Mark9

Oh my god it's so obvious, I completely missed what linked those two compared to Hyperia. Dumb Mark. (I'll consul myself that Voltron valleyed in an area with no recovery launch and leave it at that).

It is quite astounding that the idea of Hyperia stalling wasn't factored into the design. Voltron and Mandrill Mayhem take account for this possibility. So either they wanted to take the risk, it was cheaper to not add LSM's to recover the train or it was never considered that it could...

Its what Kingda Ka would have wanted.

Said Top Spin was the only thing open in Forbidden Valley for ages yesterday morning. I think it would have been immensely popular anyway but the filler ride essentially being the only thing to do in that corner would have made things far worse. Towers need to get a grip on this and it's shocking that after four years of it, they have still not moved any further forward. There is no point building new rides, refurbishing the old ones to bring in guests if over half the major attractions are closed all the time and the day is just effectively guests desperately trying to find an open ride that will make it through their queuing time.

I'll stick with my sweaty hot dog in a flask and rancid old lidl hot dog bun thank you very much.

Cost to run and maintain is the main culprit. It required a maintenance team 24/7 and for the level of riders it got compared to the other big hitters at Great Adventure, the cost wasn't deemed worthwhile. If TTD2 had been a success this may have had a different outcome and may have been saved in some form. But we'll never know now.

I think this is definitely the problem for most parks. Unless you are a big name like Efteling, Cedar Point or Europa Park, the last five years have been especially tough. I don't find it that unexpected that Oakwood is permanently closed though. The writing has been on the wall probably since the Hydro death in 2004. It's been on a downward spiral ever since and hasn't really ever recovered. It's turned into a dive over the last decade and the only bright spot really has been the megafobia retrack. What a shame for that ride and Speed though. Hopefully something can be done to save Megafobia in particular but it's going to be a difficult one.

I checked the Chessington general discussion thread and there was no outrage. Then again... they announced the closure of Beanoland in advance and had an epic cream pie fight to say goodbye to the area. Wild Asia gone for two years with only a token announcement on their social pages and website. Sure this isn't Kingda Ka, but we're talking four rides just closed until further notice.

Minecraft is 2027. Apparently. It's why they've closed Wild Asia a season earlier than they probably needed to. Too much capacity at Chessington. Needed sorting.

I think you severely underestimate Merlins ability to make things worse.

Just so I understand, Colossus repaint is now a three year project whilst Six Flags have repainted multiple larger rollercoasters over the last two months (2 Goliaths, Panthera and Dominator just off the top of my head). Meanwhile at Thorpe, Inferno still looks like ass and they are deciding if a water feature that worked for about three weeks has any future. And this is the best of the Merlin trio? We really are desperate for any good news at all at this point aren't we.

Yep, parks normally pretty quiet as they restrict numbers but the RAP queues are about there hours long now.

I'm not sure what Merlin can do at this point to be honest. They've attempted relatively good rollercoasters in Mandrill, Hyperia and Nemesis Reborn, they've tried to do entertainment on a better scale then ever which has now all been cut and last years opening hours felt like a push in a better direction (particularly Thorpe). So far we've only really seen the losses at Towers for 2025 but it's looking anonymous at Chessington and Thorpe too. We are bound to see a lot more staggered ride opening hours. Don't be surprised if Rumba and Tidal Wave open mid season for example. The global report highlighted the issues with the Uk tourism industry If you've been to Efteling, Europa Park, Port Aventura (just to name a few) over the last two years, the parks feel alive and vibrant with excited guests and entertainment. In comparison the UK parks have just got long waits because there's less rides and entertainment, short opening hours and terrible food. It's an awful rut to be in and it can't be changed quickly.

Is anyone feeling particularly positive about the upcoming season?

Drenched is no more. One of two Intamin shoot the chute water rides, the first left Knotts Berry Farm a long while back so it is kinda astounding Drenched made it this far. It's been closed for a while for 'restraint work' and has now being removed.