CharlieN

Some nice theming has been delivered:
 


Source

Alton Towers finally starting to stand up to the resort status.
I also love how people will say OctoberFest will fail, as people need to drive to AT. With over 500, ballpark figure don't quote me, rooms people who stay over may want something to do in the evenings. With late night riding this is an excellent way to extend the attendance in the generally quiet month of September. 
 
In my opinion a cheaper to run scare fest, whilst extending the popularity of the Halloween event period, just with the offering of beer and lederhosen rather than scares.
This is a clear moneymaker, so go to AT and have a few bevvy's this September. 

This comes from a fun feature Towers have on their website: https://www.altontowers.com/40-years/model-my-map/
 
It's clearly a bit of silly fun, but I wouldn't be surprised if some of the questions have been designed to get some insight into what people want (especially the non-ride stuff).
 
I'm a big fan of everything Towers are doing right now for their 40th. A solid plan has been laid out, and I really hope they follow through with it. 
 
And, forgive me for making the obvious comparison, this is how you do it Thorpe. On top of a proper new addition, proper events all throughout the year, which are all varied and have a clear identity, whilst linking it back to the overarching theme of being the 40th anniversary.

Can I also just put out there that most of the time park's social media teams have no clue what is going on behind the scenes at the park, or even within the park itself (in terms of ride availability etc). 
 
At the beginning of Phantasialand wintertraum talocan was closed for about a week due to having its control box changed yet the social media team decided to post on instagram advertising riding talocan during the winter season... they later then took this down after a number of people (including me) commented that talocan wasn't actually open and therefore was misleading to advertise it on instagram.
 
The reply from Thorpe's social media team means nothing. There's no point poking around at what big development is going to be new because when a big new development comes through(if ever), then planning permission will be submitted, otherwise there's absolutely no point getting your hopes up. Their 5 year plan is probably to try and survive on the low budgets that merlin have given them by bringing in new temporary attractions to try and save as much of their falling visitor rates at possible.
 
It's such a shame as I used to enjoy Thorpe a few years back but now I'm honestly waiting until Merlin sell the place off and hopefully someone who actually cares about the place can do something to bring it back up to a reasonable standard again. Merlin's focus clearly no longer lies with Thorpe anymore because they don't have the secured market that chessington, Alton Towers and Legoland do. Unfortunately they have built themselves up a reputation of being a place for "local teenagers" to hangout and that's unfortunately not a market that can be relied upon for a sustainable future of the park.

Personally I don't think pestering Thorpe park with private messages is the best way to try and get them to reveal their secretes. 

I think they underestimate Paulton's Park too - wouldn't surprise me if they already have plans for some more "thrill" rides to add to the mix.

It's good but it lacks a Nemesis Inferno.

Gotta laugh at the eNThuSiAstS losing their shiz over the AromaPrime tweet t'other day and then it ends up being a massive let down, obvs.
 
I'm sure being able to make your humble abode smell like a horror maze is 100% what the general public want from Thorpe as new for 2020.

Sadly wasn't an announcement, but just another teaser, which shows a backwards POV...
 
 
 
What this could mean is still anyone's guess. Entirely backwards coaster? Switch track? A voting system like Fury at Bobbejaanland?

The train from Cologne to Brühl is maybe 4 euros (maximum) each way, and then 3 euros return for the shuttle bus, so to travel in and out of cologne each day would cost you 11 euros return. However, I personally wouldn't suggest this unless you are planning on doing extensive sight seeing in cologne (which there isn't much of; the chocolate museum and the cathedral are the only two main draws IMO).
 
The "Six!" Boutique hotel is located in the centre of Brühl and near to lots of supermarkets, clothes shops, bakeries, and restaurants (which would give you plenty of dinner options as the park closes before dinner time really, unless you want to eat in the park hotels, however that's quite expensive). The six hotel is a 5 min walk from brühl train station where the shuttle bus departs from.
 
The hotel h+ (from researching now) is a 25min walk from Brühl train station and then you can ride the 985 bus from the hotel to the park which takes under 10 minutes. Theres also a bus connection from the train station to the hotel but still requires 10 or so minutes of walking out of your way to the hotel. H+ would likely be equipped with its own onsite restaurant etc.
 
Your other choices are looking on booking.com to see if there are any other good value hotels in Brühl town centre, but from my research I didn't really find anything stand out. There are often lots of cheap Airbnbs available around Brühl near to the train station, and hence the shuttle bus, which you could look at renting out for a cheaper price than a hotel.
 

Six! Eat work sleep is located in the centre of Brühl and has pretty competitive rates.
 
It’s got good reviews but I’ve never actually stayed in it myself. It’s not a commercial hotel either so you might have to be careful with check in, out and breakfast times.
 
It’s located in Brühl town centre so you can ride the shuttle bus to and from Phantasialand each day for €3 return. It’s probably where I would consider staying when my hotel discount runs out because hotel h+, whilst having a 4* rating for a cheap price, is a long walk from both Brühl town centre and the park itself, however public buses do run around Brühl so might be worth researching them to help you get around if you choose to stay there.
 
https://www.booking.com/hotel/de/six-eat-work-sleep.en-gb.html?aid=356983;label=gog235jc-1DCAsoO0ISc2l4LWVhdC13b3JrLXNsZWVwSDNYA2hQiAECmAEJuAEHyAEN2AED6AEBiAIBqAIDuAKni9vxBcACAQ;sid=3c5a0849fe08220499018c669040251e;room1=A%2CA;sb_price_type=total;type=total&

And the lift, which is scarier than the Twillight zone tower of terror.
 
Then again it’s probably the best bet to stay unless you wanna go to up more for onsite or commute from Cologne maybe.  

H Hotel is probably your best bet. Its a bit of a walk from the park but usually is decently priced!!

But those pillows 😫! Seriously the worst pillows I've ever had to try and sleep with! 

The cladding is corten (weathering) steel which gets that rusty appearance once oxidised. This means it is corrosion resistant and very durable. It can look nice when done right - although this looks hideous in my opinion. It would seem very strange to cover corten steel with another material/paint as it’s purpose is to withstand weathering. So I reckon that this is pretty much the finished exterior, bar some detailing.
 
On a completely different note, I hope to go to Phantasialand in June and I’m wondering if anyone’s aware of any cheap off site accommodation near the park or in Bruhl itself? Thank you 😀

There's been a lot of crazy out there announcements this year, but I think this one takes the prize for the top one...
 
Vulcania, a French educational 'theme park' (that currently has no rides) about 90 miles from Lyon (ie - middle of nowhere) have put in plans to install an Intamin launch coaster with a drop track section!
 
Vulcania is all about, unsurprisingly, volcanoes and other natural disasters like earthquakes, and features 4D cinemas and interactive experiences, but no rides. These "edutainment" style parks are really popular in France, and they're slowly expanding into the 'proper' theme park more. The coaster is the first step into the theme park set up for Vulcania, with drops towers and rapids planned for the next decade too.
 
The launch coaster has a launch speed of 34mph (lol, but keeps with the style of the park I guess), max height of 16m, and a drop track of about 5m in height. It'll be themed to (surprise) volcanoes. Here's the plan:
 
Despite the unimpressive stats in comparison to other coasters, it still seems a perfect fit for the park. Also, Intamins aren't cheap, so it's a statement of intent if nothing else.
 
 
 
In other news, Bosnia and Herzegovina - a country not known for theme parks - look to be getting a theme park! Little details are known, however the park are going for a Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter and a Vekoma sit down looping coaster:
 
 
 
Hard to know whether this will actually happen, but that Vekoma looks pretty damn good!

Actually StevenVig I have a friend with a brother who is 28 and has autism and going on children's rides that he can fit in calms him and he finds it enjoyable. So there are people who go on children's rides as grown ups. 
 
And although I've never been one for creds it's a theme park forum for crying out loud so there's probably a large proportion on here who do! 🤦‍♂️

Well I've found quite a few control panels over the internet. Just didn't know TPM had a thread for this! Hopefully some new ones for those of you interested in this stuff. There's mainly Thorpe Park stuff but also ones from fairground equivalents and also some that aren't from Thorpe Park.
 
Please note some of the pictures are from previous posts within this very thread that I've re-uploaded due to the fact certain other pictures have been deleted and so those pictures don't share the same fate. My other intention is to create a comprehensive guide within this one post for Thorpe Park ride control panels. Some new pictures have also been added to give a different view of the control panel. 
 
I don't know how to operate these so if anyone is willing to share that'd be great!
 
Detonator (Bomb's Away) Control Panel:

 
 
The Swarm control panel:

 
Swarm's CCTV cameras views for the operator:

 
Interesting stuff about the operation of The Swarm including that if someone let's go of one of the buttons the trains stops! :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv_wXGCbFYA
 
Olympia Looping Control Panel:

Source:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9mR9FhKyXI
 
Mondial Top Scan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwoRM3tdVWg (like Samurai)
Still image of panel: 

 
KMG Afterburner:  https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/KMG_Afterburner_Control_Panel.JPG   (like Vortex, sry it's in European)

 
 
Rush's Control Panel (unobstructed shot without the sound panel unlike the one previously posted here - also taken in 2016 so many years after the previous image on here):

 

 
Source: https://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=71751&start=20
Also interesting to note that this review also says on their BTS tour that the reason The Swarm backwards was removed was that in a potential crash this would have unthinkable consequences for the park so they removed it (which does make sense that it was removed for the season after The Smiler occured).
Remnants of The Swarm backwards rows:

 
Colossus control panel (source: Reuploaded from prior post in this thread):

The restraint-checker's safety control panel:

Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bug1pJFBBlB/
 
Huss Enterprise (taken from a sim as I couldn't find a real one online annoyingly) - This is similar to Zodiac: 

 
A Dodgems Control Panel (looks similar to the one at Thorpe Park iirc from my brief glimpse through the control box window - this is NOT the one at TP sadly):
 

 
A Reverchon Bumper car control panel (guessing Bertazzon - the company that made the King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems ride - have a similar style):

 
Nemesis Inferno (source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PNzPJU7LAY) :
 
Closeup of the Inferno Control Panel (reuploaded from prior post in this thread):

 
Also potentially of interest is how the glow is made on Nemesis Inferno in the tunnel - it uses way more lights than I thought it did: 

Source: https://www.southparks.co.uk/features/behind-the-scenes-thorpe-park/)
 
Rage Control Panel (a Gerstlauer Eurofighter which is the same model as Saw:TR)

However I've actually seen Saw's control panel (can't remember where) but it looks very VERY similar to this more modern look than the above image:
(below is control panel for a Belantis Eurofighter. source: http://www.coastersandmore.de/previews/belantis/belantis.shtml)

The differences above to Saw's are the top left button (next to key) is yellow on Saw. Also, where there are 2 green buttons in the bottom centre, on Saw's panel there are 5 green buttons (I'm guessing because there are 2 load/ 2 unload stations and 1 spare button). The Allen Bradley display obviously shows Saw ride-related information.
 
"Tidal Wave" at Adventure Island (I'm guessing has a similar control panel to Depth Charge at Thorpe Park seeing as they're both raft slide rides):

 
Source for above 2 pictures were from this thread but unviewable. Luckily the "Wayback" machine somehow retrieved them: https://web.archive.org/web/20200116233837/https://forum.maniahub.com/topic/6156-control-panels/page/1
 
Flying Fish Control Panel:

Before this Flying Fish was manually controlled (changed due to Smiler accident) as seen in the following photo:

Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/BeiNnEiFHAi/
 
Slammer Control Panel (reuploaded from prior post in this thread):

 
Stealth:

 
Closeup of control panel (reuploaded from prior post in this thread):

 
Rocky Express (right, through the door. The teacups ride has a similar control panel too):

 
Logger's Leap:

 


 

3rd Picture Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CIMB5lBhQ65/
4th Picture Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bd3VaK-Fpk-/
 
Rumba Rapids (from Hurjakuru situated in Linnanmaki. This ride doesn't have a rotating disk-platform but is also an Intamin Rapids ride like Rumba Rapids so other controls should be similar. This ride operates from the platform when open at Linnanmaki but in the absence of the actual control panel at Thorpe this is the closest I can get to it. Source: https://themeparkreview.com/forum/uploads/monthly_2012_03/Kuva0039.jpg.5e14361ff8df875767e1afe68197c4e8.jpg
Thread: https://themeparkreview.com/forum/topic/36235-the-control-panel-enthusiast-thread/

THE ACTUAL photo of the Rumba Rapids control panel from a VERY OLD image (presumably similar to how it looks today) from 1998 including a close up of its audio panel:


Sources for above two images:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_Z4b6RJvJq/
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_ZgNkzJVtk/
 
TWD:TR:
Vekoma Illusion control panel (Revolution at Bobbejaanland  so should be similar) (source: https://themeparkreview.com/forum/topic/36235-the-control-panel-enthusiast-thread/page/11/?tab=comments#comment-1639947 then ctfl+f "vekoma)

Look into the control box of TWD:TR (from RCDB copyright Nic Jenkins) when it was formerly known as X:\ No Way Out:

 

Above is an image of the actual control panel. However it is quite old and it's probably been upgraded/ rehauled by now (photo from when TWD:TR was X:NWO)
Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/BfAnY2EFCUy/
Another more complete image is below (source: https://www.instagram.com/p/BfGxhkilZSS/😞

 
Storm Surge host control panel (source: https://themeuk.net/CWTP/?page_id=6690#1489589875900-5e48a9e8-714a)

 
DBGT:

 

Above images are from:
https://merlin.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/4/home/requisition/8008?c=merlin
 
 
The rides at Thorpe which we don't have a picture of the control panel on this thread are therefore:
Timber Tug and Lumber Jump
Mr Monkey Banana Boat
Tidal Wave
Storm Surge (main)
Quantum
 
I will edit this post/ make a new one as I find more rides. Hopefully @StevenVig can repost his old Saw photos so we can cross that one off the list.
If you're interested in control panels and also programming and PLC logic I recommend checking out Irvine Ondrey Engineering: https://www.facebook.com/IrvineOndreyEngineering
They have very informative posts about programming control panels and they're the ones who did The Swarm control panel amongst a huge range of other very popular and large rides.
Many many American coaster control panels and assistance panels: https://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=61998&start=350
You may also be interested in a glimpse of morning inspections on a Windseeker ride: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdZcGclDzts

https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/10734560/chessington-new-rides-2020/
 
Images from Chessington via The Sun
 

He does now.
 
I also appreciate the last post before Josh C was 10 and a half years ago.

I did the trip there via public transport and here’s how you get there. Once you know the station names, it’s quite straight-forward to get there directly from the airport:
 
1. From Amsterdam train stations (central, airport etc), take a service to ‘Harderwijk’, which is about a 70 minute train journey with one or two changeovers. About €15 each way, any route can be used.
 
2. At Harderwijk station, there is a bus station area right next to the tourist information building with about 8 different bays. Go to stop ‘G’ and take service 247 or 247a which says “Walibi” on the sign.
 
3. The times that depart in the morning to the park from this stop are the following:
 
9:22am, 9:52am, 10:22am and 10:52am for the first four. After that, it’s pretty much every 30 minutes all day. It’s €9 exactly for a return ticket.
 
This bus will take you directly to the park entrance plaza and the last bus back after park closure from memory was at 20:33 for the 8pm summer days.
 
Be aware that the bus is pretty packed, similar to the Thorpe ones and they only take card payments or a travel card similar to oysters (which is aimed more for the locals than tourists). Cash will not be accepted at all and yes, the buses do support Visa, MasterCard and Maestro contactless, including Revolut cards which was extremely handy in my case.
 
As for the trains, I would advise you to use their smartphone app called “NS Reisplanner Xtra” on either iOS or Android to book tickets and show the QR code to the conductor onboard when asked like I did. It is in English too this app so no translation problems.
 
I stayed at a hotel in Harderwijk for a couple of nights and from there, it’s pretty easy to get to the park, so the important bit is to make sure you reach Harderwijk bus station in all this.
 

I have...
 
But of course, you'd never get anything wrong. ?

I mean, this raises questions:
1. Why bother putting in placeholder hours?
2. Why is the budget for the season only finalised in February/March?
 
Of course, these opening hours were released like a month ago and I'm sure have been discussed on here before. The Fright Nights 10-8 hours makes sense given how dead the park has been previously (though I do wonder if 12-10 would be more sensible / at least worth exploring?). There seems to be less closed days for 2020 which is good, as is the lack of 4pm closes. 

I was obviously joking.

Mate, I need to know what plane you're catching to do that.