Stuntman707

Thank god they “did not touch the blasters...” “until the safety bar has lowered.” Couldn’t help myself!

For anyone who wants to visit a theme park with a derelict theme, Camelot is just up the motorway. The theming is so grim, plenty of SBNO rides, more than Thorpe and they don’t even charge anymore for the privilege to see such great detail. Plenty of graffiti, general filth and mesh fences too. So they really give Merlin a run for their money on value!

I thought DBGT:ROTD was 11/10. TWDTR is more off the scale scarier than that.

One shots are not really advertised but you could get them last year for any ride including DBGT so I can imagine they will still be available next year as an “under the counter” thing. Got to upsell those packages!

Yep, I’d say it’s the exit station. I don’t think Thorpe will want to go back to a setup which caused mass vomiting.

Ugh,"The Walking Dead, The Ride" looks exactly how I expected it to. The graffiti station looks like an authentic abandoned car park I guess, at least on the side they bothered to do. Minimal theming, same trains have been kept with the vinyl literally scraped off. It's just the easiest, cheapest theme possible and people will no doubt praise Thorpe for basically making this ride ready for the scrap yard when the IP runs out. The concept art showed signs of hope and new / refurbed trains but alas, those first pictures have blown that flame of intrigue right out.

I know what you mean, there's something about the style of music around that time. Perhaps it's one of the reasons I still love Nemesis, because the original soundtrack still plays prominently around Forbibben Valley. I remember riding the Black Hole the year before it closed which was sad being the first coaster I've been on. It was hard to forget aswell since the tent stayed in place until the Smiler construction started. Nice to know that the Black Hole was given a new life and is still in operation though. http://furuvik.se/tivoli/rocket/

My favourite part is when they say-“A brand new, globally unique experience” while the subtitle reads-“A rollercoaster”

ITV hinted at The Wicker Man opening on 17th March but have since edited their article to say 'Sometime this spring'. http://www.itv.com/news/central/2018-03-01/alton-towers-reveal-first-video-of-fiery-wooden-roller-coaster-wicker-man/

Hmm, not so sure about the trains. Very odd pattern. Don't get me wrong, I like everything else about this ride so far. I'm sure I'd grow to like it in time with the ride but I would have taken advantage of Mack's other beautiful train designs. Would be nice to see some BPB branding as others mentioned. Hopefully some will be added. Anyway it's still too early to judge yet. I'll leave that until after I've been on it in person, same as SW8.

There's a Defunctland podcast on the Alton Towers episode for anyone interested in what an American thinks about British parks.

On the topic of park branded snacks, It would be nice to see more premium original snacks and stuff like you can get at Universal and Disney. I don't mind paying a bit more for something unique as a treat. However I do mind having to pay more for bog standard snacks you can get in the supermarket like pringles and Cadbury's for example.

Ha, sounds like a legend. "I had it sorted but it wasn't fast enough for Jim." Sometimes you just need someone like him overseeing the engineers to get **** done. Emails don't have the same effect as someone shouting and pointing.

Haha, sounds like they've dubbed the screams from guests in RCT. Jim's funny, "Get the damn train off and open the bloody ride!"

TLC on Facebook made me laugh saying the gardeners had come back from the dead and had a tidy up.

It looked very popular this year from the first wave. Me and Mer managed to get one. Really looking forward to the X tribute stuff. Should be interesting.

MAP preview tickets are live, hurry!

Can't deny it looks great. It's definately going to be a night coaster and one to ride in the dark.

This reminds me of an interesting vid I saw recently showing a talk by the Thrill Engineer, Brendan Walker. He describes how he developed methods to test the psychological effectiveness of a ride and using the data to make rides more thilling in a way that is scientifcally measurable. Very different way about thinking of ride design and a brilliant talk.

Already posted! Check out the other vids on there though too.

This is making me lol.

Great video on the legacy of Arrow and how they pretty much revolutionised the theme park industry.

I do want Thorpe to pull this off, have extensive theming and a thrilling experience on and off the ride. No doubt this whole walking dead season will put off families with younger kids so if the new ride is a flop then I think it will really hurt Thorpe. But I want them to prove they can do something as well themed as Living Nightmare on a bigger scale. X may finally have a proper theme for once and I'm curious more than anything to try the ride with the brake runs. They are really going to have to do something special for Fright Nights though. 2 mazes (Big Top & Platform 15) isn't going to be enough.

I wonder if the return of the height restriction means the brake runs are back?