Coaster

Can't believe they've changed the music for Rumba! Why remove a quirky, fun piece of music for the generic theme that's playing there now? (Video on TPM Facebook)

My views so far? Exterior looks awful, station looks good. Will reserve judgement on the ride until I've actually been on it.

Refurbished entrance area looks great!

Yuck! They've ruined the look of the exterior.

I'll be gutted if that is replacing the incredible Bubbleworks score.

"New for 2017"

People will care, it's the difference between "wow that's incredible" an "meh, that was okay." Every tiny detail goes so far in terms of the overall experience.

The theming element is tall, but the carousel itself is small is what I meant.

Adventure Tree looks nice but much smaller than the Carousel it's replacing, presuming what's in the photo is all of it. Chess set is random.

If you were told not to share the information then you shouldn't have posted it.

More unclear information from Thorpe? Well I never!

Alton Towers have posted a blog detailing the work that has taken place to Hex; https://www.altontowers.com/useful-info/blog/the-return-of-hex-the-legend-of-the-towers/ Last year's closure aside, I can't credit them enough for this. It sounds as though a huge amount of work has been put in to improve the quality of the experience, all those changes are fantastic and should hopefully make for a hugely improved attraction. Great work Alton!

Signs are looking great, really looking forward to getting back on Hex this year!

Oh lord, that's awful! It's beyond belief actually, destroying a coherent land with a tiny plastic sign! The true "magic" of Merlin.

Bounce has gone from Oakwood's website. I know it wasn't the most thrilling S&S shot tower, but I liked it and the ride offering will feel very sparse if it has been removed.

Look at the buzz Experiment 10 created when it first opened, I firmly believe that if you create something good, people will come and that created such a wave of hype back in 2011. Same with Asylum, that maze was still hugely popular in its final year, and I don't think anything has matched that since its removal. Fright Nights brought people in last year but look at the complaints it got, Thorpe actually took the review section off their Facebook because of the 1 star reviews - many of which were due to disappointment in the mazes. I'd rather see quality put into the mazes than a big new IP, if we get both then great but given the previous two years of Fright Nights, I can't see that happening.

Our day started getting up at 4am to get to BPB early, so we could get our passes processed. This proved a good move as we were first in the queue, and it was good to see a separate room for processing passes where thought had been put into the layout, to speed up the process. Following this we entered the park, I can't remember the order we did the rides, but here's a few of my thoughts from the weekend. Ride availability was generally good aside from Grand National (which kept having stoppages), The Big One opened late on Sunday and Valhalla closed at around 3:30pm (due to an issue of some sort). The Big One and Avalanche were both on a one train service both days, which caused lengthy queues to build up. I will cut the park some slack on this, given that it's very early in the year, however I'm hopeful that this won't happen once main season starts. Grand National started on four trains but went down to two, fair play to Pleasure Beach for trying though! I was however disappointed to see Speedy Pass being used on both PMBO and Avalanche, they had main queues well over an hour at points, so I thought this was a bit off. Also, the SP's were being upsold outside Noah's Ark as we walked in. It was frustrating to see empty rows sent out numerous times on the coasters when they were holding long queues. The PMBO shop has been refitted into a donut cafe, I think it's a shame to see the signature ride without a shop, but at least the space is being used for something. The Skyforce shop is now empty. Staff were fantastic across the park, top notch customer service. Grand National, Big Dipper and the Streak were running exceptionally well for February, very fast and full of airtime! The Big One was also running well, the evening ride in the fog on Sunday was brilliant! Valhalla was great, there have been a lot of lighting improvements, audio balance seems better in some areas, the refurbished wolf looks much better and the general condition of the scenes has improved a lot since last season. With that said, the projection is still far too quiet, and there was too much daylight coming in from the left at the top of the second lifthill. River Caves was in a terrible state, aside from Blue Grotto the audio was completely off, and the exterior looks bland and messy without the theming IMO. The dinosaur anamatronics were all working though, and I spotted some new (or repurposed) signs hanging from the ceiling in the queueline. Similarly, there were lots of effects broken in the Ghost Train, and audio was far too quiet! Also, two of the lighting effects in the boiler scene (new last year) were broken. New giant looks brilliant though! It was amazing to see the progress on Construction 2018, really makes you appreciate the complexity and scale of this project when you see it in person. Ride Counts: Saturday 18th February Valhalla x3 The Big One x2 Big Dipper x2 Grand National x1 Revolution x1 Steeplechase x1 Nickelodeon Streak x1 Ghost Train x1 River Caves x1 Wallace and Gromit x1 TOTAL: 14 Sunday 19th February Valhalla x6 Big Dipper x2 The Big One x1 Grand National x1 Revolution x1 Steeplechase x1 Avalanche x1 Skyforce x1 Wallace and Gromit x1 TOTAL: 15 Highlights: - Getting back on the rides! - Coasters running well - Friendly staff - Revolution looks great with its new paint - Season pass registration - Construction 2018 progress Lowlights: - Lower ridecounts than I would have liked - Speedy Pass on PMBO and Avalanche when both were on one train - State of River Caves and Ghost Train - No merchandise shops in south park Construction 2018; Night time; Big Dipper in the fog; Infusion; River Caves minus its theming... Hopefully not too long until Mouse reopens! Casino; Overall, a fantastic weekend and great to be back at the Pleasure Beach. Thanks for reading

July 2016

That's exactly why Thorpe uses IP's in my opinion, they no longer know how to create good attractions without them. Can't believe Platform is returning...

Thorpe's online communication really is awful!

But the money would be so much better spent on other things, like getting Loggers to a condition where it doesn't have to close, general park improvements; things that make a successful park, but don't directly draw people in. Sadly, it seems that they can't see past short-term, which is damaging the park(s) in the long run IMO.

I wouldn't trust anything Thorpe say on Twitter! I think it's a shame that popular family rides sit rotting away whilst money is spent on things like this, which fizzle out after the first year or so. If money was better spent, I don't think Thorpe wouldn't be in the mess it's in, but that's just my opinion. In that case, why have they invested in rides/attractions that they can't run?

Unbelievable. Why do they insist on throwing money away on short-term investments such as this?

I *think* it still has a sponsorship, not 100% sure though! Construction 2018 photo update from this weekend just gone; Taken from Revolution's queueline; Wonder what's under these...?

Nice article, it gives an interesting insight without being too in-your-face.