Benin

Once the world realises that capitalism is evil.

Went today. Mandrill is... fine. Rode it twice and its already bouncing along the track which is concerning. The operations are meh. Wasn't especially busy today but I dread to think what the throughput was. Though ops across the park weren't that good so not the only one, but as the brand new addition comes under more strain. The online thing borked up second go as the booking disappeared from the webpage. Fortunately the staff member could check and let us on. As mentioned, the ride itself is fine. Floaty and the launches are fairly punchy. There's no fanfare to the ride kicking off which surprised me. The hangtime in the helix of forever was a bit uncomfortable as expected. If this hadn't been the first new coaster at Chessie in nearly 2 decades it would probably have a good role within the park. Its currently a very peculiar ride that doesn't really alleviate many of the current problems. The area doesn't look great. Might improve with the greenery but it just looks incredibly sparse. Though of course the focus feature of the jaguar head is a good element to centre around, but it just doesn't help set the scene much. The bazaar section is probably the best bit but is located in about 5 square foot of the entire area. Didn't do the accompanying flats. Will pass more thoughts on the park later.

Someone forgot to check the "fade" box on the colour request form. You can just about see the top of the supports from the M25/M3 junction today, so will be very visible from there.

Sadly I think this is the likely outcome. Just build filler rides, there's literally nothing wrong with it and certainly helped Thorpe's initial growth.

Presumably you mean the sewer with waders one? More time to ride Untamed at least.

I know things have been pretty dry at Thorpe for a while but claiming that changing branding is remotely exciting is another reason this account should be put to death.

Wonder how many of the "modern generation" are actually culpable given the top example had the victim as such. Plenty of people on those sites that should know better but act the idiot anyway for Internet clout. I can only imagine the headaches to operations that installing metal detectors would cause to the parks. Cedar Fair over-react to everything and Universal is a result of the Duelling Dragons incident. I'm also not keen on having a "nothing in the queue" rule when there's over an hour wait for things. Free lockers and the baggage store are the way forward from park perspective. The rest is instilling common sense into the guests, which hasn't been existent for a long time across the board, moreso in a post Covid world where people have seemingly become more self absorbed or ignorant of others.

Bring back the giant head branding.

Theme it to bloody Amity, it's literally smack bang in the middle of it. If Thorpe decide they want themed areas again of course. Change their mind on that every quarter.

Imagine being a massive company like Merlin and being so desperate for parts you'd rather take burnt ones than fork out for new stuff. Europa have probably already binned all their old bits. Especially if they're putting new train and track type (a la Max & Moritz) on AlpenExpress. Either bin it or fork out on spending actual money on things. Sticking plasters do nothing but delay the inevitable.

Looking at old maps and whilst the elephants seemingly used to be on that site, pre-LotD maps seem to match up with my vague memory that the Playhouse building wasn't there but the Nero/Puppet Show building was. Childhood Benin does miss the old Action Man assault course thing that used to be there.

Chessie can barely afford to lose any attractions for capacity sake. None of their new additions have exactly helped that either. If they bin Truckers I volunteer to take a sledgehammer to it.

Towers have been doing time slots for years and still have queues, Thorpe was never going to be any different.

Completely forgot the Legoland coasters were happening. Excited more for Nemesis because I can get there in a day and not need to stay over. Thorpe is more effort these days. Also Nemesis.

That tagline is just horrible. I'm in the wrong industry if someone actually got paid money and that was the chosen one. Not even a group on the Apprentice would come up with something that bad? IMAScore doing the music again? Could they not afford Hutson's rates?

Clearly the stars aren't in position for things to begin. Stars. Can't do it. Not today.

Using better quality materials for the themeing is well within their control. Can't control people though. And people are terrible.

Universal probably have done a toymaker character at one point. Also the Chucky franchise exists. Halloween events are rarely the most imaginative.

Each piece weighs several tonnes, limited type of lorry can transport them with the shapes and sizes. Yes, lots of deliveries needed. For any project with this level of construction.

Just get new trains and solve the problems in one go.

Probably only loading the front end to make sure it has enough momentum to make it through the sensors for lift 2 and final brakes. Was always amusing to have to run over to lift 2 and give it a push start.

That when I hit the brake run I desperately want to ride it again. Of course there's other factors that could affect that (busy park/cred run so limited time), but I just want to come off and go "yes that was good". Granted my trips have been non-existent for a few years now, but Untamed was a great example of not being the tallest or fastest coaster I've ridden but coming off it with a sense of enjoyment and eagerness to ride it over and over again. Lost Gravity had a similar response though not as strong. Cedar Point after doing TTD was a pure adrenaline rush. However I came off a number of coasters there including Millennium Force with very little desire to re-ride them. Whether it be comparison to other coasters or just kinda falling flat. If I went super analytical I'd wager most at the top would be B&M Inverts. But the likes of Raptor down the bottom with a top 3 of Nemesis, Katun and Oz'Iris, all very different coasters to each other but ones I could ride over and over. Stats are meaningless if the actual ride is dull and doesn't have any wow factor. Which is why I'm dubious over Exodus.

Was too hot, now it's too wet. Construction people for you.

Fury can't run 8 cars and I believe hasn't since it first opened. Usually 6 or 7 cars. Target was approx 600-700pph. Doubt Tomb Blaster runs 5 trains either. Its shocking that a number of once fairly high throughput rides are so badly operated these days. Lot of this concerns me that when I visit I'm going to spend most of my time being far more annoyed than normal.

So, no change from 2009 then? 😉