Benin

Ah, we're back to that point in the Thorpe branding cycle.

Prices seem a bit more "normal" now. People really are idiots though.

They gotta pay for that Minecraft license somehow. And whatever nonsense they decide to tack onto Hyperia next year.

You sure you don't have £600 (starting bid) for an old Loggers boat? http://thorpepark.com/auction

Old stuff shifted out the shed to flog to goons with too much money. What you buying @JoshC.?

Short-termism triumphed. Like any investment broker such as Blackstone. Most parks tend to invest in the new stuff and maintenance. Probably tie it into a loss of engineering knowledge (an issue across the industry, not just theme parks) and maintenance needs a good budget. But they made these cutback decisions after Smiler and Covid. So I have little sympathy.

Cos Merlin panic when there's a bit of a "bad" season. Ignoring the external factors that directly effect park attendance, such as constant rain over the year, or a massive international event taking place nearby. Hyperia's later opening and unreliability won't have helped either.

Short answer is no. Long answer is noooooooooo. Think there were enough differences that it's not a "actually we'll put it here instead" situation. Although personally I thought having ANOTHER coaster wasn't the best idea for Towers anyway.

Dungeons being an upcharge was always going to put it at a disadvantage. Especially given the general cost to visit the parks these days. However to essentially have it mothballed into a Scarefest only building (most likely result) is a bit meh. Always enjoyed a ride on Charlie, even if it was a bit crap. If things were being replaced quickly then it wouldn't be a problem. Project Horizon has gone quiet so that corner of the park will continue to be a bit of a dead spot, and the lack of anything for kids too old for CBeebies but not at the height/level for Thirteen and others is just daft. Even if a 0.9m kid (I.e. my 2 year old) could go on Hex and Alty Mans, doesn't mean they are suitable attractions for the age content/theme wise. The RMT queues will continue to be insane. With us still being in the CBeebies age range we're still in a decent position to visit. But in a few years? Would be a different story.

https://www.altontowers.com/about-alton-towers/blog/winter-update/ Good start to 2025 then. 2 rides going with Dungeons also not coming back. But hey at least Ripsaw is being replaced.

All hail the Slammer Memorial Pit.

Only a year out. Thorpe have applied for permission to remove it. Finally. Rust in pieces.

Looks decent, though not sure about Eurostar stopping at Calais to get you back to London. Unsure if Eurotunnel does foot passengers either. Definitely goes from Brussels though, so can either double back on yourselves or swap Walibi & Plopsa days.

I'm not that bothered weirdly. But my early enthusiast days were at the time of Top Thrill Dragster so that to me was the more iconic of the 2. The method of the closure is very disappointing though. Is Amanda Thompson involved?

The amount of work the systems on TTD and Kingda Ka needed to do was ridiculous. Think Mark is right that the later models (or smaller/slower ones) have had those little edits to the system to make them work better than say, Xcelerator as the first one. Stealth is too integrated into the park's brand now for them to not try everything else before removing it. Ka's removal was probably fast-tracked through with combination of the merger and the utter disaster of TT2.