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I can't help but feel sad about Nemesis closing either, even though its reopening. To me everything about the ride/area is perfect. It runs the best it ever has and is the consistently the biggest queue eater on park. I'm glad merlin have invested in its future, I just hope too much isn't changed and it runs as intensely as it does, the hulk retrack does give me hope. Sad I couldn't make it over there for one final night ride on Sunday, but I'm glad Towers made a decent effort to give it a good send off and so many people turned up. The atmosphere looked amazing.

I personally quite like their logo and wouldn't want them to change it. Don't fix what isn't broken

Nothing confirmed yet, apparently there were 3 different locations they were looking at. I imagine we'll find out the location on the 16th at the consultation

I'm pretty sure they looked at completely removing X (the coaster and the pyramid) but the cost was so huge they went for the walking dead ride instead. I can't see it ever going back to X or X no way out, I imagine it'll be a complete removal of the building along with Slammer to create space for something new.

The consultation website has now been updated to show this is will be an indoor waterpark https://www.cwoa-consultation.com/

Ride availability this year at Towers has been shocking. Think they will need a few more funfair rides next year...

Its great to see Chessington getting more investment. Chessington buzz put a post on facebook saying 'We really think they’re going to make a splash with this! ' Chessington buzz have a good relationship with Chessington so are likely in the know, so looks like this will be a new water ride or waterpark

I don't think it means much as the photos in the queue haven't been used in a good 2-3 years so would make sense to remove it all

Same with me, this is the first Fright Nights I've missed in a long time. As much as Survival games is tempting, I just simply don't think its worth it anymore for 1 run through

I imagine they expect the newer the maze, the more popular they will be for behind the scene tours, and therefore price them accordingly I do agree though £55 seems a bit excessive

So the B&M surf coaster is essentially a stand up coaster with seats that move up and down? Really interested to see how this works/rides but can't say I'm particularly excited about it...

A nice behind the scenes tour of Survival games

Back in the day I would always have said Fright Nights, hands down used to be my favourite UK scare event. But I think Fright Nights is a shadow of its former self. Shorter opening hours, poorer quality mazes, less mazes on offer and upcharge for the mazes. Part of the fun of Fright Nights was being able to have multiple run throughs the mazes which I can't justify doing at the prices they're charging. They also put no effort into parkwide lighting or sound anymore which makes a huge difference to the atmosphere. I think Fright Nights trys to appeal more family friendly than it used to. I used to go to Fright Nights for the intense scares and watching things like the Amity show and Birthday Bash really doesn't interest me. I would say Scarefest is the better event now. Although they have an upcharge for the mazes, it works better as you rarely have to queue anything and the mazes are more consistent. I would still like to see some investment with scarefest though, the mazes are getting stale now and need a refresh. Would love to see a sub-species type maze return again.

I personally think the Attic is the strongest out of the existing ones if you're just doing the one. Definitely worth checking out reviews from this year though

For me its: 1) Stealth - Never used to be my favourite Thorpe coaster but loved it more and more in recent years. Easily the most re rideable on park and is just as enjoyable every time. 2) Inferno - I often overlook Inferno as I compare it to Nemesis. It gets better and better every year, Its always one of my favourite coasters at the park to ride in the dark it absolutely flies round in the evenings at Fright nights. 3) Colossus - I have a soft spot for Colossus. In my teenage years it was always my favourite coaster at the park. Always loved its soundtrack and the way the area and queue interacts with the ride. Its a good layout and although its a little rough, I really don't find it as rough as others say. 4) Swarm - Surprisingly for most, this was always my least favourite out of the 5 in its early years, I found it forceless and the layout too short. As times gone on I've liked it more and more. Its super re rideable and its got much more forceful over the years, love the helix by the helicopter. I find the vest restraints incredibly uncomfortable, not sure about anyone else but have found them to be even tighter in recent years and when I hit the breakrun I can't wait to get out of my seat. This massively hinders the overall enjoyment for me. 5) SAW - To be honest I've never been the biggest fan of Saw. Find it rougher and more uncomfortable than Colossus which is the main reason I'd rank it lower. I do love its theme though and there are few good elements I enjoy. Although its my least favourite out of the 5 I still tend to ride it on most of my visits if it doesn't have much of a queue. 6) Walking dead - Preferred what they did with X and will never understand why they changed it to this after the reasons they rethemed to X. Its once again a 1.4m restriction on a non thrilling ride. 7) Fish - Good for what it is.

Was at Towers over the weekend for the first time this year and my first time doing Towers Oktoberfest so thought I'd write up some thoughts. The only negatives over the weekend was the Rectrosquad and X Sector so I'll get the negatives out the way first. I'm a big fan of flats and liked the idea at first but can't help but feel they all look so out of place at Towers. As much as I enjoyed Spinjam and it was my favourite out of the flats, it looks really out of place at towers. The waltzer looks dreadful and the only one that looks alright is Funk N Fly. Hearing the music and funfair jingles played at towers just doesn't seem right. They all seem fairly popular so would love to see them invest in some permanent flats which Alton are desperately crying out for. X Sector was an absolute mess. The whole area of the 2 coasters look dirty and need a proper clean up. There was a period of around 2 hours on Saturday when Oblivion and Smiler were down. So obviously without Enterprise, the only open attraction was a temporary fairground ride. Did make me laugh. Both coasters were running reduced capacity. Smiler ranged from running 2-3 trains over the weekend and Oblivion had 2 seats permanently closed on every shuttle and only running 1 station. Its a shame as I normally love getting a few re rides on Oblivion, its capable of being one of the highest throughput rides on the park and its being run awfully. I know it can't be helped sometimes but having the coasters on reduced capacity completely defeats the purpose of the extra flats they have in. Would love to see them give the area a decent clean up, 1 or 2 permanent flats and sort out the capacity on the coasters. The Smiler was running pretty rough. It was nice having the Single rider open for this and it worked really well, would love to see them open a few more of these up on the rides it works well on. It was also nice to see the bagdrop open, glad they've seen sense there as it makes a huge difference to throughput and always has one of the biggest queues on park. Had plenty of rides on Nemesis which will probably be my last in its current form unless I get there on its last day. By far my favourite UK coaster, I can't help but think its a shame its closing as it still runs so well but I'm all for them investing in its future! I love how they effortlessly run Nemesis so well, it never stacks and the queue moves so quick. Wickerman, Galactica, Thirteen were also all running really well and the trains were flying out with no stacking. No bag drop open on Thirteen but were still sending the trains out quick. Oktoberfest was great, much prefer it to Thorpes. Entertainment carries on for an hour after park close, the lawns had a great atmosphere and was busy till 8pm on the Saturday. No cringey German accents, a proper band, everyone enjoying themselves and having a laugh. Will probably not bother with Towers next year with Nemesis closed, its always my main reason for going but looking forward to seeing what they have done with it in 2024. Hopefully the flat ride situation will be sorted out by then too.

I have no idea what's going to happen to it. The contract with Derren has got to end at some point soon, unless its already ended and has been renewed? I'd love for them to just rip out the ride system and start with something completely different. Its an operational nightmare, its the only ride on park which doesn't open at 10 (and never did even when it was meant to) and requires timed tickets. Its unreliable. Its expensive to run. But knowing merlin and them not having the budget to do so, I think the more likely option would be them try and make something work with what they've currently got. I personally can't see it get to a point where its just SBNO with it being in the middle of the park but who knows. Interested to hear others thoughts on this one.

Thanks! That's interesting. The Single Rider queue would be using the right side of the stairs so sounds like they've ditched it already which is a shame

Anyone thats been recently, how has Saws single rider been running? Is it still there?

From experience, the first Sunday and Friday are usually the best days to go for low crowds

I can't see it working on Colossus, Inferno and Swarm. I can see it working on Saw and Stealth, my only concern is Saw doesn't always have a batcher so it would require an extra member of staff unless they just close the queue if they don't have a batcher on a particular day? I can also see it working on some of the flats. I used to use the SRQ for Samurai and Vortex quite often and they worked quite well. Stealth would work the best. There's always someone batching and they have a spare queue to use. I'm unsure of the reason it was removed?

This great news, I hope its successful and implemented on other rides. Could be used on Stealth and some of the flats pretty easily. I wonder how this will work on Saw though seeing as there isn't always a batcher?

I've always like Dual too, I never got to experience the original haunted house so I don't have that to compare it to Will be interesting to see what they do to it. I just hope we don't get an IP slapped on it with a ride full of screens

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Make use of the single rider queues at the universal parks, saved us so much time and sometimes you get put together anyway. Orlando Informer website has a load of useful information for the universal parks too. Enjoy 😃