Benin

What is a good summary of modern Merlin is using some of the exact same snippets of speech in both the London Sweeney Todd room and Blackpool's pirate room...

Did you do Ramses? Garda probably has two of the fabbest crap European dark rides in the entirety of Europe...

Will be interesting to see the general consensus once people have ridden it... To me it wasn't the greatest thing since sliced bread (It's one of those 'pedestal' coasters) but it is good fun and very enjoyable... At night

What's the point in 360 degree VR when you can't move your head that much?

The two live action mazes? I liked Sub Terra, it was actually the sort of thing I want more of, especially for filler attractions (story driven and actually well themed)... Unfortunately the amount of problems it had (both technical and guest wise) has turned it into a bit of a white elephant, especially after Smiler crashed...

A dark one...

It's marketing guff, besides it just shows how far behind the curve Merlin are when 7D is so prevalent in Asia...

Premier did use the moving station idea for a few of their shuttle launches, so it's not a really new idea, just never been used to a suitable potential by other companies...

Roland's been at the sherry in the hotel bars again hasn't he?

Oh Jack Dammit!

http://officeoffline.co.uk/uploads/monthly_2016_11/image.jpeg.afbe1dbe12b5471a23f5f351162451f5.jpeg

I would say that the park employees do care actually, they're just not given any form of budget to do anything about it as it's not a priority...

Maybe some of the current park managers will be given the boot? I prescribe to the notion that the best way to deal with this year was to be the best they could be, even in the face of the incident and resulting coverage... Guest numbers would've fallen regardless of their decisions, but if they had kept going and not had all the closed rides/shops/eateries then those who did visit would have gained a good visit and kept the reputation relatively intact in terms of Trip Advisor/Facebook/Twitter reviews... I don't think that has been the case, but unfortunately it seems that this is part of the business ideals, which can often do more long term damage... I'd imagine the standard guest visiting would think that those closed rides were closed due to safety concerns (well, Sub Terra was), that's one issue in itself badly dealt with... Then add on the embarrassing TLC thing and it's no surprise we end up with further permanent cuts, because the steps taken post Smiler weren't the right ones...

Let's be honest, the closure of Loggers (and very desperate redevelopments of other older attractions) have been coming for a long time after the dreadful mismanagement of the late Tussauds years... It is peculiar how initially Merlin seemed quite keen on redoing parks up (Chessie got a few random new bits and pieces in terms of theming for example), where did that go? Probably intrinsically linked with going on the stock market... Sure lots of parks do close rides or have them SBNO for years (for varying reasons, though these are generally more solid than 'renovation', which appears to be the buzz word of the bigger franchises), usually many times if a ride needs replacing they will get to doing so post haste to soften the blow (say like, SW8)... Unfortunately the way Merlin operate continually hamstring their parks, as investment levels are tied directly to park performance in one big pot... Yet surely the best way to tackle poor performance (whether it be due to general poor days out or the crash) is to put money into the park to ensure that the day out is enjoyed and promote either returning or to get others to do so... SW8 was completely changed after the crash, even though Ripsaw was still removed (much like Blade was meant to be) in the end, and we've also seen budgets get slashed from other rides because others are given priority (Zufari vs Smiler)... This stuff is VERY Disney during the late Eisner years, which are perceived as some of the worst times for Disney parks, similarly with Six Flags or Cedar Fair... The way of life needs to change in Merlin... In order to refurb a ride you have to bring a marketing piece with it? That's such an idiotic way of running a park and it shows for both staff and guests on the ground, and it's why we have a £30m VR elephant in the middle of the park that already needs expansion because it didn't reach expected KPI targets...

I can imagine there's a fair amount of backlash from MAP holders on this, it won't be heavingly busy (so no real justification for the fee), there's no rides open, and £16 for a zoo which is normally free and some Poundland fire risk Grotto will not go down well... The value of a MAP is being really muddied over the years, which is a real shame as it used to be one of the best values (behind the ridiculousness of a Six Flags one)...

If Clinton had won you'd probably just have the same people kicking off because of Trump claiming about polls being rigged and that an assassination wouldn't be so bad... Get your guns out etc. So regardless if the winner, we would have incidents, but still likely from the one side...

Buy a real computer!

Freedom for the straight white man!

I think Clinton's deplorable comment has actually been proven correct given that Trump actually won...

History is very circular, no doubting that... Problem is we now have a president elect due to stand trial for child rape, and should anything come of that we could end up with someone who believes homosexuality can be electrocuted out... Let alone having someone endorsed by the KKK... It's likely we'll see a rise of incidents throughout the states because people will see this as that their beliefs are correct, much like post EU referendum here... The exit pollsters need to review stuff too, as that's three times now...

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kWdfRRtAs3o 2016 can seriously go down as one of the absolute worst years...

Anyone wanna call odds on that?

There are no wristbands, however their preview night has them and is stupidly good value which might be worth looking into... Busy times vary, obviously early doors on a weekend starts quiet but gets packed quickly, evenings I'm not sure on... I reckon it'll be a tenner for Olympia... Not been confirmed yet, but at Vienna it was €8.50 per ride... Depends on what flats there are, I would recommend Hotel Alpen funhouse though...

That there are videos kinda says to me that there's TOO big a deal made around it... Like, do you need to film yourself coming out? Schools could probably do a lot more on it, though I sense it would be a difficult subject to teach in general, especially given the current quality of sex education...

I'm torn on the Ghost Train, as I think a massive overhaul/update would be more interesting, however China needs a stand out attraction and that's the best location for one... Removing Hollywood Tour and Nighthawk, combined with the rumoured move of Fantissima theatre would basically give them space for a whole new area... Perhaps Atlantis is to be replaced by a new theatre? Park is far from perfect though, they've just taken the chance of removing old rides and improving the quality of the park ten fold... The difference between 6 (08-14) years of my first two visits was insane...