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Marhelorpe

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  1. Like
    Marhelorpe got a reaction from pluk in Kolmården Wildlife Park   
    Alright, I have also now ridden Wildfire, to which I have finally lost my RMC virginity and to be brutally honest and truthful here, I was underwhelmed with it. I realise I am going to be the only person on the planet who didn't think too much of this, so are expecting shots to be fired left, right and centre, especially given how much hype is surrounding RMC's at the moment everywhere you look online. But I was expecting to be monumentally blown away by this thing after so many fanatics and 'enthusiasts' claim this is one of the best coasters in the world and best models of coaster on the market; and I was desperately seeking and secretly hoping it was going to top Helix finally as my number 1 coaster. Sadly, it is far from that spot after over 15 rides on the thing and heck, it's not even a top 5 coaster to me. Why you might ask? The answer is simple - poor design.

    The first design flaw is Wildfire through POVs online might show the thing being relentless from beginning to end and only slowing down a little bit when going through the 2nd inversion and towards the end of the layout, but my goodness, this proves looks can be really deceptive. There are two points on this coaster where it barely trawls through it's circuit to the point I thought it was going to stall at one point. These two moments are pace-killers on this coaster and that's a major fault with the design of it's layout through my eyes. It's Icon's first inversion kind of slow we are talking about here and to me, any coaster which has weak spots like this is a massive turn-off. Most coasters suffer moments like this whether it's Taron's trim brakes, Icon's weak 1st half, Nemesis' stall turn or Helix's launches for example, but the idea of going from 74mph to less than 10mph in the space of less than 10 seconds is quite extraordinary for a coaster model many claim to be amazingly quick and zippy, so it hinders the ride hugely in my view. So that's the first fault.

    The second fault is you may also hear some reviews say Wildfire is a ride which as it 'warms up' gets faster during the day and therefore becomes more intense, and by golly, they were not wrong here. It is so inconsistent with speed. The difference between riding this thing in the morning as opposed to the late afternoon is like night and day. It's not a little difference, it's a huge difference. As mentioned above, the coaster barely makes it through the circuit if you ride this in the morning and it feels close to stalling, but give it a few more hours and the ride is much faster through every element and made it far more enjoyable. This is also noticeable with a full train with higher potential energy compared to an empty one. I understand almost every coaster in existence suffers this same fault of 'warming up' to some degree, but my word, I wasn't expecting a difference as large as this on Wildfire.

    And lastly, the biggest fault I had with this coaster also falls under all other RMC's out there to be fair, and that's the restraint design. Whilst the seats are comfy enough to sit in, there are these horrible leg 'brackets' I like to call them which clamp down on your shins giving you almost no room at all to move or adjust your legs. This posed a major problem for me and caused a lot of discomfort when being flung everywhere, because I could feel these digging into my shins really badly through some elements. Plus, when I look at them on the trains, they look and feel like a needless thing to add, especially if you are in the back two seats of each of the six 4-seater carriages. The seats are deep enough to prevent this and the two directly in front are enough to stop you sticking your legs out, so to me, these are not necessary. As a workaround, something similar to the GCI wooden coasters with a small walled shield by your feet would work far better in my eyes, similar to what you see on Wicker Man, Balder and Wodan for example.
     
    Now I understand not everyone will have this problem and it only really poses a problem for the more... 'bulky' guests to put it in PC terms, but I didn't enjoy having my shins pinned down by a force of over 4G and 12 airtime moments on this coaster one bit. It caused some major discomfort which reminded me of levels similar to Colossus' restraints in all honesty, and if every other RMC has this, including Steel Vengeance, then I frankly have very little interest in being clamped down like this again. Partly what makes Helix, Taron, Shambhala, Icon and Wodan my top coasters is these all offer some very comfortable seating which accommodates people of all shapes and sizes, but Wildfire felt very restrictive and is a massive thumbs down from me in this area.
     
    But all this aside, there's no denying there are some fantastic elements to this coaster and I am very pleased to have finally ridden it! The interaction between the coaster and the natural hillside terrain of the zoo is unparalleled to anything else I have seen before and the setting of this ride is brilliant. The views alone from the top at the crow's nest turnaround alone are worth just getting on this ride in my view. The 81 degree drop is phenomenal, especially if you are on the back row with airtime on the same levels as Shambhala I'd say (though not as extreme as Helix), and the transition into the stalled zero-g roll was quite something. It was a very strange sensation, but a wicked one! The 3rd inversion is great also and flies through it very fast, and the titled airtime hill before plunging through a shed filled with smoke was very intense, especially as it 'warmed-up' later in the day. So by no means am I saying this is an awful coaster in anyway, it's just hindered by a few crucial design faults in my view.

    After haven now ridden an RMC, I can see the appeal they have behind them as they do things no other coaster from B&M, Mack or Intamin can ever achieve, but they just aren't my cup of tea unfortunately. Wildfire was great fun no doubt and I can happily say I have finally ridden one of these coasters, but honestly, it is my opinion and belief to think that the obsession at the minute with RMC is down to pure hype; hype which reminds me of the days of Derren Brown's Ghost Train frankly - they are a bold idea with some excellent visions, but the execution is questionable in a few areas.
     
    In a nutshell, to everyone out there who is pleading Thorpe Park to build one of these over the site of Loggers Leap, whilst you could be in for a great ride no doubt, just be careful what you wish for and try one for yourself outside of Steel Vengeance before making that judgement. I myself whilst I really enjoyed Wildfire believe RMC's as a whole are at the 'hype-bubble' stage currently and remain reserved about riding another one unless some fundamental design changes are made to their trains.
     
    But again, I still enjoyed it and give it 7/10!
  2. Like
    Marhelorpe reacted to Kerfuffle in Your OWN favourite park pictures!   
    My recent trip to Liseberg certainly said a lot about my photography...

     
    Even this one was incredibly lucky! A typical shot of Valkyria with Helix perfectly timed in the background. ?

  3. Like
    Marhelorpe reacted to Exodus Matt in The Blue Barnacle (Previously Black Buccaneer)   
    Proof Varney is actually Thanos.
     
    Merlin will never reopen it unless it’s themed to a Donaldson I.P.
  4. Like
    Marhelorpe reacted to Project LC in Quantum   
    Flat rides probably don't draw in guests. For Merlin's rediculously high rate of return targets its pretty clear why very few flat rides are built. They cant sell them as a world's first so they stick a bunch of actors to them to make them an "experience" which in turn leads to negative feedback due to the low throughput and the attraction being inconsistent. So they now have an expensive to run actor led experience that will last 1-3 years.
    This phenomenon is bad for the park but is being made significantly worse by the fact that the old flat rides have come to the end of their life. They need replacing. Which means instead of just all new attractions being inadequate and short lived, replacement ones now suffer the same fate. 
  5. Like
    Marhelorpe reacted to WWTPRadio in Park Music   
    And so continues the lack of directive from either the park or its parent company over what should be the warm goodbye at the end of your visit and enticing you to come back. Basically, whoever has the reigns over the system and the files available has the deciding vote. Tragic!
  6. Thanks
    Marhelorpe reacted to HermanTheGerman in Park Music   
    They’re currently playing the old end of day music after close. The one from 2002(?)-2011 I believe. A great shame really, the music from the Shark Hotel they were playing last year was much nicer. Definitely one of the better imascore tracks, and it fit really nicely as a “winding down” sort of piece. 
     
    The 2002-2011 one is just far too lively and in your face. 
  7. Like
    Marhelorpe reacted to WWTPRadio in Park Music   
    Nothing - it was perfect. 
  8. Thanks
    Marhelorpe got a reaction from WWTPRadio in Park Music   
    Also, I swear at closure now this season around 6:30pm the park play briefly that cursed siren noise from years ago which was the most detestable thing to hear imaginable..... 
     
    What. Was. Wrong. With. Last. Year's. End. Of. Day. Track. Thorpe?
  9. Like
    Marhelorpe got a reaction from HermanTheGerman in Park Music   
    Ever since the start of this season, I do not know whether this is intentional or not, but the park across the affected areas seem to be playing some oddly edited and severely shortened versions of their IMAscore tracks they got made a couple of years ago and as of 27/04/19, none of this has been rectified still.
     
    To give an example, I have noticed the entrance audio played at admissions and over the bridge has been shortened down to just 12 minutes in length before it fades out and loops again, meaning 18 minutes worth is no longer presently being played.
     
    The Shark Hotel's walkway I noticed is playing a shorter variant of the Port & Basecamp track, and the Dome's interior plays the Shark Hotel theme. These have been muddled up and swapped.
     
    And as for Lost City/Colossus, The Jungle/Inferno, it's the same story - the shorter variant is being played across these areas, not the full version.
     
    And where's the end of day audio they used across the park last year which played bang-on closing time which I believe was the Shark Hotel audio? Last year it worked really, really well as an end of day track I thought, but now there's nothing played across the park anymore.
     
    But maybe I'm just imagining things with these differences I have listed, so has anyone else noticed too?
  10. Like
    Marhelorpe reacted to Mattgwise in 2019 Season   
    That's outrageous! I bought it for the sole reason that I would be able to purchase the refill fee every visit. Its an insult that because they have sold out of cups the rest of their customers have to suffer. Surely a sign saying new capsules have sold out and sorry for the inconvenience would have been a better decision. 
  11. Haha
    Marhelorpe got a reaction from Ringo in Nemesis Inferno   
    Then again, given it takes just 24mph gusts of wind to apparently "stall" Mr. Monkey's Banana Boat Ride and force it to close, hearing that the vinyl flame stickers on Inferno's trains falling off is enough to close that ride down is completely believable these days.
  12. Like
    Marhelorpe got a reaction from Stuntman707 in Blackpool Pleasure Beach   
    I gotta say, the weekend over the 6th/7th April when I visited again was vastly better compared to opening weekend back in February. Had a fantastic time! Everything running near-full capacity for Saturday, short queue for everything, plenty of re-rides on Icon and lovely sunny weather. Couldn’t have been a better day! 
     
    As for Valhalla, I’ve never been a huge fan of it since my first ride on it earlier in 2018, and especially after being evacuated off it back in February. But it was performing pretty damn well on the Saturday with more effects working which I hadn’t seen before, and the water vortex tunnel was absolutely brutal. Go so wet going through it that it made Tidal Wave look like nothing in comparison. Really good run on it!
     
    Oh, and Icon of course was as great as ever. 
     
    The only room for improvement they could do is to get the ride opening times on their entrance boards accurate, because a fair few rides opened at 10am, but their boards said 11am, Nickelodeon Streak being the prime example where we didn’t know it was open until asking a staff member in the station.
  13. Like
    Marhelorpe got a reaction from Coaster in Blackpool Pleasure Beach   
    I gotta say, the weekend over the 6th/7th April when I visited again was vastly better compared to opening weekend back in February. Had a fantastic time! Everything running near-full capacity for Saturday, short queue for everything, plenty of re-rides on Icon and lovely sunny weather. Couldn’t have been a better day! 
     
    As for Valhalla, I’ve never been a huge fan of it since my first ride on it earlier in 2018, and especially after being evacuated off it back in February. But it was performing pretty damn well on the Saturday with more effects working which I hadn’t seen before, and the water vortex tunnel was absolutely brutal. Go so wet going through it that it made Tidal Wave look like nothing in comparison. Really good run on it!
     
    Oh, and Icon of course was as great as ever. 
     
    The only room for improvement they could do is to get the ride opening times on their entrance boards accurate, because a fair few rides opened at 10am, but their boards said 11am, Nickelodeon Streak being the prime example where we didn’t know it was open until asking a staff member in the station.
  14. Haha
    Marhelorpe reacted to James Allgood in 2019 Season   
    I find it strange why Thorpe have repainted the station and transfer track and supports but nothing else again...
     

  15. Like
    Marhelorpe got a reaction from JoshuaA in 2019 Season   
    Never before have I ever witnessed something more ironic than this...
     

     
    Funny how so many can join a cattle pen queue this long to get a RAP but can't wait 5 minutes for Flying Fish...
     

  16. Like
    Marhelorpe reacted to SteveJ in 2019 Season   
    Ride Access Pass is the most abused systems in these parks (and often impractical to use for people who actually need it!)
  17. Like
    Marhelorpe got a reaction from SteveJ in 2019 Season   
    Never before have I ever witnessed something more ironic than this...
     

     
    Funny how so many can join a cattle pen queue this long to get a RAP but can't wait 5 minutes for Flying Fish...
     

  18. Like
    Marhelorpe got a reaction from Ringo in 2019 Season   
    Never before have I ever witnessed something more ironic than this...
     

     
    Funny how so many can join a cattle pen queue this long to get a RAP but can't wait 5 minutes for Flying Fish...
     

  19. Like
    Marhelorpe got a reaction from ImLucifer in 2019 Season   
    Never before have I ever witnessed something more ironic than this...
     

     
    Funny how so many can join a cattle pen queue this long to get a RAP but can't wait 5 minutes for Flying Fish...
     

  20. Like
    Marhelorpe reacted to Coaster in I'm a bad enthusiast (theme park fatigue thread)   
    I can't blame people for taking hotdogs in flasks when Thorpe now charge obscene prices for them.
     
    £12 for a hotdog and chips now.  In the same venue that used to sell an entire (amazing) BBQ meal for about £7.50.  And they had music.  A hotdog on its own was £7.00 and people wonder why they're considered a rip off.
     
    On the whole my issues with Merlin aren't the frequency of the investments, but the overall quality that goes into the parks in terms of customer experience. 
     
    Also, many of the investments that have been made were (IMO) not where the priorities should have been in terms of ensuring the parks offer a well rounded day out for visitors.
     
    Wicker Man is an exception and it has clearly done very well for Alton, which is fantastic.
  21. Like
    Marhelorpe got a reaction from Whatever in The Alton Towers Dungeons - New for 2019   
    Alright, I've had a day to think over what these dungeons are like after experiencing it last Sunday and are going to be brutally honest with it now after the experience I had and will present my opinion of it as a paying customer who dedicated nearly an hour of their 10am - 5pm day on this thing; not as a theme park blogger who is in Merlin/Alton's good graces and paid zilch to experience it.
     
    Contrary to all the positive reviews that are going around right now for it from all the theme park bloggers/vloggers/YouTube "celebrities", I'm sorry, but this is without a doubt the worst Dungeon I have done and I would go as far to say the worst attraction Alton Towers have ever given us in the 21 years I have been visiting this place year-on-year since 1998, and that's saying something. It goes almost entirely against what makes all the other Dungeons enjoyable attractions and it falls flat on delivering a comprehensive experience for guests with no proper thought or imagination put into the product and here's why.
     
    All the other Dungeons I have experienced immerse you properly into each scene with details and theming across every corner, from the flooring, walls, scenery and the actors. Despite many of them having bare roofing such as the London one for example, you tend to forget about it all with every scene and focus your attention on the actor and surroundings, as per you should, so this missing detail never really posed a problem for me with the others. With the Alton Towers one however, the very opposite occurs.
     
    For every scene you go through, I kid you not, there are flat black walls literally everywhere you look from the sides, behind you, the ceiling and even amongst the theming where the actor stands. It look horrendous and every room made you feel like you were in a big black box that had been assembled quickly and cheaply with timber wall panels. There was no texture to any of them, no deformation and no disguising of the walls in any room to make you feel as though you are in a dungeon. It just looks incredibly lazy and cheap and no attempt whatsoever was done to immerse guests 360 degrees unlike all the other Dungeons.
     
    The entrance to the attraction I still hold the view looks disgustingly ugly and cheap. Whilst in-person it looks a little better than through a screen, you can tell it was built on a budget with the randomly placed barrels and crates outside the entrance, along with the temporary fire torches fenced off. Most unforgiving of all is there is still an entire section of the entrance to the left in front of the lift towers with nothing but a giant 30ft black wall. Clearly the park ran out of wooden supports to cover this up properly during construction, so their solution to this problem was to pop down to the local B&Q and buy 50L of Dulux EasyCare Rich Black paint to cover up the shadows of the deceased Oompa Loompas peeking through the 2D windows. I'm guessing with the amount of black walls inside the attraction they had plenty to spare to cover this up too...
     
    Take a look here at what I mean. Taken on Sunday 24th March. It's so revolting to look at:


     
    As for the Black River boat ride, it's the same story - paint every wall black and leave it. The ride follows through the same route as Charlie, but believe it or not, it's now even barer than before with very little decoration or theming present in any portion. There are a few projectors on flat walls as you go round showing the shadows of victims being tortured, a couple of water jets to get you wet, a single animatronic which just bobs up and down ever so slightly in a cauldron, a single projector on a mannequin head and a single oddly-placed smoke machine. That is quite literally it for 4 minutes straight. There are no proper special effects anywhere inside, many zones had no audio playing, there are just black walls and tunnels for 80% of it and most unforgivable is the park were too lazy to remove the old theming from Charlie such as the water wheel in the station and the mirrored section towards the end where Sonic used to be on Toyland Tours. There is so much empty space and wasted area on this ride now that it makes Charlie look like a masterpiece compared to "Black Walls - The Ride". It's so, so bad.
     
    From here, it's pretty much your bog standard Dungeon attraction where there are various scenes stolen copied from other existing ones. Each scene did have its little twist added to the script referencing Alton Towers instead, but 95% of it was exactly the same as all the others. The Plague Doctor was 100% the same as the London one (though with very few effects) and so was The Torturer. The Judge scene was a little different but followed the same procedure - 3 people chosen, 1 found guilty after just saying where they were from. The Highwayman was identical to Ms. Lovett's pie shop mixed with Sweeney Todd at London where it used identical sound effects and audio and had the moving chairs with prodders. Lastly, the Haunting for the last scene was pretty good overall I will admit with some nice use of lighting and sound effects, similar to Witches of Warwick. Was a decent finale.
     
    As for the acting though, I've gotta hand it to those in there, they did a fantastic job in every scene. The actors performed brilliantly with plenty of adult humour which I liked and were interacting with guests very well. In fact, I would go as far to say the actors Alton have for this Dungeon are better than any other I have done before, so well done for hiring the right people!

    But that all aside, even though the acting was brilliant, the rest of it was a total mess. The biggest problem I have is the fact so many areas of the attraction consist of nothing but black walls everywhere in every scene and it's the dominating and most noticeable feature of every room. Each scene I would say is 70:30 in favour of black walls to theming and it looks really rushed in many areas, especially the transitions between each scene which once again are just black walls with no theming or detail put into them either. It is quite literally one giant yet claustrophobic rectangular black box one after the other for the majority of the experience. With the other dungeons, you at least have stuff to see, hear and feel which the London one is especially good at. But for the Alton Towers one? The only thing you can smell is the fumes of freshly coated black Dulux paint mixed with touching the sloppily finished un-sanded walls, and flooring which still has outlines of Charlie's theming and fencing present. It really is genuinely like this inside.
     
    The thing to bear in mind is that this is an attraction every guest unless you are an AT Premium Pass Holder will need to pay £5 for in order to experience, and I am telling you right now, I was really cheesed off my money went on this experience after finishing. There is no way in hell this is worth the upcharge the park is enforcing, because you can get a much better Dungeon experience across any other corner of the country for free compared to this if you are a MAP. It's completely unjustifiable in my view given there is a serious lack of quality and finish present in this version and you are frankly better off getting two medium Costa cappuccinos in Forbidden Valley for your fiver.
     
    Now, you might say "it's not finished yet hence the black walls", but I would then question why the heck are the park charging customers for a half-baked product if it's evidently not ready? Either open it when it's 100% right (yeah, just like DBGT remember...), or have some decency and not charge guests at all for it until it is fully completed.
     
    Lastly, I want to emphasise on a point @Martin Doyle made above a few posts ago. You might be reading and hearing many great reviews out there for the Alton Towers Dungeon right now from all the big and famous theme park fans out there with a massive following, but please take what you hear from them with a massive grain of salt. These are the same groups of people that praised Thorpe Park's Fright Nights last year with some going as far to say it was the "best Fright Nights yet", so it's obviously evident some of them are in Merlin's good graces when writing their reviews and are restricted on what they really think about it.
     
    Instead, I implore you to focus your attention and effort on those who have actually paid the £5 admission for this attraction and dedicated an hour of their time in the park for it. These reviews are far more credible and realistic through my eyes as they tend to speak their mind properly with no filters in place and aren't towing the company's line of being overly-positive about everything Merlin creates.
     
    To summarise my experience of the attraction, it would be this - a lacklustre, short-sighted and rushed mess that made Charlie and the Chocolate Factory look phenomenal in comparison.
     
    Still, it is better than nothing right?............Oh wait, black walls are nothing............
     
    Alton Towers Dungeon - 3/10
  22. Like
    Marhelorpe got a reaction from alexander in The Alton Towers Dungeons - New for 2019   
    Alright, I've had a day to think over what these dungeons are like after experiencing it last Sunday and are going to be brutally honest with it now after the experience I had and will present my opinion of it as a paying customer who dedicated nearly an hour of their 10am - 5pm day on this thing; not as a theme park blogger who is in Merlin/Alton's good graces and paid zilch to experience it.
     
    Contrary to all the positive reviews that are going around right now for it from all the theme park bloggers/vloggers/YouTube "celebrities", I'm sorry, but this is without a doubt the worst Dungeon I have done and I would go as far to say the worst attraction Alton Towers have ever given us in the 21 years I have been visiting this place year-on-year since 1998, and that's saying something. It goes almost entirely against what makes all the other Dungeons enjoyable attractions and it falls flat on delivering a comprehensive experience for guests with no proper thought or imagination put into the product and here's why.
     
    All the other Dungeons I have experienced immerse you properly into each scene with details and theming across every corner, from the flooring, walls, scenery and the actors. Despite many of them having bare roofing such as the London one for example, you tend to forget about it all with every scene and focus your attention on the actor and surroundings, as per you should, so this missing detail never really posed a problem for me with the others. With the Alton Towers one however, the very opposite occurs.
     
    For every scene you go through, I kid you not, there are flat black walls literally everywhere you look from the sides, behind you, the ceiling and even amongst the theming where the actor stands. It look horrendous and every room made you feel like you were in a big black box that had been assembled quickly and cheaply with timber wall panels. There was no texture to any of them, no deformation and no disguising of the walls in any room to make you feel as though you are in a dungeon. It just looks incredibly lazy and cheap and no attempt whatsoever was done to immerse guests 360 degrees unlike all the other Dungeons.
     
    The entrance to the attraction I still hold the view looks disgustingly ugly and cheap. Whilst in-person it looks a little better than through a screen, you can tell it was built on a budget with the randomly placed barrels and crates outside the entrance, along with the temporary fire torches fenced off. Most unforgiving of all is there is still an entire section of the entrance to the left in front of the lift towers with nothing but a giant 30ft black wall. Clearly the park ran out of wooden supports to cover this up properly during construction, so their solution to this problem was to pop down to the local B&Q and buy 50L of Dulux EasyCare Rich Black paint to cover up the shadows of the deceased Oompa Loompas peeking through the 2D windows. I'm guessing with the amount of black walls inside the attraction they had plenty to spare to cover this up too...
     
    Take a look here at what I mean. Taken on Sunday 24th March. It's so revolting to look at:


     
    As for the Black River boat ride, it's the same story - paint every wall black and leave it. The ride follows through the same route as Charlie, but believe it or not, it's now even barer than before with very little decoration or theming present in any portion. There are a few projectors on flat walls as you go round showing the shadows of victims being tortured, a couple of water jets to get you wet, a single animatronic which just bobs up and down ever so slightly in a cauldron, a single projector on a mannequin head and a single oddly-placed smoke machine. That is quite literally it for 4 minutes straight. There are no proper special effects anywhere inside, many zones had no audio playing, there are just black walls and tunnels for 80% of it and most unforgivable is the park were too lazy to remove the old theming from Charlie such as the water wheel in the station and the mirrored section towards the end where Sonic used to be on Toyland Tours. There is so much empty space and wasted area on this ride now that it makes Charlie look like a masterpiece compared to "Black Walls - The Ride". It's so, so bad.
     
    From here, it's pretty much your bog standard Dungeon attraction where there are various scenes stolen copied from other existing ones. Each scene did have its little twist added to the script referencing Alton Towers instead, but 95% of it was exactly the same as all the others. The Plague Doctor was 100% the same as the London one (though with very few effects) and so was The Torturer. The Judge scene was a little different but followed the same procedure - 3 people chosen, 1 found guilty after just saying where they were from. The Highwayman was identical to Ms. Lovett's pie shop mixed with Sweeney Todd at London where it used identical sound effects and audio and had the moving chairs with prodders. Lastly, the Haunting for the last scene was pretty good overall I will admit with some nice use of lighting and sound effects, similar to Witches of Warwick. Was a decent finale.
     
    As for the acting though, I've gotta hand it to those in there, they did a fantastic job in every scene. The actors performed brilliantly with plenty of adult humour which I liked and were interacting with guests very well. In fact, I would go as far to say the actors Alton have for this Dungeon are better than any other I have done before, so well done for hiring the right people!

    But that all aside, even though the acting was brilliant, the rest of it was a total mess. The biggest problem I have is the fact so many areas of the attraction consist of nothing but black walls everywhere in every scene and it's the dominating and most noticeable feature of every room. Each scene I would say is 70:30 in favour of black walls to theming and it looks really rushed in many areas, especially the transitions between each scene which once again are just black walls with no theming or detail put into them either. It is quite literally one giant yet claustrophobic rectangular black box one after the other for the majority of the experience. With the other dungeons, you at least have stuff to see, hear and feel which the London one is especially good at. But for the Alton Towers one? The only thing you can smell is the fumes of freshly coated black Dulux paint mixed with touching the sloppily finished un-sanded walls, and flooring which still has outlines of Charlie's theming and fencing present. It really is genuinely like this inside.
     
    The thing to bear in mind is that this is an attraction every guest unless you are an AT Premium Pass Holder will need to pay £5 for in order to experience, and I am telling you right now, I was really cheesed off my money went on this experience after finishing. There is no way in hell this is worth the upcharge the park is enforcing, because you can get a much better Dungeon experience across any other corner of the country for free compared to this if you are a MAP. It's completely unjustifiable in my view given there is a serious lack of quality and finish present in this version and you are frankly better off getting two medium Costa cappuccinos in Forbidden Valley for your fiver.
     
    Now, you might say "it's not finished yet hence the black walls", but I would then question why the heck are the park charging customers for a half-baked product if it's evidently not ready? Either open it when it's 100% right (yeah, just like DBGT remember...), or have some decency and not charge guests at all for it until it is fully completed.
     
    Lastly, I want to emphasise on a point @Martin Doyle made above a few posts ago. You might be reading and hearing many great reviews out there for the Alton Towers Dungeon right now from all the big and famous theme park fans out there with a massive following, but please take what you hear from them with a massive grain of salt. These are the same groups of people that praised Thorpe Park's Fright Nights last year with some going as far to say it was the "best Fright Nights yet", so it's obviously evident some of them are in Merlin's good graces when writing their reviews and are restricted on what they really think about it.
     
    Instead, I implore you to focus your attention and effort on those who have actually paid the £5 admission for this attraction and dedicated an hour of their time in the park for it. These reviews are far more credible and realistic through my eyes as they tend to speak their mind properly with no filters in place and aren't towing the company's line of being overly-positive about everything Merlin creates.
     
    To summarise my experience of the attraction, it would be this - a lacklustre, short-sighted and rushed mess that made Charlie and the Chocolate Factory look phenomenal in comparison.
     
    Still, it is better than nothing right?............Oh wait, black walls are nothing............
     
    Alton Towers Dungeon - 3/10
  23. Like
    Marhelorpe got a reaction from pluk in The Alton Towers Dungeons - New for 2019   
    Alright, I've had a day to think over what these dungeons are like after experiencing it last Sunday and are going to be brutally honest with it now after the experience I had and will present my opinion of it as a paying customer who dedicated nearly an hour of their 10am - 5pm day on this thing; not as a theme park blogger who is in Merlin/Alton's good graces and paid zilch to experience it.
     
    Contrary to all the positive reviews that are going around right now for it from all the theme park bloggers/vloggers/YouTube "celebrities", I'm sorry, but this is without a doubt the worst Dungeon I have done and I would go as far to say the worst attraction Alton Towers have ever given us in the 21 years I have been visiting this place year-on-year since 1998, and that's saying something. It goes almost entirely against what makes all the other Dungeons enjoyable attractions and it falls flat on delivering a comprehensive experience for guests with no proper thought or imagination put into the product and here's why.
     
    All the other Dungeons I have experienced immerse you properly into each scene with details and theming across every corner, from the flooring, walls, scenery and the actors. Despite many of them having bare roofing such as the London one for example, you tend to forget about it all with every scene and focus your attention on the actor and surroundings, as per you should, so this missing detail never really posed a problem for me with the others. With the Alton Towers one however, the very opposite occurs.
     
    For every scene you go through, I kid you not, there are flat black walls literally everywhere you look from the sides, behind you, the ceiling and even amongst the theming where the actor stands. It look horrendous and every room made you feel like you were in a big black box that had been assembled quickly and cheaply with timber wall panels. There was no texture to any of them, no deformation and no disguising of the walls in any room to make you feel as though you are in a dungeon. It just looks incredibly lazy and cheap and no attempt whatsoever was done to immerse guests 360 degrees unlike all the other Dungeons.
     
    The entrance to the attraction I still hold the view looks disgustingly ugly and cheap. Whilst in-person it looks a little better than through a screen, you can tell it was built on a budget with the randomly placed barrels and crates outside the entrance, along with the temporary fire torches fenced off. Most unforgiving of all is there is still an entire section of the entrance to the left in front of the lift towers with nothing but a giant 30ft black wall. Clearly the park ran out of wooden supports to cover this up properly during construction, so their solution to this problem was to pop down to the local B&Q and buy 50L of Dulux EasyCare Rich Black paint to cover up the shadows of the deceased Oompa Loompas peeking through the 2D windows. I'm guessing with the amount of black walls inside the attraction they had plenty to spare to cover this up too...
     
    Take a look here at what I mean. Taken on Sunday 24th March. It's so revolting to look at:


     
    As for the Black River boat ride, it's the same story - paint every wall black and leave it. The ride follows through the same route as Charlie, but believe it or not, it's now even barer than before with very little decoration or theming present in any portion. There are a few projectors on flat walls as you go round showing the shadows of victims being tortured, a couple of water jets to get you wet, a single animatronic which just bobs up and down ever so slightly in a cauldron, a single projector on a mannequin head and a single oddly-placed smoke machine. That is quite literally it for 4 minutes straight. There are no proper special effects anywhere inside, many zones had no audio playing, there are just black walls and tunnels for 80% of it and most unforgivable is the park were too lazy to remove the old theming from Charlie such as the water wheel in the station and the mirrored section towards the end where Sonic used to be on Toyland Tours. There is so much empty space and wasted area on this ride now that it makes Charlie look like a masterpiece compared to "Black Walls - The Ride". It's so, so bad.
     
    From here, it's pretty much your bog standard Dungeon attraction where there are various scenes stolen copied from other existing ones. Each scene did have its little twist added to the script referencing Alton Towers instead, but 95% of it was exactly the same as all the others. The Plague Doctor was 100% the same as the London one (though with very few effects) and so was The Torturer. The Judge scene was a little different but followed the same procedure - 3 people chosen, 1 found guilty after just saying where they were from. The Highwayman was identical to Ms. Lovett's pie shop mixed with Sweeney Todd at London where it used identical sound effects and audio and had the moving chairs with prodders. Lastly, the Haunting for the last scene was pretty good overall I will admit with some nice use of lighting and sound effects, similar to Witches of Warwick. Was a decent finale.
     
    As for the acting though, I've gotta hand it to those in there, they did a fantastic job in every scene. The actors performed brilliantly with plenty of adult humour which I liked and were interacting with guests very well. In fact, I would go as far to say the actors Alton have for this Dungeon are better than any other I have done before, so well done for hiring the right people!

    But that all aside, even though the acting was brilliant, the rest of it was a total mess. The biggest problem I have is the fact so many areas of the attraction consist of nothing but black walls everywhere in every scene and it's the dominating and most noticeable feature of every room. Each scene I would say is 70:30 in favour of black walls to theming and it looks really rushed in many areas, especially the transitions between each scene which once again are just black walls with no theming or detail put into them either. It is quite literally one giant yet claustrophobic rectangular black box one after the other for the majority of the experience. With the other dungeons, you at least have stuff to see, hear and feel which the London one is especially good at. But for the Alton Towers one? The only thing you can smell is the fumes of freshly coated black Dulux paint mixed with touching the sloppily finished un-sanded walls, and flooring which still has outlines of Charlie's theming and fencing present. It really is genuinely like this inside.
     
    The thing to bear in mind is that this is an attraction every guest unless you are an AT Premium Pass Holder will need to pay £5 for in order to experience, and I am telling you right now, I was really cheesed off my money went on this experience after finishing. There is no way in hell this is worth the upcharge the park is enforcing, because you can get a much better Dungeon experience across any other corner of the country for free compared to this if you are a MAP. It's completely unjustifiable in my view given there is a serious lack of quality and finish present in this version and you are frankly better off getting two medium Costa cappuccinos in Forbidden Valley for your fiver.
     
    Now, you might say "it's not finished yet hence the black walls", but I would then question why the heck are the park charging customers for a half-baked product if it's evidently not ready? Either open it when it's 100% right (yeah, just like DBGT remember...), or have some decency and not charge guests at all for it until it is fully completed.
     
    Lastly, I want to emphasise on a point @Martin Doyle made above a few posts ago. You might be reading and hearing many great reviews out there for the Alton Towers Dungeon right now from all the big and famous theme park fans out there with a massive following, but please take what you hear from them with a massive grain of salt. These are the same groups of people that praised Thorpe Park's Fright Nights last year with some going as far to say it was the "best Fright Nights yet", so it's obviously evident some of them are in Merlin's good graces when writing their reviews and are restricted on what they really think about it.
     
    Instead, I implore you to focus your attention and effort on those who have actually paid the £5 admission for this attraction and dedicated an hour of their time in the park for it. These reviews are far more credible and realistic through my eyes as they tend to speak their mind properly with no filters in place and aren't towing the company's line of being overly-positive about everything Merlin creates.
     
    To summarise my experience of the attraction, it would be this - a lacklustre, short-sighted and rushed mess that made Charlie and the Chocolate Factory look phenomenal in comparison.
     
    Still, it is better than nothing right?............Oh wait, black walls are nothing............
     
    Alton Towers Dungeon - 3/10
  24. Like
    Marhelorpe got a reaction from Matt A in The Alton Towers Dungeons - New for 2019   
    Alright, I've had a day to think over what these dungeons are like after experiencing it last Sunday and are going to be brutally honest with it now after the experience I had and will present my opinion of it as a paying customer who dedicated nearly an hour of their 10am - 5pm day on this thing; not as a theme park blogger who is in Merlin/Alton's good graces and paid zilch to experience it.
     
    Contrary to all the positive reviews that are going around right now for it from all the theme park bloggers/vloggers/YouTube "celebrities", I'm sorry, but this is without a doubt the worst Dungeon I have done and I would go as far to say the worst attraction Alton Towers have ever given us in the 21 years I have been visiting this place year-on-year since 1998, and that's saying something. It goes almost entirely against what makes all the other Dungeons enjoyable attractions and it falls flat on delivering a comprehensive experience for guests with no proper thought or imagination put into the product and here's why.
     
    All the other Dungeons I have experienced immerse you properly into each scene with details and theming across every corner, from the flooring, walls, scenery and the actors. Despite many of them having bare roofing such as the London one for example, you tend to forget about it all with every scene and focus your attention on the actor and surroundings, as per you should, so this missing detail never really posed a problem for me with the others. With the Alton Towers one however, the very opposite occurs.
     
    For every scene you go through, I kid you not, there are flat black walls literally everywhere you look from the sides, behind you, the ceiling and even amongst the theming where the actor stands. It look horrendous and every room made you feel like you were in a big black box that had been assembled quickly and cheaply with timber wall panels. There was no texture to any of them, no deformation and no disguising of the walls in any room to make you feel as though you are in a dungeon. It just looks incredibly lazy and cheap and no attempt whatsoever was done to immerse guests 360 degrees unlike all the other Dungeons.
     
    The entrance to the attraction I still hold the view looks disgustingly ugly and cheap. Whilst in-person it looks a little better than through a screen, you can tell it was built on a budget with the randomly placed barrels and crates outside the entrance, along with the temporary fire torches fenced off. Most unforgiving of all is there is still an entire section of the entrance to the left in front of the lift towers with nothing but a giant 30ft black wall. Clearly the park ran out of wooden supports to cover this up properly during construction, so their solution to this problem was to pop down to the local B&Q and buy 50L of Dulux EasyCare Rich Black paint to cover up the shadows of the deceased Oompa Loompas peeking through the 2D windows. I'm guessing with the amount of black walls inside the attraction they had plenty to spare to cover this up too...
     
    Take a look here at what I mean. Taken on Sunday 24th March. It's so revolting to look at:


     
    As for the Black River boat ride, it's the same story - paint every wall black and leave it. The ride follows through the same route as Charlie, but believe it or not, it's now even barer than before with very little decoration or theming present in any portion. There are a few projectors on flat walls as you go round showing the shadows of victims being tortured, a couple of water jets to get you wet, a single animatronic which just bobs up and down ever so slightly in a cauldron, a single projector on a mannequin head and a single oddly-placed smoke machine. That is quite literally it for 4 minutes straight. There are no proper special effects anywhere inside, many zones had no audio playing, there are just black walls and tunnels for 80% of it and most unforgivable is the park were too lazy to remove the old theming from Charlie such as the water wheel in the station and the mirrored section towards the end where Sonic used to be on Toyland Tours. There is so much empty space and wasted area on this ride now that it makes Charlie look like a masterpiece compared to "Black Walls - The Ride". It's so, so bad.
     
    From here, it's pretty much your bog standard Dungeon attraction where there are various scenes stolen copied from other existing ones. Each scene did have its little twist added to the script referencing Alton Towers instead, but 95% of it was exactly the same as all the others. The Plague Doctor was 100% the same as the London one (though with very few effects) and so was The Torturer. The Judge scene was a little different but followed the same procedure - 3 people chosen, 1 found guilty after just saying where they were from. The Highwayman was identical to Ms. Lovett's pie shop mixed with Sweeney Todd at London where it used identical sound effects and audio and had the moving chairs with prodders. Lastly, the Haunting for the last scene was pretty good overall I will admit with some nice use of lighting and sound effects, similar to Witches of Warwick. Was a decent finale.
     
    As for the acting though, I've gotta hand it to those in there, they did a fantastic job in every scene. The actors performed brilliantly with plenty of adult humour which I liked and were interacting with guests very well. In fact, I would go as far to say the actors Alton have for this Dungeon are better than any other I have done before, so well done for hiring the right people!

    But that all aside, even though the acting was brilliant, the rest of it was a total mess. The biggest problem I have is the fact so many areas of the attraction consist of nothing but black walls everywhere in every scene and it's the dominating and most noticeable feature of every room. Each scene I would say is 70:30 in favour of black walls to theming and it looks really rushed in many areas, especially the transitions between each scene which once again are just black walls with no theming or detail put into them either. It is quite literally one giant yet claustrophobic rectangular black box one after the other for the majority of the experience. With the other dungeons, you at least have stuff to see, hear and feel which the London one is especially good at. But for the Alton Towers one? The only thing you can smell is the fumes of freshly coated black Dulux paint mixed with touching the sloppily finished un-sanded walls, and flooring which still has outlines of Charlie's theming and fencing present. It really is genuinely like this inside.
     
    The thing to bear in mind is that this is an attraction every guest unless you are an AT Premium Pass Holder will need to pay £5 for in order to experience, and I am telling you right now, I was really cheesed off my money went on this experience after finishing. There is no way in hell this is worth the upcharge the park is enforcing, because you can get a much better Dungeon experience across any other corner of the country for free compared to this if you are a MAP. It's completely unjustifiable in my view given there is a serious lack of quality and finish present in this version and you are frankly better off getting two medium Costa cappuccinos in Forbidden Valley for your fiver.
     
    Now, you might say "it's not finished yet hence the black walls", but I would then question why the heck are the park charging customers for a half-baked product if it's evidently not ready? Either open it when it's 100% right (yeah, just like DBGT remember...), or have some decency and not charge guests at all for it until it is fully completed.
     
    Lastly, I want to emphasise on a point @Martin Doyle made above a few posts ago. You might be reading and hearing many great reviews out there for the Alton Towers Dungeon right now from all the big and famous theme park fans out there with a massive following, but please take what you hear from them with a massive grain of salt. These are the same groups of people that praised Thorpe Park's Fright Nights last year with some going as far to say it was the "best Fright Nights yet", so it's obviously evident some of them are in Merlin's good graces when writing their reviews and are restricted on what they really think about it.
     
    Instead, I implore you to focus your attention and effort on those who have actually paid the £5 admission for this attraction and dedicated an hour of their time in the park for it. These reviews are far more credible and realistic through my eyes as they tend to speak their mind properly with no filters in place and aren't towing the company's line of being overly-positive about everything Merlin creates.
     
    To summarise my experience of the attraction, it would be this - a lacklustre, short-sighted and rushed mess that made Charlie and the Chocolate Factory look phenomenal in comparison.
     
    Still, it is better than nothing right?............Oh wait, black walls are nothing............
     
    Alton Towers Dungeon - 3/10
  25. Like
    Marhelorpe got a reaction from Project LC in The Alton Towers Dungeons - New for 2019   
    Alright, I've had a day to think over what these dungeons are like after experiencing it last Sunday and are going to be brutally honest with it now after the experience I had and will present my opinion of it as a paying customer who dedicated nearly an hour of their 10am - 5pm day on this thing; not as a theme park blogger who is in Merlin/Alton's good graces and paid zilch to experience it.
     
    Contrary to all the positive reviews that are going around right now for it from all the theme park bloggers/vloggers/YouTube "celebrities", I'm sorry, but this is without a doubt the worst Dungeon I have done and I would go as far to say the worst attraction Alton Towers have ever given us in the 21 years I have been visiting this place year-on-year since 1998, and that's saying something. It goes almost entirely against what makes all the other Dungeons enjoyable attractions and it falls flat on delivering a comprehensive experience for guests with no proper thought or imagination put into the product and here's why.
     
    All the other Dungeons I have experienced immerse you properly into each scene with details and theming across every corner, from the flooring, walls, scenery and the actors. Despite many of them having bare roofing such as the London one for example, you tend to forget about it all with every scene and focus your attention on the actor and surroundings, as per you should, so this missing detail never really posed a problem for me with the others. With the Alton Towers one however, the very opposite occurs.
     
    For every scene you go through, I kid you not, there are flat black walls literally everywhere you look from the sides, behind you, the ceiling and even amongst the theming where the actor stands. It look horrendous and every room made you feel like you were in a big black box that had been assembled quickly and cheaply with timber wall panels. There was no texture to any of them, no deformation and no disguising of the walls in any room to make you feel as though you are in a dungeon. It just looks incredibly lazy and cheap and no attempt whatsoever was done to immerse guests 360 degrees unlike all the other Dungeons.
     
    The entrance to the attraction I still hold the view looks disgustingly ugly and cheap. Whilst in-person it looks a little better than through a screen, you can tell it was built on a budget with the randomly placed barrels and crates outside the entrance, along with the temporary fire torches fenced off. Most unforgiving of all is there is still an entire section of the entrance to the left in front of the lift towers with nothing but a giant 30ft black wall. Clearly the park ran out of wooden supports to cover this up properly during construction, so their solution to this problem was to pop down to the local B&Q and buy 50L of Dulux EasyCare Rich Black paint to cover up the shadows of the deceased Oompa Loompas peeking through the 2D windows. I'm guessing with the amount of black walls inside the attraction they had plenty to spare to cover this up too...
     
    Take a look here at what I mean. Taken on Sunday 24th March. It's so revolting to look at:


     
    As for the Black River boat ride, it's the same story - paint every wall black and leave it. The ride follows through the same route as Charlie, but believe it or not, it's now even barer than before with very little decoration or theming present in any portion. There are a few projectors on flat walls as you go round showing the shadows of victims being tortured, a couple of water jets to get you wet, a single animatronic which just bobs up and down ever so slightly in a cauldron, a single projector on a mannequin head and a single oddly-placed smoke machine. That is quite literally it for 4 minutes straight. There are no proper special effects anywhere inside, many zones had no audio playing, there are just black walls and tunnels for 80% of it and most unforgivable is the park were too lazy to remove the old theming from Charlie such as the water wheel in the station and the mirrored section towards the end where Sonic used to be on Toyland Tours. There is so much empty space and wasted area on this ride now that it makes Charlie look like a masterpiece compared to "Black Walls - The Ride". It's so, so bad.
     
    From here, it's pretty much your bog standard Dungeon attraction where there are various scenes stolen copied from other existing ones. Each scene did have its little twist added to the script referencing Alton Towers instead, but 95% of it was exactly the same as all the others. The Plague Doctor was 100% the same as the London one (though with very few effects) and so was The Torturer. The Judge scene was a little different but followed the same procedure - 3 people chosen, 1 found guilty after just saying where they were from. The Highwayman was identical to Ms. Lovett's pie shop mixed with Sweeney Todd at London where it used identical sound effects and audio and had the moving chairs with prodders. Lastly, the Haunting for the last scene was pretty good overall I will admit with some nice use of lighting and sound effects, similar to Witches of Warwick. Was a decent finale.
     
    As for the acting though, I've gotta hand it to those in there, they did a fantastic job in every scene. The actors performed brilliantly with plenty of adult humour which I liked and were interacting with guests very well. In fact, I would go as far to say the actors Alton have for this Dungeon are better than any other I have done before, so well done for hiring the right people!

    But that all aside, even though the acting was brilliant, the rest of it was a total mess. The biggest problem I have is the fact so many areas of the attraction consist of nothing but black walls everywhere in every scene and it's the dominating and most noticeable feature of every room. Each scene I would say is 70:30 in favour of black walls to theming and it looks really rushed in many areas, especially the transitions between each scene which once again are just black walls with no theming or detail put into them either. It is quite literally one giant yet claustrophobic rectangular black box one after the other for the majority of the experience. With the other dungeons, you at least have stuff to see, hear and feel which the London one is especially good at. But for the Alton Towers one? The only thing you can smell is the fumes of freshly coated black Dulux paint mixed with touching the sloppily finished un-sanded walls, and flooring which still has outlines of Charlie's theming and fencing present. It really is genuinely like this inside.
     
    The thing to bear in mind is that this is an attraction every guest unless you are an AT Premium Pass Holder will need to pay £5 for in order to experience, and I am telling you right now, I was really cheesed off my money went on this experience after finishing. There is no way in hell this is worth the upcharge the park is enforcing, because you can get a much better Dungeon experience across any other corner of the country for free compared to this if you are a MAP. It's completely unjustifiable in my view given there is a serious lack of quality and finish present in this version and you are frankly better off getting two medium Costa cappuccinos in Forbidden Valley for your fiver.
     
    Now, you might say "it's not finished yet hence the black walls", but I would then question why the heck are the park charging customers for a half-baked product if it's evidently not ready? Either open it when it's 100% right (yeah, just like DBGT remember...), or have some decency and not charge guests at all for it until it is fully completed.
     
    Lastly, I want to emphasise on a point @Martin Doyle made above a few posts ago. You might be reading and hearing many great reviews out there for the Alton Towers Dungeon right now from all the big and famous theme park fans out there with a massive following, but please take what you hear from them with a massive grain of salt. These are the same groups of people that praised Thorpe Park's Fright Nights last year with some going as far to say it was the "best Fright Nights yet", so it's obviously evident some of them are in Merlin's good graces when writing their reviews and are restricted on what they really think about it.
     
    Instead, I implore you to focus your attention and effort on those who have actually paid the £5 admission for this attraction and dedicated an hour of their time in the park for it. These reviews are far more credible and realistic through my eyes as they tend to speak their mind properly with no filters in place and aren't towing the company's line of being overly-positive about everything Merlin creates.
     
    To summarise my experience of the attraction, it would be this - a lacklustre, short-sighted and rushed mess that made Charlie and the Chocolate Factory look phenomenal in comparison.
     
    Still, it is better than nothing right?............Oh wait, black walls are nothing............
     
    Alton Towers Dungeon - 3/10
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