Coaster

There's plenty of places at Thorpe that they could use to build new rides with only a few minor removals/relocations of flats, before they start pulling down popular family coasters. Furthermore there is always the possibility of weaving rides around pathways/existing rides which could reduce the need for removing other rides.

Surely X can't be going? I'd much rather see a new ride make use of existing space rather than yet more rides cut from the lineup. X is a good coaster and is perfect for the family audience it is intended for.

I'd like to see Loggers Leap reopen and a replacement flat for Slammer in 2018. Surely they wouldn't put VR on Swarm considering how much effort went into the "near-misses" - and in addition, the park needs more rides not gimmicks added to existing ones!

The queues were medium-to-short, but not dead. Catering wouldn't generally be busy an hour and fifteen minutes before park close, however I didn't really pay much attention. We didn't go in the shops after midday on Saturday so no idea if people were buying merchandise. Regarding the notice, we came off Ghost Train at 6pm, went to go back on and found the queue closed; no announcement was made, though the sign had been changed to 6pm it must have been done last-minute as they were displaying 7pm for most of the day. The staff were fine, however in my opinion customer service is about the overall guest experience as well as how pleasant the staff members are. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Construction update from Icon including TRACK!

The following rides were closed either all day or by 5/6pm (that I can remember); The Big One, Avalanche, Steeplechase, Ice Blast, Flying Machines (and Wild Mouse but not weather related). A chunk of the rides closed, but still well over 30 rides operating. I'd suggest that the storm didn't get any worse after 6pm, in fact the rain was lighter by the end of the day. I just think it's poor to not offer the service advertised on the website and at the park, rides being affected by weather I can totally understand, closing an hour early on the other hand I don't consider as good customer service; and whether the park covers themselves through T&C's or not doesn't change the reflection it has of the park's customer service IMO. In addition the fact that the most loyal customers (season pass holders) do not get anything in return when our day is cut short, despite paying out for travel and accomodation to visit the park. Did Thorpe or Towers close early due to weather, out of interest?

So despite the fact that numerous rides have been closed today (most due to weather), the park has closed an hour earlier than advertised - the rides closed at 6pm however it was advertised as "earliest ride close 7pm" on the website. Terrible customer service!

An hour to get through the security check?! Terrible!

Visited Screamfest Burton for the first time on Saturday and was very impressed with the mazes and overall event, maze reviews can be found below in the order I did them in. Freak Out The scariest of the three clown mazes I've done this year thanks to the fantastic actor costumes and makeup, the interactive sections within the maze also added some contrast and a sense of fun. Theming was minimal however the confusing layout and multiple routes made up for this! 6/10 Soul Seekers Fantastic maze which made use of atmospheric lighting changes & good detail on the theming. The actors were top notch, particularly in the first scene, and the sets were highly detailed with a contrast between small, narrow spaces and larger themed rooms. We got a number of scares throughout the maze, and I'd say it was the second best of the evening. 7/10 Demonica A very disorientating maze which made fantastic use of strobe effects, particularly in the second half where it had the "Asylum effect." The exterior of the maze is hugely impressive, and the first scene was a definite highlight - however the first half of the maze would have benefited from some more theming. 6/10 Dia de Los Muertos What a brilliantly fun, quirky and terrifying attraction! The tractor ride is fairly calm, however the music and van scene added some variety and was certainly different to other scare attractions we have experienced! The corn maze featured some fantastic theming as well as very good actors, one minute we were in hysterics, then next we were running away from a chainsaw! 7/10 Love Hurts WOW, what a fantastically horrible attraction! I couldn't be more impressed with this, the level of detail in the sets and concept behind the maze were fantastic, and the bizarre scenes and storyline really made for one of the most unique and fun scare mazes I have ever experienced. Highlights included the leaky ceilings in the sewers making for a very authentic experience, as well as disturbing "tests" throughout - and the very first 'toilet' scene is genius! A re-run in this maze confirmed to me that it's my favourite scare maze of 2017. 9/10 I'd definitely recommend vising Screamfest, the mazes were all very different from others I have experienced and the live DJ, entertainment and roaming actors made for a nice spooky atmosphere.

Haven't filled any threads with photos of a coaster being built for at least two weeks, so here's some construction photos from SW8 taken this weekend just gone; The queueline interaction looks fantastic; After seeing it in person I'm really looking forward to SW8, it doesn't look incredible but it's the wooden coaster Alton Towers has been missing for years, and frankly I think it looks like a lot of fun. The fact it's already well on the way to being complete both in terms of the ride and surrounding buildings/landscaping impresses me and seems a definite step forward from the construction of The Smiler or Derren Brown's Ghost Train.

Like, their theme parks are massively under-performing with SBNO rides, terrible operations and budgets slashed, so their big master plan is to... cut the budgets further? Do they not even consider that, maybe, they are to blame for the reduced visitor numbers to the theme parks? It's all well and good putting the blame entirely on external factors, but when the most important thing about their theme parks (customer experience) is neglected so badly, that's obviously going to have a negative effect on visitor numbers. People are voting with their feet, and yet Merlin are still too blind to see that. They're clutching at straws with excuses such as "the weather" when in reality people are losing interest in the parks, the weather hasn't even been bad this year for heaven's sake! I don't think we can expect anything to improve at the theme parks, in fact the quote below makes it sound as though capital for future investments as well as general park improvements will be spent on hotels instead; http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-4987928/Merlin-shares-slump-trading-woes-overshadow-Peppa-Pig-deal.html#ixzz4vmjUn6di

The audio upgrades around the park are great, but if something "works" and is popular, it's best left as it is. Colossus's theme was one of these examples IMO. As nice as some of the new audio is (love the island theme!), a theme park has to have different areas of contrast rather than the same or similar audio throughout IMO - something Thorpe used to do very well. If they ruin Inferno's soundtrack I'll be gutted

Go on Speed at Oakwood during an After Dark to see what one car Saw would be like Rumba's closure is a budget cut regardless of how the park try to dress it up IMO, it makes for a very bland park when rides that aren't seen as the "stand-out" ones are just not bothered with.

Random thought, but is anyone else confused by the seemingly unbanked corner part-way around the layout? It can be seen in construction updates and seems to be located here on the layout plan;

Amanda Thompson (MD of Blackpool Pleasure Beach) will chair IAAPA in 2020; http://www.leisureopportunities.co.uk/news/latest-news/334500

What a ridiculous post.

Fair enough, I think it's great when parks sell parts/wood that has actually been used on the ride(s), but I guess it's a good marketing tool for SW8 if people are willing to pay £25! BPB sell wood from their wooden coasters for £5

Seems a bit strange to be selling parts of a wooden coaster that haven't actually been on the wooden coaster, but maybe that's just me.

Visited Tulleys yesterday for the second ever time, definitely the UK's best Halloween event IMO, the overall atmosphere of the "scare-park" is fantastic with the live bands and a huge number of roaming actors. Maze reviews below (in the order we did them in); Creepy Cottage I'm a huge fan of classic old-school ghost trains, so Creepy Cottage appeals to me with the use of props and some simple animated scenes as well as a few actors along the way. Theming was really good, the maze lasts for a good amount of time - just a shame the coffin effect wasn't working. 6/10 VIXI Unpopular opinion, but I really enjoyed this! The walk was disorientating with sight removed, and there were a number of effects which added to the experience. I really liked the ending with the barrels, however thought the fire effect was executed much better last year. 6/10 Coven of 13 Great contrast within the maze, the first half with the lasers is fantastic and so cleverly done, the outside sections are effective as is the "haunted house" section. I did miss the falling chair effect from last year within the laser section, however that's a minor niggle considering the rest of the maze was very creative and enjoyable. 6/10 Twisted Clowns 3D Fun maze, and I quite like the 3D element even though trying to keep the cardboard glasses on is a nuisance! Actors made good use of the props to startle us, and the use of humour is present throughout. 6/10 The Colony WOW! I was absolutely blown away by this, I remember enjoying it last year but the scares were on another level yesterday! The maze lasts for around 15 minutes, during which there is a stark contrast between quiet, dark sections and full on jump-scares. Theming is fantastic and the actors were going all-out. 9/10 The Cellar What happened? Last year this was my favourite maze but it was in poor form on my run-through yesterday with a lack of actors, a number of sections where nothing happened and some effects failing to work. Also, the ending of last year was gone and instead we just walked out with no actors anywhere to be seen. On a more positive note, theming was really good throughout the maze and there were a number of obstacles to navigate through, adding a level of interactivity. 5/10 Horrorwood Haunted Hayride Such a fun attraction and my definite highlight of the evening, so much creativity has gone into this and it's just general hilarity from start to finish. Some of the effects used are very impressive, as are the jump scares and the swing scene is terrifying! 9/10 Chop Shop A maze of two halves, from the scenic detail in the first half to the utter chaos in the second. I really enjoy this maze however feel the use of so many chainsaws does somewhat lessen the fear factor, as instead of running away from it you're forced to carry on walking at a calm pace and therefore get used to them. With that said, it's still an impressive feat for a horror maze and overall we really enjoyed it! 7/10 Finally, the new 3D Cinema is worth a mention, it's included in an X-Scream ticket well worth doing in my opinion.

The fact they're encouraging (paid) queue jumping?

Why buy another park when the ones they already own are in a state of neglect and decline?

The more I see of it, the more convinced I am that SW8 is actually going to be a really decent coaster. Some of the low-to-ground turns look fantastic, as well as the moments of potential-airtime dotted throughout the layout, it might not be the biggest coaster ever but it appears to be a gimmick-free, fun layout - and as the first brand-new woodie in the UK for years, that's very important and surely a step forward in terms of recent UK investments? In addition, the landscaping looks really nice with the rockwork around the station, the station itself looks neat and I can see the overall ride area looking fantastic once it's finished. Whilst I'm not one to judge a ride before it's finished, it already looks set to be a huge improvement from the concrete mess of The Smiler! I think it's unfortunate that the development has suffered from a lack of any proper marketing, with the park instead choosing to post YouTube videos in a desperate attempt to stay "current" with as many 'not-quite-world-first' taglines as they can - and I'd put the lack of enthusiasm partly down to this. I wish they'd just advertise the fact that they are building a (seemingly) decent coaster.

Yeah, I mean the focus is on getting the IP's and as such the quality of the mazes isn't as good - which surely correlates with my favourite mazes being the original concept ones? (Not that it's a bias - I just happened to feel that they were the strongest mazes this weekend).

A few more thoughts from yesterday. The Big Top and Platform (!) are the strongest mazes this year IMO, actors seemed much better across all mazes than on Saturday and Platform is definitely the most improved maze. Walking Dead Living Nightmare just doesn't have the effect it should IMO, and having two attractions with the same theme gives the whole event a very "same-y" feel. Parkwide audio is really poor this year, which is odd when it's something the park have focused on this year elsewhere - it seems to be just a mishmash of old FN themes and the director from 2013 despite the character having no relevance to this year's event. In addition the maze queues don't have any audio (apart from Saw Alive), where has that fab music from outside The Big Top gone? Fright Nights just isn't the same event anymore IMO, it seems the focus is put on obtaining the IPs rather than putting the quality into the mazes and parkwide. Can we go back in time to 2011?

Living Nightmare and Sanctum both lacked a proper ending, personally speaking I think the chainsaw finale would suit Living Nightmare more than The Big Top, however a new effective ending would need to be introduced for TBT.

It needs scene upgrades in my opinion, as the maze has been exactly the same since it opened and has gotten stale. In addition the lighting in the carosuel trap room could be a bit brighter, as it's impossible to see the trap at present.