Marhelorpe

If that's the case and it is only just those 3 rides that are scheduled to open later, where can the average guest know about this before trekking half the park to find it closed at the ride entrance? Whilst opening Storm Surge later is not something to fuss about, it would be helpful if guests knew this as they entered the park after the gates open between 10-11am so they know what's open and closed for the first hour. I didn't even know this until now, so how the heck the normal guest would I have no idea. The only reason I am questioning which rides are scheduled to open at 11am is because a few days ago, Saw and Colossus's entrance boards stated the ride opens at 11am, not 10am. In addition, the park advertised it was opening the gates at 10am. It's inconsistent and unpredictable right now. As I said in my previous post, I accept and acknowledge that in some instances there are exceptions to opening rides at half capacity or later in the day due to work still taking place on them. But the problem I'm saying is that on quiet days, the park operate virtually all of their coasters except for Saw and X on just 1 train all day, creating unnecessary long and slow queues for guests potentially paying up to £58.50 for admission. So how am I supposed to know now when I see a ride running at half capacity if it is deliberate or not? An example of this is when the last meet was at Thorpe on the 25th March a couple of weeks ago, I distinctly remember seeing and hearing an announcement through Inferno's 60 minute queue announcing that the ride temporarily ceased operation whilst they were adding the 2nd train onto the track... on a Saturday.... at midday...... Well done lads. What logic is there in this approach and why is this the normal way of operating rides at the park now? It's absolutely inexcusable that a park this large and popular can get away with such shoddy operations like this.

Regardless of whether certain rides open later in the day at 11am as opposed to 10am, shouldn't the park at the very least give their visitors some advance notice on their website or on social media what will and won't be available upon opening when the gates open? Granted, the display at the entrance does list which rides are available when waiting, but from all the visits I have done so far this year and last year, this is only shown before the gates open. What about visitors that enter the park between 10-11am? How are they supposed to know what's available or not when they enter and cross the bridge? The problem is that this has become the norm for a few years now. Never before the year 2015 did you ever have to think or consider which area is open or closed if you arrive before 10am. Years ago, everything (or nearly everything) was open at the hour, as advertised and at full capacity, ready for the day ahead. Now however, we have gradually seen more and more rides over time open at 11am instead of 10am. First it was just Slammer, then it was Samurai, then it was Colossus and now it's even Saw a couple of times I have visited (the entrance board said it opened at 11am). And to make matters worse, if you visit on a day the park consider to be a 'non-peak day', which is usually a weekday, you are subjected to reduced capacity on almost all coasters and the occasional flat ride, such as one swing on Rush at opening weekend or one train on Stealth and Colossus. Now I understand that every morning, each and every ride requires checks, testing and confirmation from the ride teams before the entrances open. But given the fact we are now seeing the park deliberately open a fair chunk of their lineup later than everything else, this is absolutely inexcusable unless it's a moderately less-busy ride. Alton Towers and Chessington minus their water rides have pretty much all of their attractions at the ready for a 10am opening unless their is a fault, most of the time at full capacity with all of the trains running in the circuit, so why the heck can't Thorpe follow their lead anymore? Do they have a shortage of engineers or something similar? As for the enormous queues we have seen these past couple of days, it's good to know that the park's management thankfully refused to sell Fastrack for their coasters and tried to deal with it the best they could. But considering the place has had arguably decades of previous experience and practice to deal with situations like this, who's clever idea was it to under staff the park during the flippin' middle of the Easter holidays without having a backup plan?

Rode it again today and I too saw it working finally. Rating for the ride has now gone from 7/10 to 8/10 for me after that! Thankfully it was, as predicted, a broken effect that clearly wasn't working until today. Wonder what took them so long to get it running again?

The headsets are still as glitchy as they were last season, only difference is this time there are more working at once with much better audio. As for the VR for the 1st half, as far as I can gather, it's all the same with the following possible scenarios for the characters that appear. This was present last year in addition to this year: (1) Old man sitting - old woman infected. (2) Old man sitting - young kid infected. (3) Middle-aged man sitting - old woman infected - my one on Monday. (4) Middle-aged man sitting - young kid infected. (5) Old woman sitting - old woman infected. (6) Old woman sitting - young kid infected.

Why not just fix the effect if it is still present and not have to rely on more staff to make the scene relevant? The actors used the other night I'm certain were there just for media night/opening day and that was it, similar to that photo being posted around by Thorpe's media team of the warehouse having smoke in the same room with the suspended carriage. Anyone who has ridden it knows that doesn't happen. If you have to rely on more staff to get a ride working properly than you did last year, that's a bad decision which results in higher running costs (*hint hint Sub Terra*).

What actors? There weren't any in the tunnel today which is why I have an issue with it's current state.

Right, after finally getting the chance to travel to the park again today, I have ridden it after reluctantly forcing myself to queue 1 hour for it. Here is a list of the good and bad parts I observed from beginning to end without spoiling parts of the new experience. Good parts: - Queue speakers were nice and loud and didn't cut out at random intervals this time. - The batching process of arranging two groups of people before entering was more efficient. - The pre-show room worked fine and was the same as last year, which is good. - The walk between the pre-show and the warehouse was very dark and some background audio could be heard instead of the banging and protest shouting present in that section before, presumably against the fracking storyline. - Inside the carriage, almost all headsets were operating and available to use this time (yay). - The straps used are much easier and comfortable to adjust and fit on your head this time. - The headphones used for the audio on the headsets really surprised me. They were much clearer, sharper and louder than last year and weren't in those horrible pouches this time, which made it difficult to place over my ears properly and uncomfortable to wear. - The headphones also blocked out a lot of noise in the carriage this time which helped mute the talking and screaming from other guests. - First half of the VR is same as last year. Fine with this. - Nice audio additions made to the mid-way section such as an alarm and emergency evacuation message playing over it. This wasn't here last year. - Upon boarding the 2nd train, the lights flickering coupled with the train announcements saying you need to put on your goggles made it feel more genuine and made the boarding much more interesting. - I love how they even got the same alarm noise used on the real tube trains when the doors close! - The 2nd half is much, much better this time with a far more interesting and acted scene with people this time inside the real carriage (hence the use of a 360 degree camera in the BTS videos). - When taking your headset off, I like how Derren Brown appears in the screens in the carriage's ceiling explaining to you what happened and to make you think it's all over. Nice little touch. - The new ending situated where the baggage drop area used to be was most surprising as I wasn't expecting it one little bit and the use of smoke, lighting, audio, floor movement and props used really startled me. - One last appearance from Derren in the same scene after the scene finished was a good reminder to keep everything inside a secret. Bad parts: - Still cannot get the ride open in time at exactly 10 or 11am. - The queue's batching system whilst makes it more efficient, the staff used it where one bay was for Fastrack only (hotel guests I presume?) and the other for the normal queue, making it a 1:1 ratio between the two. Easily fixable by limiting the number of Fastrack guests at a time, but I didn't appreciate this after waiting 1 hour. - The photo booth previously used for capturing your face in a jar is no longer used. Wasted opportunity for something else to add to the queue to make the wait more interesting. - In the pre-show room, a quarter of the stand at the back of the room has now been taken up by a "Workshop" cupboard, making it a bit of a squeeze to get all 56 of us into that room to see the stage properly. - Before boarding the train, there is still congestion between the groups ahead and your one. - The carriage I went in had 3 broken headsets already after just 4 days of usage... - The first VR content still glitches where the video lost position of my head and readjusted itself several times in the space of 5 minutes. - VR Content was a few seconds out of sync with the carriage moving during the first half. - The mid-way section was the most disappointing bit. Firstly, it appears the park have given up on the moving tube train effect as it's no longer there anymore and therefore nothing comes towards you like it used to. Secondly, this makes the scene almost pointless and boring without it. - No actors present in that tunnel unlike some videos I've seen online from the media event on the 30th March - misleading and false expectation. - When all the lights went out at the half-way point, a single blue one shining on the pipe didn't go out, which ruined the darkness effect. - The 2nd VR content glitches again too, though not as severely this time. - The jump scare at the very end of the 2nd VR half where the creature pops out as you when Derren talks isn't loud enough to be effective at making you jump. - Finally, the end scene to me was over a little too quickly and I wished it lasted a few seconds longer! I've gotta admit whilst queueing for it, I was expecting some very minor updates made and that was it. I was expecting it to be the same old system as last year with lots of broken headsets, broken VR content, unreliable operations, more green smoke and the same CGI rendered creatures from last year. Thankfully, this was not the case. The experience offered now to me has addressed for the most part the biggest problems I had with the ride - consistency and reliability. The fact the headsets were almost working flawlessly with better audio, straps and VR content has pleased me greatly and has made me wondered why the heck wasn't the ride like this to begin with? And the new ending enhanced the experience further and actually gave guests a meaningful finale this time and a greater connection with Derren himself. However, I am still really annoyed that the half-way section is no better than it was during Fright Nights last year where the train didn't move and the scene became pointless as a result. Just from observation, it looks as though the effect has been removed entirely now and I cannot work out why it has. It worked very well with a lot of guests and was far better than nothing happening like it did today. Hopefully this is only temporary, but when you consider the park have had over 4 months to get it ready, you have to wonder if this change was intentional or not. The biggest concern I still have with this ride is the fact even just 4 days in we are seeing broken HTC Vive headsets already displaying glitchy content. If they are not fixed as soon as possible, over time like last year, more and more and more will go down, which will affect the queues hugely over time, as well as leave bad impressions of a £40M investment that frankly should not be having these issues still after running through 2 seasons currently. But overall, this update made for the most part has genuinely surprised me more than I was expecting. It's not a massive improvement like everyone on Thursday/Friday were making it out to be, which was probably the hype and anticipation talking which I fell for last year during the rehearsal period. Regardless, it is better than what it was before by a significant amount to be noticed. If the park can run this with all the headsets working, the half-way section back to what it was last year and open it on time at either 10am or 11am every morning it's available, I will be very happy with it. For now, it's less of a white elephant project than it was last year! DBGT (2016) - 4/10 DBGT: ROTD (2017) - 7/10

I have just one question to the lucky few who have ridden it this evening: Did all the hardware function correctly this time? (EDIT: After seeing some video footage from tonight, it has become apparent that it hasn't...... excellent......)

IMA do sell a lot of their music directly from their website on CD's. Parks like Liseberg cover their 3 newest attractions (including more of Helix), Hansa Park for Kärnan and a lot of Heide Park. That's why I don't understand why Merlin and it's British parks are currently not participating in this. There's already a full version of Galactica online but it is just recorded in mono and is not the studio copy. Hopefully Thorpe and Merlin will soon realise that there is clearly a demand for this and with the growing collection all of their parks are now getting, I'd be shocked if it didn't happen soon. Good entrance music this is. [emoji4]

One would hope that this is actually happening, but it would be strange if it was just Thorpe Park planning on doing this and not Chessington or Alton Towers.

Whilst it's great to see all this new audio the park and Merlin as a whole have recently been installing over the last few years with their new attractions, it's just such a shame that the company is unwilling to provide the full versions for people. [emoji20] Heck, if Phantasialand, Liseberg, Disney, PortAventura, Heide Park, Hansa Park and Toverland to name a few are willing to to sell their audio, why not Merlin who have the biggest collection of any park? What I'd do to listen to Galactica properly...

Having only managed to try it just once today thanks to some monstrous queues in the whole park, I have some mixed opinions on the whole attraction, but overall really enjoyed it. There are some parts which I really enjoyed and liked which worked very effectively, but at the same time, it felt like parts of the attraction were left unfinished and empty. First impressions of the outdoor queue were average with a new coloured buildings and new music (which did turn out to be the music posted the other day from the 2009 animated film) and thankfully no more of that ghastly exterior music used before. Whilst there were no issues with this or with the moved entrance, once again like every single new attractions that is built now, there MUST be a green screen photo opportunity to upsell you on which has now been placed just before you go inside. Hardly surprised, but didn't appreciate this after waiting in line for 70 minutes and with Fastrack in full operation congesting the main queue. Ignoring that, the station area was quite nice and simple with what looks to be 2D drawings of the characters against the walls. Now I understand some have criticised this and have said it's cheaply done, to which I wholeheartedly agree with. But I got the impression that the build-up to the ride was supposed to be referring to the book instead of the animated film and once inside, it all comes to life with 3D characters. So I'm not that fussed about the station - It's simple, has better roofing and feels fresh again, plus it is a lot darker than when it was Bubbleworks which is a big noticeable difference for the whole attraction. Now onto the ride, this is where things begin to get mixed. Unlike Bubbleworks where everything was on a loop with no synchronised scenes to reflect the positioning of your boat, almost the entire ride up until the drop was timed so that when you enter each room, a voice read out passages from the book where some of them were shined onto the wall such as "A little brown mouse walked through the woods" as soon as you enter the first darkened room. This helped make the experience feel more complete and enjoyable and the mix of storytelling with the scenes was very well done. One of the biggest and most noticeable differences with it is how much darker and dimly lit all of the scenes are this time. Bubbleworks during its final years was almost entirely lit up which made everything easily visible. But this time, only the scenery and characters are lit with filtered lighting which draws your attention to them and not the surrounding enclosed walls. The lighting was very effective and is far better than what we had before. However, there were some scenes where there were blank walls with absolutely no theming or details whatsoever and this really aggravated me. At least with Bubbleworks you got a printed pattern or painting to look at, but this time, they are plain, white and ordinary. For instance when leaving the station down the ramp, that small room where the professor previously sat at his desk is now completely blank with white walls everywhere and no theming was added to the flooring either. All that happened was a projector shined on the wall with an animation of the mouse walking, with the words from the author read out. Not the best first impression of the ride, but after that, it gets a lot better. One thing that did surprise me greatly was the sheer size of the characters through various scenes. The 2nd room where Mouse encounters Fox for instance was simply enormous and was very close to you when you passed by! Same for Owl and definitely the Gruffalo. There were some thematic elements which involved the use of projectors and TV screens of the characters through these small windows, primarily from the animated film. Whilst I didn't necessarily have an issue with this, my worry is will they be maintained on a frequent basis to stop them from breaking or going wrong? If the park can do this then that's great, but if it ends up like Smiler's queue line where the projectors over time became dimmer, unaligned and frankly broken, the effect will become useless. The fact some scenes are almost entirely dependant on this has me concerned slightly. Something else that I couldn't help but notice is with the entire attraction being much darker inside than previously, it became quite hard to distinguish the walls and the whole thing felt smaller inside. So much so that I'd go as far to say slightly claustrophobic due to the close proximity of the characters with the boats. It didn't bother me at all, but thought it's something interesting to note. As for the drop and finale, this is now where your on-ride photo is now taken. Just before you reach the bottom, the Gruffalo appears above you with moving orange eyes and a flash, blinding you, takes your photo. Inside the finale, there are still SOME of the overhead fountains present, but only the ones where you are either entering or leaving the room, not in the centre where there is now a massive tree overshadowing you as you pass under with Owl looking down at you. The centre piece where the bathtub used to be confused me. From what I gathered, it looked like Fox's tail trying to run scared because of the Gruffalo, but maybe I'm wrong. In full, the finale still has plenty of lighting effects used in different colours with some of the fountains working and it is a much better room than what was there before. The best way I can explain is try not to think of this room as a finale anymore; just as the penultimate scene to the ride instead following what the book says. Lastly, the corner where after you just leave the fountain room is where the story finishes and Mouse is sitting on a log with his acorn, and you pass through a mist of air with a projection on it of what I believe is an animation of 'Gruffalo Crumble', as well as a vertical screen of the Gruffalo running away from the mouse, just like in the book and film before coming back into the station again. Nothing too dramatic, but a nice way to end the ride. So whilst there were some really good elements such as the lighting, atmosphere, story telling and effects, the big issue I have is with the longevity and lack of substance in some areas I've seen. The fact they have ripped out some areas and simply replaced it with white walls which are used only to project sentences from the book, along with some drawings really annoys me greatly because they could have used a lot of that space to add theming elements such as trees and bushes to fit in with the theme a bit better. You know, like the promo art suggests? That coupled with characters that hardly move at all in this attraction and are static, non-animatronics irritated me slightly too. But besides from that, this overall I would say is a far needed and I believe welcomed addition to the park. It's not perfect in anyway and there are some potential flaws with the design I can see with broken effects and lacklustre scenes, but all in all, I enjoyed this far more than what Bubbleworks was in it's final last years from 2010 onwards and I conclude this is a worthwhile investment made. Despite it appealing to the younger audience, it clearly still has a place for families and older members. All I can advise is get on it as soon as you can whilst everything is currently working to experience it properly! Bubbleworks (1990-2005): 8/10 Imperial Leather Bubbleworks (2006-2016): 4/10 Gruffalo River Ride Adventure : 7/10 (On-ride photo for those interested. I apologise. I can never seem to get a normal on-ride photo with my family for some reason... )

Whilst it's possible this might be used for the ride, this is actually a track from the score composed for the short film released years ago back in 2009. The track is called "The Mouse" by René Aubry. Not the final version but still likely to be used somewhere in the attraction.

Well all do, but considering that this new marketing is likely from the same team who claimed just over a year ago that this investment will "completely re-write the rules for what theme parks can do" which is "not suitable for guests with any phycological or neurological disorders", I wouldn't hold out too much! In all seriousness though, it's good to finally have a date stamped on it's reopening and I too am looking forward to seeing what's changed and is hopefully improved, just as long as it all works properly this time. If not? Pffft......

What I mean is that when it was all rendered through animation, it positioned you inside the carriage using the lighthouses situated on the roof. If you shifted your body left or right whilst looking directly ahead for instance, it positioned you accordingly. However, this positional tracking signal sometimes got corrupted which likely explains the random glitches experienced where one second you are looking straight ahead and then the next you are looking up at the ceiling without moving your head. The overheating issue isn't something I'm expecting them to fix regardless of the content used through the headsets, but using a stationary 360 camera that likely won't require the use of those lighthouses should in theory stop those random glitches from happening again and therefore improve the reliability.

Having a look at both of those videos revealed yesterday in close detail, it could be possible that this year's experience will be entirely different altogether with little to no trace of the scenes used previously. The fact they are using a 360 degree Nokia OZO camera inside the carriage this time implies that what we might see through the headsets will in fact be an acted scene with people sitting opposite you who are also wearing the headsets, alongside props and models used for the creatures. This is making me think could it be that last year's experience offered was only temporary or set in place for just it's opening year? A theory is during the ride's construction when the park were releasing teaser videos of DBGT in early 2016 around January/February, the train carriages were likely still under construction and Figment Productions were in the middle of creating the VR footage through CGI containing the scenes, characters and creatures we know today. But since they were unable to film inside one of the real carriages at the time due to them still being constructed, they had to develop a 3D rendered version of the carriage instead to make up for this problem. That BBC documentary last year with some behind the scenes footage showed they created a mock version of the carriage with green screens over the sets which all had to be animated. In return, the ride involved everything being generated by computer imagery as opposed to real life footage. Now that the carriages are obviously built, completed and used, the creative teams now have the opportunity to film scenes inside the carriage itself rather than create a digital and frankly unrealistic version of it through computer software, which to me, makes a whole lot more sense and fits in with the claim "And passengers will be left wondering where perception ends and reality begins." This coupled with some added CGI for effect inside the carriage will stack up against this claim perfectly. When this ride reopens soon, my prediction is once you put the headsets on, you will see filmed footage inside the carriage itself with people all around you wearing the headsets or 'contamination goggles' to make you think they are in the carriage with you. Once it begins to move, the windows behind them (hence the green screen in the first video) will show scenes and creatures created through computer software to give you the impression you are moving either outside or through an underground tunnel. When things go wrong and a creature breaks into the carriage or something similar, there will be a mix of 3D animated characters and real-life props used this time. The 2nd video hints that costumes or props of the creatures have been created, similar to the one used in that scare prank video Thorpe released during their marketing for this ride back in April 2016. Think of it as VR mixed with AR, like the Microsoft Hololens. I really, really hope this is all true because if the creative teams are now using real footage as opposed to animated footage for the carriage and characters this year, not only should this hopefully improve the reliability of the headsets but also make everything you see appear much more realistic this time with real props used instead of animated ones.

Interesting stuff released today through email updates from Thorpe themselves about the developer's diary: From the looks of things, it looks like the new footage will involve more people inside the carriage with you this time as opposed to one person sitting opposite you. The use of a 360 degree camera hints at this. Admittedly, this is looking to be a better experience than last year if it works properly. Still no date though!

I would have hoped with just 9 days to go something inside would be finished to display, surely?! If the park want to keep it all a secret and not reveal anything, that's completely understandable. I just find it odd that if they are doing that, what is there to hide considering many know the ride very well from previously? A teaser of some sort would be good if it looks great inside.

Really surprised that ever since construction started last year there has not been a single image, video or even teaser about what the interior of this is going to like, especially with just 9 days to go before opening. Despite there being mixed opinions on this redevelopment of Bubbleworks, I really believe this will be much better than a lot of us are expecting. It's clear Bubbleworks was on it's last legs during it's final years and it desperately needed something new and whilst the Gruffalo franchise is a favorite among many families and parents, it shouldn't necessarily be outdated within a few years time of being in the park. So on this one occasion, I welcome the use of an IP, but just like all new things, I'm holding out of praising or criticizing it until I've seen it myself and will be ignoring any marketing this time, regardless of how effective or convincing it might be. The only concern I have is whether it will implement scenes which only involve a flat screen and a projector with static non-animatronic figures, reminiscent of Charlie. Hopefully that's not the case and if anyone might be able to confirm this if they know then that would be great thanks.

It's quite interesting so far to see the team showcasing us the progress on the armoury, entrance and vault but none for the octagon, which arguably needs the most attention with fixed effects and lighting. Wonder why? Regardless, this is all great stuff we're seeing so far and that image showing the difference between the cleaned and yet-to-be cleaned tiles makes you wonder why it was left untouched for the last 16+ years and nothing until now was done about it.

I've contacted PortAventura directly to enquire a bit more about the accommodation amenities they offer at their hotels which those of us staying on-site might find useful in preparation for the trip. Below is what I have found out: Since most if not all of us will be arriving at around midday, you can leave your bags at the hotel and spend the remainder of the day in the park, even before you check-in at 3pm onwards. Same for checking-out by 11am. You still have access to the park for the whole day until closure. For the discounted Express Passes for hotel guests, these are the prices and offers going: €25 (Express Max) - 1 admission for all available attractions for 1 day. €30 (Express Max Gold) - 1 admission for all available attractions for 1 day + an additional single ride in front row for Shambhala, Furius Baco & Dragon Khan. €61 (Express Premium) - unlimited access for ALL DAYS you stay at the resort. €66 (Express Premium Gold) - unlimited access for ALL DAYS you stay at the resort + 1 front row ride on Shambhala, Furius Baco and Dragon Khan. The premium passes also gives you priority seats to the shows and theaters for Temple Magic, Jing-Chou, Gran Teatro Imperial & Gran Teatro Maya. These tickets can be picked up alongside your park pass at reception. Despite what some travel agencies might say when you book through them, access to the outdoor swimming pool is included in the price at no extra charge. Water park tickets are NOT included at the hotel, but you do get a discount. I didn't get a price unfortunately. As you can see, €61+ might sound a lot, but considering it's valid every day you stay, includes front row access and the best seats for all the live shows, I don't think it's that bad, especially in comparison to what UK parks tend to offer! EDIT (15/03): For those of us that have booked this through Expedia as a package, some bundles say it includes a '1 Ferrari Land ticket'. After contacting both the hotel and Expedia directly who were offering the deal, it took several days to get a definite answer. You do in fact get one ticket per person for the room you reserve so for our group's sake, myself, Kerfuffle and Martin Doyle will all get individual tickets for one day in Ferrari Land after arrival at the hotel, thus saving us €30 each. One thing worth mentioning however is you can only get the tickets at least 1 day after you check-in at the hotel, so we can only visit on either the 10th/11th September, not the 9th or 12th. Also, the park is operating a time schedule so we might be given the choice to either enter from 10am-6pm or 6pm-1am as evidenced on their website when you book tickets with them. Not sure how this works at the moment but my guess is they don't expect you to spend a full day day in the park as opposed to the main park which is obviously much larger and has a greater selection.

Aren't the headsets outdated already? They are all the HTC Vive Pre models, aren't they? The only real advancement I can see them make is to improve not only the graphics and tracking but the connection between the headset and the lighthouses too, which will help the random glitches become less frequent. Besides, wasn't that a reason why the glass windows in the carriage were covered with a plastic sheet, because they were interfering too severely with the connection?

OK, I am 100% up for this and certainly looking forward to it! For other members that are planning on making the trip but have not booked any flights, hotels or tickets yet like I have, would anyone be happy for me to share another room for 4 at the El Paso hotel for the flights and tickets specified by Ryan above? An individual room at the same hotel would cost nearly 4 times the amount and a twin/triple room nearly twice the amount, so sharing one between four would be much more ideal and affordable for all of us. If interested, please either send me a PM or invite me to a group so we can all arrange this together as I honestly don't know where to begin with all this or which members to ask.

I'm not sure how to respond to this. To close an attraction that is less than 2 years old for over 40% of the entire 2017 season is an outright embarrassment, as naff as it might be. Oh well, I guess the park needs to find some way of recovering from wasting £40M on their white elephant project last year...

Can I be put down as a maybe please, including the evening meal? Unsure whether I'll be available that weekend yet.