Martin Doyle

Derren Brown's Ghost train....enough said

I was quite lucky when I went in that everything was near enough walk on although that's largely down (if not entirely down) to visiting during midweek. Felt very odd to actually have walk ons with Taron!! Will second your recommendation to visit during winter!! The park looks gorgeous, the fire show is great and to top it off, Taron in the dark is absolutely sensational..... Well even more so than it already is!!

I personally would also love to see something replace the beach as it is a sizeable area with some potential but I agree that the whole old town section needs some serious action. Two rides just sat there dead when that whole area could easily fit a much overdue new coaster. Far as I'm concerned, everything from slammer all the way through to the back end of loggers leap represents a massive space to develop so I'd rather see that action happen than the beach go at the moment. Walking through the old town area was just getting borderline soul crushing last season.

I wouldn't read too much into this system. I assume it's a way for them to try and negate some of the inevitable long lines the ride will get on opening. Not that bad given new rides at universal or Disney can easily get 6-8 hour lines during their opening periods. This will surely be gone in the foreseeable future as the rides "new ride hype" fizzles out. Well atleast I hope it's gone before I visit in 2021 given the damn thing is the ride I'm most hyped for when I go back!!

Amity Beach (5) Angry Birds 4D Experience (5) Bouncezilla (4) Colossus (5) Depth Charge (5) Detonator: Bomb's Away (6) Flying Fish (5) King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems (5) Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride (5) Nemesis Inferno (5) Quantum (5) Rocky Express (5) Rumba Rapids (5) Rush (5) Samurai (5) Saw - The Ride (5) Stealth (5) Storm in a Teacup (5) Storm Surge (5) The Swarm (5) The Walking Dead - The Ride (5) Tidal Wave (5) Timber Tug Boat (5) Vortex (5) Wet Wet Wet (5) Zodiac (5) Detonator + Bouncezilla -

Amity Beach (5) Angry Birds 4D Experience (5) Bouncezilla (2) Colossus (5) Depth Charge (6) Detonator: Bomb's Away (6) Flying Fish (5) Jungle Escape (1) King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems (5) Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride (5) Nemesis Inferno (7) Quantum (5) Rocky Express (5) Rumba Rapids (5) Rush (5) Samurai (5) Saw - The Ride (5) Stealth (8) Storm in a Teacup (5) Storm Surge (5) The Swarm (5) The Walking Dead - The Ride (5) Tidal Wave (5) Timber Tug Boat (5) Vortex (5) Wet Wet Wet (5) Zodiac (5) Detonator + Bouncezilla -

Revised top ten coasters having been to the Netherlands and Germany since my last list. This will feature rides being switched having done rerides on rides already on the list as well as new entries. 1. Steel Vengeance 2. Untamed 3. Taron 4. Millennium Force 5. Wildfire 6. Helix 7. Maverick 8. Shambhala 9. Top Thrill Dragster 10. Mystic Timbers In fairness with this list, the only 2 coasters that I can place with conviction is the top 2. Rides 3 to 7 I keep swapping around with each other!!

I personally think if/when Thorpe do decide to actually give us a coaster, I can see them getting a GCI rather than the RMC. They will have looked at the success of Wicker Man at towers and will try to replicate that success at Thorpe. In theory it would be a relatively safe bet for a new coaster investment on M£rlins part. Frankly I wouldn't complain if Thorpe did go down the GCI road given I find the likes of Wodan and Mystic Timbers to be superb rides.

I'll buy everyone on here their annual pass if that happened xD Personally I won't be getting any hopes up until any sort of plans get submitted for that plot of land.

The sad thing is that this is actually true!! My god times have got hard at Thorpe!!

The main things I want sorted with Valhalla when it "makes a splashback soon" is the boats and the level of how wet it gets. I get the idea of a water ride is to get you wet and I know they have signs warning you about how wet the ride is, but right now you might as well just chuck yourself off the end of the pier and into the sea and you wouldn't get as wet as what Valhalla can get you. It's all fair and good soaking riders if the climate the ride is in allows it. Florida being the prime example. Popeye is also a ride that soaks riders excessively, but this is no issue as the heat in Florida drys you near enough instantly. Valhalla delivers the same level of soaking but you are in the damn north of England. So that's the main thing that I feel needs sorting and that's before they deal with any of the rides effects.

Amity Beach (5) Angry Birds 4D Experience (5) Bouncezilla (3) Colossus (5) Depth Charge (6) Detonator: Bomb's Away (5) Flying Fish (5) Jungle Escape (2) King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems (5) Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride (5) Nemesis Inferno (6) Quantum (5) Rocky Express (5) Rumba Rapids (5) Rush (5) Samurai (5) Saw - The Ride (5) Stealth (8) Storm in a Teacup (5) Storm Surge (5) The Swarm (5) The Walking Dead - The Ride (5) Tidal Wave (5) Timber Tug Boat (5) Vortex (5) Wet Wet Wet (5) Zodiac (5) Stealth + Bouncezilla -

Honestly, this abomination getting ripped out would be the best thing to happen to this park. Even more so than opening Untamed. Truly ghastly ride.

Certs . Cedar Point . Kings Island . Walibi Holland . Efteling . Energylandia . Legendia . Blackpool pleasure beach . Paultons park Possibly . Liseberg . Flamingoland . Drayton Manor Long shots . Busch Gardens Williamsburg . Phantasialand . Europa Park . Toverland

“Valhalla to make a splashback soon!!” *massive wooden fence put up in front of Valhalla Seriously, Valhalla does desperately need some work and lots of it to restore it to the levels of its former self as so much is broken now. So here’s hoping the next year is put to good use.

OI!! I’m a Celeb, Walking Dead,DBGT and Angry Birds are (was in IAC’s case) all top top top quality attractions that have the higher ups at Disney,Europa and Phantasia up all night with nightmares!! 😮 Why would people want to ride the likes of Taron or Wodan in Germany or Untamed in the Netherlands when we have that quality in this beautiful and very welcoming country!!??

I can see this very much being of the same style as Zadra in the sense it will focus on intensity and speed over airtime. Wherever or not that’s a bad thing will depend entirely on your preference. This could very well be the best coaster in Florida when it opens and when you then add in the three B&M masterpieces at Busch, the park will have one heck of a coaster line up. Cant wait to get out there in 2021

Agreed but we must NOT lose sight of one very important thing.... Its better than nothing!!

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.