Coaster

Of course, the majority of work has to happen but repainting the rides, trains etc. is something they don't have to do. Never said other parks don't do the same, just that it was nice to see BPB taking care of the park's appearance. Nevertheless the article (and video) is an interesting insight into the work that takes place during the winter.

An article detailing some of the winter work that's been taking place at BPB: http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/video-behind-the-scenes-as-blackpool-pleasure-beach-gears-up-for-2017-season-1-8345684 There's a video as well, well worth a watch to see behind the scenes during closed season. It looks like lots of work is happening to refresh the park such as fresh paint on some of the ride trains as well as new paintwork on Revolution, Valhalla and Grand Prix.

True, however it's more cuts in terms of different rides closing. Saw Alive at Thorpe, and I was thinking of IAC (though that only closed on a temporary basis over FN). It just seems that a lot of Merlin's more recent investments (not only IP ones) are short term with no longevity.

The fact they're changing the name (already?) suggests that it's more about trying to advertise it again, rather than putting in the work it needs to bring it up to standard - but it's impossible to tell. The name change doesn't fit IMO.

Glad that Hex is reopening, but a shame to see yet more cuts to the lineup meaning it'll still be a sparse offering in 2017 (both in terms of rides and opening hours). Ice Age is yet another IP attraction to close soon after opening. Also if I recall correctly, wasn't CATCF closed "for TLC" last year? If so, why has it just been removed from the website?

"Rise of the Demon?" Wasn't "Derren Brown's Ghost Train" a long-winded enough name already? No idea what to think at this stage on what's happening to it, though surely it can't get any worse? Will judge whenever I next go on it.

Interested to see what has been done to it but I hope they haven't changed too much; the fundamentals of Hex are superb and should be left alone IMO. After seeing what happened to Tomb Blaster I do have concerns.

Tales of the Coast was in an awful state, I wouldn't be surprised if the park had no choice but to remove it. Rattlesnake's removal brings the park down to only three coasters, so it's a loss in that respect IMO. Also, I quite enjoyed it!

Rattlesnake won't be reopening according to Pleasurewood Hills Facebook, no mention of any replacement either.

Sounds promising, just hope it's not marketing speak.

Wristbands are £16.25 (booked online) during Feb/March weekends, fantastic value IMO. https://www.blackpoolpleasurebeach.com/wow-weekends-at-blackpool-pleasure-beach/

I genuinely don't think Alton Towers will recover under Merlin, I mean we've had rides closed, removed without replacement, catering outlets and restaurants closed, shops closed, the entertainments budget cut and now opening hours (which were already ridiculously short) cut further. It feels as if they're trying to shrink the park, and it's damaging it so much in the long term IMO. It's also awful that they haven't released the 2017 ride lineup yet, but I don't expect it will be announced until the MAP sale ends in line with tactics Merlin have used so many times before. Very, very sad to see Alton in this state.

Looks like it was a great dark ride, such a shame it burnt down although it would have probably been turned into a charmless IP-based ride by now had it remained at the park.

I think that gaps between coasters are fine as long as the overall park(s) show improvement during this time, not just on new rides but on improving guest experience, such as the appearance and atmosphere of the park and general operations. Sadly that doesn't (generally) happen at Merlin parks, instead of which we see things like IAC and Storm Surge.

Opening times have been released for 2017, which show that the park will now open at 10:30am, and will close at 5pm on weekends, 4:30pm/5pm on weekdays (depending on time of year) and 6pm in the summer holidays. https://www.altontowers.com/useful-info/opening-times A cutback of half an hour to opening hours that were already very short is not ideal, it's also very unhelpful in a park such as Alton Towers where so much time is spent walking between rides. I think it represents extremely poor value in terms of the ticket price (even discounted) compared with time in the park.

Some people are, some people aren't, I was talking from the perspective of those who are not looking forward to The Gruffalo.

Great that they're doing things like this, but is repainting a staircase really worthy of posting to a TLC Twitter page? Or should it just happen?

Wallace and Gromit wasn't a Merlin project so I don't see how it has any significance to whether The Gruffalo will be good or not. It's no wonder people aren't looking forward to this, they've been let down too many times by the likes of Ghost Train, IAC, etc...

Completely agree. One of my biggest frustrations with Merlin is their willingness to sacrifice popular long-serving rides and overall guest experience in favour of flash-in-the-pan stuff like IAC.

It doesn't advertise the attraction though, it's just a dull phrase which has been overused by Merlin. Doesn't sound hopeful if they're selling it on the "world's first" tagline rather than the actual ride.

They're not still throwing the "world's first" rubbish around are they? Logo; Description on the website; https://www.chessington.com/2017/

It's called "The Gruffalo River Ride Adventure" according to the Chessington Breaks website. https://www.chessingtonholidays.co.uk/gruffalo-sign-up.html Great to see the park bursting with creativity... not.

I've only experienced rides in the UK so it may be the case that I haven't been on a good screen-based dark ride, but I'm yet to be convinced. Dark rides that use a few screens is different, but I don't like the idea of relying on them at the expense of animations, theming and effects. In terms of VR, I don't see the point in their use on dark rides as it's basically like having a television on your head whilst moving; almost like a glorified simulator. As for their use on coasters, it defeats the point of them IMO. Some of the rides Baron has mentioned look great, however I cannot judge them having not been on them.

Answering my own question, no, VR doesn't have a place at theme parks. In my opinion, theme parks should be about taking you away from everyday things like screens, and letting you enjoy the thrill of a coaster, or an immersive dark ride with REAL theming and effects. There's no escapism or fun about having a screen on your face, but that's just my personal opinion. Virtual Reality also causes issues such as lower throughputs, unreliability of the headsets, a larger number of staff required for the attraction and a much wider range of problems in the case of DBGT. I'd say that whilst it may be suitable for use on a smaller scale, the headsets are not capable of being used in the way that they are at theme parks.

Change is good sometimes, but ripping out the soul from a park and giving everything an animal theme is not (IMO). It's always nice to see parks recognise their past, similar to how Alton have the logos of their past coasters outside the Roller coaster Restaurant.