Benin

Pieces of Slammer that they don't know what to do with? I hope it's that...

Naked Swarm trains make you glad Merlin actually bothered to theme them...

Hey look guys, Thorpe have posted a picture of a wooden coaster, they MUST be getting one now, otherwise why would they post it? Right?

http://www.phantasialand-fans.de/topic/6735-neu-2014-chiapas-baufortschritte/page-39#entry277596 Looking at recent testing they've improved that issue... That final drop though is

The cattlepens on Raptor just rely on the ride visuals (although have some interaction with one of the splashdowns)... I think a lack of atmosphere for Swarm is more than Thorpe tends to lack one in general though for the majority of visits... Probably the last time I felt there was an atmosphere at Thorpe was during a Fireworks night...

Raptor doesn't have actually much in the way of theming beyond the tonnes of concrete and the near misses... It however uses the landscape really well and it feels like it belongs into it's own little area/plaza, hence to me it feels like a more complete ride than Swarm... Swarm also isn't helped by the mass of nothingness by the brake-run, the spread-out nature in comparison to Raptor (which after the turnaround sticks to quite a limited footprint) as well is an issue to make it feel completely themed... It also feels rather rag-tag with what's there...

You use Saw and Swarm as examples, BUT... They both have a huge USP, and of course we know that Saw's theme is a result of Thorpe/Merlin using market research into the idea of a horror IP themed ride... You seem to be thinking that I don't think a wooden coaster be a good idea, because I think the UK NEEDS a modern one here as soon as... BUT I can understand why Merlin would use their market research as a reasoning behind not building it... After Swarm not bringing in the punters as hoped and Saw/Smiler/Thirteen all doing so, it's clear that their view is that USPs are the way to go... Which doesn't work unless we end up with an RMC... Which would be meh...

The Blackpool woodies ride nothing like a modern wooden coaster, and due to their age and rickety ride (which is part of their charm, but they can ride badly) can be perceived negatively and unsafe (Big Dipper accident)...Do the majority of people visiting Thorpe know of Oakwood and Megaphobia? If we're going to look at commonly ridden wooden coasters by the GP, you have to look at rides like Gwazi and Stampida, which are all pretty awful rides in general... This again skews the idea of wooden coasters being too rough to be enjoyable (which Gwazi and Stampida are, no doubts)... We know the modern GCIs are good, sure even an Intamin one would suffice (though I think they're pretty soulless)... But until trends change, the parks will not be allowed to spend a large investment on a perceived risk, especially after Swarm 'failing'... If a company doesn't do it's market research and just puts out whatever they want, it can either be a successful idea or a terrible one, the odds aren't that great... Need to remember as well that wooden coasters require a lot more care and attention, with specific engineers for the job amongst everything else... They are actually serious large long term investments, otherwise a good one can become awful (Stampida)... Another issue to consider when building one... Fortunately, the European parks have an actual clue when building new rides... EDIT - Mark, you know as well as I do that enthusiasts make up for very little of the overall attendance pool... And for the most part, our opinion is very skewed in some cases (or certain forums), so more often than not I'm not surprised that there are very few parks that converse directly with enthusiasts... Here and Valley Mania (though I think that might have changed) are exceptions, but Thorpe have only really locked into here over the last year... And yep, it'll be a gimmick coaster if we ever get one... Though that High 5 one can count as a gimmick thing... And that's not one of those inverting ones!

Merlin think that though because they do market research (like any intelligent company) on the majority of their guests... Similar reason why Saw came about because research showed there would be an interest in a horror film IP ride...

Is a lack of building thrill rides over family rides/Thomas Land REALLY making them lose attendance? If it was, I doubt they would've expanded the ride selection in that one area again and again, whilst adding Ben 10... Still waiting on Haunting's retheme to Scooby Doo, let alone Dexter's Lab Apocalypse...

Considering they did a Krake live action maze in 2011, one would not actually be surprised...

A coaster that has one high point and the rest pretty low? End up getting Intimidator 305 then should such a thing happen... Though of course due to the proximity of Heathrow, it would be an immense challenge to get the ceiling to that height considering Stealth was a bit of a struggle...

Some more pics off their blog: A near miss under the shop, Merlin are the epitome of originality... Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! The white track looks really weird tbh... Tis 6 rows though, maths clearly not my strong point these days...

Watched Catching Fire yesterday... It would be very difficult to translate into a theme park environment without throwing excessive amounts of money at it with an area probably equal to the size of Thorpe itself to make it remotely believable... Easiest way of doing it would be an Interactive dark ride mostly focusing on the training before the arena (so ripping off Men In Black Alien Attack's story)...

Social media marketing 101 indeed...

That will be a MASSIVE investment for any park, let alone one the size of Hansa... But I really hope it works out for them, lovely place and they seem to have the right idea of improving most of the existing park area... I hope that this gives them that real kick that they need to really push on...

What's scared me most is that someone thought the best company to go to in order to have new trains on a Vekoma SLC were Kumbak... I mean... What? In regards to the Gerst stuff, considering there are only 2 variations of the Infinity coaster, it doesn't surprise me that both have their own 'tag' as it were... I would imagine that it's basically to show off the potential of the thing, and potential customers can contact them and ask for a variant of the 1170 or 700 whilst being able to visualise what the ride will look like... There might be a time when other parks build a Smiler clone, it happened with Colossus (although that was a lot more off-the-shelf than Smiler is)...

Having done sommat to this degree before, I'm most certainly the former Though it was very awkward when we were effectively asked at every ride "Which row do you want" and then proceeded to annoy several Americans... I wonder if Thorpe will limit the row choosing to front or rows reserved for exit riders... Backstage will probably literally be workshops and control boxes... With an engineer/TL around to explain the finer points in their lives working on the rides... This does remind me though, really need to get on a Tower of Terror backstage tour next time I visit Paris...

I did one of these at Kings Island a few years ago now... It was basically the same thing, only no lift hill tour... And for about $300 a head... And ice cream included (they have famous blue ice cream for some reason)... Be interesting to see how much take up there is on the full package, because it is a lot of money... Though I'd love to see a butler service in KFC...

Well let's be honest, has anything B&M ever done been over the top crazy? Bar Starry Sky Scrapper's layout, I can't really think of anything...

If the whole thing had been that colour it would have looked VILE... I'm glad they left it as the trim colour... Wonder if that model sinks or stalls though...

RIDE TRAINED MY SON TO BE A SERIAL KILLER!

What is that in comparison to? The ride itself (which hasn't been maintained well for many years) or compared to any other dark ride in the world?

It won't be missed really, besides, it'll fall down of it's own accord at the rate it's upkeep is going...

So I’ve discussed the UK parks, but what about the foreign ones I visited? Well here we goooooo! Disneyland Paris Well it snowed, oh BOY did it snow. Not that it ruined the enjoyment of course, there’s nothing more hilarious than riding Tower of Terror, getting to the top and the doors opening to a mini-blizzard. The park did extremely well dealing with the heavy snow and I take my hat off for the way they dealt with our booked restaurant situation. The parks were their usually selves really, though it’s hard to judge due to the weather playing havoc with staff numbers and rides in operation. The real highlight of the trip was the Tower of Terror staff, which were constantly fantastic and provided the funniest moments of the week. Also Disney Dreams, which is fantastic <3 Denmark This was an exciting trip, especially to somewhere rarely visited by enthusiasts and had a fair share of ups and downs over the week. Although really it peaked from the offset with Eurovision-mania taking a real hold on Copenhagen and Tivoli in particular. Other highlights from Tivoli were Vertigo (terrifying thing of DOOM), the cuteness of Daemonen and the absolutely awesome Fun House. Classic Rusty Banana was an instant hit with us too, proving you don’t have to have all the latest technological advancements in the last 100 years to be a good ride. Unfortunately the next two parks were not very good, Bakken in particular we all loathed and spent 2 hours there. Bon-Bon Land had one joke and it wasn’t very good, although the drop towers were an amusing time as was Fantasy World, the rest of the park was just mediocrity beyond measure (Fabbri Giant Swing aside ride-wise). Bakken was just dire. That simple, with the worst Intamin in existence within its grounds (yes worse than Baco, having now experienced it I can give that opinion) in the shape of Tornado, which wasn’t even the worst ride in the park, as their Rusty Banana had been Kumbak’d. I shudder just thinking about them. And you know there’s something wrong when your best ride is a flat, and after you’ve spent the morning at the Carlsberg factory. Fortunately, the other island proved more fruitful in our ride endeavours. Legoland was quite good; with the Robo-Arms probably the best ride there, although the Powered Dragon and Polar X-Plorer were both very suitable rides for the park. Viking River Splash was also pretty good, I look forward to their dark ride attempt next year mind, which looks AMAZE <3 Djurs Sommerland was the best park out of the 6. It had the best rides, the best dogs roaming the park; it had the best play-areas (bouncy pillows for the win). It was quite simply, very, very good. The standard of theming was surprisingly high for the only traditional theme park (bar Lego) we visited, and Piraten and JOYvelen were certainly worth the admission fee. JOYvelen especially was a complete surprise to us, as we weren’t expecting such a solid family coaster, but that’s what we got, and more parks need to buy one. We finished with Farup Sommerland, which was a random place, filled with a lot more play areas, including the hour long adventure course. Lynet and Falken were good coasters, but we were spited by Orkanen unfortunately, as that looked quite good fun too. The park played well upon the family picnic market it seemed to, and it was a decent enough closure to our trip. Overall we rode the best AND worst Intamins in the world. No mean feat for a country like Denmark. Belgium, Part 1 My first trip to Belgium was partly cultural, with Bruges being involved. But why be cultural when you can ride creds? First up was Bellewaerde, a weird Chessington like park, only not falling apart at the seams and a relatively decent zoo to go with it. The main headline was a Zierer family coaster, Huracan, which had an epic random dark ride section, but not a very good ride section. Considering the space they had available, it was a disappointment really. Fortunately the rest of the park was quite good really, with the Boomerang being smooth and the support rides being of a decent enough quality to suit the park. Bagatelle was the next port of call since I had never been before. My 300th coaster is now Triops, a Vekoma Invertigo, which was quite good but not as landmark as X (Six Flags) or Beast. The park is pretty poor really (Soquet are NOT a good manufacturer of rides), aside from the best Rapids in the world with their amazing whirlpool of spinning. When you actually lose 5 seconds of a ride due to the complete insanity of it all, you know it’s good. Even if the rest of the ride is a bit meh, it makes it all the more better as you focus on that one element. Not the best parks in the world really, but easy enough to access really. Coney Island Over in New York for another cultural trip (though that’s up for debate when it comes to the USA), and a jaunt over to Luna Park brought to you by Zamperla for the classic Wooden coaster. And it wasn’t very good. A real shame really as it had some promise, but after the first two turnarounds it developed into a rough and painful experience. Perhaps the hurricane had something to do with that though? The rest of the park was unsurprisingly, mediocre; what with everything being a Zamperla, and my first experience of a Volare was one of sheer hatred. It was also VERY expensive, but Nathans was made of joy <3 Port Aventura God bless the Spanish austerity issues, especially if the park is going to have such deals on the hotels and unlimited Express passes! So off we went to sunny Halloween Spain and experience two fantastic B&Ms and 1 god-awful Intamin. I won’t repeat myself much as the TR is still relatively fresh, but it was a good fun weekend overall, though the park needs some lofty improvements and to get rid of Baco post-haste. Belgium 2 – Rock n Plop Even more recently was another jaunt to Belgium to experience more Halloween events. Walibi’s is quite famous and it was also another excuse to go back to Plopsaland because Anubis <3 We shocked a Belgian enthusiast when we all loved Psyke Underground because it’s FAB, as well as enjoyed the new branding, the ridiculous number of actors (40 in one maze alone) and the music battle show. This is a good park with a fair amount of potential but problematic neighbours. Plopsaland has Anubis, therefore it’s FAB <3 Also the new land was amazing and has an awesomely themed Disko Coaster. Again, the TR is still around so check that out for further details. Overall, a decent year of parks for me, particularly abroad, where only 2 were really bad (as in, worse than Chessington bad). And so far next year’s plans are really looking to expand on things as well, which is a good thing considering none of the UK parks at the moment are looking to deliver anything worthwhile visiting for. Roll on 2014!