BigBobJones

I don't know why people get into their head that you have to buy fast tracks to have a good time. £100 per person for 1 day is a complete ripoff. I'm buying 4 X MAP + 3 Annual Pass capsules tomorrow for under £400, so I can get a full year with 4 of us going to the parks as many times as I can, and unlimited drinks, now that is value for money and by having the MAP you can do whenever you want and if its busy you can go home and go back another time when it is not as busy.

The towers should give away free car stickers or even bumper stickers to anyone who wants them, I'd stick one on the back of my car :-)

I can see the Ministry/ X being a very positive possibility as it will fit in very well with their Ride and Rave/Club nights which is the direction they are going in and now they have the Snooze box they need things to fit in with this market of chav guest

The sooner they change it to Pizza Pasta I will start going in, not paying full price in Pizza Hut when I can get MAP discount elsewhere. Plus that Pizza hut is so busy it is not enjoyable, in fact very very stressfull when all you want to do is sit down, relax and have a meal.

I have always wanted them to expand Transilvania and have a nice Ghost train or Duel type ride in there.

Don't forget one of the wettest summers in 100 years too

Just by changing Burger King to the Burger Kitchen can be classed as evolving.... or installing something new or updating.

I disagree, give me a Mr Whippy/99 flake Ice cream any day, don't need that expensive Ben and Jerrys rubbish

The Flying Fish could have evolved into something else, Crawling Lizard?

Wouldn't we have seen planning permission if they are removing the building? Because they would be putting something else if they took the pyramid down. Anyway I'm very excited to go to Zufari and SW7 + the refurbed X-sector I can hardly have enough excitement for X:\NWO now can I :-) Any ideas on the new name? X:\This Way Out?

I see a lot of people on these forums giving Chessington stick, but from what I have seen they are investing a lot into the resort and it is so fantastic they are getting more animals in.

Now if only Google Earth/Google maps + Streetview was live, it would be nice to be able to zoom in and see any clues. Do we know any pilots so we can do what TT have done?

I guess how long are Thorpe going to keep us waiting until they tell us:-(

They could be getting a nice knackered old Top Spin to add to the line up of existing unreliable rides....

So that is why I hate Detty, it forces you down rather than allowing you to drop...

I'm thinking cheap, in order of cheapness and minimal effort: 1) CCR opening 2) New 4D film 3) New show 4) New maze Then comes the more expensive and less likely options: 5) X referb 6) Vengeance Not sure what budget they have of course this year, but I'm hoping for X and maybe options 1-3 or am I too greedy.

Another thing I miss is the Fart/gas ometer, who remembers "Heinz 57" and all the yanks not getting the joke? Now its the bad egg tester.

The big thing could be something we have all forgotten, "New for 2013, the Crash Pad, more club nights" etc which we already know about. But have we forgotten about the "Burger Kitchen" which will replace Burger King? CCR could be an easy one to bring back, also not sure about Time Voyagers or any other 3D show, I guess everything is still in the theatre and they just need to open it?

Yes I fully agree with the Bubble Works, there is so many things there which are no longer working. Also you don't get any real bubbles anymore, my dad pointed the one out a few weeks ago.

For me it really isn't an issue, my employer is very good with annual leave and I can book days off when I want. For others their employers require weeks or even have to book their annual leave 1 year in advance, two companies I have worked for require you to book all your annual leave at the beginning of the year. So if you are in the situation where your annual leave is already booked and you can not change it, for example you may have booked 19th of March off for example, then you may not be able to cancel that leave nor rebook another day. I doubt anyone would have booked a hotel 2 months in advance.

Love the lap bar idea

Yes but when I went to Thorpe nearly 30 times that's only around every other visit. I won't queue for more than an hour for any ride no matter how good and I won't buy fast tracks, I'd rather cut my losses and go home when: they have let too many people into the park got too many rides out of action too many rides running on one train. An out of all those rides, never did I experience the fireball, and most of the time many of the effects were not working. I hope Alton do a lot better with SW7 this year, but the project looks very far behind, I seriously hope they are able to open on time.

I agree, nobody want to feel like they are getting ripped off. To be honest, they know they will get the numbers of guests through the doors and while people spend the money, they will continue to charge it. I was prepared to pay £6 for the Mild Maus, but not with a queue. I don't know what it is when people say "Well it is London, so you have to pay more" The economy of scale would mean with much more people and more money taken through the till, it would be very reasonably priced, but for me it seems that just because it is in London, the price is double what you would pay elsewhere. Where does the additional money go, well it goes into some cat cats pocket, the owners of Hyde park must take a huge chunk, then the organisers must be rolling in cash. I wouldn'gt be surprised if 50% of the cash goes to the organisers which is where the higher price goes to. But I was thinking that Merlin should take some tips from them, those rides looked amazing in the dark, where as Merlin just don't put much effort into their rides as if you have been to Scarefest or Fright nights, most of the rides are not that well lit up. Only Samurai and Zodiac have half decent lights. The lighting on all the rides was brilliant, the quality of everything was top notch and some rides were themed for the event. The double decker bus had "Hyde Park" on the side and was themed to London The big wheel has "Winter Wonderland" written on all gondolas I seriously can't say anything other than too expensive and too busy.

I went to the Winter Wonderland, got there for around 5PM, 10 out of 10 for theme and quality 10 out of 10 for ride selection 10 out of 10 for food stalls and choice 4 out of 10 for the price of the rides as its too expensive 10 out of 10 for squeezing too many people into the place and making it very stressfull and not being able to walk or move. We were going to do the Wild Maus XXL, but the queue looked a good hour and then we were going to do the Christmas Mouse coaster, but £16 for 3 of us to go on 1 ride.... With the Merlin MAP sale on £74 per person for 1 full year entry and unlimited rides to all Merlin attractions or 12 rides at the Winter Wonderland.... Ride count = 0 Money spent = £0 Going back, again? Nope unless I go at 10am in the morning when its quiet and the ride prices are more reasonable.