Benin

Dungeons being an upcharge was always going to put it at a disadvantage. Especially given the general cost to visit the parks these days. However to essentially have it mothballed into a Scarefest only building (most likely result) is a bit meh. Always enjoyed a ride on Charlie, even if it was a bit crap. If things were being replaced quickly then it wouldn't be a problem. Project Horizon has gone quiet so that corner of the park will continue to be a bit of a dead spot, and the lack of anything for kids too old for CBeebies but not at the height/level for Thirteen and others is just daft. Even if a 0.9m kid (I.e. my 2 year old) could go on Hex and Alty Mans, doesn't mean they are suitable attractions for the age content/theme wise. The RMT queues will continue to be insane. With us still being in the CBeebies age range we're still in a decent position to visit. But in a few years? Would be a different story.

https://www.altontowers.com/about-alton-towers/blog/winter-update/ Good start to 2025 then. 2 rides going with Dungeons also not coming back. But hey at least Ripsaw is being replaced.

All hail the Slammer Memorial Pit.

Only a year out. Thorpe have applied for permission to remove it. Finally. Rust in pieces.

Looks decent, though not sure about Eurostar stopping at Calais to get you back to London. Unsure if Eurotunnel does foot passengers either. Definitely goes from Brussels though, so can either double back on yourselves or swap Walibi & Plopsa days.

I'm not that bothered weirdly. But my early enthusiast days were at the time of Top Thrill Dragster so that to me was the more iconic of the 2. The method of the closure is very disappointing though. Is Amanda Thompson involved?

The amount of work the systems on TTD and Kingda Ka needed to do was ridiculous. Think Mark is right that the later models (or smaller/slower ones) have had those little edits to the system to make them work better than say, Xcelerator as the first one. Stealth is too integrated into the park's brand now for them to not try everything else before removing it. Ka's removal was probably fast-tracked through with combination of the merger and the utter disaster of TT2.

God modern architecture is so ugly.

To put more in there they'd have needed to bin Depth Charge as well. Which isn't happening. The park needs more spaces to breathe and has done for years. Might even be something they can offer for evening entertainment in summer months for hotel guests. I've always felt that this was the best solution for the area. Better than a beach that is never used.

Booked hotel for next year. Glad to be getting back on doing proper coaster trips.

But if they don't do these kind of Easter eggs what will the coaster influencers be able to do with grand nonsense theories?

Just surprised they haven't had any days of fully booked RAP yet.

Hotels for Europa are great but expensive. Depends on budget but Rust is full of B&Bs that are walkable distance to the park. Phantasialand is same situation really.

I'd probably also say make Poland another trip. Especially if you're going to do Auschwitz (not been mind but on my list) with it and the mental toll that apparently takes. One thing I only realised on my trip plan was the time taken between the German stops and Amsterdam. So still lots to consider. What I've tended to do with many longer trips is stick to one country to minimise the travelling and dealing with languages.

Often with some parks (especially first visits to them) it's worth taking time and just enjoying them. Cred runs can also be fun don't get me wrong, but being able to just take it in is also a great benefit. Looking at map might be worth just doing France, Germany, Holland and Belgium parks. Potentially as below: 1 - Travel to Paris 2 - Asterix 3 - Travel to Lyon 4 - Walibi Rhonde 5 - Travel to Europa/Rust 6/7 - Europa 8 - Travel to Cologne 9/10 - Phantasialand 11 - Travel to Hamburg 12 - Hansa Park 13 - Heide Park 14 - Travel to Amsterdam 15 - Amsterdam 16 - Walibi Holland 17 - Travel to Ghent 18 - Plopsaland 19 - Travel to Brussels 20 - Walibi Belgium 21 - Home via Eurostar As mentioned you'll need to check on how easy some places are via public transport (Hansa & Phantasialand definitely are from Cologne & Hamburg). Though if inter-railing it most of the costs might be covered. Also if the journeys are a bit shorter have more time to relax or look round the cities. Only given Heide one day because it really isn't worth more.

That is a LOT of travelling. Europa is not a 1 day park. Port Aventura is just about maybe. But you'll be rushing around like headless chickens trying to tick off doing as much as possible. I'd probably sack off the Spanish parks out of the choices. As well as maybe looking to finish either Walibi or Plopsa, as Eurostar goes in that vague direction if I recall. Would also be a shame to only do an evening in Berlin. Lovely city.

Asterix is a great park. Makes me wanna go back as it's got some serious quality. Also yay for not hating Goudrix. It gets a really bad reputation.

Danse Macabre opens today! It looks like pure theatre and I cannot wait until my Christmas visit.

Low wages (for an engineer, especially given the rural location), aging attractions and the short-termism are pretty much that. Skyride was definitely planned to open this year but something happened. Hex was utterly buggered and needed a big fix. If the maintenance ends up just being a quick fix with a hope to do a proper one later then it all adds up. Especially if they don't get the budget or personnel to ensure that the full fixes are done. This then extends to day fixes if staff are stretched thin across the park and can't quickly get to rides because they're busy on the opposite end. Though much like with modern cars, modern rides tend to have so much going on there's more likelihood of it breaking down. So it's a lot of factors coming together.

People kept going back to Thorpe when things were similar (constant ride breakdowns etc.). Rita is buggered though atm. Which definitely doesn't help.

Possible regionalised power cut perhaps? Plus Galaticair being it's usual self. Unfortunately until Merlin remove the short-termism mindset things will continue as is. Also shows the issue with a lack of supporting attractions in two of the major areas of the park. Not replacing the Retrosquad attractions was foolish. Especially with the over engineered nonsense they're currently building. Also think that people are pinning too many hopes on Universal shaking things up competitively. It doesn't do much for the regional type parks in the US.

Good old half term.

All the Merlin parks suffered from the crash. Because of the inherent short-termism that is still seemingly rife in the company. If things don't go right/well (say, the new coaster not being deemed a success) at any of the parks they seem to go into cut mode. There's no attempt to weather the storm as it were but keeping or improving the quality in the face of adversity. So people visit and are greeted by a poor state of affairs and operations, why would they return in future? Combined with the numbers of MAP holders who don't tend to spend much anyway on their visits they need to take stock of what their goals are. Though a lot of MAP holders who are moaning seem to be more upset about the RAP booking system rather than the actual problems in the parks.

Seemingly reopened today. So yeah, not that bad. Funny though.

Getting caught between the external shell and internal seat mechanism. Bit of something breaks loose after suddenly moving for first time consistently all year and right in the way. Incident many years ago (think Japan) where a person got caught between the 2. Didn't end well.