Benin

What's with the focus on the cinema 'surroundings' in the PR? Do people not know what cinemas are anymore? It's a weird thing to really push imo... Thorpe actually having characters on park, it really IS full circle isn't it? Finally, leg ticklers <////3

If they can't get Angry Birds Land to open on time then they might as well just give up with life... Advert does state 24th May as the opening day though... So they're covered up until then...

Not really, as for the guests on the day it's a bit of a burden too them, considering how important guest satisfaction is to a park, one would assume that they should try and ensure that any media related events take part before or after the park is open... Any feedback that the park gets (be it on here where they read it or through social media or official channels) should be paid attention to, so it's not that trivial really... Even if they have it in the T&Cs, it can paint a poor image of the park to the average visitor...

Why does everyone forget about the park potentially getting an airtime machine? That would be my preference over anything else tbh, given how fantastic Shambhala is...

If the quality is good, we could easily see it give a kick up the arse of Merlin... Because that is what they need over anything else, since the smaller parks don't quite have the national power to make a dent in them... A huge top class themed park with fantastic theming and dark rides could easily change the UK theme park perception as much as Chessington and Towers did in the 90s...

This is what billion dollar investments give you... And it's glorious... Finding out info on the storyline of the ride also makes me curious as to how it'll all pan out for the riders... Plus it has Helena, which is enough to make it the best coaster in the world alone

But there are some wooden coasters that are glass smooth, Mammut at Tripsdrill for one, and Colossos at Heide (which is in my opinion, TOO smooth for a wooden coaster)... S'all about the manufacturing and construction techniques... But a smooth wooden coaster is a bit, well, dull and pointless really...

Implying that wooden coasters can't be smooth without a steel topper track?

There's a Noodle Bar at Chessie...

Amazing what a focused brand image can do in an advert... Even if it's falsely advertising that the food is a 'delicacy'...

*cough*http://www.legoland.dk/en/Explore/New-2014---Ghost/ *cough* Tbh, that attraction does look fab in Denmark, kinda glad we're getting one here as a result, must have been a big hit for it to be cloned... Shame though that the plans show that whilst half of it will be a nice looking house facade, the ride portion will just be a themed shed </3

I too feel that filming on rides should be done outside of the opening hours when possible... Especially when it's for crap like BGT... But the park is covered by the T&Cs, so not much can be done... Although sometimes the celeb treatment is completely stupid (see Jonathan Ross riding Thirteen before it opened on opening day)...

B&M Wingriders are slow and boring I'm surprised they don't stall when someone sneezes [/alvey]

See guys, this is what happens when we complain that Merlin only do dark themes, they bring out the primary colours in such a garish fashion (Cbeebies as well, even if that's because they need to attract the attention of the target market for that one)... Bring back Central Area!

Not really, when there are a fair few amusement parks around the world with giant screens on their entrances... I wouldn't call this exactly being creative, more going for the complete opposite view of the park in comparison to the chav filled dump it had become... It won't change overnight that is correct, but is sticking a giant TV in front of the entrance building answering any underlying issues with the park? Seems that the priorities of fixing the park up are rather askew...

I didn't notice that the opening times weren't on the front page... Why parks don't do that is beyond me, one of the most pieces of information and most of them hide it... Mergh...

'Story' of X? A light show and loud music does not a story make...

To be fair, the entrance plaza/buildings is easily one of Thorpe's worst attributes... A giant screen isnt really something that will help in particular... Especially as it's not built-in the building but plonked on top... It's all a bit meh... Decent idea (for queuetimes/park info), but once again it's poorly executed...

Merlin style ones are maze-like though, rather than the classic switchback getting closer and closer to the ride itself... It could even have a dreaded hidden one, like on Swarm

Looks ok, if slightly huge and in your face... Clearly someone's been looking at the European park sites, as the majority of them search via height for rides... Glad to see a park catching up to them in that respect... S'ok... Nothing else much to say on it...

When it went backwards, apparently so... There should be no point for it now, especially considering how the lighting system used now lights up the entire building anyways...

I miss Dynamo... And Boneshaker for that matter... Towers does miss some filler thrill rides (and on the other end of the scale, kids things by the thrill rides)...

The park DOES need a high throughput water ride, be it log flume or rapids... There's so much unused space in that park, and would we really be disappointed if they plonked a clone if the Indy dark ride there?

Step 1 to fix the Studios is to remove the Tram Tour, which only helps to limit the park's expansion ability... Then you can properly expand the park to a ridiculous standard, since unless they've sold the land off, they own a shed-load for it... Perhaps further along the line this will happen, meaning a vast level of ride/show additions (I.e. Marvel land, Tron coaster, evening lake show, new version of Muppets 3D) can really push the park to the next level... They just need to bring in some DCA level of refurb to the front end of the park as well, making the areas a bit more enclosed and 'proper', rather than the current mish-mash we have today... Also, I'm not sure how Spiderman fits as a theme for a launched coaster like RnR...

Ironically, it looks no different to some of the other park shops these days...