Matt 236

Did Storm surge at night once, it was horrible.

It does look quite mediocre at the. Moment, but will have to see when it's finished. Hopefully they will theme the ride quite well (although Merlin).

Swap To be or not to be ;)

Scenic railway restoration seems to Be going along nicely so far. Can't wait til this ride is up and running again hopefully next year (currently the most exciting thing in the uk next year for me). I wonder what company is providing the materials of the ride and who will design the track. Is it safe to say the new scenic will be more of a new coaster designed in a traditional way then an actual restored old ride?

Right I shall reveal, The correct answer was number 2 which MrC answered (and gets to have the next go). Despite writing two blogs on the place and the fact I haven't been to any major parks outside the uk yet (cough disney cough) although this shall hopefully be changing from next year, you'll be surprised to know Tivoli world isn't the only patk I've visited as I've also been to Boudwijan sea park in Belgium, which is a small dolphin/Themepark as well as 2 waterparks as well. 1/ my wooden coaster virginity was in fact lost to Megafobia, back in August 2013, which is an amazing coaster and well worth a trip there for this alone. 3/ despite only doing it twice, Phantom Phantasia stays in my heart as the ride at thorpe I miss the most, followed by the ranger rides, thunder river and flying fish mk1.

In regards to both of these rides, Tomb blaster is definitely the better of the two. Whilst the ride is currently fairly worn in places with faulty boasters,lasers and passed its best, the ride is far superior as it features a heavily themed exterior with rock work, waterfall and queue that in good old Tussaud's manner (though slightly ruined by the tall fences now) snakes it's way around the area building up to the main event inside. It also features lots of highly immersive large quality effects (when working), a catchy souñdtrack and is one of the few rides at Chessington to exceed 1000 in throughput (when on 5 trains). Laser Raiders is still good in the way that it's more interactive than tombs, still features a nicely themed queue (for merlin standards) and also a fairly catchy soundtrack (tombs is obvs better) however there's quite a few problems. 1/ the train tracks run between the entrance and the ride building which means not just going outside the tent to get across it (slightly ruining the build up IMO) but also entering a second much poorer snd boring designed queue which isn't very nice to wait in. 2/ the throughput of the ride is rather abysmal (like most of Legoland's rides) and often gets 2 hour queues on peak days plus with the ride design of 4 people per car and dispatches around every 30 seconds (we're already less than fury), the ride probably doesn't get more than 400 PPH on a good day. 3/ the shop and scarabs feel pretty shoe horned in to the tent and it feels very mediocre appearance wise 4/ the layout wasnt done very well to begin with and was not really though out well. So yes, lasers is an ok ride (for Legoland) but Tombs is still better than a mile (even now), however neither are a patch on Duel . Edit- so many mistakes

In terms of size and variety, it's a real,y good fun fair with plenty of things for everyone, rollercoasters, flat rides, towers, fun houses etc. The main problem is of course prices which most things are twice as much as they should be really. I paid £6/£7 just for the wild mouse ride when I went which is still the only attraction I've done there to this day.

Glad the Caroulsel is still standing (although for how long who knows) Not much major yet apart from Pizza Hut work really, but then it's only been a week since Thorpe closed for the year.

I like using the winky face a lot when I write posts here,

Nope

Topic resurrection (weather it's my go or not who knows) 1/ my first woodie was Megafobia 2/ Tivoli World is the only themepark I've been to outside the uk 3/ my favourite past ride at Thorpe was Phantom Phantasia/WWH

Nah storm surge is here to stay for quite a few more years. Once the park gets more bigger better rides, then hopefully then we'll finally see the back of it. Problem with Storm surge is that it's in the wrong location and park and would probably be a more favoured addition somewhere like Pleasurewood hills or just back in Legoland Florida.

TBH I don't really expect thorpe to receive any new physical ride or attraction next year with the major dark ride opening next year, however will have to see considering Angry Birds wasn't announced until the start of this year which if that's the case it will obviously be another 'mid season' opening. Something Merlin seem to be doing a bit too much of recently.

Yeah, sure I'll join too

Exposed metal shed exterior, likely cattle pen queue plus potential IP (rather than an original idea or theme), not the best start so far, but let's hope they can surprise all of us. Oh wait, this is Merlin.

Hopefully the ride's queue will be done properly as Merlin aren't very good at doing interesting immersive queue lines. Look at Swarm, Saw, Smiler, Etc. Interesting rides (though some may argue not) however there queue line settings aren't the best and don't really build up to the ride experiences as great as they could do much more but turn in to mere cattle pens near the station area, especially with Smilers flood problem and Swarms hidden cattlepen. Many Tussaud built rides have much better immersive interesting queue experiences which either involve major theming, effects or just by simply building up the ride by seeing it from different views e.g Nemesis, Oblivion, Duel, Ramesis, Colossus and even Inferno. Would be nice to see an immersive queue for this ride, but it's Merlin. Scorpion express is one of the few Merlin queue layouts done right.

It's definitely a bottomless pit. If it was cleaner, it would make a very good effect. Reminds me strongly of the now removed Magic Theatre attraction in Legoland which used to have one just like this until it was removed for the shoddy Xbox attraction that appeared in 2008.

That orange track looks beutiful. 2015 is another B&M year

Features an appropriate dedication to the recently deceased Rangers Caroulsel in his signature.

Welcome, to the banned season

Wow! This ride looks so beautiful already.

Banned for visiting better themeparks in Europe than me

Adventure island, by a fighter nail, Legoland or Paultons park?

Imperial leather Kettle chips or Pringles?

This sounds really exciting, loving the look of that Startrek coaster. I bet this place will wipe the floor with all our other parks, even Alton Towers. Apart from Thorpe's dark ride and Dreamland, there isn't much to be excited really in the uk themepark industry, not to mention Chessie & Legoland are clogged for development and Lightwater, Flantasy & Pleasure island are really struggling currently.