Benin

We can't AFFORD new rides though anymore

And that's as someone who thinks RMCs are ugly; they are at least improving to keep more in line with the village's rustic aesthetic...

Wouldn't thought there'd have been some workarounds there, but it would certainly frustrate me less if it was on the edge of park rather than slap-bang you know? Making DBGT harder to build would've been a benefit too

The new GIANT drop tower for this year (with rethemed area to Scotland for the Nessie and Roland creds) is starting to hit the skies: The ride itself will be located within one of Nessie's helixes, with the coaster itself getting a brand new station (does mean the removal of the monster head on the brake run tunnel though ? Finally, there's now a vlog from the park:

Some progress on the Splash Canyon death, no corporate manslaughter or gross negligence charges to be brought to the park: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-47443195 Good news really, as if that had been the case we'd have seen another swathe of H&S implementations at the death of throughput... Especially on rides without restraints built in...

Why would a location on the park's border be worse than Octopus Garden? It's been said it would've been a bad choice to put it there but no reasons as to why (unless I'm missing them somewhere)... Surely it would've been a better option than the middle of the park plopped downness it currently is...

Well SOMEONE'S not getting an invite to the 'press' events...

Baby Mark

*blows dust off* So Tigris (Premier Sky Rocket) opens this year, and the park took the opportunity when promoting it last night to announce the official death of Gwazi and become the biggest RMC ever... Just bumping this topic in preparation for the construction...

Wouldn't be surprised if the two houses on that road are a block to this as well (presumably Efteling are trying to buy them out or already own them, not 100% sure really), but I'd say making that entire thing a tunnel would just not be feasible at all... Especially as it would have to factor in delivery vehicles for Bosrijk et al round that way...

In fairness, there was pretty much no way that the level of expansion they were asking for WOULDN'T cause problems in some way, shape or form for the locals... Particularly with the need for re-routing the road (moving it closer to the highway) to make room for it... Sure the park will have a good look at what they can do to sweeten the deal for the locals...

Thing is as well, these are things that are pretty plentiful in loads of places now... Can't fall over without finding an Escape Room company (there's about 5/6 in city centre alone up in Leeds), there's numerous trampoline/activity places opening, and gaming stuff is starting to come in due to esports... But if you're interested in these things would you do them at a theme park? It's a similar question to having a Dungeons attraction at Towers (though at least at Thorpe the hours are slightly better), why would you take 45 minutes out of your day to partake in something like this after paying whatever the entry fee is? Would people rather this, or the park replacing Slammer with, well anything? These additions scream of a park under the thumb of a company giving them little money to spend, and the worrying thing is it's only going to get worse apparently since the focus is on building Legolands everywhere in the world... Towers has an attraction foisted upon them, Thorpe have no money to spend on anything worthwhile and Chessie are getting another retheme of an attraction which was mothballed... Here's the thing, these events would be fine IF (and I cannot stress the IF enough here) the rest of the park wasn't in dire straits and in desperate need of picking up, getting a dusting down (or a repaint) and generally sorting out... But the parks aren't given enough money to do this because of KPIs or ROIs are directly noticeable from such things, even though having a park that looks the part is one of the most important factors in terms of guest satisfaction... If it looks like a cheap death-trap, then likelihood is guests will come away with that viewpoint...

Some Friday evening entertainment for you all...

I just read that Varney proclaimed that "Merlin create the best themed accommodation in the world, unrivalled by any other amusement or park operator." One can only assume that the news in the next month will have the headline "CEO of Entertainments company sectioned after finally losing the plot"...

Just seen the Disney blog post doing a BUMPER update on Star Wars: https://d23.com/galaxys-edge-announcements/ Seriously worth a read, the amount of thought and effort into the theme of the eateries is ridiculous enough... Also, someone buy me a custom R-3X please?

Between this and Belle it's no wonder Universal are so focused on screens... NO-ONE in the industry could hit this level of quality...

There's a retro game place in Leeds (no VR granted, but that's not the point) for £3 for a hour for assorted consoles (and MeatLiquor is underneath too!)... About as unique in the wider world as Containment is... I'd imagine it'll be a similar setup with various consoles with limited games (mostly multiplayer), however if it has a N64 with Pokemon Stadium then it'll be the best thing Thorpe have done in years...

Mystic really does look like the secretly fab coaster of 2019:

Airtime klaxon! (Bottom of the first drop)

To get tickets to the "eSports Championship Series" at Wembley Arena costs you £18.25 total (including fees, the ticket itself is £12.50) for a comparison... Granted no creds, but it's a bit of a weird overlap, especially when you only get 45 minutes to actually spend in there... Which if poorly managed crowd wise could end in disaster...

Doubt they'd be able to just cancel an agreement with another company just cos "oh the game in question isn't as popular anymore", then have to spend MORE money to get a new promotion in for whatever latest fad game is out now... This is the issue with jumping on bandwagons (especially games); if you're slightly late to the party you run the risk of it dying in the popularity stakes... If Thorpe want to be popular with 13 year olds just get Pewdiepie to do a live stream... I'll take a 5% cut of all income for that idea Thorpe thanks...

I'm not a fan of the monster/giant/turd itself, it does look too much like a rejected concept for the central Wickerman design... However the fake track bit is pretty cool... Regarding them re-opening a ride that was SBNO for years, maybe if they'd actually maintained it? I mean, why should we praise the re-opening of something which was only shut because of the company's ineptitude at allowing their parks to actually fix problems as they happen? Plus it's an over-rated ride anyway soooooo...

Robin Hood auction, for all those obscure pieces of cred you want! Plus an entire coaster car!