Glitch

Look forward to it. Well done to Nick for creating something for the enthusiasts community to look forward too in these uncertain times.

Have removed a couple of posts from here - Regardless on your opinions on Nick’s music - fair play to him for organising this - just looked and I saw he’s raised almost £600 to donate to a mental health charity and no one deserves to be berated for that - that’s significant amount especially during these times from such a niche market.
 
Whilst I get it may not be everyone’s cup of tea I think it’s great people when people l come together and do things like this which will ultimately benefit others more in need, especially in times like this!

Mainly Twitter enthusiasts love drama there.
 
So the 'Merlin banning vloggers from vlogging' was a rumor started from someone who had "official Merlin sources" stating that Merlin would stop vlogging within weeks as a result of the TPWW incident. Merlin then invited Shaun to multiple media events and everyone has been free to vlog their hearts out ever since. The person a few months later deleted Twitter, due to their being too much drama on the platform. Returns a few weeks later........
 
The Blackpool one happened last off season I believe where a source 'leaked' that Valhalla was going to be refurbished and closed for the entirety of 2020. People once again on twitter were unhappy that, a source had leaked this to a small creator in the theme park fan base, and were sure the source was wrong and the information untrue. Spoiler alert, he was correct. Despite the informant wanting to leak the information, others in the community had said that jobs would be lost as a result and marketing campaigns ruined. Well I guess rollercoaster construction updates do the same thing but nobody complains about those. 
 
There are just some mean people in the theme park community who just want to create drama. 

lly does make me cringe how many people come to the local area just to get a glimpse of Nemesis inferno, fine if your in the local area and can walk there but if your driving I think you should reevaluate where you do your daily exercise. 

Won't be heading here anytime soon, can't call yourself Covid secure whilst allowing those from Tier 3 in. Remember to stay safe people.

Won't be heading here anytime soon, can't call yourself Covid secure whilst allowing those from Tier 3 in. Remember to stay safe people.

Won't be heading here anytime soon, can't call yourself Covid secure whilst allowing those from Tier 3 in. Remember to stay safe people.

Oopsy. Forgot the old taxes!! 🤣🤣

#FAKE NEWS

Yes prices went up but themed experiences and attractions don't come cheap? Hopefully this will push more money into the pipelines and release extra Capex from Merlin for the attractions.
 
I think most people have misunderstood how much value the Annual pass used to bring at the very low pricepoints when an AP for just one of the other non Merlin parks was within £30 of sale price.
At the new prices I still think that value is there, when say if the Swarm for example was the only ride in the location of TP and they charged £10-£20 as a oneshot, like the rollercoaster on the Vegas strip for example, I would still pay for it, even if it was a one and done attraction. Remember attractions arn't cheap too, Wickerman 16 million, Swarm 18 million, yet there letting me have unlimited rides on millions of pounds of hardware and creative knowledge for the cost of around 4 day trips at £60 each.
 
For example I like the idea of going to Thorpe or Chessington to see the new attractions and events, when they come maybe 4 times a year, and then still being able to go to London for a daytrip and get into the 'tourist traps' without having to pay any extra is just great value still in my opinion.
 
If were looking at the price monthly, when released of the pass at around THE £20 -£30 mark well thats still cheaper than my gym membership and something I would be willing to pay.  
 
Perhaps this may be a good move for getting more people to go on day trips rather than be passholders however that may hurt midway, my hope being that the parks are able to generate more income to get the love and attention they deserve.
 
 
Lets also be honest the MAP group are never going to be happy. Most of the issues they generate themselves, take RAP for instance, without the MAP group awareness of that product offering and how to get in even cheaper with a carer pass wouldn't of created the demand we see today. Note cattle pen queue lines for RAP registration. 
 
I hope TBH that Merlin go further and ban outside food and those Titan bags from being allowed into the park. Instead have a picnic spot outside the gates by the carpark. 
 
I will probably end up signing up for the monthly pass when it becomes available as I enjoy visiting the parks and still think that any cost sub £300 yearly is worthwhile for me and I am sure that we will see trade deals and sales reducing the prices further.

The MAP group are kicking off big time about the price hike, but let's be honest here - the passes have been too cheap for too long. MAPpers typically won't use F&B on park, where Merlin make that precious and needed revenue and margin. 

That's not Imoscore or Nick Hutson,... might be expensive for Merlin, perhaps they can offer up the manor as a retirement home. 

I'm leaving this forum and going to somewhere decent like TowersTimes.

Head out to nagoya and get the legoland credit. Its a shipping port town. Also this thread clearly says 2020 plans not 2021 mate.

From looking at the videos here's my takeaways, I will probably go at some point this weekend.
The event looks really good in terms of scarezones and entertainment, I think Thorpe will continue the maze payment  model from now on as theoretically queues should be lower whilst there is still enough entertainment on park so that you know you are at Fright nights rather than  just being at a park with mazes generating less complaints of log queues for average attractions. 
 
My only issue is what is the point of having as enthusiasts and Thorpe alike call it a 'VIP& Press Night', I think the agency have failed here as all I see on social is 1 strictly dancer attend and then post about it. I always thought with these events the aim was to drum up as much coverage as possible however tonight that has only been the case for enthusiast sites.. Take Tulley's for example, I certainly don't think it would be at the same level of popularity if they didn't have a great influencer and PR strategy with the likes of the Zoella vlogs bringing in millions of views yearly.
 
So then what is it for? Enthusiast fan pages? Who will already be going and spending there money and have highly engaged enthusiast followers who have already bought their tickets and their maze tickets and so if anything your loosing revenue here as do you think the quality is good enough that these enthusiasts (if your page is invited) will be buying tickets to go through the mazes again.... somehow I don't think so, more of a once is enough stick to scarezones instead demographic. And then it's also shocking to see Merlin working with TPWW but I guess he has the family market. And then we have some influencers who may not have the followers but put a lot of time and passion into creating Thorpe positive content being left off the guestlist, just seems like a bit of a slap in the face to them TBH.
 
Perhaps this year it would of been best to have a no camera policy so everyone is experiencing it themselves for the first time rather than making a decision to buy an expensive ticket based on POV's, which I think if anything will put more people off the high ticket price items.
 
Just my thoughts, I look forward to visiting over the weekend.
 

All the random fanpages using these allegations to plug their brand with empty "In light of recent events we would like to say..." posts is pretty sad. If people want to support others, use your platforms to retweet or share the stories themselves, comment support on the stories. Or post if you actually have something genuine to add, like some perspective, experience or if you were involved with the people the allegations are about.

I've seen more fanpages doing these empty gestures on Twitter than the actual allegations. "We at Theme Park World Attraction Guide Podcast are shocked by the allegations" well thank goodness for that, problem solved then.

On the whole, there has been a lot of real support from theme park  fans which is great to see.

All Belgian theme parks are reopening today. 
 
I'm rather confused how Bellewaerde managed to open Wakala for some sort of previews yesterday given the rule was that theme parks couldn't open before today. I guess they found some sort of loophole given they have a zoo, but I was under the impression that they weren't opening the zoo only at any point prior. 
 
Not the end of the world either way though..

It’s an offer I’m tempting to make, but I might be broken eventually.

In all seriousness when will this park be converted into a Thomas land + Zoo.

You should get Merlin to hire you and play the organ all day in the Vampire station @Matt Creek, now that would be immersive. 

Interesting to see a vlogger concerned that rides weren't testing during their 30min walk down Monks, park therefore must be far behind Alton Towers in terms of readiness for July 4th.

Looks like an upgraded flying fish.

Did you know that Thorpe Park Mania used to be Thorpe Parks free PR machine. 

With the recent Black Lives Matter protests, Efteling's somewhat questionable representations of race have come into question.
 
Monsieur Cannibale is the park's teacups-like ride, and the centrepiece is of a black character, with the ride being that you're riding in various cooking pots whilst he cooks you. A look for those unacquainted: 

 
Looopings reported that a couple took signs and posted on social media that "Monsier Cannibale is Racism":

The park's original response was that only when major maintenance is needed would a change to the ride's look be considered, with it being emphasised that the character is a caricature. However, the ride is now "closed for maintenance" until June 20th.
 
This isn't the first time Efteling has come under fire for racist attractions in recent years. Carnival Festival, which takes you round the world with different figures in an omnimover system, came under fire for its depictions of  Chinese and African characters. These have slowly been changed though.
 
The Netherlands itself has quite a few issues with racism, such as a blackface sidekick to Santa Claus for many years (I don't know how prevalent that is in today's society, but I know it's still been a recent issue).
 
It'll be interesting to see what the response is from Efteling now. Having these sorts of character and depictions be allowed is something that comes from a different time, and now more than ever is the time to move forward arguably. Other parks have slowly moved away from these 'possibly-racist' ideas too (for example, Phantasialand haven't exclusively had black workers in their Africa land since 2017). It's a sensitive issue that needs to be responded to correctly.

I don't have time to visit Theme Park's much anymore so buying a fast track package is usually very handy as get to fit everything in. I don't mind spending for the ultimate fast track for fright nights as allows me to get everything done multiple times.