Benin

So I visited last night solely for some night time Swarm, and it wasn't particularly a great journey to the park, with an accident occurring essentially outside my house, making me go towards the A3, constant traffic everywhere... 2 hours later I arrived at an extremely soggy Thorpe... Walked to grab our tickets, told we didn't need to pick anything up and go straight in... Confusing times, glad we hadn't queued to be told that, so we went through the turnstiles and experienced the most terrifying thing of the night... Some giant arse spider was dangling at face level casually at the side of a pillar... JESUS it was huge... And made of not want... Btw, security level rating of the entrance was 2... We went to pick up our Fastrack entitled to us after the awful August visit, with Guest Services having a security rating of 3, before heading off to Swarm... It looks lush at night, and the fire really lights up the entire area, unfortunate it doesn't go off every train and seemed dead later on, probably because of the rain... It's fab, as was the lack of queue, as we walked all the way through straight onto the left side back row... Dark weather and rainy track, Swarm really speeds up quite an obvious amount... Upon returning to the station there were a few empty rows, and the staff were more than happy to let people stay on, good times... Liked how the staff were getting into the mood as well with lots of people covered in face paint, shame the park doesn't have much in the way of actual theming, but hey, that's kinda expected of the event... Fish was next, and as usual staffed by exceptionally bored and entertaining staff, always like how the staff on the smaller rides actually seem happier than those on the bigger rides, Thorpe is weird like that... 4 laps, was alright... Stealth was dead at this point (eventually reopened on one train, to which I said "no thanks Intamin, not when there's walk on B&Ms), so we went on Inferno which had a 15 minute ish queue... The rain was slowly getting heavier which of course on Inferno often results in dripping... Not this time, a TORRENT of water constantly attacked the riders during the ride, from lift hill to the brakes, water came from every direction, resulting in very sodden legs for all involved... The rain worsened, so it was time to stand outside Asylum and watch reactions... This was amusing, although the attraction gets 1 security rating... Must do better for half term... After some time, Experiment Binary was investigated, realising we could sit down and watch people, it was a quick dash for some donuts (by Storm Surge, which had FLOODED the pathway beneath it, Thorpe's drainage is lacking) and return to sit down... Good news, Experiment 10 had a security rating of 3... Excellent work... Next was Rush, bring back the creepy schoolchildren I say! No idea what prison based thing it was meant to be... Decent setting too... Wahey... Walked past Saw Alive, security rating of 2, which is alright... Didn't do Saw, realised Samurai lived, but had broken down, too much rain to enjoy it anyways, same for Slammer, though that had broken down too... Passing had a security rating of 1... Perhaps the paid per thing means less hassle on it? Oh wells... Some more pointless meandering led us back to Bar 360 for a hot chocolate, some roaming actors were milling about in there and the Dome, putting on a show as well which I didn't see due to reserving a table... The drink tasted awful but was warm, priorities eh? Wandered onto Det, the platformer loved life with the drumming aspect... His failure at batching led me to having to wait two extra cycles before boarding... BOOOOO! Oh wells, Det loves it... Had some food at the Mexican Cantina, good value there, served by all 4 bored staff members, one of them didn't know about AP discount even though she was advertising it on her lanyard, that was amusing, as was them messing around with the music... Gotta keep entertained somehow... Watched more Asylum, serious staff member berated some people for saying bad words, well done to her... Saw a Hotdog get chased out by crazy chainsaw nurse... That was odd... Did Swarm once more before heading home... Would definitely stayed longer and done more rides if the rain had stopped at some point, but it was just constant and as such horrid... As was the journey home... Not a great day but it was still fun... Again, the weather was more of a factor than the park... Just glad the insanely large wave of schoolkids were leaving as we arrived... Overall sense of security - No worries whatsoever

Should just use the same bag systems as Europa's amazing magically self moving cupboards of joy...

Thing is with the cheap nights, they were done on off peak nights, and were certainly successful to some degree, as the night I was there Splash Landings was very busy (which is where the deal was)...

I found it very amusing when I went towards it and it broke... Reopened shortly after, at which point Slammer then broke... Would've ridden both if it wasn't for the awful rain, but they're back up, which is very good to see... Well done...

I always found it weird how Saw had all the issues yet none of the other Eurofighters did... Was loading 2 at a time REALLY that problematic? That seems to be the one major difference between them (Especially Fluch and Mystery Mine), and perhaps that is the reason... Of course, with 4 rows of 4 per car/train, shouldn't have to dual load trains... But then we'll get the special thing break instead, wahey...

Ellen Bill Nye Energy Adventure

Interesting to see how this develops... Will there be new entertainment options? Will it be reasonably priced? Will it be popular? Will it help or hinder the park's resort image? And more importantly, will it be made out of shipping containers?

Eh? I'm lost here, since when did either of those places give off that sort of vibe? Amity Kebab and Roasty Relish are both fab additions... Was actually surprised how good the Kebab place was, which is testament to the great improvement of food at the parks... Indeed, there's very few if any truly awful food places these days at the parks, compared to a few years ago when you wouldn't want to set foot in a park food joint bar the BBQ place...

I'd LOVE to see some actual proof to this, because, erm, HAVE they mucked up? Or are you just making crap up to fit your poorly constructed arguement?

Is that Alton specific? Because the same can be said of ALL the Merlin parks... And I'm sure Storm Surge made loads of the North stream down the M6 to experience it... Would rather a park get a well thought out addition rather than cheap and rushed (which is why Towers' 2011 addition didn't materialise)...

KFC has expectations?

That's what happens when people pay too much attention to the PR crap that gets spouted by parks... I enjoyed Thirteen from day 1, because I saw it as a family ride with a special drop... People fell into the hype, and were hence disappointed... Go on Thirteen now, and the entire train laughs from the indoor section onwards... That's what theme parks are about, people having fun and enjoying a ride, not saying it's not as good as such and such ride yada yada...

What's the betting that there will be more scuffles/fights at the Crystal Palace vs Millwall footie match this Saturday in comparison to Thorpe? Yeah, there is nothing to worry about, unsurprisingly, the parks DO know what they are doing for the most part...

Nail pretty much on head here, the GP reaction to Thirteen after it's had a chance to bed into the park is so much better than the initial reactions on opening day and the weeks after... Nowhere near as bad as some people seem to make it out to be...

4 rows of 4? Perhaps it won't be a Gerstlauer - http://www.maurer-rides.com/x-coaster/x-train/

Deja Vu <3 Panda Express <3 Good to see a review of a park people rarely hear about... And horray for over-hyped Intamin rubbish!

8 passenger launch vehicles? Fluch? Iron Shark lapbar cars though would be much approved... Probs won't happen but still... Do want...

Yep, and that's been EXTREMELY successful in bringing in the crowds this year hasn't it? Oh wait, no, Thorpe aren't hitting the numbers they expected are they?

Bad Thorpe? What if the woman had been messing about and it was her fault she got caught in the conveyor? I swear like half of all theme park incidents are down to guest idiocy...

Ahhh, but was the loss of guests solely because of no new attractions? There's always something more to things, as last year was a HORRID year for all Merlin parks, not just Towers...

They don't need a new ride... They need to improve the atmosphere and look of the park, as currently, it's a bit lacking in both those areas...

Because the original Zodiac model was ancient and prone to throwing pods into trees... Sometimes rides do need replacing, but why replace rides which have nothing wrong with them?

I wonder though if Burger King gets busy because of being a recognised brand... Thorpe's restaurants outside of Burger King, KFC and Pizza Hut very rarely get very busy in my experience...

That last picture just goes to prove that Disney face characters always look really really bad... Especially it seems the American ones... The Circus looks great though... I'm still holding back till Fantasyland is actually finished though...

Won't be McDonalds because they made them go away from Chessie and Towers in the first place... Yay for more branded outlets though, one thing Merlin have done well, is the park food, so much better now...