xxbennxx

I whole heartedly agree with Jack F, if this is the ride, then it is extremely bloody lazy. still taking it with a slight pinch of salt, as you would imagine that this being out there for 48 hours would have been discussed a lot more, not just on here. It is pretty spot on to what I have always been saying though. Air didn't need a VR upgrade, they have just ruined a coaster by doing that, you ride a rollercoaster to ride a rollercoaster, not stare at a phone screen. "this is not a VR experience" - I'm sorry, but if you are on the ride wearing a VR headset ..... It's a VR experience. If this is the ride, I don't see many members of the GP actually going nuts over something called a Ghost Train, With or Without Derren Brown. P.S - VR is not "taking the Theme park world by storm" - it has been implemented on a couple of coasters and will fizzle out within 2 years.

I hope it isn't, because as I said over on Towers street, I don't go to a theme park to look at a phone screen in a helmet.

That artice was posted on Friday. If this is what the ride actually is, then in a round about fashion ...... I was right all along. You will not board the hanging train. It will be for decoration. You will board a dum .... dum .......... DDDUUUUUUUUM! IMMERSIVE F!"£$%G TUNNEL WEARING A F!"£$%G HEADSET! so it will be a variant of the immersive tunnel. - Fudge *Fingers crossed this is not real, how did we miss it for 48 hours?*

Ripper street covered the famous whitechapel Train crash a couple years back. I think the crash was around 1884 and was on a bridge. Victorian Era, Clearly something to do with a steam train, the project is codenamed whitechapel, just can't work out where Automatons fit into the train crash. Purely speculating and we may find out more tomorrow, but it points that way for a theme ...... plus automatons. - Immersive tunnel anyone? - lol

That is the main benefit of working from home my friend, this laptop IS my office, and my wife is my secretary, I highly recommend both. I doubt they will announce much, I think it will be just a name and theme.

Have you kids not wondered what would happen if you refused to hand your property over to the teacher? They would hand you a detention ..... maybe, then all you do is not turn up for it. imprisoning a child against their will is illegal, these punishments actually mean nothing at all, they can't make you do it. If you want to look at the announcement on Monday at 9am .... I say go for it, what in all reality is going to happen? If a teacher told my son that he was not allowed to do something, and I didn't see a problem with it, as long as it isn't illegal of course, I would be going down that school and giving them a good talking to. - I know that other parents may not agree with me, but what the hell is the harm in doing something that is causing no person any bother? There is no "punishment" school can actually force you to do, and if they exclude you because you refused to be imprisoned against your will, well then they are just ruining your education, and can be held accountable for that. Like Derren Brown himself would say - It is all a matter of perception. - Monday 9am, I will be online, and if you are a fan and want to be as well, then I say why the hell not?

Nothing about that Dynamic Attractions announcement in 2012 makes me think that this is the ride they were describing. Derren said he was approached by Thorpe in 2012 sure, but surely the ride system needed could only be decided on once a concept was fully realised. Plus we are now technically in the 4th year since that announcement, and it say to be delivered in 2 years. Whilst I want this to be a Dynamic Attractions ride, and the IAAPA booth does make us think that it is wholly possible, I am still staying very wary on the whole thing. Still Cautiously optimistic.

Perhaps the second generation has been designed to fit into smaller, tighter spaces. Can they really market it as the world's first second generation robot arm ride though!? Once again, I hope this is what is going into Thorpe, but I am really not holding my breath.

If this is what Thorpe Park are building, then humble pie I shall happily eat! I see people's point though, is the building big enough for this? though I suppose they could employ the same thing they do on transformers, and use one large screen for 4 different scenes, a quarter each. I am reservedly optimistic for the first time, but that Dynamic Attractions booth does look very similar, but could be a red herring.

he is going to try to make somebody believe that they have pushed somebody off a roof or something. I don't think any analysis in comparison to this ride is justified in any sense.

Derren is in no way in charge. Sure he has been paid to come up with the concept, and to add his name to the ride, but Merlin do not have to go with his design. I hope they make things exactly as he wants them, but I still have this niggling feeling that corners will be cut, it is Merlin's Money and down to them to execute the build, operation and maintainance of this ride. If this ride is to succeed, it needs to be brilliant, remember, (If it is not simply a Lex Luthor style land scam) there will be a paramount resort opening up not very far away, and with a 2Billion budget, it is going to kill Merlin in the South East. Merlin need Quality rides that get people talking, let's hope this is the start of that.

I would also like to know how we find the clue?

it saddens me that anybody not fortunate enough to ride Valhalla, has Hex as the bench mark for a UK dark ride. Hex, or as I like to call it "pre show : the ride" is good when you finally get to the madhouse, but once you have experienced it, you never get that same sense of wonder again. I hope this ride has serious re-rideability, something any decent dark ride MUST have.

When Universal announced Kong, it made me want to get my Family on a plane and go to Orlando. I also want to experience Gringott's and the newest offerings over at Disney. Dark Rides can be absolutely revolutionary, look at what Spider-Man did, to this day, in my opinion the best ride on the planet. I totally agree in that me saying most people in the GP have not experienced a decent dark ride is in no way patronising at all. Going to Orlando, or to Disneyland Paris is, in reality, really bloody expensive. The Idea that we are going to get a Dark Ride that is not a blinking light shoot fest is actually exciting, it makes me want to go to Thorpe this year, more than a few times if the ride is something special. This could be the one that moves Merlin into what I would call a world class contender, this is clearly the ride that they are hoping can move them away from just developing coasters, and who knows, maybe SW8 will be a dark ride, Charlie is rumoured to be closing it's doors for good, an SW just has to be a world class ride, not just a coaster. If Paramount is not just a land scam, and actually materialises, Merlin are going to have to wake up and start offering world class variety experiences, or they will find that all of their South of London parks, see a large (and permanent) loss in business, to the £2Billion resort proposed just up the road. I am sure that this is on their minds right now, and part of the reason we are seeing a dark ride pushed.

Look, people who say they are just interested in Coaster's have likely never experienced a decent story driven dark ride in their lives. Dark rides are not a coaster, and really can not be compared to a coaster, but when done right, Dark rides can be bloody spectacular. A perfect blend of storytelling, effects, excitement and thrill is what makes a dark ride decent, if they pull this off it will be something special. What they need to avoid are shooters, simply because Merlin can not do shooter's well, and they also need to avoid something that moves extremely slow. Dark rides need that something special in order to work, Valhalla is the only dark ride in the U.K that I consider to be decent, and decent it is! I hope it isn't a jazzed up immersive tunnel, I know I have gone on about it a lot, but the shape of the ride area concerns me a lot. "please Merlin, prove me wrong and make this something I want to ride again and again."