Benin

It ain't gonna get anymore theming... It just looked turd, is pointless in a park with nearly enough every other water ride already in existence, and has a really stupid looking drop... I wish the B&M Dive Machine rumours had been true EDIT - Oh, and yeah, why the hell aren't we talking about Cars Land (now open with Beuna Vista Street)? http://www.westcoaster.net/updates.php?updateCD=061912 WHY CAN'T WE HAVE NICE THINGS?

Isn't Sandcastle at Blackpool meant to ok? The UK climate just doesn't lend well to water parks being built, such is the way of things. Building indoor ones to contravene this issue means higher costs and potentially more difficult planning permissions to tackle... I think though it's mostly the lack of suitable climate and desire to go and see some topless fat bloke in a speedo...

In the cases of some other parks though (let's take Plopsaland for example), the park opened at 10, with some rides opening at 10:30, then another load at 11:00, then one ride randomly opening at 13:00... It happens in quite a few parks this staggered opening stuff (Chessie of course introducing it earlier, which really did make sense, although so would closing the park midweek to save MORE money), just naturally, it's unheard of in the UK, and like the parking charges, has come in (although for very different reasons) and has caused the usual backlash... For the smaller rides like Duel and Battle Galleons (which both never get a queue anyways) it is slightly understandable, I just can't see why Air and Thirteen are chosen at all, because that will cause the most uproar from guests, as those are two of the park's biggest rides... That's the biscuit I think, if those two weren't touched people wouldn't be minding it...

Some of those closures are very uninteresting, namely the Kiosks and Units which always are on and off with opening... However, closing Towers Street after 12? Erm... Sorry? That makes no sense for anyone who might wanna eat there... Ride wise, only really Air and Thirteen make no sense, as they as the most popular and highest throughput rides respectively at the park... Rita Shop closing meh, it was in a stupid position anyway, but having no snackage in X Sector and the Farm is annoying really... But this is what happens I guess when it comes down to not having the other options being done... Still, at least it's not as annoying as having a park open at 9 and having NO rides open... Least people can ride some stuff but it's still probably gonna affect a fair few guests whilst some will also just not really care... Some rides like Charlie and Driving School not opening on time make sense, as few families might set off straight there, whilst the water rides have been opening since 11 for a long time... I dunno, apples and oranges really... Though eventually will the applecart be upset a little bit too much for the majority of paying guests? That's what will determine the future...

I'm back from hospital bitches...

I would say that they're not extremely popular over here, the failure of Oblivion's trail on them is testament to that... I dunno, it depends how many people would actually buy one, not as easy to show off as an On Ride Photo so it would only be worth the investment if people actually purchased them...

Evidently record labels must have a different definition of exciting the fans than the fans do... Political undertones I can handle, but awful wubbing? Nah...

Lunch beckoned and we returned to the main entrance plaza for a BBQ Bratwurst, which was rather cheap and pretty nom, also allowing for relatively suggestive photos to be taken... Afterwards, we headed towards the final coaster of the park, a Zierer... Dongo's Race This was a weird one, as are most Zierer's of this type, very long and some good G's on some of the corners, with some weird theming as well... Actually a surprise really even if the seats aren't designed for two people sat together... 6/10 Carousel It was a Carousel... Chairswings Some Chairswings... Next up we headed into the Farm area of the park, which had an assortment of animals around the area including giant rabbits, small cocks, cows and evil goats... Was alright, including the poor horse with the heart painted onto its head... SpringFlyer Opening at 1pm (Merlin pls) this was just a StarFlyer, as per usual, not too particularly different but a nice view of the local area at the top of it. The op was doing well to fill the thing up as well, which is always approved of... Onion Boats Ahhh the traditional European ride that appears in EVERY SINGLE PARK on the continent. And always worth a quick sit down and glance at the theming. It continued the giant appliances seen on the Rollerskater. Was good and worth the sit down... Now it was time for one of the park's main Shows, which was to be viewed in Dutch, a language I know NOTHING about. And it centred around one of Gnome characters. Did I have a clue what was going on for 30 minutes? No. But it involved a lot of audience participation and the kids (and adults) were lapping it up. If I had a clue what was going on, I would have enjoyed it even more I reckon... The Dutch language is amazing... Next up we wandered back to a ride I noticed the entrance to earlier, thinking that it was a walkthrough dark ride... How wrong I was... Plop's Woods One thing I love about European parks is that they seem to hide dark rides in the strangest of places, and this was no exception. The worry was when the realisation dawned that this seemed to be an "It's a Small World" type ride about the world of Plop himself. However, it was very well themed and even involved a small drop. Rather surprisingly good and a wee hidden gem that many I'm sure would miss out on... We found ourselves hungry and rather finished for the day so decided to snack on a traditional Belgian Waffle in the entrance area which was very very tasty... A Train appeared so we decided to ride it to let the Waffle settle before a final ride on Anubis. The train goes all around the park and even ventures through some of the animal pens, where you can buy food to throw at them. None of the animals were interested in us however so I was glad we hadn't wasted money on the food. But still a good idea for the park to implement... It also ran parallel to Anubis' launch, providing good photo opportuinities... One final ride on Anubis gave a good end to the day before we decided we'd head off early to get to our hotel near to Asterix. More experience of French rush hour was not what I wanted however it happened. We eventually got to our destination, which was a cheap motel style place which was pretty standard and alright. Not brilliant but I was too tired to care. Plopsaland is a really good family park, with a mix of Chessie, Legoland and Paultons... Anubis is a fun ride and the rest of the park is of a good quality with a great atmosphere. Very recommended to all especially as it's really easy to get to by car. Dunno about public transport but it's worthwhile. I slept in preparation for a day of B&M and Tonnes of Air...

So that myself and Nicky could celebrate our completion of university, a plan was formed to go on a brief holiday. As the original plans of Europa fell through, and the gleam of a shiny new B&M to much to resist, an alternative to Asterix and Plopsaland was booked. Are you sitting comfortably? Then let's begin... Day 1 - Travel and Plopsaland So an early 4am start led to a drive down to Folkestone where the train awaited. After a relatively simple crossing and brief stopover at CiteEurope, we began the drive towards Belgium and the first destination, Plopsaland. It's easy to get to, as the Tunnel plonks you onto the approriate motorway and the directions are obvious to follow. Our arrival in De Panne was around 30 minutes after our departure from Calais and this brand new park to myself was revealed with the use of a giant door... The turnstiles had many a character stood by, one of which decided to hug me as I was taking photos and ruffle my hair... An... interesting start to a visit at a theme park and something that hasn't happened before. We entered into the park's plaza, which featured a set of fountains Ms Thompson would be proud of, and as we had some time before they opened the rest of the park, we briefly explored the indoor Maya Land area, the newest addition of the park. The park is owned by Dutch TV company Studio 100, and hence is essentially filled with their own characters on each ride, with some loosely themed areas based off the original park which was purchased. The park opened, and we naturally headed straight for the big coaster... Anubis - The Ride Based off the House of Anubis series, this is a Gerstlauer Launched Coaster which as a ride system has had a good level of positivity from those who have ridden it, so I was intrigued to see what experience this ride would give. The ride building looks incredible from the outside, and just as good on the inside. It would probably make more sense if I had ever seen the show, but regardless, it's an impressive looking entrance and queueline. We walked straight onto the front row and were joined by another person (who later revealed themselves to be a fellow English enthusiast) and off we went on the first train of the day. A quick 180 dropping turn leads into the launch, and wow, rolling launches NEED to happen more, after this and Fluch, they are absolutely awesome to experience, with the sudden impact doing a lot more than the more traditional stationary launches. Getting launched into a different style of top hat with a straight entry and turned exit, into multiple inversions and hills with a good constant pacing and thrilling and fun experience. AND more importantly, smooth, like every other Gerstlauer aside from Saw... We rode twice more in the back and middle, where the launch was slightly more rough yet the rest of the ride remained smooth and constant. Overall I would say that it is a very good solid family ride, and certainly wouldn't say no to a park in the UK having one. 8/10 We wandered past the Supersplash ride, taking in some more of the park's nice atmosphere. Before deciding that grabbing the low throughput coaster would be ideal at this point. So we headed to... Vleermuis This was my first Batflyer coaster, and to say that it was a weird experience is not an exaggeration. Duelling rides as well lead to a weirdly designed queueline to the weirdly designed seats to the weirdly designed layout. Needless to say, this ride was pretty damn weird... It's kind of a strange ride to rate really... It barely does anything really and it feels very different. Fun but wouldn't bother again really... 5/10 We next entered the castle area, which was like appearing into Legoland Windsor, only this time there's a Mack abound! Draak This Mack Powered coaster has a pretty impressive queue and layout to match. Two laps of this beast with some good interaction with the log flume next door to it. I liked it because it actually takes you somewhere rather than some strange pointless jaunt in a field and the interaction works very well. 7/10 Next door to the Castle area was the park's continuation of the Legoland theme, with two low throughput rides, both of which have become Legoland staples, we only rode one of them because Nicky had never done one before... Jet Skis Just like the ones at Lego. Although without water features acting upon you. I spent most of my time watching the awesome system that turned the boats side to side as well as working out how to 'snap' the boats. S'ok rides these are really, just wouldn't want to experience the awfully long queue it had... Again next door, a Vekoma Rollerskater awaited us, so we went on it... Rollerskater Interestingly themed this thing, with giant appliances being the order of the day. Including the washing machine of spraying water at you as you dive through it. Two laps as well here making it a decent ride for the target market. As per most rollerskaters, it was enjoyable... 6/10 With not much else to do around the current area, we decided to do some pre-lunch water rides, the first being... Log Flume This hidden Flume ride delivers two drops, one small and one double drop. Not a lot else to say but it was nicely themed and delivered interaction with the aforementioned Draak coaster. Bonus points for the Hyrulian Shield of Legend of Zelda fame on the safety signs... Supersplash This version of the Supersplash has a hidden elevator lift system which surprised me actually due to the rotation of it during the rise. Nothing to look at inside was a bit disappointing though but it was quick enough for this not to be an issue. The drop was good and the airtime hill full of airtime, with a decent splash which was welcoming in the coming heat as the sun had appeared. The journey back a bit boring, although the potential for Pirate Ship interaction looked good. The fountains were pointless as they turned off upon the boat's arrival. 6/10

It's amazing how much smoother Desert Race is compared to this piece of crap... Riding it 3 times in a row in the name of science really should entitle me to a Nobel Prize...

Lol, it's like Laser Raiders for adults... That'd be fab, but, would a dark ride of that style really work at Thorpe?

If it's a whole album of Dubstep, consider myself out...

Makes a change for a ride to cause this this way around rather than killing someone...

It looks alright so far... I'm intrigued by it and might well be tempted if the launch games are decent... Some decent potential and hell, new Pikmin game Also, Watch Dogs looks amazing... Not really followed what Microsoft and Sony said because, it was probably not worth my time...

The throughput of those is like, 200-300 max an hour... I'd really rather Thorpe not get one...

Must have been from one of those European countries with crap parks then

DO WANT!

Well I got to experience yet another version of Sub Terra today and here is a quick runthrough of what has changed that I noticed... - Addition wind blower aimed at the back of the head during the ride - Countdown/New related announcements at the end of the ride portion - Scare Corridor of darkness, loudness and claustrophobicness There might well be small other changes, but if they changed anything further, I didn't notice really... HOWEVER... The new exit container really changes the ending of the ride and provides a scary element that many felt were missing from the ride, with more reactions being of screams or laughs... Both of which are positive reactions in comparison to the sauntering departure of boredom... With a good use of smoke, noise and darkness to really disorient the riders and a small smattering of actors really adds to the experience although it is not clear what is really going on (guessing due to the bio suits it's decontamination due to the hatched eggs)... Overall, a good addition, although may have resulted in me rarely bothering to ride it more than one a day...

San Diego's Manta POV! Looks like a fun family coaster... Could do with one in the UK methinks...

There is also a Oblivion one at Towers... My Nemesis one currently stands proudly on my desk cos it's AWESOME <3

Fixed. I wonder how dead the forum was when me and Mark went to Italy last year?

'Stolen'? Nah, maybe B&M's designers give the options to the parks to pick and choose, that sounds more likely...

A ROUGH INTAMIN?! Say it isn't so!!!! Jesus you get close to the Comet station on the turn into the brakes... And I thought the point of the floor being put on the inner most seats was to REDUCE the bounciness? Unimpressed... (Unsurprisingly, but considering B&M have brought out 4 smooth looking versions of this, well...)

I think it's more that the park have decided the best way to improve the ride is throw more money at it over a long period (I.e. staff wages) on a ride that already needs the highest number of staff to run it minimal... In a time where budget cuts are getting bigger and bigger, it doesn't make much sense to add more staff who will be paid higher wages 100% of the time... Maybe they could/should have just done with more effects in this exit corridor thing, but I dunno if the re-rideability will ever increase for it now... I'll find out Saturday, with people who have never been on the ride in any guise anyways, so it's gonna be like we're all riding it for the first time...

If Colossus had trains that didn't restrict my legs for 90 seconds and were actually possible to get out of then it would be an improvement... Like it was 10 years ago... But then again, I have the opinion of if you have to brace yourself on a ride, it's not that great, especially for the people who have never ridden it before and hence won't know this small fact between it being goddamn awful and potentially rideable...