Benin

Well this ain't opening anytime soon then... #worsethansmiler

How busy was it though? Can't imagine it being very considering the amount of rain the South has been enduring since Saturday...

Until Fastrack comes in...

Winja's already has a tilting section... Dr Who is a weird rumour, would need a dark ride (possibly multiple rides in one long row) to make a real go of it as well...

Another review of the land... It must be said, the area does look and feel a lot more atmospheric and bouncy than it ever did before... Whilst Storybook Land and the Farm had the peaceful charm around them, they were always empty and felt un-used in many a way, so a refurb of the area was a good idea... Of course, with it being opening week, there's about 20 million staff all around the area, be it generic stilt-walkers or bubble blowers in addition to characters related to the shows (including an amazing Postman Pat van), one can hope that they keep up the levels of staffing and enthusiasm, because they'll need it on the really busy days (of which my visit wasn't)... So to the attractions; Get Set Go Treetop Adventure A tricky ride to retheme, so the generic CBeebies theme was a good call, as it helped to create the idea of a pure Land of all the characters living together... It had some interaction for the kids to make noise at the static model blobs... That would be the one flaw tbh, that the models were all static and the hologram images of the presenters were a bit pointless really... Either way it's added a bit more life into a ride which beforehand didn't do much at all... Something Special Sensory Garden A hard attraction to judge really, but the kids walking through it seemed to enjoy themselves... Much longer than I thought it would be, and an example of the Land's interactivity pursuits it's had to have at the call of Auntie Beeb... Nina's Science Lab Goons will love the 5th Dimension look to the outside of the building, and again an attraction solely pushed towards learning... It reminded me of the Science Museum, which must be a good thing really... Full of the usual touch, smell, see interactive stuff that you tend to see in scientific education attractions around the world... Postman Pat Special Delivery Service Pat is certainly popular, as it often got a 45 minute queue at 9:05... It looks fantastic again, but also suffers from static model syndrome... It also stole Riverbank Eye Spy's button mashing game it seems, but without the noise... It does have some awesome queue line games though and the hazards can be turned on and off in the van... Brill bit of needless detail (and I adore needless details)... Lot quicker than the Tractors ever were too, not that it's made much of a difference to the throughput... Numtums Number-go-Round Probably the worst retheme of the lot, as Doodle-Doo was fab, this one not so much... Just filed under the least imaginative way to do it... Surely a show with tonnes of animals involved would've been better? Charlie and Lola What a fab play-area this actually is... Inside I approve of the look and style of it (outside, not so much still), with plenty of cupboards and some fab interactive dress-up screens that relate to the magnets placed upon the characters... Then further in there's a ball pit and slide... A decent surprise to the line-up... In the Night Garden Magical Boat Ride The terrifying show comes to life... Our boat also ground to a halt half-way through and had to be shunted along the way... A few more animated static models this time around, although they were pretty basic... The kids on our boat loved it to bits though, so what do we enthusiasts know? The audio as well just made me more confused with the constant rhyming stuff... Justin's House Didn't do it as not allowed in unsupervised by kids... Looked ok from the outside though and got long queues... Tree Fu Tom Playground We had years of Dung Heap and this is what replaced it? Brilliant... Looks tonnes better and has a lot more stuff it in as well... Mr Bloom's Allotment Certainly the unexpected surprise from the area, this show of 20 minutes involves everything I'd say people would want from an educational kids show based attraction... It had the characters come to 'life' (Mr Bloom himself appeared via TV whilst on holiday), plenty of interactivity involving searching for items and characters, before 'making' something as these characters were sad (Awwwwww)... All the kids in our group were properly entranced by the whole thing and eager to assist... And whilst 20 minutes may seem long, it's not too bad it must be said, as there's enough going on to keep the interest piqued throughout... Best attraction in the area by far... Big Fun Showtime This area is HUGE... And looks quite decent actually, as it acts like an oasis from the rest of the area, with more random activities, meet-n-greets and the shows... They currently have 3 shows on atm, which are the usual kids based affair and are all different from each other... Still in the process of getting used to them though, as the Nina show (which involves Nina pre-recorded on screen) had a few awkward pauses between dialogue... But it's a tricky medium to do well to be fair... So overall, I'd say this area will be a success, and it deserves to be... It's given a lease of life on the area that was only ever busy 2 days a year if we were lucky, whilst many might lament it due to the charm of the farm, it's an addition done with a reasonable amount of care and attention to the various brands and the area as a whole... Though we were lucky that it wasn't particularly packed on the pathways (and as it was open for ERT, was very empty)... They will probably deny large groups of adults going in when it's busy though... The survey man told us they were going stop any adults coming in without kids if it got busy enough... Which is only fair, it's not an area designed for adults at all, and I would say the feedback was very positive so far (bar the queues obviously, hopefully they can add a new ride somewhere that gets a half-decent throughput in addition to what they currently have)... Good job Towers...

But it mentions other rides throughout the ride (Sensory Garden got a mention), so why is it a problem? It's like complaining that Safari Skyway advertises rides on the park you can't see...

Thorpe bringing back the old entrance music can only be applauded, as the chart music was both awful and cheapened the place... When you have a quality piece of music lying around, might as well use it...

Didn't notice it advertising the other rides, but focused on getting kids to do things (clap/make noise)... Mr Bloom's Allotment is easily the best attraction in the area... Perfect blend of interactivity and actual showmanship... It's a great area overall actually... The two play areas have lots to do, with two hands on focused interactive stuff as well... Looks better in person (bar Charlie and Lola's facade) and the Big Top Show area looks brill... It's packed from 9am, so it's a success already, and certainly deserves plaudits... Hopefully they can expand to higher throughput rides sooner rather than later, since that is the biggest flaw it has...

MEPs don't do anything anyway, so it doesn't matter that much, specially as UKIP were seen as the protest vote... Shame that a party with racist and homophobic views got such a high percentage...

Screaming world class amusement park there... Fantastic job Thorpe...

That entrance sign really annoys me how the 'Land' park isn't in the same style as the rest of it... As Fred said, this is Lightwater levels of quality, and Raptor Attack certainly looks higher build than this... And just because it's for kids, does that excuse the quality? Look at the likes of Seuss Landing and quite a few other areas for kids which are of higher standards... Based off pics alone, Paultons must be laughing their heads off (I've not visited Peppa Pig)...

The real cheapest way is to make friends with someone who works for Merlin and visit the park with them... Boom, potential free entry...

You can still experience it if you pop over to Sweden... http://rcdb.com/9602.htm Just shut your eyes and it'll practically be the same experience...

The next question, how many people have to contort themselves out of the seats?

Why do people call it the Black Hole audio? I swear it was only on there after Det opened? As for Scream, it never suited Det, wouldn't want that back...

70% Labour apparently... Not that I'm voting today, because I think the major parties are all awful anyway... There's so many flaws in politics and the way in which the country is run overall the only real way to change things is for a complete and utter revamp of the entire state... Of course that will never happen... So hopefully in the future I can emigrate to somewhere good, like Sweden or Denmark...

As if I actually give a complete damn about what you or others think of me... I'm glad you made the time to post a rant at me though, I feel special, I may print it out, get it framed and put it up on my wall... Much honour, wow, etc... It's not exactly my fault that Merlin parks cannot reach the standard I want them to reach come the end of the day... Low end investments are of course needed in the environment of theme parks, but does that mean that we should just accept low quality additions as a result of it just because? It's that sort of reaction to new additions that will result in them becoming a constant after all... Especially this actually, given the likelihood (based upon other UK IP area successes) that it will pull in the punters, will it make Merlin want to really push the boat out in future additions? Even with the likes of Smiler, Sub Terra and Scorpion Express, all of which are lacking in various aspects of their individual selves, none of them really 'prove' to me that Merlin are really that capable of building something with a complete wow factor... But as they follow the results of KPIs, that the rides might lack in a critical state, be it drainage, theming (or lack of), it seems that having a fully immersive ride or area (say for example, being able to see backstage of Scorpion Express on ride) isn't being recognised enough by them... Is this being needlessly negative? Probably, especially when Thorpe did make a good choice in bringing back both Dodgems and the Cinema (something I said when the first rumours came out actually, funny how my positive views get forgotten isn't it?), but then bringing in the IP to me does show an inability of the park to either feel confident in pushing the boat out theming wise for the family market using individual themes pre-existing in the park, or have looked at the successes of Thomas Land and Peppa Pig and want a bite of the apple, meaning that it was purely a business decision for a quick fix to tie-in with the rebrand for family audiences... tl;dr - Blah, blah, blah, negativity, blah!

Bought out in the 90s though apparently... Indeed, not directly their fault...

Oh well that's ok then, excuses the cheapness for the area completely that does... I've already mentioned about the lack of quality in this investment, and I can't be bothered in repeat it...

There's gonna be more vinyls right? I do hope so... If it's just that, then the fact that the shell is still car shaped says a lot about the investment quality...

But it was founded in England...

How so? Just out of interest...

Either water or coolant, a very common feature on vast machinery, I wouldn't even be surprised if Stealth used it as well...

Ohio's weather isn't that hot/humid, same for New Jersey I'd say, so not sure what the point is you're making, as the weather isn't too dis-similar to the UK (aside from the snow)...