Cal

Good riddance 🤣 In all seriousness, I hate seeing SBNO rides, but really wouldn't mind seeing the death of Ghost Train. Never liked it, doesn't provide much capacity to the park, costs a lot to run. If it does close at the end of this season, would be very interesting to see what the building is used for in the future.

Love that Hyperia is lit up red this year for Fright Nights, rather than bright white. Looks brilliant 😍 https://www.facebook.com/thorpeparkmania/posts/pfbid026Rwstrftd6WfrWixrpci43qLc6PCPfHZrQTEve5Dyyrd12rC2fFvyDURntJCsK6Cl

Yeah makes sense, definitely seems like they're trying to reduce the amount of launches for one reason or another Was closed today, but is open this evening for the press event

He no longer works at the park unfortunately

Seems to be a running trend on off peak days at the moment, was back on 2 at the weekend. So at the moments its; - Running 1 train off peak - Closed 2 off peak Thursdays - Opening at 12pm on Fright Night dates up until school holidays. I wonder if they are doing this purely for cost cutting or theres another reason for it, maybe a certain amount of launches left before a cable change and they need to get it through the season?

Scarefest does look pretty solid this year. Lots of new theming around the park, a new maze and an additional free scare zone. I've decided to give it a miss again this year, as I can't go on any of the quieter days, but will 100% on my to do list next year. Compound looks solid so need to give that a go, and hopefully mine tours will get replaced new year. ____ One thing to note though, Towers are now selling one shot Fasttracks for £5 on the mobile app for mazes, which is something they haven't done before. Disappointing to see them do that, in my opinion time slots should mean you should get straight on (or at least very quickly)

@JoshC. another couple questions comes to mind... Looks like the days I'm going are likely to be very busy/sellout days. From your experience, how long have you queued for mazes and the experiences on average? Also, do you happen to know how the fast track is operated at the park on different days. Do they give you pretty much instant access or still likely to be waiting a while?

Yeah I was thinking the same, I know we have this off peak period every year but it does seem particularly deserted this year. And thats not just Thorpe either, seen videos from the other parks just as deserted. For comparison, here is the queue time calendar from last year in the same 3 week period. And then this years... Obviously not sure gate figure wise, but queue time wise they've definitely been shorter this year on average. Towers is already on 4pm closes, Legos been cut to 4:30 this year, Chessingtons cut hours to 4pm this year, wouldn't surprise me if we see more closed days or some dreaded 4pm closes next year. Especially in the state Merlin seem to be in at the moment. Even this summer the park was really filtering out way before closing at 7pm, wouldn't surprise me if we see cuts across summer too.

So it'll be opening at 12pm every day up until the start of the school holidays. I would hope that these Thursday closures and 12pm openings aren't cost cutting on one of their major coasters? Would be interested to know if any work is actually taking place on it tomorrow and next Thursday.

Ah fair enough. I assume you went when Ferrari Land was open during the day, before they changed the hours? Yeah I agree, unless you’re in the front row it’s really juddery, and that definitely took away from the experience for me. I do find it bizarre that Ferrari land has been open since 2017 and they haven't bothered to add another headline attraction? I agree its just Red Force, and that really doesn't have the capacity to be a main draw. Thoroughly enjoyed it there, PA really exceeded my expectations. Nice all round park. El Paso was very good for the price. Gold River does look like quite an upgrade though and obviously has the perk of being right next to Uncharted so definitely one to consider for next time.

I would say just as forceful if not more than Stealth. Obviously red force does have more speed, and that is noticeable. But I would say Stealth takes the crown for me. I prefer the initial launch, being hydraulic the launch is more forceful. The top hat on Stealth I prefer, Red force was too slow on the top hat but obviously did have much better views up there. And just general comfort. Unless you're front row on red force (assigned seating and no front row queue so its rare) its very rough. Even with just lap bars, the vibrations/shaking isn't pleasant.

Portaventura Trip Report – Day 1 Travel & Hotel Huge bucket list park for me: PortAventura. I’ve been watching vlogs and reading plenty of reports from PortAventura since a young age, but I’ve just never got around to doing it. They don’t have a huge coaster lineup, and with so many mixed reviews, particularly on operations, it’s never been high up on my list to tick off. I found a great deal on the hotel and flights that worked perfectly, so I booked a solo trip. 3 days and 2 nights, arrive Weds 17th and return on Friday 19th. I bagged return flights from Gatwick for £45, and booked Hotel Roulette for £210 (also got £20 cashback so worked out to £190), which also included 3 days entry at PortAventura and 1 entry for Ferrari Land. Absolute bargain. If it was for 2 people it would’ve been an even better deal as the hotel was the same price. Hotel Roulette is slightly cheaper and allocates you a random hotel - I was allocated El Paso. I got an early flight and arrived in Barcelona at around 11. I arrived at the hotel around 2pm, checked in, dumped my bag and walked straight round to the park. Whats that peeking through the trees. PortAventura First impressions were great. Lovely area of the park with great theme music playing, lots of nice seating and food outlets overlooking the lake. Furious Baco was the first attraction I came across being at the entrance, so I headed straight for the single rider queue. I was sat towards the back on the right side (normally being a single rider you get the left side, but as the group I was allocated with sat there I took the empty seat on the right). The initial launch and pop of airtime at the end of the launch is great. Very unique having the launch on an upwards slant too. But from there, I didn’t enjoy any other part of the layout and it was quite rough. Obviously I needed to ride it more and in different seats to share my thoughts properly. Spoiler: it gets worse. Having just arrived I was pretty eager to get on some more coasters, so I walked past Tutuki Splash then a very long way towards Shambhala and Dragon Khan, B&M land. I had no idea where I was going, just following paths till I found the B&Ms. The views of the 2 B&Ms are stunning. On my approach I noticed Dragon Khan was walk-on, so got straight on. I didn’t know what to expect with this - I love an old B&M but had heard lots about it being rough and showing its age. It looks absolutely stunning with its recent paint job, and I loved the colours of the train. And that roar. You just can’t beat the sound of these old B&Ms. And how did it ride? I absolutely loved it. Thought it rode excellently for an old coaster - I really don’t understand the noise about it being rough. It was very forceful, that zero-g roll in particular was ridiculous. The interlocking corkscrews look great. The cobra roll perfectly placed over the brake run looks stunning. Think I prefer this over Kumba, but hard to say as its now been 10 years since I've been on Kumba. But I don't remember Kumba hitting that hard intensity wise. Went straight back round for another go as I thought it was rude not to with no queue. I was then itching for the big B&M towering above me. I walked round to Shambhala and saw the SRQ was chained off, so joined the main queue which was advertised at 25 minutes, but was on in 20 mins. It wasn’t until I got to the station I realised the SRQ was still in use even though it was chained off - you just had to go over the chain or jump the main queue. That explains why I saw a few people jumping the main queue whilst I was waiting. Anyway. Once again, I didn't know what to expect. Lots of mixed reviews - some love it, some say it’s very overhyped. With all these new Intamins with aggressive airtime, I didn’t know if I was going to like it. I loved this thing. Really loved it. Completely exceeded my expectations. Brilliant first drop, and then floater airtime for pretty much the rest of the layout. The turnaround section is ridiculously forceful, a near grey-out on exit, then straight into a speed hill. My favorite part of the layout. The train design is perfect, I particularly love the ‘outer’ seats which pretty much feel like winged seats. The views from the lift hill are great, and I absolutely love the way the 2 lift hills are placed for this and Khan. So unique, and you get some funny interactions when they’re dispatched at similar times. Lots of waves. The splashdown was off but was randomly turned on midway through Thursday. Good fun on the outer seats and you can touch the water. Pretty much a flawless coaster for me and I decided pretty early on this is my favourite B&M. Nice to have a B&M back in my top 10 😃 After a couple more rides using the ‘closed’ SRQ, I continued to wander round the park and came across Hurakan Condor. I love a drop tower, particularly these Intamin ones. It’s brilliantly themed. I didn’t realize the roof was actually a bit tilted until I saw it in person for the first time. Had to Google if it was meant to be like that 🤣 I entered the queue which was very short, and there was no one waiting in the SRQ so I went for that. I was quite surprised to see all 5 towers operating, after seeing other people report it being on 2–3 in peak summer. I had 3 quick rides using the SRQ, first one being standard sit down and the other 2 being stand up tilt. Great drop tower with great views. I didn’t actually realize how huge this thing is until I was there. Bit of a shame you can’t pick to stand up or sit down, even if you were to go in the main queue. I do love the atmosphere around drop towers - it’s always the one ride at a theme park which scares people. Lots of people getting to the front of the queue and requesting the sit-down tower is quite amusing to watch 🤣 I continued to explore and stumbled into the Wild West area. Beautifully themed. I jumped straight on Stampida (blue side) and had no idea what to expect. I do like that you can choose which side in the queue. Groups together were going separately so they can race. It was not very enjoyable at all unfortunately. Very rough/jolty. Shame as it’s a fantastic layout (John Wardley classic), I particularly like the bit where the 2 trains go towards each other. But yeah, too rough to enjoy any of it really. Next up I wanted to try Uncharted. It was advertised at 50 mins, and unfortunately has no SRQ as that’s been replaced by an express queue. Shame this wasn’t designed with both, seeing as it’s a new ride. Even though it had the highest queue on park (which was a running trend) I just went for it as I know it had a terrible capacity and wasn’t likely to change. I hadn’t actually seen much about this coaster so didn’t know what to expect. The exterior and the indoor queue are both fantastic. Very highly themed. It’s a decent ride. The ride system is absolutely fantastic, really comfy trains and fun launches, and it’s brilliant how the ride vehicle rotates. However the theming on ride is dire. It’s just a dark building with a couple of screens. And I really hate that you can see the track in front of you so you know what’s coming. It’s a fairly short ride too, but the main problem is the theming for me. Big shame as that ride has a lot of potential. Fantastic ride system though so I look forward to seeing what other parks do with them. And that was it for my first day. It was about half 5 so I still had half an hour till queues closed, but Ferrari Land opened at half 4 and Red Force was calling my name. Ferrari Land There was only 1 reason I was bothered about Ferrari Land, Red Force, obviously. Walking into the park, everything looked very new and clean, as you’d expect from a fairly new park. Walking towards Red Force, you can’t help but notice the noise it makes. It’s so loud - love it. Sounds like a plane taking off every couple minutes, very fitting with it being Ferrari Land. I headed straight for the SRQ, walking past huge cattle pens almost backed up to the entrance. Main queue was advertised at 30 minutes which was nonsense. Later on in the evening when the queue was 1/3 of the size it was advertised at 1 hour and 20 mins. Strange as they seemed fairly accurate in Portaventura, most of the time. In Ferrari Land though, they were always wrong. This park seriously needs more capacity though. Queues like that on an 'off peak' day. Amazingly, I only waited 15 minutes in the SRQ, and even more amazingly I lucked out and got allocated the front row on my first ride. Thanks to 2 out of a group of 3 being too scared for the front. Unfortunately you have to wear glasses on the front, similar to Energylandia, but that didn’t take away from the ride too much. It’s a great coaster, the launch is fantastic, particularly at the end of the launch you can really feel the LSMs kick in. I love that there isn’t a pause either — straight out the station into a launch. Amazing views on the top hat. No airtime at the top as it goes over very slowly, but you do get some great views. This is the tallest coaster I’ve done and it feels like it when you’re up there. You then have a brilliant drop, and a nice pop of airtime before going into the brakes. I went round another 4 times all in SRQ and was allocated row 5 the first 3 times, then lucked out and got another front row ride. It is a great coaster, but I couldn’t help but feel a little underwhelmed by it. The launch is great, but it really doesn’t have that same kick to it as the hydraulic launches. Which does make me sad I never got to do TTD or Ka in their original forms 💔 It’s a little rough too. Unless you’re on the front row, it shakes a lot the further you get down that launch track, and it isn’t comfortable. I probably prefer Stealth, purely due to the acceleration and it not being rough, but Red Force is still a fantastic coaster and does create a fantastic atmosphere in Ferrari Land. As I mentioned earlier, the noise that thing makes is incredible. On my 5th ride, whilst I was in the airgate, it had a short breakdown. The train advanced onto the launch track but didn’t launch. But it was dealt with quickly - engineers arrived and reversed it back into the station. They sent the train and it was back in operation, all within 10 mins. After 5 laps, I headed over to the Thrill Towers which were walk-on. This park really filters out as time goes on. It gets really busy at PortAventura park close (6pm), but it seems most people go in the park and have 1 lap on Red Force then leave. Except people like me 🤣 1 of the towers is on the ‘shot’ setting and the other is on the drop setting. You don’t get to choose, you just randomly get allocated one. I had 1 go on each. The shot tower was okay but I’ve definitely done better, the drop one was really good though. Very forceful. There wasn’t long left till park close at 10pm, so I decided to spend the rest of the evening on Red Force. The main queue was empty so I just used that, and managed 3 rides which were all in row 2. This also included another 10 minute breakdown, just a quick reset from engineers. This thing is absolutely incredible at night. There was such a good atmosphere too - the only people left in the park were all lapping it, and the staff on offload were encouraging us to run round to get a last ride in. I was on the 2nd-to-last train and everyone was clapping and cheering. Great fun. I then wandered back over to the hotel, had some fajitas in the restaurant (open till 11) which were nice, and went to sleep ready for a full day in the park tomorrow. Wrap up & Operations What a great first day. I just couldn’t believe how nice the park was and instantly fell in love with it - the pathways, landscaping, music, and views all create such a nice atmosphere. The weather was perfect too. Food was reasonably priced for a theme park, though drinks were very expensive. I wizzed round and got a feel for the park in the short time I had there so was looking forward to spending a full day there on Thursday. And the operations? Honestly, better than I expected. I’d heard horror stories, but on my trip it wasn’t too bad at all. I imagine busy days would be different, but I didn’t see much queue jumping or overuse of express. Furious Baco: 2/2 trains Shambhala & Dragon Khan: 2/3 on each (a third wouldn’t have helped, they were stacking). They had all 3 available as they were swapped throughout the 3 days. Hurakan Condor: 5/5 towers Stampida: 1/2 on each side (but didn’t need more) Uncharted: 3/3 trains Red Force: 2 trains (not sure if it can run 3). Again all 3 were available as they were swapped on Thursday. The big issue is Red Force. It’s the headline attraction and it draws a huge crowd, but dispatches averaged around 90 seconds — only about 480 pph. That’s terrible, especially once you factor in express and disabled access. Stealth dispatches faster, even with more seats and seatbelts to check. Red Force needs a better baggage system if they want to seriously increase throughput. They should also advance trains into the station quicker - waiting for the train to clear the top hat each time kills throughput. I didn't see any breakdowns all day apart from the 2 short breakdowns on Red Force. Will write up Day 2 & 3 soon with thoughts on the rest of the park and thoughts on re-rides.

Stealth is scheduled to be closed the next 2 Thursdays.

Yes it’s been implemented from today I believe

Seen lots online today that non ambulant guests will no longer be able to ride Hyperia, at least for the moment. I imagine this has come from Mack in response to the Stardust Racers incident. Apparently this was getting announced on the PA throughout the day and lots of RAP guests being turned away. Must be frustrating for people that have been on before, but guess it can't be helped if its come from Mack.

Glad you managed to get a couple rides on Hyperia in the end! Out of interest, when they were testing after strong winds did they use water dummies or empty trains?

^ I'm not either, in fact I've only just watched that trailer for first time which shows my excitement level. I don't think thats a this year only thing though, for me Fright Nights was good in the old days of the stronger mazes and being able to lap them till 10pm free of charge. I don't have an interest in the dance shows, scare zones, or paying money to stand in queue to get a weak runthrough in a maze. I miss the old intense Fright Nights days, getting locked in cupboard in experiment 10 and having actors in queue lines etc.. I do appreciate that times change though and theres clearly a market for what they do now though, and I do think that Fright Nights is in a much better place now than it was a good few years ago. Its a strong lineup again this year so I hope they have another successful year. I will still go to Fright Nights this year multiple times for the longer hours for rides and general atmosphere. I might give the odd maze a try if it has no queue and I'm with someone that wants to, but certainly won't be going out of my way to do so. I do get the vibe that they've just added this scarezone for the sake of having something new this year. I'll reserve my judgement until we see what it is but its a shame if that is the case, as everything else on the lineup is of high quality and will be a shame if they've just added this for the sake of it. Would rather they just use them actors and have a couple in Swarms area and SAWs queue for example. Would add more than a weak scare zone IMO. On another note, I do hope they make more of an effort with ride soundtrack overlays this year. They've been redundant for a good 2-3 years now which is a shame.

Had my first ever visit to Gröna Lund last Saturday. It’s a nice little park, and really impressive how much they’ve managed to cram into such a small space. Monster is a brilliant little B&M Invert. It’s amazing how well they’ve made it fit in the park - it just looks like it’s always been there. The underground station is really unique, and so is its layout for an invert. That airtime hill completely took me by surprise and was easily the best airtime moment I’ve had on an invert before. It’s silky smooth and definitely sits high on my invert list. Unfortunately, I got spited by Insane, which didn’t operate all afternoon/evening while I was there. I was particularly looking forward to it since I’ve never had the chance to do a Zac Spin. Not sure why it was closed or how long it’s been down? As a big drop tower fan, I was really impressed with their lineup - three towers all offering different experiences. Definitely the best drop tower selection I’ve seen at any park, and it makes sense given how limited their space is. The S&S tower was solid. It starts with the “shot” mode, then slowly takes you to the top for the drop. I like the towers that do both rather than just one or the other. Ikaros is an Intamin Skyjump, and after doing some research in the queue I learned Falcon’s Fury is the only other one, which I've also ridden. Surprised Intamin hasn’t sold more of these. The views were fantastic, but I found the ride itself pretty forceless. Hard to compare directly to Falcon’s Fury since it’s been 10 years, but I’m pretty sure Ikaros breaks lower down and swings a lot more on its return. Falcon’s still looks more intimidating though. Fritt Fall was my favorite of the drop towers - an Intamin the same as Apocalypse and Condor. These never fail to deliver and this was no different. The park also had a nice bar with views over Stockholm. You’re not allowed to leave the bar areas with drinks though so they can “watch” you, which made me laugh. ‘Vilda Musen’ the parks Gerst bobsled is decent, and Twister the gravity group woodie was okay. Smooth and a decent family coaster, but nothing to write home about. The day ended on an annoying note. The park closed at 10pm, and while I was at the front of a queue for my last ride, the host came down the queue to tell us their boss had said they had to close now and we wouldn’t be able to ride. The time was 21:57. Bit annoying since it was still before 10 and I was already in the queue, but it is what it is. On the way out I also saw them turning people away (already in the queue) for one of the drop towers too. Its a great compact little park with a great selection of rides, Monster being the obvious standout. Not somewhere I’d rush back to without a good reason to or in the area again, but I enjoyed my time there and do recommend a visit 😃

You turned down a rollback 😱 Stealth and Hyperia are both operated exceptionally well most of the time, they have great teams. For comparison, I’ve just got back from a few days at PortAventura. They were averaging about 1 min 30 secs a dispatch on Red Force, 480 people an hour. They have no seatbelts to check and less seats. One thing I did notice though, they don’t advance the train from offload into load until the train has cleared the top hat. On Stealth they advance it as soon as it’s ready.

Thankyou both, much appreciated. Think I've settled for both the Walibi Parks this year, and may try Europa or something different next year. Walibi Holland is a new park for me so going to go for 2 days there, especially after hearing how busy it gets for Halloween. @JoshC. on days the parks open till 11 do you have to buy a day ticket as well as a fright nights ticket? They sell spooky days and fright nights tickets on them days and unsure what the difference is?

Has anyone done any Halloween events in Europe, and if so any recommendations? I did Asterix last year which was great so I’m keen to try some others this year, looking at potentially doing Walabi Holland and Belgium but any thoughts would be appreciated If anyones done either of the Walibi parks at Halloween what did you think of them?

Interesting. With Rumba closing earlier than before and now cuts to Ghost train (which I don't think we've ever seen?) it definitely seems like theres been cuts made to operational budgets. Shame if thats the case - but would rather them close Rumba and this than cuts to opening hours.

Would be interesting to see what the Towers prices were last year to see what the increase was. Another thing I didn't realize, they have 1 less paid maze this year, and 1 more free scare zone, which could potentially be why they've made the mazes more expensive. Last year they had 4 paid mazes and 1 scare zone This year 3 paid mazes and 2 free scare zones Still doesn't justify charging £14 - £16 for a maze run through though...

Just had a quick check on queue times. 2014 is the earliest year its recorded. Rumba was open till 10pm Fright Nights, Loggers closed at dusk. Thought I had memories of loggers in the dark but maybe I'm imagining things there. 2015 was the first year Rumba started closing at dusk by the looks of things.

Rumba was open till around mid September last year so hours are certainly getting less and less for it. Don't forget there was also a period of it opening at 1pm this year too. Seems hardly worth all the effort getting it open and staff trained if they can no longer keep it operational during the summer holidays. Who remembers the days of Rumba and Loggers till 10pm in October? 😢 I do also understand it from a cost cutting perspective though. If they're being asked to cut costs, would much rather they do this than make staggered openings elsewhere or cut park hours completely. Its reliability has noticeably been a lot worse the last couple of seasons. Its been years of it not reaching full height too. Its a very old ride, wasn't it 2nd hand from Drayton? No clue how long it operated there. Zodiac has never been one of my favorites so I wouldn't miss it, but it would be a shame to see it go and not have anything replace it (which would be the most likely option unfortunately)