Benin

Only now? It was a cheap and unnecessary installation, what else did we expect from it?

I remember the days Vortex had music... MUSIC! And the motor run dropping floor <3 Also, when did the restraints become so violent? I felt like I was gonna end up beheaded...

Considering the park don't expect it to be open this year... I'm not gonna get excited until it gets put back together and runs again...

Both rides? Considering Samurai is lying forlorn in pieces, and is expected to be gone in the next few days, I doubt it'll reopen this year... Slammer... Wait and see...

It actually made no sense why they put it there, when all rumours (and logic) pointed to them removing the Observation Tower...

It is the cynical view Josh, but is most likely the correct one... I expect it to be gone soon... Maybe they could squeeze a smallish flat in that space? Or make a lovely lakeside patio restaurant instead?

Woo trip today... Swarm started on one train, and also saw us wait for 10 minutes in the same spot whilst lots of Fastrack people were let through... Urgh... Putting both of those things together (especially as the only reason the queue is so long is due to the one train factor) did not particularly make me feel happy... As someone who has worked on many a batch gate, it's obvious that the management have told staff (and Chessie as well) that Fastrack people are not allowed to wait at all, meaning that you see so many Fastrackers sent through with no balance from the main queue... Why can't Fastrackers be held at batch like they used to be and mixed in at the same time? Urgh, anyways, after that, it was off to Flying Fish and Depth Charge, neither of which had a queue, and Depth Charge now has pigeons taking up residence within the structure... Wahey... Then we elected for some Lost City action, starting with Vortex (awful setting), Zodiac (long wait for a clean-up followed by a crap setting), Quantum (actually really good and smooth, when did that happen?) and ending with Rush (good as always)... Lunch was called, and we headed to Amity Kebab as I had never eaten there before... Was quite good really, decent spice and kick to the Lamb Shish, if it doesn't seem like much... Filling really... After lunch we wandered over to Samurai, poor thing, pulled apart and sitting all over the place... The arm is fully folded now so it might not even be on park by Fright Nights half term at this rate... Slammer is still stood there doing nothing... Loggers was next, decently wet on it, before a quick spin dry on Rocky Express... Horray for walk-ons on EVERY non coaster ride! Saw reopened after a brief closure so we joined the 30 minute (NOT the advertised 60) queue... It was rough again, very juddery although was nice to see the puppet scene for the first time since I originally rode it... Sets up the indoor bit a lot better really... Shame the outdoors is god awful... Rumba next, and meh, no effects bar the Waterfall on... Bit pointless really... Then Inferno, which was it's usual solid self really... Det also running well as per usual... Teacups were crap, couldn't spin the thing at all... Shame really... But, meh... Did Depth Charge again (between that or Storm Surge? Lol), before a quick double header on each back row of Swarm... God the ride is so good (and the new SFX on the ambulance and phonebox are cool)... LEDs were on too woo, and I had fire on my second ride... YAY FIRE! It's really good when it goes off... Might be better not going off as regularly as it did last for the overall system... But still, wooooo... Good day in the end, if only for the lack of queues on anything that wasn't a coaster... No Stealth though and dunno what it was doing... However there WERE staff CLEANING THE PLATFORM *dies of shock*

Samurai is so depressing to look at...

You mean the "GAME.... OVER!" bit? Yeah, that's been there like... forever... I keep going on this thing, and I keep getting headaches... Today's was especially nasty... Urgh... It was very juddery in the vertical sense, rather than neck bashing... Dunno why it's the only Eurofighter that suffers so badly...

I think the problem is the location of that ride in relation to others (Jaguar and Silver Bullet) doesn't particularly aid the ease of evacuating people...

Charlie is an immersive dark ride experience? You must give me your dealer's number...

Considering how few dates there are (same for Towers) I'm not surprised they expect it to be busy... Annoying hassle though... Bleh... Only last year I was enjoying an empty midweek jaunt to Towers' Scarefest, and that's completely out the question this year

ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNO GERSTLAUER!

The Passing will use timed slots, making Fastrack completely and utterly pointless, so it's not a surprise in the slightest...

It COULD be a new roller coaster... But I dunno...

Good for Slammer, but it's not going to help Samurai much is it?

This is why fairground designed rides at theme parks aren't the best idea... Chessie ran it as it would at a fair, but that buggered it up in the long run as Thorpe are finding out (and probably as a result of karma for nabbing Chessie's best ride)... Do Mondial make park versions of it? I dunno, but this is a good indicator as to why fair rides are a potentially bad investment for parks (that and the throughput issues, as Blackpool discovered with Spin Doctor)...

Most definitely is rough... Quite possibly a height thing (see also, tall people find Colossus rough, hard to navigate, etc), as soon as the outdoor drop begins for me, is where the ride proceeds to beat me (and many others) up in a rather unpleasant way... To me, regardless of the comparison to superior Eurofighter (indeed, I find it easily the weakest ride), it's just generally not a very good ride... Again this is linked to the roughness for me, but that's the way it goes, it's at a similar level to Rita for that really... The airtime hill in comparison to Speed's (which I had ridden long before Saw, so the vertical lift wasn't a novelty for me) is also really poor, and again similar to other Eurofighters with such hills... I think a major turning point in people's opinions on Saw is the amount of other rides of the type that have been ridden... Like with every ride type... But Saw is always going to cause these problems with people, but for me, it's just not good in the first place, and the bits it does well (I.e. the inside portion) are just eclipsed by Mystery Mine and Fluch that it will forever pale in comparison, like Stealth does once you ride Top Thrill Dragster... Just never comes close... Ever... That's a blog topic for someone, how visiting parks abroad can affect your opinion of rides (for example, how European B&M Inverts laugh at their USA brethren for being AWFUL)...

Then you ride other Eurofighters and realise how bad Saw really is in direct comparison... Seriously, go to Hansa Park, and you ride Fluch, which opened the same year as Saw, for a no doubt cheaper budget, and then say that Saw is well themed and a good ride... Hell even Rage and Speed have far superior rides, even if they lack any sort of theming... Then there's Mystery Mine... For me, the roughness is the main culprit, between it and Colossus, I might as well just invest in shares for Neurofen, yet out of all the other Eurofighters I've been on, only Saw has attempted to batter me senseless... Maybe because death is part of the theme? I dunno, my opinion has always been slanted as I rode Mystery Mine not long after Saw, allowing for an easy direct comparison between two rides which aimed to be heavily themed experiences, and Mystery Mine just trounced it, even with a rather average middle section between the two lift hills, the finale more than made up for anything... Similarly with Fluch, the drop and launch combo makes Saw's indoor drop look like Flying Fish, and the overall theme and layout (primarily indoors and utter mayhem) just makes me wonder what Saw could have been if half the budget hadn't been splurged on the IP...

JOY! WHERE'S JOY?! JOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOY! [/obscure reference no-one will get]

Think it's just some enthusiasts putting 2+2 together and getting 5, as I think as well Rita's cable snap prompted Thorpe to shut the Gardens due to access being under Stealth's launch track... It would be nice for it being built next year, but I would wait until the park confirm it themselves or via here, not some unknown coaster Facebook group...

Thought that was common knowledge? Meant to be built to coincide with the proposed 2015 coaster... Therefore linking Stealth to it as well as Swarm...

Cba to make my own topic, so I'll just mooch off Mark's (since I went on the same day, just with a coaster group (THE HORROR))... I too haven't been to Blackpool in YEARS (the year Infusion opened), so was interested to see what was new and how bad the fountain situation actually is... My day started with lots of faff and early, as whilst the park might open at 10, EVERYTHING is staggered opening... This is rather weird, but regardless the entrance area is pretty nice now, although Noah's Ark is completely out of place, the open air plaza leading towards Nash or Valhalla is miles better than the Dodgems of old... Wild Mouse was first, and is simply the best ride at the park... Recently I saw an enthusiast question why this "Small wooden coaster in the UK" was placed reasonably high on the Golden Tickets list, and riding it again makes me believe it's not only the heritage behind the ride, but the fact that it is easily the most terrifying coaster in the UK, because no other coaster makes you feel like you will go all Final Destination... It's incredible really, the drops and airtime are all there, with those turns making Rattlesnake look like a B&M... Plus you have to duck below the lifthill in the most literal sense... Brilliant little thing, and well deserves the love... Big Dipper next, and after recent discussions asking should it remain in the park, I feel obliged to say, "yes, it does have a right to remain there", because it really is a fun ride... Sure it's rough, but EVERY SINGLE RIDE at Blackpool is rough in some respect, similarly to Mark, I've done much worse rides for roughness... Dipper is just a simple ride that looks great and is possibly one of the most recognisable landmarks in the UK... River Caves was to be the dark ride of choice next, another classic ride which has definitely seen better days... The theming ideas whilst grand are just unkept and look awful... The cave scene is currently under redevelopment due to Wallace and Gromit, but regardless, it could do with a tart up, with perhaps some full on animatronics to bring it into the 21st century without removing the old ride feel... Some meandering led us to Grand National... Last time I rode it with the new trains, I hated it, and the operations haven't improved much since then... Why oh why did Kumbak decide to follow Vekoma's method of revamping rides? Urgh... However, the actual ride portion was back to the old standard and is easily one of the best coasters in the UK when running well... If only it still had the old operation standards People went on Valhalla next, which I avoided, then lunch/dry-off time was called... Eventually (After searching the entire park) we ended up at Coasters (moved from it's old location by South Entrance, the one issue with having single entrance now is that it has killed the promenade in front of the park), and some food later, it was back into the rides... Onto the Big One, bless it, it's so badly designed and laid out isn't it? That helix is awful, the slow long drawn out hills... However it is the iconic ride of the UK and that first drop is still a complete surprise... The new trains make it look sooooo much better, and overall it is a good ride really... It can be seen as boring (like I have done) but really, it's decent enough... Then Steeplechase... I love it, it's sooooooo H&S evil (like many of Blackpool's rides) and just brilliant at life... Amazing how simple a thing of making a ride duelling can make all the difference... It's a really entertaining ride and a classic... I would be sad to see it go but considering the footprint of the thing it would depend on Blackpool's opinion of it in the end... We ventured into the Maze next, which was a bit rubbish in the end... So we celebrated by going on Avalanche, with the most annoying theme music in the world... It's actually good again, the constant build up of speed is a real asset to the Bobsleigh coasters, making the point of them actually exist... New coloured Rev was next... Coar it looks amazing in grey... Really, really does... The loudness of the speakers in the queue however, as much as I like Ride of the Valkyries, was not amusing... As was the sheer windchill on the platform... However, it is great fun, proving that even the most simplest launch rides can be as good as their modern, more complex counterparts... Airtime, G-Forces, it does exactly what it says on the tin... Nick Land looks really good for the record... It is garish yes, but actually, that suits Blackpool's tackiness down to a tee... Orange Coaster looks awful though... And it lost it tunnel The new loading/off-loading is stupid as well mind... Oh wells... It's not too bad in the end as a ride... Definitely always a hit with the younger audience... After Orange some people went on Infusion (lord knows why) whilst the rest headed towards more dark ride randomness, this time in the shape of the delightful Alice in Wonderland... This ride was built in the 60s and you can see it... It's actually fab, like amazingly so... It's that old school terrifying which makes the old dark rides so unique in comparison to things like Charlie and Tomb Blaster... I really enjoyed it because it was so off the wall... With one of the biggest dark ride innuendos in the country, putting Hocus Pocus Hall to shame... I heartily recommend that people go on it... Darkness had fallen, and we were planning on going on Impossible, but the man was being very meh towards a group of 30+ heading in, so the sensible ones of us went for some last ditch night time Grand National... Oh my... It was storming around the track in such glorious fashion... The two double dip drops were brilliant, and the sheer pace and running of the thing was unbelievable... Shows the difference between old and new designs, few modern woodies can create the out of control experience Nash and the rest of them do, not even rides like Zeus or Megaphobia come close... Overall, it was a good day in the end, the redevelopment of the park is actually a lot more beneficial than enthusiasts give credit for... Whilst Trauma Towers and Bling's spots remain unused, I'm sure they will soon enough... And I LOVE the Fountain Police <3<3

It's been dying for ages though really... Kinda inevitable... Needs a good proper work up or replacing with a newer model...

That might well explain the Swarm's TVs being taken over by adverts... Dunno what to think of it...