Matt 236
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Posts posted by Matt 236
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Happy Halloween Everyone!
Decided to make a little video showing some of the things I placed I managed to do.
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Can see Fish and Chips closing come next season, or at least be sparsely operated which is already happening (was closed yesterday).
Remarking parks seem to be restructuring F&B once again some beans re-emerging and others disappearing altogether. Chessington’s Fish & Chips still remains closed and Towers have not had them for years so it’s possible.
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Just a heads up for anyone that might be visiting Fright Nights this year, queue closing policy.
Due to current operations and guidelines, the park will now close queue lines before park close especially if such attractions have long queues. This is so they can clear the park by 9pm and site by 10pm.
Take Saw for example, if it has a 75 minute queue towards the end of the night they would close the queue line at 7:45pm or earlier. We just missed this and did Colossus instead where we went on the second to last train of the night.
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Right given that Halloween could be ruined further because of Conor Rhona and circus clowns, MR Fish and I decided to take a little trip to Fright Nights to see what it was about.
Fearstival Arena
Entertaining, humour and a very central location which made for an entertaining watch.
Creek Freeks Unchained
Probably one of the better scare zones I have experienced recently and nicely put together. The actors got a perfect balance between everything and integrated nicely with Platform’s exit. I miss the maze but this will do.Platform 15
Some may call us donuts but we decided to chip in and spend £10 for a maze we’ve already done (yeah that’s right) and maybe we’re silly for doing so.Actually I reasonably impressed with the maze this time, there were lots of actors (I counted 19) and the maze is of a reasonable length anyway. Probably not my favourite maze I’ve ever done but still enjoyed my run through to the point I almost forgot the cost. Guess I can say I’ve actually done a scare maze this year given everything that’s been going on.
Park was very busy when we went with social distancing being a mixed bag indeed. Staff were doing a reasonable job at trying to carry this out given a fair chunk of their clientele probably don’t understand or care about it.
Park atmosphere was a mixed bag. Park feels very normal until around 3pm when the audio changes and the actors and scare attractions start to appear. There were some areas such as Old Town which had a great atmosphere but others which could’ve been better. Park lighting wasn’t great sadly because of too many white coloured flood as opposed to more fitting items.
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No other park out there that I know of handles queues and operations as efficient yet immaculate as Europa Park. Some come close but none properly match this.
When you walk into full looking queue, you would expect to wait over an hour whereas in Europa it is more like 30 minutes with almost constant moving lines and trains heading out of the station in as quick as 20 seconds.
That’s before mentioning just how many attractions this place has which is probably more than any other park worldwide with such variety and sometimes mystery.
It’s also just a lovely place to be in anyway, even just having a beverage in one of their outlets is such a lovely experience!
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It’ll be a backward move regardless because nothing they do makes sense anymore.
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The prospect of a Merlin pass restructuring is imminent, especially given the covid situation where much growth and earnings have been lost.
We could easily see passes introduced which only enable selected days, times, attractions and perks introduced. With the VIP removed for the foreseeable it’s not impossible to see the Premium botched up as the top offering.
Expect more up-charges especially for events I would say.
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Enthusiasts be like.
I think given the history of this project, opening in such a year was inevitable if I’m honest here.
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To be fair we have been moving into a pre-plan/pre-book world for years now and maybe even more-so with current positions in the world.
I always try and book/plan things in ahead but I know there will always be some who will leave it last minute for better and worse.
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And here I am just hoping I get a glass of Prosecco or something for the cost of now going through the mazes, was a nice gesture in the early face it alone days. How I miss them!
Given how dreadful 2020 Halloween will be anyway I guess this is better than nothing.
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CHRISTMAS IS CANCELLED FOLKS!
To a large degree that is unfortunately true as Corona Virus has lead to the organisers of Winter Wonderland cancelling this years event.
Official wording states:
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Dear Hyde Park Winter Wonderland family,
It is with a heavy heart we share that Hyde Park Winter Wonderland will not be taking place this year.
Hyde Park Winter Wonderland has always been about bringing friends and family together in a fun, safe and interactive environment to celebrate the festive season. Our team has worked tirelessly, exploring every possible option in the hopes of being able to move forward with the event in a responsible manner and provide London with some much-needed festive cheer.
However, in light of ongoing health concerns, travel restrictions and uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, and considering the size and scale of this event, we just couldn’t find a way to do that without compromising the magical attractions, shows, rides, bars and experiences that make Hyde Park Winter Wonderland so special.
We know how disappointing this news will be for the millions of people we usually welcome each season. And we can assure you we share your disappointment, having put a lot of work, sweat and even some tears into trying to make this year’s event possible.
Thank you so much for your ongoing support and please stay safe. We cannot wait to bring friends and family back together to celebrate the festive season at Hyde Park Winter Wonderland in 2021.”
Sad but not surprising at all. Wake me up, when Corona ends!
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Interesting to see the ride revealing it’s original colours after ten years.
Anyone else remember when it was Billy’s Whizzer?
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Great to see the park seeing so much investment over the last few years especially given the hit and miss selection at present.
This ride should be interesting and hopefully better than the former Ice Age dark ride which looked hilariously bad.
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Visited the park yesterday and despite Covid was perhaps the busiest I’ve ever seen the place! Although distancing and regular break downs didn’t help.
Managed just six rides in eight hours so not the best. However they did extend close upto 7pm which rarely happens at the park.
Covid measures were hit and miss. Some worked well, others didn’t as some people weren’t following this. Some pathways and areas were impossible to do so due to the giant queues.
Managed to try Tomb Blaster 3.0 and it’s quite a mixed bag. The lighting in some places seems better but is largely ruined in places due to fan systems exposing natural light.
The audio isn’t easy to hear in places and makes capturing the story trickier than it should be. The park clearly tried to make an ailing dark ride a shoe-string budget blockbuster but didn’t quite work out that way. Still a better ride than DBGT.
Didn’t try the new/updated Rainforest attractions but they looked ok for what they are aiming for.
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I think I know who the culprit is.
Hopefully they will get it up and running soon though.
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One of the main issues which likely prevents TWD from currently reopening is it’s “two to a row“ rule, which makes loading solo or odd numbered guests on the ride impossible without breaching social distancing measures.
The rule came in a few years ago and given how safety stringent Merlin are these days it is unlikely to change unless the vehicles are modified to enable this again.
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1 hour ago, Mattgwise said:
But a lot of those rides have been updated over recent closed seasons. So the future is still looking good.
Indeed and it’s great to see this happening besides the new stuff.
One however though just has to compare something like Zadra/Aqualantis to that horrible looking wild mouse with OTSR (why though?) which is probably one of the worst attractions there.
The park probably has one of the brightest futures around. And is high up on my bucket list once this horrible virus is done.
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It’s great to see the park’s newer investments being given better theming and styling.
Most attractions pre-Hyperion pretty much look like they’ve just been plonked down on any available land in a RCT type fashion.
Aqualantis does look great.
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The Union Jack trains has clearly been inspired by Blackpool.
I'm sure it’ll have an applicable name, given this park has rides called Zoom and Hero.
Wouldn’t be surprised if they just call it 10 looping coaster, which is something you’d normally see in RCT.
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Guess one could describe this as ground breaking!
Ok! I’ll leave now.
That building behind could do with some work though!
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Unless there’s redesign, the use of vest restraints is unfortunately imminent.
Strangely I find some better than others, like those on Valkyria and Fenix, whereas those on Banshee and Valravn are simply awful.
It’s quite surprising really that whilst most manufacturers such as Mack and Intamin have progressed with better restraints over the years, B&M’s have potentially taken a bit of a step backwards, but that’s just my opinion.
I'm still curious to see how such a ride will fit into such a densely compact and landlocked park. Think Grona has it more difficult than Phantasialand as far as expansion is concerned.
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Got stuck on Bubbleworks where we were literally the last boat before the station so couldn’t get off. No evac either.
Got stuck on Swarm’s breakrun for a little while during a breakdown. No evac again although I’ve been up Swarm’s lifthill during a coaster climb experience.
Shut down on De Vlieglande Hollander on the break run(recurring theme?). Again no evac.
Stuck on Helix’s brake run. Mr Fish was on the train behind and got some kind of evac, so I’m very jealous there.
Now some more interesting ones:
Stuck on Ninjago ride at Legoland, evac’d off from final scene with the help of steps from vehicle.
Evac’d from the Dragon brake run at Legoland
As a result of working for Thorpe, I have assisted with breakdowns and evacs on rides including Rumba, Storm Surge and Tidal Wave.
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On the positive side, at least the park has been saved from closure especially amidst one of the most challenging times in the attraction industry to date.
The Loopings group don’t appear to invest often in new attractions, but hopefully we might see some new attractions here given how many how shuttered over the years bar Thomas Land.
The Coronavirus Thread
in General Discussion
Posted
The chances of another lockdown happening is increasing faster than such Corona cases.
Looks like November is going to be a long boring one.