Coaster

I agree with this, I used to like Chessington because every themed area was different, it has become so samey and bland now.

Pleasure Beach is open every day from Easter until the park closes in November, so as long as the operating schedule is the same next year the park should be open on those days in May. Not sure when Icon is opening, the official word is "spring" however that could mean anything at this stage. The park usually closes for the winter after the first weekend in November, but again this could potentially change in 2018.

I agree it'll pull in more people, but in terms of guest experience is the quality really as good as before? I'd argue that having five big-budget mazes was far better (both for crowds and quality) than three with two outdoor ones, and personally I found the older mazes much more impressive and fun - however this is of course down to opinion. Fright Nights has been busy the past few years but the number of complaints online about the queue times, that the mazes weren't worth the waits etc. is always crazy!

I personally much preferred Fright Nights before IP's were introduced.

Fully aware that I'm not in the majority with this view, but I'm just not feeling the hype for Fright Nights this year. I'm sure Walking Dead is great (never seen it personally), but two scare attractions with the same theme? Surely that's a bit of a cop out? The return of Saw Alive doesn't impress me, that maze passed its sell-by a long time ago and I've never found it great in all honesty. Big Top was great last year so glad to see it return, hopefully with a few tweaks here and there. Platform 15 - WHY?! Whatever happened to the days of having five full-scale indoor horror mazes, rather than three with two outdoor support-attractions?

Decent visit to Oakwood, After Dark event was good then back later in the week for a full day. Flight of the Giant Peach is more enjoyable than I expected and the interior queueline is finished off well, I like the area audio too. Operations were dismal as expected, one train on everything with horrendous queues... some things never change!

Do we know if there will be any new rides to replace Peeking Heights?

In fairness Thirteen is more spooky than horror, there isn't really anything in the building scarier than Duel or Hex for example. That said, the way Thirteen was marketed created false expectations the same way giving SW8 a horror theme could.

It makes no sense to theme a small(ish) family wooden coaster to a horror theme, completely alienating the audience the ride is intended for as well as creating false expectations of a much more thrilling ride to match the theme. It also shows no consistency for a so-called "theme park", the ride would have fitted in superbly with Mutiny Bay if a pirate theme had been used. Also, I really don't see why a wooden coaster should require a preshow, the ride itself should be good enough without the need for these extra "tag-ons" which will probably be forgotten about after a few years.

Looks like yet another gloomy, overcast theme - hardly what the park needs. Fire sounds good though!

It's very strange to have flats closed as there's no risk of those stalling, which I was under the impression is the danger with operating tall coasters in the wind.

I don't rate The Swarm too highly as a coaster and find the theme poor, but all things considered it's very reliable and runs efficiently with a high throughput. Please don't say they're going to "do a Galactica" and ruin a coaster that has served the park extremely well over the past 5 and a half seasons.

Clearly cashing in on people wanting to "find out more" about SW8... sad thing is it'll probably work as well.

I found the mazes at Tulleys far superior to the current ones at Thorpe on my first visit last year, however The Asylum and E10 (in its first year only) still remain my two favourite ever scare attractions.

Wait, so an £8 charge on top of the £20 maze ticket for the other three? It'll have to be outstanding to justify that!

Dead End Terror Zone was better than Platform in fairness! Interested to see what this year holds for Fright Nights, the event needs improvements in a lot of areas IMO.

Please don't say the AR stands for Augmented Reality?

I completely agree the searches are necessary, just that I think the implementation is awful and makes a terrible first impression on people's day.

^ The security bag searches are horrendously disorganised and I can't believe the park deems it okay to have queues stretching across the plaza, a more permanent installation is required in my opinion like the setup at BPB with 6 - 10 scanners in use.

Is this still a thing? I joke, but it just seems like such an unambitious coaster and a pre-show won't change that. A new woodie in the UK needed to be amazing and impressive and whilst SW8 looks good enough, it doesn't look spectacular. On the plus side though, at least it's moving away from the "world's first" gimmicky rubbish - so a possible step in the right direction.

Laughable and proves the complete lack of care, knowledge and understanding of theme parks the park has. So unprofessional!

Is it just me who doesn't see the appeal in electric shocks being used? Scare attractions are supposed to be fun!

They first started advertising a new ride/coaster in 2014 (as "opening this year" on the maps) so I'd class that as a 3 year delay. Still, at least it's finally open!

Unless I'm missing something, what happened to the "world's first attraction" that was due to open for summer? Also, what is "The Transformers Tour" and has it materialised?

I think it makes even less sense that there's a huge motorway billboard next to a church, next to a load of random vehicles dumped around the area - but it doesn't really matter I suppose.