pluk

Yes it was! Until quite recently I was adamant the Juggler and Rodeo were different rides. I remember Juggler seeming so huge to the young me and as you say it was at an angle, but clearly from pictures they are the same. This is my Chessington. Circus, juggler, magic carpet behind and the faces surrounding dragons drop in the distance, all since gone. Good times.

Such a thing does not exist!

Pretty certain the pods don't lock, it'll just be the way they are balanced and that at that point they are only turning on one axis so happen not to be rotating individually.

Last time would have been towards the front end of last season. I don't know about motor noises, just the feeling it gave. The fact it came nowhere near levelling before changing direction suggests something about it is running differently, I've never had the direction change up sideways before.

Have definitely been told by someone that no, they won't. But I can not remember who said that so it might be totally wrong info. That doesn't help much, does it?

Really Chessington? That is horrific. I can't wait to see the mine train, I expected them to theme Jumbos to it, not the other way round! You reap what you sow, and Merlin have been sowing seeds of underinvestment for many many years. Whoever has allowed things to get this bad needs a good talking to. Can someone who cares take over our parks at some point please?

I've never even heard of them. Having looked it up I've never seen one either. Looks good though, see how many years until they find their way into darkest Essex...

I think he means you get them for complaining that nothing is actually open. Fastrack for trail of the kings anyone?!

Was the idea of a proper non fast food restaurant mentioned? Thought we might see one sometime soon with accommodation now available.

I'm not a fan of chart music anywhere in the park, but found it less grating this year in the dome. Thought the music pretty much everywhere was improved on last year apart from outside Zodiac where out of silence was a sudden booming hidden speaker shouting about MoS nights in my ear. It was stupidly earringingly loud. No need.

It looks laughable, and despite what anyone says it does detract from the ride experience. I guess the only reason you'd prefer it like this is if you were scared of the dark. The tunnel that remains makes no sense, does not even get fully dark (the hump of the lift hill and bend at the end are what made it properly dark in the first place). The first drop feels tiny compared to how it did in the dark and looks such a mess with random bits of old framework, wall and ugly lighting remaining. I don't think for a second this is temporary. If they were going to replace it they would have done now, we've known about the removal for long enough to think they would have time to replace it this closed season if they wanted to - it was no last minute thing. I also noticed as our boat returned to the station on Sunday that the structure of the station building itself is in quite a bad way. All the wood on the left has rotted through and looks crap. Are we going to see a gradual removal of the whole thing over the years as bits of it give up? I wouldn't be surprised.

I thought on Friday that Slammer was going about as quickly as it ever has. It was so damn fast, much faster than I ever remember it before, and felt fantastic for it. Does seem like all the work to keep it running was worthwhile, for now at least. I still don't trust it for a second though. I have a horrible feeling the day it closes forever will be the day it tears itself apart mid ride.

http://www.winknews.com/Local-Florida/2013-03-19/Lehigh-carnival-ride-accident-sends-one-to-the-hospital#.UUnSqBxdCSo

We've been infiltrated!!

May as well call it a zoo days extension! Just watch facebook explode in the next few days.

I totally agree. Having ridden both of the American versions and the Paris version of TOT and BTM, the Paris ones are my favourite of both, and by quite some way too.

On the planning application for the billboard (link should be somewhere in the Swarm topic a month or two ago) there are a couple of telling lines about The Swarm 'not having the impact on visitor numbers it was expected to, although it was well received by those who did ride it.' Something like that. As far as I'm aware no official gate figures have been released but are widely rumoured to be quite poor, especially for opening year of a major attraction.

I never even noticed they changed! Still, both previous incarnations managed to have in keeping seating and as you say, they would be pretty useless anywhere else so surely they could made an offer for them much cheaper than buying new. That photo also shows all the lovely wall detail, lost to creamy blandness.

The furniture was there long before BK came to town, in fact that picture is from the McDonalds era. Surely it was not theirs to take?

My BS detector is twitching. In the five months since closing there is no way they could not have completed this over closed season, especially with it all being in areas not accessible during zoo days anyway. They have clearly failed to plan and screwed up their timings, or have been forced into taking unplanned action now because things have become inoperable due to the condition they have got in (I think this is especially likely with Mine Train). Good that stuff is happening of course, just a shame they aren't capable of managing it properly.

The past... The future... I know getting annoyed about these things is a stupid waste of my energy, but this makes me angry. And not just because it looks crap now, that is not the point. The point is the colossal waste of money spent on making something look worse than it did before at a time when all of Merlins parks seem to be scrambling around for scraps of funding when it comes to anything other than entirely new attractions. I am referring specifically to the chairs. The old eatery had a tonne of chairs that were black and themed in a gothic style, almost looking like little graves or something. They worked, you sat on them and they prevented your bum hitting the floor. They didn't need replacing. Then as part of this 'improvement' those have been scrapped and replaced with generic fast food seating, looking like some sort of crap classroom. With their shiny silver frames and garish upholstery they couldn't look less in keeping if they tried. Now I know they buy in bulk etc to keep the costs down but those chairs will not have been cheep, there's a hell of a lot of them in there. So with the actual attractions falling apart, millions cut off of the budget of the newest ride and blink and you'll miss them opening hours this is what they have spent thousands of pounds on. New chairs, not anything like as good as the old ones. What a sickening waste of money and materials. I would like to find the person that allows this to happen and with the element of surprise introduce the side of their face to a fast moving large wet fish. Man from Merlin, this is for you...

I've never had this before until last Friday when I bought one from the doughnut place and it did bit of a Tango tang. I kind of liked it though, so I kept it. Shouldn't happen for the price they charge for their syrup mix though.

I think you cover that with the dreaming sign when you are in? They are all this layout then? They could have made them somewhere near reasonable if they slept two, but getting four in there is a joke.

Rubbish.