Benin

Banned for being a hipster...

It's (unfortunately) not that cheap and/or easy to get to... Unless you like Ryanair and can get to Stansted at silly times of the day of course... On my booked trip I'm flying to Basel from Gatwick through EasyJet and booking (eventually) a shuttle to get us to the park hotel... Hotels for 3 nights start from 606 euros for two adults, not including park tickets... Bound to be a few B&Bs in Rust though, where you could probs walk to the park from... HOWEVER, it is worth it...

Lookie what I saw on park today...

Depends whether they lock during the actual ride...

As big as that place is, I doubt they could fit Tussauds in...They also don't own it, as a fair few non-Merlin things have been there for years, including Hotels, Namco, McDonalds, etc...

You can see it sitting at the top of the tower, smiling as it welcomes another murderer into the fold...

Fortunately having a ride like Terra/Alien Encounter would mean that costs of running it per hour in comparison to Saw Alive would probably be cheaper... Horray for not needing lots of expensive actors!

Apparently it can get 850pph... But looking at POVs it just looks boring and very much more a spectator ride... HANG ON! THAT MAKES IT JUST LIKE A TOP SPIN!

Never ridden it... Of course, I believe a water ride shouldn't rely on external effects to get you wet either...

Someone else has found this, but Merlin have applied for planning permission to add a Dungeons attraction into County Hall, right by the Aquarium and the Eye... This is... strange and interesting for the future of the London Bridge ones themselves, are they to be removed for this version? Or both kept? Can have a mosey at the plans here: http://planning.lambeth.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=externalDocuments&keyVal=LY9MTDBOHV000

For Thorpe or Chessie? As I have a list as long as my arm for the latter... Thorpe, it does need a good quality dark ride, but then again you have to ask if it would suit the target audience? Here in lies the issue really, they've put themselves in such a position in which a dark ride to the scale of say, Huntik (3D and lasers) wouldn't need to be outrageously themed because really, it'd be seen as very much a family esque ride, unless they pulled another Saw (Eurofighters remember are normally 1.2m restriction) or Sub Terra and make it 'scary'... Flat rides on the other hand do suit Thorpe, but there aren't many reliable ones in the world these days that don't already exist at the park... Gotta think in terms of space and throughput, and there aren't very many flats that have a high throughput... Fabbri Boosters have that issue, Huss Topple Towers are unreliable as well as the Jump 2 (one of which is also a boring ride really, dunno about the other)... What else is there? The park needs more throughput munching rides for the busier summer months... A ZacSpin would be unique to the UK and we can see what the fuss is all about, but then what? I have a feeling Thorpe's future is going to be interesting when it's reaches the peak of ability to expand... Probably going to start looking like Blackpool...

Unfair to say that there are similarities between Nemesis and Sub Terra because well, they've used an extension of an existing backstory and moved to enlarge it... And tbh, I much prefer Merlin's stories to places like Six Flags and Cedar Fair... At least we get attempts at stories here... Agree with the hype machine for Thirteen though, and the PR stunts which have been completely stupid... (BO, limb loss, etc)...

Storm Surge?

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh those are some LUSH colours...

Damned if they do and damned if they don't really... Of course only those with insider info will know the full story, and of course serious incidents are unlikely to come into the fore so the reasoning behind this (to the majority) will be unknown... Therein lies the problem, they cannot reveal the reasoning, but because of that it seems stupid for them to implement this idea...

Banned for being ginger...

It has been done before, but why should another park have a big ride removed so another can have it? This isn't Six Flags... It's just simply not a brilliant idea, and it's bad enough Chessie don't get anything already, it doesn't need another Peeking Heights...

This IS Merlin after all, how many Sea-Lifes have Spider Crabs now? And you need to read the new reviews after it's been changed, much more positive now...

Precisely, and how is giving it Quantum going to help? Let alone taking one of their biggest rides away from the park..

Chessie need to move forward with it's own rides, not get given unwanted and awful cast-offs from another park...

Banned for keeping forum awards he won last year in his sig, get over yourself

So what with Terry getting some improvements, Nicky wanted to go along again, so with some speaking to Fred, we ventured off for a visit... Arrived to a balmy 0 degree temperature, meaning that the Monorail was out of action and with 2/3 bus/coaches available, we walked to the entrance, where they now send ERT people to the gates on the side further away from the bus stop (toilet end) and naturally have alllllll the APers queue up for one gate. How comes we can't use the turnstiles anymore? It's silly and does provide some aggro from guests... On the other hand, someone had listened to the minor complaint Nicky put in last week about the now mis-leading AP entrance sign, and it has now been covered up... It seems that they are taking even minor things on board this year... Off we went to Blivvy, which we didn't ride last week and it was still brill if not freezing at the top as per normal... Plus the mist didn't help, but I reckon it will be interesting to ride it when construction of SW7 is in full swing later in the year, providing some good views of the site... Then we headed to the opposite end of the park for some early morning Nemesis. Upon arrival, the new policy of letting normal guests into the entire park at 9:30 reared it's head, and made me wonder who thought it would work, with a queue for Terry going to the Nemesis entrance which in turn inter-mingled with a non-ERT queue as well... It's confusing for everyone involved and I hope this gets abolished quickly, the idea is right, the current application of it, is not... Nemmie back row far right, it's still brilliant and running sooooo good... Love it... It was time for Terry, and the changes most certainly improve it, see my post in the relevant topic, but it is so different to the version I rode last week and it does show that Towers do seem to care a lot this year about improving faults. It was never gonna be gotten right first time, and I'm glad they have paid attention to the faults and changed it for the better... On to the next ride, which was Duel, again a decent score in amongst the new look and lighting... Once they get their hands on the finale, it will be a brilliant ride... The Runaway Train was next which was as per the norm, before heading up to Hex, another ride missed out on last week... On the way we surveyed the damage caused on Wednesday and concluded that closing the park was the right idea, and they were relatively lucky (or unlucky) that the tree outside the Flume didn't fall in a way to cause massive damage to the game buildings, BK or the Flume entrance... Still, good to see how much effort the park has made to clear up... Unfortunately Hex seems to have gone the complete opposite route to lighting this year, it has never been bright in there, but mass lack of the group moving forward and late arriving caused the video to begin before the doors were shut and just annoying times all around... It just needs a couple more Volts in the lights during the breaks between the set pieces and then it will be a lot better... Still over-shooting but still great to ride everytime with randomers who get SO confused... Interestingly, the chapel was open today, possibly as the ruins themselves had been shut due to wind damage, including a fully broken listed window. Which of course HAS to be replaced... Oh well, improving the ruins is always good... Then there was Charlie, where once again children were awed by the ride... It's amazing how being old and cynical can change conceptions of a ride, but still, least it isn't Bubbleworks Thirteen was next, which has seen a few more gravestones and music in the final switchback section, a nice touch that would normally be unheralded in this modern view of "MERLIN ARE EVIL!" but hey, little touches are the best... Rita can go away though... Lunch was called, and ham sandwich was had whilst Fred and Nicky (who had already eaten her ham sandwich) ate some Fried Chicken... Which was apparently good with top notch service that makes even Woodcutters seem slow... Nice happy staff as well... We then visited the Medical Centre as Nicky was complaining of foot issues, whilst Fred grabbed an Ice Cream from the themed van outside, which plays HOTMK jingles, hence is made of awesome... We decided we wanted to watch the new Pirates show, so faffed in Sea-Life for a bit before grabbing a seat and awaiting the brilliance that was the wonder of a UK theme park show... It's not on the scale of Disney, and is SUCH a panto at times, but wasn't that bad really... It's silly and daft and I guess kids enjoy it... Maybe? I dunno... But the cast whilst never changing, always seem quite good... Exceptionally camp pirate was exceptionally camp as well... Whilst I preferred Suprisingly Curveavicious Pirate more when she was meant to be a girly girl, to each their own... Hopping onto the Skyride (SKYRIDE, SKYRIDE) back to the Valley, we elected for the rather short queue of Air, which was running VERY slowly in the morning, but was back to normal speeds upon our arrival... We purchased Nemesis bears and a resin statue with a generic park Tumbler glass as well in the shop, I ADORE the merch atm, it's sooooo good (especially the new ride bracelets the shop outside Galleons were selling, though £6 is arguably tooooo much)... We wanted Donuts, but the Valley queue was long, so we walked back to Duel, and re-rode it (With me and Fred not bothering to shoot, allowing me to realise the ABANDON ALL HOPE sign being visible) and through Haunted Hollow we went to Mutiny Bay... After some duck entertainment, it was back to the Valley for another ride on Terry, where it all went to pot upon the point in which the bars did not release manually and caused a great kerfuffle, where only 10 of us were in one lift, confused by the lack of everyone (Who presumably, were cramming 30 people into the other lift, would not want that) it resulted in the unsurest ending of the 5 times I've now ridden it... With that, another Terry review was given to the staff, and we parted ways to venture home... A good day overall with the park not being too busy however was very very cold due to the rather troll weather... Oh wells, we left with the last event being the Pirates dancing to YMCA, those are the memories that stick with you more... Ride Count Oblivion Nemesis Terry - 2 Duel - 2 Runaway Mine Train Hex Charlie Thirteen Sharkbait Reef Air

The changes most certainly improve the ride greater than imagined tbh... Whilst it still gets a mixed response (don't most rides?), the addition of the new video clips pre lift and the extended sequence before the drop just help tie a few bits together... Other improvements include the metal detectors beeping, air cannons in the ride and the post lifts, and more intense ticklers which cannot be avoided with raised legs... All in all, it's still not perfect, but it's certainly better...

Considering I saw that with absolute minimal prior knowledge to the story aside from "KIDS KILL EACH OTHER LOL" it was a good film tbh... Jennifer Lawrence

A MUCH, better POV of Ozzy...