Matt 236

Recently visited Legoland for the Fireworks, which was a mixed bag (but probably a better experience for anyone at Fright Nights). Despite the very cold weather, not too many rides seemed to close, however there were definitely a lot of shut downs (perhaps the most I’ve seen at the park). This included Sky River, Dragon, Jolly Rocker, Laser Raiders and a lengthy one on the Ninjago ride. Operations were a mixed bag, with most being neither quick or slow. The Dragon however was just on two trains, which given it was a super peak day was a little disappointing. Boating School also seemed to be short on operating vehicles and was only using two of it’s three lanes. The fireworks were enjoyable even if they are not the best I’ve seen. This year’s display didn’t really stick to a theme, but included soundtracks from popular Lego IP’s and attractions such as the Lego Movie and The Pirates Of Skeleton Bay. I liked how they also had a pre-fireworks show, which made the wait between noticeably more bearable. It’s a park that needs good crowd control. N.B grab a viewing area at least 45 minutes before the fireworks start if you want a good spot, otherwise it will be incredibly difficult and crowded. Whilst I would like to end this on a positive note, can’t help but feel some things need addressing. Legoland Windsor is a Park I’ve visited almost every year since it’s early years as child. Whilst I have enjoyed many of my visits over the years, I cannot help but feel the place seems to have lost much of it’s charm and spark. Some will say it has always been a large corporate advert, but that was not always the case. At least compared to now. In the early years, the park was a charming innovative place full of creativity, imagination and exploration. From it’s quirky pathways, hidden Easter eggs and imaginative themes and storytelling. Since the late nougties, the place has developed into a more touristy, greater commercialised and much more ‘in your face’ attraction. With many of the charming features changed or removed for more simplistic/less interesting ones. Many original brick built/styled features seem to be getting removed for bland generic/unlego features. Whether that be the sides of the teacups, the giraffe on the train or replacing the original ‘brick built’ boating school animatronics. This year alone, I have noticed all the park toilet signs have been replaced by generic signs, already simplified from the even more lego-esque style from the past. They have rethemed the once quirky Papa Moles into the bland generic themed Studio Cafe, which has no correlation to the rest of the area like the old theme used to. They have also ripped out the old balloon school animatronic on the top of operating booth (which levers which?). They have also chiselled away yet further theming from The Dragon Coaster. Whilst still great, this is very saddening to see being one of the first coasters I ever experienced. The theming inside the turrets/enclosed areas of the queue have been removed and not replaced. Whilst most of the theming has been relocated elsewhere (either in the queue or ride) this is still greatly disappointing to see the neglect being put into former attractions. The station chandeliers were removed last year snd will probably never be replaced. This year, the park updated part of miniland area with new models from all over the world. Whilst the new models look great and the model makers have put much effort into everything, I cannot help but feel something is really missing here as it literally feels like they’ve tried to cram as many models into one space as possible. The areas with the updated models literally feel like they have just been slapped down on any available space and generally lack cohesion to their surroundings because they seem to only focus on a few important/prominent models rather than trying to create a setting or landscape that many previous additions achieved. The noticeable lack of animated effects is also disappointing. Don’t get me wrong, the new models look great and refreshed, but I personally think they could have done better with this and should’ve focused on quality and not quantity. One of the few things that makes me excited at Legoland is the brand new Haunted House attraction opening next year. Whilst it may lack the charm of early attractions it looks to be one the better additions of recent years amongst offering another much needed major/indoor attraction, considering how many rides they now close at dusk. Whilst I will probably continue to visit the place (I know some of you will criticise me for doing so), I just can’t stand still when my childhood park is having it’s soul ripped out for generic stylings, exposed ‘back of house’ areas and quality theming replaced with vinyls. I just left with a feeling where there was noticeably less pulling power to return, even compared to a few years ago. Thanks for reading.

It’s a fact, negative reviews and experiences will spread 4/5 times faster than good ones. Yes sure people complain more than compliment (especially nowadays) but delivering a bad experience through bad planning and a lack of customer service/care should be a no-go. Sometimes through good customer service after a bad experience, the wounds can be healed up. However judging from some of those responses on their social media, I expect that never happens. ‘One size fits all’ should never be the answer or solution in customer service. Ever.

I’m very pleased to see the park starting to opt in for themed attractions/areas in their newer additions. Hyperion has definitely set a new benchmark for the place. Must be honest, that whilst I’m yet to visit the place, the earlier additions look shockingly bad as if they’ve just plonked ‘off the shelf’ models on any available part of land. It’s almost like the result of what a child would do in RCT. The upcoming additions sound great though.

Give me one of those Premier Inn pod things anyday. My garden shed is more luxurious compared to those Carglazing plods.

No surprises there then on Legoland food quality, went to Farmer Joes a couple seasons ago and it was probably one of the worst meals I’ve had at a theme park. Port Aventura’s food is still worse though, apart from the fact they actually sell fruit.

Went to Screamland Saturday for the first time. Found the event good, but maybe not amazing. Quite a few mazes, but all quite short and perhaps lacking a bit in some scares. They were quite theatrical though in places which was cool. Festininos Funhouse: One of the better mazes, fun clown bits including a ball pond somewhere and maybe one of the longer mazes too. Reminded me of Big Top a little bit. 7/10 Dead and Breakfast/Tunnels Of Terror The opening was literally an old woman moaning and complaining about us staying and not giving a **** about customer service or how good or stay was. The opening was great but the rest of the maze fairly mediocre if I’m honest. The one thing which drops this maze down for me is the sneaky/strange fact they actually class this one as two mazes due to the Tunnels Of Terror Part At the end. This honestly makes no sense as it’s not only misleading but technically fake advertising as they actually have six mazes and not seven. If they’d just kept it as the one maze (Dead and Breakfast) they may have had a quality attraction here. 6/10- just for the opening Sleep Experiment Probably my favourite maze of the evening, reminded me of things like the Sanctuary and Asylum a little. Some good acting here and some scares, some more misleading than others. It wasn’t a long maze but definitely a good quality one. 8/10 HMS Mary Decomposed The set pieces were great but I wouldn’t say it was the best. Sketchy plotline and the scares didn’t seem to be the best in this one either. The theming literally was the saving grace here. 5/10 Punch and Judy Horror Show Another Circusesque type maze here, but this one was really neat and had some good acting and was one of the better for scares too. The man in the opening room was very entertaining and the scares throughout seemed more effective too. Probably only second to Sleep Experiment for me. 7.5/10 Upside Down Maze The last Maze of the night and the only one in a (sort of more) permant structure. Sadly this was the weakest maze by far, as nothing really happened apart from some scare actors dressed in full black following around. The idea of a mirror scare maze was cool but wasn’t the best. 2/10- Vulcan Peak might have actually been a little bit better. A little bit better! Also tried out the rides at night too (as well as the day). The Scenic Railway is a great charm of a ride and fantastic to see such a classic coaster open. Whilst the Yarmouth version is better, one must remember this attraction is technically almost 100 years old and was the equivalent of Taron/Helix to the generation at the time (in terms of thrills and excitement). The new Zamperla rides were surprisingly fun too, especially the Pendulam and new Enterprise type rides. Staff were friendly too despite working long days. Whilst the mazes were hit and miss, I would still recommend visiting, especially to support an independent park like this. Hopefully Margate can go on the up again after this. It definitely features a better atnosphere in the evening/night than in the day, that’s for sure.

Glad you enjoyed Phantasialand, it’s certainly a park with impressive rides and some of the richest theming out there. Taron, definitely an impressive coaster with lush surroundings and great pacing. I do see what you mean about the terrible cattle pen queue section though and hope they won’t need this in the future. Chiapas is probably my favourite water ride for the disco room alone and Black Mamba is certainly a solid B&M invert. Shame River Quest is still having so many reliability issues because it’s such a crazy yet amazing rapids ride. Talocan is just as much a show as a ride. Temple is by far the weakest attraction there (alongwith Wakobato) as it takes up so much space yet offers so little really apart from 10 minutes of a slow meandering coaster and three lift hills. It is expected they will remove it (along with the Hollywood ride) for redevelopment in the coming years due to insufficient expansion space. I think Geister Riksha though is going next, because the China area is strongly rumoured to be the next area to be rethemed/redeveloped. Fly looks great though and will hopefully be another worthwhile addition to an excellent park.

I second much of the above. Chessington’s Howl O-Ween event was excellent and top form in most ways. Creepy Caves Unearthed was again simply outstanding. Everything, from the acting, pacing and scares was practically faultless. For the first time in a while I even got scared on one or two ocassions two and I’ve done a fair few mazes. 10/10 Curse Of The Lost Tomb is definitely noticeably better this year, the changes they have made especially in the middle of the maze work really well and make it a improvement without doubt. 8/10. There was also also a stage shoe and the updated Trick Or Treat Maze, although ran out of time to see either of those. Most operations were very very good last night. Vampire team are the best I’ve seen for a few years as they were quickly and efficiently loading and unloading trains on just two platformers. There was considerably less stacking too. Buccaneer’s dispatch times were just over a minute too. Id like to give praise to Chessington’s security team who did a good job trying to keep people safe. Definitely a good event and would recommend visiting if you can.

Popped into Fright Nights yesterday for a bit and did a few of the mazes. Vulcan Peak: I was honestly expecting the worst maze in existence given how negative it is, but it was just very very mediocre. Quite dull but mediocre. The first bit was literally walking around an area with a rope and people saying names and things. The second half was better, where you were non hooded and featured some actors, a blow up passageway and an adequate ending. Still not a great maze though which doesn’t beat Hellements, let alone Hodoo Vodoo at Xtreme Scream. 3/10 Dead Creek Woods: Better than I expected, a vague storyline, some crazy theming, actors and a surprise midway chainsaw. Still too short though and quite a lot of toilets. Maybe these are the old ones from the Jungle? 5/10 Sanctum Do Or Die: I actually didn’t mind the original Sanctum, but I hated this maze. There was no explained story, plot or anything. I get that it is Walking Dead and things but there was nothing in any form. Poor theming, maze scares and a setting that just didn’t make sense. The bus was the only thing I liked about this one and I think I actually disliked it more than Vulcan Peak. I’m probably in a crazy minority here. 1/10 Whilst roaming actors were ok, I found the lighting and audio setup was perhaps the weakest one I have seen in all my years visiting Fright Nights. It’s an embarrassment if you ask me I hate to admit. Will be returning there this week to see what else can be offered but am not holding my breath.

Sadly there’s a better chance of me becoming divisional director next season than there is of Loggers ever reopening and Slammer being removed. The park really need a good look at what they are offering and how they can be different from other attractions. A new attraction would be nice but is somewhat unlikely. If it means giving them more time to make their next big thing special then so be it. It’s sad but no surprise that despite the theme park division doing well, the park is by far the worst performing in the group on both attendance and positive feedback. Sadly the staff don’t have enough motivation as many either leave or lose any form of initiative as a likely result of lack of morale. Oh and £15 for parking won’t improve Park incentive for anyone.

Thorpe Park could take so many directions as a park but it needs to stick with it. Chessington is something of a wild adventure park and Legoland is, erm, well Lego. There are so many different ways and styles the park could develop in the coming years if they kept with it. Sure, there will always be people unsatisfied with things, but pleasing a majority is the important thing. 1/ The Cedar Fair Style, Attractions with appropriate style, but not necessarily theming. This doesn’t however mean attractions can share similar styling if in the same area of the park. The park is mainly based for Thrill seekers, but families are not forgotten either. Cedar Point for example still have areas clustered with family attractions, plus several less thrilling coasters with lower height restrictions. 2/ The Phantasialand Style, Different themed areas and segments with a selection of attractions. Really make the areas diverse and feature suitable attractions. Unfortunately due to space and the water table, we would never see any thing terrain like such as Taron, but if they build things upwards nothing is impossible. 3/ The Port Aventura Style Lush areas, bring back some entertainment, clean up things and give it an Island feel. The only thing notbto do is make the food or operations like it either though. These are just ideas the park could develop in, which may suite it’s style. I don’t think an Efteling or Europa type of style would fit Thorpe in any way, but that’s not to say it can take some of it’s elements from either. Back into reality now. I want the park to: Deep clean areas- including jetwash, repainting, rebuilding, tidying and restoring different places. I’d love to see Universal rocks replace the rockwork on Inferno like they did for Mamba, however they probably don’t have the budget and it’s likely low down on their list. Redevelop or Restore Canada Creek- I want to see Loggers either reopened or just demolished for redevelopment, the park need to now make a decision as it’s getting a little out of hand now. Continue with events- Keep the Summer lates, just drop the Love Island stuff, the park has a good vibe late at night. Fright Nights needs seriously reviewing with a potential refresh and the return of Big Top. I know they are limited with with they can do here, but I would like the Car Park to see some improvements as it can take in excess of an hour to leave in super peak days. Plus £10 to park is crazy. Yes Disney charge like $25 (around £19), but at least they keep theirs in spotless condition. Wow, that was long!

Tover definitely sounds a lovely park and hopefully somewhere which is up and coming. Avalon looks a stunning investment and fingers crossed will be successful enough for future additions of a similar or better quality. Out of interest, how easy is it to access from Efteling and Phantasialand?

These just remind me of that Father Ted episode where they go to a small caravan park, except they didn’t charge £200 a night.

It’s a great shame Dom Jones has left as the park’s divisional director, however I am not surprised either. Sure he wasn’t perfect but definitely had some ambitious plans, many of which were likely noticeably downsized or cancelled altogether such as the reopening of Loggers. I’ve met him many times and seemed a down to earth guy who tried to improve the park’s cosmetic appearances such as tweaking the entrance, bridge and Dome areas. Sadly I’m not surprised he’s gone as I thought it was a matter of time before he went. Despite being the now former front man, he was likely restricted into what he could realistically do amongst insufficient resources too maybe.

Glad you enjoyed Efteling. Definitely a lovely park with much charm and atmosphere. Their park music is excellent. Joris is is definitely a fun great ride, and probably my second favourite Woodie and best duelling ride I’ve probably done. Dutchman is definitely fantastic and features what is arguably one of the best ride stations out there. Glad you liked Python, I’m yet to do it since the retrack. I love Symbolica, Dream Flight, Bird Rock and Symbolica. Did you do Fata Morgana, Villa Volta and Carnaval? I know Baron’s drop isn’t the best but as a ride package I think it’s excellent. Bob for me personally was the weakest coaster, so you didn’t miss much IMO.

Wall in it would be nice. That’s one mighty styled wall. With nicer inkeeping Wuze touches.

The true factor is that for better and for worse, demographic trends have changed. Everything in the 80’s/90’s was generally more creative, not just in theme parks, but everything including films, shops and products. Whether that be the likes of Labyrinth, Never Ending Story to things like the Lego Pirates and the launch of the original Disney Stores, which featured animatronic models in their early years. Theme Park’s big and small at this time we’re creating original definitive attractions. From the large scale Lost Continent, Discovery Land and Test Track at Disney and Universal, to the likes of Pirate Adventure and Magic Theatre (LLW). The U.K. was generally blessed with some interesting attractions in those years. Nowadays there is generally a lot more of a trend to go with popular IP’s from books, TV, film, other etc. As opposed to original ideas and more parks have been doing this a lot more especially in the last 5-10 years. Disney and Universal essentially only use IP’s for their attractions now (see Potter, Toy Story & Star Wars Lands). Even the likes of Europa and P.A are using IP’s more too. This isn’t to say non IP attractions aren’t being created though, but there is noticeable higher trend for IP’s. As choices go, Room On The Broom seems more fitting to Chessington currently and probably makes sense considering it’s a British I?P that’s quite popular and the park has another themed ride based from the same author. And Yes, I hate to admit it but the 90’s nearly started 30 years. Sure it’s 28 right now but it’s definitely much closer to 30 indefinitely.

It was going to happen indefinitely and could be an amusing attraction for a good proportion of visitors. My biggest criticidm to the project project is not only the fact they are opening ‘yet another’ dark themed ride in what’s supposed to be a happy upbeat area, but the fact this could be an upcharge attraction. Something the park don’t necessarily need, at least in their current position.

It’s definitely a budget related reason why it is shut, especially considering it requires a minimum of six staff (two operators) now to run. It’s almost crazy how it could’ve run on just three staff a few years back, before the recent Rapids accidents. They are probably short on staff too psrkwide, I expect. The most affected guests will be those under 10 or ones that hate Horror/Scare Mazes, which is still a shame really.

Just demolish, tear out and flatten Canada Creek for a fresh Western area with new buildings, theming and infrastructure. Then build Chiapas and Taron type rides interweaving between each other I would say, then you have an updated area with two great new attractions. There’s a better chance of them reopening Slammer than Loggers right now.

Well we didn’t see this one coming now did we? Next thing you know, Rattlesnake will be rethemed to stick man or something.

After almost 34 years, the Bob ride will be getting removed and replaced by Max and Moritz, a double family roller coaster. Source- Loopings The ride will be based on a German story where two people make their village unsafe. Amongst a higher capacity, the original station building of Bob is expected to be reused. The Bob Ride has experienced countless problems recently which resulted in the ride being closed for months. However the attraction is expected to reopen one last time before it is shuttered for good next September. This is likely subject to how comprehensible the ride is in it’s current state. Given Efteling’s motives for keeping older attractions, this was probably a last resort from them. Especially given the likely technical defects and the ride was apparently becoming higher maintenance for them. Intamin apparently don’t supply for this ride type anymore.Bob marks the second major attraction to be removed from the park after Pegasus. Bob closing may be sad in some respects, but I personally found it the weakest coaster at the park. Hopefully it’s replacement will be a worthwhile addition, especially to it’s target audience. Add up next year’s Fairy Tale expansions and (the slightly delayed) 2021 launch coaster and the park has an exciting few years ahead (fingers crossed).

Hey don’t you bad mouth Rumba! Sure it’s no River Quest, Fjord or Kallerado but one thing it does well is being a entertaining ride for family and groups. With enough work and effort it could be pretty special. Honestly speaking I’m not surprised it hasn’t seen the season out, what with it’s higher staff and maintenance costs and also no longer fun at dusk. I also get the impression the park’s attendance still leaves something to be desired. Fingers crossed it won’t end up getting abandoned and rotting away like it’s estranged cousin Loggers.

I too have only just realised/remembered about the pre-booking for passes and can strongly say £20 is not acceptable and as a result of Tomb not going amongst other things arising, I must make the difficult decision and unfortunately also decline attendance on this occasion. I would like to wish those that go, a frightfully enjoyable time and hope to see you all at another meet soon (fingers crossed for Christmas). Until then, Dead Creek Out!

Looks absolutely lavish, especially around the drop area of the ride. Animatronic dinosaurs also sounds great. Hopefully everything will fit in. I do wonder if the Dark ride is replacing the Forest Of Plop, because there were rumours of it being removed a little while back.