Coaster

No, because Blackpool have only started making a loss since they became more of a theme park, they thrived as an amusement park whilst Chessington thrived as a theme park back in the 90s, BPB brought their current state upon themselves for failing to realise that they are an amusement park IMO, there is still room for amusement parks in the UK that make money, look at Southend!Although actually, finances at BPB were declining before the theme park approach (early 2000's) but they haven't got any better now in terms of income.

Blackpool didn't follow Chessington though, they were already well established before Chessington became a major competitor in the UK.Also, BPB successful? They aren't anymore, they haven't turned a profit in years. Their most successful years were the 80s and mostly the 90s, so I disagree that they "pulled through", that's what they are doing now. I do get what you are saying though, Chessington and BPB are two very different places so it is hard to compare them in terms if how they influenced each other, I only brought up BPB because I disagree that Chessington started the entire UK ride industry (which is what appeared to be suggested earlier).

No no no, Chessington debatably took themed experiences to another level, but your original post (the one I disagreed with) wrongly suggested that the rides kickstarted the UK industry as a whole, you didn't say anything about themed experiences so don't put words in my mouth.Why would I randomly want to bring up other parks without any reason for it?

3 is still more than you originally said. And I don't count a zoo as a theme park, Folly Farm and Zoo in Wales has a whole vintage funfair but nobody considers it to be a theme or amusement park, because it isn't!As for Valhalla, BPB already had several themed attractions, namely Ghost Train, River Caves, Gold Mine (which was very well themed for it's time) and Alice - CWOA did not start themed attractions in the UK, but they did bring them to another level. Although, laughably, the likes of River Caves and Ghost Train are in better condition than Chessie's themed attractions at the moment! Back in the 90's BPB were leading UK parks, were they not the park that used to turn a profit of £500,000 in one day? Or the park that used to close at 2am on a regular basis? Thorpe and Towers have been playing catch-up since the 90s and BPB have fallen behind them (not in terms of quality but in terms of leading the industry) but there is no denying that they did lead the UK ride industry at one stage.

Yes but there really isn't that much difference, not in the UK anyway. BPB has lots of themed attractions but not individual areas (aside from Nick Land), and it definitely kick started the UK industry on a major as it was around long before the likes of Chessington and Alton, and interestingly the owner of BPB at the time (Leonard Thompson I think) was good friends with the owner of Disneyland and inspired it!

Right, so Chessington as a place with rides opened in 1987, making at least ten of BPB's current rides older than it.

Whether I like BPB or not is irrelevant, they were once the leaders of the UK industry, they had at least double the number of rides of Chessington or Alton during their first few years and turned over half a million pounds on busy days, they weren't just a small seaside park. BPB once had a scenic railway which was the type which was made up of two sections and had to be pushed back, whether this was the first or not I don't know but I never said that BPB did open the first wooden coaster. EDIT: Just looked on RCDB, the first Scenic Railway opened in 1907, which UK wooden coaster opened before that out of interest? So Chessington Zoo opened before 1905 then did it? Flying Machines and River Caves are both older than the Dipper so to suggest that only Big Dipper is older than CWOA is complete nonsense when I can list two more rides without even thinking. Grand National, Nick Streak and Blue Flyer were also all open by 1935, so unless Chessington Zoo was open before then, they were also there before it. But seeing as you are so confident, when exactly did Chessington open?

I think you're forgetting BPB, some of the rides there have been around since Chessington was just an empty patch of grass!

No no, I said that it would be good to have Southport's Wild Mouse back in the long run, but that the steel mouse is good as a short term investment. Then Pete_A replied saying that they had scrapped the project, so I said that they should sell it to a park that would actually use it, as it would be nice to have another wooden Wild Mouse in operation.

Really? It looks wooden: https://youtu.be/Q__J6u6ADxc

Oh Any particular reason for this? They should sell it on to somewhere else though, it would be great to have another wooden wild mouse in operation.

So Dreamland have acquired a Reverchon Crazy Mouse. Not really a heritage ride, but I think that it is a good decision in the short term, however in the long term I would like to see Southport's wooden Wild Mouse (which I believe they have in storage), the Water Chute (which I think they have blueprints for) and The Whip from BPB built. I appreciate that it doesn't all happen in a day and hopefully they'll manage this in the long run, I fully support this park and aim to visit once they become more established, and once the Scenic Railway is open!

Isn't this just going to add to the traffic chaos getting into the park? Furthermore, the grass car park really wouldn't be any good for disabled people, and there is no hiding the fact that they are yet again cutting a perk from the pass after people have paid for it.

Sadly that's not the case on the grass car park at the far exit. I remember a huge queue of cars at closing time because the barrier wasn't working and not a staff member in sight!I emailed them about this and when we visited again in a few months, the exact same thing happened. I also get riled by the congestion caused by Thorpe's barriers, even more so because they usually only have one member of staff to cope with four barriers. If they're going to rip people off on the way out, at least have enough barriers/staff to cope with the demand. (Or maybe they're planning to introduce car park Fastrack!)

It's still not great that they were just left in the tunnel like that, there should be a sound system in there so that they can inform people that they are aware of them in situations such as this.

Some people are also saying that premium passholders are being told that they have to pay as well. That's not offering the service advertised when people bought the product, and I don't care if they have it covered in T&C's, it's wrong. They really do know how to alienate loyal customers don't they.

Very strange, and £10 is far too much. If they are charging people on the way out still (rather than on the way in) then it's dishonest and a bit unfair to be honest, as how will people know it is £10 until they are in the car park?Yet another example of M£rlin.

How on earth did that happen?! Not great that the staff just seemed to blank them for ages though.

Yeah, that's where the batcher was. She saw him in the area next to that, which according to her is a ride area.

It was a Thorpe employee who scans your phone, wearing a green top.Technically there isn't any track in the area (it is the area between the main queue and Fastrack queue on Nemesis Inferno) but a ride area is a ride area, and the batcher of the two queues shouted frantically at him so it is obviously an area that the staff aren't supposed to be in.

Not really moaning though is it. Imagine going through that, of course he's going to be angry, it is a horrific accident and should not have happened.

Yeah, thankfully it wasn't one which actually houses track so there wasn't a danger of being hit, but the batching woman was shouting very frantically at him so it must be quite a strictly enforced rule, so the question is why hadn't he been told about it?

That's what I thought, it's nothing to worry about and this person is making a big fuss over nothing IMO.

It's pathetic, this seems to be a normal occurrence for the ride, what is wrong with people these days? If it was a painful collision than I'll take that back, but I can't imagine it being so with the speed that Skyway travels at.

To be honest I completely forgot that they were trialling the system when we made the decision to visit (which was earlier today), I only remembered later (after coming on here and checking queue times) but decided to go earlier as I wanted a thrill fix! Yeah I agree that it is unrealistic in the current setup, but that needs to be changed IMO. I think that RNR should be run as a more "premium" thing with much less slots available so it is a reward for those who plan ahead, but doesn't affect the main queues as when less people were using reserve and ride, the main queues went down significantly today.