Benin

Announcement just said Nemesis is closing. Queue shut already. Job done by the Marketing team.

It's over 20 years since I first rode it and it started me down the slippery slope of coaster enthusiasm. I'm not overly bothered about it closing since 1) It's reopening and 2) Personally I'm too busy to visit the park anytime soon. Ah well, least it'll be around for many many years.

You'd suspect they have something planned, especially in the Cobra and T'Edge area looking more out of place with every other addition.

That will be key in the design actually, and clearly not something Towers ever factored in (presumably as it was originally only for hotel guests?). Lack of expansion will limit things somewhat going ahead. Just hope that this won't detract from the issues within the park. If they're planning on expanding on the resort offerings the park needs to be up to operational snuff.

If that's an excellent example I dread to think what you think is rubbish.

Confirmation of the ride system. Looks funky and an evolution of the original show/ride.

This will be for more in the future similar to the recent Towers one. Maybe a ride with actual capacity? That being said what areas of the park are even available for expansion these days? Something is likely to be on the chopping block.

Spookslot isn't the first classic attraction Efteling have removed. Bob probably quite similar if the claims of the building being unsafe are true (can't source it and not heard that before) but that's a way to approach nostalgia sometimes. You just gotta remember the past but embrace the future. The involvement of Wardley was too late to make serious changes to Wickerman (which is why we have boring corner). But if they're so focused on the "next-gen" designers why not continue on that front? Maybe the response of John being left to the sidelines on a project he wanted for years made them fearful of Duel. Duel & Tomb Blaster both ruined their original attractions aims. The 2000s were a dreadful time for investments (apart from Thorpe). Modern technology allows new solutions and approaches. The animatronics throughout the ride were incredibly basic (due to the necessary reset times). Duel then simplified that by non-moving ones. Using Bla Taget at Grona Lund is a great example of an old school ghost train embracing modern technology, but they either need to gut out all the old stuff otherwise it sticks out like a sore thumb or redo everything to the same modern standard. 3 rides are closing this year (not that Enterprise actually opened at all). Ride reliability has been so bad probably didn't want to big up another removal. One might also wonder if the sudden closure was the result of something else (such as a safety concern, perhaps the Trommel was buggered). End of the day I feel the sadness is misplaced and this weird obsession of returning the original Haunted House when the chance to start anew for an aging attraction (or the whole Emily Alton will be the main character) just confuses me. It's like when people claimed Terror Tomb or Bubbleworks were coming back in original forms. Obsession with nostalgia means you rarely move forward and then you end up with rides that if you touch the goons grab their torches and pitchforks regardless of the changes planned.

The Bubbleworks closing event was the park desperately trying to hit the nostalgia train and by all accounts was poor. Towers probably didn't want to advertise another ride being closed for Scarefest, especially with the main marketing focus being Nemesis. End of day we can't imagine what John Wardley might think about the project. Might be he sees it as a chance to start again, but also I think some people may be putting too much into his involvement. Might be just as a consultant or almost a courtesy for advice. He's not heavily involved anymore (so much so they completely forgot his existence when designing Wickerman) so I wouldn't be surprised if insiders were using it as a "don't worry JW is involved" to sate worried enthusiasts. Sitting in what could have been 30 years ago when technology has advanced in so many ways is a backwards way of thinking. Especially in the theme park industry. Look at Efteling closing Spookslot!

Haunted House hadn't existed for nearly 20 years. There's a number of members on this and other forums who weren't even born. Hex still exists, unless that's also closing? Therefore the UK's "best dark ride" isn't going anywhere (though some would argue Valhalla here). End of the day you're seemingly upset because the park aren't doing the thing you want. Most seem to think a fresh start is better. And Merlin certainly don't treat Nemesis or Vampire well. Nemesis is only being retracked because of end of life and likelihood actually costs less than to redevelop the land. You have zero idea what the ride will be replaced with, but you can wager it'll be better than what Duel was by the end of its time.

Absolutely bottled it! And what good is that Doctorate when you can't do one of the number rounds? 😉

Yeah how dare they remove 30 year old pieces of theming that they may or may not replace with modern techniques that might or might not produce a better attraction. They're better off gutting the entire thing and starting afresh. Clean slate and all that.

Summer openings are the big thing these days so will probably just postpone it and get a new IP for Ghost Train and call it a day.

Someone needs to drop the Zamperla catalogue outside Magic HQ or something. Do a 2001 Thorpe and just open all the flat rides. Could easily do 4/5 without much work given all the dead space in the park now.

A Mr Blobby jump scare like the end of Wallace & Gromit would make it the scariest ride in the world.

It's some weird fan theory that I think people seem to think will happen without any substantial evidence from the park. Then of course those on park see this and do things to tease this into being a reality even though they don't likely know what the real plan is.

You think Apocalypse will go to Towers? I mean. No.

I'd say the queue for Vampire being over an hour is down to Chessie's poor operational standards on top of being the big ride. Especially for those between 1.1-1.2m. I miss 3 train Vampire.

Given the current operating standards of our incumbent government, I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up becoming part of a new planned budget.

#basic Apparently each social media post is different as well? One of which will get the Emily stans really excited.

The bottom of the lake.

It's good. But when you have an unbanked boring corner about 3/4 of the way through the layout someone messed up. Almost just invited Wardley when they'd already approved the final layout sums up Towers' view. Get John in to please the enthusiasts and they'll accept any old mediocrity now. Purely because of the Wardley name.

Nothing is confirmed unless there's an errant can of WD40 left in the area.

John Wardley was (eventually) involved in Wickerman. Granted too late to make it good but still. Think even he'd admit it wasn't just a solo effort on his part. Some of the classics were a joint effort and almost lightning in a bottle esque that everyone pulled in the same direction. I don't understand why this Emily Alton thing has gained so much traction when it was a literal gag character who majority of park guests didn't even see. Fan theories have gotten worse, especially when clearly the obvious character to focus on is Electric Bill. Think the Jumanji theme was an estimated guess by someone with good links to Merlin. Helped by Gardaland getting a themed attraction. So far no one of any substance has made a case for the random claims and likely the park is taken full advantage of this in their (stock footage) marketing.

If the ride wasn't in a state of disrepair when it originally closed. Untouched since it closed but to sell off some broken tat to willing goons. Dread to think of the state of the ride system right now. Maybe in a few years it'll reappear. Maybe they'd be better off replacing with something new and iconic for the park given the removal of one is imminent and Shockwave is crap.