pluk

There's little as satisfying as seeing Ronaldo miss a penalty. He should be sacrificed to the icelandics and thrown into a volcano.

I imagine in an attraction which 'blurs the line between fiction and reality' in the event of an actual breakdown the announcements have to be very much off theme, so to be clearly not part of the ride. Otherwise you could have people thinking the 'breakdown' was part of the experience and not acting appropriately and safely when required. While the flames get nearer, people sitting there saying 'ohhh, this is very realistic, isn't it?' as they burn to death.

Relative newcomers to the coaster manafacturing world, RMC seem to be the current in vogue choice for parks worldwide looking for something a bit new and interesting. While wood purists argue the validity of their hybrids to be considered woodies at all, it's hard to deny the coasters they create sure look fun, whatever they are. Unfortunately not many of us in the UK will have ridden one with none having been built here. Do we want to see one in the UK, and when and where do we think one could be likely? I'm gagging for one, but can't see where one is likely to ordered. Thorpe is probably the most likely? Maybe Paultons? Also, it seems a problem has been found in their trains which has resulted in an immediate worldwide shutdown of all their coasters. I can't copy and paste urls for some reason, but report on ThemeParkInsider website. Don't know how long this will last, but it won't fill potential customers and riders with confidence in this inexperienced supplier.

It has been improved a hell of a lot then! In your wildest dreams you can not imagine the pain that contraption put me through.

That's got to be a joke?! In my eyes it is exactly that area the parks are most lacking. Have you looked up in Inferno station? There's so much dust and grot up there I'm supprised the structure is still standing under the weight. Have you walked through Rattlesnakes chewing gum tunnels? The Smilers projector room is falling to pieces faster than the ride itself. Scruffy presentation is rife. The reason I joined this site all those years ago was to ask a question of how the parks were management structure because coming from a retail management background I couldn't understand a set up which allowed such poor presentation to be accepted as the norm and nother fixed. The bottom line appears to be no one has overall responsibility for specific areas of the parks presentation at any given moment, and it's all 'this team' and 'that team' blaming each other for any failing (see also - fastrack ticket allocation), when the guest doesn't care who's fault it is and would just like it fixed. I don't think anything much has changed in all that time. I really believe guests notice this stuff much more than the parks think, and more than the guests themselves even realise. All the sights you take in with your eyes forms an overall impression in your mind, even if you can't quite put your finger on why he place feels unloved and a bit rundown. It's a shame, because this stuff is easy and inexpensive to fix if you just put the right people and processes in place, it never seems to be a priority in our parks though. A frustrating shame.

I think Goudurix has been re tracked since I rode a couple of years back? It might be better now but it isn't forgiven; worst ride ever.

The only reliably safe way to get one of those inverting would be to have the ability to lock the carriage in a position for that manoeuvre before releasing and swinging for the rest of the ride, in the same sort of way a spinner does. While I'm sure it would be possible to design a comfortable way of getting it to invert without locking there would be no other way of having it behave safely in the event of an underspeed or stall. I imagine the only way of doing this would be to have a guide track under the carriage for the bottom of the swinging carriage to engage with for that portion of the ride, but I'm not too sure the messing about involved would be worthwhile to get an inversion into a ride type that doesn't really need it.

All. Please stop this silly pettiness now. Further discussion will be about the ghost train itself and not your opinions of its delay or each other. Feel free to PM each other or the team regarding personal issues, or use the 'park operations' topic if you would like to comment on how Thorpe go about their business. Thanks.

Get the busy weekend out the way and Monday full opening?

Does make sense I suppose.

@Insider did, that's the words they used. Although they're not in a position to do so, so no, nobody did actually confirm timed tickets. That's the point of my post. Please, let's not start this tedium again!

Haha, this passed me by. How about MMM's new theme tune

Merlin Magic making gone... Bagroom shutters up... What could be happening?!

Thanks for that @Benin, Phantasialand was very much in the plan but decided against as there are other parks in that area I'd like to do sometime and we'd have to miss them for time reasons and it's a long ol' way down to Eurpoa from there. Better to hit that region all at once on another trip I think, when all things Taron have calmed down a little.

There is nothing wrong with people sharing what they know, if they comfortable doing so, in a spoilers topic. That is what it's for and if you don't like it don't read this topic! As for the info given and alluded to in an odd cryptic way by @Insider, that's fine. The thing that has riled people is the way you give that info - in your first post you said you were 'confirming' timed tickets. That wil irk people simply because with no identity, history or reputation you are in no position to confirm anything. Confirmation comes from an official source or with proof, not an anonymous first post, even if that info is known to you to be fact. I for one are grateful for someone taking the trouble to sign up and share their info, but understand the reaction to the way it was given in a community riddled with people making stuff up as known to them which could likely turn out to be true on the offchance of winning some imaginary geek points. Luckily we don't get too much of that on this particular site, let's keep it that way.

But the same argument constantly being brought up is not fruitless. It's a real, noticeable, recurring issue. The question should be, why would you expect it to be different this time?

Guten Tag! With a week off at the start of July myself and the wife are heading over to Germany for some riding and adventure. We were originally thinking of trying to do the whole west side from Phantasialand / Movie Park and surrounding parks down to Europa, but soon realised we'd spend the whole trip either riding, driving or sleeping and see none of Germany, which seemed a shame, so we've scaled it down a bit to the southwest corner. I've never been to Germany before (other than a days skiing a couple of years back), so this is all new to me. Flying out on Tuesday afternoon to Baden Baden, hiring a car, the current itinerary is... Tuesday - Either stay in Baden, or drive to Holiday Park area, hotel in whatever area I stay (not booked) Wednesday - Holiday Park during day, local hotel for night (not booked) Thursday - Tripsdrill for the day, Tripsdrill wagon for the night (booked) Friday - A bit of a look about Tripsdrill wildlife park in the morning, a couple of hours drive to Hasenhorn Rodelbahn in the mountains for the afternoon and night at a local hotel (not booked) Sat - A day in the mountain area, a bit of hiking about plus the mountain coaster, then drive down to rust in the late afternoon to check in for three nights. Staying at Gastehaus Brigitte Duri (booked) Sunday and Monday - Europa Park Tuesday - Drive to the airport at Baden, maybe have a little bit of time in the town before the flight, have a little cry that it's over, and fly home. Anyone done anything similar and can offer some advice? Current thinking/queries is... - Looking to stay in Speyer the first two nights; it's near Holiday Park and kind of between there and Tripsdrill. Although I like the idea off staying in a slightly less practical, arse of nowhere, nunnery which I've seen (Kloster St Maria) as something a bit different! - Might stay in Baden for the first night instead. Is it a nice place (most airport towns aren't!), and is the airport 'in' the town (ie walkable from the airport) so we could delay the car hire until the next morning? - I'm desperate to do the mountain coaster. Anyone done that one? A bit concerned about being there on the presumably busier weekends, but there doesn't seem to be a way to book it in advance according to the website. I may be there in time to do it on the Friday if that is something I should worry about. - I keep being told that for a first time visitor 2 days isn't enough in Europa, but we've knowingly decided we'd rather take more in of Germany at the expense of a third day there. So if I'm going to struggle to do it all, what should I miss out on park? What is less worth the time cost of doing it? - I know I've left some of the booking a bit late (unpredictable work thing), but there appears to be plenty of cheap availability in all the areas I'm looking at, especially up the mountain with all the very many ski accommodations vying for summer business. We're not interested in slumming it with things like shared bathrooms for the sake of a few quid, but cost is always a consideration, so any recommendations would be good. - Anyone driven around Germany in general? How do I best go about not killing myself while doing so?! Any hints, tips, advice and experiences are very very much appreciated. Danke!

I'm fairness, I've not ventured in there this year. I'm sure they're a palace of porcelain delight these days.

I presumed that's what those dank lower level toilets already were?

With Insiders midset I'm beginings to believe he really is an insider of quite some standing in the park management hierarchy.

I'm fairness, a queue line jump scare is not integral to the ride experience. An outright all year scare maze, or an end of ride scare maze finalé because the main ride is a failure kind of is. Thank this looks great, even if it doesn't amount to that much more than the Kong tramline stop. They need to find a way to deal with these screen base limitations though, get it all encompassing somehow.

That's not enough! What's the actual experience? Spoil away...

SW8 says hi. It also says 'I wish I was this long and interesting' SW8 is embarrassed.

One day... Likelihood of two wooden coasters at Towers - tiny anyway, but if they consider it... Next new big development - around 2021 and thought to be a dark ride. Certainly won't be similar to the last big investment. One after that - 2025ish? Still unlikely to be the same as their most recent coaster. Next, if Towers are even still trading with all this mediocrity - 2029ish? Some of us will be dead by then anyway! The manufacturers know how to build a big woodie, it's not like Towers are actual blazing a trail with this, it's standard stuff for the industry. They are plonking it on a site they can do anything with, within planning obviously. There's no need to 'go small' first, it achieves nothing but disappointment. There probably will be something else in this plan, SW style, which we don't know about yet, but why can't whatever that is be tacked on to a decent coaster? Imagine if Th13teen had an actually decent coaster section before the drop and reverse section, it would be fantastic. As it is, it's fun but ultimately crap; remove the trick and the coaster is dreadful. It doesn't have to be that way but it really seems that's the path we're going down again. Why? If people think this actually looks up to much in terms of wooden coasters I think that shows a startling lack of imagination and just how low expectations here are now, we are at a point enthusiasts seem grateful for getting anything.