Benin

To be fair, the highest dispatch speed hasn't been used since it first opened and ran 8 cars...

I might have to do a list of European B&Ms after I ride Baron next week and I (once again) complete the set... #everyoneelseisjustbasictome

To be fair, the lake where the (not-so) Splash Battle sits is pretty much sitting on several houses...

Rage has come through for two reasons: 1 - Chessie's strange attempts at operations, making things seemingly overcomplicated when the original max 3 adults rule wasn't exactly a major issue... Then again it's seemingly Chessie's remit to reduce throughputs as much as possible recently... 2 - Certain member's rather rude comments about people with weight issues... Mostly DeanGaryCox really, though Peaj's comment was utterly unrequired in my eyes (and a few others as well)... Neither of those really count as 'white-knighting' based on the responses I see here, more so people commenting on the potential problems that can result from the situation... In my view, having the scales just opens the park up to more criticism in a case where it's actually unnecessary, although that might be because the staffing has gone relatively downhill in recent years (I don't ever recall having to get a person out of a car because the operator saw it as 4 adults, maybe we didn't care, maybe we were more observant back then, sure Mark9 could say more on that matter)... Really, it just sounds like Chessie's H&S team get more ridiculous every couple of months, and usually it is at the expense of operational standards, so why would this be any different?

I think that saying the UK industry (or Merlin at least) is only two steps behind the rest of the world is rather optimistic... Leaps and bounds covers it I think, and this isn't even considering the actual additions to some of these parks, but more of general guest treatment and the like...

You can tell people on here haven't had to deal with the actual situation of people being too large to ride a certain ride before (either on the ride op side or personally)... It's not something to really be joked about, because it does affect the person (and be made worse by ride ops who are pretty rude about it, which I've seen)... With the scales system now in place, it's pretty much made obvious now that it's down to a weight issue, rather than a rule that was just enforced for some reason back when I worked on it (which we seemed to deal with pretty well actually without any of this extra faff, especially when finding a single rider is often detrimental to a ride's throughput)... Does this system actually make a difference to Fury's throughput? If they're stopping every car before dispatch as mentioned, then there are clearly a fair few other reasons that are causing throughputs to go downhill... But then Chessie's H&S team make Towers' look relatively sensible comparatively...

TPM hate fat people, who knew? Poor show from an apparently senior member of the team suggesting people who complain get burnt, joke or no joke, it's not an amusing situation whatsoever...

Trying to work out where the roofs are being stored, whilst wondering if they'll also be part of the area... Interesting...

*looks at Saw*

I do enjoy a bit of watching rugby on the tv sometimes, it gives off such a different vibe compared to footie... Both on the pitch and in the crowds (since mixed fans and drinking in the stands)... Even better when the South Africans get served in the last minute... Still don't understand why people not interested in these sports must proclaim it in the topic for no reason...

It probably should be, if only so you can go there and say "This park is basically Thorpe but massive and without any restrictions"...

I know it was 3 adults per car (going to assume that it upped to 4 people when they decided that the weighing station was a good idea), hence why I said: I.e. Rather than cause all this extra hassle like this just reduce everything down again cos it's how Chessie seem to operate... Even reading the procedure makes me head hurt, can imagine it's even worse for the hosts... It was bad enough with max 3 adults...

Ermmm, why? They might as well just say 2 adults per car and be done with it rather than this palavar, which will cause a LOT of issues (and potential embarassment, since at least with the lines/seatbelts on restraints you have some physical reasoning on a ride as to why you cannot ride, rather than making someone stand on some scales)... Like, only other actual cred that weighs people is Flying Turns at Knobels... No-one actually visits Chessie though now, so updates are naturally sparse...

Standard thing for any HSE reports to be put into the public domain, especially high profile ones...

Ghost would've been a high investment if it'd been accepted...

Lol wut? Boycotting the park because it's making decisions you don't agree with isn't relevant because you live nearby? That makes zero sense to me, because surely if you were disagreeing with any park decisions/choices/etc, you wouldn't visit irrespective all how close you live to said park...

Probably a County Hall thing, given how old the building is and is probably not able to withstand sharp sudden motions from heavy pieces of equipment... Overlooked issue I guess...

I'm not 100% sure how much the system alone costs... Ratatouille's price is boosted by the animation, music and voice-work all done by the same people involved in the film, and I'm not sure on Mystic Manor (though can't imagine Danny Elfman is cheap)... I'm sure if they wanted it, they could get it (or something similar)... Dull and never-ending...

Maus au Chocolat's ride system is the same as Toy Story Midway Mania... A trackless dark ride at Phantasialand would be something amazing... But they need to remove Night Hawk and Hollywood Tour first, since that part of the park is bloody awful (not helped by everything else since then being next level stuff)... Wouldn't be surprised if they were next on the chopping block, either that or Geisterschloss or Atlantis... Hell Night Hawk's building could become another completely internal area...

Swarm didn't draw in the expected crowds because everyone seemingly left the country when the Olympics were taking place... I still don't understand why the parks didn't try and take advantage of a massive global event happening on their doorstep, there was barely any marketing over the summer yet millions of tourists in the London area... Plus dodgy summer weather, something Merlin are blaming this year's low figures for (as well as the Smiler, obviously)... Swarm's brand wasn't that weak, it just wasn't pushed in the same way that Smiler's was... Hindsight is a wonderful thing though, and at the time the campaign was good, but I think external factors were the problem...

Thorpe/Merlin are the idiots really... How come Smiler was such a success for Towers then, since that didn't have an IP?

Any detailed information on the incident is not in the public domain... And you didn't exactly specify that you wanted actual cause, you just asked how they crashed...

One train went into another that had stalled in the Knot...

Few pics: Themed footers <3 Dreaded Intamin trims... A new tunnel being built Still some rumours over a second coaster coming in with this monster, but I'm not 100% sure on this as of yet... Would be insane if we do get another one though...