Benin

It was (the last time I did it at night many years ago) pitch black... It was also raining so heavily only my boat was loaded and it was the most terrifying ride experience I've had at Thorpe...

Merlin don't do backstories? What about Swarm and Smiler's ones then?

Very long... Like, seriously, even indoors it can take FOREVER...

Flume has closed early for a few years now, mainly due to evacuation purposes being difficult in the dark... Dunno about Rapids, is there any point it running for minimal ridership and heavy expense?

It doesn't link into the Swarm at all... It's just a shame really that it is so similar, but as Mark said, who's going to notice/care?

That's disappointing tbh... At least Raptor has a completely different face and mandibles... But wait! The fangs are a darker brown! Sigh...

Universal scare zones are ACTUAL zones of roaming actors in the park though, not an un-used pathway of pointlessness... See Dead Zone or whatever poor attempt it was they did a few years back...

Fastrack unfortunately has no bearing on the platforming capabilities of the ride... Indeed, this only solves a slow moving queue in one way, and not the way that should be the priority... Weird park...

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?