pluk

Of my gosh. If there is anything to this and Hollenblitz is coming it's time to start saving those pennies now. Considering the financial success Olympia seemed to be last year I wouldn't be at all surprised to see more joining it.

Always sad to see coaster death, even if they were among my least favourite of their type. Do you think I can buy a couple of rail sections to use as bannisters down my stairs?

I think some fanatics who visit more frequently than most forget how infrequent most visitors are. Something that's open for a few days a year (on very busy days too, making rerides less likely) isn't really going to get 'stale' for most people. Especially in something which naturally varies depending on the actors actions. Saw Alive is still solid, nothing needs changing really.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-41300031 Man dies in Hong Kong Ocean Park haunted maze attraction. Don't go into restricted areas appears to be the message, although some maze restricted areas can be easily stumbled into.

Mostly the latter, but I understand it is also down to more localised wind readings being taken for each attraction too rather than a central park ride one? The whole thing seems a bit of a farce to be honest. What I really don't understand is how Saw seems to be one of the least affected by this, when it will stall if someone farts in its general direction. Odd.

I'll ask my usual question. Were Thorpe selling fastrack to jump the queues which Thorpe had themselves created by running massively reduced throughputs? Hmmmmm.

Mildly off topic pedantry on my part continues, but whatever! Surely the theoretical throughput is a constant; what the hardware can do at it's peak running without interruption, regardless of whatever process and faff is put in the way of ops? Targets on the other hand, are set according to how the park chooses to run/maintain/resource the ride in its current state. Collosus, for example, would still have a theoretical throughput of a full train leaving the top of the lift hill the moment the other train clears the blocks at the end of the ride. Thorpe have let it deteriorate to that never being possible on two trains because of lifthill motor speed/stall issues, and at the moment single train issues, meaning their target now will be about a third of that theoretical throughput. But that theoretical throughput could be strived for again if Thorpe brought it all back up to opening spec.

Laziness and lack of care? Sorry to be pedantic, but surely no coaster can exceed it's theoretical throughput?! If it can, it's theoretical throughput has been calculated incorrectly!

Doesn't that first drop look shit? Just sort of meandering about a bit, too steep to be a turnaround, not steep enough to be drop, and unbanked. That lack of banking must discount any sort of lifthill launch system. As that section will all be enclosed, and will be taken too slowly to deliver any excitement in itself, is it likely that it will contain some sort of show or immersive effect?

Circus world was great fun for a kid. For a start, it had an actual circus. Imagine that! A show at a UK theme park! Your thoughts on the coherence of Bubbleworks within Transilvania are so wrong it's hilarious. How you've come to such conclusion without the knowledge of experience over those who lived it I have no idea. The disaster that is Zufari was the final nail for Chessington for me. It was their opportunity to do something spectacular, an experience not to be missed. But without the ideas or skill to pull it off we have been left with that dull overblown Fungle Safari. It's probably the single biggest wasted opportunity I can think of within Merlin. The rest of the park crumbles.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-dorset-41172067 Sounds like fun!

Nice topic revival. We've been a miserable bunch for nearly a year, eh? My current view, gin fizz in hand. Life is good.

Those free spinning piles of junk are not 4D coasters in my book, it's the old controlled rotation coasters originally made by Arrow and now by S&S that count.

X2 at 6FMM; a huge drop which you are rotated into face first, then rotated out of into your back. Even though you know what the ride does and can see it in action before you get on it's still such a surprising and incredible feeling when it happens.

Program on Yesterday channel tonight (no idea why it's on there as it seems to be brand new), Impossible Engineering, going through the history of Kingda Ka. Looks interesting.

Yes, I don't think for a second that this is an IP, it's a theme based on the same folklore/history that the film is inspired by. I don't expect a Nicolas Cage based preshow! The basis of Wickerman stories is someone being chosen to be burned alive inside the effigy as a sacrifice to the gods. If the 'Be Chosen' tagline thing relates to that as part of the narrative of the ride then this is set to be a very very dark theme!

Odeon Scream Unseen, the horror version of Screen Unseen, returns 18th September. The tickets are only £5 and come with a BOGOF voucher for frightnights.

While this is an odd and for me disappointing theme, it does throw up an exciting prospect. FIRE! Surely you can't do Wicker Man without a significant amount of fire? Terminator Salvation taught me fire in a woodie is a wonderful thing. I'm hoping for the preshow being something like backdraft or that temple thing at PortAventura, good and spectacular. Now that might be something that could salvage an otherwise lackluster looking coaster.

I guess that's the issue though; it's also not right if the nose from X is heavily leaking onto other attractions, spoiling their presentation. Bit of a balancing act for them I suppose. That's the issue with developing things in to something they weren't designed to be.

They way it flies through it's own support structure looks flipping amazing. I imagine it'll be hugely disorientating in there at those angles. That second inversion that pulls out of itself two thirds of the way round looks so odd though, I can't imagine that being a nice sensation at all? I need to get me on an RMC to find out.

I want to be excited for it, but can't find anything much to be excited about. My biggest concern is that this half arsed effort will decrease further the chances of the UK getting a decent woodie if it is seen by the industry as a flop.

The shoulder straps look very minimal for a flyer, not sure that'll be too comfortable.

Towers Facebook today flogging frightnights based on the incredible thrill of riding Nemesis in the dark. And it is an incredible thrill. I like this a lot; it's not all about the mazes.

From the wording of the statement I think it is quite clear that the previous KMG guidance did not identify this as a particular area or known weakness that required any specific checks. It is telling that they have issued a new technical bulletin rather than highlighting a previously issued bulletin or directive; this is something they had not told owners to do before or they would have very clearly highlighted that they had, which would have been much better for their reputation. At a guess it is probably an area that was given an expected life significantly longer than the 18 years the ride has lasted so had not been subject to rigorous checks yet. The question then is why did it fail? I suppose it's either that it was simply not strong enough by design (unlikely), an unnoticed fault in fabrication (possible), or something about the rides usage, storage or maintenance has caused the fatigue to occur prematurely (likely). I'm going to guess the outer casing has held in water over time, rotting the inside. Whether the fault then lies with KMG for a design which could allow this to happen, or owner for letting it occur, will likely be the subject of some long and expensive court battles...

Statement released from KMG. Doesn't read well for them to be honest; excessive corrosion of an interior (ie not visibly checkable) beam meant an arm simply sheared off. Does not appear to be anything the owner had done wrong or neglected to check ride properly under previous guidelines, new technical bulliten issued to ensure sufficient checks completed to this potential weakness in future. Does not really instill confidence! Pic shows it looks as if it has just torn apart. Dear Mr./Mrs., KMG has conducted an investigation to determine the cause of an accident with a KMG Fireball. In this accident which happened on July 26th, a passenger carrying gondola detached from the supporting sweep arm of the ride also known as a KMG Afterburner. This particular ride was 18 years old. The investigation included a visit to the accident scene in the company of a team of experts at the accident site in Columbus, Ohio, USA. They reviewed video footage of the incident and conducted a metallurgical inspection of the ride. It was determined that excessive corrosion on the interior of the gondola support beam dangerously reduced the beam’s wall thickness over the years. This finally led to the catastrophic failure of the ride during operation. KMG has reviewed the results of the inspection and worked with industry safety experts to develop an inspection protocol in the form of a Safety Bulletin to allow properly inspected and maintained rides to safely reopen. We trust to have you informed sufficiently. Albert Kroon Product Manager