Martin Doyle

A quiet year for me Thorpe Park - 6 Chessington - 4 Alton Towers - 5 Legoland - 1 Cedar Point - 3 Kings Island - 1 Plopsaland - 1 Walibi Holland - 1 Efteling - 1 Phantasialand - 2 Europa Park - 2 liseberg - 2 Kolmarden - 1

To me it’s simple. It should be blue badges or get in the main queue!! The system is so broken now and it’s almost as if the parks are afraid of NOT giving them out for fear of basically being accused of saying “not disabled enough” so they will just take their word for it. I do apologise if my thoughts on RAP and how it’s handed out offends anyone. However, right now it just feels as if they give them out to any Tom,Richard and Harry who rocks up to try and get one. There has simply got to be stricter requirements in order to get one going forward and then they also need to actually implement it properly in the sense of actually checking the times on the card and NOT allowing RAP users onto the next ride until the time has elapsed.

I shall indeed be able to attend from Dungeons onwards

Having had 30 rides on Untamed, I can now safely say that in my opinion it is easily the best coaster in Europe and was it not for the excellence of Steel Vengeance then it would have been my number one all together. This coaster is seriously incredible from start to finish and I mean “from start to finish”. The ride does not relent from the second you come off that chain lift until the second you hit those breaks. The pacing this ride has is flawless. I am a huge fan of Wildfire, but one thing that bothers me with it is the fact that there are several moments on it where it loses its momentum massively. Those issues are not present with Untamed one single iota!! It is none stop action the whole way round. Like Wildfire, it DOES get better as the day goes on. Unlike Wildfire however which is underwhelming on its first couple of hours of opening until it becomes a beast in the afternoon after warming up, Untamed is STILL incredible regardless of what time you ride it. However whilst it is incredible when it opens, by the time I was getting my night rides on it the damn thing felt like it was trying to eject me from my seat in the back row and all the way into the heart of Amsterdam!. As a result, the night rides on offer from Untamed are simply unmissable. The elements on this ride are unworldly. The first drop may not be particularly tall but man does it back a serious punch. The inversions on this ride are well taken and offer some pretty incredible hang time especially the first and last inversions. The airtime moments are aggressive and very much reminded me of being back on Steel Vengeance. For those who don’t have either the time or money to go to Cedar Point to ride Steel Vengeance, believe me when I say that this ride is the closest you will get to Steel Vengeance without actually flying across the Atlantic to experience Steel Vengeance and that is largely because of the relentless airtime on offer with Untamed. The finale of this ride is sensational. The airtime hills with all the headchoppers around followed by that barrel roll which gives incredible hangtime really do absolutely steal the show with this ride. In terms of the coaster layout, I can’t for the life of me find a single flaw. In terms of the whole “restraints” debate with Untamed and indeed RMC in general I will say this. Yes after 30 goes I myself was in some pain, but that pain was no different to other coasters with masses of airtime and I felt no pain on my shins at all. Obviously other body types will have that issue though whereas fortunately I do not. I do wish the shin guards was not present for the sake of other riders enjoyment but personally the shin guards cause me no comfort at all having now ridden 3 RMCs. For those of you still sceptical on how good these rides can be and want to know if the “hype” is real, seriously get yourself on a flight (or Eurostar!!) to Amsterdam and go and ride Untamed. The coaster layout is flawless and is just the most amount of fun you could have on any coaster on the continent. I mean it’s not like we are getting an RMC hybrid on these shores anytime soon!! RMC have really worked their magic again in converting Robin Hood into Untamed. I know a lot of people are against what RMC do to wooden coasters so I’ll just voice what I personally think on the matter. RMC do NOT convert true classic wooden coasters. They convert relatively modern wooden coasters so I do think it’s a total myth that they “destroy classics!!”. If RMC did convert true heritage wooden coasters then I personally would be very against that. Hypothetically speaking if Blackpool announced they was changing Grand National or Big Dipper into an RMC then I would be the first to protest it as those rides are true classics with a long history and as such should be preserved. If RMC ever changed the likes of Wodan or Troy then I’d also be uncomfortable with that as those two are amazing modern day wooden coasters that deliver great experiences. IF however Portaventura announced Stampida was getting the conversion, I would be on the first flight out there when it opens. Because it’s a dire ride and does not have the same heritage as true classics. To those who think RMC are “killing wooden coasters” I ask you this. What exactly did the likes of Gwazi, Robin Hood and Mean Streak actually contribute to the industry? They did not have long histories, they was universally disliked in the community and generally was seen as awful rickety rides. So what did they have going for them that should have given them a stay of execution?. In short, rides like the Blackpool woodies should NEVER have the conversion because they are treasured heritage, rides like the modern good GCI and Intamin wooden coasters shouldn’t either because they are great whilst sticking to what made wooden coasters great to begin with. However, the likes of Gwazi,Robin Hood and Mean Streak are fair game as far as I’m concerned. Untamed - 10/10

When Thorpe Park get a major new coaster.....

MY SOURCES ARE TELLING ME THE RMC IS COMING!! They tell me Nick Varney and Alan Schilke had a nice romantic dinner (Alan paying ofcourse....obviously) over the matter and now we are most certainly getting that RMC on the loggers leap site in 2020!! This will be accompanied by the following. 1) Tidal Waves fireball returning 2) Colossus having a full paint job 3) Samurai being replaced by a new model 4) THE TOP SPIN!! 5) BIG TOP AND ASYLUM RETURNING FOR FRIGHT NIGHTS 6) Slammer finally being removed 7) Stricter requirements to get a RAP 8) Thorpe Park finally altering the wind policy so they don’t stop the rides if someone so much as farts near the wind censors 9) The car park being sorted so one does not need to sit there in a standstill for over an hour to get out..... fastrack for the car park exit here we come!! 2020 is gonna be SICK!! * my source is called HP source by the way.

People might as well believe in the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus if they genuinely think Thorpe are getting an RMC either next year or ANY year for that matter in the current state of affairs with the park.

Well I can say what it WON’T be spent on.... An RMC *cries uncontrollably into his glass of wine!!

VR brave it backwards Bouncezilla:extreme aside, it would actually be nice to see some action on the loggers leap site and some actual development towards a overdue new coaster assuming Thorpe Park will be getting one some time before I find myself in my 40’s!!

Bouncezilla brave it backwards with VR!! The worlds first VR bouncy castle!!

Two visits to Tulleys under my belt so far this halloween season and two incredible evenings out!! This event goes from strength to strength every year and this year’s new addition of Wastelands has really only served to hammer home Tulleys position as the best overall event in the country. Acting quality across the event is terrific (shout out to the pirate inside Wreckoning who seemingly knows me from this forum!! That was pretty darn hilarious I must say having a name drop in a Tulleys maze!!) and once again the quality of attraction is immense this year and Wastelands penitentiary is right up there with the very best horror mazes in the country. I do however now think that VIXI needs to move on next season as that’s now got quite stale to repeat visitors and I also hate to say it given how great it was in its opening year but I also believe Chop Shops time is up now. However that aside, an all around solid year for Tulleys!! *shout out to @JoshuaA clowning around in Twisted Clowns about my damn hairline!! 😮

A very strong performance from Scarefest this past Sunday!! All five of the mazes performed absolutely brilliantly on my goes through them. They all excel in their own ways, all have some brilliant set designs and all had magnificent actors in all of them. I couldn’t call a single one of them weak. No wonder M£rlin have since told the team to help Thorpe with mazes in the form of Creek Freak Massacre. Altonville mine tour was very physical this year, Sub Species had its intensity back, Project 42 was much improved from last year, Darkest Depths had some of the best looking sets I have ever seen in a maze and The Attic was absolutely incredible and in my opinion the best incarnation of the legendary Terror of the Towers. Queue management for all of these was on top form and not one maze had a longer wait than 5 minutes from having the tickets scanned to entering the maze. Sometimes Alton Towers can still find mazes having long queues despite the paid for timed slots but this was not the case Sunday. Massive thumbs up to the mazes all around. On a more negative note, there has been a decrease in park wide decoration in comparison to recent years. However, Towers Street still looks brilliant and the little features such as the ghosts near mutiny bay and the skeleton projections in the banqueting hall window of the towers add to a very solid atmosphere. This was also helped by the children’s mascots and indeed the brilliant Alton ancestors who really added to the feel of the event. Another solid year for Scarefest and once again it absolutely blows Fright Nights out of the water in every single department. As far as the “Oh Thorpe Park you get mazes for free!!” argument goes, I personally would much rather pay for something that has quality in it than I would queue for an excessively long time to do the likes of Do or Die or Platform 15 for free. Alton Towers and every one involved with Scarefest this year can take massive pride in this year’s event!!

Many media outlets are now reporting that Cedar Fair have turned down a 4 billion dollar cash and stock offer from Six Flags.

The main problem I have with this if it does happen is I find Six Flags parks to be utterly soulless, commercialised to high hell and corporate. Half the reason Cedar Point is so far ahead of every park I’ve visited is because it has charm to it. It has a rich history and even though it belongs to a chain, does not have an overly corperate feel to it whatsoever. Six Flags get their hands on it and that charm will possibly disappear in a flash. The other factor as to why Cedar Point is ran as well as it has been is down to the fact it is Cedar Fairs cashcow and the flagship park. Under a Six Flags ownership, it will only be playing second fiddle to Magic Mountain. The other issue is that a takeover or even a merge would kill one of the greatest amusement park rivalries in the world right now and with that, Six Flags will have monopolised the thrill park industry in America and the states will be left in a relatively similar state to what the U.K is going through with M£rlin right now and that’s a lack of competition. Yes Disney and Universal are also a thing in America obviously, but Six Flags and Cedar Fair cater to an entirely different audience to those two chains. So any sort of deal between Cedar Fair and Six Flags could be a complete disaster for the industry especially in the states.