Mark9

I was lucky to experience a valley on Mandrill on Sunday, we just came to a stop at the boost launch area before the helix. I found it quite exciting as we would have to experience the rides swing launch to get it going again. I really enjoyed it as well. Mandrills launches are quite punchy as it is so going back and forth through the section was pretty satisfying. I am actually quite a big fan of Mandrill tbh, I've heard all the arguments about it being the wrong fit and whatever, however every time I go on it, it gives me a lot of joy and the queues for it never seem crazily unreasonable.The team always seem really on it when it comes to batching, loading and dispatching. It also has the B&M quirk of being incredibly reliable, 3.8% downtime for the last 7 days, and beaten only by Nemesis Reborn.

Will we be tracking Hyperias opening time everyday this season or is this just a March/April thing?

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.

Viewers. He lost the bet. To be fair to the old thing, it spent almost as long SBNO at the park as it spent open.

I've learned that to enthusiasts, every ride is rough and has a rattle. I've learned that our passion is one of the only ones with such a limited life span. These huge pieces of metal have a limited existence and when they're gone, that's it. No one else will experience Wild Mouse at Blackpool, a 400 foot hydraulic launch rollercoaster, the world's only duelling B&M inverter and much much more. For a lot of rides all we have is faded memories, hazy POV's and photos of ourselves in our younger days. I wish I'd taken more photos of some of the rides I've done because that's all I have left. It's kind of sad when you think about it. I've become almost obsessed with the demolition of Green Lantern and Kingda Ka.

I'm looking forward to the Family Gerstlauer the most.

Does this confirm an RMC or should I wait for the great nonsense talker to emerge with some obscure clue and babble.

Sounds good to me. It felt like postman Pat had really dropped off over the last few years. Not particularly bothered by this either way but I'm sure the target audience will love it.

Seems like the disdain to this project was pretty Universal by the end.

How was your 2024? Park count Alton Towers X6 Chessington X1 Thorpe Park X4 Animal Kingdom X1 Hollywood Studios X1 Magic Kingdom X2 Disneyland Parc X3 Studio Parc X1 Linanmaki X1 Europa Park X3 Efteling X3 Emerald Park X1 Six Flags over Georgia X1 Carowinds X2 Fun Spot Atlanta X1 Dollywood X2 Holiday World X1 Kentucky Kingdom X1 Kings Island X2 Cedar Point X3 Kennywood X1 New rollercoasters of the year Year highlights - First day visits for Nemesis Reborn and Hyperia - Finally visiting Dollywood and trying the cinnamon bread - Hitting 500 and 550 credits - Riding some absolute beasts this year (Voltron, Taiga, Afterburn, The Voyage, Steel Vengeance) 2025 is more of a rest year but with big hitters like Tokyo Disneyland, Fuji Q and Nagashima Spa land, I'm hyped. 😃

If anything it's under-rated, its 3 against 1 in here. 😘