WWTPRadio

If you haven’t already, go and buy the ICON soundtrack from iTunes. It’s amazing, and a bargain. I actually didn’t know about it until Amanda told me it was available. A great decision by BPB. 
 
So there’s no marketing about for ICON. Oh well; the queues will hopefully be Blackpool’s normal pleasant experiences!

I think the marketing for the "Year of the Walking Dead" isn't the best, and I cant see how this can help being people to the park. 
 
Having it advertised as a "Year Of..." seems generous. Its not. Its a Fright Night/Summer Holiday of The Walking Dead. 
 
Yes the ride is there but if you close it for exclusive use, the normal ticket buyer (which lets face it, they want to get people to buy a day ticket and upgrade with the Pay for a day, come back all year thingy) gets absolutely no walking dead until certain times of the year. Even if the ride is open, there is 1 walking dead thing. I wouldn't call that a year celebration, more of a New for 2018 and some seasonal specials - Which I recon would of made more impact if they announced late in the year than they did.
 
Nothing else on the island is walking dead themed all year round, only the ride (when its open) which I feel is a shame and a lost marketing opportunity for the park and it wouldn't surprise me if people were put off upgrading as they went thinking there will be more walking dead than in reality.
 
Out of interest, is anyone with a pass actually bothered about exclusive ride time? The idea of the pre-season day I get, maybe opening mid-week for pass holders only (on a non-scheduled day), stuff like the eXpo event for pass holders makes sense, but closing a ride that anyone with a pass could ride at any time just for pass holders seems a little bit pointless.... 
 
I am a pass holder and not overly fussed about the events. I pay for year-round access and happy with that to be honest. 

?‍♂️

? has it JD1292? Easy to spot?!
 
My word there is nothing like jumping on the bandwagon...

If you haven’t already, go and buy the ICON soundtrack from iTunes. It’s amazing, and a bargain. I actually didn’t know about it until Amanda told me it was available. A great decision by BPB. 
 
So there’s no marketing about for ICON. Oh well; the queues will hopefully be Blackpool’s normal pleasant experiences!

Keep hoping Marc...

Over the last few closed days Swarm has seen some work, The Rear of the console has now had its painting finished, this should hopefully be abit more durable to guests than the stick on police style colors. The beams in the station have been painted to make it look abit better, hopefully just temporary till they can replace the wood in there properly. The water effects are also now working and back on again. 
 
Still a couple of little bits not working, the sound volume around the area is still pretty low and the bell tower sound effect still isnt working but hopefully this can be fixed soon!

Would they launch a marketing campaign about the last year of a maze?
Would they launch a marketing campaign about Saw during the year of the walking dead?
Combine the two... maybe it's the final goodbye for Saw: Alive before it comes another WD attraction? Remove the blood written words, take the dolls out, stick some walkers in there, sorted!

??‍♂️

+2

Since you ask, we might as well be honest and tell you ... sadly, no, not the Show Services team of 2016-17.
 
TP-Fan, if you think one amplifier powered Tidal Wave, you’re a hoot. Tidal’s audio system is in dire need of refurbishment and as with all of the original installs, it’s an absolute nightmare.

They were all repaired before the opening of 2017 season. Their current state, who knows now. The 2016-2017 SS team had plans to continue the repairs to the park wide audio during 2018. Let's hope the new team will have the drive to keep on top of it. 

Since you ask, we might as well be honest and tell you ... sadly, no, not the Show Services team of 2016-17.
 
TP-Fan, if you think one amplifier powered Tidal Wave, you’re a hoot. Tidal’s audio system is in dire need of refurbishment and as with all of the original installs, it’s an absolute nightmare.

Since you ask, we might as well be honest and tell you ... sadly, no, not the Show Services team of 2016-17.
 
TP-Fan, if you think one amplifier powered Tidal Wave, you’re a hoot. Tidal’s audio system is in dire need of refurbishment and as with all of the original installs, it’s an absolute nightmare.

Just got back from my brush with The Walking Dead, thoughts...
 
Firstly and I cannot stress this point enough, I don't think they should have done this to X. Rave X was a genius idea and the perfect family friendly roller coaster that Thorpe needed so badly in it's line up. The removal of X in my opinion at least was incredibly short sighted and ill advised. Therefore, no matter how good or bad Walking Dead is, in my eyes, the decision to replace X with it, was a mistake.
 
So how was The Walking Dead then? Was alright.
 
Exterior Queue
 
This was almost exactly the same as it's always been, but now with loud Fright Nights style music and a cheap looking watch tower, no complaints, no praise.
 
Preshow
 
This was hilarious. Chris Hemsworth delivering comedy gold while a jombie chews some glass on a flat screen TV behind you. Footage of jomies invading Thorpe Park that made me literally laugh out loud. Then more hilarity from Hemsworth and off you go. It was cheesy, it was a dumb, I quite enjoyed it.
 
Preride Corridors
 
Literally the same X corridors but this time with 80 percent less rave. It reminded me of a heavily discounted Platform 13 at Walibi Holland. Sirens, a sense of urgency, people running and screaming but nothing at all happening. It could be worse but it certainly wasn't as good as it could be. Needs more jombies.
 
Coaster
 
At the air gates, the staff member was smashing their height stick on the floor to scare people, someone needs to tell him that they are 1) expensive and 2) if damaged it won't accurately tell you heights any more, but hey, you scared a bloke, so well done I guess!
 
Not going to lie, I quite enjoyed the actual coaster portion.
 
All 4 block sections are laughable, in a good way! First one, plastic jombies light up, I hope that's a reference to when XNWO had those weird plastic robots on that section, either way, it amused me. Second one, nothing at all, followed by Chris Hemsworth shouting. Third one, 3 flat screen TVs of jombies licking glass, while Chris Hemsworth makes the train judder about, suddenly triggering me to need the toilet. Fourth one, something about a generator, then a jombie lights up, the end. Hilarious.
 
It's the inbetween, fast sections that are slightly impressive. The jombies lighting up and lunging at you as you speed past reminded me a lot of the fantastic Raptor Attack and Revenge of the Mummy. Also the theming on some of these fast sections looked to be of quite a good standard.
 
Postride 
 
The train rolls into the station and the offload host goes bats**t insane, flailing like a madman, almost tripping over and screaming at you to get out. Then you're in a canteen or something and a loud noise goes off, neither of which made sense to me but some people screamed, so I guess it's fine? After this you walk through the old X exit corridors, except for the addition of 1 section now having rubber things you need to push through and strings that tickles your head as you do so, one of said strings slapped me in the eye, so if mildly unpleasant was the goal, they succeeded. Then you just walk out via the old exit.
 
I can't help but feel this ending is lacking something. Were jombies meant to be attacking me at every turn but said effects/actors were missing? If the answer is no then the ending is rather disappointing, I was half expecting to be put in my place for the rest of the attraction making me laugh, but said big ending scare never came.
 
Talking of scares... I'm a HUGE wuss when it comes to scare attractions and normally won't do them at all unless a cred is attached. So I have to ask, if this scaredy cat came off with nothing but comedy to report, where the hell did this 15/10 crap come from?
 
To summarise, The Walking Dead is fine. I enjoyed it for what it was. If you go in with low expectations and the mindset of having a laugh, then like me you'll probably walk away mildly amused by the whole experience.

My bet is, it was running on 2 trains and the host got the number of headsets available on the two carriages mixed up. Two trains means a long wait between batches.

I heard it was about to be refurbed and receive sponsorship to a TV show unsuitable for familys with a run down theme.

Don’t worry Marc. Seeing as it’s the same building as XNWOTWDTR that skip will be full of....
 
 
 
 

Correct. Slight waste of effort and money but hey, what can you do 

Correct. Slight waste of effort and money but hey, what can you do 

Correct. Slight waste of effort and money but hey, what can you do 

Don’t worry Marc. Seeing as it’s the same building as XNWOTWDTR that skip will be full of....
 
 
 
 

Correct. Slight waste of effort and money but hey, what can you do 

I believe these were only added last season 

Don’t worry Marc. Seeing as it’s the same building as XNWOTWDTR that skip will be full of....