Matt 236

Wow, never realised Monkey & Bird Gardens had just closed for redevelopment. Hopefully we will see the updated area we were promised instead of an average hotel expansion. Chessington really are doing odd moves this year and I have no idea what will be happening at the place during closed season.

Coke Vampire or Dragons Fury

Airtime, because you fly off your seat for a while. Tidal Wave or Drenched (Hydro)

I find it very interesting about how we could've got a large scale park in Wobourn and its such a shame it never saw the light of day due to typical themepark haters as I we could've seen a racing woodie which that alone may have sparked more for woodies in the uk we never got which in all is a shame. However if this had taken place, we may not seen the likes of Nemy and Blivvy at towers in the present if this occurred.

Family guy (Stewie) Vicar of Dibley or Absolutely Fabulous?

Replace Rita with a wooden coaster then we'll have a better coaster and one more coherent to the area as well.

Yes, it's definitely not the best lineup of rides and I don't think anything will beat the golden days of Legoland Christmases in the late 90's however this is definitely the best Christmas event the park has seen for some time having only opened the beginning shops with an annual pass offer or something (though they did open Star Wars last year).

In terms of these plans, Iam mixed with the concept. I like the idea of the making the old stage area a big new space with a marquee for entertainment as well as the overall retheme in addition to the new toilet and shop facilities. But no actual,ride (as we currently know) is a disappointing one especially as the park needs a new family one and areas such as Thomas at Drayton & Nick at Blackpool eclipsing tower's kiddie additions,they do need some new rides on that front. Even Neverland at Oakwood is better than that at the moment and there's still work to be done there.

After the recent news that next years addition may be rather disappointing for everyone except kids, there's some more positive news now as the park are planning an interesting Christmas event. http://www.legoland.co.uk/Plan/Christmas/ Sounds quite exciting to me, having Christmas events at the park and also opening selected rides and attractions as well especially as something like this has been crying to be done at the park for years seeing as they used to open the park during its early years.

I think it seems recently, Legoland have become addicted to building new playgrounds/non ride experiences lately at the park whilst Thorpe have become attached to shipping container hotels and Drayton Manor to Thomas Land.

If Legoland's only new addition next year is just an updated training camp play area, I will be very disapointed as the park is in need of a major roller coaster addition rather than yet another play area [even if it's a rethemed one] which the park has been rumoured of getting one in 2011,2013 and next year and with this coming next year, the chances are we will have to probably wait yet another year or more before we see one at the park [if we ever do].

After just arriving home from a busy day out at Legoland, I have just taken a look on the latest park map and a found an interesting discovery [as seen in the images below]. So it seems this may be the main new addition for Legoland in 2014, but what could it be? Well the phrasing with the words ahoy, adventure and set sail very strongly hint that this will be a pirate themed addition and likely be in the PIrates Landing area. However I currently have no idea what this ride/addition will be as no plans/details have appeared online yet however this must be something. Could this new addition be a new coaster, a not so needed Splash Battle, something else or maybe just a retheme of the decent but ageing Pirate Falls ride? Sounds interesting to me.

The way Smiler was done I must admit was very cool with the queue line beneath the ride giving an interesting perspective of the ride with the trains running sometimes centimetres from the guests below. I also find the indoor queue interesting although could do with more air conditioning. The ride itself for me works as its close to the queue and also how so much track is located in what's actually a rather compact area as well as the twisty inversions which most transition brilliantly. In terms of my next marmalisation, I may well need to wait many months before my next trip.

Part 1 of my trip report at Oakwood is now online in the blogs. http://forum.maniahub.com/blog/34/entry-500-oakwood-trip-300813-part-I/

I'm really liking the colour scheme here, the blood red colour looks beautiful.

Tbh like most coasters (at the Merlin parks), the coaster doesn't look as fresh,new or awesome as it used to be, plus the ride's red supports are fading as well as the track getting more brown marks and could perhaps do with a paint job in the next years (not that it probably will).

For me, Worst roller coaster/ Go Gator Worst water ride Storm Surge

Judging by that phrase on Thorpe's face book, I think it may mean one of the following. 1/ scare actors riding Saw 2/ Actors placed around Saw 3/ Saw will have trains. Going backwards (which may be a lengthily, random and perhaps pointless exercise) 4/ absolutely nothing and just more advertising for the event

Well this is definitely worse than last years summer at Chessington and last years was pretty manic too. Although two rides are down, the staff aren't managing everything properly too, over selling fast tracks and laid back attitudes and this is coming from one of the uk'smain parks. The impact of Vampire's closure sus up how badly chessie need a new coaster as when three major rides are down, the queues go berserk where even hocus Pocus receives a hefty queue. I personally don't hold much hope for 2014 at the park, there's no mention of new rides and rides are now running on ridiculous capacities. At the way they're going, maybe they should open the zoo only next year and rebuild most of the park.

Comparing Summer nights to after dark at Oakwood, the queues are better and faster plus there's more time for night rides and for £5, I consider the slight extra pay worthwhile as you're getting small queues and night rides which are two brilliant things. Also the rides usually stay open until closing whilst when I did after dark, Megafobia closed an hour before closing meaning we couldn't do any night rides on it. Tbh the park only need 1 train for these events (providing queues stay short) and also trains need inspecting too so they can run properly for next day operations.

Having ridden some more impressive coasters recently, I think it's time I update my top 10 coasters, 1/ Nemesis, still love the force of the ride and how it speeds up throughout its circuit. 2/ Megafobia, words can't describe how amazing this ride is, the airtime, the sheer speed of the coaster, I love it. 3/ The Smiler, great layout and good inversions, shame about the jolt. 4/ The Swarm, I love the drop, theming and overall interaction of this ride. 5/ Speed, brilliant layout with great airtime hill, amazing helix and nicely paced. 6/ Oblivion, brilliant drop and airtime too. 7/ Stealth, great launch and enjoyable top hat too. 8/ Nemesis Inferno, definitely improved through age, runs really powerfully now. 9/ Dragons Fury, great fun layout and very exciting ride. 10/ Thirteen, I love the drop trick on this ride. Having just visited Oakwood I was very impressed with Megafobia & Speed and both are brilliant rides as well as the fact I've ridden my first woodie coaster.

Just come back from my trip to Oakwood which I shall write a full report on eventually but for now here's what I've got to say. Megafobia/ absolutely amazing ride and loved this. The overall airtime and speed of the ride is just amazing as well as being my first woodie. Speed/ power, amazing layout really liked this ride, genuinely smooth & better than Saw. Never Land/ brilliant theming and nicely layout with a good selection of rides and grassy areas. The walk through was nice touch, Tinks flying school was great fun and Crocodile Coaster was nicely themed despite being an average ride. The log flume however disappointing as it pretty much was just a flume that went in to a warehouse that went past a few models and up a boring lift hill before splashing. However Oakwood is a brilliant park and well worth visiting even just for Speed & Megafobia.

X Storm Surge or Octopus Garden

Calvin Klein. Runaway Train pre2013 or Flying Fish pre2005

In terms of a new coaster, a small hyper I think would make a great addition to Thorpe and would give the park a new addition thT would improve the lineup sufficiently. In terms of the next coaster (assuming its a steel) the following manufacturers can built it, B&M Intamin Gerst. Mack (probably least likely but would be nice) Vekoma (least preferable)