Cal

Zodiac has been doing a lot of testing so far this season so will likely re-open soon.

I do agree with your point though. I’d love to see Thorpe add some new flats rather than slowly losing them like we’ve seen at other parks.

Zodiac has been doing a lot of testing so far this season so will likely re-open soon.

I do agree with your point though. I’d love to see Thorpe add some new flats rather than slowly losing them like we’ve seen at other parks.

They should have kept the price high.

It's weird Towers is charging £20 for one of their coasters, yet Thorpe have reduced the cost of a one shot of their newest coaster foe their newest coaster.

I'd hope that yesterday's long Fastrack queues is a one off due to the mixture of the taste unlimited Fastrack, first day having extra Premium Passholders, etc

The Premium Passholder perk of one free Fastrack per visit is a real wildcard and I expect we'll see lots of quirks over the coming weeks.

I agree most people will end up wanting to use their's on Hyperia at Thorpe.

Haven't updated my top 10 in a while and have a few changes from 2025. New for 2025 in bold.

1) Toutatis
2) Untamed
3) Kondaa
4) Shambala
5) Hyperia
6) Ride to Happiness
7) Taron
8) Balder
9) Helix
10) Nemesis

Kondaa used to be my number one, with Toutatis in second place. After riding both again in October I decided I prefer Toutatis overall. From the moment I got on it in 24 I was addicted to it, I’ll never get bored of that swing launch. I also love its more aggressive airtime.

Very late to this but...

Park count:
Thorpe x10-20?
Paultons x1 (first time in over 10 years)
Liseberg x2 (first time)
Grona Lund x1 (first time)
Portaventura x2 (first time)
Ferrari land x1 (first time)
Parc Asterix x1
Walibi Belgium x1
Walibi Holland x2 (first time)

Pretty successful year for me. 5 new parks, returning visits to some of my favourites and 3 European Halloween events. I got 29 new creds (4 of them being in my top 10) bringing me to a total of 205.

Highlights
Getting back to Paultons and seeing how much that place has changed. Haven't been since I was a kid.
Portaventura was much better than expected.
Walibi Holland was the best Halloween event I've ever been to. The Clinic and Slaughterhouse were the craziest Halloween attractions I've done, and Us vs You was a fantastic maze.
I got on all 5 of my top 5 coasters last year.

Disappointments
Red Force wasn't as good as expected.
I expected bad from Furious Baco. But that is by far the most uncomfortable and painful coaster I've ever experienced.
Insane being closed at Grona Lund. Never done a Zac spin so was keen to get on it.

2026

I still don't really have much plans this year so will probably be a quieter year for me.
I have a Merlin pass so have been to Thorpe and Towers already. I'll get lots of Thorpe trips in for sure.
Paultons for the opening of their new coaster.
Have a holiday in Turkey booked so will go to Land of legends and get on another Mack Hyper 😍
I was planning on Falcons Flight but thats looking unlikely now. Potentially a US trip instead. Was having a look at Florida but might be a bit silly to not wait for the new 2027 coaster at Universal.
Looking at doing a couple days in Madrid but nothing booked yet.

Mean I don't know anyone staff wise but been told someone called Josh Reynolds has moved over.

Interesting to hear/read about the troubles Towers are having (again) this season, with staggered opening and many rides not opening until well after opening time if at all.

I have heard a lot about a shortage of engineers being one of the main causes of all the problems.

My thought....
Has Alton Towers just become bigger than is feasible to operate?

It's an enormous site with actually quite a few rides, not to mention the 6 hotels....
If you think about the sheer number of staff required to (for example) run a hotel, let alone six, as well as run the daily opening routines and maintenance on all the rides across such a large site, it equates to a huge number of people.
When you also think about how remote the location is, they need to draw employees in from far and wide, which is going to be difficult for a company that doesn't appear to have the money to compete with other companies who might attract potential employees with the same skills and interests, who would prefer a permanent (not seasonal) role.

Considering AT isn't open all year, thus isn't making money for a portion of the year, AND the fact that many of the staff are seasonal, it must be a constant headache to fully staff such an enormous place.

When you compare this situation with that of Thorpe Park's for example, as an outsider at least, it would appear that running a smaller park with fewer aspects (no hotels, smaller site, closer to towns/cities for employment etc) is more advantageous.
Unless of course the business runs and brings in money all year round, like Universal will.

Completely agree. Overall the park looks pretty fresh and they're on form operationally as we've come to expect the last few years. I'm disappointed the Colossus repaint wasn't finished though.

I know Thorpe had Hyperia but it does feel Thorpe has lacked ££ out of the merlin parks.

- Chessington has had a serious amount of investment the last few years. Jumanji, Paw Patrol land, and minecraft land next year.
- Towers has had Nemmy retrack, Toxicator, millions on skyride refurb, and new family coaster within the last 3 years.

Would love to see a new flat on the Slammer site next season to complement Hyperia, and a new major investment on the Rumba site or island behind Swarm before universal opening in 2031 would be fab.

Really nice to see. Likely pre-planned and then announced today to make people feel like they got bonus time.

After having visited for a couple of preview days, it does feel like Thorpe is still on form operationally. It's a shame that Tidal and Zodiac aren't ready for the start of season. Depth Charge is also currently closed, which might be because of work on The Launchpad. It's equally a shame Launchpad isn't ready, but I imagine that's because of planning delays.

There's been a few bits of work here and there across the park. New paving to replace tired paving. It's basic but does the job. New signs and paintwork in Saw's plaza. New effects in Walking Dead. Detonator repainted.

But equally, the park feels effectively the same as when Hyperia opened (minus, of course, Rumba now). Last year, there was only one new food outlet (the Dessert place between Tidal and Ghost Train, replacing the Apple Fries unit). This year, no new food units, and only a couple of menu changes (though the Boulevard Bites menu is good and reasonably priced).

Now when Hyperia first opened, and in general all the TLC that happened for 2024 with Project Sparkle, Thorpe felt fresh and alive again. And they could afford to ride that wave for a bit and milk it. But I think that that wave is petering out and they do need some bigger refreshes or something new of note now to sustain visitation.

So yeah, much the same as before, but should be a good season ahead. Hopefully things like weather and such play ball for the park.

Hours extended today for passholders day from 11-5 to 10:30-6 which was a nice surprise, even with the park really quiet.

Fantastic news about Zodiac seemingly making a comeback soon.

It seems Thorpe are a lot more prepared for the season ahead than Alton Towers, which has several rides closed for the foreseeable future, and is continuing to struggle to open rides at opening time every day.

Hopefully Thorpe will be able to continue with their good operations and availability that they’ve had for several years now. It’s encouraging to see only 2 rides listed to be closed, for just 2 days at that.

Thorpe Park
Ride Availability Information | Thorpe Park Resort
Check live ride availability on the Thorpe Park App, including real-time updates on ride closures and maintenance. Plan your visit with confidence today!
Ride availability page updated to show that Tidal Wave and Zodiac will be closed this weekend. It specifically states 21-22nd March so will be interesting to see if they open next week.

Zodiac was closed most of last season and has last operated in June (?) I believe but looks like it'll be making a return this season. The gondolas which were removed last season have been added back on and it looks like all the gondolas have been tidied up. All the old branding Thorpe logos have been removed.

No sign of that I'm afraid!

A big shame they didn't finish it this year. Strange decision, the rest of it looks so good!


Not sure its been mentioned but Passholder day has been announced for next Sunday 22nd. Hours are 11am-5pm which is a shame as we got 11am-7pm last year. No night rides on passholder day this year.

Shame its closing 1 year before its big 40, and we didn't get a last chance to ride (it definitely said returning 2026 on the queue boards) but budgets have clearly changed and forced it to close.

I'm not surprised and do think its the right decision. Its by far the worst rapids in the UK and it's a shadow of its former self. The more recent changes it went through took all the fun it had left out of it, removing the fun soundtrack and changing to dull colours.

Last year, it was hardly open anyway so it just isn't worth the resource getting it open anymore. Whats the point in getting it through winter maintenance and ages staff training for the sake of a couple of months. Then when it is open, you have the huge running costs + heavily staffed. I'd rather have the rapids closed than cuts elsewhere on park.

My favorite memory hands down is when they added that huge fire hose type water effect near the start of the ride. That didn't last long 🤣

Rumba was always good fun in my early years of visiting Thorpe so sad to see another Thorpe classic close. RIP Rumba ❤️

A recent Passholder behind the scenes event confirmed that a new coaster will replace Viking River Splash, which has been closed since 2023(!), and a recent application was put in for its removal.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid02vYtw4A5HP6n5Bi5wNPT2776TsJx5SDUVr4kPWk2dmVT54ZXu46EjNwitqToXZdWWl&id=61567089908870

It's also said this will extend a nearby land, of which Ninjago would probably make the most sense (and it is a popular Lego IP).

Legoland Japan are getting a Ninjago-themed Mack Spinner next year, so don't discount that as an option.
Legolands California and Florida recent got indoor coasters from ART Engineering, space-themed, and I think the idea would be great for Windsor.
The Chinese Legolands have been getting B&M Junior Inverts too, so a farfetched possibility.
Could also be something completely different, especially given the challenging landscape of that area.

Also worth noting that all areas will be refurbed in the next 5 years.

Ah love these.

Unfortunately my lists are very short nowadays, but I've had a fair year theme park wise (considering how life is now!)
Thorpe Park x1
Alton Towers x1
Legoland Windsor x1
Disneyland Park Paris x3
Walt Disney Studios Paris x2

I do miss the days when I had huge lists, and I was at Thorpe & Towers 10-20 times each!

Sad to have not been to any fireworks events or halloween this year, for the first time in... I don't know how long.

Still, could be worse.

Paulton's next year for the first time in 20 years!

Park Count
Thorpe - Loads
Phantasialand x2
Towers x1
Legoland Windsor x1
Chessington x1
Efteling x1
Holiday Park (now Plopsaland Deutschland) x1
Walibi Belgium x1
Bellewaerde x1
Gardaland x1
Movieland Italy x1
Walibi Holland x1

Coasters
New coasters: 26
New parks: 4
Current cred count: 434

Top 5 new coasters
Kondaa, Walibi Belgium. Sitting just outside my Top 10 outright, this is absolutely bonkers in the best possible way. The only mark against it is the double down which starts off the final third of the ride, which just feels a bit unnatural to me.
Karacho, Tripsdrill. Gerstlauer with some of their finest work. It sits just outside my Top 10%, is a great deal of fun. If the MCBR was slightly less harsh, this would be a lot higher in my rankings.
Expedition GeForce, Holiday Plopsaland Deutschland. It's good. The middle third is a bit boring, but the first drop and finale are fab. It's very classic early 00s Intamin.
Raptor, Gardaland. Good, not great. But theming is fab.
MecaLodon, Walibi Belgium. The Gerstlauer family triple launch coaster is something which people have raved about. I like it, especially once it warms up, but I'm not as big on it as most. The ride type has buckets of potential though.

Disappointments
YoY, Walibi Holland. I liked Jersey Devil at Six Flags Great Adventure. I was disappointed by YoY, which didn't offer much even with the duelling. I also have aged and the leg arrangement was uncomfortable for me.
Gardaland. It was nice and I enjoyed my day there. But it did feel a bit meh at the same time.
Hals-uber-Kopf, Tripsdrill. Unlike Mark, I haven't been blown away by either of the Vekoma STCs. They're fine, I can see why people enjoy them, but they don't click for me.

Other Notable Things
Danse Macabre, Efteling. This thing is superb.
Movieland Italy. What a strange park. But I had an absolute blast of a time.
Amazonia, Bellewaerde. A fantastic rapids-esque ride from Intamin with lots of cool quirks.
Slaughterhouse, Walibi Holland. I returned to Walibi's Halloween event, and this alone experience is so raw and visceral and just genuinely fabulous.
Us vs You, Walibi Holland. An international scare maze which feels like it's slipped under the scare attraction's radar, because this is bloody great.

Hello. How was your year?

Here's mine-

Parks visited
Efteling X5
Animal Kingdom X3
Hollywood Studios X1
Southend Adventure Island X1
Chessington X1
Schwaben Park X1
Tripsdrill X1
Legoland Deutschland X1
Hong Kong Disneyland X2
Ocean Park HK X1
Himeji Central Park X1
Parque Espana Shima X1
Nagashima Spa Land X1
Fuji Q X1
Disneyland Tokyo X2
Tokyo Disney Sea X3
Thorpe Park X2
Wiener Prater X1
Fantasiana X1
Epic Universe X2

New Rollercoasters ridden - 62

I'd say my top ten new rollercoasters of 2025 are as follows-
Flying Dinosaur - The most intense flyer out there. It is absolutely fantastic.
Stardust Racers Green - I love this ride, the flowing elements and air time are excellent and the duelling with yellow is so good.
Stardust Racers Yellow - I mean come on, they are both so good and theres very little in between them in terms of quality.
Steel Dragon 2000 - Aside from the really frustrating loading, this is a really long ride that does deliver. The air time at the end is also excellent.
Pyrenees - An Inverter that sits under the radar, this is a very good rollercoaster, it just has a really odd ending.
Hals Uber Kopf - The vekoma STC is so good. Both it and Fienna Force are so class. I thought this was a surprisingly forceful rollercoaster and really enjoyed it.
Hollywood Dream - A surprisingly good hyper coaster. I only got the chance to ride this backwards but I thought it was excellent.
Harakugei - A very good RMC but I find the loading procedures really take away the fun from a lot of Japanese parks. This is still awesome but its tiresome waiting for it .
Diavlo - I don't really care that this is just a batman clone, it really is an excellent version of the ride. It looks a little rusty and run done and its amazing that the park have bothered to keep it running. Glad to have got on it.
Zokkon - An excellent Intamin straddle coaster. Full of unique elements and excellent pacing.

Landmark moments from 2025
Rollback on Mandrill Mayhem where we were stuck just before the Statue helix. Star of some B- tier tiktok vlogs. Loved it.
Evacuated from the break run on Stardust Green. Lots of fun watching Stardust Yellow continue to run. Also managing to get on it after the death in September.
Finally making it to Tokyo Disney and getting on all the major rides multiple times. Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Sinbad, Indianna Jones, Winnie the Pooh and Beauty and the Beasts felt like life changing rides in my theme park career
Reclaiming the 'ridden all B&M's in Europe' after getting to Legoland Deutschland
Saying goodbye to way too many attractions this year. Kingda Ka, Muppets 3D, Six Flags America, Tough to be a Bug, Scorpion Express, Blade. Also our last ever rides on Dinosaur before its closure in 2026.

So please share your 2025. We love content.

They removed all rides that were closed for the buyout days, Tidal Wave too.

There was actually some sign of life on on the last day of the season. Engineers around all day and some spinning (not lifting) so hopefully its not over just yet for Zodiac!


Zodiac always looks brilliant at night so that was certainly missed during Fright Nights this year.

I can't believe we're nearly at four years of this twaddle.

What is everyones thoughts on the capacity at the moment for Fright Nights?

I know its been the same for a long time and it isn't likely to change, but I can't help but feel they are overselling tickets at the moment resulting in a really poor customer experience.

- Security queue taking well over an hour to get into the park (I've seen many reports of over 90 minutes)
- Multiple coasters over 2 hours queue
- All mazes over an hour queue for a paid time slot
- Car park nightmare getting out (again not a new issue)

For comparison, I went to Walibi Holland on 2 sold out days this year. I waited 15 mins to get in one day and 5 mins the other. Getting out, about half hour one day due to a car accident and about 15 mins the other day. You also don't have to pay for car parking during for Fright Nights there.

I don't know another theme park where you get greeted with huge cattlepen queues to get in. Realistically, how many people who wait 90 minutes to get in, stuck in queues all day and then another queue to get out are going to enjoy there day and return?

I don't think it helps matters having the rapids closed and ghost train opening at 3pm on the busiest days of the year. The park really does need all the capacity they can get.
I do think theres more they can do with the mazes too. Towers opens theres at 1pm on peak days, so opening them earlier could definitely help with the queues.
And of course 10pm closes. With Fright Nights as busy as it is (and generating nearly half the parks yearly income) it would be great to see the return of 10pm closes.

I know this is quite a negative post, but just something I've thought about recently. For me, the security queue is the biggest issue that needs addressing and is a terrible first impression.

For me, my TP season ended yesterday having jumped in for an extra day due to the changing weather forecast, a great day for me. It could not have happened without the Staff and it would, like life, be easy to thank those who helped me directly. There are many staff whose contributions to that, and all my TP days, are normally not acknowledged. I do thank everybody from the cleaning, washroom, maintenance, management, security, gardeners and ride team, a lot of people.
Just like the bus on which I ride to the Park, so seldom do I hear a "thank you".
We, as visitors, don't get the chance to wish those well in their futures who, within a few days, won't have a job.
Just my thoughts.

Chesington's far worse as you can see the character the park used to have and when you compare to the modern day equivalent, it has lost so so much. The way IP has become an invasive species at Chessington, is far worse then so so so many parks.

The park have released an hour-long interview with Fright Nights management about this year's event.

There's some cool insight about things and is well worth a watch.

Will share my thoughts about some things discussed at a later point.