Matt 236

Chessington is (meant to be) seeing a £60m worth of investment over a 5 year period. When exactly that started I'm not sure, but obviously Project Amazon represents a good chunk of that. I believe there's also talks of more accommodation coming, which could also be included in that.
 
In any case, the investments such as Croc Drop, Rainforest, etc were all rather cheap.
 
As for these other rumours...
 
-I would not be surprised to see Pirates' Cove receive some attention this year. It's an area which is largely forgotten about by the park, and come 2023, will be adjacent to a brand new, very popular land.
-I guess it's possible that the park could get some (cheap) new rides in the area...but presumably we'd have seen some sort of planning application now? Unless they're temporary things...
-I see no rhyme or reason to remove Scorpion Express, and would be surprised if that happens any time soon.
 
As for Rocky Express, I don't see why the park would get it. As it stands, it's still not in any way confirmed that it's leaving Thorpe of course. It seems very likely based on the rumours, but I've heard it's still not 100% confirmed...
 
 
 
 
As for Tomb Blaster changing back to Forbidden Tomb / Terror Tomb or whatever. I don't see it happening. I'll gladly eat my hat if it does.
 
BUT, let's say the park do go about doing stuff to it and change it to an older name. Will the ride be any good? Probably not. The "refurb" from whenever it was (2020?) was dire. The new audio and story is appalling.
If they were to scrap the guns and bring it back as Forbidden Tomb, there is in my opinion no reason to believe that the park could do anything with it to actually make it in any way a decent ride experience.
Again, very happy to be proven wrong, but with the state they "refurbed" it to, there is no reason to believe that any future work will lead to any worthwhile improvements.
 

The legendary Karen who works in guest services has also confirmed the return of professor burps bubbleworks!!

Not enough of you have been to Port Aventura. 

Looks like things are going down in this thread now!

Well it looks like they missed the target!
 
 

Well if the rumours I heard actually came to fruition, we would’ve seen a Transformers “themed” Swarm, Slammer replaced by Ramesis Revenge and Walking Dead’s entrance on the other side. Yeah right!
 
we shall have to see what happens. Thorpe is largely overdue substantial investment and this could be somewhat welcoming to say the least should it happen.
 
It would be quite the shame if Rocky Express did go, especially being one of the few remaining classics. However at 32, maybe it’s had a good run.

I thought Trailers was honestly great. Some excellent references to previous mazes with a very reasonable length too. Not necessarily the scariest maze, but still lots of fun. Glad to see them using this area for mazes again. Definitely got some Stranger Things type vibes here.
 
Creek Freak Massacre I found to be very enjoyable as always. Missed this maze a lot last year so it’s nice to have it back, especially since it’s based on me turning into some hillbilly!
 
Platform was perhaps the weakest last night, but yet still performed to what was perhaps it’s strongest level since opening. The actors really set the scene and I loved the animatronics at the start, which looked great and not like something you’d find in Asda!
 
I strongly enjoyed the Crows walkthrough which was different and the parkwide soundtrack is decent enough. 
 
My only major gripes during yesterday’s event was the entrance process wasn’t greatly organised and there were few food options open. Even KFC and both BKs were shut, with Infinity only serving hotel guests and some outlets closed despite being advertised as open.

Erm. The third train wouldn't get to the brakes if there was a train there as it'd stop on the second lift. Used to be that the system might panic or due to having to do a standing start the train might not have made it to the right point in the brakes and would stop dead.
 
Given the speed it enters that brake run I don't think any collision would be considered minor.
 
They stopped running 3 trains long before Smiler happened (before it even opened in fact). The 20 second time frame to load the trains didn't really suit the park's then direction of guest interaction at the deficit of throughput (I am once again raging about your staff asking me to "flap my wings like a dragon" rather than dispatching the actual car).
 
Vampire could probably do with another upgrade tbh. Especially with Vekoma being in a better place.

We went last week which allowed me to take my son on the ride, some 31 years after I first went on it.
 
Last time I was at CWoA they were still doing a half-way decent job of running 3 trains (as good as the absolutely daft slow "park" procedure in the station would allow) so to see how absolutely appalling the operations are these days was quite shocking. I actually thought initially they were only running one train as the dispatch times were that slow. 
 
The queue that was there would have taken a max of 25min in the ride's heyday, instead of which it was posted at 120-150min all day... Even on 2 trains the original ride wouldn't have likely breached 45min with that many people in the queue. 
 
The station was ok - good to see the organist moving again, and the lighting package was a bit better... It just looks so bare though. 
 
The ride was running a bit better than I remember, though still "shuffling" a lot. 
 
It's just a bit sad to see the ride in what is effectively quite a neglected state when it is very obviously still all these years later one of the park's main attractions. I know they won't ever bring back the old trains but surely a bit of engineering work to improve the efficiency and making sure that the ride is staffed properly with a crew that are motivated would be worth doing? 

It’s been over a year in the making, but I finally visited Energylandia this week. Here’s some of my thoughts:
Park is massive (humongous maybe), clean and features tonnes of attractions (does need more transport rides) Zadra is marvellous and easily my European number 1 Hyperion is surprisingly excellent and a great park headliner  Abyssus just shows how much Vekoma (and EL) have improved  The quality of newer to older areas is definitely noticeable Park presentation and landscaping were better than expected  Operations generally good but queue jumping awful, excellent food Largely buzzing park atmosphere, especially on Magic Nights evening Whilst some things need sorting, I honestly enjoyed this park much more than I was expecting and it is definitely becoming a key player in Europe (or even the world). There’s a vast quantity of attractions, but in time also quality. Surprisingly I missed a fair number of Creds, but I’ll mop those up should I return. 

It’s been over a year in the making, but I finally visited Energylandia this week. Here’s some of my thoughts:
Park is massive (humongous maybe), clean and features tonnes of attractions (does need more transport rides) Zadra is marvellous and easily my European number 1 Hyperion is surprisingly excellent and a great park headliner  Abyssus just shows how much Vekoma (and EL) have improved  The quality of newer to older areas is definitely noticeable Park presentation and landscaping were better than expected  Operations generally good but queue jumping awful, excellent food Largely buzzing park atmosphere, especially on Magic Nights evening Whilst some things need sorting, I honestly enjoyed this park much more than I was expecting and it is definitely becoming a key player in Europe (or even the world). There’s a vast quantity of attractions, but in time also quality. Surprisingly I missed a fair number of Creds, but I’ll mop those up should I return. 

Just join it up and make it a full loop and increase the throughput.
Now pay me my creativity fee plz.

What do you get if you mix the London Dungeons, Derren Brown's Ghost train and a £70 (average) price per person ticket?
Glad you asked....
You get a 2hour, 20 odd scene story rendition of Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds, an excellent story with a premise of these metal alien human killing robot machines, as seen in Woking. As a fan of the story seeing the arena show and music maybe 3 times now, it was  refreshing to see the concept transformed into an interactive experience promising VR, simulators and live actors. 
 
But why do I compare to the Ghost train and dungeons?
Well because many of the scenes were a bit like something I had experienced in the London dungeons before and the attraction relied on using the bulky VR headsets 4 times throughout the attraction including the finale, and as with VR the technology can be very hit and miss.
 
With a £70 pp price tag this isn't your average MAP holder group attraction, I'm sure they would be complaining about the price alone, but that does mean the groups are smaller around 12 say and are generally engaged with the story rather than focusing on what they can complain about to report back to the 1000's of followers on the MAP group.  
 
Oh and one last thing before I go into spoiler mode, @Martin Doyle and @Mattgwise would be proud to know that they give you robber style masks to cover around your eye's, for what I can only assume is to block out vision to the unthemed ceilings or perhaps a Covid protocol for VR.
 
If you do go let me know your thoughts, ok in spoiler mode...
(I still don't know how to add spoilers so sorry)
 
 
 
THINGS I LIKED:
A really well themed bar greeted you on what looks to be an office block building in the heart of the city of London (Ledinhall Street) The artillery man scene was excellent as a peppers ghost effect somehow transformed a live actor into a ball of fire. Excellent use of mini planetarium style cinemas to project a scene in 360. Props, we used a telescope with projections to look at the planets and see the red mist come in. A slide Isolation booths + VR, now this really did up the scare factor, you started in isolated booths, pretending to be a confessional in a church, the alien then comes and sets fire to the church and starts to probe people, heighten by the litter picker effect of staff prodding you and the scream's around making you know what is coming... I really think Thorpe could do something like this to make DBGT a better attraction. Engaged cast, really passionate about their roles.  
THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE SO MUCH:
Some scenes were carbon copies of what you would get at the Dungeons for example sitting around a table in the pitch black etc... they could of been a bit more creative. An over reliance on VR including the finale which was a balloon ride / motion simulator, by this point I was getting a bit sick of faffing around with a headset and would of preferred a live action finale. Ended within obligatory green screen photo, that will be another £25 please....  Price, not worth £70+  So overall is was a bit of an upmarket London dungeons with new technology, hopefully Merlin will go, test it and incorporate it into their concepts or even do one better and buy the place, hopefully making it a bit more affordable.
 
Tickets and images are available here: https://thewaroftheworldsimmersive.com/
 
Overall: 7/10
 
 

Such a shame they are removing this. Sure it wasn’t the top coaster in the park (Cedar Point at least), but it was such a fun thrilling attraction with so much kick!
 
Cant really see what they could replace it with, unless they do up the whole area.

Loving the spelling mistake disaster on the grafiti! Colussus! Still Thorpe saw the funny side and changed the wording on the app! 😂
 

I think the change to Tiny Truckers is an improvement, because it teaches the kids what the M25 is realistically like when to drive on.

Efteling's long-term outline plan (up to 2030) has finally been approved, roughly six years after it was first conceived, and 3 years after the first plans went in:
 
 
 
The plan in particular includes an extension to the park itself, as crudely outlined here:
  
 
Some may remember talks of a circus themed area, including a launch coaster, being the plan for part of this area, with that originally hoped to open in 2020 or 2021. I believe this is still on the table (some rumours even suggest the project has been tendered and track manufactured). However, because of the financial impacts of the pandemic, don't expect that, or nay big new things, any time soon, as everything is currently on hold, as outlined in this new video from the park:
 
 
Efteling is a huge park and has a huge draw. In 2017-2019, they were getting over 5.2 million visitors each year. Covid will have slashed those numbers significantly. Without investment, and with all restrictions lifted, I'd imagine they would still easily get back to at least 4.5 million visitors a year.
 
But with competition in the Netherlands and Belgium ever improving, and it being a dense market, I do feel that if they want to get back to pre-pandemic numbers quicker, a big investment should happen sooner rather than later.

Can only echo what was said regarding Sunday there. It really was poor. I ended up leaving at 3pm, as I was fed up.
 
Thinking positively, The Big One itself was on top top form and easily the best rides I have ever had on it. The Saturday post 10pm ride was truly amazing, with no wind, pure speed and even some unusual pops of airtime. One of my all time favourite coaster rides of all time.

Blackpool Pleasure Beach was atrocious on Sunday.
 
Saturday was an excellent day helped by the 10pm close; we arrived in the morning to find Alice, Ice Blast, Nickelodeon Streak, Avalanche and Revolution on delayed opening, which wrecked our chances of riding the low capacity rides first, but fortunately things picked up later on and the rides ran excellently throughout the day.  Icon was unfortunately still running very slowly once up to 3 trains, I waited earlier on 2 and the queue moved faster but some of my group ended up waiting over 90 minutes later on.
 
Sunday however, was the worst day I have ever had at BPB.  The park was busier than the Saturday, which I presume was due to the bank holiday, and yet there was no extension to the 6pm closing time.  We arrived early again to find Ice Blast, Alice, Derby Racer and the entirety of Nickelodeon Land opening at 11am!  Nick Land was completely fenced off until 11, which was utterly useless when you consider that getting on the Streak early is the only way to avoid waiting an eternity for it.
 
The coasters due to open at 10:30am were closer to 11 by the time they actually opened, meaning that for the first hour, the only ride in the entire park open was Flying Machines!
 
The Big One and Icon's operations were woefully slow on the Sunday, I have never seen such slow dispatch times in all my visits to the Pleasure Beach.  Icon was stacking for 5 minutes each time, meaning it took us 10 minutes to get off the thing, since we had to wait in two places as the ride was on 3 trains.  450pph was calculated I believe which is just abysmal, also bearing in mind that the Speedy Pass queue was enormous.
 
Icon had major capacity problems with it starting the day on 2 trains both times, at which point it was moving the queue reasonably, but they would then hold it up to add on the third train at around midday (which took them 20 minutes to do on the Sunday), after which operations slowed down to an absolute snail's pace.  This caused the queue to overspill the extended queueline; past the entrance gate, all the way down the path next to it and back up, and overflowing out next to the Icon shop.  It would then hardly move for the rest of the day making for some utterly horrible wait times.
 
Despite the park being absolutely heaving, Grand National, Ghost Train and River Caves closed an hour early at 5pm due to a private event?!  This was absolute madness given how busy the park was, and again, I have never seen anything like it.
 
I've tried to see the good in the Pleasure Beach, but Sunday was an utter shambles and the worst day I've ever spend at BPB.

Where have I heard these things before? Let me ask my buddy, Derren:

"I don't know Josh, I just don't know..."

Today, myself and others made our way to the park to check out the new area. Here’s just some of my thoughts. 
 
Tornado Springs is a lovely area and really adds another dimension to an already great park. It’s must be amongst the best areas I’ve seen in recent years. 
 
Storm Chaser is a lovely fun coaster with a very reasonable throughput, Cyclonator is surprisingly thrilling, the drop towers are fun and the tractor ride pleasant. Rest of the area further compliments this. 
 
Rest of the park still great and surprisingly busy. The comparison of newer areas to the likes of where Cobra and the Flume are located is remarkable. Hopefully they’ll sort those next. 
 
All in all great park to see if you can. And worth the longer drive compared to say Chessington.
 
A few photos. 

Today, myself and others made our way to the park to check out the new area. Here’s just some of my thoughts. 
 
Tornado Springs is a lovely area and really adds another dimension to an already great park. It’s must be amongst the best areas I’ve seen in recent years. 
 
Storm Chaser is a lovely fun coaster with a very reasonable throughput, Cyclonator is surprisingly thrilling, the drop towers are fun and the tractor ride pleasant. Rest of the area further compliments this. 
 
Rest of the park still great and surprisingly busy. The comparison of newer areas to the likes of where Cobra and the Flume are located is remarkable. Hopefully they’ll sort those next. 
 
All in all great park to see if you can. And worth the longer drive compared to say Chessington.
 
A few photos. 

Today, myself and others made our way to the park to check out the new area. Here’s just some of my thoughts. 
 
Tornado Springs is a lovely area and really adds another dimension to an already great park. It’s must be amongst the best areas I’ve seen in recent years. 
 
Storm Chaser is a lovely fun coaster with a very reasonable throughput, Cyclonator is surprisingly thrilling, the drop towers are fun and the tractor ride pleasant. Rest of the area further compliments this. 
 
Rest of the park still great and surprisingly busy. The comparison of newer areas to the likes of where Cobra and the Flume are located is remarkable. Hopefully they’ll sort those next. 
 
All in all great park to see if you can. And worth the longer drive compared to say Chessington.
 
A few photos. 

**David Attenborough has entered the thread**