Benin

Probably counting all the French/Swiss visitors that pop over the border for the place... Hence Arthur being termed as a 'gift' to them when it was being built... Interesting the amount of expansion space Gardaland actually has, even for a second gate (which would be a first for Merlin)... Legoland Italy anyone?

I'm lost here, where is the confirmation that it's called Oblivion? It's used as a turn of phrase in the video, but beyond that? Not a lot else that actually 100% confirms the name as of yet...

#firstgoonproblems Why would anyone on walk on Nemesis be waiting for the front when there's an empty back row?

There's no reason why an IP such as Divergent could be used, indeed, it would be more logical to use an unfinished story IP at the potential height of popularity (though I'm sure Divergent did badly at the box office)... It will be an IP though, because Merlin's vision of an USP for a dark ride won't relate to having ridiculous quality...

It's never too far to travel for Nemesis...

http://www.gardaland2015.it/en/operation-orange/excavation-elliptical-structure New video, ridiculous backstory continues to be ridiculous...

Building is on-going...

One train operation is ALWAYS a problem, no matter the park...

Just be reminded of this, now if they really wanted a world class dark ride...

This pretty much sums up the issue with Merlin's operations though, very happy to appeal to those willing to spend the money, yet for the majority of guests? Well you didn't buy Fastrack so it's your own fault... And are people really saying that just because a Thorpe Annual Pass was cheap, anyone who purchased one can't be considered a loyal customer? Daft comment to make, as holding an Annual Pass for any park 90% of the time will make you a loyal customer (I'm discounting those who purchase passes in order to save money on holidays and the like, hell I currently own a German MAP and a DLP pass for those exact reasons, and I once held a Six Flags pass), because you live locally and plan to visit often... That in itself defines loyalty, returning to a park as a regular visitor over other parks locally and globally... Thorpe stated that early pricing will be £12.50 too... Assuming £15 for the entire day, why is this sounding like value for money? Oh yeah, because the entire park is considered to be nearly £50...

Yep vertical lift, same design as Smiler's one but 200ft and could potentially have things happening on the way up (Fluch has some random animatronic talk to you on it's vertical lift hill)...

Towers don't charge for MAP holders... At least, not yet... But still, kinda inexcusable given that this event probably won't require the same level of crowd control as Fright Nights... Merlin's execution methods are once again slightly baffling, especially towards the loyal customers...

Speculation that every news outlet in the UK seems to be reporting it, and the park owners have their own press release stating the deal has happened? "Speculation"...

Looks unlikely that the Beeb will be letting Merlin have their paws on anymore IPs... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/11284388/BBC-to-open-theme-park-to-exploit-Doctor-Who-and-Top-Gear-brands.html In actual terms (rather than the Telegraph's incorrect assumption of the park being BBC in its entirity), Paramount Park have got BBC on board to use some of their IPs... So we might just see a Dr Who themed ride in the end... Press Release from Paramount as below:

Website got a refresh: https://www.altontowers.com/ It's a bit awful...

I assume that'll be a room feature, since it's very bland...

One would assume that if they're not running every ride the park will have a reduced capacity, sure many of us here know how Thorpe can be when rides are closed and the park has the usual amount of people in there...

There won't be any space left because the dark ride (and associated backstage rooms) will be taking up the entirity of the building... It's not even that big a building, especially in comparison to X's...

Source: https://www.facebook.com/hapaforum

Wow, much pedant... The term "Dark Ride" in itself is a "Ride Type", in the same way that we have "Roller-Coaster", "Flat Ride" and "Water Ride"... Of course there are sub-types of each, but we are trying to talk basic terminology here because someone thought X was a dark ride...

Probably more to do with the water level maximum than any taste really, though I can't remember the original's track colour scheme to be able to tell if that's the case or not...

No... It's an indoor roller-coaster, let's not put X in the same ride type as the likes of Tower of Terror and Spiderman...

Modified Truckers? Where's that come from? The whole park needs a refurb, unfortunately it doesn't get the budget it requires to get the stuff done... The 'addition' for this year does sum Merlin up quite nicely, minimal investment with an IP attached to draw in the crowds, whilst things that need to get fixed up, don't...

To be fair, Winter Wonderland has only gotten to its size and popularity over several years, I remember when it was in the Dome and the first year or so at Hyde when there was a few rides and nothing else... Winterville could easily sneak in as a cheaper and quieter alternative to WW if it garners some success...

That's only cos of Fury's second lift... When it was broke/stopped operation the silence was such a difference...