Mark9

Looks like my year is going to be California in May, Liseberg in September and Disneyland Paris for its Christmas event in November.

My question is. Does Islands of Adventure ever really get busy outside of special events. Both times I went, the only rides that were ever busy was in the Harry Potter area. Walk on Dragon Challenge, no problem, straight onto Hulk, yeah sure why not. Want to ride Flight of the Hippogriff, yeah go for it but remember to join the hour long queue line beforehand. It would seem to me that despite the attendance jumping up consistently ever year, the other main attractions are still going around half empty on every cycle. Ride enthusiast dream but it must be a conundrum for Universal in how to get people away from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and onto the other rides. And the real interest I real have is when the expansion opens, will Universal Studios have the same problems with walk on Revenge of the Mummy whilst Diagion Alley has two week long queues. Still.. it's nice to see something so notoriously British, being such a success story.

As long as you plan your day properly, DLP should be a piece of cake. Even when queues look long such as Crush's Coaster spilling out of the entrance and Pirates of the Caribbean queuing outside, these queues barely take more then half an hour. Utilising Thunder Mountain and Tower of Terror fast pass makes the day even easier. A few of us went last weekend and whilst there were queues, they were pretty minimal and enjoyable by Disney standard. This is the off season after all.

Thing is right, we've given Chessington over a decade to get its act together. I can give them the benefit of the doubt over the cafe, that was a freak occurrence. But from Vampires refurbishment in 2001 the park has dragged itself through disappointment to disappointment with only Dragons Fury and Wild Asia being any kind of accomplishment. That's two attractions in 14 years. So forgive us if we aren't so forthcoming with our praise. Besides, we want Chessington to be the success it deserves to be. It opened with very generic attractions but what made them excel was the effort and detail went into them. To see the laziness that has been spilled over Vampire, Bubbleworks, Falls and Runaway and the state of rides like Skyway & Bucaneer doesn't inspire confidence.

So really, what you're saying is Merlin compromised on every aspect of Saw. Instead of building an amazing, immersive attraction they cut corners for convenience and so we have this duffer of a ride instead. Nice.

That's not slagging off Thorpe and Alton really though is it. For a start neither of those quotes slag off Alton and secondly, a dodgems shouldn't be the most exciting thing Merlin are adding to their parks in 2014, but it is. A bunch of charming rides at Alton being smeared with IP's but thats about all they are really doing.

As far as I can tell, no one is slagging off Alton Towers and Thorpe.

Doesn't surprise me at all. Even when you give them the benefit of the doubt, they find ways to disappoint you. Merlins best UK project this year is a dodgems and a rethemed Detonator. That literally says it all.

Myk:- "THORPE TOP SPIN 2014, HELL YES" Han:- "Over my dead body"

Blue Fire, taken in 2013. Taken from the old queue line that runs through the middle of the ride. Oz'Iris, taken in 2012. I'm always quite happy with close up shots that show the emotion of the riders. This one does that rather well. Admittedly this could be a lot better, without the blur. But again, it shows what I value from my photos, emotion from the riders.

SHED!!!!! So what were the rides like exactly? For instance, how does the Dragon compare to Windsors version =)

Another instantly forgettable song by Rihanna that will only be good when heavily intoxicated at a club then.

1. For the Ride Games to not appear ever again on TPM. 2. For Thorpe to get a top spin just so that I never have to read those words again. 3. For Pigeons to realise their rightful place as rulers of the Animal Kingdom.

There is only one massive flaw in The Lion King; The song Shadowland doesn't appear. Absolutely loved it in the West End and puts a lot of context into why Nala runs away from Pride Rock in the first place. Aside from that.. Lion King.

They get enough visitors already without adding anything interesting. Whilst that should be a reason to invest, Merlin probably take it that people go anyway without the need to add things. So sorry about that Coaster Jamie, they don't need you to visit that eagerly.

I remember when Mac used to post here.

Juvelen is a gem of a ride, it's a family ride through and through. It's a bit like Fury in that respect. It's thrilling for the kids and a blast for the adults. Cheetah Hunts problem could be the inversion and the fact that it has long bits of track that are un-inspiring such as the drop out of the tree figure eight or the zig zag through the waterfalls. Juvelen does that in a much more satisfying way.

Love Kumba and SheiKra, Tolerated Montu, thought Cheetan Hunt was a mismatch and instead of excelling at being either a thrill ride or a family ride, ended up being in that awkward middle ground of being neither. Shame because I love the look of it, t's truly one of Intamins best looking rides. It just doesn't ride well enough.

It is a better show then X Factor by far and I'm glad they booted out the Banshee and got in Kylie, she's much better. I just wish the show wouldn't keep going for tropes, the judges constantly stuck in a rut. I'm from Yorkshire go to Ricky, I'm a woman go to Kylie, I'm Welsh go to Tom. Surely there's more to being a judge then your physical characteristics or where you're from.

I'm going to try at least keep an open mind about Runaway Train. Merlin can do decent refurbs at times so it's not so radical that Scorpion Express could look brilliant. Bubbleworks gets peddled out but what about the decent Wild Asia, Mutiny Bay or Oblivion's refurbishment last year that despite being completely overlooked next to Smiler, made Oblivion look shiny again.

Closed at the end of the 2003 season. . Was a proper journey around the houses.

That's good for your sister. I feel like things that are well known in the enthusiast community are being ignored. Thorpe don't see themselves as a theme park for example. Themed areas was out the door a long time ago. You mention Swarm, that has it's own island and is segregated from the rest of the park, you mention Colossus which is more stylised then themed. Amity Cove hasn't been the same ever since they dropped Storm in a Teacup in it ten years ago. It was an area built around Tidal Wave and has had so much thrown at it, from awful sponsorship on Tidal Wave to the awful Storm Surge. Amity Cove no longer serves a purpose as an area built around one ride and a great theme. What you mention about three different thrill level rides is exactly what a family area is supposed to be. Any park worth its salt knows that segregating rides into its different thrill sections doesn't work. Think Samurai next to Dragon Falls, Whale Adventure next to Wodan, Dinosaur next to Triceratops Spin. I agree that Thorpe's target audience is confused though. The knee jerk reaction of last years poor start makes it look like decisions are just being made on the fly.

Well hey, if its a popular enough franchise to bring back then Thorpe made the right decision to build a Saw themed rollercoaster.

Still won't be visiting. I'll keep my memories intact (and my money come to think of it) until they can be bothered to put some theming around that second drop.

Those are some terrible promo pictures. That Nina lab thing would be more appropriate for the Smiler, not a childrens attraction.