoland Deutschland X1
Hong Kong Disneyland X2
Ocean Park HK X1
Himeji Central Park X1
Parque Espana Shima X1
Nagashima Spa Land X1
Fuji Q X1
Disneyland Tokyo X2
Tokyo Disney Sea X3
Thorpe Park X2
Wiener Prater X1
Fantasiana X1
Epic Universe X2

New Rollercoasters ridden - 62

I'd say my top ten new rollercoasters of 2025 are as follows-
Flying Dinosaur - The most intense flyer out there. It is absolutely fantastic.
Stardust Racers Green - I love this ride, the flowing elements and air time are excellent and the duelling with yellow is so good.
Stardust Racers Yellow - I mean come on, they are both so good and theres very little in between them in terms of quality.
Steel Dragon 2000 - Aside from the really frustrating loading, this is a really long ride that does deliver. The air time at the end is also excellent.
Pyrenees - An Inverter that sits under the radar, this is a very good rollercoaster, it just has a really odd ending.
Hals Uber Kopf - The vekoma STC is so good. Both it and Fienna Force are so class. I thought this was a surprisingly forceful rollercoaster and really enjoyed it.
Hollywood Dream - A surprisingly good hyper coaster. I only got the chance to ride this backwards but I thought it was excellent.
Harakugei - A very good RMC but I find the loading procedures really take away the fun from a lot of Japanese parks. This is still awesome but its tiresome waiting for it .
Diavlo - I don't really care that this is just a batman clone, it really is an excellent version of the ride. It looks a little rusty and run done and its amazing that the park have bothered to keep it running. Glad to have got on it.
Zokkon - An excellent Intamin straddle coaster. Full of unique elements and excellent pacing.

Landmark moments from 2025
Rollback on Mandrill Mayhem where we were stuck just before the Statue helix. Star of some B- tier tiktok vlogs. Loved it.
Evacuated from the break run on Stardust Green. Lots of fun watching Stardust Yellow continue to run. Also managing to get on it after the death in September.
Finally making it to Tokyo Disney and getting on all the major rides multiple times. Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Sinbad, Indianna Jones, Winnie the Pooh and Beauty and the Beasts felt like life changing rides in my theme park career
Reclaiming the 'ridden all B&M's in Europe' after getting to Legoland Deutschland
Saying goodbye to way too many attractions this year. Kingda Ka, Muppets 3D, Six Flags America, Tough to be a Bug, Scorpion Express, Blade. Also our last ever rides on Dinosaur before its closure in 2026.

So please share your 2025. We love content.