Benin

I remember the days when people had to keep their shoes on (or with them)... I miss those days... Such good times to platform <3

You've only cried at Monsters Inc? You clearly, have no heart or haven't watched Lion King or Up...

Whether or not that gives you 100% will no doubt be based on the other games... Least it's not easy to win...

By being a boss (like me, I managed to get 100%, the final game has a distinct nack to it)...

New series of games on the Smiler mini-site (I forgot that even existed) to piss about on... If you get 100% you can enter a draw to win 1 Smiler Fastrack, woooooo! 50 a week for a few weeks it seems... http://www.altontowers.com/advocatetest/

It'll be in German though, so ATMOSPHERIC SHOUTING <3<3 Doubt it from that angle, lift hill is going the opposite direction to that drop, reckon it's gonna be an Immmmelmann there... Though I wouldn't rule that idea out because who needs originality?

Isn't it still shut? I do love Slammer's annual downtime <3

Just because this is an official fansite shouldn't mean we can't pick apart the failings of a park (this goes for ANY official fansite)...

Problem for having an outdoor section is literally WHERE would it go? You've got Vampire one side, the park boundary another and the zoo surrounding the lift/finale... Without serious modification to the surrounding area, an outdoor section on Bubbles (in the current location) isn't viable...

The problem is the majority of the building sits on top of Vampire's station/brakes/maintenance shed... The best thing? Gut it and start afresh, the ride system is fine, just the theming is horrid...

They couldn't even get a front row queue to work properly, a back row one was never going to work... Baggage drops are useful for the most part, but it just doesn't work with Swarm for SOME reason? Maybe it's because you get people coming from two different directions is my guess... It's quite easily the worst one in any park that has it which is weird... Should've just done a Raptor and had bag boxes by the station exit... Simple, cheap and effective...

Falls is the only ride on park to break 1000pph... Back in the day, 3 train Vampire could also do this... I can't say what 5 train Tomb is though, close, but I think not beyond 1000pph... The park needs more rides that reach this...

Hey, you know what hasn't been in the news recently? LEGOLAND!! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2391102/Families-thrown-Legoland-brawl-erupts-parents-queuing-pirate-ship-ride-children-theme-park.html Classy parents... Bet you one of the kids was called Tyler...

Hopefully, once Thorpe make money through avenues such as food and merch (those things families LOVE to buy) they'll realise that the way they sell Fastrack is detrimental to guest experience and limit it a lot more...

The Relegation Faves have joined...

Maybe join up tomoz when I have a computer... Need to fine tune my team anyway, but will be carrying 3 Palace players at all times!

Well how else are they going to afford some shade?

Saw is plain old crap... It's the WORST Eurofighter in the world and is so over-rated with the apparently good theming throughout... It's literally, an RCT ride with the building, a big block that doesn't look great in a theme park environment and is swarmed with junk and dolls... Inside you can't exactly theme staircases and it's all rather "look at me I'm all dark and foreboding"... I rode Mystery Mine in 2009, and it is what Saw wishes it was... It even does the spooky haunted times better, has a better near miss to a crushing object, and FIRE! Abd of course if you want a heavily themed interactive queue, then go on Fluch... In short, Saw is a poor excuse for an IP themed attraction...

Probably makes people wonder why they wasted two hours of their life for it though...

That for the TPM Christmas Album cover?

Think its unfair to give Merlin credit for transforming Thorpe completely since that was a Tussauds thing... As for the global 'empire', a bunch of identikit Midway attractions isnt what I would consider top value... If they want to best Disney, they need to focus on the guest experience, fix up the parks from repainting rides and buildings to producing shows and rides that will bring people back to the park as well as new people... This is why I think the Thorpe change of market will take time to have a real effect because of the reputation of the park... Change that (and the rep of the others) and they can take it in... Indeed, they don't need high levels of Fastrack sales if they can get a family to spend on quality food and merch...

Oh, in that case they had tonnes more theming and atmosphere so were better...

Comparing Storm Surge to rides in Staines Town Centre is a werid comparison... They are of equal quality mind (I.e. awful)... The issue with Merlin comes down to whether enthusiasts look at things with an enthusiast or business outlook on things... For example, the parks see the late hour openings are dead, so cut the hours to save money, however this prevents people getting more out of day and whoring empty rides so it's bad... It's very much one step forward, two steps back, with a lot of cut backs over the past 2 years reducing guest experiences at the parks be it hours, ride times or entertainment whilst promoting higher prices with quite feral amounts of upselling from staff (to a degree where it's mentioned on their tills as a reminder)... It's also weird though, because with Swarm, they did everything right from an enthusiast standpoint, but it (and the park) bombed last year... But perhaps that was the catalyst to hiring the new marketing person and pushing through into the lucrative family market... They have improved food quality (but in turn, raised prices) and the merch as well, because people do buy quality stuff rather than bland generic crap... Two really good positives... On the other hand, you have that whole "good enough" belief towards additions... And in some cases badly thought out aspects of an addition (Zufari being a prime example of this) whilst others like Ice Age and Storm Surge were literally done on the cheap... Do agree with the Sub Terra changes as it was a quality attraction (pre-corridor as well) in the end, though people prefer it with the corridor... In the end, yes, the parks are in a better situation now than they were under DIC, but they still have issues across the board... Namely surrounding guest experiences and the use of social media (something Thorpe have really taken on board in comparison to years before) and providing THE best experiences possible... This might be a challenge as the recession and 'stay'cations dry up in the future...

This is, the Northern line!

I doubt that'll happen, they have no real need to...