Benin

My belief is that they should completely gut it anyway for a fresh start. Most of the sets in there are probably rotten anyway. The Jumanji ride at Garda gives some hope as it doesn't look terrible. Screens and projections can work well in tandem with real elements if used correctly. Can we rely on MMM to do that remains to be seen (especially given the finale of Jumanji). Though why they'll add lighting is seen as a negative I'll never know. Kind of essential even in a dark ride.

In THAT location. New Duel finale confirmed.

Just bin it already. Someone should've realised it was a misfire when it relied on staff brushing guest's knees to produce any reaction.

Only very likely eh? Still a chance then 😉

Legoland dropping half a star on TripAdvisor would disagree with this, and there's still a lot of problems throughout the parks. Still, marathon not a sprint with these things. But investment in new attractions or renovations means nothing if the general quality will remain poor.

It would make a great deal of sense for Thorpe to get something new in this location to help support Exodus when it opens. Though in an ideal world they'd be better off removing the giant pyramid in the middle of the park and really opening up some expansion area.

Would a slow inversion not be better as a first one? Slower introduction to it all. I guess the trains will make or break it. A lot of the Wing Riders lumber around and don't tend to go round very fast either. Maybe B&M have got lighter trains for this?

New track is pointless when the trains are still worse than a Zamperla Volare.

https://www.cwoa-consultation.com/ Water park then. Looks OK but lacking in scope and size? Plopsaqua could've been the inspiration for what such an addition would've brought to the table.

Thing to remember is when those cross valley plans were first put in place GCI weren't the big name beyond the USA. May have been good, may have been bad. Will never know but it's a shame it never happened. Not much else to add that's particularly controversial. The park really has lost its way and allure over the years.

Paultons sent out a survey today to get some ideas about their future: https://paultonsparknews.com/p/4QI7...qLgLWJYbvVT9PXr22kRHzhDw6HFGlqvHJTBedZH3uaRQo Good to see they're looking ahead, especially if Merlin turn a corner in investing in Chessie and Lego. Thrill coaster, water ride and indoor are certainly the next logical steps. Especially if they retheme the more tired areas to fit into the standard they've hit recently.

Off to Towers it goes.

Colossus is ruined by the trains. Granted 2002 Benin had a very different opinion on rides but the original trains were fine. Now not so much. Loggers I think is missed as it leaves a high throughput gap in the park. But it was fun with the double drop being unique. Shame Merlin seem loathe to replace either of the removed Flumes. I don't really have anything controversial to say. Especially since I haven't ventured there in years.

I was certain post of the year was mine too. 😔

But Forbidden Tomb returned last year? (Or was it the year before?) Fairly sure @JoshC.guessed Jumanji first. No one really disagreed either (or cared). Also tried to find the topic but it's either gone or the search function is rubbish on here. No confirmations at all about what will happen to Duel or Scorpion Express aside from pure conjecture on anyone's part. Even the tweet relating to SE is vague as to what might be changing. Could be the theme or something bigger at this current time. However acting like you have some inside track on things (when you've been proven wrong a few times now) I shall remain sceptical until the parks themselves announce of their own volition. Putting rumour mill merchants in any industry upon pedestals lead to people posting stuff that is inherently untrue (see those faking 2011 Sub Terra fences as today) or just throwing darts at the board and hoping one hits once in a while. Otherwise we'd have an Aquatrax in every park and an indoor Top Spin at Thorpe. Unfortunately these days people seem to be so desperate to know what's happening or be in-the-know first and play that card it makes actually having any form of discussion towards new additions complete pain. Just have to look at other forum topics to see that in full flow. Edit - Found the first mention of Jumanji rumour on here. Because I'm having to stay up late and nothing better to do.

Mean storyline has always been there in the background. Nowadays they embrace it (whilst ripping off UNIT from Doctor Who) which could work or not. The ride always worked with the vagueness of it all leaving guests to fill in any gaps, but it worked as being creepy alien, big pit, scary coaster. What happens in the Marketing blurb is unlikely to make any major difference to the ride itself.

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.