Benin

Smiler begs to differ from this point

Train to S'Hertonbosch (or whatever the place is called), then a bus... SImples... And here's the ride's entrance:

More pics are up: Source - http://www.vijfzintuigen.nl/forum/136/24466.160 The detailing is ridiculous... Even Europa would struggle to be better than this (that said, their repainting of the Seastorm ride is equally ridiculous)...

One positive, it does mean the return of OUTRAGE bingo, especially on Chessie's one... I remember when the OUTRAGE was over silly things, like BunnyGate, rather than the parks being a bit inept at opening things... It's honestly not as entertaining now, moreso depressing as to the current state of affairs going on... Granted, Facebook (and Twitter) are more likely to get the full rage-ons, will be interesting to see their Trip Advisor pages over the next week... I do agree that the £10 return is slightly insulting given the number of major rides down... Perhaps that is acceptable if it's only Vampire down, but not when the 3 biggest rides are... Also, I seem to remember people 'jumping the gun' when Smiler got delayed to score points against Merlin and Towers, let's not defend the current situations with such an argument eh?

Earlier I was wondering if it would be possible for Vampire to undergo ANOTHER overhaul to make it more into one of the newer Vekoma SFCs... New trains, new lift hills (tyre driven, removing the noise issue) and perhaps a way in which to make the station actually make some semblence of logic and reason would certainly improve the ride no end... Perhaps next year they'll ride the new SFC at Paultons and realise what a fantastic idea this is...

The scary thing is, people earn actual money from such videos... TOP LADZ #BANTZ

It's opening day (for some rides)! Towersstreet Facebook People are getting the great chance to return to the park for a whole £10 as a result... Laughable...

Not the same situation as Blade really, since it was open for Feb Half Term, unfortunately as mentioned elsewhere on this forum Thorpe's operational cuts don't seem to be as obvious in comparison to Towers'... And Thorpe had Watchdog in for Vortex all those years ago...

Tis the bare minimum though, no shows on a daily basis (used to do that), no roaming actors (used to do that)... Chessie's Ents department is better than Thorpe's...

I think it's safe to assume you would need to be fluent in French, and probably be able to talk a bit of another language or two (German or Spanish I reckon they'd like)... No idea on anything else, most people from the UK who end up working there tend to go into the character side of it...

Towers management:

I will miss "Hip-Hip-Hippotamus" I shall admit... What I will say, is why couldn't we have the Circus show, as that was surprisingly fab (probably because you could treat it as a circus show with added Madagascar elements, and some actual pyrotechnics involved compared to the original show at Chessie)...

Nope, Phantasialand prefer secrecy, the only reason these photos ae coming out is because there's clearly an enthusiast working on the construction... They even keep trying to shut the upload site down I believe... All the better for it imo, much more interesting to see it go up and go "what ARE they doing?" rather than "Oh that's the 34th part of the 4th indoor drop"... As for the shrink wrap, I would lean more towards the protection off dust/construction crap...

*Looks at Saw Alive and the complete lack of Ents department, and the constant one train op due to a 'lack of demand'*

Again from gunmonkey, there's a poster promoting next year's additions: Thankfully, we aren't actually getting an SLC, regardless of the poster's opinion on the matter...

Few more pics off gunmonkey on Coasterforce: Certainly a very colourful addition, and it does look quite nice and peculiar... Kids will no doubt love it...

It's a shame, because it is at heart, quite a good experience... There are very few rides in the UK that put the ride portion as part of an overall larger experience, and whilst my riding of it has lowered since the addition of the scare corridor of pointlessness, I have always liked the ride, even in it's original first weekend format... Unfortunately, we seem to be suffering more and more with minimal budgets or Merlin squeezing every possible ounce out of people, which does ruin the day out for people... DLP's lack of budgets in certain areas is a similar situation, as some parts of the park do not conform at all to the Disney standard... Towers SHOULD be the gem in the UK crown... It should look clean, tidy, presentable... We shouldn't have rides opening late (perhaps Flume and Rapids are an exception to this, would be interesting to note down ridership if they did open with the park), nor should we have operating budgets cut completely to shreds... The way Merlin operate is not healthy to the actual theme park side of life... But it's "Good Business"... I'm very glad I've dropped out of the MAP life this year...

Thing is, a few years ago, these Passholder days had 100% ride availability... Then again, what with all the various limitations placed upon passholders, it's no surprise Merlin continually treating their loyal customers with a little bit less disdain...

Mohawk Bear > New Steath bear

Krake Lebt has closed this year... I think it was even less popular than Saw Alive was at the height of it's popularity, wouldnt be surprised if most people queuing for it thought they were waiting for the coaster...

To the normal, average, everyday guest who knows zero about engineering, or rides, etc though, all they see is a ride closed for some vague reasoning (which of course, is because the real reasoning is never actually divulged to the normal guest)... When the list starts adding up, it starts to become unacceptable... Even if it is sheer luck, with the Merlin parks, there's always a question of whether or not the reasoning some rides end up requiring a lot of work in one go is because they give so little budget that the parks cannot constantly fix the issues when it initially goes wrong... Instead, things are left until the literal moment when the ride/theming is utterly borked that it needs a huge overhaul... It's an underlying issue throughout all the parks...

Whilst this is probably the case, that shows how awful this year is being for the UK park industry when this is the best thing the top park owners can come up with...

They said that last year if I recall... It's a ridiculous decision, probably centred behind operational cost cutting from the higher ups...

Isn't that the old graveyard entrance into the station building? More fencing </3

Josh, there is zero excuse for this... Same thing with Thorpe... Hiding behind it as a 'preview' weekend shouldn't be the case, especially as who are those visiting? MAP holders... Shocking display from both parks this year...