Coaster

These supposed "UK-leading" parks should be aiming for guests coming off their rides in absolute amazement - it's the difference between "WOW - that was amazing, I'm going to tell everyone about how great it was" and "ehh, it was a fun laser ride I guess." Should people really forget about a dark ride the minute they step off, or should it be something that captures their imagination and drives them back to go on it again and again because of how amazing it is? Every ride in the park should aim for the highest standards possible IMO. I always find it ironic that the company is called "Merlin" yet they've drained their parks of the magic they used to have. Whilst the majority of guests may not critically analyse Tomb Blaster in the same way we as enthusiasts do, I'd suggest they would be much more impressed with it if it was maintained as a themed experience.

If it's genuinely an unavoidable issue than that's different, but taking into consideration Merlin's track record of maintaining thematic elements and effects, I don't think it's unreasonable to assume this is more of the same. Look at the former world-class dark rides in decrepit and unimpressive states, error screens on The Smiler's projectors, clear water in the "blood" waterfall, theming torn out of ride stations (have you SEEN The Swarm's station this year - it's a disgrace), scenes missing from a £30 million pound dark ride in its third season and generally poor maintenance of anything that isn't essential ride hardware. Nemesis' station is an exception to all this - it's stunning after the refurbishment.

Nemesis is probably the best for inversions, seeing as it flies through them and is more about the intensity - you definitely don't get hang-time like on some of The Smiler's inversions. I remember being really nervous before my first ever inversion (on this Pinfari thing https://youtu.be/ffnWABe-0Yc) but they really aren't as bad as they look - they're massively overrated IMO.

BBQ though

So apparrently the fire effect is broken/switched off already... Words fail me. And people wonder why there is such cynicsm surrounding Merlin.

It's just rubbish. People don't pay for such poor maintenance of a dark ride, especially one with lots of potential - they pay for the themed experience that these rides should offer. Basic maintenance of scenes, lighting, audio, cleanliness etc - all should be covered in the cost you pay for a park ticket. Regardless of whether it's down to CWOA management "proving a point", lack of funding or even just an oversight, it clearly demonstrates a total lack of care for guest experience. Appalling on Merlin and Chessington's behalf.

Impossible is rubbish but worth remembering that it (the Haunted Swing, not the optical illusions downloaded straight off Internet Explorer) was the world's original madhouse attraction. Of course, it's been broken for years now as it did used to go all the way over.

Sadly the low attendance doesn't surprise me, they've demolished one of the best rides around and their attitude to customer service is dismal. Closing two hours early is hardly going to attract customers and encourage repeat visits. In better news, this video (not mine) shows Icon running on a three train service at full tilt, it seems to be picking up more speed in the first half and dispatch times are fast - BPB have no excuses for slack operation now that we've seen what the hardware is capable of!

^ Well polished? I disagree, with the broken and/or glitchy headsets, live scene ripped out, reliability issues, and the train carriage is covered in dust. In my opinion, it's just a turd.

Yeah, it was making a bizarre humming sound yesterday but incidentally seemed to be running much smoother.

When you persist with something only to find it wasn't even worth a second of your time. Mildly annoying.

My point is that you shouldn't HAVE to go a particular way around the park in order to achieve more than 2 rides in a day. Whilst planning your day will of course mean you get on more rides, it's pretty shocking on Alton's part that people are coming away having only been on a handful of rides in the day.

In fairness, the majority of coasters don't open until 11 so Wicker Man is naturally the first ride people come to, terrible planning from Alton really. Hardly the sign of a decent park either when you have to go round it in a particular way in order to get on any rides, where's the fun in that?

I forgot to mention that on my ride on Derren Brown's Ghost Train we ended up spending 5-10 minutes waiting in the ride "show building" after the pre-show, as about 20 people boarded the first train and the ride staff said "sorry guys, you'll have to wait for the next one" - more broken headsets? Agreed about the ride staff on Inferno, dispatches were SO slow!

The eXpo:/2018 event was good, enjoyed the talk from Memories of Thorpe Park and the old ride train, signage and information were nice to see! It's nice when a park puts in the effort to say farewell to a popular past attraction - not that I'm looking at any other parks in particular.

Countdown seemed normal today!

Such a shame to see the station theming ripped out, it looks absolutely horrendous with the metal frame on show and some of remaining wooden decoration with parts torn off it. It also shows how cheaply it must have been done in the first place, it's literally just chipboard surrounding the frame. Sad that they're happy to settle for such poor presentation of a ride which, back in 2012, was impressively themed.

Having experienced Derren Brown's Ghost Train today, they've completely butchered the live scene. A fantastic anamatronic train and scenery surrounding it replaced by a tacky strobe maze, and some red lights flickering followed by the "get out" audio being played through a speaker... like, what are we supposed to be running from?! Also had issues with headsets not working and had to change seats after it had started, only to have the second headset with glitches. Frankly, you wouldn't expect this from a ride which cost £30 million pounds. What a wasted investment.

What on earth was going on at Thorpe today?! Breakdowns on Nemesis Inferno, Colossus, Stealth, The Swarm, Depth Charge, Derren Brown's Ghost Train. Samurai closed all afternoon/evening and Walking Dead: The Ride failed to open! Got an E-stop in the final brake run of Inferno, noticed it had done that earlier in the day as well. Fog looked great in the queueline and tunnel though, haven't seen it working that well in years. Overall a very average visit, ride availability was terrible.

Plausible if they were waiting for Wicker Man, I've a friend who joined the queue at 9:30am and didn't get off until gone 2pm due to all the breakdowns.

Hmm, that's a bit off if true.

Amazing footage, though sad as it highlights how dramatically the park has declined since then. The dark rides look absolutely magical, and how good did Runaway Mine Train look back then? And to think that Scorpion Express is thought of as progress... Such a shame.

Strangely, the new for 2017 Dahland has completely vanished from the Oakwood website, with the two attractions (Flight of the Giant Peach and Ladybirdoline) renamed to "The Creepy Crawler" and "The Cauldrons". https://www.oakwoodthemepark.co.uk/family-adventure/ Apparently they didn't have the rights to the IP? Words fail me if that's true, how on earth could they be complacent enough to overlook that?

I'm not sure I'm keen on this. For a park that initially set out to be a heritage park priding itself on restoring vintage rides, buying a load of Zamperla rides doesn't really seem in-keeping with this. They should be aiming to restore the wooden wild mouse ride type, especially considering recent events. I believe the park originally purchased King Solomon's Mines from Southport Pleasureland, but let it rot along with the old whip from BPB - info about King Solomon's is detailed in this article below; http://www.joylandbooks.com/scenicrailway/images/gallery9.htm I also believe the park would benefit from an old-school Ghost Train, and a recreated River Caves style ride would also be brilliant if a little more difficult to achieve.

I wouldn't worry about the lights at this stage, it's still in the testing stages don't forget. The trains do indeed have strip lights, and in addition spotlights under the seats. Of course, we can moan when they're broken a few weeks after the ride opens