pluk

And your assumption of me (and others) having not done so before forming our opinions is just as wrong. Frustrating, isn't it! And that's fair enough, but surely if you look at the wording of what you said you can see why it would grate on people and get a little reaction. Please don't 'not bother' next time, but if you come across so condescending people will be like this. Anyway, from a business point of view my problem with Merlin is their short term outlook. There's not necessarily a right way and a wrong way of running something, it's just a matter of opinion. The problem with short term investments is there is a demand for an immediate return on that investment which by its very nature will usually result in cheap and gimmicky attractions that aren't well maintained, not particularly well received and need something new to bring punters in a short time later. The alternative is accepting that giving a more well rounded experience with an understated quality will build satisfaction and brand loyalty that will pay for itself many times over for years to come, but won't necessarily balance the books during year one. Like I say, different ways, not wrong and right, but I know what I think works better in a theme park environment. Chessington at the moment is a bit of a contradiction in itself. What we've seen left to rot and then what looks to be a poor effort a re doing the mine train (and no effort re doing dragons) sits at quite a contrast to the work on market square, which is an investment that will mean nothing to most and bring nothing marketable to the park, but will make that part of it a nicer place to be. Hopefully that's a bit of an indication of a change of outlook from them.

Lol. After a somewhat patronising post of your opinions, you discount everyone elses opinions as they haven't run a business for a few years. Run many businesses have you?

How many times are Merlin parks going to get bad press for trying to hire their parks out to such divisive groups? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-26351500

I would also be after bogofing with someone should I go, but I'm not confirmed yet,,,

I can assure you it is no shame at all. That video does not quite capture the dingy, cramped, oppressive feel that they finally went for. With plenty of bare spaces it never felt finished, there were whole floors that were painted black and kind of just left with maybe one or two arcade machines. It also doesn't mention that every single 'ride' was basically the same with a different colour background. With how technology has moved on I'm sure something of the same concept could be done quite well now, but this really was quite dire even for back then.

Surely FANNY HANDS LANE is simply the best street name ever?

Have they said how many they are releasing? Just to gauge how busy it might get.

The filler for the big hole left by the removal of the ship has been announced... Makes sense in the often wet and windy front Wonder if it will be big enough to be of much use though, be interesting to see exactly what they squeeze in there.

Freaky but funny advertising... http://www.singitkitty.co.uk/play/R2EsN

It's going to be a cartoon character Madame Tussards, isn't it? With probably a wholesale lift of the theme park 4D attraction as the finale.

http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/7425 Because last time Merlin tried this it worked out sooo well!

I've always found them to be like that Benin, it makes it such a great place to be. There are rarely queses but they always rattle through them while still keeping it friendly, the different mind set between pay per ride and pay per long queue I guess! The only exception for some reason have been the ops on Rage, who seem to want to talk among themselves at every opportunity and interact with the guests as little as possible, maybe it is because they are on the biggest ride and are therefore the cool kids?

Looks utterly pathetic.

Do you mind me asking Hurri, if they are making redundancies is the park in any financial difficulty? I was under the impression they were doing rather well.

I hope they have a wandering eye.

Defending the good people of this site from derogatory sweeping statements is exactly the attitude to have. I will apologise for the starred out swear in my first post. That was very naughty of me, I'll give myself some hail Marys or something.

Done what exactly? It is you that has linked those undesirable traits to a class of society, not any of the above posters. Making you the bigot? Well done sir, you win today's moron of the whole internet award. Smiley face for effort though.

Did they not do some sort of pre booked ticket allocation for park entry on the AP day last year? That's the sure fire way to control the numbers on what is supposed to be something of a warm up for the new staff.

You want to try and back that up with any examples, because it appears to be bull****.

Wot, no photos?!

Oh, that's bad, was a great site. And sorry to Hurri for being made redundant, hope things work out for you.

http://youtu.be/Mdir3wnQJZA?t=4m32s They don't appear to have finished putting Dragons Claw back together after winter maintenance! I've never noticed it look like that before, where's the rest of it and how is it able to run?

They aren't claiming it's a new ride, I think it is quite clear to everyone what they mean. They've not exactly kept their refurbishments quite. Maybe it will be a great and new experience? Lets not go full rant until we see what they are doing, eh! I don't have any faith in it being good, but lets see first...

It may well be, but the bit they are claiming the record on isn't! There are clearly three standard coaster types now; wood steel and hybrid. Until they split the records I'll just have to ignore them!

What has this got got do with wood? Surely you can't build a big coaster made of metal then declare it the tallest and steepest wooden coaster in the world? It's nonsense,