James6

Thanks for the report :angry:What were queue's like?

Definitely agree about staff seeming slow at the moment. E.g. last week with a 70 min queue continuous stacking on 2 trains.

Really in hope of a major refurbishment, we haven't really seen a Merlin Dark ride yet and going by the theming we've seen elsewhere, I'd expect it to be fantastic :angry:I have been looking through some POV's on Youtube of the old ride and it really does make me sad, the more you ride the newer version, you forget what it used to be like and just how much better it was. The amount of humorous and genuinely funny scenes such as the "Squash Courts", every detail was thought of and everything was better than the current version, even the music was far superior! Also a lot more "moved" rather than the more static scenes we have today.For anyone wanting to re-live the old ride I highly reccomend watching this slide show. Loads of brilliant pictures of the old ride. And I have also made my mind up that the current ride system should be used again

Coke :angry:Thorpe style map or Chessington style map ?

It's usually VERY busy on Bank Holidays...

Was that the one where they were in like a greenhouse or something at one stage? If so that is the image I get in my head the second anyone says Doctor Who, mainly because it was just a great episode (probably my favourite) but also because it was actually terrifying , still yet to watch last nights episode.

Whilst I did ride the old Bubbleworks, I only experienced it a couple of times, and therefore obviously don't feel as strongly against the current Bubbleworks. I class it as an OK ride, but like you say, without doubt inferior to the original, which was hilarious from start to finish, and even if you compare the posters in the queueline or even the outside of the ride building you can see the cheap look and feel of the current incarnation.

^ To be honest it was explained that there isn't "really" a story in that podcast, however then there'd be no need for the scaffolding... It is a little confusing.

^ Agreed, even if there was one of those signs that usual scaffolding has which states the company. "Towers Scaffolding- For all your restoration needs" Something along those lines Nothing big or costly.

I really like the idea of that, honestly sounds great, but like you say, it'd be a good opportunity to make it fit into Transylvania, but do Monster's really fit in? Unless of course the whole area was re-themed which may be an option.I have always like the idea of an Alpine Village kind of re-theme with Vampire being a sort of Ski Lift gone wrong, Not sure how Bubble could be re-themed to fit in though, but yeah I do agree actually about Bubble's ride system being good in that everyone can ride.

Similar to everyone, found it extremely interesting and can't wait till part 2

Regarding the staff in uniforms, members of staff on Rattlesnake, while not in costumes as such, were wearing those big Mexican fiesta hats ^ Regarding Bubbleworks, I feel the ride would still be as popular as it is today had it stayed as Professor Burps. The ride just had that quality and humour that I personally feel would have stayed with it, even in the relatively poor state it was in during it's last year. It's a tough one for me on what I'd like done with it. If by keeping the current system in meant we could have an unbelievably well themed Dark ride without any gimmicks I'd choose that, but, to be honest if we were going to get a new transit system for the dark ride I'd prefer a new ride altogether somewhere else and for Bubbleworks to be kept as well. Unless of course the new transit system was going to be the same as Spiderman's at Universal's Islands of Adventure I am most likely to be happy as long as "Something" is done.

It definitely wasn't obvious on Monday, although I wasn't really listening out for it, any change would be minimal. Unless of course it has happened since Monday.

Do you by any chance also have WWTP ?

It seems us Theme Park geeks are one of the few groups of nice people left in the world

On Monday, workers on Bubbleworks were actually wearing a coat and hard hat like factory workers would, found it quite a nice little touch

Ok well apart from a few , I was talking about the majority.... But gosh, they've surprised me lol, It must just be me where everything "seems" slower, to me in the past anyway.Sorry for my stupidity.

I personally would prefer the park and zoo to become a bit more combined, and integrated. Busch Gardens style...

Sorry for double post, The ride is now a "Poll-ercoaster" You get a very nice look at that trim...

Like others, the one ride out of all the ones I've done that scares me every single time, I don't know what it is about it, whether it's the unpredictability or just the force of the drop, but it's fantastic These rides just don't quite have the length for me to be 5/5 though.

^^ Everyday I seem to realise more and more how many people nowadays are absolutely pr****, and I don't understand why.Don't take it to heart, a similar (Although not quite on the same scale) thing happened to me a while ago, sadly the only thing you really can do is ride it out.

I definitely agree, but please, PLEASE! Be high capacity, that park doesn't have a single ride that does well with queue's!And I only got to ride Jungle Coaster when it became Caravan on rails: The Ride, and if it had to stay like that, it's better gone to somewhere where it can run as a good ride.

Ah maybe it's just showing it's a similar size to the Dragon, which I'd be quite happy about.And are you absolutely sure it is identical? I can see some parts of it are similar but can't quite fit it in exactly, may be my poor memory though...Edit: Yes you are correct, it is identical to the Dragon, looked a bit closer and yes

I still am of the opinion that it would have been worth the little extra investment to keep it in operating condition.

If anyone would like to see the Black Hole as it is now.It's been refurbished by Gerstlauer and is looking nice and new and shiny http://www.coastersandmore.de/previews/belantis/belantis.shtml