Matt 236

Some sad news today at Phantasialand via-Loopings as a 58 year old employee has been killed whilst trying to service the Winjas Coaster. Thoughts are with his family.

I like it. Seems to resemble the style of Klugheim a little, although perhaps a little more quirky however. It's great to see Plopsa but so much dedication and effort into their recent projects.

Shame the contract contract couldn't have been renewed as the Ben 10 theme worked particularly well with the coaster. Judging from the pictures it doesn't look great which is a shame, but we will have to see. Am I imagining this or were the park trying to add a Cartoon Network land in the surrounding area? If yes, it appears it didn't go as planned.

Stunning looking vehicles to say the least and am liking the colour scheme here too. The new ride will also apparently be going under a new theme area called Imaginstive, which will also incorporate aquanura, Polle's Kitchen and the entrance building (house of the five senses).

I know it's just another flying theatre like Soarin (and the many others were supposed to be getting), but I'm actually quite excited about this attraction, because it offers another immersive experience at Europa and something different from their other indoor attractions. Could safely argue this attraction is arguably more exciting than Ferrari Land, even though they are both different projects altogether.

Such a shame to see the park's premier thrill machine struggling so badly, especially the start of the season which is concerning to say the least. I would love love to see the ride extensively refurbished. Or failing that, replaced with a Talocan style Top Spin.

Whilst everyone's opininins will vary on the 2017 changes, there certainly seems to be positive ones. The new Carousel looks stunning and will certainly become a major eye catcher in the Adventure point area when it's running. Yay for for 'potential' water feature. Gruffalo shop looks interesting enough and the additional theming additions in Vampire are adequate. Loving Black Buccaneer's paint job and the new food outlets in Adventure Point are perfectly adequate, given the area has been shifted around slightly to accommodate the new Carousel.

So much detail! Towers have done a frightfully fantastic job on updating and repaintint the Nemesis. It's good to see the park receive so many updates and would be great if the TLC scheme became a regular thing.

I find this substitute of a highly adequate level. And given what happened in Guildford, it seems it's meant to be.

I predict a riot

I'm generally very happy with the TLC and update work the park have been doing doing recently, especially on things like Hex and Towers Street which is bringing done much needed freshness back into the park. See the Hex signs for example which looks much better. Source-Towers Loving Care

I think for the sake of all complaints and moaning they maybe should've named it 'fast coaster'. Least it says what it does on the tin then.

No major loss as drop towers go. Still a shame that the park may be spitting their drop ride as it was literally the only non-coaster thrill ride there apart from Vertigo (which is extra anyway). Oakwood as a park that still seems to be slipping, which is a great shame. The park had so much potential when I visited in 2013.

Me & Tomb have also now booked up. Can't wait for this meet which will probably fly by faster than Ferrari Land.

I think it's time I update my top 10's again.

This is gonna be the hottest meet of 2017! Even though my wallet will blaze faster than Ferrari Land. Me and Tomb for the list please.

All UK Thrills and Attractions have posted an update on the Gruffalo attraction showing the ride boats scattered around the old Carousel site. The boats have been repainted a wooden brown on the outside and lighter brown on the inside. I would say the outer layer resembles the old Professor Burp style boats, but I'm probably wrong. Different ride anyway. Can't help but also notice the fence in the background. Probably a new inflatable game attraction.

Skyway was certainly a wonderful attraction in it's peak, as not only did it provide a short break from the more adventurous attractions but some loverly and interesting views of the park above. Its a shame the ride was removed last year even though it was literally falling apart and parts of the route didn't work as well they once did. The attraction could've certainly lived on had the effort been made to update the trains and hardware which would also fit in strongly within it's current adventure style too. The monorail bahn at Europa reminds me a lot of what skyway once was and is perhaps the nearest experience to Chessington's now extinct monorail.

I'm surprised and amazed a park like this can squeeze in another coaster given it's tiny size. Which at 15 acres makes even THORPE look massive in comparison. Still great to see the place gain another new coaster which means Sweden would receive two B&M coasters in three years as a result. Will be interesting to see what they remove to install this.

According to Roller Coaster Database, after 2011. It does make it confusing though given they've not changed or repainted the mini can tunnel at the beginning though. Least Iran Bru was given a facelift in 2012 when it reopened.

In all fairness though, it's not just Merlin and BPB that suffer from maintenance and reliability issues though as pretty much every park has or will go through something major from time to time. River Quest at Phantasialand has had numerous issues last year resulting in the ride having reliability issues and reduced capacity too (thus resulting over 2 hour queues). Not to mention Big Thunder at DLRP has been having reliability issues since it's refurb too. Thorpe may appear to have a tendacy for one train ops (especially Colossus), but given various maintenance situations this may not always be avoidable. I can't remember the last time I waited two hours for any of their coasters on two trains, let alone one. Not to mention on my previous trip to Blackpool, I saw several coasters running just one train, when demand could've easily warranted two. These included Grand National, Big One, Avalanche and Nickelodeon Streak. In short, all park's have their fair share of problems.

I thoroughly enjoy these little videos they make, as each one not only shows how much effort and dedication they put into everything but make me even more excited to when this opens later this year. The new soundtrack from the ride featured in the video sounds fantastic. Very cinematic with beautiful melody and thematic elements and most importantly, very Efteling like. Efteling features some of what are arguably the best ride themes at any European park. From Dutchman to Joris and Dreamflight to Baron.

According to Loopings, the new proposed wing rider will reach a height of 40 metres (131ft), making it not only the highest coaster at the park (Troy 35 metres), but the second tallest coaster in the Netherlands after Goliath. The ride will also be slightly taller than Swarm and Raptor and around equal height to Flug Der Daemon. 2018 is already looking like a highly exciting year for Europe, not just the UK. Especially with Valkyria at Liseberg and rumours of Phantasialand's next big thing too.

Silver Star is a very hit and miss coaster indeed. My first ride was great, my second was amazing and my final ride being rather inadequate in comparison, which is surprising because it was towards thr back in the rain. Silver Star ranks my tops purely as one of just two hyper coasters I have done (The Big One being the other). Whether it will remain in my Tops list after Shambhala is currently not yet known. Regardless, the attraction has many plus points, from its impressive height, racing hall queue exhibits (which change seasonally) and it's one of the highest throughout coasters in Europe (around 1700 PPH). It would never get a two hour queue if all line extensions were open.

One thing Chessington seem to be rathe prepared for though on this new attraction is the expected high queue levels. Source-Theme Uk. I'm not going to speculate on when this ride will open and if it's on time. All I will say is from one months time from now social media will either be flooded with Gruffalo reviews and pictures or major backlash as a result of delays.