Benin

With theming, the devil is usually in the details... Oblivion (in a surprising turn) has a LOT of these details in fact... People have banged on about the big theming elements around the drop, which are all awesome, but there have been pretty much no mentions about how the floor next to the hole is also warped towards it, and the fencing, and the lamp-post, and even the grating... That sort of detailing is what separates good theming from great theming really... When I do my full on report, I'll chuck some pics of those details in, because they complete the area... The queue is basically Smiler's concepts taken to the nth degree (even if, in an unsurprising turn, some of the effects were broken/not working)... Whilst I didn't spend much time in it (I.e. first ride, so walked right through it), there's LOTS of things going in various different ways... Plus it's actually got air con in it, meaning that if you are stuck inside for ages, you don't DIE like in Smiler's... The ride itself is good fun, which is simply at the end of the day what one wants from a ride (or at least I do, since there are those out there who like Baco)... One issue I do have is the real lack of viewing area for the drop (in the same vein as other Dive Machines), presumably because it's built on the hillside and hence a proper viewing area wasn't able to be built... Elsewhere, I have to make the comment that this is probably one of the most Merliny parks there is... Upselling is constant throughout (in that very pushy sense), and I've found a park worse for upselling Fastrack than Thorpe! Every single coaster had 1 shots being sold, and combined that with their new AP unlimited Fastrack (like our VIP, but an add-on for ANY pass holder) meant that some Fastrack queues were actually just as long as the advertised queue length (Raptor advertised as 40 mins, we queued 30 with Fastrack), which isn't very good when you've purchased one that is meant to be unlimited... Tis a shame that Merlin have that money-grabbing side to them, and have pretty much meant that any busy day at Garda this year will be horrendous for everyone... Imagine if the UK parks did an unlimited Fastrack add-on for Annual Passes... There would be no point even visiting...

Not like miniland looks crap in several places... Mark is right, meeting the standards of the Lego brand allows the place to reinvest in infrastructure and tarting up... Though of course, said infrastructure results in hour long queues for everything because of dire throughputs, so that's a consideration...

Entirely depends on whether I do Munich & Austria this year... Besides, I'm aiming to pretty much finish up the England creds this year, so that'll add up

I'm in Italy right now this second... Katun is calling me...

I miss that voice... "WOOOOAAAAHHHH, you shouldn't have come this way"

Fastrack users will be using the exit if (like on most off-peak days) there's no staff member on merge... Thorpe have been doing that for years, as have Chessie...

It's Fury though, they don't let 4 adults share a car like Spinball... That's the Chessie logic...

Dat Disney standard <3

But it mentions Easter but there isn't a specific Easter event... I'm with pluk, cut and paste in terms of what can be seen as special events...

Someone hasn't been on a trackless ride system with that statement... The amount of stuff one can do with trackless is pretty limitless... Cant have cars interacting with one another with a normal tracked system...

Can't any of the independents being able to afford a massive scale dark ride either, unfortunately... The building is 13m odd isn't it? That'll give us a ride that can reach just under 40ft if so...

What IS weird is that we have yet another attraction that requires millions of staff to run it... Why are the parks/Merlin into this concept? Especially given the general reaction to the likes of Saw Alive and Sub Terra... Wish one of the parks would just build a FunHouse attraction (as in the attraction type, not the 90s kids TV show)... That would probably suit the IP of I'm a Celeb if they were so desperate to get that one... I look at the video and think that as an attraction, Chessie would ADORE something like this...

Mostly blackout dates... And increases in discounts on food/merch... Dream pass gives you a free mocktail at some restaurants...

That's put me off renewing mine then... Have they changed the entry prices on the gate? That's the best comparison...

You're not a proper IMAScore fan unless you buy one of their shirts...

Be interesting to compare the ride itself with Krake... There's a few details in this that have come out of nowhere... The 'decontamination' spray on the brake run is a good example of this...

You must adore certain branches of McDonalds

At least use the right castle...

Can you take me on your trip Mark?

Opens on 19th June now, tickets are available for booking at about £15 a person...

It's that time of year where Europa toot their own horn and have a video showing off ALL the new additions for the season! 'Small' investment year... Also, here's the new look Seastorm: A true thing of beauty...

What's with the hate for Doctor Who? Also, screen based rides can work amazingly, as Mark has already pointed out, Ratatouille is a fantastic example of this, purely because of the quality put into said screen work... Of course, we could end up with Wonder Mountain Guardian, which is the opposite end of that spectrum in general screen based dark ride quality...

Not sure if better than Octonauts' queue...