CharlieN

Good luck with the dissertation. I’m doing something similar for my extended project at school. I’d have loved to answer the survey, but it appears the maximum number of responses has been reached!

Thorpe’s social media is absolutely embarrassing. More and more brands try and present themselves as fun and ‘down with the kids’ whilst forgetting the basics. For example, you’ve got airports repeatedly tweeting about how they’re on giphy without communicating with the public regarding an incident. The best park Twitter is that of the Efteling, in my opinion. They don’t try to be your best mate by posting self-deprecating memes or stupid gifs; they actually treat you with the respect you deserve as a paying guest. Their responses are immediate, helpful and just by using punctuation, not too corporate sounding. It’s a simple approach, but social media is the only way a park can ‘speak’. Therefore, it’s so important that the ethos of the park and it’s rides are coveyed by the social media team.

2019 seems like a great year for Europe.

Which company calls their end of season party a ‘star ball’? It’s beyond me.

Now why are Vekoma’s roller coasters always 2 across seating? I wonder if their rejected concept for Energylandia’s hyper was 4 across...

Stay positive Sam. The league is crazy this year; any of the top 12 teams could get play-offs. Norwich are top... so anything can happen!

Uhh, here goes my confession: I’ve visited 0 theme parks all year. (well bar a 5 minute trip to Adventure Island to get on Rage) That’s not to say my enthusiasm’s waned at all; I spend most of my time researching, exploring and reading about theme parks online. I guess I was just busy this year and my inability to drive combined with a lack of theme park buddies does mean that getting to new parks is rather difficult. I hope that a year from now I’ll be writing up a very hefty park count... including trips to The Efteling and Phantasialand...

That’s why it’s a VR attraction! Shame it’s not Hollenblitz there, however...

Mack Powered coasters?

I haven’t been to FN - and I won’t be visiting - but the quality of attractions does seem to be lacking. Go back to 2013; you’ve got 4 very solid indoor mazes in Cabin, Saw, The Asylum and MBV - not forgetting Blair Witch. This year, 3 of the 4 indoor maze locations are in use: Saw is still Saw - which is surely getting stale. The Asylum is now Vulcan Peak - which is quite possibly the largest downgrade in the history of mazes. Cabin is now Living nightmare - which also must be seen as a downgrade; going from a critically acclaimed conceptually innovative maze to one which feels ‘almost’ there. Elswhere, the park has replaced 1 outdoor maze with... 4? Whyyy? What do each of these mazes do that others don’t? Blair has never worked as well as intended. Platform is still a bit iffy. Sanctum seems as hastily put together as it was last year. So what do Thorpe decide to do? Open another outdoor maze of course, instead of putting all that enthusiasm, energy and money into their existing offering. It seems like the overriding problem with FN at the moment is the lack of variety of actors. Both walking dead mazes use zombies, Platform has dead train people who act like zombies, Dead Creek throws infected people at you, who behave like zombies and Blair’s confused actors end up giving a zombie like performance. If you look at the Villains of Europa Park’s traumatica - you’ll see there’s vampires, werewolfs, ghosts and a whole host of other characters. That what Thorpe needs, for each maze to be distinctly different - with actors acting distinctly different. There’s too many blokes with black paint around their eyes growling at you....

^They do Indeed. I’ve been lucky enough to go to Reading, QPR and Wycombe (all away) in the past week. Norwich won all 3 and are actually starting to look like a decent team. Teemu Pukki is on fire... Good luck this evening Sam, all my mates are Arsenal fans and nothing makes me happier than them losing!

The Park are predicting that the majority of October will be ‘lively’. Also worth noting that both Bob and Vogel Rok are scheduled for maintenance during this time.

Eurosat CanCan coaster is now officially open! The ride looks great judging from pictures and an early POV. The lift hill looks superb as you slowly ascend the Eiffel Tour with a very loud orchestral homage to Sat’s old music! The rest of the ride seems as expected - 2D facades indicating a mad dash through Paris. The Queue seems up there with Voletarium’s and the station looks so charming. Seems like a solid improvement. Full Walkthrough and POV: Pics from TowersStreet:

Sounds like a scare zone in the dome... bizarre - and presumably a logistical nightmare. It does seem like there’s more variety this year than previously. As others have said, I assume Do or Die will be very similar to Sanctum; but it will obviously be easier to market as a new maze. Terror at Amity is an interesting concept. Vampires at school seems fun and whacky - just what Thorpe need IMO. Vulcan peak could be successful; but I’m mostly glad IAC’s building will be in use. The maze being hooded makes sense. I think it’ll be a good year for FN - coming from a self confessed horror-hater. My only concern is the lack of conventional indoor mazes.

This. I couldn’t agree more.

I didn’t know that was even a thing? I did an FSMQ in additional Maths, which I got an A in; much to my surprise. Also very delighted with my other results. I got 8 9s, an 8 and an A in DT. As one can tell by the delay of me posting this, I’ve had a week of celebrations - and hangovers!

Honestly so pleased for you Sam! I understand that’s it’s been quite the obstacle to overcome but now that you’ve done it - the roller coaster world is your oyster. Happy days.

Madame whatshername has opened today. It looks... strange. Obviously I haven’t seen the queue but it seems to lack an exposition - surely having a Madame Freudenreich animatronic at the start would solve that problem. Saying that, this refurbishment has clearly given life into a dilapidated ride, on a budget too.

Tragic news today as an employee has been killed by an oncoming Hyperion train this evening. (16/8/18) It is believed he was retrieving loose articles. This is truly awful, both for the park and of course the employee’s family. https://www.looopings.nl/weblog/10585/Man-overleden-bij-dramatisch-achtbaanongeluk-in-Polen.html

Latest update: It’s so unfortunate for 2 of Merlin’s major parks to encounter problems on such hot days. Let the social media backlash begin...

The queue line looks fab. Pictures courtesy of ThemeParks-EU on Twitter:

Testing: https://mobile.twitter.com/veilstrup/status/1015649200325971969/video/1

POVs are appearing at quite a rate currently...

POV! Looks rapid - still not fond of the colour scheme tho...

Our beloved cat, Hoover, was put to sleep yesterday due to a kidney tumour. He was marginally younger than me and I grew up with him. He evolved from a fox-fighting feline into a gentle, loving, appreciative member of our family. There was a time when I genuinely considered him a good friend. He appreciated me - for food and love; and I appreciated him - for respite from this bloody world. We were brothers. I will forever miss you purring at the end of my bed; you sleeping on my head; you ripping holes in my revision books. No cat will ever be the same. Hoover “The Groover” Newbold R.I.P