Benin

It's believed to be this new version, with a cable lift hill and different shaped drop (there's an image of it SOMEWHERE, but god knows)... EDIT - Aha, found it!

Been meaning to post about this news for AGES..... Italy (and Rome) are getting ANOTHER new park, Cinecitta World, a movie themed park... Due to open next year It's expected to have a Colossus clone (though likely to be the upgraded version), an indoor Intamin Drop Coaster, Intamin Drop Tower, Mack Supersplash, two dark rides and a whole load more! Exciting times, maybe another jaunt is in order? Track for the Colossus ride is there already...

I have a job in Central London now, it's serious time across the board

You go straight to the barriers, in some (if not all) cases via a dedicated Annual Pass queue...

Rather be mocked for being optimistic in the face of people who don't seem to understand that construction companies do make allowances for potential problems with time frames than for being a bloody miserable bugger and press the panic button way too early... We saw how quickly Fuji-Q's went up (2/3 weeks no?)... Let's panic in Feb if it's not been built yet eh? A month for building, a month for testing (whilst all the other odd jobs like paving, electricals, etc happen)... Groundwork takes the longest, and considering the weather, it's not a shock that it might well be behind schedule (which is just people guessing really, no enthusiast will be 100% privy to such data), but until I have hard evidence to support that it will not open on opening day, then I will be optimistic in my belief that the construction engineers will get it done... Indeed, I'm sure if Towers get really worried, they'll tell the workers to increase productivity... I don't think that enthusiasts proclaiming it will not be built on time (whether it be serious or a 'laugh') is tantamount to a fun place... Especially when I doubt they might not have much knowledge about construction project techniques... Tl;dr - Pessimistic enthusiasts should have a reason, like a crap plonked down ride being built so some stop gap cheap hotel in order to garner some extra income with minimal outlay... Jesus it's DIC all over again!

Maybe some enthusiasts should go to the Winchester, have a nice pint, and wait for all this to blow over (and be constructed and done by people who KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING)

"GET TO THE CHOPPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" - Arnold (Predator) "You are tearing me apart Lisa!" - Tommy Wiseau (The Room Movie)

Surely the main point here is why the roof became so rotten that it HAS to be removed, rather than anything else? The UK maintenance standards are absolutely pathetic, there's very little desire to keep up the appearance, here in lies the issue more, why don't our parks renovate these things more? Do they not care? Do they think the guests do not care? Do they not realise how little difference a nicely painted and well maintained park make to a guest? Those are more important things to talk about instead of why it might be 'beneficial' for Loggers to lose it's roof...

And nothing of value was lost...

Who needs atmosphere and themeing anyways! That Disney place don't understand guest needs and wants at all... Thorpe are TRULY done with the kids... All the way from SHOUTING THEIR MARKETING to not bothering to maintain stuff... Seriously, this is like, the PERFECT chance to improve on something that adds to the ride... Too small and smelly? Well that's what maintenance and renovation is all about... Add to the experience of the ride... Otherwise Thorpe are essentially just going to become Six Flags/Cedar Fair UK... This is not a good thing...

Speculation based on the previous examples of Merlin's amazing upkeep of rides/areas/parks... So it's not completely unfounded... And at a park which removed trees behind Samurai for SOME reason...

Probs more that the Oblivion (and B&M restraints) work on a ratchet basis, it's probably more noticeable whether or not the bar will rise due to being between 'clicks' on Oblivion purely due to the vertical motion and gravity being a heartless mistress to falling objects... I remember my uni lecturer telling me something similar, so I reckon it's just something that happens on it regularly because of people being on the lower limit of the restraint system, and it just naturally moving up to the upper limit due to gravity...

Isn't there some whole rumour that the wheels were changed shortly after our respective trips Mr Mark? At least Dan didn't use the TPR defence of stating it wasn't well themed...

Merlin based optimism with ride renovations <3

So it's just gonna be completely outdoors now I guess? Is a completely new roof out of the question?

Mack <3 Even the station looks like Blue Fire <3

Oh... *DISCLAIMER - Not Thorpe's one, though I can't imagine it'll look ANY better*

Different rides, different construction... Gerstlauer's are reknown for essentially being LEGO when the track is put together, Takibashi was built in something silly like two weeks total... Besides, Saw died due to operation issues, rather than anything related to construction... On the other hand though, Thirteen ended up being rushed at the end of the day, so who knows... Either way, it's too difficult for anyone outside the construction to state how far behind (if at all) schedule they are, and with a comparison to Saw, it's harsh, as Saw didn't end up being flooded for a good week...

What COULD be an interesting exit is doing something like Fluch, and having a mini-maze as it were... No actors, just, a maze... Maybe even a mirror maze to make it seem that the place cannot be escaped, and that you'll be a patient forever... Put in some lighting and other effects and boom, weird yet an exit which would stick in the mind...

What is with the obsession with putting scare mazes on EVERYTHING? Bugger off with this stupid fad... Why put it on SW7? Why does it need it? It's a roller coaster, SURELY that's enough? Plonk some good theming around it and done, it doesn't need any stupid extras to be 'scarier', it's not the same situation with Sub Terra lacking (in the opinion of most) when it originally opened, and that exit corridor actually improved the attraction... What would a scare maze do to accent SW7? Just... No...

Looks good... Then again, most concepts do... #sittingonthefence

But wasn't it crap? Unfortunately it closed before my visit, but surely it's days were always numbered when they removed the loop... No gimmick, making it pointless as it was panned by all... Meh, maybe they'll get a good ride, as they need another one...

I said I'd do this after Europa... So... 1 - Nemesis Still clinging onto the top spot... Maybe because of the whole first inverting coaster, it does hold some place in my heart like Vampire... Unlike Vampire however, it is still a beast, and one of the best Inverts in the world... 2 - Katun The Italian beast remains... This weirdly amazing American style Invert was a truly breathtaking ride last year, and is certainly not ridden by enough people it seems... Worth the entrance price to Mirabilandia alone... 3 - Blue Fire New for 2012 Just look at my trip report for an in depth explanation on this... Gorgeous, well designed, near as damn the perfect ride with airtime, smoothness and some bouts of intensity to boot... Needless to say that more parks need to buy Mack Megacoasters, and I will put it out there now that Liseberg's will be fantastic... 4 - Oz'Iris New for 2012 For a few months this made my top 3 all B&M Inverts... Says a lot about the ride type, but only in Europe... We are extremely lucky to have 3 world class coasters in the continent, whilst it has apparently gotten slower or whatever, that should not detract from an extremely amazing looking area and one of the best queuelines in the world... The ride is a weird and unique layout, with some great B&M parts... Plus it has the best operator chair ever <3 5 - Revenge of the Mummy Mark9 is wrong... I do indeed love this ride... Whether it's aged badly I have no idea, but I found the dark ride theming brilliant, and whilst the ride portion lacks this, the launch and airtime filled course makes it very re-rideable for me... Also... Cups of coffee... 6 - The Beast The longest wooden coaster in the world is a weird creature, and works much like the Ultimate, but in a much better fashion, as it focuses a lot on the pure build up of speed through a forest... Lots of straights, but due to this acceleration, it doesn't detract... Let alone how it changes from good to unbelievably awesome at night, where the sense of speed in the pitch black completely changes the aspect of the ride... 7 - Tonnerre de Zeus Ton of Air is the classic CCI coaster... Wild, full of airtime, laterals, and just generally mental... The back row on the first drop is one of the great ride sensations, and causes sheer panic, fear and joy simultaneously... Two fantastic rides closer to us than Disney, easily worth the drive... 8 - Top Thrill Dragster Poor Intamin, I do deride them a fair bit, but really, TTD is sommat that deserves some recognition, as it is a pure example of how powerful (though wasteful, but that's another topic) the Hydraulic launch system can be... It s a much more dominating ride in comparison to Stealth, and is one of the few rides in recent times where I've been nervous of riding... Fantastic launch, unparalled with the lap bar... 9 - Fluch von Novgorod It's dropped a bit since last year, but only due to more new amazing rides joining the line up... But Fluch is easily the best example of an Eurofighter, and it's so weird to think that a small independently run park opened such a fantastic version of this type the same year as Saw... Great theming, great launch, great indoor section of madness, great exit path (including slide and maze)... Worth a visit... 10 - Megaphobia Rounding it off is Wales' answer to Ton of Air... Not as good, but a damn fine ride in it's own right... Excellent fun and does share some similarities with Zeus, needs a revisit in the future, but I would imagine it's still the fun ride I remember it to be... Other 2012 Near Misses Anubis (Plopsaland) - Pretty damn fun ride, Gerstlauer launches are just fab... Also based off a fab TV show, I can't wait to return to the park with actual knowledge of it, but the ride is not good enough to make it into the top 10... Swarm - Yeah, it's good, but hell, I think even Raptor might even have the edge over it... It's easily Thorpe's best ride, but really with the lack of consistency with the theming and effects, it does drop some points... It does have some excellent portions, but I think as an overall package it does lack a few parts that Raptor does better (the middle portion and finale)... Wodan (Europa) - Excellent ride, it really is... Probably my favourite GCI so far (With Lightning Racer up there) with an exceptional queue-line and look... The ride though is weird when you look at the older style rides, and really, just not as good at the end of the day... Not as wild or terrifying... On the other hand it's great fun and re-rideable, and doesn't have burdenous seat-belts... Other Mentions The Euro-Raves (Europa) - Truly rides to be experienced to understand why they have a relatively cult following, EuroSat is a weird indoor coaster, very much inspired by the works of Anton, with tight turns and sharp brakes, whilst Euro-Mir is the strangest of all, with controlled spinning and a random as hell layout that ends (sometimes) with one of the most intense ride sequences I've experience... Regardless, they're very fun and my recent trip made me realise how good they are... Besides, THOSE SOUNDTRACKS <3

The original Drop Tower concept was more of the 1st generation Intamin drop towers, rather than a true Tower of Terror... However, that concept was important in leading up to it... The Nautilus is actually a walkthrough (ish) attraction, hidden... It's quite cool, not amazing, but worth a look around if it's raining...

This basically... Replaces Oblivion and advertises SW7... Good call...