Mitchada04

Green track and grey supports outside of the Ohio plant on a truck. Wonder where it is off too. This should hopefully silence a small group of people who still weren't sure it was going to be B&M even though the station and launch track are still in place.

Apparently it's the one from LWV that is actually up for sale.

Angry Birds 4D Experience (4) Colossus (5) Depth Charge (5) Detonator: Bombs Away (4) Flying Fish (5) I'm A Celebrity (4) King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems (5) Loggers Leap (7] Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride (5) Nemesis Inferno (7) Quantum (5) Rocky Express (5) Rumba Rapids (5) Rush (5) Samurai (4) SAW - The Ride (5) Slammer (8) Stealth (5) Storm In A Teacup (5) The Swarm (5) Tidal Wave (5) Vortex (5) X (5) Zodiac (0) Slammer + (might as well get the hat trick) Zodiac - (just to kill something) RESTART!!!! Angry Birds 4D Experience (5) Colossus (5) Depth Charge (5) Detonator: Bombs Away (5) Flying Fish (5) I'm A Celebrity (5) King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems (5) Loggers Leap (5) Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride (5) Nemesis Inferno (5) Quantum (5) Rocky Express (5) Rumba Rapids (5) Rush (5) Samurai (5) SAW - The Ride (5) Slammer (5) Stealth (5) Storm In A Teacup (5) The Swarm (5) Tidal Wave (5) Vortex (5) X (5)

Wow, loved just listening to that all again! Was great and so fitting while on park too! Everything about Scarefest was a new level this year and the music was a big part of the whole experience. Some of that music is scarier than a maze at Thorpe!

Swarm as a coaster from B&M was only 9/10 million. The extra money comes from the rest like Josh has said. So if Carowinds or whoever built Swarm and had no theming it will have only been about 12 million dollars.

Anyone for the tilt track? Renderings. Video, 38 seconds and 1 minute 33 show it. It's fast. And there's another one going to Kuala Lumpa.

Another crazy day! Skyplex got approved yesterday so the worlds tallest roller coaster is on track to hit Orlando in 2018. It'll be located between Universal and the Merlin cluster on I-drive. Universal have been very very anti this project. Very anti. Because this is very much how it would impact Universal... which is also having zero light pollution in this photo. They were arguing you'd be able to see it from Harry Potter and it would ruin the immersiveness. Yeah, no. One, it has federal approval to be 700 feet but it's only going to be 560 feet. Two. Not really that visible. Photos from Bioreconstruct on Twitter. Whilst Hulk is destroyed in that picture mainly, lets talk Hulk. Someone on a Orlando Forum mentioned that whilst riding Doctor Dooms they noticed the footer around the second half of the ride are being removed entirely. The lake set are just being worked on/altered for new supports. Maybe we will see a new ending, some theming elements, or have it enclosed. Anyone's guess at the moment. Meanwhile, the reason behind the hatred towards Skyplex may have come out today. Universal has intention and a contract to buy back 474 acres they sold off in the early 2000s when in money issues. It was originally intended to be developed upon and you have to assume it is being repurchased for this reason. They could just take control of the land though to stop others but with this area having a 700 foot height limit (where as Universal has a 200ft restriction in that area apparently- yeah, close council zones) and only being a few minutes from Universal it'd be surprising if they didn't use it. Anyway, apparently you'll easily see Skyplex from this new plot of land which will ruin the experience apparently, but there are ways around it that maybe they just didn't want to use. Tall hotels around the edge, big show buildings cleverly located. Could do anything really. I wouldn't be surprised to see that being a 3rd park though. Only thing is transportation. The site Could use buses, yeah but that's a pain. Another monorail system would be amazing, but it'd have to go through two different council districts and approval, just lots of barriers. Not impossible but improbable. Will be interesting to see, but with Disney parks being at the brink of capacity, can Universal spark a new park war? We all know the 5th Disney park is always rumoured like Universals 3rd park. And the two seem to build parks against each other. Very exciting time for Florida, and Dynamic Attractions is moving their creative department to Orlando too!

Will be interesting to see what they do with the Shark Hotel. I mean, the planning very much specifies that the Shark must be removed upon opening of the hotel or 28th Februrary 2024, whichever happens sooner (and impressively it looks like the real hotel will happen first!) But will they want rid of Shark? I don't know how popular it is, but will it do well alongside a presumably more expensive hotel. Guess it depends on demand because I'm sure the council would much rather Thorpe keep the Shark hotel there than build another coaster or whatever. Thorpe say it is still a location for major ride development but will that still be the case in 2019. Who knows, but Thorpe isn't ready for a hotel yet in my eyes. Maybe it will be by 2019. I look forward to seeing what the next MTDP which we'll see next year will show as that will give a rough idea of where they're heading.

They worded it as it wouldn't be a main attraction and instead a support attraction to the others. And also used that Heartlake City has had Legoland see no increase in guests from 2014. Basically trying to say they need to invest in new stuff to keep the guest numbers at the same level and no fall ignoring the fact they could grow.

I don't doubt Smiler has had issues, I mean it has no drainage in the queue. That's quite a big issue. But unlike other rides that have regular issues with popping bolts etc, Smiler was just posted about more probably because it got into the press early on for being delayed, track being welded into place etc. Its construction was a disaster which just gave it a bad image from day one. But once it finally opened, the cows were lifted out of Oblivions tunnel and all major reliability issues were solved it became a solid coaster. 13 brakes down most days, as does Rita. Smiler was by no means the worst reliability wise once it settled in. It became the image of Towers. People loved it. It got 3 hour queues (irrespective of throughput, people were willing to queue ages for it), its merch was all over the place. For what can probably be seen as the most rushed large investment it was one of the more successful ones. The fact that after the accident people were putting off their visit because Smiler was still closed helps show this. Hopefully, with it reopening Towers can slowly find its feat again.

How many bolts has Smiler shed? It's not that many. Just does it inconsiderately onto toilet blocks and the queue line making people more aware of it. Swarms done it, Colossus does it, heck I've been spited by Manta doing it. The guide wheel was just a rubber seal from the chain, not even a wheel. It's a little blue rubber ring type thing. Just the press being press as per with that one. It stalls, like many coasters. Kinda Ka rolls back all the time, that's technically stalling. Again, when Manta popped its bolt it stalled. No biggie though, was open again by 7pm that night. Saw stalls. It's just a thing. It's just bad luck that all the bad press seems to be on Smiler for every little thing that goes wrong. I don't think its sinking, if it is, Colossus still does that a bit right? Can just join that list. They ultrasound the supports to check for cracks in the concrete structure and if there's any doubt they'll dig it up and re do it. Smiler as a ride is a good ride. Its theme has huge potential. It's just a Merlin ride, there's your problem.

Japan gets really nice stuff. Not fair really. Beautiful mess <3 Woosh.

But Smiler can't operate under 5° if I remember correctly, a bit like Saw. And the colder it is the more likely it is to stall. Seems too risky in my eyes.

B&M use two factories, one in Ohio and one in Europe. This pole has been produced in Clearwater, not in a B&M steel fabrication place. Too much on it for one of their supports and I really don't think they'll make the supports green. Could very much be for Hulk, queue line is realistic as the old one had lots of piping. Lots of extra bits to like hang lighting and stuff from. Or could just be something made of steel, painted green and we'll never see of it again.

So Universal have been at it again. They trademarked "Secret Life Of Pets" for theme park use. Secret Life of Pets for those who don't know is the next film from the creators of Despicable Me (Illumination) and comes out summer next year. Yay. Anyway, what does this have to do with the parks. Well, from some very credible reliable sources on Orlando based forums we are looking at a trackless dark ride using only animatronics (no screens) replacing the Toon Lagoon amphitheatre which just sits unused all year between Marvel and Toon. So they won't have to close anything, will be using more available space and opening a very family orientated attraction which is what the parks need. Talks are though, this will open in 2017. Crazy I know, but those are the talks. So we could be seeing Fallon and F&F at Studios, this at Islands and a water park. All while Disney might have finished Avatar by then. Oh I love the Orlando park wars! Those are the talks, a trackless dark ride opening at Islands in 2017 for the family. Nothing confirmed until its announced officially of course but these are the strong rumours. What suits this rumour is its location. Toon Lagoon will no doubt be a big project in the near ish future. If you have SLoP on the doorstep to the area, a deal with Illumination like Universal do (Despicable Me is huge in the parks, Hop featuring in the All Star Parade etc) then maybe, just maybe we could see an Illumination area replace Toon Lagoon in some way, kinda like the mash up in KidZone (which will also be no more). Just don't ruin Popeye. Tah. Going back to the sizing of Fear Factor to Gringotts. Gringotts is about 80,000 square feet. You can squeeze just over 90,000 square feet out of Fear Factor and the surroundings without effecting the front path so its definitely possible.

The contract is the same as its always been which is basically a never ending contract till Universal cut the deal (which they'd be stupid to do). They just can't use any new characters or any characters that aren't in the contract but taking it they have S.H.I.E.L.D they can use MCU to some effect. The now almighty Marvel and in a sense Disney may have to agree any projects but they'd have to have some strong reason to deny it. Universal aren't on bad terms with Marvel, probably just annoyed they don't have unlimited use of it now its really boomed.

Apparently Creative really want to do Ministry of Magic as it looks amazing in the films so that's love to recreate that. That would go London side so USF and probably replace Fear Factor at long last. Also more faint rumours on the expanding the Islands side into and destroying the remnants of Lost Continent but there isn't so much talk of what they would do with that.

The main reason for that rumour is because Universal want to expand MSHI to incorporate an Avengers dark ride. By tweaking the back part of the ride and maybe even moving it about and towards the parks entrance behind the port of entry shops you open up a lovely space. But there's also the rumour of tearing down Dr Doom and using that space and long path that leads up to it for a huge show building. Will be interesting to see what they do, Hulks second half wasn't bad but wasn't wow so they could make it more punchy. Don't get too hyped for Avengers yet though, it's rumoured for 2019/20 depending when the third Potter expansion happens. Win win for Disney in a way though. Universal invest in Marvel so they win by getting guests, Disney win by getting free marketing of Marvel and merchandise money.

It's a difficult one for Merlin but big companies have to make big decisions. Their parks have gained a reputation for always having something new each year so that's how they attract people back instead of being able to attract people back without something new. It's not because the parks are bad, Towers should be great at always getting people back each year no matter what but the clientele these days just want something new each year or they'll postpone their trips. Tis a shame but at least we will always see new investment just always seemingly at the sacrifice of something else so the parksnever really grow. Merlin are also suffering from Tussauds crazy spending. Thorpe especially, the park just doesn't have the demand or infrastructure really for the number of investments that Tussauds threw at it. Budget cuts have always been a Merlin thing. They cut Fright Nights hours, opening times each year are slashed, rides only opening at peak seasons and stuff. It's not new, not because of Smiler. Merlin have always done it. Smiler has just heightened the situation. Out of all the parks though, I feel Towers will become fine again the quickest. Open Smiler and you'll get lots of people back, get the press done with and Towers is back to normal almost. Won't be quick, but they'll bounce back quicker than Thorpe because Towers always has great service and all roundness. Chessington is just best not talked about. Anyway, Loggers. We all know they love to invest each year. It's not impossible that new for 2017 could be a tidied up Canada Creek. Slowly work on Loggers over 2016 to spread costs, making it more reliable, rebuilding the tunnel and just sprucing it up and then sort out the rest of the area over closed season and just make it feel new again. Nice, cheap and would sell quite well. Maybe even move Mr Monkey to the area and retheme the Banana Boat.

This has all come from the SeaWorld Entertainment analyst day yesterday which has lots of interesting bits in it. Firstly, they have partnered with Panasonic as their technology partner. A letter of intent has also been signed with Evans Hotel Group looking at more resort options for their parks. And some nice graphics of each resorts strategy were shown. SeaWorld's family TV show Sea Rescue has also been renewed until 2018. The show is number one at its timeslot on a Saturday morning. A roller coaster themed around the show will open in San Antonio with dark rides in Orlando and San Diego based on the show all for 2017. Jet ski coaster. Don't know which dark ride is for which, I'd assume the later one for Orlando as they're getting a large with Mako and the one above it looks more like a larger scale investment. About the killer whale show, Orlando Theme Park News seems to have read it as they're just phasing out the theatrical side of the show? So I don't know if that means the shows will completely end but maybe just become more of a talk about the Orcas.

It hasn't been announced anywhere the total budget of the ride. All we know is that it's Thorpe's largest and the building itself is costing £3 million to build. Taking it different sources say Swarm is between 18-20 million this I would assume will be more than £20 million. Maybe the ride itself is costing the £20 million with more ontop for the building itself, marketing etc which could put it into the early rumoured £30 million. Thorpe will no doubt say how much it is costing eventually and will cobble it all together as it makes it look much more awesome that way. Would have looked weird if they said Swarm as a coaster from B&M cost I think it was £9 million so another 9 was spent on everything else. Big numbers are much easier to market.

October is behind us, taking with it potentially the biggest time of the year for events all over the country! Each year I have slowly been doing more trips relating to Halloween events and this year was no different. Like previously, it's great to start off at Tulleys on the first Saturday of the month. Tulleys is a great, well established Halloween event and really shows where you can end up from starting with selling pumpkins (this seems to be a recurring story, more on that later!). Providing 8 haunts, 4 of which were new, one changed and 3 well knowns remaining untouched. They have such a mix, Colony which uses length, suspense, darkness, exterior and interior, just about everything. Hayride which mixes comedy with fear, Hellements which tries to be unique but is just bad, Haunted House which is a classic. Then there's probably the best conga maze going, The Cellar. Volt was different, the circus good and Chop Shop okay. But they constantly change their line up with fresh, new ideas. No story feels the same, they're all unique each year. Following week Thorpe's preview night arrived. Roll up roll up to an event that wasn't ready in time, filled with glitches and problems all over. It did get better over the week, Big Top was less of a flop, Containment a good concept just not a lot going for it especially at £10 a go, and the other mazes just felt repetitive with jump scares and screaming. I know people talk about cheap tactics, but Thorpe is one of the worst for this with simple tactics, no stories and rushed scenes. Big Top has so much potential, MBV is always a rush, Cabin is nice but can get old quite quick, BWP is the best improvement on park and Saw Alive was pretty good this year too (or maybe the others had got worse...) Either way, Thorpe needs a huge shake up next year for Fright Nights. It's a hugely successful event, they should boom with it, let it grow, go crazy! Not do the same old stuff. A maze with a really good unique story please next year. Park is pretty though (or should I say Stealth is). Was finally time for Scarefest!!!!! I'd been wanting to go here for a good 8 years but had never made it. And what a year I chose to go! Sub Species is the highlight of the Halloween season for me and I'm sure it is for many others. It pushed the limits, many different tactics of scares, suspense, great length. It was just fab in every way! Park looked great as well, Nemesis in the dark was worth the 3 hour drive alone. Scare zones were cool, Ancestors great and the kids stuff looked pretty neat too. Perfect Great event! Especially considering what the park is going through. Was time to round up the Merlin trio of Halloween events, Chessington and Howloween. Urm. Right, this event used to be great in every way, magical mazes, a brilliant park atmosphere. This year though, they might as well have just let the meerkats loose, that'd been scarier. Trick Or Treat wood is just dire. So surreal, but you don't come out laughing like some bad things, you come out thinking why. Just why. Maybe laughing at the fact people are doing it. Curse of Lost tomb was well, people hated on Krypt. You ain't seen nothing then. This was shockingly bad, story was building momentum and just died. We were told it'd be a 12 minute experience, 5 at most it was. Just oh. Chessington. Best thing about the event, this projection in the hotel lobby. It was time to end the Halloween season, ScareCon: Aftershock based at the Broadwitch Halloween event in Broadditch. The first half of the day was talks from other scare events such as Twisted Attractions and the Screamland team. Their events look great and are definitely on the hit list for next season. Also a few independent events that just take place over the half term week in one location with maybe a maze or two. Was quite cool as lots of these were just a small group of friends with a bit of spare money. Broadwitch started like Tulleys, selling pumpkins! That's it kids, sell some pumpkins and in 7 or so years you'll have award winning mazes. They do an event in the day for kids with two little walkthroughs, a corn maze and a tractor ride. We got to go through them all which was fun and showed an often forgotten about side of the Halloween season. But then it was time for the bigger stuff. 5 mazes, Spooky Castle which is their first like the Haunted House at Tulleys, Thirteen, Massacre, Edge which is new for this year and the SCAR award winning Biometrix. We got to go through them all bar Biometrix without actors to have a nosey at them and the sets, and Spooky Castle and Thirteen were already great in this format. Then the show lighting came on and the actors unleashed. Spooky Castle: Great maze with many many different rooms from this castle, lots of clever effects and smells. The Edge: Based on vampires, set in shipping containers, it utilised its tiny footprint brilliantly and there were some good scares. Theming was topnotch. Massacre: Set in the corn field, you are in the incestous hillbilly town or something. Pretty good, different from everything else. Thirteen: Based on 13 fears, some are quite funny like walking under ladders, a dentist room, plane crash, dirty toilets. Definitely a different take on fears, and it had some good scares but was more action based than scare based I felt. Biometrix: This maze is like Sub Species' test subject. Very physical, very different. Just brilliant and how touch mazes should be with larger groups. Not one of us was left out. So Broadwitch is great, only niggle is the actors are very scripted making it hard to reride without it being repetitive. They struggle to improvise and interact as we found out. Other than that a great event and great way to end the scare season!

Fallon is pretty large in America. Especially since taking over the Tonight Show which has had a weeks stint of being filmed at UOR. He also features on the Studio Tour at Hollywood on the TV screens in car, and is in the gyrosphere balls in Jurassic World. I feel like this is the segment they're talking about when they say about racing with celebs. The whole thing could be quite surreal, entertaining and just different. Plus new technology for their flying cinema so a slight battle with Avatar flight of delayedness but obviously not on the same scale. This is essentially a filler for Universal, replacing an old filler. Fast and Furious is no doubt the same as it's just a layered up version of Supercharged in Hollywood supposedly (although I've heard it's costing 80 million dollars, find that hard to believe...). So basically. UOR is getting 3 scales of investments in 2017, small, medium and large. Large is Volcano Bay. Small and medium is up for debate, you'd assume the medium is F&F with the small Fallon but Fallon seems to be using newer technology, a new idea entirely and to me sounds more fun and surreal whereas F&F could be quite eh. Either way, a few fillers is okay when we start getting Nintendo, Potter phase 3 and no doubt lots more! Also. The crane by Hulk has now been dismantled leaving just the loop and launch track in place. Now the launch track was never planned on being removed so that makes sense, the loop though, guess that's staying for now, or forever. Does anyone know if the track under the path has been removed? If not, maybe it was too difficult to do and keep the crucial path open. Oh well, bit of historic Hulk to ride if it does remain.

No one knows the decision to close Stealth. I doubt it's budget because it's Stealth. If it could be open it would be as it's the icon. I also doubt they'd close it early to get it ready for February half term as one we've no idea if that's even happening and two Stealth has a train that is already fully stripped and would be ready fairly soon. Could be something mechanical that has reached the end of its life, maybe the cable can't run another week. Who knows. But the fact they didn't tell us ages ago so we could get the last train of stealth for the year isn't an issue. It's a ride, it is closed, Thorpe are telling people this now as it is now closed. Maybe it was only decided this previous week or few days? We just don't know.