CharlieN

Energylandia was getting bored of Zadra, so they decides to start in their other big 2020 coaster...
 


(Source: SkyScraperCity)
 
The Vekoma double launch, potentially over water, coaster appears to be going behind Zadra / the Dragon Castle area.

Oooft, yes please.

She’s looking fast!
 

Clearly missing the point when a fair few members on this exact forum are technically illegal in Dubai and surrounding areas due to the out-dated laws...
 
Accusing Mark of being a Daily Mail reader is stealth contender for Post of the Year...

Would Dubai really be a higher priority than Orlando and the two listed Disney parks?
 
There's a lot of stuff there but beyond Formula Rossa and Flying Aces it's a LOT of mediocrity...

Top 10 parks I ‘havent’ visited A.K.A. My Park Bucket List:
 
Uk & Europe 
1/ Tivoli Gardens 
2/ Parc Asterix 
3/ Gardaland 
4/ Tover Land 
5/ Heide Park 
6/ Grona Lund
7/ Walibi Holland 
8/ Energylandia
9/ Legendia
10/ Lightwater Valley 
 
Worldwide:
1/ Universal Studios Resort Orlando 
2/ Magic Kingdom 
3/ Epcot 
4/ Animal Kingdom 
5/ Busch Gardens 
6/ Sea World Orlando 
7/ Hollywood Studios 
8/ Tokyo Disney Resort
9/ Disneyland Cali
10/ Kings Island 
 
Slowly ticking them off (maybe).

It looks like it is going to be a popular ride, looking forward to giving it a go in the summer.
 
Here is a video of it testing and going over the top (FB page). Looks intense!
 
 

Looking good! 

18B74EE3-B47D-47E1-87EA-540711C82852.MOV

I'm very confused by the layout too tbh. The ride seems to leave the station to the right in the images above, up a lift hill, round the circuit, up another lift hill, then into a launch into the spike after a drop. Just feels very odd, and would surely have been better to start with a reverse launch spike, then have a lift hill mid-ride if so desired.
 
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In other Belgian news, Bobbejaanland have announced the name of their Gerstlauer triple launch as Fury, and will be part of new area called Land of Legends, which will feature the park's gyro swing and Eurofighter. Some very tasty looking concept art too...
 
 
I'm not a fan of Bobbejaanland, but damn, that looks good.
 
Oh, and IMAScore are making the music for the area too.

Plohn's new Mack is growing:
 

 

 

 

 

Submitted, hope project goes well for you 

Officially announced...
 
 
 
But really, using the "UK's first...at Thorpe Park"?! So bloody stupid.
 
Space Station Zero was therefore the UK's first roller coaster at Thorpe Park. 
Colossus was the world's first roller coaster to have inversions...at Thorpe Park.
 
*sigh*

I would assume this is what the Stealth tweet was referencing...
 
https://thelunacinema.com/thorpe-park
 
Outdoor cinema screening of Back to the Future and Bohemian Rhapsody during the May Bank Holiday.
 
Tickets start from £27.50, including 2 hours of ride time on Stealth, Dodgems, Detonator and Teacups, with the film's starting at 9pm, and the screen being set up by Stealth.
 
Interesting idea I guess, but no appeal to me personally

Before and after from Reddit...
 

Because it looks (equally predictably) rubbish. No need to defend trash, it's not like Merlin actually care about this other than making easy money.

They know they can pay for nothing, do a half arsed job and people will still go along with it.

Most the criticism of it I've seen online has been done with humour of disbelief anyway. You don't have to like everything by default for fear of being seen as "negative".

True there's always some who will complain regardless, but just look at this. Seeing how people will defend the rubbish being fed them by Merlin (they're capable of better, look at Wicker Man), more because they have something against people's opinions  than because they actually like the attraction being made, is sadder in my opinion. If they made anything entertaining and original, I'd be all over it in positivity!

Whatever could be said about Thorpe Park itself, that is genuinely a great logo.

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. 
 
 

Thing is as well, these are things that are pretty plentiful in loads of places now... Can't fall over without finding an Escape Room company (there's about 5/6 in city centre alone up in Leeds), there's numerous trampoline/activity places opening, and gaming stuff is starting to come in due to esports...
 
But if you're interested in these things would you do them at a theme park? It's a similar question to having a Dungeons attraction at Towers (though at least at Thorpe the hours are slightly better), why would you take 45 minutes out of your day to partake in something like this after paying whatever the entry fee is?
 
Would people rather this, or the park replacing Slammer with, well anything? These additions scream of a park under the thumb of a company giving them little money to spend, and the worrying thing is it's only going to get worse apparently since the focus is on building Legolands everywhere in the world... Towers has an attraction foisted upon them, Thorpe have no money to spend on anything worthwhile and Chessie are getting another retheme of an attraction which was mothballed...
 
Here's the thing, these events would be fine IF (and I cannot stress the IF enough here) the rest of the park wasn't in dire straits and in desperate need of picking up, getting a dusting down (or a repaint) and generally sorting out... But the parks aren't given enough money to do this because of KPIs or ROIs are directly noticeable from such things, even though having a park that looks the part is one of the most important factors in terms of guest satisfaction... If it looks like a cheap death-trap, then likelihood is guests will come away with that viewpoint...

A set of events for 2019. Along with GameFX is...
 
-Jungle Escape. An upcharge escape room, presumably taking place in I'm a Celebrity. From May.
-BounceZilla. An inflatable, potential fun Total Wipeout-esque, course. Over summer.
-Fright Nights. 
 
Jungle Escape and Bouncezilla sound like they have potential. Why Thorpe didn't just announce all this in one go boggles the mind (I guess they planned to drag it out, but the bad response made them change their mind..)
 

However, let's note that this is the first year since 1997 where no new (free) attraction has been introduced at the resort.

Neither was Walking Dead The Ride though...

This is very true these major problems couldn't have been foreseen by enthusiasts, but they should have been by the project managers. I study building design/production and project management, I'm not an expert but I can say these are certainly bread and butter for any project. Same for a lot of Merlin projects, these things are known about but corners are cut relentlessly.

Same for Ninjago's lack of air conditioning at Legoland – cut from the budget to save money and now we have staff fainting in summer and cheapo air cons added at the park's expense. But anything to cut MMM's project budget. Or countless other scenarios at Merlin parks, that later cost them more.

But the irony with DBGT is the project budget was so ludicrously high anyway, they could have rebuilt half the park with that! As well as cutting corners and not value-engineering their projects, Merlin are extremely wasteful. "Efficient with capex" they are not, unlike what Nick Varney believes they are.

But probably more important than all of that is the entertainment factor. DBGT is a pretentious, unentertaining load of nonsense, designed by self-congratulatory out of touch hipsters. (haha) Despite all the problems behind the scenes, it had the beginnings of a great theme and should have at least been fun!

I totally agree the core idea and the way the illusion works could have been phenomenal. But it missed every single opportunity to entertain, and squandered that amazing train system.

Hi guys, 

I'm Ellie and I'm an undergraduate student in my final year of study at Edinburgh Napier University.  As part of my final year I need to write a dissertation and mines is focusing on challenges facing the UK theme park industry either currently or in the near future.  As a result of this I'm undertaking primary research in terms of a survey in order to gain perspective on how UK theme park visitors perceive their visits.  

I need as many responses as possible and hence, would like to ask you all to take a couple of minutes to participate.

The survey can be found here: https://survey.napier.ac.uk/n/zz4p6.aspx
 
Any response is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Story line does nothing for me anymore. Put me in an indoor haunted house with darkness and narrow pathways with amateur actors (saw alive) and it’ll be better than anything last year.

Looking forward to JackSilkstone's Closed Season Update video with a thumbnail that says "NEW HYPERCOASTER CONFIRMED?!?!?!?" or similar ?

Only two months between updates?! Wowza! 
 
Image found on CoasterForce..
 

 
A new large theming piece has been finished. Not sure what it's meant to be..
 
Clearly some Wicker Man inspiration there, but will it light up Heide in the same way? ?