Martin Doyle

Saw Alive: Showtime will be a new thing in the dome this year so no need to worry guys!! The event needs massive changes as far as I’m concerned, the maze quality has been on a massive decline (bar Big Top) for years now and last year was honestly a complete laughing stock. They need to go back to the days of just having 4 or 5 decent length indoor mazes of good quality rather than just having an excessive amount of rushed botch jobs.

Loggers leap will return before Big Top!!

The reason why I enjoy the work of RMC as much as I do having ridden Steel Vengeance and Wildfire is because to me as a coaster experience they tick all the boxes. Great drops,great airtime,great inversions,relentless pacing (in Steel Vengeances case) and pretty good variety. I CAN see to a degree why bigger riders don’t enjoy them as much given the restraints, however for me personally the restraints are a none issue and as a result I can enjoy their coasters to the max and it’s no coincidence to me that my top two coasters are both RMC. Do I think the company gets too much hype?? Yes maybe they do and I do believe people should ride one BEFORE saying “They are absolutely brilliant!! Thorpe Park should get one”. However and as contradictory to that statement as this sound, there is no smoke without fire and the reason RMC are so well talked about is because of the vast majority who have ridden their coasters and love them to the point of being their favourite coasters. As far as the “Converting rubbish coasters into good coasters means nothing to the consumer” goes, well actually it does. A lot of the Cedar Point fanbase for example really do love the fact that they turned arguably the worst coaster in the world (apparently. I can’t say anything because I never rode the original mean streak) into what will now most likely go down as the greatest coaster of all time. That to them and a good few members of the community is not a feat to be sniffed at.

This on paper could very well be the best Scarefest yet. The welcoming to me was the only bit of deadwood in the line up last year so to see that gone is a big plus. I am quite delighted to see the return of Terror of the Towers with a refreshed story line. I loved Terror of the Towers but it did desperately need a change from the “What Lies Within” story as that long overstayed it’s welcome. I wonder if Thorpe Park will now bring back a certain much loved horror maze after a years absence....... Altonville mine tour and Sub Species are both brilliant horror mazes (the latter being the best in the country in my book) and I actually found Project 42 to be pretty good too for a maze with limited space to work with. All in all a pretty solid looking line up.

RMC to the rescue again by the look of it!! Now if Portaventura could be so kind to do likewise to Stampida, that would be very much appreciated!! Back to Untamed. This looks very well paced, full of airtime, good transitions and some pretty interesting looking inversions particularly the first and last ones. Yes it doesn’t have the height and speed of the likes of Steel Vengeance and Zadra, but stats don’t mean a damn thing to me when it comes to what makes a coaster good. Cannot wait to ride in October!!

Top 10 parks 1. Cedar Point 2. Universal Islands of adventure 3. Liseberg 4. Phantasialand 5. Europa Park 6. Kings Island 7. Busch Gardens Tampa 8. Universal Studios Florida 9. Efteling 10. Portaventura

New top 10 coaster list!! 1. Steel Vengeance 2. Wildfire (new entry) 3. Millennium Force 4. Helix 5. Maverick 6. Taron 7. Shambhala 8. Mystic Timbers (new entry) 9. Mako 10. Diamondback (new entry)

*Prepares to get shot at by the Europa Park fanboys Mystic Timbers is better than Wodan!!

*inserts the obligatory “it’s better than nothing!!” comment

Having finally ridden Wildfire, I think there’s a few things that should be pointed out with it. It is a truely brilliant coaster and in my opinion the best coaster in Europe. HOWEVER, this ride does have two MAJOR flaws. 1, if you ride it early in the day it is very sluggish and slow compared to what it is in the afternoon once it “warms up”. This is quite a flaw given the other RMC I have done (Steel Vengeance) is consistent no matter what time of day you ride it. Flaw number 2 does not apply to me specifically but more to “larger riders” and that is the restraints. Wildfire’s (and Steel Vengeance) leg bracket may not affect me necessarily as I leave that much of a gap between my legs and the bracket BUT if you are somebody with larger legs, these restraints WILL cause you some major discomfort. This coupled with the lap bar itself crushing down on your lap will absolutely nullify most of if not all of the airtime that RMC coasters are famous for. Those flaws aside, Wildfire is a brilliant coaster with one of the greatest first drops in the business (I maintain it has a better drop than Steel Vengeance) and in general a good fun layout. May not be as airtime heavy as I expected but it still had enough decent pops of airtime in its layout and also features some good hangtime. It is simply a stunning coaster to look at with its layout interacting with the rock work and the views from the ride of the surrounding area with the lake and surrounding woodlands and because of the fact it NEVER has any sort of queue, marathoning it over and over is dead easy. Certainly worth a trip to Sweden to ride!!

Thorpe Farm returning for 2020 confirmed!!

In all fairness, I myself am also highly fed up with M£rlin right now to the point where I’ve decided to vote with my feet when my annual pass expires this December. I simply do not want to be one of these people that constantly make out that M£rlin are the second coming of Satan but then continuously pump more money into their pockets and visit their attractions pretty much multiple times a month. There are plenty of great parks to visit across Europe and indeed America where you will see parks operated to their full potential with some real top quality attractions,great operations,great opening hours and in general just blow our parks clean out the water. Failing that then parks like Pleasure Beach and Paultons Park could also be worth a visit as an alternative

And that is precisely why I did not even bother to think about this abomination “funding future projects” I think it’s safe to say Alton Towers make enough money with 1. Food 2. Merchandise 3. Ticket sales 4. Fastrack 5. On ride photos 6. Parking 7. Hotel prices and much more for them to NOT have to start opening damned upcharge attractions... especially upcharged attractions where you can get longer and better versions of them for free!! Assuming M£rlin decide to actually give the money raised by those actually to Alton Towers and not towards building another 1 million Legolands!!

Perhaps you missed the part where I said I’m “actually a big fan of the dungeons” (matter of fact, Edinburgh and Amsterdam are my two favourite M£rlin attractions) so yeah I think it’s safe to say I gave this every chance possible and wanted it to succeed. For the record, I DID focus on what the show lights wanted me to see... however when the lack of theming in the walls and roofs stick out like a sore thumb (you don’t really have to be Sherlock Holmes to spot them!!) it is quite difficult to turn a blind eye to it ESPECIALLY for somebody who as he has just said, has done every other UK dungeon plus Amsterdam so I would like to think I have a rough idea of what the dungeons are capable of as thematic experiences. I went into this with an open mind hoping for it to be good however I’m sorry but on this visit, it fell flat. I don’t care if “other opinions are positive”, this is MY opinion which I feel I’m entitled to regardless if it differs from the majority or not

Having now done all the UK dungeon attractions aswell as Amsterdam and being somebody who is actually quite a big fan of the dungeons, I can quite categorically say that this is easily the worst of the dungeons by a mile. First off I will start with the positives and say the acting quality was strong as was the final scene with the haunting. HOWEVER and without given much away,I find the amount of black walls and blank corridors between the scenes to be absolutely horrendous. Half the joy of the other dungeons in the UK (which gentle reminder, premium pass holders get FOR FREE!!) is the level of detail and immersion that guests get. This dungeon however I can honestly say that when it comes to detail, it makes Charlie and the chocolate factory look like Pirates of the carribean and I am not even close to joking. In terms of the whole “it’s not finished” malarkey I have heard, well if it’s not finished then don’t have the cheek to open it unfinished and then have the nerve to charge extra for what frankly is a very half heartedly executed experience. Again I reiterate that there ARE positives with the acting ability on display as well as the finale. However that does not save an otherwise lacklustre and needless addition to Alton Towers. Honestly I know I could say “it’s better than nothing”, but in this instance I genuinely think I would prefer literally nothing.