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I feel the retheme in some ways worked, but in others less so. They’ve done an ok job integrating what’s there into an original storyline, but it feels less iconic/distinctive regardless of the many setbacks from the very beginning. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the ride mothballed in the near future, especially with the problems highlighted above.

Another retheme to the X/pyramid coaster/ ride system is perhaps the most likely choice, with investment likely stagnant yet again and Walking Dead feeling like a, well dead IP now.

It all feels a slippery slope to me, the companies profits are slipping and struggling due to at least a decade of unhealthy growth and numerous cut corners. A reduced credit rating is also a major concern. Merlin aren’t the only major operator with big issues (see Six Flags), but I think do have it worse personally.

Six Flags Great Adventure was the first major park I visited recently, as part of a larger north-east/mid-western park trip with a friend. At the time of planning this trip (late 2024), there were strange and concerning reports that Kingda Ka and other attractions would be closed at the park for the next season. These reports were unfortunately true. In-light of being spited at least two former major attractions, expectations for this place were noticeably diminished. However thankfully a mostly enjoyable visit was had. It’s an interesting park in how it’s not too far from New York, yet in the middle of nowhere, amongst a safari attraction too. Upkeep was mostly decent and operations mixed, though some of the clientele made for a more hairy queuing experience. El toro is certainly the show stopper here, incredible woodie with some rough and intense moments. The B&M collection is mostly excellent, Dare Devil thankfully opened and was better than Wonder Woman and the Flash was overall fun. The park also had a random DC show, Skull Mountain wasn’t anything special. Still worth visiting if you’re in that area.

Thorpe top this for me for reasons similar to the above. Rides are often operated well, especially the likes of Stealth & Hyperia and reliability has been better than from previous years. Towers contrary though has seen a noticeable decline in operations and reliability lately. Some rides like Thirteen still smash it but it’s not like how it was. Chessington is hit and miss, but I’ve seen some poor operations lately, with rides like Rattlesnake operating so badly now and too many rides on low or reduced capacity now. LEGOLAND is ok, but I still find it exaggerated where staff have to say “you’re secure” after checking a simple door or restraint once or even twice. It’s the most safety exaggerated park out there I’ve done!

I’d say Rumba’s days of operating are likely numbered. It’s an expensive atttaction to run ( in resources & staffing now), gets lower ridership most of the time and strict regulations and badly behaving guests adding up also. Rumba wasn’t a bad one as a former host, however after what happened at Drayton, it wasn’t the same and staffing and operating is much higher and stricter now. At nearly 40 years, maybe it has run its course now (no pun intended).

Depends on the park for me, especially if such place has x amount of rides that requires a minimum number of people to ride in order for it to operate. some parks when quiet feel pleasant to visit, enabling numerous re-rides and getting lots done, assuming they don’t have silly operating hours (glares at Towers). But then again, with empty paths, areas, fewer or no entertainment (depending on the park), it can definitely impact atmosphere and environment. Making it feel more flat and empty as a result. Not sure where everyone else is on this, but I find parks on average the most enjoyable when they are between the busier end of quiet and the busier event of lively. But that might just be me.

This weekend I went to Paulton’s fan day, the park certainly put on a lovely event. Several tours/BTS were carried out throughout the day, from seeing Cobra’s ride workshop, Storm Chaser’s OP cabin/train workshop process, the new construction area and much more. We had over an hour of ERS in Tornado Springs and Ghostly Manor (more on that soon) as well as a lovely buffet in Mel’s Diner and a Reveal/Q&A with park management. The biggest news/reveal of course was the new Vikings area (Valgard), which will include a new coaster, flat ride, restaurant and also re-themed Cobra (soon to be Raven). Surprisingly, the new coaster will be a Gerstlauer eurofighter, but hopefully the park will carry it off well, I find the smaller ones the better rides usually. Vague hints of a new water ride the following year were revealed, but not much else. Very exciting still. Magma will be a goner later this year. At least for Paultons. The lodges are several years away still. They also did a Q&A and showed how they build Ghostly Manor, which given the areas footprint/show building is impressive they got that all in. They also did a silent disco, but I left at that point. So, Ghostly Manor? My thoughts? It’s a lovely compact dark ride mixing screens and scenes nicely (they have 10 of them), plus the queue line is nicely done too. Whilst it doesn’t hit the same way as Alty Mans or Danse Macabre (which I did days earlier), it’s a decent addition to the park and great to see them finally obtaining a dark ride. Should suit the park nicely. Interesting times ahead perhaps.

Studios/Adventure world still has some way to go on the park front, but this actually looks great. Must admit I had a strange liking towards studio one, but excellent work on this section. Hopefully we will see similar with the rest of the park in due course.

Convince me I’m wrong.

Last weekend (April 12th), I finally got to meet industry legend John Wardley. It’s pretty clear 2025 is not the year to be visiting Chessington. With Project Play under construction and Wild Asia mothballed, under the guise of early construction for the Minecraft area. Operations were mixed, with mandrills being decent, despite a breakdown and Vampire doing a decent 2 train op, with just two platformers (one of which was batching). Rattlesnake’s operations were atrocious. The less said about the hideous Tiger Rock tunnel changes, the better. It looks more like an industrial estate than a theme park now. Now onto the event. At first there was a Vampire themed buffet in the temple restaurant. Buffets are known for either quality and quantity, unfortunately this one was neither. Burgers were the main event and as expected tasted vile. Salt, pepper and ketchup couldn’t polish this monstrosity. The curry was at least was just about edible. The desserts were comparatively bette. Black died soft serve, sundaes, sweets and jellies comprised the selection. Thankfully the event improved from here, the VIP team were generally attentive and chatted to everyone and we got a Vampire themed welcome drink. After making our way to the event suite, the main event kicked off. In the first segment John Talked about the different projects he’d worked on. Things mentioned included how the park almost became a housing estate, due to it being a failing attraction, his work with the McNamaras at the (sadly now closed) Oakwood and early ideas for the Vampire. Wardley reckons the ride still has much life left and the trains have less impact on the track than say Nemesis. On the second segment, John answered attendees questions. He said Universal GB wouldn’t impact the U.K. parks as much as people think and it’s not a David and Goliath battle. He also mentioned as far as developments go at the park. We would be in for a treat. At the end, one of the park’s long serving ride engineers Martin went through a lot of the ride’s mechanical statistics and gave away a few random ride bits to some who answered the most correct/accurate answers. There was then an opportunity to meet John, have things signed and have pictures with him. And now the 12 million pound question, was it worth it? At £125, even after discount it was perhaps an eye watering amount to spend, regardless of circumstances. On hindsight the food was mostly disappointing and other features were interesting, but I guess the important thing was this. I finally got to meet John Wardley. The man and legend who brought many of the countries most exciting attractions to life and such an inspiration to many. Without Wardley, Chessington may have well become a large housing estate.

Went to Vibes last week, without a doubt one of the best meals I’ve had in a UK park for years. The wrap was tasty, flavoursome and decent value for money amongst the chilled yet vibrant atmosphere of the restaurant. Even the service was to a decent standard. As long as this standard continues, will definitely go here again. A contrast to the awful meal I had at Chessington recently.

Thought I would celebrate the arrival of the 2025 season, by recording and arranging the ride’s theme.

Visited Towers this weekend for the first time this season. First impressions weren’t great, from the misleading car park layout, various delapited areas and the monorail running just two trains. Rather embarrassing to what could be argued to be the UK’s flagship park. Operations seemed noticeably inferior to previous standards, with Rita on just 1 train and Galactica on just 2 trains and 1 station, disappointing every 5 minutes. Having 3 rides closed ( albeit expected) is also a shame for a park that’s had 4.5 months to sort things out. On the p,us note, the Thirteen team were doing great! Although not rammed, queues often reached/exceeded 90 minutes. Spinball,oblivion, Wickerman, Galactica and Rita at the very least experienced lengthily shutdowns. This excludes the heavy rain closure that evening where most rides understandably closed for a short while. However closing Spinball in the rain (as opposed to reducing capacity) now is just disappointing. Despite running the Alton After Dark and being the start of season, there wasn’t any real buzz or atmosphere at the park which I’ve felt previously, even post Covid. The vibe improved noticeably after dusk, but there was just something missing and I can only put it down to further quality retraction from the Merlin machine. I had a Toby carvery breakfast, so therefore didn’t need to eat the overpriced and underwhelming food selection. I don’t want to be constantly negative about the resort, so I do have some positives. Toxicator is a great addition to the park, it looks the part more than I was expecting and looks great off ride. The setting was the right level of intensity and adds more to the area. Curse is still an exceptional dark ride and epitomises what the creatives can do with the right resources. Although a little rattly, Nemesis Reborn is still fantastic and looks stunning at night. I really want to be more appraising and positive towards the park, because they have so many great rides. But I can’t sugarcoat the place solely on this. Towers has a lots of operational issues at the moment and with current trends I see things getting worse rather than better. The park ideally needs millions spent on infrastructure upgrades, however this will probably never happen.

Well, this news just swung in. But yes. Very exciting, might have to fly back up there in 26 then.