Zappomatic

Food outlets and kiosks around the park (but not inside the Dome) now serve Illy coffee, from freshly ground beans. No more disgusting Nescafé!
 
Also pleased to say that most of the Coca Cola Freestyle machines offer water for free. Goes through the same filter and chiller as the other drinks so tastes great.

Can we get a juggler one to go with Rodeo for us real oldies?!

It was a shame to see that despite all of the park's winter maintenance videos, there was still plenty of old litter and gum around the park from last season (or even older). The indoor part of Saw's queueline was full of dust bunnies and pigeon poo, and Nemesis Inferno's volcano was a disgrace! Could they really not find the time to get someone onto that with a scraper during the closed season?

"I didn't know it was only 2 to a row!" *After a 90 minute queue watching said ride*

Kebabs can be rather tasty and it's definitely improved by asking them to leave the pita bread out. You get quite a lot of food for the money.
 
I think Fin's has upped its game this year too, consistently decent pub quality (especially their fish and chips) and they have improved their beer selection.

Kebabs can be rather tasty and it's definitely improved by asking them to leave the pita bread out. You get quite a lot of food for the money.
 
I think Fin's has upped its game this year too, consistently decent pub quality (especially their fish and chips) and they have improved their beer selection.

Someone seemed to have given it a clean when I went over the weekend - save for a couple of faint marks which are barely noticeable.

No sense at all.  Thorpe Park used to be such a fun, vibrant place where each area had its own unique atmosphere.  From the dramatic scores for Colossus and Nemesis Inferno, you had the western Canada Creek Playlist, WWTP Radio (back when it played properly), and so many fun pieces of music which added so much to the park's atmosphere.
 
Fast forward to 2018, and the park has no atmosphere at all.  Every area has had its vibe washed out with the same corporate IMAScore tripe, stripping it back of all the fun and atmosphere that a theme park should have.
 
Rumba's fun catchy theme?  Nope, let's have some nondescript "Zufari" music that people will have forgotten by the time they leave the ride.
 
Also, who remembers this gem?  I remember it playing across the bridges out of the dome, around the beach area etc.  Now just the same music as everywhere else in the park.
 
 
They'd be better off with chart music than the current rubbish, at least that is varied!

Particularly when you include a 20% annual pass discount 

Popped in for a few hours today as I had a meeting in Heathrow that was done by 10am and I was really pleasantly surprised! At the entrance staff were doing a good job separating people with bags for security search and the new turnstiles scan passes much more quickly than the old ones.
 
Coasters were all running two trains and Saw had plenty of cars on. Really efficient team on Swarm with no stacking going on, and Nemesis Inferno not too bad but seemed to be having a few issues with restraints. Didn't ride Colossus but this seemed to be struggling to despatch with any urgency. Two boats on Tidal Wave.
 
Queue times were bizarre and it seemed like a lot of people in the park were going round in a huge group; at one point in the day Colossus' queue time was indicated as 50 minutes, and later on Stealth was going out with empty seats while at the same time Nemesis Inferno's queue was reaching the second cattle pen!
 
Swarm's fire effect was going off on every other train, but sadly still no water effects. Also the new fencing in the queue line while sturdy is totally out of theme - seems they got a job lot as the same stuff is used (in different colours) at the park entrance and in a few other places around the park.
 
Stealth's smoke effects are back but still one of the green lights is out.
 
On Saw the indoor drop and the bit with the arrows/air blasts is in total darkness for some reason.
 
Vortex and Samurai both closed but work visibly going on to fix both of them.
 
Generally a really nice atmosphere on park - plenty of people around but mostly small queues and good ops and it seemed lots of people were taking the opportunity to enjoy a beer or an ice cream in the sun. On my visits to Thorpe Park this year even on quiet days it's felt like it has some life and vibrancy and that it's being run fairly creatively (events, promotions, minor refurbs etc) - so why does Alton Towers with its brand new major coaster feel like an exercise in managed decline?

Popped in for a few hours today as I had a meeting in Heathrow that was done by 10am and I was really pleasantly surprised! At the entrance staff were doing a good job separating people with bags for security search and the new turnstiles scan passes much more quickly than the old ones.
 
Coasters were all running two trains and Saw had plenty of cars on. Really efficient team on Swarm with no stacking going on, and Nemesis Inferno not too bad but seemed to be having a few issues with restraints. Didn't ride Colossus but this seemed to be struggling to despatch with any urgency. Two boats on Tidal Wave.
 
Queue times were bizarre and it seemed like a lot of people in the park were going round in a huge group; at one point in the day Colossus' queue time was indicated as 50 minutes, and later on Stealth was going out with empty seats while at the same time Nemesis Inferno's queue was reaching the second cattle pen!
 
Swarm's fire effect was going off on every other train, but sadly still no water effects. Also the new fencing in the queue line while sturdy is totally out of theme - seems they got a job lot as the same stuff is used (in different colours) at the park entrance and in a few other places around the park.
 
Stealth's smoke effects are back but still one of the green lights is out.
 
On Saw the indoor drop and the bit with the arrows/air blasts is in total darkness for some reason.
 
Vortex and Samurai both closed but work visibly going on to fix both of them.
 
Generally a really nice atmosphere on park - plenty of people around but mostly small queues and good ops and it seemed lots of people were taking the opportunity to enjoy a beer or an ice cream in the sun. On my visits to Thorpe Park this year even on quiet days it's felt like it has some life and vibrancy and that it's being run fairly creatively (events, promotions, minor refurbs etc) - so why does Alton Towers with its brand new major coaster feel like an exercise in managed decline?

Popped in for a few hours today as I had a meeting in Heathrow that was done by 10am and I was really pleasantly surprised! At the entrance staff were doing a good job separating people with bags for security search and the new turnstiles scan passes much more quickly than the old ones.
 
Coasters were all running two trains and Saw had plenty of cars on. Really efficient team on Swarm with no stacking going on, and Nemesis Inferno not too bad but seemed to be having a few issues with restraints. Didn't ride Colossus but this seemed to be struggling to despatch with any urgency. Two boats on Tidal Wave.
 
Queue times were bizarre and it seemed like a lot of people in the park were going round in a huge group; at one point in the day Colossus' queue time was indicated as 50 minutes, and later on Stealth was going out with empty seats while at the same time Nemesis Inferno's queue was reaching the second cattle pen!
 
Swarm's fire effect was going off on every other train, but sadly still no water effects. Also the new fencing in the queue line while sturdy is totally out of theme - seems they got a job lot as the same stuff is used (in different colours) at the park entrance and in a few other places around the park.
 
Stealth's smoke effects are back but still one of the green lights is out.
 
On Saw the indoor drop and the bit with the arrows/air blasts is in total darkness for some reason.
 
Vortex and Samurai both closed but work visibly going on to fix both of them.
 
Generally a really nice atmosphere on park - plenty of people around but mostly small queues and good ops and it seemed lots of people were taking the opportunity to enjoy a beer or an ice cream in the sun. On my visits to Thorpe Park this year even on quiet days it's felt like it has some life and vibrancy and that it's being run fairly creatively (events, promotions, minor refurbs etc) - so why does Alton Towers with its brand new major coaster feel like an exercise in managed decline?

Popped in for a few hours today as I had a meeting in Heathrow that was done by 10am and I was really pleasantly surprised! At the entrance staff were doing a good job separating people with bags for security search and the new turnstiles scan passes much more quickly than the old ones.
 
Coasters were all running two trains and Saw had plenty of cars on. Really efficient team on Swarm with no stacking going on, and Nemesis Inferno not too bad but seemed to be having a few issues with restraints. Didn't ride Colossus but this seemed to be struggling to despatch with any urgency. Two boats on Tidal Wave.
 
Queue times were bizarre and it seemed like a lot of people in the park were going round in a huge group; at one point in the day Colossus' queue time was indicated as 50 minutes, and later on Stealth was going out with empty seats while at the same time Nemesis Inferno's queue was reaching the second cattle pen!
 
Swarm's fire effect was going off on every other train, but sadly still no water effects. Also the new fencing in the queue line while sturdy is totally out of theme - seems they got a job lot as the same stuff is used (in different colours) at the park entrance and in a few other places around the park.
 
Stealth's smoke effects are back but still one of the green lights is out.
 
On Saw the indoor drop and the bit with the arrows/air blasts is in total darkness for some reason.
 
Vortex and Samurai both closed but work visibly going on to fix both of them.
 
Generally a really nice atmosphere on park - plenty of people around but mostly small queues and good ops and it seemed lots of people were taking the opportunity to enjoy a beer or an ice cream in the sun. On my visits to Thorpe Park this year even on quiet days it's felt like it has some life and vibrancy and that it's being run fairly creatively (events, promotions, minor refurbs etc) - so why does Alton Towers with its brand new major coaster feel like an exercise in managed decline?

Popped in for a few hours today as I had a meeting in Heathrow that was done by 10am and I was really pleasantly surprised! At the entrance staff were doing a good job separating people with bags for security search and the new turnstiles scan passes much more quickly than the old ones.
 
Coasters were all running two trains and Saw had plenty of cars on. Really efficient team on Swarm with no stacking going on, and Nemesis Inferno not too bad but seemed to be having a few issues with restraints. Didn't ride Colossus but this seemed to be struggling to despatch with any urgency. Two boats on Tidal Wave.
 
Queue times were bizarre and it seemed like a lot of people in the park were going round in a huge group; at one point in the day Colossus' queue time was indicated as 50 minutes, and later on Stealth was going out with empty seats while at the same time Nemesis Inferno's queue was reaching the second cattle pen!
 
Swarm's fire effect was going off on every other train, but sadly still no water effects. Also the new fencing in the queue line while sturdy is totally out of theme - seems they got a job lot as the same stuff is used (in different colours) at the park entrance and in a few other places around the park.
 
Stealth's smoke effects are back but still one of the green lights is out.
 
On Saw the indoor drop and the bit with the arrows/air blasts is in total darkness for some reason.
 
Vortex and Samurai both closed but work visibly going on to fix both of them.
 
Generally a really nice atmosphere on park - plenty of people around but mostly small queues and good ops and it seemed lots of people were taking the opportunity to enjoy a beer or an ice cream in the sun. On my visits to Thorpe Park this year even on quiet days it's felt like it has some life and vibrancy and that it's being run fairly creatively (events, promotions, minor refurbs etc) - so why does Alton Towers with its brand new major coaster feel like an exercise in managed decline?

That Flying Fish resin looks unfinished, as though they forgot to apply blue paint for the logo and the supports.

This song would be so perfect for WWTP radio: 
Fnarr! ?
 
 

Land of the Fence

I understand that Goose Island has also appeared at the Alton Towers Hotel, not sure about the park though. For the last coupe of years at Fin's you could at least get London Pride in a bottle if you didn't fancy lager.
 
The street food pop up was run by the same outside company that runs the chocolate fountain stall near Slammer: http://wearepineapple.co.uk/chalets/theme-parks-and-visitor-attractions

I understand that Goose Island has also appeared at the Alton Towers Hotel, not sure about the park though. For the last coupe of years at Fin's you could at least get London Pride in a bottle if you didn't fancy lager.
 
The street food pop up was run by the same outside company that runs the chocolate fountain stall near Slammer: http://wearepineapple.co.uk/chalets/theme-parks-and-visitor-attractions

Over the last few closed days Swarm has seen some work, The Rear of the console has now had its painting finished, this should hopefully be abit more durable to guests than the stick on police style colors. The beams in the station have been painted to make it look abit better, hopefully just temporary till they can replace the wood in there properly. The water effects are also now working and back on again. 
 
Still a couple of little bits not working, the sound volume around the area is still pretty low and the bell tower sound effect still isnt working but hopefully this can be fixed soon!

FFS Merlin. Please give up, just go, leave our parks, sell them, close them frankly if this is what constitutes for improvements in you book.
 
That didn't just happen, obviously. Money has been spent to turn the fantastic dragons head into that. Actual money. By the people who supposedly can't afford basic upkeep or remotely appropriate opening hours.
 
So so sad.
 

Have The Swarm's fire and water effects been seen at all this year? Noticed the fire engine playing a recorded explosion sound every time a train was about to drop, which I don't remember being there before.
 
On a more positive note this ride was really flying last night - I don't get people who say the ride lacks force.

Rode Colossus last night (walked straight in to an empty station and went for the front row - very confusing!) and I'm guessing I had the train that's been out of action because it felt unusually smooth. New wheels, maybe?