Matt 236

The music here is honestly delightful, upbeat and suites the theme perfectly. The ride itself doesn’t look like anything to write home about but I’m sure it will perfectly compliment what seems to be a decent enough park.

I guess one of the benefiting factors with Efteling is that it’s large footprint and scale likely make it noticeably easier for social distancing and operations, especially given it is just as much a nature park as it is a theme park. The new restrictions may slightly deter the escapism but are completely understandable given the position of things currently. The restraint system is an interesting one, but given how the park have handled things I have full reassurance this is perfectly viable. Whilst some parks won’t get around these like this, it must be remembered each country has different different safety regulations so what might be ok in a Dutch theme park probably won’t be in a U.K. one for example. Also a few exceptions most of Efteling’s attractions are generally “family Based”.

Here’s mine: 10/ Dino Splash, Plopsaland De Panne- lovely themed flume and probably my favourite ride in the park (considering I couldn’t ride Heidi or Anubis). 9/ Kallerado! Liseberg- Fun large rapids and great with groups for a laugh. 8/ Tidal Wave, Thorpe Park- intimidating, soaking and one of the best themed rides there. 7/ Le Grande Splasch, Parc Asterix- fun and quirky with lots of features between the drops add to the experience. 6/ Poseidon, Europa Park- Mighty impressive to ride but also watch. 5/ Loggers Leap, Thorpe Park (RIP)- one of the best examples of any classic log flume out there. Shame it is gone for good. 4/ Fjord Rapids, Europa Park- Fun rapids with loads of theming and interactive elements, j’adore. 3/ River Quest, Phantasialand- Made, crazy but simply Marvelous and one of the craziest water rides I have experienced. 2/ Valhalla (pre-2020 at least), Blackpool- Stunning soundtracks, effects and scenery. You get more soaked than a hail storm, but that’s the fun. 1/ Chiapas, Phantasialand- An absolute masterpiece. This ride is practically perfect in every way.

Glad to see the attractions are slowly reopening segments (albeit with restrictions and limitations). Just got to hope these all go to plan and don’t get breached. As far as current developments go, construction of (yet to be announced) Jurassic Park coaster are still going ahead, although we are yet to know when the park’s worst kept secret actually opens. Construction of Epic Universe on the other hand has been delayed for the foreseeable future, so we could be waiting many more years if this development is even still going ahead. The parks can currently submit reopening plans to the state governor, although reopening likely won’t happen until July most likely.

Safe to say Talocan has done more travelling than I’ll do this year! Glad the place is reopening though.

A boom more explosive than a bag of mentos in a coke bottle! Great to see we finally have a Disney park open though and just got to hope this all goes to plan. Expect other parks to follow similar measures if successful.

True indeed. It’s hard to say if/how numbers would be controlled there. Only other way I can this working is areas indicated where people can go such as painted/allocated floor areas like those seen in large supermarket queues or Shanghai Disney.

The parks will definitely operate on a more thorough and intense process if/when they open regardless of the reduced capacities. One idea that has been hinted is the return/introduction of virtual/online queues where riders may not need to queue as much if implemented. I.E Reserve N Ride. A strain on the system and park tickets are very much a given should it get to this stage.

Part eight of The Making Of Max & Moritz has been released by the park. This one is rather gassy. Really liking the look of some of these show elements. Efteling know how to master unique charm. The park will also be reopening on the 20th May with social distancing measures and capacity limited to 1/3 of it’s usual amount. Tickets will also need to be booked online.

Rocky Express needs a documentary! This is not a drill. Yeah Expedition Theme Park are probably the best candidate for this type of thing.

Such a shame, especially for Scenic’s 100th birthday but understandable given the difficult and uncertain circumstances. Was quite an enjoyable place when I visited in 2018, and just hope they reopen in 2021.

Yes, but only if they make a several part series of the process. I would like to see a full “blown out” intro of the ride’s history and how it went from being one of the most popular rides to being under redevelopment for a while.

That ride is running smoother than Dairy Milk. Actually looks a decent hyper for the park. Not the biggest, but still decent.

2020 literally feels like an episode of Black Mirror with everything going on. The high likelihood of a Black Mirror attraction being delayed until next year is completely ironic.

I like what they did with X in 2013. Was a forward move for the park.

Blimey, this thread is becoming more corrupted than FIFA. Happy quarantine season everyone!

Might as well start another bandwagon. Best Theme Park Restaurants 5/ Rollercoaster Restaurant- Alton Towers. Probably my favourite UK park restaurant, I love how they’ve used the ‘food loop’ Concept and that the place is also dedicated to past and present coasters. I personally enjoy the food here too. 4/ Tivoli Foodhall-Tivoli Gardens. Great variety here, plus the Smorrebrod (cultural delight) were absolutely delicious. 3/ Silver Lake Saloon- Europa Park. I love the food and I love the atmosphere and think I’m a sucker for most Wild West style places. Reminds me of Smith and Western a little. 2/ Polle’s Keuchen- Efteling. This place is something of a masterpiece to the point where the food is almost secondary. Charming surroundings, meet and greets and amazing thematic set-pieces Which perform often. The pancakes are great too. 1/ Rutmoore’s Tavern- Phantasialand. I adore the cosy setting and theming plus the food is divine. It’s like stepping in time to another world or something! The Worst Theme Park Restaurants 5/ Woodys Burger Bar-Oakwood Theme Park. Bland quick service food, the burger was tasteless and inedible to the point it makes Burger Kitchen look like Five Guys. 4/ Aus Fastes Des Rome- Parc Asterix. Barely food and more processed than Jedward’s auto tune. Cold, tasteless, bland and did I say processed? I didn’t favour to much of Astérix’s food but this was something else! 3/ El Paso Dinner Buffet- Port Aventura. P.A has become infamous for it’s terrible food quality and that is true. Expensive, inedible food that makes eating a chore as, opposed to enjoyable. I ate something so bad here I thought I was going to vomit! 2/ Jerome’s Grill- Port Aventura. I’ve had some lovely Pizzas in my time dining, the one I ate here wasn’t one of them! Disgusting, plastic, oily and more tasteless than a series of love island. Probably the worst pizza I’ve eaten, those cheap supermarket pizzas are gourmet compared to this travesty. 1/ Piratengrill- Plopsaland De Panne. I never thought Port A.V. could be topped for disgusting food. Apparently not. The burger here tasted terrible to the point I struggled eating. To make matters worse, it was horribly expensive and they took so long serving I thought I’d be seeing CHRISTMAS there. I miss going places.

@JoshC., your order has arrived. Decided to create a piano cover of Duel’s original theme. Created through listening and without sheet music. Requests welcome.

For Third Place The Big Top (2016-2017) The Asylum To Win!

The Freezer Big Top

Great improvement already from the above image. The old ride essentially looked like going through an abandoned Toys R Us with blasters on ride vehicles!

The Freezer Cabin in the Woods Big Top (2016-2017) The Asylum

In the early years, we could definitely class Thorpe as a theme. They had different areas set out with attractions themed among those. However as the park has changed in the last 20 years, we have seen larger/taller rides built up. Given Thorpe isn’t massive and with this in mind, themed areas aren’t really necessary for the park anymore, but that’s not to say the park can’t theme attractions or places. Personally I would like to see them go down a route similar to Cedar Point. You have styled areas, but not necessarily ones that are themed! Back to the ghost train. I think the logical thing would be to close the attraction until the park know what they are doing. Sure it’s cost them lots of money and means another closed attraction. However it’s caused more problems then it has solved for the park and the whole Covid19 pandemic overall, it would be pointless to open a now controversial attraction that is expensive and unreliable to operate, let alone the money lost since the pandemic.

Big Top (2016-2017) Experiment 10 Creek Freak Se7en

I think if/when the parks reopen this year we will see similar measures to these, like the ones Legoland implemented by keeping those gaps or filling every other row on ride vehicles.