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pluk

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Everything posted by pluk

  1. I can't really agree with that, especially when those who have ridden have some level of 'exclusivity' about having having had the experience and would be gloating about who good it is and how others are missing out. Due to lack of dark rides it's hard to look at any direct comparison, but s one of the only other decent sized investments this year find me a pile of negative comments about Lost Kingdom or Paultons in general? It won't be to some tastes, some will have a bad day for one reason or the other, but the consensus will generally reflect reality. If you do good things, you get praise.
  2. Facebook comments suggest otherwise. Even once you've picked out all of those complaining that it isn't actually open and find some who have managed to get on it, the response seems to be resoundingly negative.
  3. The Thorpe facebook ads of DBGT are inescapable at the mo, the comments on which make for equally hilarious and depressing reading. It's fair to say it is not going down well. Anyway, in an ad yesterday which I can not now find someone had tagged a person in suggesting they look at the comments, that person replied something like 'all the complaining is about it being closed, that's got nothing to do with our work'. That persons facebook profile stated he was a Simworx engineer. This would seem consistent with the rides problem being with the VR aspect and not the transit system itself.
  4. I think the main problem would be your spine exiting your body via your neck, leaving your shoulders in the restraints. That would sting a bit.
  5. If anyone were able to survive the first drop I'm sure they'd enjoy the rest of the ride.
  6. Skyfly falls in the pathetic throughput category too I think, unless they can develop one which is seated all the way round. I'm quite partial to those loopers as a filler ride. Wouldn't really complain about on.
  7. pluk

    Paultons Park

    Surely anything of any size would be in for planning if it were for next year? I can't see them with any major investment immediately after the huge new area this year. A bit of speculation is fine, but usually best to ignore 'my friends uncle's cat knows this guy...' posts, at least treat them with caution. TowersTimes seem to love a bit of that for some reason.
  8. A work of genius http://I.imgur.com/cAvqVdR.mp4
  9. Charlie- nope. Grufalo - certainty feasible. Could access come from the other side of the building, removing the ride from Transylvania?
  10. ...and what unusual accommodation it is. Wood! The Wooden Wagons are brilliant. Such a quirky way to provide accommodation that is not intrusive to the natural beauty of the place, but very comfortable and functional. Set in three little clusters, and with further larger treehouses in the forest, it's a small set up so feels so very secluded and natural when the sun goes down and you are surrounded by forest and darkness. more prettiness Inside they are pretty small, but well designed with a double bed and two single bunks, a TV, a fridge, worktop and dining table. Even in the 100+ degree heat the inside remained cool and pleasant with the help of a beer or two from the fridge. Don't come a knockin' when the wagon's rockin' Once the park is closed the only on site refreshment comes from a vending machine, there is a resturant a short drive away which the reception will book for you, but as we had made good use of the winery this was not an option for us! We opted for a pizza delivery from a nearby town which they give you a leaflet for when you book in, the pizza was OK at best, having suffered a little from what I presume was quite a long journey for hot food. This is the places one downfall, and its a shame they don't arrange a single trip minibus for the restaurant, or use the wildlife park facility in the evening. The other issue with this is the lack of anywhere to keep things refrigerated during the day before you check in, with no option to keep food fresh it's pretty much the pizza or nothing, and the beers took a while to cool in the little fridge having come from the meltingly hot car sitting in the sun all day. In the morning continental breakfast is served in the wildlife park, it's quite an uphill trek so thankfully breakfast is good and plentiful as you really need it when you get there. As the whole place is pretty small (and was far from full up when we visited) it's all very calm and tranquil, a really delightful way to start your day. yum Also worth mentioning the shower and toilet block is impressive too, spotlessly clean, plenty big enough and really quirkily themed in great detail. At about £60 for the night, and including the breakfast, entrance to the wildlife park and heavily discount on theme park tickets, it's well worth a stay. After checking out we spent a few hours in the wildlife park, which is plenty of time really. While it is obviously stunningly beautiful, and what is there is very well done, it's not really the hugest place and there aren't that many exhibits. If you like deer and goats you are in for a treat though, as they make up about 80% of the park! Deer Goat Repeat etc It's fair to say, they do like their dears and goats. There are other things too though... proud bird lazy bird contemplative bear I think he's seen me It's worth mentioning the wildlife park feels like it is built on a cliff face; the paths are steep and knackering in the heat and sometimes the payoff of another goat isn't worth the trek. Toptip: This is not a place to wear flipflops. As with the themepark it also suffers from zero English signage; maybe some of the exhibits would have been more interesting had we been able to read about them too. The food looked good, it appeared they set up fires and then sold meat for you to go and cook on massive swinging grills hanging over them (I'm not sure if that was happening, due to lack of English), but we were to be on our way by lunchtime for the adventure to get a little more adventurous. Away from the theme parks and into the mountains for some real Germany.
  11. pluk

    Music

    I've decided Beyond The Wizzards Sleeve are my current favorite thing.
  12. Those numbers aren't good! Hoping the council, who I think are heavily committed funding this, hold their nerve and keep it open. It was never going to be easy at the start but if they can keep the restored rides coming it should draw ever increasing crowds. I imagine it was the Scenic delay which has crippled them from the off.
  13. With his new surname I think he may be waiting a while longer to drag a potential Mrs Burp down the aisle!
  14. No, not with just one ride down.
  15. Meanwhile in Europa, on the exact same ride, everyone sits wherever they want and the single ride op doesn't even leave the booth to check anything. No one dies.
  16. Another early start for the longer journey to the second park and accommodation of the trip, trippsdrill. I'd recommend staying closer to this park than we did; it's in the middle of nowhere and the pretty long journey was a bit arduous before a long day on the park, especially as much of this was on winding roads with junction after junction. TopTip: You need a good map or satnav to get here; the road signs are sporadic to say the least with many junctions left for you to guess at. Tripsdrill is properly German, with little to no concession made for non German speakers. All adds to the fun, but there were a couple of times we found ourselves entirely unable to make ourselves understood, which is of course because of own ignorance and not their fault at all. The first time this becomes apparent is using their online booking for the treehouses and wagons which is entirely in German, and even using google translate for the documents sent out I couldn't find a way to actually pay them. I emailed them requesting someone phoned me back which they and it worked out fine, but I've since noticed they can be booked on booking.com, which is probably a lot easier. It was another term time weekday, and another largely empty park. Again I had very little expectation, knowing virtually nothing about the place. Again I loved it. Pretty A working vineyard set in largely unspoiled rolling hills, it's something of an understatement to say the place is picturesque. The grounds are well kept with everything feeling clean, fresh and vibrant, it's the sort of place you'd be happy to be at not riding anything. The park is split into two distinct areas of old and new, with the old world being tightly knitted together surrounding the entrance with more traditional attractions, and the new area of bigger thrill rides in a separate more spacious area. This seems to work really well having both styles without them jarring against each other. See, pretty. Staggered opening gives you the first hour to explore the old world before the other side opens. I gather it is designed to depict a traditional German way of life, and does so in a charming way with little automated and interactive scenes in what I presume to post humor which was entirely lost on us and our Englishness. Some of the more traditional rides like spinning barrels tranquil boats are intermingled with fun little diversions like funhouse style moving walkways. There's also the downright bizarre with the likes of the armory, an admittedly impressively huge display of old guns and weapons that you can not imagine sitting in a UK family theme park. There's a few flats too, all well run and again looking so well maintained. TopTip: No-one is going to check your restraints here, sit down and strap in as it's on you if you come flying out! Some rides are run with one op between two, who is only paying attention to the loading and off loading of the stationary ride and not the one which is actually running! I love that tbh, Germans a clearly less dumb than us Brits.. Tilting treehouses of doom The highlight of this area for us was the wine museum and cellar, a cool dark underground bar where Tripsrill's own wine can be sampled along with a good few others from the surrounding for a couple of Euros a glass. Could have spent many hours in there hiding from the 100 degree plus heat outside, it's so nice finding somewhere so genuine in the fake world of theme parks, and we spent longer in there than we probably should have! The elderly man behind the bar was so helpful and clearly very knowledgeable of the wines, we had a great time with him trying to converse in his very broken English and he seemed to love trying. Oh, and the wine glass is free and to keep! TopTip: Even if you're not a drinker pop in with your park ticket and collect your glass. Free merch! Over to the 'modern' side and first up was unfortunately one of only a couple of disappointments of the whole trip. Mammut is wood. I like wood. I like wood a lot. So inevitably it was what I was hoping to be the highlights of the park, but it is anything but. Slow, dull and uninspiring, it rattles along in an annoyingly pointless way achieving very little. It looks like it's a decent size and and has points which look like they are there to provide some airtime, but the speed it goes round none of it amounts to much. We rode a few times, front and back and hoping it would warm up later in the day, but no. 4/10 Disappointment On to their newest coaster, I didn't too expect much from Karacho based mostly on me not being much of a fan of the other original Infinity coaster The Smiler. This is such a better coaster than that; glass smooth track, fun little indoor section, powerful rolling launch, interesting varied layout with some great moments climaxing in a two suburb inversions with the dive into and roll out of the tunnel, all in the extreme comfort of those lapbars in the stylish trains. It's just sooo much fun, everything the Smiler isn't. I know they are not trying to achieve the same thing but this being the same type built by the same people at the same time shows how much better you can do by not chasing gimmicks and building something good and solid instead. Look, I told you it was pretty. I rode many times and didn't even begin to get bored of it. I also got bonus bit of geekery when they swapped a train over just as I was boarding, seeing the transfer track disappear into the false wall of the far side of the station and watch the poor staff push the trains back and forth as this track isn't powered. Actually Smile. Always. I like Rage a lot, but why our other (read Merlin) Geursts are so poor in comparison I do not know. It's a shame. Karacho was another massive hit for me on this trip. 8.5/10 One of these is enjoying it less than the others Also over this side are some really fab rapids, with a much better lift and loading system than we have over here, decent length and a good amount of rough water and wetness in strange bendy boats which feel disconcertingly top heavy. Probably one of the better rapids I've ever been on, 8/10. A good mouse/bobsleigh type affair interacts with a brilliant flume including a backwards section and an unexpected nude spa float through. Mental. The flume was the only ride to hold a proper queue all day, I can only asume it's those kids wanting a titillating glimpse of latex nipple. Overall we had a wonderful day. It's not perfect, but then nowhere is. I'd hate for the place to lose its German-ness, but I don't think that would be spoiled by some English and French on the museum type exhibits which line the queue lines, their splashbattle type affair is useless, and we weren't allowed on a couple of the kids rides (boo) and the park map isn't up to much. But I was smitten with the place, I implore you to go if you get the opportunity. A short stroll in the evening sun back to the wildlife park to us to our slightly unusual accommodation for the night...
  17. And there's nothing wrong with that, it should be the reason they do absolutely anything. All we've got to hope is it gives them that boost because it's actually good, and not just because it's marketable as something that appears better than it is. I've no doubt that that is why they've marketed the change like this. I've got no problem with it; while the boats may remain, if the whole essence of the ride is changing I think it's fair to say it's 'closing down' and generating sone nostalgia trips.
  18. Are you suggesting this will be sponsored, meaning they take money from someone? I believe that this is the opposite, in that it's an IP that they have to for the privilege to use. I think they're doing this for the right reasons, in acknowleding what Bubbleworks had become is not acceptable and deciding to change it to something better which will be more popular. While it is obviously utter madness to write this off at this stage, it is understandable there are concerns about what the quality will be based on other recent developments and rethemes. People aren't just pulling the general negativity from out of their behinds. A conversation we seem to have ourselves having frequently, and as ever I don't think there's anyone who wouldn't love to be proven wrong with something stunning. Fingers crossed!
  19. Very easy to emulate or improve on with todays technology, I'm sure.
  20. That's basically what I was trying to say. Certainly possible, not certainly worthwhile. I don't understand why no-one is building these any more. Such fun rides.
  21. Yeah, I expect the same ride with different stuff around it. I suppose the question is will that stuff be any good? And if it's being done by the same people, there's your likely answer. No!
  22. Are they? This looks good, not amazing but good and solid. The sort of coaster it's ok to tack a gimmick on to the end of, rather having a crap coaster supporting the gimmick that all the effort goes into.
  23. pluk

    Slammer

    Oh dear. At least it was the right way up this time!
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