Benin

I'll take, "Things we said 10 years ago" for £100...

Efteling also did themed hi-vis for Baron, cos they do those sorta unnecessary things... Hopefully they'll do another Youtube series too of the construction...

IMAScore's stuff is very basic (as in the track tends to follow a simple set of chords), but it's also catchy and pretty damn memorable... Stuff like Krake and Smiler are like this... Then you have stuff like Helix, Chiapas, Magic Valley at Toverland and Klugheim, which are a great combination of that same technique but those work immensely well in the context of the rides and areas themselves... They're probably slightly better in terms of producing a complete package of music for an entire area rather than a single track, as the difference between them is much more noticeable in those senses... It's like Disney soundtracks for certain rides in a way...

Poor naive goon, what will you be like when you visit real parks with real rides?

Ohhhh gypsy day! Miss those days they were always fun to work on...

BUMP Surprised no one else has updated this, but recently rumours have pointed to a certain massive travelling coaster to be turning up this year... Olympia Looping! Typical that I've gone to Vienna for that sole purpose earlier in the year, but it actually was on RCDB so counted then rather than being back to basics travelling... It's not been 100% confirmed, but maybe this is the year?

To be fair, when Efteling spend €2million refurbishing a restaurant, I think people are allowed to go a bit ott for them... What they doing to Python? Actually adding theming?

Oh CoasterKingdom Shame he stopped, such great reviews...

That last line is literally what happened with the last 'refurb'...

Other parks don't tend to market repaints as additions though that's the issue, they just do them...

Is the correct answer, its standard fayre and nothing more...

They could've easily built a coaster that suffered the same amount of downtime...

"Silly snake, zoesn't know, zere's no zuch thing zas Gruffelo"

Probably best to try redownloading the set and ensuring that it's been unzipped correctly from the off...

No, Charlie is closed cos the contract is finished, and probably one of the lifts being buggered...

2008/09 (I.e. Merlin years) were pretty decent, 2010 was as well... As soon as 3 trains went off Vampire it was downhill...

Facts and knowledge don't sell papers/get hits though...

Assuming they actually still allow staff to, if the train stalls at lift 2 or the final brakes it just needs a push to get going again... Rather easy to do, or at least was 7 odd years ago...

A broken chain on an Intamin? Well I never!

Might have done before they got the Tussauds parks or when they were really buggered financially... Though since Peppa Pig it might have happened as well since Merlin dislike competition...

Plus adding a ride right on the beach would just make the park feel more cluttered than before... A massive plaza with fountains/seating/food/staging is the best bet for any beach removal...

There are ways to combat the queues that help everyone though, rather than those willing to pay... The constant upselling in parks is very different to be offered a £1 chocolate bar in Smiths, I've not paid £50 for the privilege of being in Smiths for one, which is why a lot of complaints at the cost of the park seem levied towards cost of food, car park and Fastrack... Rather than bombard people with offers, perhaps improving the experience of everyone would help? Nicer queues, better atmosphere, some of the more basic theme park solutions would be better than pop ups on your park app...

Gruffalo is probably a reasonably 'timeless' IP though... Doesn't fit into the whole themed continents thing though, feels like all the Merlin parks really lack a distinctive direction in which to take forward...

It's having new technology in an environment completely new for it (and it arguably wasn't designed for, though that's another topic entirely)... Strange design choices in order to get that "unique selling point" as if just having a new ride isn't enough of one... Means we scrape the bottom of the barrel with things like I'm a Celeb and the world's first rollercoaster FULLY dedicated to VR...

That was 4 years ago, plenty of time for any park to evolve and improve (apart from the park in your username of course)...