Coaster

The historic wooden Roller Coaster is now a Grade 2 listed structure. I think that's great news, as it means the coaster will be preserved. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1436976 In other news, I believe that Evolution has left the park.

Nemesis Inferno (10) Tidal Wave (0) Nemesis Inferno + Tidal Wave - (OUT!) Nemesis Inferno wins!

What don't you like about Splash Canyon out of interest? I quite like it; it has water effects, a tunnel (which is better than Rumba's), and a few items of theming as well as offering decent views of Shockwave. Needs a soundtrack though!

Nemesis Inferno (8) Tidal Wave (2) Nemesis Inferno + Tidal Wave -

Nemesis Inferno (6) Tidal Wave (4) Nemesis Inferno + Tidal Wave -

Nemesis Inferno (7) The Swarm (4) Tidal Wave (4) Nemesis Inferno + The Swarm -

Nemesis Inferno (9) Rocky Express (3) The Swarm (3) Tidal Wave (5) Nemesis Inferno + Rocky Express -

Nemesis Inferno (8) Rocky Express (3) The Swarm (4) Tidal Wave (5) Nemesis Inferno + Rocky Express -

Nemesis Inferno (7)Rocky Express (5)The Swarm (3)Tidal Wave (5) Nemesis Inferno + Rocky Express -

That's exactly what I meant. The employees care, Merlin don't.

Nemesis Inferno (7) Rocky Express (3) The Swarm (5) Tidal Wave (5) Nemesis Inferno + Rocky Express -

Because they care.

Nemesis Inferno (6)Rocky Express (3)Rumba Rapids (4)The Swarm (7)Tidal Wave (5) Nemesis Inferno + Rocky Express -

Regarding the X discussion, I like it although it does need improvements; mainly to the (extremely tired) queueline rather than the ride itself. Wouldn't surprise me to see it SBNO with the entrance behind a fence in a few years.

Rumba needs a complete overhaul, from the top down. The water effects need fixing, there used to be a waterfall coming down from the roof of the building and hoses on each side, as well as a waterfall further up the channel (which has been completely ripped out now). I've never seen the shower work though I know it used to, but it's unlikely to return seeing as it has also been torn out now! The tunnel has potential but at the moment it's a tour through a rotten concrete shed, the theming around the waterfall was removed, and have you seen how many spiders there are in there?! There used to be two water jets in the tunnel, which haven't been working for years. Elsewhere the queueline, ride and surroundings would benefit from an extensive cleanup and repaint. I remember the lizard that used to shoot water at the queueline, little touches like that made it so much better than it currently is. With that said, I don't think the ride needs a name change, and the theme music fits it perfectly. Rumba does have potential to be a very good rapids, so it's a shame to see it left in such a dismal state year after year.

The water tower and queueline "flood" effects were brought back for 2016, they're really effective and this year is (to my memory) the first time I've ever seen them working!

Mr Monkey's Banana Ride (5) Nemesis Inferno (8) Rocky Express (5) Rumba Rapids (5) Storm in a Teacup (3) The Swarm (4) Tidal Wave (5) Nemesis Inferno + Rocky Express -

I've seen the idiotic "OMG dat smiley ride is not safe" comments, but does that really represent the majority of the public? It's only a few hundred people usually on the news articles, which is bad enough, but it's not enough to say that the entirety of the public think that way. People do read social media pages, maybe not the vast majority of people, but I'm fairly sure more than one person in the world reads them otherwise there would be little point in them existing. I also find it interesting that you've said no-one in the world reads the complaints, yet directly above that you've said "out of all the GP reviews I have seen on social media platforms etc..." People will notice that there's less rides to go on, especially if one of their favourites is closed. Whilst I don't dispute that the incident on The Smiler has put people off visiting, what I'm saying is that in my opinion, the cutbacks are making a bad situation worse, and doing more damage to the park than good.

Do we know for definite that the job cuts aren't ride staff/departments, for more SBNO rides next year?

Mr Monkey's Banana Ride (5) Nemesis Inferno (8) Rocky Express (4) Rumba Rapids (5) Storm in a Teacup (4) The Swarm (4) Tidal Wave (5) Nemesis Inferno + Rocky Express -

...with 70 jobs cut. Great start!

Just one point for clarity, I don't have a "vendetta" against Merlin. It's simply a case of, I don't like what they're doing to the theme parks. The incident has of course had an impact but the best way to counteract that (IMO) would have been to have a really good year in 2016, and then build from that. I just don't think that further cuts is the right approach.

The fact that anyone can work out that out of the millions of people who go on all the rides per year, the accident on The Smiler was one extremely rare incident. It's time to stop blaming The Smiler's incident for everything to do with the park's current state, it's common knowledge that reduced value for money with ride closures and everything else will put people off going. I'm not suggesting that the incident hasn't had an impact at all, of course it has, but everything else will have only made things worse.

Clearly not enough people "still went" or gate figures wouldn't be down!

Fair enough, I disagree though.