Mitchada04

1. Hex 2. Defi De Ceasar 3. The Haunting 4. De Palais Du Genie 5. Villa Volta 6. Cassandras Curse 7. Houdini 8. Merlin's Magic Castle 9. Haunted House Monster Party 10. Belantis' one 11. Feng Ju Palace

And they weren't technically lying. They were talking about fusing fire with the ride, all being one experience. Having 2 flame towers at the top of a woodie that hardly ever work or theming a racer to a fire dragon isn't really fusing the elements? And Wildfire is literally just called Wildfire, no real fire. It's a clever use of word play but I don't think Towers were wrong in what they said if you look deeper into it. Lightning Rod should be the one getting huffy as that nearly did fully fuse wood and fire in real life!

The reasoning for further cuts is because the midways are struggling now as well. But of course, Merlin won't cut them back or stop investing in stupid numbers of those even though it is clear people are fed up of them. Instead, they tighten the budget further on Towers because why not, they've already ruined the park. The second half of 2017 was actually really good for the park numbers wise and many were expecting a better 2018, if not at least the same plus WickerMan. But no, Towers gets a nice new coaster and a fresh amount of cuts. Merlin sure know how to make money. Hopefully with falling out of the FTSE100 too the shareholders will boot Varney off and whip the company into shape. They have the money to do great.

The only thing is it won't be a quick job. The video talks about how they have to fit into the busy schedule of the steel manufacturer, and a lot of the pine wood would need replacing and that is hard to source. Which is where I see Merlin having the issue. They'll be paying the price of a large investment and it'll take the timescale of one. RMC may not have been mentioned because the Intamin prefab structure design is so different to that of normal woodies? Maybe that itself would prove an excessive amount of work too. The fact it was forced shut by TUV though during an inspection says it all, maintain your rides better.

Maybe Heide are starting a civil war with Merlin and putting the pressure on them! It would say a lot though if Merlin don't fund this, it's one of the parks major attractions and I'd much rather them reopen it and see no investment for a year or 2 over getting some Peppa Pig land (which I guess is safe to presume the two slated for next year are going to Heide and Garda as they can't go to our parks)

It'll be Walking Dead. It's in the project name in the plans- "Thorpe Park Resort/ X:\NWO WD" Plus, they can market it as the worlds first Walking Dead coaster.

They can actually go higher than 50 metres on the island behind Swarm. They'll just have to apply it separately compared to what the MTDP approved (which will be irrelevant by then anyway), same with coaster length, they can go longer. The only strict guide Thorpe have from the council is imposing views. A coaster of such height as Stealth or partially Swarm have to have quite an open structure. There's a reason Stealth got a nice new support layout compared to other accelerators, so a woodie if it were to go to 50 metres would have to have minimal points higher than 80/90 feet to satisfy this, or a really open support structure. But yeah essentially there is no set height restriction anywhere on park, you have the limit from Heathrow of like 500 feet or something, they just have to apply for it ala Stealth and it might be more of an argument other than that agreed in the MTDP.

At least Storm Surge will fit in "you need to leave the apocalyptic area come into the safe zone" vibe

For years X had a 1.4 height restriction and was deemed a thrill ride. And going backwards by no means made it a "thrill coaster" but no one complained. If it goes back to that way so be it, if they do it properly then yeah it could be good. If there's a ride and its themed around the Walking Dead but only has a 1 metre height restriction and you as the parent choose to take them on it fully knowing its themed around a horror zombie TV franchise, that's your issue.

Back when it opened Valhalla was a spectacle. Worthy of winning the best water ride awards (it winning it this year just proves how silly those awards are). But look at Blackpool as a park since then, rides started closing all over the shop due to declining gate figures and profits. And with Valhalla being stupidly expensive to run cuts have to be made. And, the problem with making cuts is then reversing them down the line. Management will see that the ride operates fine, it still looks okay to new riders who know nothing else and it is still popular. I'm sure you could have Valhalla back to the good old days, but you certainly wouldn't be getting Icon. And then imagine removing it, fanboys would go mad, Blackpool would lose one of its iconic rides. It's a difficult situation and Blackpool still just doesn't make enough money to justify solving it. It is a real shame but that's just generally the theme park industry in this country nowadays.

The pass system needs a complete overhaul. Starting from scratch with tiers. To remove parks during August is just odd. I get it adds value to the premium, I get Disney do it. But it's not like any of the Merlin parks are near capacity at August weekends that they're having to turn paying guests away on the day. There's easier ways to make the valuing better, just keep standard price rises on the standard pass and offer premium holders more. As all they've done here is rise the premium price and reasoning it as "well you can still visit August weekends so that's costing you another tenner." Just a bizarre way to go about it all.

What is an original design nowadays though? Technically speaking from a business sense. Like Mack have sold a few Blue Fire clones, now that ride was solely designed for Europa and to advertise the ride type, but to get custom some parks could only afford an already made model. Now obviously some rides are harder to clone such as Taron with its theming, Nemesis with the rockery etc. But it happens. There's that pure Oblivion clone on a hill somewhere in Asia. Smiler? Seems pretty unique to Towers, but Gerst advertise it with a model number on the infinity coaster brochure and have an awesome model they take to IAAPA. Odds are Merlin have some exclusivity deal to the design, as I'm sure is the case with many ride layouts. But in a few years, if someone wanted a Smiler clone Gerstlauer aren't going to turn away the business. Because, end of the day that's what it is, business. I agree original designs are fab, and parks should where possible create a ride to suit them and not just plonk down a ride with little thought. But, for the smaller parks this is what they can afford, and in a sense puts them out there on the map. For example; that park getting the Juvelen clone I'd never heard of. It is now on my radar and might be worth a visit knowing they are getting a ride that is a proven success. Plus, it's easier for me to get to. I'd rather a park full of amazing cloned rides than poorly designed, naff rides.

For a lot of smaller parks it allows them to build a tried and tested layout that will be a hit without spending all the money on design. Vekoma made a business from selling multiple SLCs and boomerangs. And I know what clones I'd prefer to see on the market. More creds, more parks. I see zero issue. 99.9999% of people that have ridden Takabisha will not trek New Jersey fora nick themed park. And anyone who does will most likely go "oh they have one of those back home and it's pretty good."

Mod post: The poll is for people to vote for days they can do. Not for people to fix and ask their mates to vote for who may not even turn up and they're just trying to make the numbers so the date they want wins. The whole point is to vote for a majority so we can get the most people to the meet, New and old members and not just regulars or 'cliques' The above 2 votes were as a joke against Paige and will be stricken. It's unfair to close the poll early as some people may be waiting on a work decision etc so I am reopening it and it will close tomorrow at 8pm as planned. Any issues please PM me. Keep voting unbiased for the success of the meets

Taron's second launch is fab. Stealth I adore, and it definitely has force, it's like the 4/5th fastest accelerating coaster out there, so the outright force is there And Hulk. Hulk's launch is just so cool throwing you into an inversion. Thirteen when it speeds up from switch track to the station? That's pretty punchy, better than Rita's that's for sure