Matt 236

More engineering delays than Network Rail! Least Towers are intending to reopen this flat ride in Summer! How the hell is that even an achievement in our park’s now?

Give it a few years and it’ll just be a zoo again. With a side themed area of Julia Donaldson if we are lucky!

Next year could be a trip year there, but I don’t have 2020 vision. The park’s newer investments are considerably better than the early year investments.

Because you can get an annual pass for £55. Or spend it on return flights to somewhere like Efteling, Liseberg or Phantasialand. I am am so pleased to see so many parks with increased attendance last year. Should probably visit Puy Du Fou one day!

Proof Varney is actually Thanos. Merlin will never reopen it unless it’s themed to a Donaldson I.P.

Nor can I, every single evidential part of Vulcan peak has certainly been removed!

Will hopefully be doing Kings Island’s ‘’Fastrack equivalent’’ when I’m hopefully out there again in a few weeks. I’ll let you all know what it’s like. From current experience, Port Aventura is the only park I’ve gone full out on ‘’Fastrack equivalent’’ only because of their diabolical batching ratios and that their clientele can’t seem to grasp the basic concept of queuing.

I’m a shaky maybe right now as it depends what’s happening with preparing for America the next day, but I’ll see what I can do. Tomb’s pass has run out though so maybe.

The work they have done to Madame Freudenreich is astonishing! They have transformed what was essentially one of their weaker dark rides into something far more special and memorable. Could go as far to say it may currently be their best. Hopefully the next few years at Europa shall be exciting and promising, whether that be Rutluntica and Kronosar, the rebuilding of Scandinavia and Pirates In Batavia or the other little things they do inbetween. Europa Park is class and they certainly show people how an attraction should be operated and progress throughout.

I honestly hope this isn’t the end for Black Buccaneer as it’s such a popular and classic attraction, but understand it is getting on with it being 33 years old. If the work on this attraction is that drastic the park should really replace it with a similar/updated model. It’s still popular and would warrant it for a park like Chessington. However given that isn’t largely marketable in a company that have to have continuous growth that will obviously never happen! Tivoli seem to have it spot on for replacing things!

Glad to see the 40th Anniversary merch is popular. It might be money spinner but definitely sends vibes of nostalgia from the park in the 90’s when it featured much charm and character. During the 90’s and noughties, the park was in a position to develop and progress into the thrill park it was however like most things, you can only have so much growth before you hit a glass ceiling. Something the park reached around 2011/2012 time. Most parks (unless they have noticeable expansion room) intend on maintaining visitor numbers rather than increasing them, however Thorpe and Merlin are still intent on riding them and if a major attraction doesn’t achieve this it is deemed a failure. Thorpe realistically won’t ever really surpass much higher than 2M visitors a year and should aim at continuing investment to maintain these figures. The stagnation during the last few years (combined with the failure of DBGT) has only lead to the park’s gate figures to drop noticeably over the recent years amongst other factors.

2016 was a year of far too many lies going on. The sad factor is the park could’ve saved the ride from closure if they had been willing to spend proper maintenance and safety upgrades, the ride could still be running today. It was still remarkably popular and one of the best family attractions in Thorpe and maybe the U.K., amongst still being iconic to the park in many ways. Unfortunately it is likely to take just as long (if not longer) for a replacement attraction to open than the time it has been rotting away. Not only in the hindsight of lack of planning, but the fact the park might not receive a major investment for at least three years due Merlin cutting the park’s budget capex.

Those Hoodies, mugs and pin badges look blooming brilliant! Might have to go against my word of only visiting once this year, even if it means just riding the B&Ms, Stealth and then heading for the exit with my merch!

If Varney doesn’t like Chessington perhaps he should actually allocate more budget and funding to fix and restore the park, let alone adding new stuff. Would be far more logical than throwing up Legolands and midways in cities and third world countries.

Looks wonderful.

I’m certain they are trying to go for the largest park in the world, let alone Poland. This park ark continues to churn out major new addition after new addition. It is impressive!

According to the POVS, this might be better than Valravn. Personally speaking at least. I found Valravn lacking in numerous areas.

There’s a better chance of Merlin selling/closing Thorpe altogether than them investing on retracting and upgrading Colossus. The sad fact is purely because it isn’t seen as profitable and marketable from them. Flamimgo’s ‘potential’ clone may give people even less reason to visit Thorpe, which I’m sure they will combat with further rebranding and painting up basic areas.

Finally! Looks blooming amazing if I can say so myself. Can’t wait to see what theming and detail they can nestle in the next 11 months and counting when the area is finally ready to open! I can safely say Crazy Bats is purely just a ‘quick fix’ until this area opens, or more-so when the Temple complex is demolished.

Wow, that advert actually looks decent and somewhat evades the usual “cliche” Towers advert (HITMK, ride shots, voiceover). There’s finally something I can actually like about this project now.

Not going to lie, but Legoland used to be such a charming and whimsical place to visit. It’s pretty hard to imagine that now but it definitely was once upon a time. I first visited around 1997 time and remember the park had more curious things to see and do, whether that be the Amazing Mazes (three different themed Mazes), the Magic Theatre and Explorers Institute (which were so imaginative for what they were) and the ‘original’ Pirate Falls. The park landscaping used to be so immaculate with hidden pathways, models and things to discover at every corner and more well kept than what is there now. I think the Dragon was one of those attractions that got me interested in theme parks and attractions, so much attention to detail and creativity. They definitely thought about most things there. It was somewhere around the mid noughties when the park started to lose it’s charm, either just before or after the Lego group sold it’s (full) ownership of the park. Attractions were plonked down more with less care of architecture, landscaping and cohesion. The charming gems gradually chiselled out with more noisy, ‘flash in the pan’, generic and commercialised features. The landscaping and pathways aren’t as pretty as they used to be with older pathways either cheaply re-routed or abruptly stopping. Un-themed ride buildings and exposed “out of house” areas are also more common. I understand Legoland is a little strapped for space, but they could at least do more by theming up warehouses and planting more trees and shrubbery around these areas. Not everything they are doing now is bad, but they could definitely be doing more.

Even in the mid noughties the sound quality in the station still seemed better than what it was. Yes, I’m not afraid to admit I missed Chessington’s golden days by at least six years. From what hat I heard last time I visited (March time), the audio quality was definitely an improvement but I know the park can do even better. Then again, it’s safe to say 90% of Vampire’s station just needs a complete overhaul and restoration.

More digging in this thread from when Alton Towers built Oblivion. Still not gonna lie, but two months into the season with Buccaneer still off is a fair amount of time. Must be running into the ground then! Adventure Island’s new flat ride looks acceptable by the way

Not gonna lie but will definitely miss Bob. Sure it’s not my favourite Efteling coaster, but definitely still a fun ride. We will have to wait wait and see with Max and Moritz, but as long as it retains the Efteling goodness (especially from recent years) then I’m perfectly sure it will still be a fun and worthwhile addition. Efteling probably thought long and hard about Bob’s future and given they rarely remove attractions, it must’ve been untenable to keep the ride operating in a healthy and reliable position. I still wonder how this expansion can still happen. Fingers crossed they have a way.

I get the impression we won’t see a major addition I.E major coaster added this side of 2022. Thorpe once received the lion’s share of investment through the late Tussauds and early Merlin days. However in the last few years this is definitely the case. Through a combination of wasted/short sighted investments and Merlin clutching more from their pursestrings, the next few years look bleak. We might see some small touch ups and events, but I’ll count my lucky stars if I see a new ride soon, let alone a coaster! The last decade was exciting, optimistic and prosperous, but for the next decade I only see doom and gloom for the park, unless they receive miraculous guest increases. When Merlin said they were reducing theme park capex for the coming years, they were basically saying Thorpe will receive minimal investment because it is the least successful park.