Mark9

2013 has not been the grandest years for theme parks in the country, more like a cheap table wine that you pick up for cheap at Tescos. From obvious budget cuts and rides standing but not operating for an entire year at Chessington too The Smiler trying to throw everything and the kitchen sink at passers by, it is clear that the Uk industry has stagnated somewhat in 2013. And yet, shockingly and surprisingly, despite not adding anything substantial, Thorpe Park has come out as the clear winner by a long shot. From much better reliability park wide, to improvement in effects up-keep and new events, the park has clearly embraced social media and openly interacts with guests more frequently. This all in turn with a slight shift in target audience, Thorpe has the potential to be the park of 2014 as well if it can keep the ball rolling with ideas that are fresh and innovative. So where did this begin? Ah, I know, March time. I had booked a whole week off of work so that I could visit Thorpe for its opening weekend, take a look at how The Smiler construction was going and have a go on Zufari whilst enjoying old family favourites such as Runaway Train, Dragon Falls and Vampire. It wasn't to be. A refurbishment list made itself apparent, a lot of these rides were not to be open due to the park not able to maintain rides for a quarter of a century and Zufari was postponed by a week. No matter. As temperatures continued to drop, three successive trips to Thorpe occurred, one for the Swarm media photo day with Thorpe Park Mania, one before a meet weekend and another on what was to be the coldest trip of the season. On all three days, somehow, Slammer worked continuously, we even had a ride in the snow which is pretty surreal, I'm sure not many could say they've done that. Despite the freezing temperatures, the only rides closed all day were Colossus and Saw. A Trip to Chessington could have given you a ride on Bubbleworks and Tomb Blaster if you were really lucky. Alton also impressed during March, the emptiest I had ever seen it. Surprising sights such as only two people on Air at 4 in the afternoon is very different to the usual sights. May New Coasters - 142. Wodan - Europa Park With the sun out, birds singing and all but one ride open at Chessington (for now), it was back with my theme park shoes and off on holiday. Instead of staying with the UK, it was back off the Europe for my favourite theme park so far. Europa Park is an utter joy to be had. Even though we spent three and a half days there it just isn't enough to fully embrace the joy of a theme park that is run professionally and efficiently with show after show, ride after ride and a park that has full pride in everything it provides for its guests. Ride highlights included Blue Fire being as good if not better then I remembered, the wonderful Euro-Mir and the very impressive, relentless Wodan. We stayed in the sublime Bell Rock resort and scored Eurovision one night, toured the hotel the other and had a delicious cocktail on our final night. Thursday night it was back off to England for a days rest and then onto the next trip, Denmark. New Coasters:- Dæmonen - Tivoli Gardens Odin Express - Tivoli Gardens The Caravan - Tivoli Gardens Rustcherbanan - Tivoli Gardens Vandorm - Bon Bon Land Vild Svinet - Bon Bon Land Hunderprutterutchebane - Bon Bon Land Tornado - Bakken Rustchebanan - Bakken Mine Train Ulven - Bakken Racing - Bakken Vilde Maus - Bakken Mairehønen - Bakken Piraten - Djurs Sommerland Skatteøen - Djurs Sommerland Karlo’s Taxi - Djurs Sommerland Thors Hammer - Djurs Sommerland Juvelen - Djurs Sommerland Jungle X-Plorer - Legoland Billund X-Treme Racers - Legoland Billund Dragen - Legoland Billund Timber Ride - Legoland Billund Lynet - Farup Sommerland Mine Expressen - Farup Sommerland Flagermusen - Farup Sommerland Pindsvinet - Farup Sommlernad Falken - Farup Sommerland On our arrival it was a sweltering 16 degrees (hot for Denmark) but throughout the week, the weather would fly up and down. It is a very odd climate indeed. We spent the first night celebrating Denmark's win of Eurovision and throughout the week we would hear that music blasting out of car windows. We even got to see the winning act perform live at Tivoli. The major highlights off the trip were the first Rustcherbanan at Tivoli Gardens, which is a truly wonderful attraction and deserves to be appreciated for its sheer beauty and smoothness, Piraten and Juvelen at Djurs Sommerland which were equal in the fun and thrill stakes, Polar XPlorer at Legoland Billund was a very fun ride, as was Lynet at Farup Sommerland. With the good comes the bad and Bakken was truly atrocious with the diabolical Tornado symbolising everything I think wrong with the modern day Intamin company. Not enough refining, too much trying to please a park on a sub-standard product. The Rustcherbanan at Bakken had also been seriously ruined by KumbaK with magnetic breaks destroying any element of momentum that the ride tries to build. I left Denmark feeling very sad, it is a wonderful country, if not for its coasters then for its feeling of freedom, liberty and forward thinking Danes. June New Coasters - 170: The Smiler - Alton Towers And after what felt like a life time of waiting, The Smiler finally got itself going and very swiftly, a trip was planned with my non coaster friend. The Smiler is a great ride. Ok, so it can't upstage Nemesis or Oblivion but I still maintain it is a great ride with a bit of a kick in it especially towards the end. You could say I've been lucky, every time I've visited, it has been open and whilst seeing break downs galore whenever I enter the queue, I've always been fortunate enough to ride. Even with it throwing bits off quite frequently. For my 25th birthday, it was off to Thorpe where I got my last ride on Slammer before its annual four month closure. It was a beautifully sunny day with minimal queues. And still it wasn't my best trip to Thorpe this season.. but that is coming. Shortly after my birthday, spent a weekend at Towers for some Smiler loving. The end of the month saw the Inferno ERT even for TPM members where we got to walk through some of the ride area and some lucky pups got to have a little walk up the lift hill. July This was a relatively quiet month with a solitary trip to Alton Towers where yet again a substantial ride count was halted by the troublesome Smiler eating up so much of the day. August Now this was the trip of the season. Thorpe hosting its summer late night events. I know some got rained on and the organisation is not as strong as it could be. But during my trip I can safely say I had the best Thorpe I've had for some time. The park was busy enough during the day but with the later hours, I got a chance to properly relax and appreciate my time there. With the joyous hot weather as well, it didn't feel like a theme park in the UK with rubbish weather and even worse opening hours. It felt like I was in sunny Florida or Italy with some great friends from TPM. I came away pretty blown away by how great the trip was, testament to how much Thorpe has grown and increased in confidence during the season. September New Coasters - Space Mountain: Mission 2 - Disneyland Parc Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - Disneyland Parc Indianna Jone et le Temple du Perile - Dienyland Parc Casey Jr - Disneyland Paris Crushs Coaster - Disneyland Paris Rock ‘N’ Rollercoaster - Disneyland Paris RC Racer - Disneyland Paris Tami Tami - PortAventura And so with the weather starting to deteriorate it was off to Disneyland Paris, a place I have never been before. I did enjoy it and found it far more relaxing and stress free then the pressure kitchen that is Disney World. It helped that the parks were very quiet with 5 minute queues on Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain and Tower of Terror being seen throughout the visit. Dreams was a real highlight, seriously great entertainment and needs to be seen by as many as possible. The final trip, two weeks later was PortAventura which unbeknown to me was the start of its Halloween events. Now, I really don't like Halloween events. I know they are extremely popular but I don't find them scary in the slightest despite the actors best efforts. For me, the important thing for the trip was to get my ride on Tami Tami and to fully enjoy Shambhala and Dragon Khan. Which I certainly did, getting more then my fill on both these coasters. Baco, lived up to its awful reputation, set last year but maintained fully in 2013. Is it worse then Tornado? They are both awful and nasty. My year was finished off with a Fright Night finish at Thorpe. I don't do mazes but with it being quiet during night, it was nice to get a few night rides on Inferno, Stealth and front row Colossus. ​And with that the year off theme parks is over. 2013 was not a great year for the UK admittedly. So much potential completely left untapped with Smiler not being as reliable as required and Chessington letting down every single guest that walked through its doors with its sheer incompetence. I used to be a major Chessington fan but frankly its no longer worth the effort. Full of low capacity rides that are either falling apart, closed or so low on staff that it takes five minutes to load a boat. Hence my lack of visit in 2013. Here's to a full on 2014 for everyone and thanks for reading (if you did).

15,243 people exactly Queue times for the top five rides are as follows. Stealth - Minumum queue time - 5 minutes. Maximum queue time = 83 minutes and 25 seconds The Swarm - Minimum queue time - 5 minutes. Maximum queue time = 120 minutes and 41 seconds Nemesis Inferno - Minimum queue time - 5 Minutes. Maximum queue time = 100 minutes and 29.4 seconds Colossus - Minimum queue time - 5 minutes. Maximum queue time = 72 minutes and 57 seconds Saw The Ride - Minimum queue time - 5 minutes. Maximum queue time = Infinity. Exact enough for you?

Lets be realistic here, the only people who are ever going to cotton on to them being the same design are enthusiasts and people who may have ridden The Swarm. Compared to the brand new ground hugging, unique designed roller coaster, having the same train facade doesn't really bother me that much.

Theme Park gets busy during its most important event of the year during half term week. World, rocked.

No not Brer Rabbit! NOOOO! Loved that ride. :-(

Should just out with a nice cool beer mate (Or an ice cold, glass bottled coke if you are a non-drinker), it's not worth getting upset over someone else's opinion, no matter how silly their opinion may sound.

I don't see roller coasters as exercises in going for the length, height, ride duration or speed. I see them in the sense that for every park adding a roller coaster is progress for that park. If we see things as purely how many headlines they can make or records they can break, we start to lose the importance of what a ride is supposed to be. In other words, roller coaster won't stagnate because we won't go higher or faster. Instead they will develop as thematic experiences. The differences can be small such as the blink and you miss it Stealth against the attempt at thematics and narratives of Swarm. I reckon story telling will be the route theme parks try to go down.. well in Europe at least.

London is always rammed. It being the capital city of a busy country.

You could live in Argentina where trains crash into stations or Spain where trains speed around corners at dangerously high speeds. Unfortunately we have an antiquated railway system, not designed for the amount of people or growth that live in the South of England. South West trains seem to run as many trains as physically possible but one problem, and the whole part of the network is thrown into chaos. Just a minute delay for a train at one station, causes delays all up the line.

I'm sure I'll make an appearance at this one.

Because security have nothing better to do then get smokers out of queue lines..

That can hinder the entire attraction though. The amount of time wasted in trying to remove a queue jumper or smoker can bring an entire ride to a stand still especially if they refuse to leave the queue right up to the point they are at the ride platform and trying to get on the ride. Make announcements fine, but what then after that. Continue saying announcements? I was a big believer in justice for everyone at say Fury but if a queue jumper was at the front of the queue, next to get on, I refuse him access and he won't go then everyone in the entire queue suffers because inevitably security won't be there right away when you make the phone/radio call*. Is it worth holding up an entire ride, an entire queue line because someone is smoking. It's a dirty habit (or so I hear) but I don't think punishing hundreds of people because a smoker is smoking is worth the effort. *Although pointing this out, there were many times when Fury did come to a stand still for precisely that reason.

I've never been a fan of Atlantica Supersplash. I can see why others like it but for me it is just so bland and featureless, especially when Poseidon does the whole watercoaster thing much more effectively. Silver Star was running very well when I went in May so I am glad to see it didn't disappoint. =)

I disagree with the extremeness of some of the arguments, but I understand where they are coming from. Saying things like mazes themed around HIV and Slavery dilutes their argument though. Thorpe can just either continue arguing with people that don't listen to the other side of the fence, they could just change the name and stop the issue now or they can help with publicity. All in all, that makes all three ex-Tussauds parks having some kind of boycott this year. I love boycotts, you can really tell the difference in gate figures after a boycott.

That happens every closed season anyway.

When we are saying extensive, what exactly do we mean?

such wit what homour much funny

That says more about UK rides then it does about Saw.

Pocahontas wasn't a box office hit, Avatar was. Pocahontas doesn't have two sequels coming soon, Avatar does. Pocahontas was fifteen years ago and would have made sense when Animal Kingdom opened. Avatarland is much more current. Pocahontas has never really had the success that The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast or Snow White did. I would have loved a Pocahontas land themed area, I imagine a Log Flume ride themed around "Just around the Riverbend" for example. But realistically Disney are just as much a profit making company as any other. Avatarland does have potential to be a great thematic experience but people are getting a bit bogged down on the film being a bit cack. So was Cars so film quality doesn't necessarily dictate area/ride quality.

I've been going Chessington for years, they aren't good enough anymore so I have chosen not to go this year. I normally make at least five visits there a season but the quality and experience has rapidly deteriorated over the last four seasons.

IP's can be used effectively though, you can see that at Drayton with Thomasland which is far better and immersive then Cloud Cuckoo Land. It's how you use the IP and Merlin haven't always done the best jobs with them.

Kumba

When I was a teen, I used to ride things like Vortex, Zodiac, Depth Charge and Tidal Wave all the time but as I've grown up I ride them less and less because they've either been trashed by the park or they aren't as fun as they once were. I never thought I'd say that about an entire park as I generally love visiting Theme Parks and I've always had the rose tinted glasses on when it comes to Chessington. The hell with them. They are an utter shambles and represent poor value and poor care for their customers. Whats the point of visiting a park that has the capabilities of running Seastorm, Bubbleworks and Safari Skyway but don't because of apparent refurbishment. The last time they took a spanner to Bubbleworks they trashed it and made it an abomination. It's laughable that they are using Runaway and Falls as reasons not to open these rides. Developed?! What does that even bloody mean.

Coaster Top ten for 2013. 1. Expedition Everest. Round of Applause. Yay! 2. Superman la/ Attaccion de Acero. I'm starting to wonder if anything can ever take this down as my favourite B&M. After six years it still remains strong in my memories. 3. Katun. Awesome ride. People need to ride this. 4. Nemesis. Another awesome B&M. Starting to develop a bit of rattle after 20 years of solid operation. 5. Oz'Iris. Three B&M Inverters on the trot you say? Why Not. I love the narrative of the ride and the uniqueness of the layout. 6. Blue Fire: Megacoaster. I had a huge fear that after four years it would be rough or jerky. None of the above. It remains silky smooth, enjoyable and features my favourite inversion of any ride I've been on so far. 7. New for 2013, Juvelen. Someone once said that a family coaster shouldn't feature in anyones top ten. Rubbish, complete rubbish. When a ride is this good and that enjoyable, why shouldn't it be up there with inverters and rides over 100 foot. I adore Juvelen. 8. Kumba. Pure B&M old school goodness. It has a bit of shake to it but that adds to its character far more then it detracts. 9. Shambhala. Rising this year, this is a very reridable attraction and full of airtime and joy. 10. Manta. I know people don't like pretzel loops for being too intense, but for me they are out of this world. The rest of the layout takes on an Air floaty approach which works well with the start of the ride. Dropping out of the top ten is Black Mamba. Bottom Five of any rides. 1. Tornado. Just awful. I don't think this deserves to exist anymore although I am aware there are people out there into pain and torture. 2. Furius Baco. Yuck. 3. Sequoia Adventure. Compared to the Intamin dreck above it, this seems like a great coaster in comparison. 4. Shamu Express. Beyond insulting. Rubbish too. 5. Primevil Whirl. Doesn't deserve its place at a Disney theme park.