Benin

It did open, then close, then re-opened again at around the time dragon posted... I don't really get your post... Especially considering the website only gets updated every 30 minutes and it says that for accurate queue-times to check on park...

Ew... The M25 was awful last night though, probably half the park has flooded away...

I'd just like to say, that this runs fantastically at night <3 It's such a shame all these problems keep happening, because it really is a great ride... I was astounded at how well it rode on my two rides today and at night I was stunned by it... Fix it properly over close season, and it will be an excellent addition to the park and the UK more than it already is...

Are people really thinking Oakwood can afford something 'on the scale of Smiler'? Abyss at Adventure World seems to be costing 12 million AU Dollars, which equates to £7 million... Which seems to include a fair level of theming (or at least I hope so internally)... Could Oakwood afford that sort of investment? Out of the two, wish they'd get rid of Spooky 3D, because that's dire... Indeed, that whole 'western' area could do with being demolished because it's awful... Actually, thinking about it, that whole front end of the park needs a lot of work doing to it, from the entrance to the western area... Gonna need an excessive plan to sort that stuff out...

Will it even be dark to see if Chessie's lighting is any good? Problem is without getting a budget (or people with a desire) to have decent set of lighting, we aren't going to have any improvements... Though really, I can never seem to get the same level of rage towards floodlights that other enthusiasts seem to be able to...

Where's Michael Fish when you need him to confirm the weather? Something most parks do tbh but don't seem to ever advertise it... Chessie and Drayton I know have had this offer before as examples... But it's such a specific thing most of the time where it has to rain for 3 hours straight or some such crap... Most of the rides won't shut unless it gets REALLY bad though... Like on that Summer Nights visit of mine earlier this year... Can't imagine things being as bad as that...

They're closing cult classic dark ride Brer Rabbit this year... Worst news this year...

It would be amazing and a real unique aspect to the ride... Better than the burdenous internal queue one... Especially when the ride has broken...

Alpen Hotel

Well, it's not like Merlin parks have a fantastic reputation for keeping effects working now is it? I doubt the Flasher would be that good at night anyway because it doesn't 'flash', just turns on for a few seconds and then back off again... Pointless...

New near miss... Here's hoping for it to be like Raptor...

It's a heavily themed ride at the Studios, let's not knock it...

Probably sites like Thomas Cook are your best bet for that... Salou is FULL of such hotels so you shouldn't struggle...

The thing is now is that we've kind of reached a peak in the way of height and speed boundaries that would be cost-effective to build and run on a consistent basis, so there is some truth there... However, all it means is that the parks need to find other ways of building rides, and as Dr Malcolm says "life will always find a way"... Some of the concepts being used for Disney Shanghai (specifically the Tron coaster, which NEEDS to happen) kinda show that there are various new and interesting methods available to use for parks, and that's the evolution we'll see next... Rather than the last decade's focus on tallest and fastest...

Video of the lighting... The story of the ride seems to centre around the guests being offered up as sacrifices to the creature/demon/ride car by the village locals because EVIL!

It's a decent update to HPH, the new effect in the pre-show is fantastic and probably the best part of the entire attraction... I would LOVE to see Chessie take the story further in a full on actorless walkthrough (then add them in for Halloween) and basically full on rip off Mystic Manor with animatronics and other effects throughout... It would be a fantastic permanent addition if done well...

Yesterday was the fabled Scarefest Traveller day though... Hence the increased security and probably more visible incidents happening around the park... Does Thorpe have those days? Or is it every day?

Video of the first piece being placed and some groundclearing prior...

People are too busy trying to avoid the wasps to notice

It's Flamingoland, so nope...

If there's a Rastamouse themed ride it would be the best thing ever to exist in the theme park industry <3

Usually telling people off about smoking in queues goes like this: > Staff asks Guest to stop smoking... > Guest kicks off about it... > Staff member reiterates rules... > Guest doesn't care and continues anyway/Stops smoking but then starts up again... If the staff member has been there all year (or longer), I wouldn't be surprised if they just knew it wouldn't be worth the effort of the arguement... Such is the way of the world now...

Ride staff have no actual power to remove guests from queues, indeed, they have to rely on either Team Leaders or Security to back them up in cases where things may begin to get out of hand (who are sometimes useless, an example from my Chessie days where we radioed in people due to a heated arguement building at Chips Ahoy ended up with us normal staff being closer than any TL/Security for some reason)... For a ride staff member who may be by themselves on an attraction and not able to contact anyone else for assistance trying to stand up to a group of people who will intimidate in order to get their own way is more often than not more trouble than it's worth... Happens throughout the year on various rides at various parks, usually surrounding queue jumping because people don't do take kindly to being seen in the wrong even when they are (indeed, I had an incident on Smiler earlier this year involving a mum having rage at us for not letting her kids past because they had 'been to the toilet', although I doubt for 40 minutes)... So for the average ride staff member with minimal power, it is a very difficult situation to handle when they cannot physically do anything to stop people being awful and intimidating... Security vary, though usually on FN Thorpe get in extra to deal with the situation... Problem is the society we live in breeding contempt and dis-respect more than anything...

What IS Blair Witch meant to be though? For an event that claims that you don't have to go to Florida/America to be at a premier Horror Nights, it is an appauling excuse for a Scarezone...

Now THAT is a lighting package... Next summer can't come soon enough... I'm not sure if this or Helix excites me more...