SteveJ

The van is actually the main theming

DIC Tussauds would have commisioned 2 coasters from Intamin, because launches hadn't really been done much before in the UK, they're dead easy to sell and they'd put basically the same concept in 2 parks - stagger them by 1 year to get more profit from each new attraction in turn. Rita is a custom layout made only for the Ug Land area and Stealth, once proper planning got underway, had dropped the idea of a figure of 8. It seems staff on the VIP tours know as much as a theme park enthusiast would (and are just as reliable too!)

Rumour has it they built the full layout for Stealth with top hat and figure of 8, then realised it wouldn't fit, so they chopped it up and went back in time to install the twisty bits as Rita in Alton Towers and the top hat at Thorpe Park. Best fan myth ever

It's probably true from a budget perspective. You are much more likely to get a budget for a huge new dark ride development if you can prove that a similar one at Thorpe was successful. But Merlin's budget system is broke'd so anything can happen and then not happen, and different people can class what is 'successful' according to what they want. However what Chessington wants is probably independent of Thorpe Park's plans. Falls would have to be closed for a long time or removed itself if Tomb was going to be demolished. Tomb building isn't going to be demolished, although that was one plan being considered initially, which is probably when that rumour originated.

It's a great idea that people would be extremely excited for. But UK parks don't like risky expensive good ideas so it wouldn't happen anytime soon. The 5D building is very custom built and somewhat unreasonably GIGANTIC. When the sets were replaced for Terror Tomb, a large amount of 5th Dimension space was left unused in the ride itself. There are a lot of storage spaces behind sets, and maintenance/refuge areas, which used to be part of the bigger scenes in 5D. Take out the ageing transit system and you'd have yourself a giant amount of space, in fact three storeys when you remove the floors. However it's not that easy, the building is notoriously difficult to do large amounts of construction in. There are a few load bearing interior walls that would be too complicated to remove. Oh and the huge Dragon River SUPPORTS go right through the main section of building, seemingly John Wardley's failsafe idea to prevent his transit system ever being replaced, haha

It just looks like a dark ride rollercoaster, but branded by that one company in order to patent it. A park with their head screwed on could quite successfully pull off an equally thrilling product using an indoor rollercoaster with special effects, digital and practical animations and simulation, without using that company or their product. So if the SFX coaster order isn't going to a Merlin park, Merlin could still be getting something similar..? But most likely not with the thrilling rollercoaster track elements, and more traditional dark ride than rollercoaster.. This is all speculation and would obviously be a massive job. Probably a much bigger job to completely redesign a very bespoke building such as the 5D/Tomb one than to simply start from scratch like they have done with WC16. I guess WC16 is a small version with little or no coaster, lots of simulation to make up for it, and will be a prototype plan to see if such a thing could also go into Chessington or Alton Towers..

I'm allowed to say this was "supposed" to be Tomb Blaster's last season but obviously nothing ever goes to plan. But the plan was not for an "SFX coaster" to replace it. Anyway it isn't Tomb Blaster's last season anymore, it would be logical to stagger dark ride developments, so let's see what happens... What is an "SFX coaster" by the way? It sounds like a branded application of screen FX & simulator stuff that's already been done in one form or another. An indoor coaster isn't going in the old 5D/Tomb's building unless it has a hugely expensive, extensive refit. I doubt a full size one could be built at any UK theme park anywhere. It's one thing to build a tall coaster track, it's another thing altogether to build a huge building to fit a big indoor coaster inside. They already had a very hard time concealing 5th Dimension, BubbleWorks, Haunted House and stuff, so if this SFX coaster isn't going into Thorpe, it will either be very small or no where operated by Merlin.

I went to Alton Towers in the summer and was surprised to see The Flume still existed, and it certainly wasn't popular. It still works alrightish but it's clearly out of place and out of date, with any old charm worn out by now. I do remember when it would get 2 hour queues but this year it's unlikely to get anything. Not a big loss really, although a nice filler

It looked even better than those pictures show when Amity Cove first opened. Remember this was Tussauds very first developments with Thorpe Park when people still looked up to standards like Chessington and Alton Towers had in the 90s. There were a lot more visual effects too in the queue if I remember? The broken houses all had features like the toilet & shower throwing water about. The little church steeple did something as well, I think playing ironic gospel music or something. The surrounding area was better themed with one side of the "Catastrophe Kate" boat distressed and decorated, with the themed wheel before a big hole was cut in it to create the current entrance door. The whole place was a lot fresher and open before the paint peeled off, where the dodgems are now was a nice grassy bank where everyone would picnic and you got a great view of the ride from there. If you didn't know the water tower would periodically open and spill a huge amount of water into the pool below. The gas ball would explode with a flame rather dramatically.

The fire ball is condemned from what I've heard.. At least it is certainly in a terrible condition inside and will have to be entirely replaced rather than fixed. The water tower started refurbishment at the start of the season. It obviously wasn't completed sadly. It's a bigger job than you'd think because it also deteriorated a lot and needed internal parts replaced, as well as the many birds nests that were in there. Not sure if it will be restored this season or given up on again.

I think Peter's acting is fantastic, because he takes is so simply and is genuinly funny rather than the big, overly stylised performances with previous 'New series' actors. It's a breath of fresh air, although the acting doesn't seem to be at the forefront of the show anymore. I guess it never was, melodramatic/gauche acting had always been a part of the show for better or worse! Still not enough to make me want to watch the show again though..

Who cares, this was a brilliant Davros story and one of the only episodes of Doctor Who I've kind of been overwhelmed by from a filmmaking perspective. I always loved Davros (I felt I could relate to him as an 8 year old) and it's great they didn't cheapen or 'experimentally' reinvent him for the new series, it was pure Davros I still think most people's problems with new Doctor Who is will the outlandish, self satisfying 'screw you' style of storytelling. And the editing style that comes with that. Some great moments and characters can get lost in the series constantly trying to make you think it's 'clever'.

Behind the 2 ticket booths you can see that canopy building is the same structure that's there now, but roofed and with the 3 turrets added. The electronic display is funny.

The rope course was announced alongside the 2016 'attraction'

It's not so much a rule that the car has to stop, but it would be flukish if it did because: the ride doesn't run at its highest dispatch speed anymore, the operators and attendants are quite closely supervised and all Merlin staff retrained to prioritise safety over throughput.

The scales are NOT slowing down throughput at all. Instead it massively reduces the amount of times people need to be removed from a car because they are considered over the 4 adult guideline. As far as I know the scales have never caused anyone to be embarrassed about their weight. Most people seem to find it pretty funny to be honest. It will make no difference if you're heavy or light because if you're a full grown adult with 3 others around the same size, chances are you'll have to split into 2 groups anyway. The scales simply cover the 'grey area' where you can't tell if a group of 4 are fully grown adults or all the same weight/size.

It's also completely irrelevant as 4 'average' sized adults will send it over the limit anyway. It's nothing to do with heavy or lightweight people

Not anymore! Various restrictions now in place means cars pretty much have to stop at the end of the platform before being dispatched. Yes, as I said there was a teething problem that was driving people nuts, and it got sorted very soon after. As you'll know, with a rollercoaster if one part is playing up, it creates a chain of repercussions and all the poor operational things you experienced were linked to this one issue. There is usually around 1 or 2 cars stacked up, 4 means there's been a short delay. By the way, lack of efficiency in the station is 80% of the time down to guests being shockingly unobservant and not listening to instructions. It's actually fascinating how people become so dysfunctional at the prospect of sitting down on a rollercoaster.

You visited near the start of the season after a new part had been installed and was teething. The problem that was causing regular breakdowns and slow operations was sorted out months ago. It never has a day like that now and generally runs pretty well. Spinball is much more efficient though but I don't know exactly why, although it may be to do with the simplified layout of the end brakes and different station layout.

To save money. Oh, that also explains every bad decision made ever But yes it was built cheaply like a car that's only built for lower speed, shorter distance driving, it's less expensive and not as well built.

It's nothing at all serious and nothing that can lead to any ride failure or injury. It just because the system is botched

Cars stop automatically, very regularly and can very quickly be restarted, it barely affects throughput because of a large number of other factors with the automatic system. All this weighing scales "hassle" you speak of simply doesn't exist, it takes 2 seconds to pop people on them and get a yes or no. Rather than the fuss of previous years where you'd have a blanket 3 adult rule meaning even tiny adults OBVIOUSLY under the limit wouldn't be allowed together, yet four heavy 'children' could go on. SO often cars would have to be released because the operator would decide the car had 4 adults when the loader didn't think so. Massively slowing the whole ride. It was a broken rule. The actual weight limit is exactly the same and is a flaw in the design of the ride. With the scales it now means you can actually see for sure if they're over the limit, rather than leaving it down to perception. The scales are dumb but useful! And have been there since May

This is actually the method used by Merlin to redesign old rides

That's one way of looking at it, and it is exciting, although people are paid to promote this new attraction as the best thing ever, probably without knowing themselves the full details of what it is, so they would say that anyway and try to build up as much hype as possible because that's their job. In fact Merlin prioritise big statements about "biggest budget ever" and uniqueness claims, that's their starting point before they even know what to design. So pretty much every major development is guaranteed to be different and new on the surface, even if its really forced. Marketing and PR is what Merlin are good at, how the attraction actually turns out is up to someone else.

There you go, SW9 confirmed