Everything posted by Benin
- Themeparks & attractions I've always wanted to visit
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The Big Bad Movie Topic
Film of 2014 confirmed...
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So we all knew this was coming..
Bearing in mind only about 5 people on the forum have actually been on Smiler so only their vote counts
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Tripsdrill
Looking at the trains more... Great concept, bad execution... Biege? </3 Everyone and their dog are putting lights on coasters now though...
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Zufari
Maybe they'll just have it so any kids sit in the middle, hence adults will be in the way of any attempting to be thrown out of the truck... Like the Black Buccaneer system they have... Doesn't make sense though yes...
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Park Operations
I can say that in my experience it wasn't relating to sales, but that was 4 years ago now and at a difference park... Not knowing the inner workings of Thorpe's operations, can any of us really tell why the queue times are constanly incorrect to high levels? Maybe it's a KPI thing so people can say "no, queues didn't spoil my day as I queued less than anticipated"... Of course, it might just lead to boosting sales of Fastrack... I don't truly care tbh...
- Random Picture Thread.
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Rameses Revenge
How much does a massive sheet go for these days to cover the gondola? Plus, it's Chessie, no one cares
- Music
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Rameses Revenge
I'm quite sure Rameses has a manual locking mechanism for such emergency issues... I'm sure as well if Chessie could have lowered the ride then they would have, why would any park want the fire services there aside from a last resort? Maybe they could get Talocan in then instead? Can watch that rot instead...
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Rameses Revenge
Can't see it opening for a long time (if at all this year)... It's just funny now that all this crap is happening to Chessie this year, next thing you know Vampire will throw more bolts off itself, another Fury platform will collapse and Alex the lion will get set on fire...
- Music
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Tripsdrill
Yay lapbars! Yay rolling launch! Boo crap looking trains...
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Vampire
As a small note towards pathways around Chessie, quite a fair few of them are affected by the ground shifting (cos of hills and nature being a bitch), hence the poor state of quite a fair few bits of the tarmac... Of course, doesn't give reason as to why the rest of the park looks so crap... Don't think it's been touched since it was redone 11 years ago...
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Alton Towers News
Lift chains can and do snap... Enough wear on them after constant operation will cause potential weakening of the material, like in any situation... Moreso with the chains because they are constantly changing speeds as well... Shock absorption could be a major culprit in some cases if the ride runs onto the lift like Inferno... Not too regular an incident, but I've seen it happen mid season...
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Scorpion Express
They don't seem to have built anything behind the canvas in my eyes... Yet...
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The Smiler
Towers' coasters have never been famous for exceptional all across the board theming mind... There's always been a focal point (be it ride or station) but that's about it... Actually thinking about it then Smiler's Marmaliser was gonna be it really aside from the station... Just an observation about something I've noticed...
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Scorpion Express
It's part of Jumbos and has been there all season as mentioned... Doesn't look bad in real life... Nothing to worry about yet...
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Wicker Man
A wooden coaster won't be built by a Merlin park anytime soon, the market research has put paid to that until the general public perception of them changes drastically... Would need a smaller park to build one first...
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Europa Park
What no Atlantica Supersplash?
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It's like a fairytale or something... In Bruges - Day 3 - Bagatelle
Day 3 – Parc Bagatelle A very early morning led to the 2 hour drive across half of two separate countries towards the seaside of France towards Bagatelle. This is rather a small park, but recently nabbed a Vekoma Invertigo last year, and was once infamous for having a scary as hell Lion show which is now gone. We arrived at the park to be greeted by a long queue, as out of the 4 cashier desks they had 1 open. And the queue barely moved due to large groups and numerous vouchers. This annoyed me greatly, and resulted in a 30 minute wait to even enter the park, with 20 of those on 1 cashier. Not the greatest start to the day. This was then compounded by Bag Express, known for its dive into a water channel, which was empty. With the gimmick gone, this Soquet coaster was utter crap, with a helix of WHY being a small highlight in an otherwise death coaster. Could things get better? Le Triops stood proudly in its orange paint, waiting for the moment to become my 300th coaster (yay). Having ridden at least 1 of these before and many other Boomerangs, I was of course thinking how crap it was going to be, regardless of Bellewaerde’s decent one the day before. Fortunately, it was similar to Bellewaerde’s in regards to smoothness, with small jolts that didn’t affect the ride too badly. We later did it again backwards first (cos Vekoma) and found that just as good. Worthy of being a landmark coaster? Best I could do at the time Onwards we went into the park before passing Aqua Bag, which was basically Bumper Boats with water pistols attached. It was amaze <3 They’re expanding it to hold more than 5/6 boats as well, which will mean in the future it will be especially mental. Les Rapids were next, another wedge boat style one with one of the most mental things I’ve ever experienced on a rapids. It has a whirlpool section akin to River Quest at Phantasialand, only faster, spinnier and the drop itself results in 5 seconds of pure confusion, fear and amazingness in one fell swoop. Aside from that the layout was pretty non-descript, but having anything more would really take the overall impact of the whirlpool section away. Further meandering led us back to the front of the park and the Zamperla Spinning Mouse, which had barely any queue, so it was ridden and was exactly the same as the one at Farup. To finish off the coaster list was Spirals des Dunes a baby Soquet coaster which was weird as hell to be quite honest. Lunch followed before we had a quick go on the Porn Ponies. The Sea-Lion/Penguin show that replaced the Lions was about to start so we watched it. Was ok, if very basic, but yay Penguins! And gigantic Sea-Lions which struggle to move! A quick go on the Vintage Cars as they were opposite the show revealed nothing special beyond lots of trees and a bridge or two. The 4D show of random Mad Racers came next, with similarities to the Simpsons ride abound due to the giant screen in front of two pods. It made absolutely no sense at all. Nicky had a go on the Eccentric Bikes before we had another go on Triops. At this point we wondered what to do next, and concluded that we’d get a snack before heading back to Calais for the journey home. So we had a waffle, got the park train back to the entrance, before having a quick go on the Pedal Karts which went past the lions before we left. That’s it really. Not much else to say for the park, it wasn’t very good overall, with two good rides out of the generic crap of it all. It even has TWO log flumes! I would say the start of the day didn’t help my mood about the park, but even so, it’s not a very good park, and they have a lot of work to do even with the recent rebrand of everything. More quality, less Soquet crap please! We made it back to CitiEurope in one piece to find it completely shut bar the restaurants. This is silly of you France, as that place attracts so many Brits on their way back from a weekend away. At least open Carrefour up! Then we discovered a train delay which made the Calais terminal HIDEOUS. Although only delayed an hour, so it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been. With that, this report closes. I would recommend Bellewaerde but Bagatelle is bad, bad, so very bad. I’ll be back to bore you all after New York!
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Europa Park
I guess you could ride Abenteur in between the constant Blue Fire riding then...
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Europa Park
Best ride to start with - Blue Fire Best ride to do second - Blue Fire Best ride to do before lunch - Blue Fire Best ride to do after lunch - Blue Fire Best ride to do before park close - Whale Adventures, then Blue Fire Hope this helps...
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The Banning Game
Banned for necroposting...
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New Thorpe Park Mania
Could up the photo limit on blog posts, seems that my latest one (and a few others) are missing like, a handful of photos... If we want to make blogs the place to do trip reports, it makes sense...