pluk

That, and it's very clear to see that Galactica requires unsustainable numbers. And IAC may well come into that bracket, the staffing vs throughput is way off. And Saw Alive maybe; it often had a queue for something that was supposedly 'not popular enough'.

From a company which spends significant money opening attractions to be staffed from a huge centrally funded promo budget for a set period, and then dumps the the resulting white elephant which is so expensive to run it is inoperable on the park a season or two later, I wouldn't be massively sure they did. It does appear that for both this and Galactica the kit isn't really up to the job.

While I don't know the detail of the politics within Merlin, if the Alton woodie goes ahead would they really be willing to let their biggest 'competitor' steal their thunder and dilute their uniqueness just a year or two after they opened theirs? Seems unlikely to me, which makes it even more of a shame that Altons plan doesn't look to be what I would like or what I believe the public in this country needs to see what modern wood can do.

Like whay Stretcy said, The Birmingham Mail don't know more than the planners and Towers themselves... we do really know already. I'm sure any significant activity in the area will be the start of them getting ready for next year's new CBeebies ride.

No it's not. It's going by the other hotels

With GeForce getting us on to a high it was in to the rest of the park to see what it had to offer, and it turned out there were a couple of other stand out bits. First up was something else I had little expectation of having not done the type before and thinking they looked awkward and a bit cheap and nasty, Premier Rides Sky Rocket Sky Scream. Hanging Again I was wrong and I loved it. The launch is fast and smooth, I think this was my first rolling launch and it's a fantastic feeling being given that boost backwards and forwards, and the coaster above a whole lot of fun. As the ride twists from inside to outside the track at the top it really whips you away from you seat but even with the slow inversion and tight maneuvers on the way down it's all very comfortable with the lap bar nice and snug. A beautiful mess The walk through (thankfully not 'queue' in our case - I imagine the throughput on here is its biggest downfall) before the ride is well done too, great theming. TopTip: The coaster feels very similar from the front to the back, in this case the view from the front probably makes a bit of an extra wait worthwhile. Real good fun, a solid coaster. Certainly wouldn't mind one of these making there way over here sometime soon. 8/10. Then my favorite discovery of the whole trip that I'm sure won't be new to most here but it was to me. The perfect flat ride that is a Gerstlauer Sky Fly. It can be all things to all guests; while my wife was happy gently rocking away I could spin and spin like a mad thing, pulling what must be incredible sustained forces, in absolute comfort. I could spend the whole day on this. If I went all Michael Jackson with some rides in my back garden this would absolutely be top of my buy list. Getting going It's in what will be a nice area, with a little balloon ride already open and a couple of other small round rides of some sort currently being built, all on a flight theme. This will be the star though, and was the only thing with a (still small) queue in the whole park. I got myself spinning nicely, probably strung about 20 together in one sustained spin, but when it starts to feel like it might be a bit much it's very easy to bring it under control give it a little break then flip it over and off you go again. TopTip: the front outside seat (2nd row) is the easiest to get spinning. I'll be the upside-down one Hours and hours of fun. The only limit to there being one in every park is the throughput. I wonder if it'd be possible to have one with seating all the way round before lifting and tilting? Anyway, this is now my favorite flat ride by a mile. 10/10 The a whole are which shouldn't have been for us, but is so well done we loved it. The kiddies area based on a bunch of characters I've never heard of was brilliant, not just the fabulous colourful and complete theming, but the rides themselves for kiddies fare are excellent. The ride ops didn't seem to mind that we were a couple of adults squeezing ourselves in and were quite happy laughing at us. As Benin might say, don't care, got creds. Bouncing frog of crazy Yes, I'm on a grasshopper. And what? We ate in this area too, a burger restaurant in the middle of the land was good quality and value. A couple of other eateries we saw around the park appeared prety expensive in comparison. TopTip: all drinks bottles have a deposit added when you buy and given back when you return, this is standard across Germany. We didn't know this, and threw away a few Euros worth before a helpful staff member told us. Flying high in the land of creds All reminiscent of Peppa Pig land in what it is doing, but on a larger scale and with better rides. The drop tower and frog carousel (same ones as at Europa) are genuinely brilliant, so much fun, but there's loads of little rides and not a duff one between them. Certainly worth a visit if you are an adult on park and presuming this is recent shows the they really are going the right way with their theming efforts and general quality. 8/10 Once a day off peak, the WaterSki Stunt Show does its thing on the lake. As always with these things presenter faff to stunt ratio is way off, especially when that faff is incomprehensible to my English ears, but that said this was fun and it was pleasing to know that the Germans main opinion of the French is that they smell a bit. Maybe we're not so different after all. Casually watersking with no skis Some of the stunts really were spectacular though, and a bit of pyro is always nice, so we really enjoyed it. But it could have done with 15 minutes of presenter being lopped off its running time, and even that would still leave a lot of presenter. Bonus points for not giving the tiniest crap about health and safety (if I had stood up at one point I would have been kicked in the head by someone on a zip wire flying above me!), this sort of entertainment is what is most sorely missing from UK parks. Bring it back! 7/10 Aside from that there's a good solid support ride line up, couple of spiny rides running well, rapids and nicely themed flume both decent without setting the world on fire. A lighthouse tower that as far as I'm concerned can do one along with all the others ever made, pleasant little boat ride etc. A little museum on the parks history was interesting, although there was no English translations it appeared to show one old exhibit where you could come and look at the dwarfs, living in a little train! Times have changed. Even with the lack of dwarfs to look at these days there's still certainly enough to do to while away a whole day. Standard boat-ride selfie It's not perfect though. The whole right side of the park from SkyScream to the kids place feels really tired and in need of attention. The PhantomPhantasia-a-like ghost train is dire really, especially when ridden a few days apart from Europa's take on the same thing, and the carousel is horrible, really dilapidated and deeply coated in grime. Worthy of special mention, just up the path to Sky Scream in the most jarring extremes of quality is Hollys Wild Autofart or something. A particularly awful and out of place wild mouse. Horrible theming, rattly horrible ride. Looks so cheap compared to the more recent additions/re-themes and the quality of the park as a whole. 1/10 - burn it. These things only really stand out as the newer stuff really is very good. Overall I was very impressed with Holiday Park as a whole, am glad I went and would certainly return. It was a short drive back to Speyer for an inevitable couple of beers before another early start the next day, off to the second park of the trip...

Witching it a few times over, it isn't as short as I first thought at that speed, but it doesn't seem to do that much which gives it that slightly nothingy feeling. One reason for this I think is it doesn't seem to 're-crest' at all after the long drawn out first drop, it's all pretty flat after that with no big drop at all across the whole ride. It also doesn't interact much with its own structure, 3 very quick cross-unders? One of my favourite parts of woodies is when you are thundering through its own structure. Change the playback speed to 1.25 (I'd imagine 1.15 - 1.2 would be more realistic, but that's not an option) and suddenly it actually looks like fun. But then time wise it really is getting rather short.

The first day proper began with a short easy drive to Holiday Park of about 15 minutes, Speyer really is an ideal base for a visit here. On a term time weekday with the Germans all tucked up behind their desks somewhere we were greeted with a practically empty park and some rather generous 09:00 - 18:00 opening hours. Arriving a bit early we were let through to the little holding plaza where the two pathways into the main park were held with barriers, while some of the few people waiting played in the great dancing fountains. Looming over the entrance is the drop tower, but no-one cared; nearly everyone was crowded around one of the two pathways jostling with anticipation. A check of the map confirmed what I suspected - this was the pathway (TopTip, it's the left one, get to the front and just follow the path) to the main attraction, Expadition GeForce. We dutifully joined the mini scrum and at the stroke of 09:00 were on our way... Big FM Expedition GeForce, to give it its full annoyingly sponsored title Before we made our trip I had deliberately not spoilered myself too much with individual rides and, as much as possible while still wanting to plan effectively, whole parks. I didn't know much about Holiday Park or anything there, other than that GeForce existed and was consistently rated as one of the best coasters in the world. I didn't have the highest hopes for either to be honest; a couple of times it was said to not bother with Holiday Park at all and go elsewhere instead, and as for GeForce being one of the best I had seen it derided as massively overrated many many times. I'd also seen POV's of it and thought it looked pretty average too. Anticipation... I was wrong. Everyone doing it down was wrong. If it is over hyped and overrated it is by the tiniest of margins; it really is one of the best. The first drop is great, but it is really only the means to gather the momentum for the ejector chaos which is to follow. The second hill crest is one of the best moments on any coaster anywhere, the attempt it makes to fling you from under your little lap bar is extreme and sustained like nothing else, followed by a couple more similar but less violent and more sustained peaks. Every moment of it is fast and fun; the right to left on peak transition change halfway through whips you through spectacularly, the bunny hops to the finish are taken at a perfect floaty speed. As is nearly always the case, back is best. TopTip: The front row queue line is actually for the front two rows, and when you get up there everyone wants to ride the actual front row, obviously, so the wait for that is even longer than it looks. This even held quite a queue when the rest of the ride/park was walk on. Just don't bother, why wait longer for less good? Joy (sweaty man in red, if you weren't sure) It's safe to say I rather enjoyed it, and with it being walk on even on single train operation I whored the hell out of the back rows towards the end of the day. Lost count of rides, easily in the double figures and I left the park with some pretty heavy thigh bruising, but it was well worth it. First coaster of the holiday and it's unexpectedly straight in the top 10, put me in rather a good mood for the rest of the park and the rest of the trip.

Amazing quality recreation, but as for the ride it looks like a big fat yawnfest. I'd hope it's slung over the crest at some speed by something resembling a launch, and then carries that speed throughout, to be even slightly interesting. But then the faster it gets the shorter it is, and it's already damn short, so I can't see how this'll be any good whatever they do with it.

MattyMoo has killed Stealth!

My lack of having visited Europa had been hanging over me for far too long, so it was decided Germany had to happen. Not wanting to go all that way without seeing any of the country or other nearby parks, a plan was made to add Holiday Park, Tripsdrill and a mountain coaster to the week long trip. A plan which was made largely guided by trip reports and advice from the lovely members here and on TowersStreet, so thank you all, and I’ll try and include some bits which might help other thinking of doing similar. With Stanstead to Baden-Baden flights booked at the stupidly cheap Ryanair price of £32 return, a car hired for the very reasonable £150 from Europcar, and accommodation booked for each night, myself and the Mrs headed off on our little adventure to southern Germany… Firstly, I was really impressed with Ryanair. We'd never used them before, just out of circumstance not snobbery, but I probably preferred it over Easyjet for general ease of travelling with them. Shame about the nauseating iluminous yellow headrests inescapably glowing in your eyes. Europcar were also very good; the internet is full of people claiming to have been ripped off by them (and practically every car hire company it seems) with hidden charges and claims of phantom damage being charged, but all went smoothly for me with the invoice following me home for exactly the amount I was expecting. Top Tip: buy excess insurance in the UK for about £20, don't take the excess waiver policies that do exactly the same for 10 times that amount with the hire company. The beast. (That's the car, not me) And so with the mighty 1.1 purring with anticipation at my toes, it was to the Autobahn to try not to get killed. I found driving in Germany a pleasure in general; the roads are very well maintained, clearly signposted for directions and far less crowded than here in the UK. Everyone knows how to drive on multiple carriage way roads (ie, if you are not overtaking something, get the hell out of the way) so it all works rather well. Some things to look out for include: - the lack of speed limit signage (you'll often get one as the limit changes, but there are no 'repeaters' as we have here, so you have to notice and remember) - speed cameras are grey and hidden to catch you rather than warn you - on autobahns you really have to watch the speed of those coming up behind when you look to move out for an overtake. It's easy to glance in your mirror at a small speck, go to pull out and notice it's already up with you doing 200mph, when we are used to everything doing roughly similar speeds. - on smaller roads merging traffic often has right of way over what appears to be the main carriageway, but not always, and confusingly there aren't always any road markings (which I could decipher) to warn you which way round it is. Everyone else seemed to know what was going on, but not me. Only one near miss but be cautions! - when roads are closed, that's your problem. No diversion signs! TopTip: this might be obvious, but I hadn't thought about it, your phone needs data for satnav, so buy a roaming package before you leave rather than having German Virgin Mobile faff like I did. This paper saved my life a few times. So simple but effective. We headed off to our first destination of Speyer, about an hours easy drive from the airport for a place giving relatively easy access to both Holiday Park and Tripsdrill. Arriving in the early evening there was no hint of a rush hour on the roads despite us driving through the peak time. We stayed at Hotel Am Wartturm which was very nice and good value, close to the motorway exit so avoid any driving though town stress and about 20 minutes stroll though a strangely beautiful graveyard. We slung the bags in the room and took that stroll to what is one of the most important moments of any trip... ...the first beer Speyer is a beautiful place. Like everywhere in Germany it seems immaculately kept, with beautiful architecture and a relaxed but busy vibe with bars and eateries lining the streets, all seeming to be good quality, with people out drinking and being happy without anyone ever being rowdy. If you tried the same set up on the streets of the UK it would be carnage. We took in a few bars and a restaurants for a lovely evening, but didn't want to go crazy and spoil the theme park fun that was to come with a hangover. Cultured cathedral shadow drinking Although we were there for two nights and had a good look round (the bars, primarily!) both evenings, I wish we had allowed ourselves more time to spend in the town itself, spend some time there during the day. I've heard good things about the Technik Musium there too, one for next time. So nice and sensibly early to bed ready for the excitement of the next morning, when this supposed theme park trip report might actually make it to a theme park...

They'll have to find a way of keeping on top of it a seat at a time, rather than letting it get that bad and having to remove it completely occasionally. I wonder if it is problems with the headsets themselves, which should be easy to resolve just carrying spares to swap over each day, or if it is an issue with a part which forms part of the train which I imagine would be more of a problem.

That sucks. What with Avatars 'land of who cares about forgotten gimmick' not Disney film franchise, it feels like Disney are really out of step with what people want. When you add Star Wars they are certainly out of step with what I want, but I know I'm in the minority there.

I thought for the last couple of years they returned to operating at a profit for the first time in a good few years? If that was working why the sudden appearance of struggling again?

It's been said by very reliable people in the know.

Dark Rides Project on facebook (electricbill / archive here) say the ride system is remaining, and he knows what he is talking about. Doesn't mean it can't be amended / added to in some way though. Maybe Charlies lifts will end up down south?

Been a long time since I did one of these, so a Europa heavy update... 1 - Nemesis (AT) - Pretty much perfect in every way. By far (until OzIris happened) the best B+M invert I've ridden. 2 - Blue Fire (EP) - Fabulous launch, comfy restraints, and most importantly the best sequence of inversions ever. Another close to perfection effort. 3 - Wodan (EP) - Fast and fun4 - OzIris (Asterix) - Immaculately themed, beautifully paced and just keeps giving. 5 - Zeus (Asterix) - Huge amounts of airtime and a pleasing roughness giving it some real character. 6 - X2 (6FMM) - In may ways quite a horrible painful ride, but it is so unique and does have its moments of brilliance.7 - Goliath (6flags MM) - Because greying out is always fun. Immense.8 - Ghost Rider (KBF) - Wood, long, fast. Some people moan about it's roughness but that's how I like it. 9 - Expedition GeForce (HP) - Relentlessly trying to fling me to my death is a good thing. 10 - Salvation (6FMM) - This is the smooth fast style of Woodie AT should be looking at. And fire effects on a WOODEN coaster? Yes please!

You'd think, wouldn't you? But as someone who was around to love it at its peak any nostalgia for something good died a long time ago. It really is time something else was done with it and I don't care a jot for what is there now.

Presuming the ride system will remain? Fingers crossed some actual effort goes into it this time.

Or just fixing the actual hardware which was largely broken.

People with a middling opinion, finding something 'OK', are naturally not likely to be making much noise about their feelings as they don't really have any. I think if people are blown away by something being amazing they are just as likely to comment as those who are disappointed are to moan. Maybe there isn't too much to be post positively about at the moment. As for DBGT, does anyone have any idea how well the ride is actually being received in the properly monitored feedback the park gather?

That's all you can ask of it really.

Did you even read the article? It's a magazine article, not news, and doesn't really pass comment on the rights and wrongs of the death penalty or come close to declaring that those who voted Brexit want to kill people. What it does highlight is the lack of correlation between people's wealth, class and social standing (which many, especially it seems remain campaigners, would strongly link with their intelligence and ability to make a sensible informed decision rather than doing what The Sun tells them) and how they voted. But there is a fairly strong correlation between people's thoughts on the death penalty and the way they voted, and the author points out that this does suggest these will be people with a more 'traditional' outlook, not so much liberals or forward thinkers. A reasonable assumption to make and not really at all negative or conveying of fear. It's largely positive in debunking the stupid myth that brexit was brought on by an underclass not understanding what they are voting for. Absolute rubbish. Go to the bbc news site, type in 'brexit' to the search and look through the results. A fairly even spread will be found. CEO of weatherspoons doing down the negativity from official sources, the Americans wanting to keep our close links, the stories from the days immediately after the vote stating exactly what you are saying they didn't and the markets have largely recovered etc etc etc. If you need spoon feeding content and what you are supposed to think about it, rather than being presented with information which leaves you to think, maybe you should stick to that bastion of truth and independence (lol) that is Sky News. Or maybe the Daily Mail. They are not perfect, but doing down the BBC for an article like this, when it is compared to the overall output of its biased and sensationalist competitors, is madness.

Said no one ever? Having just seen how Europa Park use VR on a couple of smaller coasters as a paid extra on a few seats, that seems like a much more sensible approach to introducing VR rather than trying to build a whole million pound new ride entirely dependent on fledgling technology. It's just asking for trouble.

Turks have it under control, will all be back on holiday there next week...