pluk

'Alleged' Yep, I'm sure it happened exactly like that...

This makes me want to send whoever set this up (and you for signing it!) in there for a bit of torture themselves. Get over yourselves.

You've seen the size of the building right? To fit that in there they'd need The Doctor for real.

New name confirmed... But who cares? Because this is happening...

OK, I've finally found something worse than Mrs Browns Boys...

Very unusually for me I have the period between Christmas and new year off this year. My theme park trips have been a little bit lacking this year so I was thinking of making a last minute rectification of that after noticing that Europa opens for a 'Winter Season' throughout December. As it will be my first time I don't want to go and visit half a park, and unless I'm being dense the info is a little bit lacking on their website. So has anyone been to Europa at Christmas before? Is it a full park opening (weather permitting, obvs), or is it just some rides and attractions? Do they run the shows and things like that? How busy does it get? They show a fairly full day of 11-19.00hrs opening, so imagine there's quite a bit going on and open, but don't want to risk the disappointment of a closed Woodan, Blue Fire etc. for my first time. Would love to hear others experiences of this winter event...

Isn't that the old arena fencing?

Potentially unpopular opinion ahead... When I was at school, going to university was a big thing; something for the elite, the very best, not everyone who didn't fancy going out and getting a job yet. The way it is now seems like madness to me, it's like it is a right for anyone and everyone to go to university as standard, regardless of having any sort of ability or even desire to apply them themselves to anything. People who are startlingly unintelligent (including people lacking even basic literacy or reasoning skills) are able to just pick a few uni's and one will be desperate enough for students that they get accepted. Why? What is the point of it? What do you need from uni to go out and get going in a 'normal' career? Yes it can be fun, especially if you don't plan on doing any of that tiresome studying between the parties, but then a couple of years later you are saddled with a massive debt and a qualification that gets you nowhere. It's a wasteful drain on us all. This isn't aimed at anyone particular on here, there are clearly some rather brilliant minds among us. I just think it would be a very good thing if the number of people able to go to uni was drastically reduced to those who can prove themselves to be able, who are the best, rather than those who just fancy it. Ability, not funding, needs to be the limiting factor, and that can be done if the spend is concentrated on fewer students. If you know you're not too bright do yourself a favour, go out and get a skill or a job instead.

That looks pretty awesome! Some interesting choices, not entirely sure what I think of Mission Impossible ride (or show / stunts maybe?), but the others have huge potential. If this is really what they are aiming at it is going to include attractions on a scale that simply do not exist elsewhere in the UK currently. It'll be a real eye opener for the GP that don't know what theme parks can really be like, and might make some of the competition look a little bit weak, which can only be a good thing for getting serious development elsewhere.

Seems like Potato Land might be having a bit of trouble getting their big expansion through planning... http://www.attractionsmanagement.com/detail.cfm?pagetype=detail&subject=news&codeID=312440

Thought I saw some construction pics of this pop up on my facebook the other day but can't seem to see them now, did I imagine it or has anyone else seen any progress? Also, competition here to stay in the Enchanted Village when it opens.

Christmas must be nearly here... http://youtu.be/iccscUFY860 Got to admit I'm a bit of a sucker for the John Lewis ads, loving this years one. It's going to be an unusually good Christmas for me this year as I'm not working; off from midnight Christmas Eve until 2nd Jan, that's pretty much unheard of in policing and I'm going to enjoy every second of it!

Their entrance looks stunning at night, I'll give them that! I really must get myself there again soon. Having been spited by Nash twice it is probably the biggest coaster in the UK I've not ridden. I hve to agree with Marks thought about your favourite coaster; I do love a lot of what is at BPPB, PMBO sucks balls though.

Would look a lot more family friendly with a bloody great TARDIS sitting in front of it! The video posted in the Melin Ents thread of Varney talking about the business as a whole shows just how pleased they are with the BBC IP link with Cbeebies, in terms of whatever deal it is they have signed and the delivery of results, that's clearly a relationship he is going to want to develop. I don't pretend to be in the know at all, but the more I see and hear the more I think The Doctor is coming. I just hope they can do it justice if he is, the ride system still has to be solid underneath whatever theme it is they plaster over the top of it.

It's probably too much of a risk to go with something that isn't even released yet, if it flops you have a few million pounds of something no one is interested in sitting there. And for Bananaman we'd hopefully be seing plans for Acacia Road, not some gothic warehouse type thing. For those that haven't seen them here's the proposed finishes, which should give a good idea of the feel the finished building will have

One of the plans shows the what the finish will be, this includes boarded windows, graffiti and distressed materials. Yum Yum, I feel the escapism washing over me already.

Maelstrom Dr Who or The Hunger Games?

Remember when Fish went for a bit? I wonder if it's possible it could return a couple of years down the line with a little refresh, once more important things are finished.

What does this even mean? We don't know the budget, ride themeing by its nature is never ever 'real', physical themeing is often god awful anyway unless terribly expensive anamatronics, effects and lighting are used, screen based rides are some of the most expensive ever made. You make no sense. I'm going to presume people with a problem with screens in dark rides haven't been on the likes of TAO Spiderman because, done properly, rides like that are mind bendingly amazing. Also, budget comparisons to the likes of Ratatouille don't really stack up. The huge detailed facades, the restaurant, the insanely expensive groundbreaking ride system. That's not what we're ever going to be getting, which should mean a lot more cash percentage wise on the ride itself.

The Dr Who rumors come from quite some time ago and I for one certainly believe that there at least was serious discussion within Merlin about bringing Dr Who somewhere at some point, but no one seems to know if that is still something they are exploring and/or if this is that. The fact that last years survey went through some rather 'out there' IPs but made no DH mention really seems to have put some people off it, and put Hunger Games and others in their head, but I don't know if too much should be read into that. For reference, the list given was... Nothing even DH like to get a feeling what the public would think of something similarly si-fi-ish. Odd. I still believe this will be DH, mainly just because I want it to be, and I think it could do amazing things for the park if it is. I'm surprised to see any negativity about it as am idea tbh; even if you are not a fan it's hard to deny it's a massive franchise, is bang on target market, has extreme longevity, and with the BBC involved has the potential to be real quality. Exciting!

This actually isn't that infrequent, but this one did get a bit big! Because of all the fireworks those buildings have sprinklers on the roof which normally do the trick.The ride was back open after about 2 hrs, so no big thing.

So I'm having a little tidy and reorganisation of the off topic section, trying to make it a bit more user friendly. Firstly, sorry if goes a bit all over the place while I do it. Secondly, any feedback or ideas around it are always welcome. Thanks!

Been looking through the plans a bit. There really doesn't seem to be many clues as to what will be in there or what the actual theme will be! A few thoughts... -This quote from the noise report is a bit odd, referencing the consruction traffc figures from the MTDP compered to this application. So is this such a big thing as is being suggested, or should it be considered more of a medium development? Hopefully they just mean from an engineering/construction point of view rather than overall budget or impact. It does suggest to me no coaster in there, as surely a coaster plus building would be a bigger rather than smaller job than just coaster, so likely a flat or tracked ride inside. This plan is rather odd.. Unlike the other plans, this shows a distinction between 'attraction building part 1' which itself is contained within 'attraction building part 2'. I can't make out if that is there purely for facade purposes, or if it is a full 'to the floor' building which creates an actual partition within the main building. If it does create a partition that could hint at a pre-show are maybe, but it would appear to limit the main ride area quite significantly. When you consider this statement from the overview document... ...suddenly the building doesn't look quite so big anymore! How much space for actual ride will there realistically be? This shows something of a pinch point between the construction site and NI shop building. I wonder if the clearance of the Fungal site is to provide some sort of access behind the NI shop building to stop the park being cut in half during construction, rather than for anything new itself? Sadly, this wording sounds a lot like carousel is going rather than being relocated... If they were moving it they wouldn't be claiming back the site it sits on as a decrease in developed area like this. Personally I think it's a shame this is yet another building designed to look run down. Hopefully there's good reason which will become clear when the inevitable IP is discovered, but if it is the much touted Dr Who which could be set literally anywhere in time and space, and they've gone for the abandoned warehouse, I'll be very disappointed with them!

As the beginnings of the next big thing are now know, I declare this thread deceased. The speculation continues...

Although I don't doubt that this very much at or beyond the extreme end of a horror experience, I have a feeling there's a certain amount of bluster about some of things being alluded to here for the purposes of reputation building. All horror attractions play on the illusion of something appearing worse than it actually is to some extent to build the fear, this is media attention a very good way of achieving that before people have even turned up. There's plenty of dungeons about where people will properly hurt you if that floats your boat and you pay them enough, funnily enough they don't adverse in the Yellow Pages. If it were really pushing the boundaries of being legal it wouldn't be plastered all over the internet!