pluk

You got a source for that, or you just being a disrespectful prick?

Ceremonial topic move complete. It is a shame, always enjoyed the uniqueness of the experience and glad I got a couple of rides at the end of last season. Probably about time it was put out of its misery though, and Thorpe should be praised for their efforts in keeping it going for so long.

Never gonna happen. 2 will come out, bomb, and that's the last we'll ever hear of it.

It all looks very pretty, but doesn't seem to be remotely interesting. Avatar? Who cares? I still don't understand this at all.

That could look so good similarly lazily plonked elsewhere on park, but that is just a shocker. The embodiment of Merlin's true catchphrase; 'That'll do'

Really hope the continuing investment works out for them after their previous financial issues. It's either brave or stupid considering how bad things have been, only time will tell.

Gimme an F, gimme an A, gimme an S etc etc. What do queues make? SALES!

Tallest/fastest claims are not gimmicks in my book, they are bona-fide records. Even 'most inversions' is a legitimate claim. There's nothing wrong with any of that. But with most legitimate records out of reach we end up with the gimmicks consisting of spurious world's firsts for generally unremarkable elements, or unquantifiable claims of 'scariest' or 'most intense' which are just PR puff. These are the ones I have problems with, where the shoehorning of some nonsense ends up detracting from delivering a solid attraction around it. Where marketing takes over from genuine creativity as the driving force of a project. If Thorpe are going to reach for a legitimate record I'd love them to go for the world's longest coaster, utilising the new island and going on around the perimeter. I'm sure it's doable on the site, never going to happen though!

Yes, absolutely. What I can't see is that any part they need would take a whole season to be fabricated? It does feel to me like a longer term decision may have been made.

It did really happen and is not PR. I think the last thing we want to do is assist in the promotion of this idiocy by these morons.

I was on the peir a couple of weeks back, was mighty hungover so not up for riding much, just did the ghostrain. It is dire. They wanted £20 for a wristband, with half the rides closed for maintenance. An optimistic price which it seemed no one had taken them up on. Did think it all looked clean and fresh compared to my previous visits, seems the new owners are doing good things.

That reads a lot like someone with false limbs has secured their prosthetics really well, but the rest of them not so much. Wouldn't be the first time that had happened. Australia - child critically injured being thrown from twister/sizzler type ride. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/boy-hurt-in-fall-from-rye-carnival-ride/news-story/1ad49c1129dae05222f75e9696b4656a Mix of reports, some saying he was flung from his seat, others that he was already clinging to the outside when it happened. Seems he was part of the owners family, and they do do that sort of thing sometimes.

That's some extreme trapezing. Lucky he didn't pull her out of it entirely in trying to slow her down.

I'd say there's pretty much none. The coaster itself is dire, like a slightly oversized kiddie coaster with nothing even remotely interesting happening. It was better when I rode it before it was trimmed to hell, but still crap. The drop and backwards section are fun though.

Sorry, not my point. I get there will be a background reason, what I take issue with is the blaming of 'H&S' as if it's something they have been told to do from outside and they no choice over. That's not how it works; they have the choice of how to mitigate an identified risk and choose the easiest/cheapest option, then blame health and safety to excuse whatever poor guest experience is the result as if their hands are tied. Really winds me up.

TRIGGERED. No, this is not a thing. I do not know the reason for this rides poor performance, but I can assure you it is not the mythical man in a hard hat with a clipboard from 'H&S' telling Thorpe that only 70% is safe now. The ride is far greater than a decade old. It was a knackered old thing when Drayton got it, it was an even more knackered old thing when Thorpe got it 11years ago from them because they killed their last one (or nearly killed someone in their last one to be more precise!). I'd guess from the model it was made in the 80's. I suspect there lies the problem.

Exercises in damage limitation do not show they care. Showing they care would be not putting themselves and their guests in the same situation repeatedly. Seriously, it's like groundhog day at the start of every season. You can go back through the forum and find the same posts year after year. The actual reasons might differ, but the disaster the guests face remain the same. This always comes down to who is this 'they' who are supposed to care or not. The staff on the ground don't want this, the park management don't want this, HQ won't want this, and I'm sure in their own way each level does actually care. But yet it happens again and again. There is something rotten within the structure of Merlin which allows this to happen. I don't know who it is, but an important person somewhere who has the ability to fix this at a high level, clearly does not care, and that ends up reflecting on everyone in the uniform. Good to see they seem to have turned a corner now.

Good, I did think it was looking rather tired this year. They normally do a decent job of this sort of thing.

It's all to slap GotG over Twilight Zone...

I hate that they've closed Cinemagique, it was wonderful and timeless.

I'm confused. Where on the building are we looking here? What's new, structure wise? Scrub that, got it... Similar positioned pic. What's this crap in front then? I thought the new building area was to the far left of the building as it is viewed here, beyond what would have been the till end of the shop?

That's The Grid - Swamp Thing. That's what us cool kidz danced to in discos when I was a boy. Was it ever really 'loggers music', thought it was just one of many tracks that played in the area?