Benin

Thorpe get stick because quite often it's perfectly justified, like many parks do... Indeed, Thorpe can easily be criticised for it's poor maintenance standards we have seen over the years (although 2011 was good, it has this year descended back to earlier times), going in summer and having 8 of your rides/attractions down and 2 of your working coasters breaking every so often is not good service, regardless of rides opening later on... We can also criticise Thorpe for their lowest common denominator style PR stunts, which are quite frankly, worse than Morwenna's crap she spouted whilst at Towers... My main problem with Thorpe is the distinct lack of consistency, you come out of the Swarm area into some old tatty often closed beach area, with random chart music playing at it's tinniest form... Then Tidal Wave's immersiveness is ruined by the stupidity that is Storm Surge, and then Lost City is a mess of thematic music... Of course, this doesn't matter anymore, cos Thorpe have moved away from themed areas, but the problem is that these areas still remain in a sense, so the continuity and consistency just fails... Then they decide to trial a shopping container hotel before building an actual one... Decisions like that also don't help... Most on here are good with criticism, giving justified explanations behind it, rather than go "rar rar rar #thorpeisawful rar rar"... People do give the park credit (for Swarm, for opening rides early) but there are also things the park makes mistakes on (running one train on coasters in the morning, overselling of fastrack) and hence are criticised for it... As long as it is justifiable, no park is free from criticism... Hell I'm sure I have some criticisms of Europa Park to write up about in my report, and that truly is an outstanding park, same goes for Disney... It's just up to people to actually bother to give reasons for their criticism...

So as the exit for Blue Fire spat us out at the entrance to Wodan, we elected to join the building up queue and await it's opening for a quick ride on it... Wodan Well the award for most epic ride entrance goes to this, that structure is pretty fab and certainly sets the ride up very well... The queue inside is also very well themed, with plenty of models and stuff to look at... I felt that it was very maze-like and when it runs on two trains it can feel quite a slow queue... But when on 3 trains it constantly moves, it's brilliant when that happens, but it only happened once for us... Regardless, we waited for the front, enjoying the atmosphere of the station, with the statues overlooking the trains departing and arriving, with the fly-through producing some interesting remarks from the crowd... Soon we were on and with a quick bar check (only the second ride that has physical checks at the park it seems) galloping off to the most epic dispatch music... The lift is quick, but not as quick as that turnaround before the drop, no time to waste before the huge (or least it feels huge) steep drop back into the support structure and some rockwork, before we dive up into a small airtime hill and the ride's interactive corner with Blue Fire... Unfortunately we never got any interaction, but I'm sure it can work if the timings are right... A slick drop under the entranceway is taken quickly up into the fly-through and the awkward bank it does (the second one in the ride, the first being the random outside bank that happens in the pre-lift section) with an interesting hop into an airtime hill, leading us into the second half of the ride, the twisty airtime section, a more traditional GCI thing here, with sudden directional changes and bumps... The Atlantica interaction is better than Blue Fire's, but again, never got to experience interaction, so disappoint Before long we hit the brakes though, after a good bit of airtime and twisting... A fair finale to what is initially a large and dominating looking ride... Overall, Wodan is a very solid and fun ride, which at times can be excessively wild (especially late in the day after heavy rain, as we discovered) and has a beautiful if sometimes burdenous feeling queue... It is a very re-rideable ride though, again a solid family coaster that suits the park down to the tee... Not as good as Blue Fire, but still a good ride... 8/10

European parks That station is really beautiful...

The area music was fab, the on ride music (when it worked) was also pretty good, just phwoar... I don't know where to put it on my top 10

Hah, don't worry, I look forward to the challenge of this trip report... Especially as each day involved something new, rather than the constant re-riding and whorage of empty queues

Day 1 An early morning and breakfast was to occur for the next 3 days, all because of the hotel ERT that starts from 8:30... Urgh, so damn early, but when there's Blue Fire awaiting, well, there's not much to actually complain about is there? Blue Fire Guess what, we rode this first... And what can really be said about it that many haven't before? It truly stands up to the hype and praise it has been given by enthusiasts, quite simply a brilliant ride, but why? First of all, the Iceland area, in conjunction now with the Splash Battle and Wodan, looks amazingly good, like all the areas of Europa do, but Blue Fire's layout delivers well to area interactivity, as it dominates a fair amount (not as much as it used to with Wodan I fear, but there you go), and the pathway parallel and level to the launch is a genius bit of landscaping design... The queue enters into the sponsors building... Gazprom made Oblivion's Fanta sponsor debacle look subtle... But it does fit (although I think my good view on this is because I didn't queue in the building, learning about Energy saving was already done at uni thanks)... Led outside under some rocks and the end of the launch provides a great look at the overbank, before we headed straight back towards the station and into the front row queue for our first ride... The station is gorgeous as well, with the music being a great accompany to the build-up of the attraction... And what German coaster with dark ride portion wouldn't be complete without DOORS?! Onto the train then, and good god it's comfy... The restraints as well, are simply great, being safe and secure yet free... Basically, Mack looked at the Intamin lap bars, and made them better and able to keep people from throwing themselves out of it... There's a lot of Intamin in this ride actually, but the trains go a long way to making Blue Fire better than the likes of Maverick and iSpeed... The Pulse monitors are a nice touch, if a bit tempermental... Seated then, and through the doors we go into the mini dark section... Again, so much detail and theming where most parks wouldn't really care much... Then we stop, have someone blab German at us, the doors slide out showing us the launch track, and then BOOM... It's not the most intense launch in the world, but it's soooo smooth yet carries a good bit of force on it... Then into the overbank, which causes a moment of "OMG I'M GONNA FALL OUT" for those sat on the left side of the train, which is a great element, before we dive towards the rocks and into the relatively forceful loop... The short overbank turn after is a lovely thing to follow, before the MCBR slows it down before giving us some amazing ejector into the next rock filled drop and first corkscrew... The terrain turn into the next one is quite good as well into the second corkscrew, with some tight turns and transitions leading into the defining element of the ride, the finale zero-g which is just as if not more intense than Swarm's finale... The final sweeping turn leads into the brakes and creates the perfect end to the ride... So what makes Blue Fire so good? It's a combination of all the elements working together, and working together well... If we compare to the Intamin rides akin to it, they suffer from poor restraint design, Blue Fire doesn't, and does near enough the same things... It's truly a perfect family thrill ride, but it's thrilling enough to satisfy those who like thrill rides... Add in the theming, soundtrack, smoothness, transitions and it just results in a near perfect ride... 10/10

Bell Rock... Obvs...

Ahhhhh, now this I've been looking forward to for a while now, especially after the original date for this trip was cancelled due to my appendix deciding to commit suicide... So this trip was rebooked, and the excitement built up once again... I vaguely remember my trip to Europa 4 years ago, when Silver Star was king, and a demonstration of the constantly moving (if maze-like) queues were abound on every single ride on park... Since then of course, Iceland and it's two coasters have appeared, so as such, it was time to revisit and do it properly... 3 days, on site... Hell yeah... The plan for departure was simple, leave in the middle of the day, get to the hotel mid-afternoon, chill and prepare for the 3 long days ahead... The flight over went well, and we arrived at Euro Airport and it's confusing border situation... Nevertheless, we got out, and found our shuttle man awaiting us... This is something that crops up with every Europa trip, how to get to the park from whatever airport you go to... The transport links are crap, there's no two ways about it, which is weird for such a big park in Germany where transport is usually pretty decent... So we were faced with the choice of the relatively burdenous looking route of public transport, or pay top dollar (€99 each way) for a shuttle car straight to the park... We took the latter option, and it was certainly worth it if only for the ease of which it worked... If in a bigger group of 4, it's even more worth it, and it negates the possible transport issue that can occur with trains/buses/etc. Our driver was nice, and mentioned sights and other things on our trip (in German of course, my broken knowledge of which made for some fun), and an hour later I got my first glimpse of Blue Fire, and much like the sight of Katun in Italy last year, my excitement began to truly build... So to the Colosseo, what an impressive sight it is, something that can be said for each of the hotels actually, and after a quick check in (where the European hotel tax rears its head, but you get a free guide book for your troubles), we entered a room that looked nothing short of amazing... And then we looked out of the window, and knew that paying the extra for the room with a view of the piazza was sooooo worth it... After some marvelling of the view we elected to explore our hotel and the others to boot, but not before grabbing some Smarties Ice Cream from the lobby to truly enjoy the sunshine Mainland Europe had kept to itself... The hotel is stunning really, it certainly puts Towers to shame, and indeed the lower end Disney hotels too... Hell even Hotel New York at Paris looks crap in comparison to this effort... To see how constant this awesomeness was, we headed towards the trio of Spanish themed hotels via a tunnel... Which decided to demonstrate how much effort Europa put into EVERYTHING... There is no need for them to theme the tunnel as such, but they did... Extremely well... Brilliant stuff... Anyways, onto the Spanish hotels, pretty nice actually, each one seems to have a completely different atmosphere and it is brilliant, from the happy Andaluz to the silent and grand Santa Isabel, each hotel tells a different story and has just as much effort put into them all... Simply outstanding... After sampling Spain, it was time to head to the brand new Bell Rock hotel, which has a path leading from the Colosseo to the back entrance with the lake (and World of Colour esque fountain show)... Again though, completely different atmosphere (that of a cosy family style thing), look, and approach... Each hotel made me want to stay in it, which can only be termed a good thing really... We headed back to the Colosseo and chilled in the room for a bit, catching our own hotel's fountain show (the first of MANY)... It then came to our dinner reservation back at the Bell Rock... We headed back and ventured into the restaurant, which they combine both the buffet and a la carte options together. We were doing a la carte, so ended up in a separate area which made us feel underdressed due to the poshness of it all... The meal was nice though, and we even had a character interaction with some random sea-captain... Who got the couple on the next table to take a photo, which was awkward for everyone involved... On our way back to the hotel we caught the Colosseo fountains at night, which made them look even more epic... We then ventured up to the Colosseo Bar (which looks so weird due to the American theme, probably the only issue with the hotel thematically), got some drinks and took in the view of the park looking forward to some early morning Blue Fire...

Considering I've just come back from Europa, yeah, critical

Because the staff will preview the room and nothing else... Least when the Chessie staff did it they got to try out a new bar/restaurant and be able to fit more than 2 people comfortably in a room...

Why do staff members need a preview? Like, the Thorpe staff aren't likely to stay over there are they? Unless Thorpe are going to put them up for free if necessary next year for those who live far away...

The big spider thing will end up being some form of evil monster... Cos that's how Candy Holland rolls...

Hmmm, I might invest into mob supplies in case this comes to fruition, easy money... But seriously, I would hate this to happen, Mouse is easily the best ride at the park, and is one of the most uniquely terrifying experiences in the country... A sad day indeed, and I sense that Amada would return to her original figure of hatred/displeasure... Blackpool have a happy niche in nostalgic/classic stuff, why keeping everything is unlikely to be a great idea business wise, Mouse surely isn't something that would be so far down the list of saving...

An increase of 250%? *I don't want to live on this planet anymore[/img]*

Even Tesco have standards... More like Poundland...

Maybe unable to use the Hospitality Tent this year... A shame, because the Krypt was actually very good (even though the finale was a bit meh)... Are we surprised Chessie's stuff has been scaled back? Oh wells... Not particularly desperate to go since 7pm closing...

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...