Benin

Did they announce it would be open with the park? Not anywhere I can see, so yes, I do expect it to be a construction site, even if the rest of the park opens this week... 2 months since groundwork was going on as well... That's a worse construction window (if they aimed for opening) than any of Merlin's stuff... Logic dictates therefore they were not aiming for a opening day jobbie with this (especially as the Flume came from Camelot, hence a decision no doubt waited on whether or not that would've been coming along to the park)... Indeed, this is a HUGE investment for Oakwood, let them build it in their own time and judge the FINISHED product... Not the current state (with it's surprise indoor section, was not expecting that)...

It's in the middle of construction... How about judging the finished article? Not half way through?

In your opinion you find them fun... It's the Mitch Hawker issue all over again!

Not a sentence that makes much sense really (not that I've done Baco or new Stampida, though El Diablo was just crap)... Rides being excessively rough do indeed cause a detrimental effect to the enjoyment of it... Not that Dan said they were rough, just tripe mind...

Imagine the irony if that was because the main social media person was stuck at home due to the snow

Enforced fun times at meets </3 N.B. I am being sarcastic...

Merlin

Ricky's already mentioned this, but yeah, most mechanical devices struggle in cold weather... Look at cars/vans/lorries for example, and they have a proper heat ignition sequence, something (the majority of) rides do not... Things move slower in the cold as well, it's quite clear... It's nothing to do with the rides, it's more to do with the principles of engineering which cannot actually be modified... Really is something that cannot be controlled due to friction/velocity/forces/yada-yada-yada that will effect the materials of the track and wheels... tl;dr - ENGINEERING!

It's TheMan from TowersStreet and I claim my £5... So now it's because the billboard is 'old hat'... Yeah, of course, because it's a old system of advertising it makes it unlikely to get to the masses that walk past it anyways... As an advert, it gets through to a hell load of people EVERY... SINGLE... DAY... End of... What a perfect place to be positioned to extend the reach of the park to the masses who may not be scouring the internet for information about the park, indeed, how many people visit parks on a whim? Probably a fair amount, so perhaps this 'out-of-date' method of advertising to the masses isn't as bad an idea as before... Even I know from an advertising point of view that you need to get an image out to as many people as possible using AS MANY METHODS AS YOU CAN... Indeed, just step back and think, Piccadilly Circus is a place full of tourists AND commuters, constantly busy for hours every day... All they have to do is plant the name of the ride/park into the minds of people... It's that simple, then word of mouth takes over... Advertising is so simple... There is no master method of doing things that us none-advertising experienced people cannot understand... Quite clear from the stuff tonight, the majority of us 'non-knowing' people know a lot more than the apparent experienced one...

Already doing web ads with that Beat the Swarm viral (which, seems to have fallen flat on it's arse)... Since internet seems to be failing them (wasn't that the bulk of their advertising last year? Already determined by Thorpe to be a failure at bringing in the masses), a big massive thing in a busy area should be the next option... Does anyone pay attention to app based ads? They are certainly much more of an annoyance, and hence in my experience I pay no attention to them... So really, since web ads have failed, billboards are the next option, where better than a busy place in central London where you can access the park within around an hour? Didn't seem to do Smiler's viral advertising any harm being spotted across half of London...

You mean like how they advertised Saw a year after it opened? And Stealth? Are we REALLY moaning that Thorpe are advertising in what is ACTUALLY a sensible place, doesn't involve some bollocks PR and is pretty much harmless? Unbelievable...

Advertising in one (if not THE) busiest area in central London... FFS THORPE YOU IDIOTS!

Park opened, but most of the rides were (unsurprisingly) shut... Exactly what Ricky's original post said...

Considering THAT'S the state of the park (and the surrounding area), that's as good as it's gonna get... It's a double edged sword... They should (if they want to stay open) have discounted the price two fold in order to represent the low availability (because it's not solely down to the temperature)...

I was probably over-exaggerating I admit, but still, it was pretty bad and made just as much sense as Time Voyagers ever did Least it's better than Honey I Shrunk the Audience

The steak (mine at least) was pretty crap unfortunately, filled with fat and gristle throughout </3 Captain EO is up there with Time Voyagers as worst 3D show I've seen... The people involved in it though was ridiculous (Francis Ford Coppola? WTF?!)... Indy was running well I might add, indeed, Space Mountain was the roughest coaster there but none seemed to be running as bad as I've experienced before or in other parks... MAGIC EVERYWHERE!

pluk thinks that the investment is because the structure was neglected for years and hence HAD to be done... ANY removal of theming (especially permanent) cannot be termed as good news...

A few degrees makes a WORLD of difference... Indeed, the difference between 2 degrees Air and 5 degrees Air is actually quite massive in regards to it's speed (notably the full inline)...

There is no reason as to why the lift hill rocks cannot return... Indeed, why not have the Gold Panning/Donuts INSIDE the rocks as a cave? So have to deal with a year (at minimum) of the rides looking like crap and pray/beg/hope that they don't cancel the return...

You are incredibly mistaken, nothing has changed on Colossus' trains regarding restraints in several years after the original train changes (bulkier restraints and the metal braces on the sides)...

If the world first is the inversion record, it has no reason to be breaking down all the time... Indeed, most Gerstlauer coasters are reliable, let's not tar them all with the same brush just because Saw is useless...

Towers taken the decision to close today as a result of the weather... This year's gonna be awkward...

Staff uniform like...

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