Benin

Wonder which they hated more, the original film or the ride.......

Blue Fire is the only Mack launch to get positive reviews? Lol Helix exists... As always, not about the speed, but what they do with it...

Keep an eye on Reddit then...

In happier news, Phantasialand have been VERY busy bees over winter, with the new entrance (and other theming) for River Quest, Chiapas getting a new entrance bit and lots of new other bits and bobs as well: More found at https://www.rideonblog.com/vor-ort/phantasialand/2017/25-märz

Maybe its a culture thing? Merlin give IMAScore a quick brief of what they want and kinda wipe their hands of it? Whereas I'm sure Phantasialand were overtly hands on with their stuff, hence why it's a full on orchestra involved in Chiapas and Klugheim... IMAScore do seem to work well on the high quality and the general tat sides of the ride music spectrum, which no doubt lends towards their popularity (and they're probably quite cheap if you want something done quick)...

Slammer's annual "is it dead?" topic revival has come early I see...

Most of Blackpool's are certainly nowhere near as unforgiving as B&M clamshells (the worst for larger persons), although I'm not sure how you'd fare with seatbelts and the tighter trains...

Maybe if Chessie did some more restoration work they'd find some new attractions...

And we wonder why Merlin can get away with half-arsed attractions if that's the base expectation...

Those Dutch so crazy...

I don't think anyone would mind if Storm Surge was replaced by an actual turd...

Imagine a theme park that didn't have run down theming with the excuse that its meant to be old/abandoned... What magical places those must be...

Anyone else see the irony of Vig moaning about people moaning/being cynical?

The irony is that theme parks are the easiest things to advertise, it requires little to no effort as more often than not the product does the talking for them... You don't need world's firsts or whatever, plenty of other parks prove that... The way Merlin marketed Galactica really showed their colours with "fully dedicated to VR", as if that made any difference whatsoever...

How many days will Inferno's mist run this year then?

The Clinic thing looked... Ridiculous, like you were strapped to a gurney and things happened... That plus VR maybe? Really ripping off the whole Ministry of Joy vibe though with their marketing if you look on their YouTube page

A mockumentary is not the same as filming people in a room with VR and (my biggest bug bear with the video) NOT showing the footage over the reactions... Merlin are so obsessed with secrecy at the point that it hurts their marketing... Not seeing what is scaring people makes it doubtful that they are seeing the ride content; could be anything or just acting... Who knows?

But aren't the Frozen and Kong rides actually good? Were they also that hyped up? Like, it terms of the filming of people experiencing the attraction purely about how "scary" it is? Universal's hype mostly came over the ridiculous animatronic at the end if I recall... Merlin's stuff is very British really, overhype it so everything will think it's good, just like the national team...

I dunno Josh, Anubis and Wickieland have a fair amount of detailing to them (Though I wish they'd redo the exit for Anubis)... Looks great...

That WAS the plan, Scooby Doo Haunting would've been amazing... I seem to be one of the few people who doesn't have like an issue with the outside? I mean it's not like Ben 10 was a work of art externally, if anything this has added some colour to it... The sign is crap though... Never thought the inside was that amazing either, it always annoyed me they never continued it to the station which could've really been not a B&Q decking project...

Wasn't having a pop at you directly, just a general comment... Didn't the plans show where the entrance area of the ride was? Like opposite Battle Galleons or something?

That 3 minute track is REALLY going to grate in those 2 hour queues...

Know what really helps? Posting the evidence when stating things, as those who have only seen certain parts of a map (I.e. The actual map) can be understandably confused... If it is part of Gloomy Wood then it's a silly idea, literally got Pirates or Africa areas where it sits but Merlin would rather pick the darker boring theme as per the norm...

No, it really doesn't, there's no path to Katanga (at least, the usual path) this year due to access for the site... And besides these maps are anything but accurate...

Could be worse, could be like on Chiapas...