Benin

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...

Did Lego remove their big smoker's pit by Fire Academy? Staff don't tend to enforce it (at least back in my day), because you would get people go all pissy over it for some reason, even if they were stood under the no-smoking sign in Land of the Dragons... Half the time with guests it's not worth the effort or being put into a crap mood because they're an awful human being...

No park can prevent the paint on track being rubbed off be the wheels... Like, let's bash things that are under their control, not things that happen all the time... Even brand new rides have this issue, look at the Paultons creds once they've opened for a week...

What about Blackpool? [/coasterjamie]

I won't hear any negativity on the Challenge of Tut ride at Walibi Belgium, that thing is bloody amazing... The Sally system is alright too, like there's nothing really that wrong with it... Plus they've produced some fantastic dark rides and animatronics...

The repaint of the Box Office is the worst repaint on park... +1 for removing Rita, if only so they could actually do something good with the area...

Nice to see they've gone all out to hide the shed...

Thorpe starting the season as it means to go on then?

That is damned impressive, I can imagine the atmosphere in the area is gonna be ace... The dinos look a bit crap though, but that's a common theme in parks anyway, so it's a really minor point...

God that map design is awful... New style next year pls...

James I completely disagree with you... The park had two choices with this season, the route they have taken, which is focus on saving money first and foremost, or the alternative was to go all out with this season in order to gain that trust back... The ticket price has gone UP (probably part of inflation etc.), yet Ripsaw is gone and there's 5 other attractions SBNO... When we add in that they've only just announced this a WEEK before the park is due to open, that's some serious contempt for the public they need to win back... ATM, if the park is dead, it's their own doing with the way this season has been handled so far... Paint will not fill in the family ride quota (especially when they've closed two of the most popular ones)... What happens if this season is a failure? More cuts and closed rides? Why should financial logic of saving as much as possible take over from trying to get the trust and confidence back? I'm not business minded but showing further contempt to those who do visit a now lesser yet more expensive product will cause even more negativity... It's utterly daft to me that they haven't gone all out, and just accepted this year as a write off on a financial level as long as it meant the park was in full performance mode... That's the way they should've gone...

Good game Reading... Real shame I didn't get to go to this game tbh... Que sera, sera, whatever will be, will be... I'm (hopefully) going to Wemberlee! Que sera, sera...

If anyone can find a non-TPR variant video that would be greatly appreciated...