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I think the lack of theming with Hyperia was always to be expected though, it’s rather difficult to theme something 236ft tall. However, that said, I do agree Thorpe could have done more with the stylising of the coaster, maybe some rock work or stand out theming pieces where the ride swoops close to the ground. We’ve had the debate about it being an old era Merlin project taken over by the new team before, and I think this has definitely had an impact on the theme. So it’s not entirely a complete reflection on the future of the park, but it also doesn’t pain a good impression on visitors; Thorpe’s newest coaster is a gold box with an incoherent theme about flying or something.

It’s the starting section of the film and the bit with the race where they figure out they have to drive backwards to win. It’s not especially long and rather underwhelming in my opinion. The effects don’t seem thoroughly thought out, it’s a lot of there’s this action so play the same effect we did last time, if that makes sense…

I think I've mentioned this before but I would love them to get rid of all the beach area and Storm Surge and build a new coaster in this place. Have it so when you walk out of the dome you pass under a zero-g roll or something like that; Gatekeeper style. I know it's a total Planet Coaster feeling idea but I think it would be great 😂

What is Merlin’s new obsession with 7ft high fencing for the queue lines now? I’ve just been watching JS latest construction update where he showed park of the queue and to be honest it just looks stupid. The rides meant to partly be about floating and feeling free, what a great way to start that experience, ramming the rider into a metre wide queue with a fence taller than you… I know there’s probably something to do with Heath and safely that’s influenced this decision, but how come like 90% of the other rides on park don’t have fencing higher than like chest height?

I went on Tuesday. All of the right hand side can be used by both pass holders and normal ticket users, while the left hand side is only for normal ticket holders.

Oop, double post… oh well. Got a quick question about stealth from today. Ride launched like normal then randomly aborted on the launch track with the break fins coming up about half a second after the ride started launching. The train then stopped dead on the break fins, without leaving the launch section of the track and going up the top hat. The train then slowly rolled backwards to just outside the station and stealth promptly closed. I’m slightly confused on why this happened as it wasn’t a block section issue as the 2nd train was in the unloading station. My only thoughts could be an operator e-stopped the ride or there was an issue with the computer system that caused the ride to abort the launch, but I don’t really get it. Could someone with slightly more knowledge on this maybe explain why this happened as it seemed quite odd.

It's Thorpe and Merlin we're talking about here guys, don't be silly. Of course they're always going to be accurate and reliable about when they're new rides are going to open. Why would you guys assume otherwise not like it's a common trend or anything... Of coure not....

Does seem a bit optimistic but oh well. Does anyone know how fast the annual pass tickets will go as I can’t book it until I get home later and don’t want them all to go…

To be fair, I do quite like the logo on the app; the colours look great. They do need to fix the way it fits though, that’s what annoys me most.

I know they needed to update the app icon for the new logo, but this is definitely not it… Come on Thorpe at least get the logo to fit in the icon.

Oh nice, that’s definitely a better change, don’t see why they didn’t do that in the first place.

Haven’t ridden any other B&M Wing coasters so don’t know what you mean when you say the vests don’t lock on dispatch. Could someone explain what that means and how it makes it more comfortable?

I think the thing that makes the road markings by the dodgems seem a bit odd to me is the fact that they don't fully extend the width of the path, just seems slightly off in my opinnion. Regarding the whole sparkle project, I think that Thorpe's intention is with it is great, I love that they are investing into the maintaince of the park. However, it just seems that the execution isn't quite there; the new additions just seem a bit cheap/tacky in some places. I'm still waiting to see these in person so I can't make a full judgement yet, but for me it just doesn't quite seem it.

No way they're staying with that screen for the start of the season. Just doesn't make sense to pay all that money to refresh the rest of the enterance and most of the park but leave the dodgy screen. Hopefully the new video/graphic is playing on it just to test how it will look when the new screen arrives....

I kind of like the fact the they have separated the park into areas again. Like Thorpe have said many times, the areas are not going to go by their names again, but acknowledging that different parts of the park have different vibes to them and showing that with colour coding on the map is a good choice in my opinion.

I think it was mentioned in one of Jack Silkstone’s videos that there would be disabled access. Given how vocal they are being about accessibility it would surprise me if there wasn’t one.

I'm hoping for late mid/late April, but realistically I do think early May is most likely here. Regardless, super excited to see how menacing it seems with the lift fully constructed!

Hopefully then they can use this time to take down slammer and put the place to good use before the 2025 season!

That's good to hear! To be honest though, I don't really understand why everyone is worried about the trims at that point of the ride. All they are there to do is slow the train down enough so that the forces are safe, if they are needed at all. I don't get why some people are acting like they are going to slow the train down to almost a complete stop...

Seems like they are going all out with the records they break for the marketing, classic merlin... Do we have any idea if Hyperia is going to get a high quality TV advert closer to opening date, or are the blog posts and social media stuff all we're going to get?

We’re not gonna have the same antics with when the project would go vertical here are we… If if see this post edited when the ride opens I am most certainly not going to be pleased 😂

It’s great to see thorpe doing all this work, definitely needed! Seems they have managed to find a load of spare money this season though; new coaster, new themed area and many repaints/referbs. If this money was available every closed season, why is it only now we’re seeing it being used in a positive way rather than just being kept as profits?

So we’re not getting the whole of Colossus retracked? I was always under the assumption that over the next few closed seasons everything would be done. Makes sense with the painting now though, thanks!

Does this mean that all of Colossus is not getting retracked then? I know this has probably been asked before (maybe even by me, I’m quite forgetful!) but seems counter productive to paint the track and then have it replaced with new track like a year or two later.

I thought the arrow was point to Saw: the ride for a second so confused me a bit…