Benin
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Everything posted by Benin
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In the EU it's known as Storm Denis. -
But adding a new coaster before fixing those issues is like putting a plaster on an amputation. You build a new coaster first and then all these people come and the park is still awful, just with a shiny new coaster, people will notice. Hopefully the new owners of Merlin can kick the parks back into life to cover most of the issues. However the RAP argument is a faultless task, and not one that can be easily solved.
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So what if a few enthusiasts travel for a coaster? That won't fix the park's other faults. Walibi added theirs on the back of a long term plan of changes (whilst the owners are seemingly heavily involved in given the additions to the other parks in their group). But when you go to Walibi the park isn't in a complete state of disrepair, adding crap small additions that cost all the budget to run. The food doesn't cost the earth, the operations aren't terrible (nor are they good), and they certainly didn't invest millions into the "future of theme parks" to see it fail. What's missing from all Merlin parks is a viable long term plan. Though Chessie and Towers have suffered less as they sort of have one, Thorpe has chopped and changed almost yearly. Redo NWO to become family friendly, change it to adult orientated theme. Add family theme area to park in attempt to get them to visit, then give up after a year. The first thing the park needs to do is improve the infrastructure in preparation for the next big thing. Through sensible small additions building up to whatever massive coaster they build. But that'll only happen if Merlin have not only a plan for the park but to invest correctly and not focus on crap USPs that don't help the park progress.
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You really don't need kids to go Paultons, it is a very family orientated park after all. No different to a bunch of adults going to Chessie.
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Wouldn't be surprised if when booking online anyone who clicks on a parking ticket will have to input vehicle registration. Which makes some sense. I think cost and logistics will be why many parks haven't done it. Bearing in mind supermarkets only really use it to charge for overstays in some areas, and airport car parks to just let advance payments in.
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CAD mostly
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As someone who doesn't do mazes even I enjoyed the event. Probably would've a lot more if it hadn't chucked it down on my visit mind but then again Untamed in the rain was lush. I also did the Zompirate buffet thing, which was mixed. Good idea but having everyone on long tables makes it awkward when the people opposite are clearly vegetarian and you're stuffing your face with the various meats they bring to the table. Decent actors again mind even if lost on me. From what I heard the maze quality varied. Though that might be done to standards more than anything. Clinic was too expensive so wasn't done but the praises of Below were sung. The scare zones also varied in quality but the carnival and firepit areas were utter standouts as I prefer that aspect of these events. Would recommend the q-bots though. Even the silver level one was beneficial on the visit as it allowed to queue whilst waiting for a maze. Not many others using it either making it great in terms of whoring Untamed and time efficiency. The RIP pass for the mazes I think also saved money and meant you could visit at any time rather than a slot. Plus got you the buffet. Slightly better than Belgium's version but the quality was similar.
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That's a nice blue.
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I found the guy who escorted me around Matlock Bath lovely actually. I even sent a thank you email afterwards. That being said I'll certainly be offering a trip to the new Gulliver's with the nieces and nephew when it opens
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If one thing is for certain you can tell the VR was added incredibly late on, even if it's the main part of it. The whole thing sounds like it was designed in a day.
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#doitforthecred Could be worse, could try and steal random children to get the cred like the Americans do. P.S. Log Flumes aren't creds.
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Seen it mentioned on TowersStreet by relatively reliable people.
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I'm sure you'll be able to ride these rides (not sure on the flume tbh), just expect strange looks as you try to squeeze in the Bouncers seats. Didn't even realise Chessington Buzz was still a thing 😂
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Millennium Force is rubbish though.
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I would say the issue lies in it feeling like they're fitting a randomly spare ride system and cobbling together something; rather than designing something completely ground up and unique for the park. Or the theme came first and they were struggling to fit into the limited budget when someone found a spare dark ride down back of sofa in Poole. It's just... Weird. Like half the new additions to parks have been nicked from Sea-Lifes!
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Think a key thing with parks is how they deal with overcrowding, a well designed and operated park can even on the busiest days be a pleasant day out for everyone. Disney are very good at this, as providing alternative forms of entertainment and pushing throughputs are two key solutions to the problem. They are the pinnacle mind, shortly followed by Universal (in terms of big business quality). The problem is however that whilst our continental brethren have pushed forward in additions and once small parks have become big players over the last few years, the UK has stagnated. Possibly on the back of heavy expansion in the 90s and being a leading player then. But now it's a bit sad and depressing. Paultons being about the only bright spark currently. When small independent parks like Toverland or groups like Plopsa are adding well themed and decent quality additions we get a dark ride that wasn't even planned for Towers, the third/fourth retheme of flats at Chessie and Thorpe have nothing. All parks should aspire to be like the pinnacle. They can't, but operations wise it's bloody easy to.
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Such a gorgeous park
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Need to come visit me so can introduce to the joys of Mingo 🤨
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It probably depends, obviously lots of companies pay others for presence of their brand so could be either way.
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Concerts work in places like Liseberg and Tivoli, although the wristband system helps with that. You do get the odd big name playing them as well. Doing a "park and concert" ticket at a raised price would be about the only way Thorpe could do it (plus a charge for MAP holders). Would require good organisation though. Tbh I'm not sure how Liseberg et al. do it.
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Legoland Billund is another shout, the airport is literally over road. Plopsa is definitely doable. Though I'd probably get a second driver just to share the load as last time I was dead (left home at like 5am to pick everyone up). Least Plopsa is very much a chill park in my experiences.
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