Benin

Tbh, I want our parks to have more of a design way to ride shirts, rather than just plastering the logo onto the front and calling it a day...More stuff like the female Krake top (with glittery tentacles) or the newer Thirteen shirts (with the Wraiths and branches) are a good start... I like having the ride shirts but I wouldn't mind having more choice, instead of just LOGO or nothing at all...Same for Hoodies really... Although I still wanted that Krake hoodie...

Swarm bear...That is all...

Whilst not DIRECTLY ride related, I feel it's important to mention...The creator of that infamous song "It's a Small World" has died...http://www.imdb.com/news/ni23939170/:'(

I only say Krake cos I could pretend it's Swarm's music rather than be constantly told that it's Raptor's

I'm not really sold on the matter here... I mean, to me, parks need relatively unique and work much better with instrumental music than with actual words (of course, in some cases, having actual music DOES work, Amity Cove and Thunder Rock Rally Radio are good examples), but for a post apocalypse feeling?I dunno... Just as well the band isn't particularly what I would have imagined being linked to the ride either... Unless this is just a PR stunt and the music won't actually be played in the area, but rather just sold online and in shops...Mehhhhhhhh... Really not sold on this at all... And I would say that for any band being used for the ride's music... Especially after the epicness of Raptor and Krake's themes...

Well based upon the previous opening days that Marc pointed out, what else should we expect aside from actors (and a hopefully working ride)?As I said in the rest of the post, a major band would be more interesting and garner more pull than a band which suffers from the "lead singer sing sydrome" that most bands suffer... Of course the only people who know are ents and marketing, but so far, it's a bit tepid especially with all the marketing so far...I hope for more, I hope for actors, I hope for fireworks, I hope for a massive TV screen in the entrance with SFX and pre-recorded edited video with people being taken by the Swarm to build up tension... What I don't hope for is a third rate band that can't sing...Besides, I thought Thorpe and the band's style of music didn't work? Where's Skrillex when you need him?

No, this is NOT how America open their rides though is it? Let's be honest here, what sounds better? Something that ties into the ride (like them singing Little Mermaid songs) is much better than a band that has no real ties to it...Not your cup of tea? How about Star Tours? I'm not asking for much, hell just having some themed spiel opening (instead of the pointless facts and backstory towards the ride that's enthusiast pandering) with some action and explosions... That would be much better than some C list band that it seems no-one has ever heard of... Hell I wouldn't even mind if it was someone who was popular and well known... This is like the support band for the main gig really...

Who?What is this Drayton Manor?

I love how the State are actually forcing them to have the educational element to the ride... That's just brilliant...

I can't see Merlin taking the so called 'risk' though... Why build a ride that requires a lot more effort compared to a Steel coaster (in regards to construction, maintenance, engineer training, etc) when you could just plonk down a steel coaster which is arugably easier to market to the general audience...Drayton, Mingoland, hell even Lightwater are all more likely to get a Wooden coaster first in my opinion...

This is what happens when the most ridden coasters from an average* British guest are:- Blackpool Woodies- Gwazi- StampidaIf more people had ridden Megaphobia, or maybe even Zeus, there might be a completely different viewpoint on it these days...*These stats are complete guesses, but wouldn't imagine being too far from the truth overalll

*cough*Mountain Flyer*cough*

Good point regarding they're AP prices, makes Merlin seem even more expensive considering they allow to go to any across the entire US...Although apparently MM has gone back downhill... Which has caused interesting scenes amongst the American mob...

Of course, only Six Flags could ever build a car park coaster... Never could a brilliant park like Europa Park could do such a thing....Oh...

Lol Six Flags...Verbolten looks quite cool, be interesting to see if the people who have been on Thirteen think the drop system is better or worse, especially with Billund's version as well...Though I'm glad I got to ride Big Bad Wolf before it went, if the finale for Verbolten is anything like BBW's, then Busch should be onto a winner for a good solid family coaster...

Most of these competitions often have a non-disclosure agreement, so even if someone on here did win, they wouldn't be allowed to mention it...Oh well, does it really matter who won? We'll all get on it eventually...

Quality wise though... It's not the best form of marketing... Especially when compared to Les and this teaser...

That's cool...I don't think Thorpe have made any major wrong steps with this ride at all (let's ignore the morphsuits and the limbs falling off )

It might be another British thing (and perhaps European as well) in that we don't really see massive birthday celebrations as worthwhile for a park... Although with Vampire's 21st last year and Ultimate apparently doing the same, this may change in the future...Tbh, all I wanted from Chessie this year was a roller coaster, or a decent new ride...

Towers did the gig, Thirteen and the Corkscrews at the entrance...That's about it

I swear like, every theme park does the over speeding thing for their ads?Thirteen did it, Colossus did it, Inferno did it, Saw did it, Stealth even probably did it...Just makes the ride look more 'extreme' to the casuals...

They're essentially the same game, so yes... Simple mistake when I don't particuarly care for either series...Point still stands, but we don't know if it's EA or Game's fault here... It's well-known that game companies want to remove the trade market from the industry, but on the other hand, Game have been renowned for being a bit awful too...Oh wells, someone will pick it up if Game die...

Game shooting themselves in the foot, considering EA have some of the biggest players in the general gaming market (Fifa and Call of Duty)...Dear oh dear...

Beautiful B&Ms <3

And it's great to see that they're celebrating the year with a FANTASTIC addition to the park!