Jump to content

Coaster

Members
  • Posts

    5740
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    61

Everything posted by Coaster

  1. Isn't the idea of building a tall hyper coaster to actually use the speed gained from that height for a long and adventurous layout? I think this looks like it will have a couple of fun elements, but will hit the break run before it really has a chance to do anything. It looks like a post-lift duration of less than 30 seconds, which is unfathomably short for a hyper coaster. It looks like a hyper coaster by definition, but really, not a hyper coaster. It's compact, doesn't take you anywhere outside of its self-contained area, and very very short. I was hoping for a ride that actually takes you somewhere, on a journey, with a decent length and some tall hills. As well as it not really fitting the bill of a hyper, the other issue is that Thorpe really needed a long and impressive coaster to balance the short coasters already at the park. This adds to the problem as it will potentially have a shorter duration than even Swarm? It feels like this is the bare minimum Thorpe could have gotten away with to get the UK's height record. It looks like a layout that's been designed just to get the height record, rather than to be a decent coaster.
  2. Big One will be closed this weekend at BPB. https://www.blackpoolpleasurebeach.com/planned-maintenance/
  3. The Big One, Revolution and Steeplechase - the three Arrow coasters - ran brilliantly at Pleasure Beach today despite snow and the temperature being below 0 degrees at points during the day. Big Dipper, Nickelodeon Streak and Infusion were also running very well. Meanwhile, Icon and Avalanche, the Mack coasters, were closed all day.
  4. Latest Valhalla previews from BPB; Source: https://twitter.com/Pleasure_Beach It's not a lot to go off, but nice that they're starting to build a little bit of hype. I do hope they go big on the marketing for its reopening - time will tell I guess.
  5. Icon has been a disaster operationally this year in terms of throughputs, it's a joke when Infusion is doing double the number of riders per hour (no exagerration).
  6. Whenever I'm at a park and see queue jumpers, people smoking in queues, or smell weed, it's referred to as "the Thorpe Park special." Truly cemented in theme park lingo.
  7. New Valhalla promo image released today; Source: https://twitter.com/MandsThompson
  8. What're they up to now...? https://fb.watch/954PSlWvCM/
  9. Haven't actually gotten round to posting my Fright Nights thoughts yet. Here goes; Trailers is good fun, I liked some of the special effects and references but it lacked in atmosphere and scares for me. 6/10 Creak Freak Massacre - I had a dire run-through, hardly any actors, only 2 chainsaws, lacked in intensity and well... anything really. A shame as back in 2019, it had 3 chainsaws and didn't cost £10! 2/10 Enjoyed the Crows walk thingy, didn't do Platform 15, parkwide lighting was dreadful, fire/light show was okay I guess but nothing special. Did enjoy the night rides a lot though, was fortunate enough to be able to visit on a quiet day. My leaving thoughts were, as my first visit to Thorpe since 2019 it was okay, but it will probably be another couple of years before I have any reason to return. Distinctly average.
  10. Grand National is closed for the remainder of 2021 for planned maintenance. I don’t like the look of this, the last time a coaster closed towards the end of a season for “maintenance” it was torn down during the winter without warning. https://www.blackpoolpleasurebeach.com/planned-maintenance/
  11. Potential X retheme if the Walking Dead sponsorship has come to an end?
  12. Good; this poster. Bizarre; Valhalla winning this year's Golden Ticket award when it has; a) been closed for almost 2 years. b) not deserved to win best water ride for at least 5 years. Plus side though - I do really like this promo image.
  13. Registration days were optional, you could still pick it up on the first visit (as I used to do).
  14. 2022 season pass prices are out; New pass - £99 Renewal - £90 Offer runs throughout September. https://www.blackpoolpleasurebeach.com/season-pass/
  15. I'd be glad to see the back of Angry Birds Land. You could easily tie the Dodgems into Amity Cove, have them themed as retro cars to go with Stealth. Detonator could simply revert back to how it was before.
  16. Thunderbolt at Coney is vile, my all-time least favourite coaster. Just a hideous, hideous ride.
  17. The Swarm's area and theming isn't that great IMO. It's really just a bunch of vehicles and theming items plonked around the ride with no cohesion, it isn't visually nice to look at either. Why is there a huge motorway billboard right next to a church? What's a helicopter doing in a lake? It's just bizarre. I do feel that it was better when the ride first opened and it had the special effects, triggered sound effects etc. As with most Merlin investments though it's been left to fall apart, had random items added and many items of theming are now missing or have been replaced with generic, un-themed items (e.g. the queue fencing). To be honest, I was never a fan of the queue videos being throughout the entire queue, it would have worked much better having them in one section IMO. It just became pretty grating during long queues listening to it I thought. And of course, it all got naff when the screens stopped working, speakers broke etc. There's also that ugly wooden cover around part of the church that totally detracts from the look of the station. Things like that are such a shame; if they'd picked one idea and put all their efforts into that (e.g. a destroyed church as the main centrepiece), it could have looked much better. The area as it is now is just a jumbled mess IMO.
  18. Merlin are objecting to the London Resort planning application; https://escapismproject.co.uk/news/1623419409?s=04&fbclid=IwAR10_0Tg26gWSoUVxXpB3cw7_nU2mQ7g0jdJK-ou_zD7Za4MVoncCuUaxsE My thoughts on this? Merlin need to do one. They have strangled the life out of the UK theme park industry for years; they own the monopoly yet have such low standards in their parks, with no real drive to improve anything. The Merlin short-term model of "slap an IP on it" whilst neglecting rides and basic infrastructure has killed the offering at their parks and, if the London Resort was to happen, it would most likely come back to bite them. My view is that they feel threatened by the prospect of a company coming in and doing a really good job with a park, as it would shift the public perception of Merlin being "the expected standard" in the UK. Merlin are a company that call themselves second only to Disney, yet copy-paste ideas across the world, copy Paultons with Peppa Pig world (albeit not in the UK, as they can't) and they can't even invest satisfactorily in their major parks in the UK. Thorpe hasn't seen solid investment since 2012 despite supposedly being the UK's "thrill capital". London Resort would challenge Merlin, which they clearly don't want. In my opinion, London Resort is exactly what the UK industry needs for it to thrive, some healthy competition which would force Merlin to act. Look at America, there's a rivalry between Cedar Fair and Six Flags, or the European parks which are all owned by different companies. It's much healthier and means that parks have to be at the top of their game to stay in competition. The fact that Merlin are making a fuss over this this says everything about them as a company, second rate and not willing to adjust and improve their offering to compete.
  19. Coaster

    2021 Season

    I think you've missed the point of the post, which highlights a major issue that UK parks simply cannot cope when they are busy. Of course people expect the parks to be busy during half term, but operations need to be swift and the park should be running to maximum to reduce waiting times as much as possible, but that just doesn't happen. It's very much a case of it being how the park is running, rather than how busy it is, that causes the most issues IMO.
  20. Blackpool Pleasure Beach was atrocious on Sunday. Saturday was an excellent day helped by the 10pm close; we arrived in the morning to find Alice, Ice Blast, Nickelodeon Streak, Avalanche and Revolution on delayed opening, which wrecked our chances of riding the low capacity rides first, but fortunately things picked up later on and the rides ran excellently throughout the day. Icon was unfortunately still running very slowly once up to 3 trains, I waited earlier on 2 and the queue moved faster but some of my group ended up waiting over 90 minutes later on. Sunday however, was the worst day I have ever had at BPB. The park was busier than the Saturday, which I presume was due to the bank holiday, and yet there was no extension to the 6pm closing time. We arrived early again to find Ice Blast, Alice, Derby Racer and the entirety of Nickelodeon Land opening at 11am! Nick Land was completely fenced off until 11, which was utterly useless when you consider that getting on the Streak early is the only way to avoid waiting an eternity for it. The coasters due to open at 10:30am were closer to 11 by the time they actually opened, meaning that for the first hour, the only ride in the entire park open was Flying Machines! The Big One and Icon's operations were woefully slow on the Sunday, I have never seen such slow dispatch times in all my visits to the Pleasure Beach. Icon was stacking for 5 minutes each time, meaning it took us 10 minutes to get off the thing, since we had to wait in two places as the ride was on 3 trains. 450pph was calculated I believe which is just abysmal, also bearing in mind that the Speedy Pass queue was enormous. Icon had major capacity problems with it starting the day on 2 trains both times, at which point it was moving the queue reasonably, but they would then hold it up to add on the third train at around midday (which took them 20 minutes to do on the Sunday), after which operations slowed down to an absolute snail's pace. This caused the queue to overspill the extended queueline; past the entrance gate, all the way down the path next to it and back up, and overflowing out next to the Icon shop. It would then hardly move for the rest of the day making for some utterly horrible wait times. Despite the park being absolutely heaving, Grand National, Ghost Train and River Caves closed an hour early at 5pm due to a private event?! This was absolute madness given how busy the park was, and again, I have never seen anything like it. I've tried to see the good in the Pleasure Beach, but Sunday was an utter shambles and the worst day I've ever spend at BPB.
  21. I agree that if Thorpe really have to go down the IP route, a Black Mirror retheme to X would have worked much better, suited the ride more than Walking Dead and still kept it accessible to families (which, you know, is always a good idea for a family coaster!). X with the lighting effects etc. would have worked well, IMO.
  22. I like the Smiler and Wicker Man soundtracks, and I didn't mind ITHOTMK being used on The Smiler - it's just that when it's on too many rides, in my opinion it becomes same-y. Wicker Man's soundtrack would work better without it (and its own theme in its place), IMO. That is of course subjective though as you've said. In relation to ITHOTMK - I agree it has a unique feel about it as the park's overall theme but I'm just not a fan of themes being over-used. Imagine if theme parks like Phantasialand (for example) used the same motif on every ride, it wouldn't have the same appeal where every ride/area has its own identity.
  23. I was of the impression the bit about the ride system was common knowledge, but if I've misunderstood then I stand corrected. In relation to the space, am I correct in thinking that Gangsta Granny was built in an existing building? In which case, it again comes down to a park of Alton Towers' size and stature not being given the funds to build from the ground up. From the outside they've just repurposed old buildings again, it's a common trait in Merlin owned parks and something I find rarely achieves the same as a brand new ride or area. Whilst W&G was too a repurposed attraction the length and space was much more suitable. IMO, a better use of space would have been to use the CATCF ride and building, shame that was used for an upcharge Dungeon.
×
×
  • Create New...