Benin

S'all personal opinion innit, I'm sure the whole 'free-flow' nature of Cabin helped it win the recognition award...

From Thorpe's Facebook, some advance warning for anyone planning to visit on these days...

Disabled guests require carers to take them on the ride (as ride hosts aren't covered by insurance should something go wrong if they help them board/exit)... There is a maximum limit of 3 carers too (though whether that gets followed I'm not sure)... And of course, not every disability is able to be seen externally... And whilst a lot of people who get a pass tend to have crutches or general leg issues that would mean they couldn't queue for extended periods of time, I think that's ok, because I wouldn't want to be stuck in a queue of 60/90 minutes with a leg that's healing... The Merlin procedure of disabled passes is ok in theory, they just need to ensure that only those who are 'deserving' (for want of a better word) of it get it... Rather than people who would fake it...

Security do tend to have images of people who have been banned pinned up on notice boards within their offices... So yes, they will know... Shame that it kinda shows that the park's scrutiny in ensuring that those with disabilities get the exit pass is lacking... The park should be commended for the banning order, but should also try and ensure that this stuff doesn't happen... Even if it means stricter regulations for those with actual issues with queuing...

Given the entire fantastic look of the area, it's actually disappointing that the dragon is completely static bar the odd breathe of flame... Area ruined! </3 EDIT - POV of Hogwarts Express, spoilers abound obviously if you don't want to see it...

Amazing... Actually amazing... As it would appear you don't really know what a ratchet system is, here's a pic of a basic one off Wiki... Notice how component 1 and component 2 rest upon each other? Now when the restraint is pulled down, component 1 will rotate in accordance, meaning that component 2 will move... Constant usage in a theme park environment of course will mean the two components are constantly moving against each other, which will cause friction, and of course that in turn causes wear upon the two components... Friction is caused by two objects rubbing against each other, this electromagnetic repulsion is only to do with preventing solid objects from passing through each other... They are not the same thing... As for releasing restraints during an evac, again, when manually releasing a train it tends to be done per individual row, as there is no physical way (lack of current connector or release mechanism) that the restraints can all be released simultaneously during an evac... This may be true of things like Saw mind (sure someone who's worked on it could provide insight into their evac procedures), but that doesn't have seatbelts so doesn't link with your viewpoint that it prevents an entire train of people getting out during an evac...

In an evac multiple rows are not opened simultaneously though... Indeed, the only way multiple rows are opened simultaneously is in the station, whether it be due to the current being reconnected (Vampire, Saw) or the latch being opened (B&M)... Evacs involve rows being done one after the other... Both for weight reasons and of course that every restraint has to be opened manually... So they can't all release at once anyway, as there is no possible way for them to do so (Vampire for example, requires the current connector to open the restraints, the only way to release them mid-ride is to go underneath the train and grab the two hooks within the seat)... One would assume that evac procedures for rides where the restraints are connected together per car (like a B&M or Intamin) would not have an entire train of restraints rise up, but per row instead... Why a manual release would open the entire train in one go is beyond me I must say... Ratchet systems can obviously slip if the wear if enough mind... Basic friction... Of course a train with a dodgy restraint system would never be out on track (seen it enough times on Fury where we took a car off because a restraint was dying)...

Actually seat-belts tend to be put in as a bit of a failsafe in most rides (especially as those that use the ratcheting system of restraint (B&Ms) could theoretical release mid-ride more so than those that use Hydraulics a la Saw/Smiler)... So they can be deemed just as equally important on a ride's safety features as anything else... As Holly did say though, ride ops/hosts do have a bit more priority over the running of the actual ride over getting the correct queue time... Perhaps if management assisted with this (As they do roam about a lot more and can more readily see the queue) we'd see a bit more work involved? That or give the outdoor batcher the ability to change the times over say the operators...

School trip season for the next month until they officially break up... It's stupidly busy as a result, like busier than normal summer holidays in some cases...

A helicopter tour, showing the vast array of sheds for those who love them...

Dunno why Thorpe don't try what Towers did and build some new queues for Single Rider... Though with the design of some of the queues (let's say, Colossus), it's rather impratical for the park to do such a thing... And Mark9 is quite right, Fastrack can be solved by lowering numbers and increasing price... Or even better would be to improve park-wide operations to ensure that it doesn't directly affect the normal queue as badly as it does currently...

Ironically, that's probably got a more typical Wooden coaster layout (inversions aside obviously), than any of the others and it's classed as a steel coaster... RMC logic...

Clearly a lack of batcher I'm guessing, and filling up an entire train of Fastrackers was bound to happen if the queue at the exit was reaching down to the exit stairs, due to H&S... Seen it happen with Vampire a few times when the exit queue (prior to the random new entry in Trail of the Kings), blocked up the exit... So really, it was either down to over-selling (meaning the large number of people queuing), or perhaps even a bunch of exit passes had been given out at some point... Mix that in with some poor operations (opening gates when filling train with Fastrackers? That's poor) and voila, bad times for all involved... And understaffed of course, otherwise why would Fastrackers be using the exit anyway?

I think quite often parks should be more receptive of enthusiasts, if only because we can often more readily see the flaws/issues with the parks in question... Like when restaurants read critic reviews and stuff... Europa pay attention to their official fansite, and sell their merch on park for example... Dunno if they have much negativity though...

Needs more River Quest...

Just in time for TowersStreet to visit them... *chortle* They've needed a third major coaster for years mind... Like, if only to exist let alone for any actual reasoning...

That whole "Vote for your favourite Alton Towers coaster" thing was what, 2/3 years ago now? (Wow!) Nemesis won it because that's what the enthusiasts voted for... I'm sure the same will occur this year... Always good just to bring back the old "FOUR! Inversions..." thing...

They have 10 minutes worth of that old entrance music, yet the same piece is repeated 3 times in those 5 minutes? Strange choice... Just play the whole song, cos it's fab <3

Tony

Merlin don't do that because they don't do ceremonies... They just open the park and let people in... Whether a ceremony would work in modern day England in the same way they do it in the US remains to be seen... Also Haunted House was opened by Philip Schofield... So Nemesis wasn't the only one...

Shame that it looks like (quite suitably) utter junk then... Great concept, poor execution... Merlin strikes again!

Just checked and its open... So no idea...

This is for a theme park... A theme park! From Theme Park Collective

This existed last year, surprised it still does tbh...

Guessing you haven't actually ridden one, since they're fab rides...