Benin

This times a million...

What is this? Reading trying to be like Croydon?

And in news closer to home, Phantasialand's new ride for 2013 has a model... It's SOME undetermined water ride and seems that it will involve some ride retheme (I.e. Colorado Adventure) to remove the remainder of the Wild West and create a massive Mexican area...

Time for an Asia Disney update... Starting with Tokyo Disneysea's version of Toy Story Mania, based in the America Waterfront area, and based off the old Luna Park style parks... Looks very nice, similar to California's style really... But yet again this will prove to be an excessively popular addition to an already excellent park... Elsewhere, in Hong Kong, the current major expansion of areas is continuing with the new Big Grizzly Mountain coaster suddenly appearing finished out of nowhere and POV from staff previews has been sighted... Needless to say, this also looks awesome, seemingly combing elements from Big Thunder Mountains and Expedition Everest and resulting in this awesome piece of kit... Personal highlights are the 'sudden' reverse drop due to the breaking cable and the launch that comes due to the bear activating the dynamite... If Mystic Manor (the trackless version of Haunted Mansion) is anywhere near the quality of this, Hong Kong Disney might well become an excellent park in the future...

This is too ridiculous to be ignored... An adventure rope course with an interesting element... Located at Zoo & Safari-Park Stukenbrock...

Well, it won't take much to retheme it would it? Be a shame to see it go, but it's unreliable and the park must be considering whether it's cost effective to keep it... A shame, but often some things need to be chopped to stop wasting resources...

Stupid trees, how dare they not remain in their garden centres...

So many fences that you could ACTUALLY lean over... Stupid H&S ¬¬

Zoo days usually had at least the Chicken Shack and Pizza Pasta open as well as the central shop... Bit disappointing really, but maybe as well to be considered could be the construction involving Wanyama's Safari thing (if that itself doesn't get cut and cancelled) might affect it, and if they have to shut Wanyama for construction reasons, it might well not be worth bothering opening the zoo for the rest of it... Then again, I don't think these days were ever that popular... Like Chessie during any off peak day really...

Fortunately, not every Gerstlauer is like Saw... Dunno what the difference between having this and the Black Hole tent makes really aside from the movement aspect... Either way, the area is still designed with Oblivion in mind and will still be the major thing to be seen as you enter the area... On the top of the drop I'm sure many people who aren't enthusiasts will still be solely focused on the massive drop and tiny hole at the bottom... Indeed, I doubt many guests will care much that there is a new coaster apparently 'ruining' the area... The parks cannot win can they?

Evidently missed the 5/6 hour queues of opening weekend... On the other hand, it DOES mean an empty California Screamin' AND Tower of Terror, which can only be considered a good thing

Since I've been in hospital due to appendicitis, I haven't been really working much on a TR, and I kinda cannot really bring myself to do a full review of the two days I spent at Asterix... HOWEVER, I can talk about the important thing, the thing no doubt people care about, and that is... OzIris I was excited for this ride, an awesome looking theme, unique layout and a B&M, that stuff gets me going, and naturally we had headed straight from park opening to the new ride. The area is fantastically themed, well and truly one of the best themed areas in the entire park (which is already well themed) and in Europe. I was taken aback by the job Neverland have done to it, and the pictures just don't do it justice at all. It truly is a work of art, from the grand ride station to the rockwork to the Eiffel Tower. The queue itself is great, providing some lovely views of the first part of the ride and the helix. Very Tussauds like and that's just half the queue, inside is a completely different story. If the area took me aback, the inside did it all over again. One of the best themed queuelines I've ever had the pleasure to walk straight through, and indeed is on that list of queues that you wouldn't mind being in for ages because of the high level of detail available to look at. So many great pieces of theming big and small and new things spotted on every run through the queue. The station is just as grand and well themed, the front row queue does lack a sign and caused several confused French people, however our first ride was to be in the middle (though later rides involved the front once and the back twice). A small dispatch sequence with changing lights and heavy bass commences the ride as the train passes through some strobing eyes (part of the ride's story) and we head up the quick lift. The first drop kicks just as well as Katun's, and the lack of pre-drop makes a ridiculously high amount of difference, with an instant dive to the left being a brilliant start to the ride and it sets out what it plans to do for the next minute or so. The first half of the layout is similar to Silver Bullet in a way to me, with the stall turn and the rather original style of layout. But it is a very quick paced and reasonably intense start to the ride, with a real highlight being the extended drop out of the Vertical Loop, a weird and unique sensation but very very good at the same time. As always, the trims make no difference, so no worries with that. The drop into the pool is good as well, although the mist vanished later on, it fills up very well and it's a neat visual trick for both on and off riders, it leads into the slowest part of the ride, the first zero g and helix, however, it works in a similar way to Nemesis' stall turns, allowing a short break to the relative intensity before the next good bit. The bit in question is a dive back towards the ground before rising back up into the station hugging zero g, which is yet another extremely well done element full of fun, airtime and good levels of intensity. The final ground hugging helix in the middle of the queueline follows before a dipping turn into the brakes. If you can't tell, I loved this ride. It looks good, rides good, and fulfils that level of intensity whilst being re-rideable. It really is a brilliant addition to Asterix as it gives them that second excellent coaster with Zeus and is straight into my top 10. It is only slightly behind Nemesis and Katun which sit as my top 2 currently, but it can easily be placed in the same breath as them in my opinion. From that first view of the ride as you exit the motorway for the park, to the final ride, it's a beautiful ride that will hopefully put Asterix back in the minds of enthusiasts. 10/10 [imghttp://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/s720x720/181146_10151798424510220_142647037_n.jpg [/img]

And if I DON'T want to spend money to do that? That'll be what, 2 hours of darkness if we're lucky now anyways? Ew... Not great...

Sounds like a silly idea, since no doubt after a while a few animatronics would break after a while, leaving a large maintenance bill in its wake... I'd rather an actual ride tbh, this scare maze fad is just meh...

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?