Benin

As with all Plopsa's work, looks very good indeed and sure the kids will love being part of the world of the show...

Phantasialand's existence basically destroys that argument... Any good park works within their limits to produce a quality result, and a small kid based flat ride is not going to demand the removal of say, Colossus... Far from it! As Josh says, parks need variety, Thorpe lacks it because of having the majority of rides be thrill based or scary... It's part of that age old question of what can a park provide after eating lunch? Thorpe provides Angry Birds 4D or perhaps IAC as the answer, which clearly is the worst answer ever...

Transylvania, like most of Chessie was once fantastic, sure Bubbleworks has always been 'odd', but the concept of the original just worked so well... Butchered scenery and design choices have really brought the area down completely...

LEGOLAND is for kids, Chessie seemingly stuck in an even worse set of crossroads of confusion of direction as well... This splitting of the demographics to go to a specific park is also a problem (and kinda has been since Tussauds initially purchased Thorpe), as what do groups do when kids are bored of one but unable to experience the bigger attractions? Families are more likely to spend more money on the higher ticket items like merch and what not... Plus more likely to buy sweets, drinks, etc in higher quantities... I'll never understand why families with babies visit the place, but they do, and I'll wager there's a fair amount of complaints that come with that due to a lack of things to do (especially for those kids who have to pay for entry but aren't tall enough for anything)... Yes its awful that they cannot be bothered to think these additions through, but the park have been suffering for ages because of a distinct lack of customer spend and trying to get the disillusioned groups back into the park...

Changing back to more families has nothing to do with Smiler though, just years of driving away the one demographic that actually spends money... Same thing happened with Six Flags in some cases... Even at the height of thrill marketing families STILL visited the park, so there is a demand to add some attractions for them, although that wasn't realised by those in charge hence the constant removal and really badly thought out additions (Storm Surge, Angry Birds)... DBGT shows the utter confusion of direction too, as dark rides tend to be the best sort of family ride, yet the USP decided it must be scary and hence unsuitable for that market... The parks are at a massive crossroads right now, just need some actual consideration to the future, which I fear is unlikely...

Just admit you saw it off my Twitter Ryan, it's ok... I too fear that this is going into Heide, such a waste of the technology involved and it's generally so awful looking...

Nothing ever goes wrong when people pin insanely high expectations on something new... Nothing at all... As for best park Josh, Thorpe still had equal shares of problems, Mothers being closed, continuation of breakdown issues that have plagued the park for years, Darren Brown in general and probably some other issues... Towers still trades off the name and history, which is still probably the best overall park in the country even through all the issues...

Time Machine is dreadfully vomtastic, and also it's at a park that isn't Thorpe or Merlin so it's not got a good ridership on here... Not a good flat ride...

Two things tonight then; Russian ambassador in Turkey shot and a hostage situation going on... Berlin marketplace gets a truck ploughing through it, currently 9 confirmed dead at time of writing... 2016 has been just dreadful...

I'd guess even a full queue would only take about 15 minutes with 5 trains on German efficiency... Also omg contactless creds <3

Yes, but it buggered up the building because LOL MERLIN...

I've not been since the fire was added, so I'm gonna assume the screens are used as fire effects? Probably the best way to do them imo given they can't use real fire and other methods can look really cheap and awful...

One person's acceptable is another's awful... And let's be honest, things being 'acceptable' is half of the problems within the parks atm... I've not bothered because the crux of the attraction literally doesn't interest me, and that the main technological draw of the whole thing doesn't work otherwise it destroys the building says it all about the project...

Problem is that County Hall does not lend itself to a sensible layout (similar to Blackpool's really), so there's so many dead spots throughout of just walking from scene to scene... This can help with throughputs but at the same time it's just very much a drag due to the constant stairs and whatnot... What's actually wrong with the Ripper scenes now? I remember being much more impressed when it first opened there as they pretty much did exactly what the scene needed, opened it up to more scares that weren't obvious due to the fencing on the ledge... I also don't remember that many screens Jamie I must admit, unless its all the head projections for most scenes? Certainly an improvement over the bland talking man videos in the old place...

Sentiments sound similar to my reaction when riding it in Vienna earlier this year, it is overhyped, but I believe that is more so down to it being the biggest travelling cred around... It's world famous in coaster circles which in itself is no mean feat... Saying that though it is a ride which I could happily sit on for ages due to the smoothness, and is just great fun... It's not a top 10 ride but I never expected it to be that in the first place so it never worried me... Like most Schwarzkopf rides there's also an air of legacy around them and tales of intensity, plus with this being a relatively rare cred there was probably a lot of "boasting" about it, which was really funny when last year was meant to be it's last Oktoberfest and now it's in London... Foolish smug goons... One thing I have seen though is that it's location at Winter Wonderland is bloody awful... At Vienna it was right at the very back of the park with nothing really around it, akin to a Disney castle of all things... You saw it from afar and just kept getting closer and closer, in London it seems like it's been squeezed in at a detriment to the ride's look and draw, which are the most important factors for a fairground ride... A shame really as it was impressive to watch...

Now that I've won like 5 sarcasm awards don't I get one to keep? God knows what I'm dedicated to though... Sarcasm? Not going to Thorpe?

Seems that Grona Lund's new Intamin drop tower has peeved the local authority as well, also having its permit removed on environmental grounds (how I don't know, since its in the middle of a park with taller towers); or perhaps Parks Scandinavia (same company as Kolmarden) haven't greased enough palms recently...

I think its nearly done... Maybe? Also the park are getting a Gerst Skyfly next year, perhaps a secret EU law has been passed that demands all parks have one?

Valhalla is overrated to hell and back... The ridiculous levels of wetness and giant warehouse are seemingly given a free pass because I'm guessing it's unique? There's not many 'thrill water dark rides' after all... Like parts of it have good theming but the giant warehouse section is just that, plus most of it is broken anyways... Just always found it weird it's so rated when it's not actually that enjoyable...

To be fair back when we visited in 2011 Movieland spited us due to midweek closure, so Mark can honestly not give a true opinion on the place...

You forgot the two fantastic dark rides in Garda, Ramses and Corsair... I'd also now add in Movieland Studios, which is generally ridiculous yet charming in a weird way, and it's only down the road from Garda! Worth it especially for Magma, U-Boat Simulator, Kitt Jet, Terminator 2 and the multiple shows (the Rambo one in particular)... Plus a dangerous water park for those who want to complete the day... There's also a Togo Stand Up in Italy should anyone visit, and I know certainly next time I go the home made place near Vienna is on the agenda...

Hippopotobus is my new favourite ride name ever, I really hope it literally is a giant hippo as well...

It's a stretch because that's not even true... Nintendo games are insanely detailed as Breath of the Wild shows off... Also, I'm gonna wager that a Mario area will be one part of the puzzle... What about Zelda? Metroid? Donkey Kong? Star Fox? Animal Crossing? The possibilities are endless to bring together lots of various concepts of different games from single series... Luigi's Mansion interactive dark ride anyone? I'll be VERY disappointed if there isn't a Bayonetta meet and greet though...

THORPE TWEETED ABOUT GETTING A HYPER! B&M CONFIRMED!!!!1111

The greatest park border fence ever made!