Benin

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.

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.