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Everything posted by Matt 236
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Like Rob had said, the likelihood is it has been taken off the app because it may have pro-longer downtime because of the unknown incident. There are many parks with older Mack powered coasters (80’s/90’s), so if they can keep theirs going, there is no reason why Chessington can’t either. However again that depends on the damage. I think comparing an outdoor powered coaster to a fully enclosed water based dark ride is an inaccurate comparison.
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TPM Thorpe Park Meet Saturday 13th August 2022
Matt 236 replied to Mattgwise's topic in TPM 2022 Meets
Currently a maybe, but hopefully a definite once I sort out cover at work. Edit- swap complete, all good to attend this now. -
At this point, they should just go and build Spooky Island from Scooby Doo. Then it would be an island like no other.
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Californias Great America - Invest now
Matt 236 commented on Mark9's blog entry in Take me to Disneyland
And given the latest news resulting in the eventual park closure, they will not invest. Sad times. -
Thanks for this sweet review! Hershey is definitely a park on my bucket list and interesting to note the pros & cons here. No bags in the queue seems to be a recurring theme in American parks it seems.
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And while we’re at it, why don’t they sort out the Adventure point castle. Paint it blue, gold and white just like the Disney castle.
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I think the comparisons between the two are just silly and irrelevant. Yes, the rapids did need some work going to it, it given its outside and around a concrete foundation, helps this placement no doubt. Not to mention new boats. With Pirate adventure, not only is the theming now all gone and ripped out, but the ride system would have greater wear and tear from its closure around 2014 time (8 years speaking while writing this). I mean, never say never to a new dark ride or attraction taking this former spot, but we will be incredibly lucky to see the ride system restored, let alone the theme.
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Californias Great America - Invest now
Matt 236 commented on Mark9's blog entry in Take me to Disneyland
Almost forgot about this place. It’s pretty clear CF are giving this place the mouse’s share of investment along with Michigan’s Adventure & Valley Fair. Chain parks I guess. Definitely see the thing with floor-less coasters. Daemonen was very popular with all ages when I last went. -
It really has been a mixed bag of news at Drayton recently. The new additions in the Adventure and Viking areas. Adding and renovating current attractions and the rumours of new ones. Including a potential coaster. The apocalypse removal is honestly a massive blow for both the park and the UK. But perhaps also not a surprising one given the ride’s reliability issues and potential direction of the park.
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Riding Solo: A Danish Adventure Part 2 Tivoli Gardens
Matt 236 posted a blog entry in Creek Critiques
Hello and welcome to part two of my solo holiday trip report. After feeling somewhat underwhelmed following my 90 minute trip to Bakken, it would now be time to revisit Tivoli Gardens. I visited here back in 2019, so it felt nice to be back. Even if on my own. The thing I love about Tivoli Gardens is their dedication and preservation to their history and character. The Rutschebanen (sp) at over 108 years old and such a phenomenal attraction! The way it ploughs through those corners, through the lovely mountain facade. And most importantly, has a brake man. My favourite scenic railway! Bakken being my least. Daemonen is not the best B&M, but it’s got its charms. Not to mention looks beautiful, especially within it’s pretty eastern setting. Since last time, they have actually opened a new powered coaster, a replacement of the old one they used to have. This one has a space theme and is apparently built higher as well. It honestly packed a punch in places amongst some interesting interaction. Probably my third favourite after Rhombus and Alpen. Other attractions include two dark rides. The Flying Trunk (a Mack omnimover) was just as delightful as I remembered and The mine one, very random. In a rather charming way. They have quite a lot of flat rides, including Fata Morgana. An iron condor type ride. Others include an alright S&S drop tower, a sky flier, a nauseating inverted carpet ride and Tic Tac. I didn’t ride Tic Tac. Villa Vendetta is a scare attraction, nestled away in the corner. It’s included in the ride package too. Whilst not the most actor heavy, it packs in quite a few surprises and features a decent set piece design. Was getting Hotel Gasten vibes here. Last but not least, they also host. Fountain show, Illuninations. This takes place on the main lake and is basically a smaller scale Aquanura (albeit with it’s own charms). The one thing I adore about Tivoli is the fact it had so much charm. It’s a place where you can just sit down somewhere by yourself and still enjoy things. Whilst I was happy to leave Bakken, departing from Tivoli felt a lot more difficult. It was just wonderful to be back here once more. Until next time adios. P.S I would strongly recommend Tivoli Gardens, regardless if you like rides or not. -
Most rides you've ever had on one attraction in a single day?
Matt 236 replied to Matt N's topic in General Discussion
Probably Helix. Ten times or something. -
Life, the last number of years have been something of a disappointment to many for a number reasons. Mostly Covid. Now having, an outstanding flight voucher following many cancelled trips, an idea came to me. A solo holiday/adventure. After much debate, I decided to return to Copenhagen. Whilst not the cheapest, it’s a city I had liked previously and also felt reasonably safe from what I remembered. The flight from Gatwick was a little bumpy. From the hideously long security queues, boots having no meal deals and what might have been the roughest landing I have experienced to date. Mr fish special. After working my way around the clean efficient M2&M3 (not near Thorpe), the adventure had properly. Urban house was my base for the trip, a rather trendy yet conveniently located hotel literally in the city centre. Very close to Tivoli. Attraction Parks: There are two amusement parks around Copenhagen. Bakken & Tivoli gardens. With both being danish amusement parks and somewhat close, you’d think there would be many similarities. Think again! Bakken/ The oldest amusement park out there. Bakken is a short train journey away via the central station. The park is literally located in the middle of a large park/woods and is surprisingly concealed. You wouldn’t know it was there if you were looking for it! Despite the pretty woods setting, the park isn’t picturesque or interesting in any sort of way. If anything it’s a little characterless, dull and maybe underwhelming. There are a number of rides and attractions in this place, including five roller coasters. One of those was the Rutshebanen (sp), the park’s wooden roller coaster. As past reviews highlight, the ride had a modification to remove the brakeman with new trains. The ride was honestly ok, not great but just ok. The automated braking definitely had an impact on the pacing, being familiar to a go kart race maybe. The tunnel on the other hand was highly interesting with it’s position. Tornado, perhaps one of the park’s bigger draws is an intamin spinning coaster. It literally launches you up the lift hill into what can be described as a crazy bumpy spinning sensation. It is not in anyway a smooth or comfortable experience, but a rough one indeed. The park’s other coasters include Mine Train Ulven. A decent mine train coaster featuring a fun layout. There is also an acceptable wild mouse and ladybird coaster too. So, what else is there besides coasters? Well, they have two random dark rides, a dodgy ghost train and a random Safari shooter ride, was the least terrible of the two. Several flat rides incorporate the place, including a fun polyp ride, those “crazy” spinning rides and one of those axis rides everywhere is getting now. Although it was quite fun. They also have a small yet powerful S&S shot tower, which packs a punch. Also in the queue line it seems, given it tore my jacket! Does this look familiar? They also had a largely enjoyable fun house, featuring an array of effects and a broken piano. Shame it was broken. There was also a flume ride, although I didn’t go on this. So, I managed to complete and wrap up my visit here in less than 90 minutes, including re-rides on 3/5 coasters. On what must be one of my shortest stays at any park. So why didn’t I stay to long? To be honest, Bakken is potentially one of the most bland and generic parks I have been to, nothing comes across as striking. It just doesn’t feel photogenic in any particular way. The place just feels like a large permanent fun fair. And not in a good way. There was just no charm or atmosphere at all. Despite its plus points, it is no doubt towards the bottom-end of parks I’ve visited so far. And you know it’s not a great place, when a part of you is even happy to leave too. Visit for the creds, visit for Tornado. Maybe visit if you want to see new parks and like funfairs. Otherwise, you aren’t missing out on too much here. Stay tuned for my Tivoli review soon.
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I honestly don’t think there’s a definite answer here. As others have mentioned it all depends on preference. If your someone who loves awesome thrilling roller coasters and white knuckle attractions, Cedar point will win. If you adore themed areas, random attractions/dark rides, Europa will win. I honestly adore both places, but I guess Europa has it for me, but only just.
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The way forward for this new attraction definitely looks the best one the park could opt for. By opening an attraction which works on the strengths character of the original, whilst utilising the advancements in technology. This seems an excellent decision IMO. It’s pretty clear the original attraction is on it’s last legs and needs a renovation now. And given development hiccups and it’s low KPI, a modernised replacement seemed imminent. The original was very dark indeed, with demons, religious figures and even a hanging corpse. That’s Spookslot!
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Retro squad is a nice idea, but needs to be implemented into a more permanent and environment fitting setting. Towers just needs to fix what they’ve got now before they invest in another major ride in all honesty.
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I wouldn’t say it’s Disney standards at all, but it does look very nice. A definite improvement from it’s sorry state at Thorpe. I’m glad the park has been working on presentation this year.
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Matt N’s Europa Park Initiation 26th-30th April 2022 (26th April 2022: Travel)
Matt 236 commented on Matt N's blog entry in Matt N’s Musings
Glad you had a great time. Hotel Alcazar certainly looks beautiful! -
Storm Clouds Over Hamburg - Day 2, Hansa Park
Matt 236 commented on JoshC.'s blog entry in The C. View
I’ve always heard interesting things about this place. In terms of photography and the like, they seem to be the strictest. Karnan looks great though. -
Storm Clouds Over Hamburg - Day 1, Heide Park
Matt 236 commented on JoshC.'s blog entry in The C. View
Great report. Heide has been a park I’m still been meaning to visit and can definitely see the mixed ups and downs of this place. Flug seems so varied upon opinion. Some say they prefer Swarm and others less-so. -
So yesterday I went to Chessington for the first trip of the season. Opinions are mixed and maybe more on the negative side. Park was very busy, which was to be expected, however how the park somewhat coped with this is more the problem. Ride reliability was poor park-wide with next to every ride either having a major breakdown, opening late or closed all day. Witnessed a breakdown on Falls and got stuck on Gruffalo as it broke down. Amazon (Jumangi) Land couldn’t have come at a better time, given most of the park is on its last legs and it seems more of the middle aged stuff too. On the plus note, staff were friendly enough and presentation in most areas seemed better. But they really need to focus on improving ride hardware and infrastructure and it feels like the place cannot cope anymore with crowds above moderate.
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Back in the day of full and proper operations, Falls could’ve easily achieved a throughout of at least 1000 PPH. Given the lack of boats we saw yesterday(half at best), it probably doesn’t get more than 500. And that’s before taking RAP and fastrack into consideration.
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Should hopefully complement the lovely entrance they have there and not mess it up. House of the five senses for me is already up there amongst park entrances such as Disneyland Paris’s and Europa Park.
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I mean, they might cannibalize parts that can be used in similar attractions in their portfolio. But otherwise, no! Rocky is dead and won’t be returning ever.
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On Friday, visited the park for opening day. There were vibes I guess? Security process was long with many taking over an hour to get in. Some areas looked fresher, such as the new mural & (yet to open) Highstriker and others less-so. Banana looks naff without it’s theming. Amity seems to be a hive of activity with the new stage. I like that the park has more entertainment, but unsure how I feel about the location. Operations were a mixed bag. Stealth had the best, Inferno didn’t open until the afternoon. Colossus ran one train. Saw was squirting loads of water on the in-line. Still painful! Old Town is (basically) dead! Events/advertisements dominate the new white fence surrounding the former area. The toilets, BK etc. are likely now just part of the jungle. Wet Wet Wet gone (no real loss) and a new (random playground). Tried Vibes Kitchen. It’s alright, but basically Infinity with a new name and random menu IMO. The Cod goujon baguette meal was adequate. Overall a fun day, helped by the weather. As much I’m excited for Exodus, I feel most of the park is looking rundown and tired. Especially The jungle. Not to mention audio was messy.
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I literally had to stop watching the video halfway through. This is just horrifying. Like how was this even possible to happen? This shouldn’t have been able to happen! Be it through ride safety, training etc. Thoughts go to the boy’s family and friends.