JoshuaA

If this is a horror maze (90% sure it is), I have to say that I like how they have slowly done a campaign for a new maze so early. I would really like the park to explore a hospital/asylum style theme again, Asylum back in 2013 was an amazing maze and I think Thorpe could do better. Overall something akin to The Paradise Foundation at Screamland would be amazing for the park, something very macabre and disturbing I think would really give another solid addition to the lineup. I overall got Paradise Foundation and Sanctuary vibes during the teaser! I overall think the FN lineup was fairly strong last year with Platform and Big Top being near flawless, I hope this new addition will replace one of the more weak mazes like Sanctum or Saw Alive (that is unlikely though)..

Merlin still work with Intamin though, despite having countless safety incidents on their record.. I think that logic is beyond stupid, every manufacturer (maybe bar B&M) have had a incident on at least one of their rides, does that mean Merlin should rule them all out? RMC somewhat have a decent record compared to the other manufactuers with Steel Vengeance being the first incident that was actually anything to do fault-wise with RMC (Texas Giant was a tennis match between Six Flags and Gerst). RMC is certainly unlikely for a Merlin Park, but I think when it comes to safety Mack and Intamin aren't exactly better when it comes to the safety record..

A similar incident in scale has happened at Alton Towers too! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3146958/Riders-left-hanging-Alton-Towers-rollercoaster-gets-stuck-mid-ride.html The only difference really is that Cedar Point got incredibly unlucky and it happened during opening day- besides that, just like the little bump on Spinball, nobody got hurt and nobody was put in danger. So yes it has happened at a Merlin Park!

Texas Giant's problems were due to the trains which were done by Gerstlauer. Steel Vengeance was a hiccup, but nobody got hurt and the incident was overall very minor.

I'm kinda surprised Merlin haven't opted for a RMC yet, if you look at the cost of them they are actually quite cheap! I think Merlin could easily market any type of RMC, it would also give the park a fun airtime machine. Cost wise Wildfire set Kolmården back just under 10 million quid, and that is one of the larger RMC'S.. Even if they built a tiny one I think it would be the best in the park, but sadly I don't see Merlin pinning down RMC or Vekoma anytime soon.. Which is a huge shame. A B&M Hyper would be really cool but I think it would be one hell of a risk especially when it comes to money. I think a Hollywood Dreams style ride would be cool, but that would probably still cost a lot and I'm not sure where would be feasible to put it.

Outstanding. Even for a park like Europa (easily some of the best operations in the world) I was not expecting things to be dealt with as quickly as this. I think Mack really set the example on how to run a theme park.

When I visited last weekend two trains were present on all coasters but stacking was fairly bad on Colossus and Swarm.. Colossus in particular had a good 100 minute queue and the staff seemed like Tortoises trying to load the trains. Rush had two swings working last weekend and it ran fairly quickly, hopefully it was just busy today. Vortex from what the website says and the amount of time it has been down for leads me to believe it won't be back for a while, which is a shame and it is usually quite a good queue eater.

Europa in true Europa style has dealt with this so quick and professionally. The reopening of the teacups and plans to reopen Fjord by this summer is just beyond amazing.

I have yet to experience LN Extreme but I think its common sense that it will probably not be as scary in Fright Nights unless they make more drastic changes in the maze beyond actors. FN across the years always seems to have problems (not too bad last year) with actors and having enough of them. Sanctum for example didn't require too many, and the roaming actor team was pretty much non existent.. (If one or two mazes takes up a lot of actors it only hurts other mazes/roamers in the park. With no 5 additional actor led attractions+ roamers to soak up the actors, all the actors could be focused on LN just for this week. The park getting a similar density to this weekend probably is a little bit unrealistic unless they hire WAY more actors for this year (which probably won't happen).. Back in FN I think the amount of actors in LN wasn't a problem whatsoever, I think they were just really poorly laid out (some sections with too many actors and too much going on, and sections with no actors in sight).. They could of really spread them out a bit. I think the length was the clear main problem of the attraction..

A regrettable attempt at humour from my part. I also didn't fathom just how serious this fire was.

That is much worse than anticipated. Oh my, Scandanavia was such a beautiful area, its such a shame. I was hoping the fire was minor but that is just quite frankly horrible. Fjord and the buildings around it were perhaps one of the most scenic moments in the park as well as some of the most detailed. I really hope they can recover from this and rebuild the beautiful area, Fjord is easily my favorite rapids ride due to the buildings and theming. Pirates in Batvia is quite cheesey though for the whole building to be burnt to a crisp will also be a massive setback, massive tragedy for the park.

Ah, didn't know that. Lets hope its a drastic refurb, as holy crap was it dire, especially in a park with Arthur.

I hope it doesn't damage the Scandinavia area too badly as it easily one of the more beautiful looking areas. I guess if it in Pirates in Batavia/The Netherlands then not too much was lost.. Easily the most expendable area.. Lets hope another fire breaks out in Universe of Energy...

TBH Mack launches really are more floaty fun rides than intense, the pacing or speed doesn't really concern me, Blue Fire has some slow moments too. Honestly IMO this looks like the best thing built in the UK theme park industry in decades..

Ah, phew. I have to say the website really confused the hell out of me, I think the park really should of perhaps made it MUCH more clearer. I really hope BPB succeed with Icon but with the butchered USP in the advertising, the website, and a real lack of strong marketing (not yet anyway) I think Blackpool really are hanging on by a thread here, hopefully the Mack greatness will sell the ride in itself.

I think a lot of the GP and enthusiasts who haven't ridden the likes of Blue Fire/Helix/Aplina Blitz probably might take a bit of time to get used it. I remember when I first rode Blue Fire, the smoothness and gentleness of the launch is quite the difference to the snappy hydraulic Intamin launches which was my only really experience of a launch. After watching some reviews I have to say some people have even compared this to Helix which I think is surely something to be proud about (Helix looks top tier). I'm still a tad weary about visiting just this yet after checking out the pricing.. £16 for one ride (pretty sure you have to buy separate wristbands to a ICON boarding pass) is a rip off.. With some of the marketing decisions (lets just not include our new roller coaster in our ads) I think BPB has dag its grave a little with promoting this beast. Icon looks brilliant, but with terrible marketing and charging 16 quid for one ride on it honestly deters me from riding this amazing looking ride.

I don't think even Alton know the rules at this point.. It seems its usually fine with the ride operators and the signage of the ride.. It seems a lot of people use their phone during Rumba and Congo, Sean would know the rules anyway, he worked for Alton for ages! I think the park's twitter is my main issue though, I am pretty sure Sean has filmed Congo millions of times throughout his dull vlog history, but now it is suddenly a problem? I think Alton's twitter needs a change in management as holy crap they are a hot mess this year..

Some (fairly) unpopular opinions of PA Red Force is brilliant, especially in the front. Flying Dreams is a better dark ride than DBGT by miles, I thought it was brilliant Hurakan Condor is not as forceful or as good as Detonator Stampida is good

I think honestly they should do a reservation type system for pass holders and just charge a few quid to stop people from taking the pi**. A quid or two really shouldn't make people kick off, it would also stop MAP holders driving down to the park (especially if they are coming from far away) and getting turned away. Obviously rocking up to the parks mid-day isn't ever that much of a good idea (especially on peak days), but with long journeys and traffic I think MAP holders should have a way to reserve. If I did the 4 hour journey down to Staffordshire to be turned away (Alton never hits capacity but beside the point) then I would pissed too.

Came back today, and oh my do I have tons to say.. So, Ferrari Land. Flying Dreams overall impressed me (sue me), Racing Legends is okay, and the towers are average. I really enjoyed Red Force, basically Stealth but better in every way. Operations wise- this is the worst year I have seen at PA.. I have been visiting PA for ages now (this is like my 8th visit) and I have never had issues with my head injury stopping me from riding rides anywhere, but this visit marked the first time and holy crap was it terrible. My doctor has told me in bold writing that my head scar and condition does not affect my ability to ride roller coasters, this is the first park where I have been turned away as a ride operator made a baseless decision of a 2 second glance. Due to this (I spent hours on hours explaining crap at guest services) I gave on up Baco and Khan in the end as the ride operators despite the backup of Guest Services wouldn't listen whatsoever. Despite this I got 3 rides on Red Force in one day- it really seemed to depend on the ride and who was operating it, I managed to sneak on to Shambhala twice though luckily (despite being turned away 2 times) Due to my frustration with the park, I finally decided to conquer my fear of Hurakan Condor (as the operators at Khan/Shammy/ Baco were pri**s). Overall I really enjoyed Condor (though tbh the drop really isn't as bad as it looks). So yeah, after spending most of my two days in a tennis match with the Spanish at Guest Services, I think PA is completely a non return until they add something me worth me giving a damn about. The operations as always were also dire, 5 groups of 20 stacking in the second pre-show for Flying Dreams wasn't fun.. I survived, though I really should of listened to that warning.

Was referring to The Walking Dead..

I think we'll see a 'Sub Terra' here. The ride in a few years will have poor rideship and the park will realize they can't be ar**ed to keep it open, so it would be boarded up and the ride will be SBNO for ages. Slammer I think will stay SBNO for a while- I really hope they replace it with a another flat ride but I might be dreaming with that..

Its a a common kids area at Cedar Fair parks like Cedar Point, Kings Island, Kings Dominion, ECT that is themed to Peanuts characters. I honestly don't see it ever happening at a Merlin Park though, I think Peanuts isn't well known enough over here tbh. I think the chances of Merlin breaking up is similar to the chances of a grand piano hitting me right now.. The chances of Thorpe being sold to Cedar Fair I think is also very unlikely and I would probably eat my hand if it happened. Merlin also owns so much cr** across the world I think it would take awhile before Thorpe got the axe. There is so many Dungeons/Madame Tussads/Sealifes/Legolands across the world I think they would slash some of the weaker links before slashing some of their main parks (if they were in money problems, which I really don't believe they are)

What I want in the next 5 years: Removals: DBGT Walking Dead IAC Storm Surge Loggers Leap area completely cleared Additions: Vekoma Madhouse in place of DBGT Chiapas style intamin log flume in place of Loggers A flat ride or two replaces Storm Surge Flat ride in place of Slammer Rethemes/refurbs: Walking Dead reverted back to X New film in Angry Birds Colossus gets lap bars and the area around it is cleaned up

I think the real problem is Merlin and their greed for pure profit. Yes they suffered a loss from The Smiler disaster, but that was back in 2015.. The park made cuts back in 2016 which is fair enough, but you really think they would of sorted their sh** out by now? I think the difference is that Blackpool's rides usually don't get much of a queue anyway.. I went Easter Holidays last year on a "peak day" and everything was pretty much 10-30 minutes or in some cases.. Completely walk on. Okay staggered openings suck, but if the park's dead anyway.. It doesn't really affect my day. The Towers also lack the support rides that Blackpool has, okay you have Duel or Hex, other than that the lineup besides the coasters is very thin.