Mark9

Went two days ago, vastly different trip to other parks I've been to this year. I'll start with the negatives. - Park reliability. Deary me. Closed all day were Scorpion Express, Seastorm and Jungle Rangers (what was Toadies). Add in that Dragons Fury opened at 12. - Couple that last point with the fact that Wild Asia and Tiger Rock opened at 1pm. Not even 12pm but 1pm. Tiger Rock didn't open at that time either. I'm not that plugged into the matrix anymore so I didn't know that a quarter of the park doesn't open till further into the day. There was no signage to indicate that at the park entrances, only once you get to the areas themselves. - There was some kind of gathering today because there was thousands of Jewish kids on park. - No social distancing whatsoever. By far the worst park for it that I've visited this year. I genuinely find it astounding that after the year its been, the park has such huge reliability issues, that they open 5 of their rides half way into park opening and that based on pre-book numbers (after all you can't get in unless you book so they know numbers) that there was no foresight to have everything open at 10. With Fury having a moment, there was no fallback, with no Scorpion or Seastorm, there was no support rides. I've just come from Europa Park where without fail, rides are either open on time or open earlier. I will hold them to the same standard because the on the door price is only £7 more expensive. And breathe. Positives are:- - The rides are looking the best they have done in years. I genuinely feel happy that all of these 30 year old rides are getting the attention they deserve. Vampire station was lovely with disco organist and the new music mix they're using. Really really nice to see. - I liked the new Tomb Blaster. Even with the cheesy factor of the radio, I think they've done a good job with lighting and a lot to the scenes were very dark with only the lasers from the gun creating lights, particularly in the sphinx room. - Gruffalo is my favourite ride in the park. It's got so much charm and you can tell that it is really looked after with all effects working. - Love the Zoo. Two tortoises were having the slowest time of their lives.. So all in all, a mixed bag

Taken me a week to process my thoughts on my trip. As it was supposed to be my honey moon, we decided to make money no object and just kind of went for it. - Virtual queuing. I guess they must have changed it as both virtual queuing and stand by queues were in use. I can see this being a precursor to some kind of fastrack system becoming permanent as that is essentially what we used it for. The numbers using the system were incredibly low though, the only ride it went quickly for is Wodan. Wodan in particular was the busiest ride on park everyday with 40 minute queues a regular feature. - Blue Fire and its new sponsor are fine. I can see why they altered the queue completely although it seems rather more permanent then a social distancing measure. The new Blue Fire cafe area had its own separate queue although wasn't open at all on our visit. - Snorri Tourren is incredible. How this little dark ride must have had, what a year in development for them to build this charming little ride into a previously vacant area is amazing. The work they've done with Scandanavia is also top notch. - Pirates in Batavia was great. It was the busiest I've ever seen it, fair enough as its the new ride. They've done a great job and if I was fluent in German, I bet all the animatronics and dialogue is top notch too. Over the three days we were there, Koffie Koppies went from being the normal teacup attraction, to its halloween equivalent. - Silver Star. I didn't use to be the biggest fan of Silver Star. I don't know if its because I'm getting older or if Silver Star has fundamentally changed (it does have magnetic breaks now for example) but I'm getting more and more out of it. It has so much air time through-out its course and it caught me by surprise several times. Part of me wants to go and get back on Shambhala. - Social Distancing. Ok the big one. Germans are excellent at social distancing. They are also excellent at wearing masks. This is true across the theme park and on their train networks where no one was wearing face masks incorrectly or deliberately getting close to others. The only thing that felt weird in this pandemic world is that they load full trains on Silver Star, Atlantica Supersplash and Arthur. I felt uneasy at first on Silver Star in particular as there's not much room between the person next to you and yourself. After a few rides I was over it. It's just weird as I've been riding Nemesis half empty for all my visits and yet every train in Europa Park is at maximum capacity. It's one to look out for if you feel uneasy. - I really enjoyed Rulantica and I traditionally dislike water parks. It has a lot to do and variation which is key. Also appreciated the pool side bars. - Stayed at Bell Rock and Kronosar. I love Kronosar and its setting. it's only drawback being so far away from Europa Park. It has that fun theme park hotel feel that I absolutely adore. I would much rather stay at official hotels these days than drive around to random hotel in the middle of nowhere. Over the three days we got on over 100 rides. There are just so many attractions in the place that its hard not to rack up high ride counts, even without really trying.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54350423 All the while, the top managers at Disney returned to full salary a month ago. A lot of long term workers getting the boot. Several entertainers across the Disney World resorts have been made redundant such as the Grand Floridian band who have performed at the hotel for 32 years. The heart of Disney, the people, being thrown to the bin.

I'm already drooling with anticipation over the facebook complaints.

Can't wait for your review.

Agreed on most of your review. Phantasialand has moments of class mixed with areas of complete rubbish. For every Taron there's three rides begging to be destroyed. I can't say the same for Europa Park where every ride has a purpose and is looked after to the highest degree. Yes even snow bench the ride. I value capacity highly and I could rip my hair out waiting for either of the Winja brothers.

How do you alleviate that problem exactly? We don't live in a normal circumstances world right now.

Very interesting insight into your wants and needs here gents.

And it was unprofitable.

I'd say its the only one where the park is large enough and the rides have high enough capacity to deal with the covid measures. Chessington getting mullered right now.

There's a pun in there, screaming to get out.

When I next plan to go to a park, I'll be messaging you to make sure you aren't going on the same day... just to... you know... make sure...

Looking forward to this immensely. I do love a B&M invert. Also hoping for the old restraint system which are perfect for the ride type. The new ones are ride destroyers.

I love this. You should have asked to speak to the Engineering manager.

Easy thread for today. What rides have you been stuck on and what rides have you been evacuated from? For example I was stuck on Inferno's break run for twenty minutes once. So.. *coughs* - Icon. Stuck on the break run in the pouring rain for ten minutes. Got given a poncho. Nice. - Detonator. Stuck at the top for fifteen minutes. Had to be winched slowly down. We ate cookies that I had in my pocket. Got comped a free ticket to come back. Cheers Thorpe. - Dragon Falls. Boat stopped at the bottom of lift one. Got an exit pass. - Stealth. Kind of launched but then slowed immediately and stopped on the launch track. Eventually made it back to the station and got let off. - Indiana Jones Adventure. Got about half way through the ride when the house lights came on, walk ways sprung up and slowly got evacuated through the ending of the ride. Makes you realise how steep everything is and how most affects are just black light paintings. Got given a free Fastpass for re-entry. -Peter Pans Flight at DLP - Got to the final scene when all the lights came on. Cast Member in a hat came round declaring we'd lost our pixie dust. No gifts. - Dragons Fury - Numerous block shutdowns. Makes sense when I worked on the thing I suppose. - Autopia at Disneyland California. A car stopped in a bad place so we had to walk the track to get out.

In 2005, I was fortunate enough to attend an ECC meet up which featured a meal and talk with the Bryant family that owned Drayton and back then, their hopes were high. Hotels, big coaster investments the works. The years have't been kind to the park truth be told and I think when G Force closed, the early warning signs were there. It's somewhat of a shame that its come to this. Their heavy investment at the turn of the millennium with Apocalypse, Maelstrom, Stormforce 10 and G Force showed a park with intent but it never recovered from the Smiler's crash effect on the industry or the death on Splash Canyon. Whilst it will never get that level of investment again, at least jobs have been saved and the park can continue to function.

I really enjoyed the twitter enthusiasts trying to make it a meme yesterday and failing miserably.

I think it takes massive guts to name a rollercoaster 'the Smiler', brand it the way they did and even after a horrific first year and an awful crash that sent Merlin into free-fall, still come out of it as one of the strongest visual images the company has ever had.

So here's the Thorpe problem in a nutshell. Their investment in the 2000's was big. it was exciting, it was dynamic, it was a dream to be a Uk theme park fan with rides left right and centre. But the Thorpe problem comes down to a lack of space and a lack of diversity. They've got themselves into a rut when The Swarm kind of failed. Their target audience demands the newest, most exciting attractions. Who cares about Colossus and its measly ten inversions when The Smiler has fourteen.So then when they fail to grow, they start to downsize. The problems start to increase. The lack of investment means a lack of return which just spirals until we get to now. Thorpe doesn't have the advantages of the family market. Chessington went through a similar slump when it left the thrill market altogether and turned to family. The difference there though is that the family market spends money. Kids demand toys and treats. Ap family holders are all too happy to grab a nice meal and a pint with their family. They like staying in an over-priced hotel. Kerching. Thorpe's target audience doesn't. Thorpe AP holders are happy to only spend a pound in the park all day. It starts to cost too much money to remove the SBNO attractions. Just build a wall. Who do you target at now when the bulk of your attractions are thrill heavy. Really there is absolutely no reason why the park couldn't build a family rollercoaster or some entry level flat rides (give me a breakdance you cowards). But they won't because all they want are headlines and aren't interested in sustaining the park beyond the end of the financial year. So we get short term rubbish like I'm a Celeb or Black Mirror instead of attractions that stand the test of time. I'm amazed that Chessington actually replaced Black Bucaneer and are replacing Rameses with a generic drop tower AND redid Tomb Blaster AND built a Rainforest area, refurbishing Toadies and building a Log Flume at the same time. This stuff never happens at Merlin, it will certainly never happen at Thorpe because the idea of cookie-cutter attractions would never fly. So instead the current attractions just age away and nothing gets built or done. If you were to ask me what Thorpe should do, I'd go with refurbish attractions, build rides that attract a wider audience and beef up that awful entrance with a new look and better security stations. Inferno shouldn't be turning green, family rollercoasters are awesome additions and a stabbing should never be able to happen again. There is absolutely no point in building an RMC or B&M Hyper if the rest of the park looks like a rubbish dump. Putting a bow on trash is still trash. And that for me is the Thorpe problem.

The problem with agendas is thats its very easy to see through them. No it isn't the parks fault that someone got attacked. Your equivalency with a terrorist attack is ridiculous or are you saying it's the airlines fault for 9/11 and the plane hijacking. That last sentence by the way, all park queue times across the board are up. I never used to queue more then 10 minutes for Nemesis (alton towers for all those that call Inferno the wrong name) and now queues sit at half an hour at minimum. Thats what happens when you social distance and clean the seats and restraints every half an hour. Thats something the park is doing for guest safety so to sit there and say the park doesn't care about care and experience is so wildly of the mark its in Brazil.

Nemesis made me feel alive after months and months of constant depressing news. It is unlike any other ride for me. It's the small things. I love how the top of the lift hill is at ground level which is just pure uniqueness, I love how its first drop is so gradual and then it just throws you into the tour de force of element and element, getting faster and faster until the vertical loop. I love the terrain, the way you explore every element of the ride and are up close and personal with the trains. I love how this is a B&M that they will never even attempt to build anything like again because of the difficulties with the ride and it's shifting environment. I love its unique theme, how the station is the monster itself or how its just a capacity machine with a queue that never stops moving. I love how 26 years later it is considered to be one of the very best rides B&M have ever built and one of the best rollercoasters ever made. I love how it can be endlessly compared to its younger brother at Thorpe and how we have two rides with the same elements in a completely different order. I love how it only came about because of two cancelled projects and the launch of Batman: The Ride in Great America, without all these things coming together, we may have never got Nemesis and Alton Towers would be a vastly different place. When I think of perfect rides, only Nemesis can ever fit the target. For me its what rides are supposed to represent and be all about, the passion, the drama, the soul of creativity. Long live the queen, the Jurassic Park of 1994.

Are you trying to get more members to leave or something?

No they're on. It's also the ride most affected by social distancing with the lowest capacity and longest queues on park. Definitely recommended to get it done early. Sometimes a maximum of six people were being loaded onto each train from the main queue.

Two seasons on and I think Wicker Man has embedded itself as one of Alton's best coasters. At first it may have been the novelty of a wooden coaster at the park but now, it's up there with Nemesis and The Smiler for me. it was running very well at the weekend.