Benin

I wonder what all the staff think of the goons going around taking photos inside a shop...

Wonder how busy it was and if the park offered anything (yes I KNOW it was out of their hands, but always looking for positive stuff)...

Few screen issues (resets) and some long times on the initial screens, which makes the going straight past others really, weird? Only real way to judge this is physically doing it due to the whole moving arms stuff...

Ahhhh that was a classic day, power going at 5:55 and evacs going onto till 10pm... Chessie had loads that year, brought in generators as a result but still had about 4...

Given the awful weather, is it any surprise there was a power cut? It's not news at all really...

Mark is right, once parks are over the gimmick (and they're more readily available for the mass market) people will be bored of it... Especially when the waits are ridiculous... 8 minute dispatches for an Eurofighter? The parks will realise very soon that those sorta things will be detrimental to guests...

Loving the "people are only complaining because they didn't one" from someone showing off they got an email from before the intended release time... Don't think essentially playing a superiority card over this is particularly helpful for anyone...

Pretty much every company has the 3rd party contact thing ticked, it's not their fault if you don't pay attention... I would say the manner Thorpe has responded is more an issue than the early release, plus allowing 4 tickets per person...

Got a source for that or is it wild conjecture?

It's a fudge up, and Thorpe's statement later in the day was also very poorly worded in a slightly unprofessional manner... Do not turn around to annoyed public and essentially go "We don't wanna listen to your constant moaning about this"... Wonder what people on here are like when they try and book gig tickets, Muse lasted a similar amount of time for two nights worth! Shop looks decent, most of the PROPER Merlin shops (I.e. Not shipping containers) are though, probably because it's more likely to get goons spending top dollar...

Because Drayton aren't the only ones with the sole rights to Thomas? Best all those railways stop their events since Drayton exist...

Has the Danish one opened? The theme looks alright, but I have real doubts over the whole hand motion stuff on such a large scale...

Oh damn bears, damn damn bears... I saw one of those levitating things in a laptop shop, looks cool though must say... Merlin do know merch...

Isn't that the Tokyo Potter? Since Hollywood isn't open yet? Of course, it's no excuse for ANY park to have obvious sheds... I dunno why people think that saying "X park does it" is acceptable...

Fury's queue shop has two sides anyway, since its accessible (or was last time I went) from outside the queueline... The retrofitted ones tend to only be one point of contact, built in ones have two, its a decent enough idea and one of Merlin's better ones...

Thought Towers always had problems with the vending machines, especially around Oblivion... Of course, might be done to staff cuts...

What IS weird about that shop is that the queue only passes by it once, rather than twice on most new rides that have had them built... Just a weird choice given history is all...

How about telling us what to expect? Like cos I don't wanna trek there to find a cred being built next year... Surprised they're even bothering with it, assumed they'd forgotten about that area...

And it's busted... I don't see why Hex is cost saving, since there's not exactly tonnes of staff on it (4 plus relief)... Charlie yes since the water flow is costly, but Hex is cost saving? I just don't buy it...

What IS scary is that things like "#StopIslam" are trending on Twitter... That is exactly what the terrorists want, the fear of stereotyping everyone as evil if they practice a certain religion, even though only a select few are doing this... And because of the hate, more turn to ISIS or similar and the cycle continues... It is a problem not so easily solved by killing everyone or leaving the EU or whatever else some might suggest... As Mark said though, where was this when Turkey was attacked? Don't think Mr Cameron tweeted anything relating to that did he?

The magic wasn't going to come back with some pots of paint... Be a fool to think otherwise...

I'd love to read the storm on the Disney forums if this is making rounds... Instant hilarity...

Apparently the Atlantis (and events stuff) will be the only things going, so Night Hawk still has time... It's that or the ghost train next on the chopping board that's for certain...

Hopefully the inside will be as themed as the actual themed portion of the outside? It looks bloody awful, people who say it'll be covered by trees clearly need their eyes testing and didn't notice the massive corner sticking out... Just annoys me so much that they'd do so much effort and then just stop for no real reasoning...

Do we actually have any reasons why this has all gone on? Least they've gone half price with rides being closed, rather than increasing the entry price...