MattyB

Just returned from my first Efteling/Phantasialand trip. Will write a full report at some point once I've recovered, however Danse Macabre is incredible!

Visiting this park next week for the first time. Can't wait!!!!!

Yep correct. Also CCR and the water ferries as they were quite large capacity rides/attractions.

Just to add to this, back in the early to mid 2000's we were reaching numbers between 18000-20000. However this did cause issues. I particularly remember some of the days the queue to get into the car park went back towards the Sainsburys by Staines bridge. For comparison, EPCOT at Disneyworld gets around 80000-90000 for their New Years eve celebrations

Just to chime in on this as I was involved with this project. The trucks used to deliver the material and the excavation machinery were used to compact the earth as it was filled in. I seem to remember we handed over the SAW island to the project team pretty much a couple of months after we had finished infilling. Same with SAW Alive. For The Swarm, think it was about a year, maybe 2 after infilling completed that they started on construction for that project. Any ride structures foundations actually go through the infilled material and into the bedrock below. From memory think the SAW foundations go to 50m

Yeah park looks amazing. Was looking at the show building for the new Harry Potter attraction, its massive!

New promo for Epic Universe Introducing Universal Epic Universe And park fly through Epic Universe Flythrough Animation

The Difficult Creation of Thorpe Park: The Educational Era New vid by Expedition Theme Park

Disney Electrical Sky Parade - World Premiere - Disneyland Paris

Apparently concept art has been leaked. Not sure how authentic it is: [Universal Studios Great Britain] leaked concept art (picture from Coasterhub on IG)

Sinkhole opens under Busch Gardens

The World's Most Underrated Theme Park - Genting SkyWorlds Malaysia Review Great review of this park. One of the oddest ones out there I think. On top of a mountain, previously known as 20th Century Fox World Malaysia. Essentially a licensed Disney park with all of the IP's that probably don't fit into a normal Disney park. Its crazy how much IP Disney owns now!

Looks awesome!

Really like this. Concept art looks awesome!

I think its cool when done correctly. E.g. Disney having hidden mickeys, or the C3PO marking on the plane at TDS. Think its nice to have nods to earlier attractions in theme parks. Isn't there a museum at Europa Park that shows off the parks history? Think it would be cool if the UK parks did something similar.

Really good review of this park. I was lucky enough to visit a couple of years ago, and found the park to be a really enjoyable day out. Small & Mighty! - Universal Studios Singapore Review

Oh wow! Didn't realise queues for the rides themselves were that extreme. Thought it was just the mazes. Its a tough one. If you look at Disney/Universal, they are in a completely different game to the Merlin parks. I don' think they have quiet periods anymore, and can plan attractions based around massive throughputs, that they will get consistently throughout the year. They also have the infrastructure in place to support late operating hours (on site staff accommodation, transport to said accommodation that works around the clock). In fact, those sites are truly around the clock, 24 hour operations. Not sure what the answer is tbh. If you limit capacity, you potentially lose revenue. If you have extremely busy periods with +3 hour queues, you risk reputation. They are almost a victim of their own success.

Of course, agreed. End of season for TP has always been extremely busy. I think the issue is whether the park focuses investment to meet the demand for 1 week of the year. I remember doing Universal and it took us 3 nights to get around all the mazes. The Studios park was heaving and we couldn't get near the place on actual Halloween. I think my biggest issue is the upcharge (however I'm biased as I come from a time when the mazes were part of the entry ticket price). Universal charges an extra ticket price for the evening (or did when I visited in 2009), and I think it makes sense that Thorpe should. However, I think the way the mazes are currently designed don't meet the demand for this last week of the year from a throughput perspective. (I.e. batching in smaller groups, pre-shows etc). I think its nice that Thorpe are able to offer these experiences, however at some point as the park expands they would need to start looking at volume and throughputs. Granted, the conga line method may be a lesser experience overall, however I think it would be a great challenge for the design teams to do something different with it? Or they put more mazes on. I'm surprised that as part of the Hyperion development site, they didn't factor in a purpose built fright nights building as part of that development. Somewhere to store everything throughout the year and then maybe use the space for 1/2 mazes.

I think you misunderstood me. What I meant was, if the park closes at 10pm, some staff could potentially be working until 12pm. I remember when we had 10pm closes, and Megastore was still heaving at 11pm. I didn't get out until 1am. Luckily I lived locally and had understanding parents. If I lived in London or relied on public transport to get home, not sure I would have many options open to me. Regarding mazes, I think its a tricky one. Do you go down the conga line route (Universal), increasing throughputs, or just add more of them? If the park is struggling with capacity, I should imagine it would need to change it up a bit over the coming years, especially with Hyperia on the way.

Also if you factor in staff coming in to work from London, the public transport options are non existent after a certain time (from Staines/Chertsey). I do remember we did 24 hour openings at one point. Think it was in 1999

Having done Universal, I think the conga line would help in this situation, particularly if demand is high. RE closing at 9pm, the park has to ensure its staff can get home, particularly if they are using public transport. Considering some staff may stay up to 2 hours after park closing (depending on how busy it is). I don't know how we got away with the late night closings back in the day!

Yeah a behind the scenes look at Tron would be awesome. Maybe for another season

Trailer for Behind the Attraction Season 2 on Disney Plus. Looks like attractions covered are: Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Indiana Jones Adventure Also firework shows and food Behind the Attraction Season 2

Walk into Frozen Land - Hong Kong Disneyland Resort Preview of Frozen Land at HKD. From DLP Welcome

The Exciting Future of Shanghai Disneyland New Zootopia land looks amazing!