Benin

The plans didn't show a facade around it, so it's not getting one, so give up dreaming now... Of course, this is what separates ok from good, but I have no idea why Lego Billund were able to theme all sides of Ghost... Yet, we get this...

http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/near-miss-as-metal-bolt-falls-from-big-one-at-blackpool-pleasure-beach-1-7421782 Bugger...

Ask, and ye shall receiveth: Vekoma Facebook

Whilst a fairly OUT-THERE AND NEVER GONNA HAPPEN idea, I was looking at Fuji-Q's website the other day and saw that they had an escape room in their park... Saw themed escape room I'm sure would get a lot of people on here ridiculously excited, even if in a theme park setting it would be ridiculous to implement... Doing something similar to Towers' idea (pay extra outside of park hours thing) would be an interesting step...

35 minutes for Griffins Galleon?!! Every single Merlin park seems to be having massive issues with reliability this year, what gives guys? Usually it's just one or two parks that are awful, but Thorpe, Towers AND Chessie (No-one cares enough about Lego to notice) are having dreadful years... Unfortunately, unless people use the feedback screens whilst on park, I doubt anything will change...

I vaguely remember Ghostrider being pretty awful many years ago, doubt it's gotten any better since then...

The Express Pass issue is not because they are being oversold, it's because they decided to bring in an Annual Pass deal for unlimited Express Pass for the ENTIRE YEAR for the pricely sum of €80 odd... Obviously, it's an idea that (in typical Merlin terms) craps over the guest experience completely... I fear that they might see it as a success and bring it over to the UK in the future...

I think a lot of Phantasialand's 'issues' are with the older generation of rides and attractions that are crying out for updates... HOPEFULLY we'll see things like TotNH and Hollywood Tour scrapped and turned into things on the same level as Chiapas and generally the rest of the park... Fortunately, even these lower quality filler rides are better than many others you see across the world... I cannot honestly think of an attraction to a similar scale and look as Hotel Tartuff at any park...

Sounds like YourDay a bit... Never really was a success that unfortunately... Plus with the amount of technology available to people now, do parks need to provide it for them in such a way? I don't think the answer is yes...

Swarm - Alien Attack/End of World theme Smiler - Being Corrected (altering body and mind) These advertising campaigns aren't exactly too far off the finished products...

Probably adds a bit of spark to it...

There was a recent trademark application from Merlin for 'automatons'... Food for thought...

I don't really get Towers Street Bar, since it's the closest BIG restaurant to CBeebies Land... Some strange decisions around the parks these days...

Same story as Pocahontas tbh... I'd probably rather watch Suckerpunch again than Avatar... At least Suckerpunch tried to do something (even if it was dreadful, and I don't actually know what it was)...

I wasn't saying that the lack of roof was cut, I just think it's a daft idea, given the design reasons behind it (a roofless building wouldn't require a fire exit, to which Ms Holland wasn't a fan of for some reason, imagine how atmospheric Swarm's station could've been if it had been enclosed)... It's that balance of design ideas and eventual cutting up of budgets which is always the worry...

I always find it interesting how these incidents always tend to happen in the States... Just, peculiar really...

There are numerous shops in the park which sell them, with one relatively close to the entrance... Unless you can actually buy them before you enter the park, which is plausible...

The question is really, "Can Towers open Smiler again without the HSE report published in the public domain?" Towers know 100% what caused the incident... They most likely knew on the actual day of the incident what caused it...

I would say the interior of Sub Terra is actually really well themed and high quality... Not sure how they could've themed the exterior mind to make it fit into the theme... Thirteen has some decent theming as well, aside from the SHED poking out... In fairness, the theming that does come into play is actually good... The Marmaliser is a fantastic set-piece in amongst the tangled track of Smiler is one of my favourite examples of their attempts at themeing... It's just a shame that the budget gets shredded and we end up with Smiler's station building, or daft decisions like no roof on Swarm's station...

Never go to a Cedar Fair park, they close rides when someone sneezes in the nearby vicinity... At Cedar Point they closed Blue Streak in light drizzle... That is really pathetic...

Next year? It's open now!

You'd think after nearly 10 years of Imperial Leather Bubbleworks people would've stopped blaming Merlin for sommat they didn't do... All for the Merlin bashing, but at least blame them for things they actually DID...

If the current weather over Thorpe is the same as in central London atm, then it's a daft decision... Besides, not like Storm Surge isn't flooded on the nice days, makes zero difference in that case...

It's got to be REALLY heavy though, and for like, hours on a consistent level before it would cause any real flooding/danger... Thunderstorms are obviously another matter, but 'heavy rain' is a poor excuse...