Coaster

I don't agree with this, with stops over a minute in length and 6 seater ride vehicles (I believe), that seems to me like a recipe for low capacity. The logic of "it's not the flagship ride, so capacity doesn't matter" is nonsense. Why not run Duel on 1 car if capacity doesn't matter?!

I'm criticising the ride's throughput and capacity, not the ride itself. It looks like they've done a great job with the interior.

Early days I know but this doesn't look very inspiring. Chessington need a high capacity family-thrill coaster IMO, not a boomerang style ride.

I watched the Gangsta Granny POV, it looks fun but I think the ride is ultimately flawed in that it has to stop multiple times for long periods of time so that it lasts more than 30 seconds. The very short layout means running as a constantly moving ride wouldn't really work - but doesn't this in turn mean that the throughput will be extremely low? Towers look to have done a great job with the ride system they have, but the issue is that it's yet another case of Merlin underfunding a project and giving them a second-hand ride system not designed for a park as busy as Alton. I'd have rather seem something like W&G for the ride system (8 seater vehicles, constantly moving, a much longer layout) than essentially 3 corners which stop constantly.

I don't particularly like Alton Towers having every ride using ITHOTMK, I know it's an iconic theme associated with the park but it's not very creative. It gives the rides/areas no identity and everything just blends into one IMO. Alton don't even own that music! It is in Colossus and Nemesis Inferno's IMAScore themes, and was played in the queues when I last visited (2019) from what I remember.

Everything having exactly the same theme is really getting boring now. Some creativity please!!

I mean, I first visited Fright Nights age 11 and started enjoying scare mazes from that age, I had done other (scarier) attractions younger than that such as the Horror Hotel at Littlehampton. Really don't see the need to tame things down for families, they are called scare attractions for a reason. Look at Creepy Caves! CWOA is hardly a thrill park yet that's more intense than anything Thorpe has produced in years.

I recall one time pre-COVID when we boarded the train as riders were still leaving. They definitely didn't always clean the headsets in between rides.

Blackpool Pleasure Beach's new soundtrack is now available on iTunes and has also been uploaded to YouTube; Full version; Pop version; I absolutely adore these soundtracks, it feels like they have had real care and attention put into them with so many PB sounds and quotes from the Thompsons integrated and the singer's vocals are stunning. In particular the full version - just incredible.

Paultons was indeed excellent on Sunday. Tornado Springs is a stunning new area and Storm Chaser is an incredible addition to the park. I really like how it's a coaster of two halves, you get the calmer first half with views around the park, then you dive into the helix which is packed full of force before the final few turns throw you around a bit before you reach the brakes. Genuinely, I think it's the best Mack coaster in the country. It left me with a real "wow" feeling when I hit the brake run on every ride, and had me eager to get straight back on. As others had said, it does outclass the other rides in terms of throughput, but it also looks very promising for the park's future. Just a brilliant, delightful area and the very best of UK parks at the moment.

Why are they replacing the Bose speakers, out of interest? Surely these are pretty expensive and therefore installed with longevity in mind?

If they are able to find a suitable alternative which enables those who need it to have access but without situations such as 1 hour RAP queues like in those photos - that would of course be the best solution. However - is that possible?

I'd suggest promising them RAP access and them then having to wait an hour on a crowded path not even designed for queueing is more unfair, in all honesty.

It's great I think if more people are being diagnosed correctly, however, I feel that the current RAP queueing situation is worse for everyone. One fast moving queue would surely be better for those whom currently use RAP, as well as guests using the main queues.

I have to be honest, that looks like absolute hell on earth to visit and not fun for anyone. Genuinely, I think that one fast moving queue-line with RAP access for wheelchair users only would provide a better experience for everyone; both those who would have otherwise been using RAP, and guests in the main queue.

Pleasure Beach have brought back Mr Funshine on the entrance arches! The arches have also been sandblasted and repainted and look much smarter. https://twitter.com/AutoRideCount/status/1380836424350629889?s=20 They've also got flags with Mr Funshine and the 125th anniversary logo on, which I saw on the BBC News report.

Pleasure Beach being adored by some enthusiasts and disliked by others does make sense though, since I feel the same about Thorpe. It's put on a pedestal by enthusiasts but I personally find it pretty awful, the only coaster I really like there is Inferno and in terms of other rides besides the headliners, there's naff all. Blackpool is in my view a much better park than the others in the UK, the ride offering is much more complete and almost all the coasters are thrilling, plus there's the retro rides too. It's also important to remember the nostalgia for lots of people goes towards making a park feel special to them, growing up visiting etc. As a town, I've never really had any issues with Blackpool, every big town or city has rough areas but the tourist areas of Blackpool (and to be fair any area I've been to there) are ace. BPB for me hasn't been on form for a few years now, but after most of last year spent away from the park I'm very excited to go back.

You can hear a snippet of what I guess is a new Pleasure Beach song near the start of this video, I love the tributes to Geoffrey and Doris Thompson.

At a very basic level, a park entrance should be visually appealing, efficient and functional. Thorpe's achieves none of these; the local rubbish tip has a nicer entrance.

How long before Icon goes down to two train operation during busy times. Never seen that before at PB... oh hang on a minute.

In a way, this is sort-of what I mean - if the ride was successful, popular etc. then the drive would be there to reopen it as soon as possible. I don't think there's any dodging the fact that it was an outrageous waste of a large investment, for that amount 10 years of operation would surely be far too short - let alone 5. Covid may have cut its time short, but if there's no drive from the park or IP to get it reopened, I'd suggest that is a sign of a failed project.

I'm not sure about that. Wouldn't it just be like any other attraction (closed when unsafe, reopened when safe)? If it doesn't reopen when it's safe to, we can't blame Covid entirely for that.

Well no-one could have seen this coming. Oh wait.

Lightwater have confirmed that The Ultimate will not operate during 2021, but will remain at the park SBNO.

Sad news coming from Lightwater Valley. The following rides have been removed from the park's website and therefore look to be permanently closed/removed; Raptor Attack Eagle's Claw Rapids Black Pearl Apollo The Ultimate's page hasn't been updated since being marked as closed for 2020, so who knows what'll happen with that.