Mattgwise

You can go with Matt then. You'll have a grand day out haha. I'd queue no more than ten minutes personally, although once I have children of course, I'd happily queue for it

But you are looking forward to riding it haha! The station whilst good doesn't look as great in comparison to some of their other attractions (although still knocks the socks off of a lot of stations of course). I think for Efteling personally all aspects are just a bit disappointing.

Matt! Yes decent enough for any children out there. Not for you! What looks great?

This is EXACTLY the phrase I have been using the last few weeks! Totally agree. Just wish some of the members here would realise its not worth queuing for more than ten minutes unless you have children!

TBF Blackpool has the same average temperature in December as in February (technically better as day time temperature the same as February but night temperature 1 degree better) so if it manages February just fine I'm sure December will be also fine in terms of temperature. Precipitation however, significantly worse and the west of the UK gets enough rain at the best of times!

All with the old flooring paint lovely and brightly shown creating the perfect mish mash of an identity! Love it!

Upsetting to see the state they let this get into too... You'd think Tiger Rock was closing down like its sibling! Do Merlin parks ever take care of the ride vehicles. Rumba boats had similar treatment but on the roadside, inferno train left on brake run virtually all winter etc...

Here is the usual annual list of all updates for the parks 2020 season. (thanks to EPfans.info and auto translate) Park: Adventure land pulleys on "Jungle Raft Ride" partly renewed Germany facades of the Deutsche Allee partly repainted park plan display at the entrance turnstiles redesigned including TV display new construction of the water channel in the middle of Deutsche Allee England roof of "The British Carousel" renewed The football scooter has a new entrance received (former BlueFire entrance) New slot machines / games in the "Market Hall" arcade New slot machine for redeeming winning tickets in the "Market Hall" arcade Additional payment options at the exchange machine in the "Market Hall" arcade Tree felled and newly paved on the corner of France The Euro-Tower has received new window panes CanCanCoaster Eurosat can only be used with a "virtual queue" Facades near the steam locomotive partly repainted Old intermediate floor in the "Eurosat - CanCan Coaster" made of wood replaced by new metal railings in the queue area of "Eurosat - CanCan Coaster "deleted remote-controlled Alpha Mods vehicles between" Eurosat - CanCan Coaster "and" Silver Star " gripper hall next to Magic Cinema 4D has been converted to EP Radio Station Walk of Fame before" Magic Cinema 4D "completely renewed Railing from bridge over lake extensively renovated New 2D film (departure to Batavia) in the "Magic Cinema 4D" at 11:40 / 14:20 / 16:20 (currently suspended) New elements in the Mercedes-Benz Hall Greece joints of the paths in the village of Mykonos partly repainted sections the Poseidon track repainted Grimm's fairytale forest roof by "Hänsel & Gretel" partly covers and renovated the track by "Wichtelhausen" renews Ireland works on "Old Mac Donald`s Tractor Fun" Island BlueFire can only be used with "virtual queue" distance from all GAZPROM Information in the entire subject area (no longer as sponsor) Redesign of the blue fire megacoaster in the area of the launch Complete redesign of the former "GAZPROM Hall" including the square in front of it New attraction: "Nord Stream 2 Dome" Individual sections of "WODAN Timburcoaster" renewed including metal railings New "Magnum Pleasure Store" Italy New animatronic in the queue area of the "Geisterschloss" Arthur Kingdom Show stairs in front of the open air stage i.Kd Minimoys Arthur can only be used with "Virtual Queue" Luxembourg Partially new exhibition "Rulantica" incl.Monitor to watch the Rulantica musical Revised revolving theater show Revolving theater halls extensively renovated with new chairs and new floor Netherlands Pirates in Batavia 2.0 (possibly from summer 2020, possibly at the end of July 2020) Facades completely rebuilt Preview area in the queue area of "Pirates in Batavia" Clear tree cut to expose the Böcklinkapelle Austria Floor panels from "Alpenexpress Enzian" renewed Portugal facade of the " Atlantica Supersplash "Station renovates revolving platform from" Atlantica Supersplash "overhauled parts of the" Atlantica Supersplash "rail repainted Russia Onride Video System (cdride)" Euromir "will be replaced by Ridercam 4.0 during the season. EuroMir can only be used with" Virtual Queue " Switzerland Onride Video System (Ridercam) "Matterhorn-Blitz" updated to version 4.0 New rock construction on the "Swiss bobsleigh track" part of the "Swiss bobsleigh track" partly repainted and redesigned Scandinavia amusement arcade "Speel Deel" completely redesigned Additional payment options at the exchange machine in the "Speel amusement arcade" Deel " New provisional staircase from Scandinavia to Iceland to optimize the flow of visitors aerators installed in the lake New Bluembe edging made of granite stelae Spain New slot machines / games in the" Sala de Juegos " arcade" Sala de Juegos "arcade was equipped with air conditioning New machine for redeeming winning tickets in the "Sala de Juegos" arcade Additional payment options at the exchange machine in the "Sala de Juegos" arcade Hotels: Santa Isabel entire facade refreshed Krønasår New lettering "Sven Jørgensen & Co" on facade Other new slot machines in hotel Resort Additional payment options at the exchange machines (games) of the hotel resort Everything else: Rulantica: New relaxation area with smaller textile saunas above "Lumålunda" (under construction) Signposts partly new labeled Maintenance of various attractions throughout the park Extensive renovation "Brunnen der Encounter" in the entrance area Three new souvenirtickets Roof under EP Express rail in Andaluz style at the bus stop Hotel resort New login area for club card holders (number of park visits, vouchers and more) remodeling "Ed`s Party Parade" to "Ed`s Adventure Parade" with partly new parade cars (currently suspended)

Video from opening day at EP outlining changes to Blue fire and the preview centre/exterior of Pirates in Batavia. Not a huge fan of the new queuing area for Blue Fire and the outside has been completely remodelled. No more attempting to push each other in the water at the start of Blue Fire queue! Pirates area looks great! Cannot wait to experience the updated version. Some new rockwork was also shown added to the Bobsle coaster. Some good updates made to Geisterschloss as well with a new scene. Love the little new additions like this each year. New bridge however looks ugly. They've attempted to them it but the metal work looks temporary and sticks out like a sore thumb. Surprisingly shoddy for EP! Finally Europa Park now have a radio station. It is based in the French area of the park and blasts out in the area. An awful move in my opinion removing the atmosphere from the French area where it used to play lovely French music! Surprised they have done this Awful and reminds me of the time Thorpe changed its entrance/dome/beach music to the noise! Video from Europa-Park Insider.

Europa have released a well executed and simple video outlining it's rules. Seems a good system to me...

Haha, like our supermarkets where everyone queues perfectly to get in, then do what the hell they like! My experience today was a joke! ANDI like to see it work well over here when even in this shot it can't be managed in Shanghai! I get your point but we shall see Joshua, I personally don't think they will be operating anywhere near the level they have done before. It's about following rules of the government not the parks own efficiencies. They even warned in their post today of excessive waiting times. Finally, none of the shows and parades will be going ahead either there remember, that takes a fair proportion of the crowds usually.

I think I read somewhere that family groups are restricted to 3 for when Europa opens? Might be wrong, but that's quite restrictive. This was being discussed, and the issue as pointed out is the waiting around on paths, with them being clogged up as there will literally be nothing to do. A big issue if the park does get near the 5000 mark.

Agreed. If capacity is a third (say 5,000 as per JoshC's mention of 15.000 being capacity), with coaster cars having half the rows potentially closed, if the park is at it's new theatrical capacity, then yes it is going to still be busy like a packed FN night in terms of waiting! That with certainly slower dispatches due to increased difficulty with checks, and cleaning needed more often, it would surely feel worse. I for one am NOT looking forward to them reopening unless literally no one flocks there, But with Europa's ticketing site spiraling out of control today, i'm sure many will want to be heading to parks than you'd expect.

We are in the final planning stage for launching multiple exciting "ride games", one for every park that exists in the United Kingdom. Hoping to launch on TPM in the coming days!

It is sad news, but a sensible decision. The park did have a successful season last year supposedly pulling in 650,000 (double the year before) from a short summer season from April to September. I am hopeful it will return in 21. Screamland last year, I thoroughly enjoyed and I too would hate for that to not return in 21!

First test run of Candymonium. Looks well paced for a first run through of a hyper.

3rd place: Big Top (2016-17) Winner: The Freezer

Mr. Fish returns after all this time absent! 😮 And two posts in a day!

The Freezer Asylum

Testing has begun on the STC. Looks billions smoother than older SLC models. Trains also look good (similar to the family suspended trains and feature lap bars.

It is a local news article but still interesting regarding Merlin. https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/18408551.merlin-entertainments-warns-uncertainty-future-lockdown-hits/?ref=fbshr

The Freezer The Curse Experiment 10 The Asylum

An interesting read looking at this yesterday. Probably also useful to have the direct link to the report itself for people to read too. https://www.merlinentertainments.biz/media/3068/merlin-entertainments-annual-report-and-accounts-2019.pdf

Big top Experiment 10 Asylum Se7en

Studio 13 The Freezer The Curse Cabin in the woods