Mark9
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Posts posted by Mark9
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12 hours ago, Inferno said:
Oh interesting. I guess it would make sense for any spares to be used rather than scrapped since they aren’t making parts anymore
All this has got my thinking - could Stealth’s days be numbered? These hydraulic launch coasters are dropping like flies
It actually feels like there's more closures than there actually are. A lot of them are closed and relocated because their respective parks have closed for example.
Desert Race - Operational no issues
Formula Rossa - Remains closed, rumoured that its launch system is damaged. Has been down since February and the park have been very coy about what's actually going on
Furius Baco - Operational, no issues (beyond being an atrocious rollercoaster)
Kanonen - Relocated to the USA as Matugani
Kingda Ka - Rust in Pieces
Rita - Operational, no issues
Senzafito - Closed down due to the park closing completely. Now in Canada and converted to LSM launch.
Skycar - Operational no issues
Speed Monster - Operational, no issues
Stealth - Operational, no issues
Storm Runner - Operational, no issues
Superman The Escape - Operational, no issues
Top Thrill Dragster - I mean.. I'm not delivering lectures on this.
Xcelerator - It's currently operational. It spent over a year closed and under refurbishment and opened at the end of last year.
Zaturn - Park it was located at in Japan closed down, and the ride now sits in pieces in Russia.
I wouldn't worry about Stealth or Rita to be honest. As some of the later models, the technology is slightly perfected from the originals and I would say the reliability of both rides is far better than their American counterparts.
- owenstreet7, JoshC. and Inferno
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Out of nowhere (unless you follow the various American vloggers), Kingda Ka and Green Lantern closed permanently on the 11th and have both been retired.
To be honest with you I'm really unhappy about the lack of send off, particularly for Ka. This wasn't just another ride, it was the worlds tallest rollercoaster for 20 years and for many, was the last coaster of the 'coaster wars'. There are many, many reasons as to why Kingda Ka's life seemed limited after looking at what happened to Top Thrill Dragster, but nonetheless, it seems incredibly short sighted to me, to not give the ride the goodbye it deserved.
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I'd fill the beach with more flat rides, maybe a coaster or two.
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I think I'm done for the year to be honest.
First off the new rides of 2024 list. This won't include Nemesis Reborn cos.. well it isn't all new. Coaster enthusiasm is complicated.
1. Voltron. An incredible ride, fully kicks your arse, full of ejector time and a sheer masterclass of ride design.
2. Taiga. A true bucket list ride and it delivered on every level. By far my favourite Intamin, this is just absolute excellence.
3. Fury 325. I really enjoyed Fury 325. I see why people call it their favourite B&M because it is an excellent ride. So so fast.
4. Afterburn. A very under-rated inverter. It's a very European style B&M with no MCBR and very intense.
5. Thunderhead. I loved this ride so much. It was honestly such a surprise to me because it's full of air-time, long and twisty and so re-ridable. I could have ridden all day
6. Hyperia. This probably wouldn't be so high if it wasn't for it being in the UK to be honest. It really lacks that final something that the very best rollercoasters have. I find it more and more frustrating the more I ride.
7. Copperhead Strike. I was a little surprised at how much I enjoyed Copperhead to be honest. It has some bizarre pacing but it is a lot of fun.
8. Aerieforce One. The joy of this ride is that it's very easy to ride. Literally no one visits this park so you can get a quick ten rides in an hour and then be on your way. It's a great RMC and surprisingly high on my list.
9. Goliath (Six Flags over Georgia). Fantasic B&M. Has a lot of ejector air time and a really vicious ending that I LOVED. Its worth a visit to over Georgia for this ride alone.
10. La Fianna Force. I'd heard how great this ride was and.. it is. It's so well paced and jam packed with intensity. The restraints are so freeing and un-restricting. You'll love it like I did.
And finally.. the top ten of 2024.
1. Steel Vengeance (first ridden 2018). Yes.. the top ride for 2023 remains my favourite. We had several rides back in July and it more then lived up to my memory. We had some incredible rides with people we met in the queue for this during our night rides. They were so much fun. American theme parks just sort of.. encourage talking. This happened a lot.
2. Nemesis Reborn. (first ridden in 2024 or 2004 depending on your point of view). Nemesis has slipped to number two for the simple reason that Vengeance is just better. Nemesis Reborn still lives up to the original. I think it's astounding that it's just picked up where the original left off. I don't feel the roughness, I just sit there and enjoy a masterpiece of rollercoaster design. No other Inverter is so loved and respected. I saw this described as a legacy coaster. And it really is.
3. Ride to Happiness. (first ridden in 2022). This felt like Mack really giving it their all. Well it did at the time. This is a spectacular ride which rides differently every single time. I'm looking forward to going back and riding again.
4. Voltron (first ridden in 2024). I think Voltron is outstanding. It's already my top ride from the new for 2024. But it really is incredible and confirms to me that Mack are at the forefront of rollercoaster design. Any park that buys a Mack deserves to be noticed and rides like Voltron are why.
5. Taiga. (first ridden in 2024). Following up from before, I love Taiga. it's my favourite Intamin because it has an outstanding layout that constantly surprises. I love diving up and down the hillside, the ejector air time, the beautiful blue track winding around itself. Linnamaki is so easy to get to so I shall be back..
6. Toutatis (first ridden in 2023). Another excellent Intamin slipping only slightly. I find Toutatis so unbelievably rerideable and so much fun. Pack Asterix run it superbly which really helps. A must do.
7. Fury 325. (First ridden in 2024). What I really appreciated about Fury was the operations. Cedar Fair can be a hit and miss with their operations. Fury was the ride that did operations right with an engaged and efficient ride crew that went out of their way to fill every seat and keep the queue moving.
8. Baron 1898. (First ridden in 2017). This of course isn't the best B&M dive machine ever with its chill heights and short layout. but the theme just sells to me every single time. Their dedication to still doing the train ticket loading is amazing because other parks would have ditched that years ago. It always delivers as well, with the ride being slightlier punchier every time I go.
9. Wildcats Revenge (First ridden in 2023). A fantastic RMC that went surprisingly under the radar when it was being constructed but has sometime how opened to be a full on favourite.
10. Blue Fire (First ridden in 2010). This ride somehow still stands up. Its still smooth, its still run more efficiently then any other rollercoaster I've ever ridden. It's not as impressive to me as it once was but that's purely because Mack are at a whole different level. But without Blue Fire, we wouldn't have Voltron, Copperhead or Ride to Happiness.
See ya in 2025
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It's a wide open trip and if I'm being honest there's so much potential for stress in there. I'm with Benin, I'd sack of Spain completely and keep it to North Western Europe. I'm not too sure on train travel with this but I'd definitely consider Efteling, Plopsaland, Heide Park and Hansa Park instead of traversing down to PortAventura.
Really exciting though, if it's your first visit to Phantasialand and Europa Park, give them more days as they will change your perception of theme parks and you'll want more time at both.
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19 hours ago, JoshC. said:
And of course, if you don't want to do a coaster, you've got few options. Hex, Granny, Blade, Curse, Sub Terra, Rapids or Battle Galleons are the main options. Battle Galleons is more of a warm weather ride. Rapids are shut. Blade, Curse and Sub Terra are located very close together, in a more isolated area of the park. Granny is more a kids ride. Your options getting crossed off very quickly.
This is true. Then you factor in that out of those rides only Blade and Curse of Alton Manor are open all day as Hex, Granny, Sub terra open at 11 and Battle Galleons closes at Dusk.
It really stuck me on Monday how one decision can literally make your entire day. We headed to the Smiler (due to open at 10:30) and at 10:45 it was clear that it wasn't going to open. I've been stung by the Smiler before and we decided to bail. Good move too as it broke down around 1pm and we wouldn't have got our ride, we would have wasted the first three hours completely. We actually headed to Hex, as we got up there, Thirteen went down. Nothing open at all at the back of the park. It was absurd to be honest.
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I was there Monday and to be honest had a good day but the problem is, I went in fully knowing it was going to be a disaster. For thousands of others it's incredibly disappointing. I went three weeks ago and everything ran smoothly with no issues at all. The moment a bit of pressure takes place, that's it, the park struggles. With all the ride removals over the last decade, there is no buffer for when things go wrong and the whole of CBeebies land closing at 5 and no Congo River Rapids, it just compounds the issues.
On 10/28/2024 at 2:27 PM, JoshC. said:The park are really limping through to the end of season. I didn't visit until May, so I can't comment on what it was like at the start of the season, but I do wonder if Nemesis' opening disguised some of shortcomings Towers had anyway this season, and the season has really just taken its toll.
Something not really ever mentioned at the time but, at 10am opening day, Nemesis Reborn was really the only rollercoaster open on time. Everything else aside from Wicker Man was delayed opening.
And there's no easy fix. I think all of the things Benin mentioned plus extra procedures introduced after the Smiler crash just leads to Towers unable to prevent shutdowns and a quick recovery from them.
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I went to Chessington the other day and it was pretty good. I'm just saying this because I had heard the park has been pretty atrocious this year, but actually they were running things well and aside from Fury, everything was open at 10am. There's clearly staffing issues with platform staff having to shout at guests from afar to batch rows on Vampire and Tomb Blaster.. which for me just comes across as unprofessional.
But they were making the best of a bad situation which I can't really blame them for.
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Looks like Alton is crawling to the end of the season with Rita down for the foreseeable and Nemesis ending the year on one train.
Something needs to change, this is the third year in a row where the park is limping along and it's just not good enough. It says a lot when out of your premier parks, Chessington has the best reliability.
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God, I really wish they'd give Zodiac the same treatment they gave Samurai and Vortex. As unreliable as the old Zodiac was, it looked the part and had a gorgeous colour scheme. This version, still in its Drayton Manor look, has always stuck out for me.
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2 hours ago, Inferno said:
For some reason I thought Macks were supposed to be quite reliable? I guess not!
In my head, reliability is the ride is broken, not, the train has failed to complete the circuit. And when Hyperia has been running, it's been an incredibly solid, reliable attraction. It's just when it does go down, it goes down BIG.
Also, I don't really care that the press (
and social media vloggers) won't get their rides, it's the paying guests today and potentially tomorrow that will miss out.Still, at least we didn't get the boringly reliable B&M hyper ey.
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10 hours ago, Inferno said:
It was quite windy yesterday - that mixed with the cold, I suppose could have had an impact?
They kept playing the “we might shut down because of the weather” announcement so it must have been getting close to borderline I assume 🤷♂️
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I got a few throughputs on my trip, some which slightly surprised me (some didn't)
Europa Park
Voltron - 1382 people per hour (ppH) - (Theoretical 1600). Slightly down on its theoretical of 1600 but still a good number. My husband tracked a day before and it was running at 1598 an hour which is pretty much bang on.
Swiss Bobsleigh - 963 pph (Theoretical 1100). Obviously it's not getting this number as a lot of carriages will only have one person in them. Nonetheless, a very good number for a support rollercoaster
Matterhorn Blitz - 784 pph (Theoretical 960). Mightily impressive number for a wild mouse, its run remarkably well and the 20 minute queue board was accurate.
Disneyland Paris
Thunder Mountain - 1840 pph (Theoretical 2424). Not really sure where that theoretical number comes from, 1800 is still a good number. My only problem with Thunder is that every day it has a massive shutdown which takes it out of action for 2 hours minimum. As regular as a 2pm storm in Florida.
Small World - 2723 pph. Amazing number. if you ever see Small World on a 30 minute queue, its a very busy day..
Indian Jones and the temple of peril - 925 pph. Not bad for a support rollercoaster but nowhere near the level required for Disney.. well at least it wasn't back in 1995. Nowadays this would be considered a fantastic number for a disney attraction.
Buzz Lightyear Spin - 2450 pph. Not much to say here, great number.
Phantom Manor - 2050 pph. Number affected by a stoppage for disability guests. However, this is still a great number.
Efteling
Baron 1898 - 692 pph (Theoretical 1000). This was on two trains with a 20 minute queue and to be honest the third train always sits on the breaks waiting so actually this was the best they can do on a 33% capacity drop. It was running very consistently and lets face it, its an amazing ride whatever the wait time.
Python - 583 pph. Not bad considering it was on a one train service. Wait was 30 minutes but the staff were fast and effective.
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Nothing official, just lots of rumours to do with the wheels not being able to take the strain of the speed and launches. Lots of conversations around hairline fractures in the wheel assemblies.
ThunderVolt (which is the other Intamin to Zamperla conversion) is open and running with none of TT2's issues.
Sirens Curse feels like a knee jerk reaction to something more than a required investment. Cedar Point isn't lacking in the beyond vertical drop department or the thrill rollercoaster department. Beyond the hype of another tilt coaster being added, this is a pretty odd investment which I don't really get. But its there park, they can do what they want with it.
- Inferno and Project LC
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I'm surprised that Vekoma don't want to work with Cedar Fair after 2025 to be honest, you'd think their wanted growth in America would stop them building a ride at Cedar Point.
Bit of an odd choice considering Valravn is right there (even if that ride is pretty bland) an is a real crowd pleaser.
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Not nearly ambitious enough. I say this as someone who wears red tinted glasses when it comes to Chessington. I think it's mad to replace Wild Asia. This is a park that cannot afford to run Tiger rock and Rattlesnake on quieter days. So they knock down Wild Asia.
An the rumoured replacement theme fills me with a sort of mehness.
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On 9/10/2024 at 12:47 PM, Cal said:
Think its safe to say the cuts have now reached Thorpe. With Rumba closed for the season, and Detonator, Inferno, Walking Dead, Vortex, Fish, Tidal Wave, Quantum, Depth Charge all showed as late opening today.
Doesn't help that Hyperia is also opening late daily and Ghost train is always a 12pm opening. Thats a lot of the park closed in the morning.
Was bound to happen with some of the cuts we're seeing at the other parks. I'd still take these late openings over reduced opening hours though. Hopefully not a sign of things to come.
I find that we're having this conversation really concerning, particularly for the UK market as a whole. It kind of came and went but the attendance report for parks was released and some key sentences in there are quote below
QuoteElsewhere, European parks performed exceptionally well while parks in the Americas experienced more modest
growth. Generally, parks that invested regularly throughout the pandemic years tended to perform better over time.and
QuoteSome of the smallest growth percentages this year came from the U.K. There are a few reasons for this. Overall tourism to the U.K. remains below pre-pandemic levels, with Brexit providing both actual and perceived barriers to entry. Additionally, the government ended the VAT Retail Export Scheme, which reportedly has deterred 2
million tourists and cost over £10.6 billion in sales. The change has also impacted themuseum, hospitality and entertainment markets.I find this to be our ultimate problem is that whilst the European parks are exceeding expectations, the parks in the UK aren't despite investment. I was at Europa Park and Efteling over the last two weeks. Both parks very busy, every ride open (well apart from one but Efteling isn't a seasonal theme park). Rides open on time, fully staffed. If you think it's an unfair comparison, well it isn't. Its the same time of year, Merlin is the third biggest worldwide operator.
It's going to take some bold action for our parks to return to a place where they are not only highly profitable but successful. And one of the realities of the Merlin parks is the Annual Pass creates so much drag across the parks. I think a significant look needs to take place as we've seen places like Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris and Phantasialand either remove entirely or price accordingly and the respective parks have never been so profitable..
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3 hours ago, Benin said:
Finally been on it.
Area looks crap. Station is a weird attempt at Icon for some reason.
It's a great ride until the trims. All that momentum just thrown in the bin, leaving you wanting the rest of the layout rather than awkward corner.
Best ride on park? Sure.
Best ride ever? Not even close.
Yep. I find myself really frustrated getting off Hyperia now because with just another little bit of track, it would be a top 10 ride. It delivers so much until the stall and then it just gives up.
We live in an age where manufacturers absolutely ace endings and Hyperia just doesn't.
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5 hours ago, JoshC. said:
I'll stick it in this thread. It looks like Rumba, despite closing early, is returning next year:
Shame. It's time is well and truly up and it needs to go.
Six Flags Great Adventure
in International Attractions
Posted
I'm probably more bothered on a personal level because it was closed the entire time I was there and opened like two days later. Yes that's selfish, but it's a spite that I can never get now and the park made sure of that.