Benin

Probs depends on the composite of the track metal really, that and it's also experienced snow, flooding and ridiculously heavy rain since being built... And the weather over winter season when it wasn't running so any rust developing wouldn't be dislodged has been rather ridiculous... Which if the paint wasn't particularly any good at protecting it or the composition of the track being crap, would make a bigger difference in comparison to other rides... I wonder if the mister effect has made much of a difference on the track around it as well... Wouldn't be surprised that much...

Oxidisation is effectively the same as rust developing (as rust is an Iron Oxide, the result of a chemical reaction between unsurprisingly, Iron and Oxygen)... The paint gets worn down from the running wheels on it, exposing the metal to the elements and boom, chemical reactions and rust appears...

To be fair to Slammer as well, it hasn't thrown metal off itself onto the nearby pathway...

Don't go to New England, cos people will say that they have... It makes me think that if the park haven't opened it yet after tonnes of testing if they have any confidence in the ride at all... If this is the case, why haven't they given up on it yet?

Bloody sad goons *5000th post, and I'm insulting people, YAY!

Well, checking summer prices is the best way to see how costly/value for money the hotel is... The first weekend in August was my picked example, and I'm comparing Thorpe against Efteling and Europa Park, for a 2 night day (Friday/Saturday): Thorpe costs £300 rounded up Efteling costs €536 (approx £500) Europa's cheapest costs €540 In comparison to these other hotels, Thorpe is of course, the cheapest, but this is down to the fact that it's not in any way shape or form what anyone would consider a 'real' hotel... What benefits does one get by staying at Thorpe? ERT? A bar? The ability to look out on the park? Most theme park hotels have this sort of thing when you're staying on-site, so what makes Thorpe's hotel worth paying £300? Convience is probably the best thing going for it... You pay for what you get really, and with the Thorpe 'hotel', you get cheap things... There's a £200 difference, but I'd say for the quality/set-up of the hotels I'm comparing to it (is it unfair? Maybe, but if Merlin are trying to be number 1 etc.) then that's a price difference I'd be willing to pay more so then a porta-cabin... EDIT - Out of interest, I looked at Towers, and they're nearly £500 as well (for both)... I think it's just UK parks being rather over-indulgent in how good their hotels actually are...

Candy Holland was the main team leader of the Saw project... She was also involved in Thirteen and Smiler's creative processes... She's the modern day John Wardley I think, only with coin purses tightly fastened and market research corridors to navigate wildly...

They've been senselessly ploughing money in it for 9 odd years, why stop now?

I think the reaction we see here to the mist working shows how generally poor the UK parks are at maintaining effects that give their rides the finished look... It looks great, but it should be always like that, not broken/not on for half the season...

So world class one has lots of clones and is regularly run badly and the other spends about a week open and the manufacturers have given up on it? Nothing at Thorpe can be considered world class...

*Insert relevant defence of Asterix here, though as with any park, it can be complete HELL admission* I would say queueing 2.5 hours for X at SFMM was near the top of my worst list... I dunno really, I'm trying to avoid the atypical "Any visit to Thorpe between 2005-2012" answer that would essentially fill out anyone's list of awful park experiences... Erm, yeah, sorry Thorpe, but your Half Term days win out, what with having no rides open, over an hour wait for food because staff forgot my order, and worst of all no salt (and this wasn't even the fabled day a couple years back)... Even BAKKEN was better than that day, and Bakken was so bad we forced ourselves to spend 2 hours there to feel like having value for money!

POV! The reactions on the hills make me very, VERY intrigued as to the potential airtime...

That is a lovely looking entrance, great job from the park...

It's still a risk though, having the theme as 'old junk' can either look decent or horrid...

Merlin sure do love wall vinyls counting as theming in hotels don't they? I think every park with a hotel has this now... The Shark is a shark made of junk... Can't really tell if it'll look decent until it's actually built, because it could look really crap...

Merlin seem to have a decent trend with theming their eateries atm... Why then do we have Balamory Land?

Hmmm, Saw doesn't really need an 'end scene' as the focus is the ride mostly... Both the scenes that feature Billy are incredibly badly done, purely because you can't hear him (or depending on seating position, see him) in the pre-ride section, and the final bit can go past without you even noticing him (probably because you're now suffering from PSS, or Post-Saw-Syndrome)... As always, I'll be comparing Saw to Fluch von Novogorod, because that also features show scenes (2 in fact, neither of which are used as a stop-gap to space the cars out, another issue with Saw's design there in that 1 car always misses Billy), and actually does have a memorable finale sequence... The finale on Fluch is of course, completely different, as the lift hill takes place midway through the ride, and from that point on you're in complete darkness going at some speed in a layout that few people can work out... You then hit the brake run and then BAM, air cannons go off and a giant scarecrow (ties in with the theme, apparently) drops down on a cross right in front of the car (so everyone can actually see this happen)... That dear friends, is a memorable ending that fits the theme, Saw does not have a thematic ending (or a beginning, or an end, or a story, in a comparative sense to Fluch, Saw is simply "you are in one of Jigsaw's traps and you must escape"), but the focus of the ride is on the ride, Fluch seems to have confusing story first, ride assisting it, so they both fit their respective rides, but the difference in quality and effect on the riders is rather staggering... If they bothered to make Saw's interior darker for the final scene (and the bathroom up to the lift base) the effect could have easily been more pronounced for a finale, and if they'd bothered sound-proofing things we could have even had a decent talk with Billy prior to the ride... It's the level of flaws we've really come to expect of Merlin attractions, great idea, poor execution...

Nothing of interest is happening that's why... Probably because it involves Drayton...

If it's gonna be a B&M, why not have a Hyper coaster? Considering how fab Shambhala is as well, it would be a perfect addition to not just the park, but the UK as a whole...

Merlin can never therefore be number one, as at least Disney have the quality to back up their numbers... Numbers wise, Disney have 5 sites currently, of which there are 11 parks (2 Calif, 4 Florida, 2 Paris, 2 Tokyo and Hong Kong), Merlin are only number 2 due to the sheer number of attractions they own (including Midway, but only 6 theme parks or 'resorts' as they call them)... Indeed, if Disney don't produce high quality attractions, people won't visit in their droves, as evidenced by Walt Disney Studios and California Adventure (prior to the mass revamp) attendances in comparative terms to their neighbouring parks... WDS in 2012 got 7 million fewer guests, and prior to 2009 didn't even break 3 million compared to 12 million at Magic Kingdom... So even when Disney have done things on the cheap they have seen that people either don't like it, or expect it from them (though WHY Dinoland USA exists is anyone's guess)... To get the guests, you need to provide world class attractions for them, which is what Disney have always attempted to do (again, they've made plenty of mistakes, but at least they haven't produced Storm Surge or Scorpion Express)... And even then, Merlin don't even exist in the top 5 of the most visited parks in Europe, which says a lot really as to their method of being 'the best'... Quantity over Quality, which is a sad endicment of how Merlin's business method works (see also, 6-9 Shrek attractions, because the entire world deserves them)... As of 2012 though, Disney as a whole greeted 126,479,000 people, in comparison to Merlin's lowly total of 54,000,000... Which is granted better than Universal (34,515,000), but they only have 5 parks in that case... Merlin have a LONG way to go before they can hit Disney's numbers AND quality...

Don't fit into what exactly? I mean, how can we tell that the bright colours are suited to the theme of CBeebies Land? They're also getting new shells for Get Set Go's carriages, that's more than just a repaint... I'd assume the Doodle Doo Derby retheme will also consist of new shells for the animals as well, whilst Riverbank will be getting a few new scenic elements added... Bearing in mind that the yellow shade being used on the building is the exact same one as the Blobs it's being themed to, I'd say that fits the theme...

I wouldn't think a play-area within one of the animal areas would require this as a reaction to it opening...

In case anyone cares, I'm told Amazu is now open...

1st April is Efteling's 'new' season day (what with being open all year)... News is that Pirana (the Rapids) reopened and looks nice, and Aquanura has been re-done to include new music (though without Villa Volta and Ravelijn, so it's not as good anymore)... http://www.vijfzintuigen.nl/forum/8/23450.57

Dat view