Benin

I'm gonna be visiting Guest Services to log a complaint about the early closure of CBeebies. It's a terrible decision (ohhh yay Walliams World remains open though, no good if your child is under 0.9m) and shows how far gone from caring about the guest experience we are. Everytime there's a poor season (you know, cos most of it was miserable weather wise, plus the cost of living issues) there's a knee jerk reaction to it that lessens the product on offer, and then they wonder why people don't come back or renew passes. Which leads to more cuts and the prices remain the same so we end up in a horrible cycle. The more things change the more they stay the same. Quite funny when people took them for their word as "Best Season Ever".

Depends who you ask. My first visit this season was an absolute disaster. Especially when they trotted out the old "well you have a MAP" line. However Towers aren't in my good books now. So I guess overall the race to be the least worst continues.

It's completely conjecture and guesswork, by a lot of armchair engineers about it. If we bemoaned every ride manufacturer that ended up with a ride stalling, there wouldn't be many to choose from. Maybe Golden Horse.

@JoshC. Can't Blue Fire potentially run 5? Unload & Offload (if operating separately), pre-launch, then pre and post MCBR? @Coaster This isn't the same as them barely bothering with park hours, events or half decent customer service. It's sensible business practice, since as Josh listed no one really hordes trains. It's often an issue that plagues any park if there's unforeseen issues. But is it financially worthwhile to spend 6 figures on an additional train and infrastructure when it'll spend most time collecting dust? Merlin will need to do a lot more to attract experienced engineers. Especially given it being very niche and requiring both mechanical and electrical knowledge (and most engineers specify in one). Add on the weird hours and days and it's a tricky sell. @Marc Should've built that B&M instead. Though no ride manufacturer is immune from stalling issues.

The 99% factored in Stealth. Though nowadays it only ever has 2 ready for actual operation (3rd one is in strip down mode all season if I recall?). I also said parks buy the amount of trains to suit the block brakes/sections. Not like parks in the US have 4 trains rather than 3 (if they ever operate to a decent standard) on those that can. Hyperia doesn't have a MCBR, so cannot run 3 trains at one time. What's the point in buying and maintaining an additional train when the engineering team is stretched as it is and you'll not be likely to need it on a regular basis. 2006 Thorpe is not 2024 Thorpe, and probably got the 3rd train on Stealth due to Rita being problematic the year before. As said, it's weird that it's a bug bear for Hyperia but not Swarm for example. Wickerman is about the only one that can actually run 3 trains (and even then sometimes you're sat in the brakes for ages, thus negating the throughput bonus).

I mean we have a similar conversation every year about this. Media night is always fancier. It also never helps that the mazes themselves are very luck based. Run through when breaks are hitting? Perhaps an incident has occurred with another group? Batching is crap? There are many more variables that affect an individual run through on a standard day compared to rides themselves. It means a bad run can put a real bad taste in the mouth. As for the clickbait? That video oozes it. All that's missing is the vlogger's face looking angry on there for the complete bingo.

No one could've predicted this! God that's some clickbait influencer nonsense.

So weird that people are going on about "should've bought 3 trains" when it is not a regular thing for any park in the world to do. Parks 99% of the time will only buy enough to fit on the respective block brakes. Why stop at 3? Get 4 trains on it, spend more money on a larger maintenance shed area instead. Problem solved.

Awwww, it's like the late 2000s all over again ❤️

Even though Thorpe did this with Stealth (presumably after Towers struggled with Rita?), there's little point in parks buying in additional trains which very rarely see the light of day and might only be used in an emergency. Also additional work for the engineers who are already stretched thin as it is. Definitely reasons why parks only have the minimum number of trains they can potentially run.

I mean they can open it just on one train for time being (or to make the vloggers and "celebs" happy). My fully assumed guess is there's something about the design that failed to account for the weather Thorpe can experience being in the middle of a lake. But with more and more rides going for "stall" style elements there's a degree of risk involved in that choice.

What's the lottery numbers this week @JoshC.? Weather has been crap again to be fair. But not good either way.

Love a Mark9 trip report. Joint trip next year? 😉

BTM has always been fairly unreliable over the years for some reason. Can't say for why though.

Zamperla.

Wild Asia was 2010. Since then it's been Zufari, Croc Drop, new Carousel, the random Pirate flats, a mini flume & a few rethemed rides until Jumanji last year. Still feels new purely down to the crap levels of investment.

You're assuming that TT2 will re-open. Not a good year for coasters weirdly.

Did the water even work on it last few years? 25 years old would you believe (if memory serves). Yet not the oldest attraction (or buildings, something weirdly pointed out in the detail) in the park either.

Big news from Chessie then. https://www.cwoa-consultation.com/ TL;DR Wild Asia to be rethemed with a new coaster. Kobra survives. The Glamping binned off too as seemingly only on temp permission anyway. Mexican (but not Rattlesnake) killed off for a land akin to CBeebies. Other stuff like Lodges (when did that happen) and Water Park are on-going.

Chop your legs off. Then you get double bonus of going on rides AND getting RAP.

Event/general plaza would be my desire.

Would be great, but alas we are not in Phantasialand. Imagine the complaints Chessie would get for testing it in the morning!

Was one of the worst designed rides in Merlin's ownership. Not helped by having no budget for the finale, which presumably was wasted on the god awful interactive preshow. Chessie's future does seem at a crossroads mind. Probably realising how much of a drain on finances the zoo is. However to remove that would remove the history of the park's roots and require a LOT of clever replacing. Can't exactly put a coaster right by the hotels.

To be fair most theme park staff go back to school/uni in September. Until theme park work is seen as far more long term it'll be the only thing people end up doing (like I did).

Sad times, I'm a great believer of that since it can sort a lot of potential bother out. Towers sounds like they're ditching them with the cuts though.