Benin

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...

Graham didn't do Tomb's new announcements... A ride TL did...

The whole "We need more civilians to attack and destroy" stuff that got added a few years back (2010?)

The newer voice does sound incredibly bored... Not as bad as the voice added into Tomb Blaster mind...

*ticks "Thorpe should get a TopSpin" square on his TPM bingo card*

Probs more towards the usual support rides, as that hour queue has to go elsewhere in the park...

So normal queue, Reserve queue AND Fastrack queues? Can instantly predict that having all 3 together won't work at all...

Making things even more complicated then... Surely if the overall aim is to make the park queueless there's no need for Fastrack to be run during this trial? Aside from that it's the park's only major source of income...

The speed can be varied by the ride op... I've had many fast goes on Tuk Tuk over the years (mainly when it's empty)...

Meanwhile, a video about Wodan has appeared...

Wouldn't be at all surprised if Thorpe (and Chessie)'s sharp percentage rises in attendance were due to very poor performances the previous year... Looking quickly, Thorpe dropped 10% in 2012, so in the long run, does this increase really mean much? Considering that the poor performance couldn't directly be attributed to the park completely... Towers dropped 9.4% the same year, Smiler helped in some respect, though of course the issues with the ride would have prevented a high rise... Imagine CBeebies Land will cause an even sharper influx this year... Like, 11% of 2 million is 220'000, so that's 11 days worth of 20'000 guests... I find that using percentages to prove an arguement never fully tell the true story, as parks like Lightwater could in theory have a 45% increase in guest numbers but that might equate to something like an increase of 5'000, which isn't exactly much...

It's Neverland theming, of course it's going to look fantastic

You didn't miss much with Ghostrider fortunately, so that's a plus... Knotts is exceptionally weird, there was a lack of atmosphere anywhere besides Camp Snoopy and the Wild West area, with the concrete areas that Cedar Fair are well known for these days...