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Both coasters are looking very good yet very different at the same time. One is an immersive woodie with special effects and a pre-show, whereas the other is a sleek styled and modern launch coaster that interacts with numerous other attractions. Wicker will probably be more successful in the shorter term, with it’s advertisement and publishing, whereas Icon I expect more-so in the medium to longer term, when more people start riding it (subject to positive reviews). 2018 has arguably been the best year for new rides this decade.

I get the impression the ghost train will be an ongoing adjustment from the park. Scene Two in particular has seen some substantial changes, making it more of a walkthrough/maze than what was previously a show scene. At first I can say, the decision to change this was definitely a mixed bag. However hearing upon the move being as a result of excessive breakdowns, it is perhaps more of a positive in that regard. Derren has been a problematic attraction for shut downs (usually on a daily basis). Fingers cross this debatable move will noticeably improve it’s reliability. Can also add on my last ride, the VR worked well as did the shop. Apart from the Demon getting stuck outside after the ending, which was just bizarre.

This definitely looks better than expected because it offers a unique and interesting access way to access the upcoming Rookburgh area, whilst in keeping with the stunning Berlin Street. Can’t wait to watch Rookburgh progress and develop, and who knows what else may enter the new area in the form of attractions, shops, restaurants or even more. Mamba’s new rockwork is without doubt stunning.

Absolutely love the new additions and attentive care the Macks put into Europa each year, whether that’s a cute update to one of their family rides or tweaking shops or eateries. Europa definitely have a can can do attitude. Speaking of which, the art work looks great, although I will very much miss the original space theme too.

Mexican Cantina is becoming Sombrero’s Burrito Bar. Hats off to them.

Love a park that go all out on doing up areas and making them look almost new again Mamba didn’t necessarily need work doing, but looks amazing though as s result of it. The Berlin building demolition seems a generally unexpected one, but shows the park has some interesting developments up it’s sleeve. Apparently, Ling Bao has also seen some changes, especially to the main restaurant which has been given a noticeably more modern Asian look. Rumours suggest that China could be the next area to be redeveloped and Geister Riksha replaced with an updated dark ride.

Wow. There’s snow in Poland too. Oh, and the coaster being built in the pictures looks lovely too.

The irony that a coaster using fire is closed due to snow. Honestly though, there are certain weather conditions which make it unsafe for certain rides to operate in and with recent track history the park will need and want to follow that. One should note it is not just Merlin parks that close attractions due to weather. When I was at PA last year, Shambhala and other attractions had ceased operation due to high wind.

Well, at least it will be slightly better than Tomb Blaster at worst. I want to be excited seeing that an ageing dark ride is getting a noticeable refurbishment, but I just remember Tomb Blaster. If this has been done correctly it will make for a refreshing and welcoming decision, otherwise it’ll probably be the beginning of the end.

I miss the days when only Detonator and Slammer operated at a snowed in park. Oh well.

Sounds a massive shame if they were originally going to build an enclosed launch and decided to remove it (either due to budget or something). Would be nice if they could add this during the future, but that seems wishful thinking. I’d rather they remove the stopping completely if this is the case. In retrospect, the second launch actually feels underwhelming, because it literally does a few curves and corners and then goes straight into the brake run. It certainly feels a missed opportunity on the layout front, especially since I consider the second launch on rides such as Helix and Taron, the best parts of the ride. Not a bad coaster as such, but one that could’ve been even better.

Looks good and seems a logical move to switch the drop towers for ‘presumably’ a Madhouse style ride system. Lets hope this actually goes ahead now following all the kerfuffle over the original system. I guess this this is more akin to a juniorised Hex than Mystery Castle now.

Whatever they are doing it should at least be an improvement over it was like before. Hopefully the park park will eventually extensively update/rebuild the entrance area, however I expect that is still several years away.

I hate to be negative, especially towards a park that’s had so much significance personally, but I cannot help but notice the shocking flaws within the park. With the exception of Gruffalo, most of the main rides are in a shocking condition. Missing/broken/removed theming with budget repairs, poor and incorrect lighting (Vampire and Tomb come to mind) and numerous exterior area’s continuing to decay and remain run down. Probably until they are either rethemed or a victim to knee-jerk safety measures. The majority of staff seem to put in put in an effort with the limitations they have, but when uppers cannot offer sufficient budget and resources, then there’s little that can be done and things continue to slip. Building or updating attractions is only half the battle as the park (probably like most in the group) need a steady yet consistent upkeep scheme that ensures key areas and elements receive deserving attention. Even simple things like repainting walls and jetwashing roofs is a good start. Many parks out there do these on a yearly basis, whilst at Chessington and the like we are lucky if it happens ever. I feel particularly pessimistic on Hocus Pocus. Whilst it was never a groun breaking attraction, it was full of so much simple charm and character, making it an amusing distraction. Without the glasses, it’s almost pointless to experience the attraction which is equivalent to watching a major blockbuster without any special effects. Sadly I’d say there is a greater chance of this closing/being replaced than for the park being able to reinvest in new glasses. Overall it’s poor. The likes of Gruffalo and upcoming Tiger Rock bring some greatness to the place, however the rest continues to slip away.

In a perfect world, they’d have those Mack baggage holds, similar to Blue Fire and Silver Star. These enable a more safer and secure method than open shelving, yet don’t require the extra staff member stuck in a bag room handing out/handing back guest’s belongings. I think some bag holds work better than others. I think on rides like Thirteen and Stealth, they work rather well, but will say the one for Swarm leaves something to be desired.

Definitely would like to see something like an RMC. Something along the lines of Steel Vengeance or Wild Fire, but probably noticeably smaller with more styling/theming. A GCI Woodie or something similar to Taron/Helix (but comparatively different) are honourable mentions. Even something like Time Treveller wouldn’t go a miss. Can’t really see them adding another B&M unless it’s something like a Hyper. Swarm alone pretty much rules out any Floorless and Flyer type coasters and Saw probably writes off a dive coaster. Don’t fancy a stand up at all. Lets just hope the capex reduction hasn’t affected this otherwise we’ll be lucky to get an apocalyptic Wacky Worm or Spinning Wild Mouse with faded primary colours.

Looks nice, shame about the first launch pause though. Would love to see sonething like this come to a UK park one day.

Yay! Bring on the purple rain and JD sauce. Not together of course.

This is very good news as far as the park is concerned. Efteling is a charming park who definitely emphasise on dedication and experience. Symbolica looks like it did the trick. With the 2020 project (amongst others), the park looks to be on track with increasing numbers. The Efteling also want to increase accommodation offering further too in the next few years, which I expect will be along the lines of Bosrik and Loonsche Land. With 5.2 million visitors, this makes Efteling the third most visited european theme park, behind Europa Park (approx 5.6 m) and Disneyland Paris (approx 8.4 m).

Hate to admit it but the ride has definitely gone down a similar route to how the Bubbleworks. The ride audio, scenery and exterior remain in an extremely poor state. The Bubbleworks in it’s final year comprised broken effects, generally poor lighting and audio missing from key scenes (although some actually repaired). With the current stste of the park, I can see Tomb Blaster ( along with Forbidden Kingdom as a whole) being one of the next areas on the chopping board for redevelopment. Then again a reduction in Park capex who’s to say when that may be. Hocus Pocus Hall too is probably on borrowed time (with it’s missing glasses thing).

Yesterday I visited the park for one of the Pass Holder days. Here’s how I got on. Vampire was one of the first rides of the day, featuring operations that were neither brilliant or terrible. The station features quirky new lights near the platform which were ok, but in no way do not compensate the fact the chandeliers are still missing whilst the rest of the station remains to be poorly lit like a school disco. The incorrect audio version and mismatch queue with mostly D.I.Y theming remains. The organist had about zero life in him. Tomb Blaster was again in a poor state. The audio throughout the ride is the worst I’ve seen it, with the opening music and sound effects missing until the Mummy scene and the audio afterwards stopping and starting continuously. Some lighting was also broken. Previous issues affecting the ride since it’s terrible refurbishment remained the same. The exterior is still a neglected mess. The cars seem to be stopping longer on the Mummy and Cobra scenes which is the only positive I can find. Hocus Pocus Hall used to be a quirky amusing little attraction, but has literally be ruined by the excursion of 3D glasses. It completely ruins the attraction and makes it inferior to what it once was. What’s more, the pre-shoe has been overdubbed to remove mention of the glasses in a poor way and adds further insult to injury. The attraction is now an embarrassment. Rattlesnake seem to feature very slow operations, where it seemed to be running just one car on the circuit for some reason. The scenery and theming remains in a poor state with ageing models, some of which seem to have been removed. Dragons Fury was still badly stacking. The ride badly needs a repaint as the track has faded so much now, with red looking more like a pale pink. Much of the rest of the park looks a sorry state. The former Skyway area and castle still look a complete mess and either need thorough cleaning or complete removal. The patch of grass replacing the pond still looks meh and the Cantina Restaurant still looks abandoned. Pandemonium also looks to be part time only, which is mentioned as returning in the Summer. The battered sausage and chips meal was rather mediocre and the staff seemed to mess up a few orders. I suppose it’s still better than PA and I’ll forgive the staff this once because they are new. Zufari ran just two trucks and normal Coke seems to have+been ditched in favour of Coke Zero. In previous years, there has been some of excitement during the beginning of the season, with one full of optimism and potential for better. This time round I didn’t particularly feel that and found park rather underwhelming with noticeably less atmosphere than previous visits. Whether that be I spent 2/3 of the day alone or the fact of possible park overkill, remains difficult to be seen. Right, before I get complained at I’ll end this apparent negative review on a more positive note. A lot of the staff seemed more friendly and helpful. Operations may have not been the best, but at the end of day, whilst it’s pass holder day for most of us, it’s technically rehearsal day for a lot of the staff, who are probably new and still getting the hand of the ropes. I would like to also mention how well the Gruffalo team dealt with a shut down due to guest action. It certainly gave me and Tomb a lot of time to appreciate the details in the finale room. The progression of Land Of The Tigers looks an interesting one. Whilst I will hold off full judgement until it opens, I sincerely hope it will not only provide a new experience to the park, but also delivery a deserved re-working of the Flume, which has been in poor shape aesthetically for several years. It was also great to spot some new pins new pins in the shop and catching up with numerous members of the enthusiast community. The repainted Squirtalot and Coffin bits were nice additions too. Thanks For Reading.

Tomb Blaster hasn’t been in a great state now for a number of years, but from what I witnessed yesterday, it is perhaps the worst I’ve seen it. No music or sound effects on the opening scene Broken lighting between the Mummy and Dog scene Music keeps breaking after the Mummy scene, Thats on top of the still awful lighting setup, Music sync and the fact the exterior and ride overall are in an appalling state. The ride looked well maintained 5-10 years ago compared to now.

I’m slowly warming up to the colour of these coaster trains, but yes I like the naming on the front too. Good to see a coaster delivering so many potential exciting points amongst a proper place for bagging.

Great to see progress in our parks. Who needs bag holds anyway, when you can just cram them on a few B&Q shelving units and cut the costs of expensive staff. Clearly much quicker and easier for everyone. Merlin really are pushing and innovating our parks.

I’m a maybe at the moment. If work approves I’ll make sure I appear by magic.