Benin

Air... Generally reliable? Using a ride that crashed once before?

Looks like one of these: http://www.technicalpark.com/amusement-rides/loop-fighter/ Dunno if it would be ideal for a theme park environment though... I can only think of two parks off the top of my head that have anything from these guys, and they're both in Denmark...

They didn't just do the rides though did they, they also did the zoo... Perhaps they were so over-awed by the zoo (which is pretty decent quality, aside from the areas that haven't been redeveloped in years) that they enjoyed their day... London Zoo costs £27 on the gate as a comparison... Now THAT'S expensive!

I believe the majority of it will be a dark ride, only that one little portion will be visible outside... Possibly to show off the ride to riders... It doesn't have that typical Disney feel, perhaps after Hong Kong's initial failings Disney felt that this angle would more suit the market... Definitely room to expand, the park map has a MASSIVE green area between Tomorrowland and the main entrance... Definitely room for the park to add more attractions, as it does seem to lack a lot of 'filler'... Guess the E-Tickets will be fab though...

Zacspins are dreadful and should be burnt to the ground... *shudders*

Yeah the short version of Mystery Castle is just disappointing... A real shame it even exists to be frank... I also find Mamba, a bit dull... It's a real ride of two halves, as the inversions are all pretty fab, yet the constant turns after are just dull and repetitive... A shame cos it has all the right ingredients...

Seeing those multi-train shots reminded me of Maverick... And some Italy pics:

HQ image of the layout for the Jr Boomerang:

As Bill said, these signs are common as much at most places sensitive to having people jump into their ride areas (I.e. USA)... Like, the addition of these is nothing to really moan about, would not be surprised if the HSE, having been having a much closer look at the park recently, have pushed for these... Not worth getting in a twist over, like apparently the word 'DEATH' being a step too far... It's words like that which can actually get through the rather thick skulls of the modern population... Even Russia had has to do signs over people taking selfies doing stupid things! It's the world we live in...

What about Winjas though? Or River Quest?

No...

By social media, do we mean all the stuff Thorpe is retweeting or the actual entirety of it all?

That sucks.... Start at Silver Star then and work your way across the park/creds (France-Swiss-Greece-Russia-Iceland-Portugal-Austria-Arthur would be my route)... Longest queues will be Blue Fire and Wodan, which both have single rider queues (as does Arthur), so there's some solace in that you don't have to directly worry about hitting them first thing... Ensure you also see the new 4D Show, Abenteur Atlantis, Fluch der Kassandra, Columbus Dinghy and the Diamond Mine walkthrough... Any of the tacky dark rides are also highly recommended...

Really only there for a day? Bear in mind that the park will extend it's hours if it's busy, useful should it be busy... Probably best if you're a normal guest to start from Silver Star and work your way through the park... Depends if you want to ride all the coasters... A single day is not enough to take in Europa...

I dont think the manufacturer of the dark ride do coasters (or at least the dark ride isn't being made by a manufacturer who does both ride types)...

Maybe not 'never', it's probably more just dropped down the list of 'important things that need doing because otherwise things might get a lot worse'... Obviously disappointing though...

Gotta bear in mind that these modern trains are ridiculously complicated (not like say, Big Dipper's, which are buzz bars), the more complex a device, the more that can go wrong with it... Either simple or complicated fixes... Thorpe's issues go back longer than this year alone mind, but it's been widely publicised about their maintanance budget issues this year, I would assume it's either sheer dumb unlucky times, or just that lack of budget and engineers is causing all the issues...

Highlights how badly treated it was when DIC when running the show really... That decade did a lot of pretty irrepairable damage to the park, and when you then have a company who only seem to spend money on things if it brings in guests (which isn't the main problem with Chessie at all, nostalgia factor brings in people irrespective of the state of the place), then you get all the issues we've seen... If money was actually spent seriously repairing stuff, maybe that child wouldn't have fallen off the queue... Nor would we have Tomb's building practically being condemned...

In fairness, there isn't much that can be done if a train is broken and cannot be used... Big difference between being lazy and being unable to actually use...

Bla Taget

The state of the building has also probably made any work on Tomb important, otherwise they probably wouldn't be allowed to even open it...

Clever investments (and getting the Peppa Pig IP in) has taken them to this step... This should be their next step into the relative big-time, especially if the theming is great quality...

I'd say that 90% of the time inflated queue times are not for the profit side, it also depends at what time of day these times are, because I certainly remember a few times that I didn't update my queue board (for various reasons)... That was of course a while ago now, and the company has changed more than likely... For operators, changing the queue time is the least of their worries and responsibilities...

Here in lies the crux of the matter... The "in-your-face" selling aspect seen at all the Merlin attractions is the biggest issue (let alone the over-selling of Fastrack and 1 train operations on a regular basis coupled with the excuses coming from Thorpe)... It makes guests feel like the place only cares about taking the money from your wallet, rather than providing that good day out... Plenty of theme parks succeed without reducing themselves to sending Fastrack people to the entrance of each ride... Hundreds in fact don't run a Fastrack scheme at all, how do they survive?