Benin

Tidal Wave (and Amity Cove for that matter) when it originally opened had an absolute WEALTH of detail that nothing has really hit again in the UK... Of course after time some of these details have gone due to Fastrack, other construction and sponsorship, but it was one of the best themed areas when it originally opened in the history of the UK...As for Saw, I (naturally) agree with Mark, it's over-rated much by a lot of people, it's excessively rough and is no better than Speed or Rage... It didn't help that when it opened I also did Mystery Mine in the same year so it was straight away in the dark of something better, and the lesser known Fluch also opened in 2009 which is MILES better than Saw...Some of the details Adam listed I have never seen tbh... Maybe because I've never been in the indoors section of the queue that much? I didn't ride it till a few months after opening and walked straight onto it which probably didn't help, but the way people went on about it I expected a good majority of the queue to be indoors, not two corridors and a very open staircase... Neither of which are particularly themed that well unless you enjoy blood theming... The station is dank and moody yes, but there are much better claustrophobic stations in the world, again Fluch and even Black Mamba do this to better levels than Saw...I guess for me it's the fact that it's a shed disguised as a shed... Not every abandoned Warehouse is a massive block designed on RCT... It's a poorly designed ride from start to end really, from the idea of theming it to Saw which removed a LOT of the money which could have been better spent on theming, to the roughness of it after a year, especially when other Gerstlauers aren't anywhere near as bad...

Left unthemed but surrounded by trees (eventually), so it's not all bad...Foundations are like that since they're reusing the original BBW ones as well, so hey, who said theme parks don't recycle? :PIt is EXTREMELY similar to BBW's drop as well when you look at this picture...

Closer to home, Valley Mania have a good interview with two Marketing people regarding the park's rebrand and future... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnu-rTWOMIM

Verbolten is taking real shape atm... The finale drop having been built and is VERY Big Bad Wolf like...BGW Facebook/TPRLooks good... Shall defo provide a good finish like it did for BBW...

Wasn't it ALWAYS going to be delayed? And after the Vortex late opening incident with Watchdog, they were just covering themselves just in case?

^To be fair, even Merlin should have at least a time plan and management chart... And even the best laid plans can be set back for whatever reason... Step forward Thirteen for example...GANNT CHART ME!Though... Constant stalling? That to me sounds slightly wrong... Granted it certainly will be put through it's paces constantly and it won't run at its full speed but wasn't it on Nemesis where B&M had that undeniable confidence that it would not stall during tests? Maybe for other companies where testing does other things, but it just doesn't sound right to me testing a ride with it constantly stalling...

Went to see Wicked yesterday...Clue is in the title as to my view on it...

And people say Merlin's modern photoshopping is awful...

As Josh said, it's blooming Christmas, the builders are entitled to a holiday too you know...They're at the theming stage, so no doubt the helicopter will be the most likely next massive scenic element as well as the continuation of the station and other bits... Probs start seeing the vehicle buildings popping up in January as well and once those are done the pathways/fencing/etc can be done in February/March as will the testing...

Christmas in Lewisham? Sounds DREADFUL...Yesterday was good if weird considering the extra person this year... More presents means more mess but the usual food was good... Watching DVDs and Ratatatatatouille was good fun, need to break out the Xbox games at some point to ensure they work...Christmas Eve was much superior tbh, what with the constant Christmas film day me and Nicky had... Was FAB <3

The best idea for a Top Spin (if Thorpe were to get one) would be something alone the lines of Phantasialand's Talocan, which would kinda work with a Swarm like set of theming (as long as BOTH sides would have something to look at)...But the odds of that happening are quite low due to the lack of space really...

Does Thorpe need ANOTHER maintenance nightmare of a ride though?(Yeah I'm posting on here on Christmas, and what?)

Billund construction has begun, and the drop mechanism is up...

The weekend's gonna be packed... Simple fact really... But doesn't the park open midweek again? Meaning it may not be TOO bad...

I'm guessing the new B&M Hyper Trains and the Vekoma Giant Boomerangs are the answer...

Well... 1 out of 3 is better than nothing ;)One thing this ride WILL do to that area of the park is make it look even more congested and bunched up... With a mixture of this, Comet, Great Bear and Sooperdooperlooper; the area will look very cramped in the main pathway...Aesthetics matter whether it's a theme or amusement park... Look at Six Flags Magic Mountain and the often ridiculed Scream on the car park... They matter wherever you go...

More Skyrush construction...http://keystonethrills.wordpress.com/2011/12/23/hersheypark-skyrush-construction-update-64-12-22-11/Everytime I see that overbank my neck twinges...

Depends on what this ride is... If it's indoor then they would be no noise issues to speak of as long as the building was correctly sound proofed (unlike Black Hole's tent when the coaster was there in some cases)...

IF this is SW7 (I am yet to be fully convinced), they better not take anything away from Oblivion... It would be such a shame for the park to have Oblivion lose everything that it does so well it being intimidating and what-not...Hopefully the plans will be about soon... Could be a good New Years with WLB being announced, plans for SW7 would be the icing on the cake...

If it looks as good as Thirteen's then we are well and truly onto a winner here...It's MASSIVE! Like HUGE! Potentially the tallest station ever... Love it

That's quite cool, like looking at old plans and seeing what did and didn't make it... Looking at Inferno's original bland old station compared to now for example, Colossus' original entrance was between the Cobra Roll...*Prays for Staffordshire to do the same*

OMG! This actually looks SO amazing and it's not even finished for another year yet :wub:EDIT - Just saw a videoed trailer for Ridley Scott's "Definitely NOT an Alien prequel" Prometheus, adding another to the awesome 2012 films list...

Not going to get excited until pictures appear, as it could well be anything at this time...

Mental Vortex is mental...Wonder why KMG don't sell more park models... Some of them could be really good additions to a few parks...Innnnn other news, Heide Park are back to Krake's Mouth Tunnel thing on the drop after the construction faults last year...

^I prefer it when people generalise Merlin in a good light though, rather than being constant negative...Yeah Raptor's is very low key (indeed only the 'guns' change light, making little difference to the station), but it does work really well... It's hard to tell for Swarm really but as it's a church I would imagine say an organ and maybe a jet scream to represent the aliens if they followed a similar style... With Air like lighting of course...