Benin

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...

Stay on site, because they're all fab... Just pick one, there's no wrong answer when choosing an Europa hotel (except the camping one)...

So much that means absolutely nothing and is just designed to entertain enthusiasts like one would entertain a cat by dangling something in front of it...

If they've replaced the launch track in it's entirety then yes... If no, well it just comes under a retrack instead, and hence NOT a new cred...

There is literally no quote in that article that states anything of the sort! Stupid sensationalist journalism...

Shall forever have memories of REX shouting at me in French... Farewell sweet droid...

It's because it was a stupid decision in the first place in the short term because Swarm was deemed a failure... Now that no one cares anymore about the backwards part, we can go back to things being sensible on it... Bar the bag drop of course

The initial investment should not be used as an argument basis for whether or not any cuts will be made on the future as the two are separate things... Thorpe will eventually have to foot the bill for actors/effects/etc out of whatever budget Merlin give them... It's at that point we shall see what, if anything gets cut (and it'll be IAC first)...

Good riddance to bad rubbish I think is Phantasia's motto at the moment, which can only be a good thing... And as they've proven, they could have ANYTHING up their sleeves...

What is it about newness that excites? Lots of things, it depends on the ride/area though. I'm not at all excited for something like Valvran at Cedar Point, as it's not an exciting prospect, however something like Reign of Kong is exciting because it's an interesting concept and Universal's track record is of high quality. As mentioned, some ride types can be unexciting like kiddie coasters, but the Farm area at Djurs Sommarland was something I was quite excited by because it looked amazing, which it was. How important is story to a ride? Depends on the ride, most of the time many rides can be enhanced by a storyline (Baron 1898 is a perfect example), however that is not to say that rides without anything more than a basic story or one very open to a person's interpretation of it are any less (Nemesis another example). Then you have rides that have no story at all. But then again such rides are generally part of parks that don't carry a cohesive theme around so it doesn't negatively affect the emotions in any significant way as a result. Cedar Point and many Six Flags rides are like this. Are there rides that give you the same enjoyment each time? Plenty rides out there that provide the same level or indeed a superior level of enjoyment as they age. Inferno is a great example from Mark above, but also some of the dark rides at Efteling I could ride forever and still spot something I'd not seen before. Often as well there's enjoyment to had from revisiting old rides and seeing the difference in experience. Oz'Iris for me last year was like that, as I'd truly forgotten how good it was, although there's also cases when a revisit can cause the opinion to go downhill as the ride has become absolutely dreadful.

Posted on TST, Flume lake (and Katanga) do not require planning permission, which makes this potentially interesting... https://towersstreet.com/yourstreet/alton-towers-planning-restrictions/#partfour Of course, one would hope that if we didn't get planning permission to detail over, those 'in the knows' wouldn't harp on about the development and be awful humans...

I couldn't read that article after the opening line being "The days of the half-arsed Haunted House are gone"... Like, yeah, but they went long before the modern day, becase Haunted Houses became very old hat a fair time ago... Hence the popularity of scare mazes and similar attractions...

Literally all they have to build is something like Chiapas... That's all I ask for, but it'll end up being some weak world's first thing instead... Guess this is also to deflect from the ride closures #cynicism

Sure many people thought the same when Graham Smart's fantastic piece got replaced... Without context, park music is pretty awful as it doesn't conjure up how you feel in the location it's meant to be heard... Hence why I disliked the Blue Fire theme until I actually heard it on the ride in person...

Just to be THAT person, I'm so annoyed they've used tarmac for the paving... It really looks awful compared to everything else... Hopefully it's not finished though...

Those desserts... Actually, use that gif for nearly anything Universal are doing atm, bar the Fallon ride, cos that's made of WHYYYYYYY...

SUCH a Wreck-it-Ralph rip-off... However, that as an on-board soundtrack would be very good...

The fact that DBGT isn't in Old Town annoys me more than it should... Shows how awkward areas are in Thorpe when Amity is split in half by Angry Birds...