Mark9

It is no longer on the official website. RIP Black Buccaneer. My best memories of it was arguing with every single guest when I operated it because they refused to sit anywhere but the end rows. Hell on earth.

Reviving the best topic on TPM for y'all. 1. Winjas at Phantasialand are actually awful rollercoasters, the complete antithesis to Fury and Tarantula. A good ride for me isn't one chock full of gimmicks, its fantastic pacing. These rides at every turn kill momentum with their tricks and I hate them. Fear would be a standout European coaster for me if it didn't keep stopping. 2. The New Phantom Manor at Disneyland Paris is objectively better than the previous incarnation. Whilst some have bemoaned the unveiling of the actual story, I don't have a problem with this myself. 3. Port Aventura is only popular because its in a sunny climate. It's a dismal theme park and has IMO the worst park guests out there. Silver Star is only fractionally worse then Shambhala but at least German guests know how to wait in line (and Silver Star runs all three trains...) 4. Checking bars at Europa Park is the worst things thats happened this decade, (I jest, Derren Browns ghost train is) 5. Hyper coasters are the best ride types. Better then gigas and stratas.

I'm not sure which one I prefer.

it's most useful at CP I find, when I was at Canadas Wonderland, the top tier only had Leviathan and Behemoth but they had shorter queues then the next tier down rides anyway so it made it a bit of a waste. The only reason it really works at CP is because the higher fastpass is on the lower capacity rides. Even though CP run rides well, Maverick and TTD can't shovel through people like Raptor, Rougarou and Gatekeeper can. Agreed about Port Aventura if only because I genuinely hate Spanish theme parks and I'd rather be the one doing the queuejumping then being incredibly miserable in their standby lines.

Agreed, it is a lightening in a bottle ride and is just utterly theatrical and fantastic from start to finish.

Four months late sorry. I think the CP Fastpass is excellent value personally, particularly the higher tier one. I didn't get it and I kind of wish I had. The silver tier was only on rides that had 5 minute queues anyway so was pretty useless, but being able to unlimited skip Steel Vengeance, Valravn, Maverick and Top thrill dragster would have made the days much easier. It's the one time I would have broken my no pay fastness rule.

My bi-annual report on the worlds best theme park:- Can-Can coaster is a good ride. For those that liked the original which was far more violent, this might disappoint initially. It's definitely now firmly in the family thrill category. It's also a lot busier due it being newer and the trains being one row shorter. VR on this is 'ok', the best part of wearing the headset is getting into the train in a VR world. Thats impressive technology. Once you're in the train though, there's a of waiting around and the VR experience somehow makes the ride seem very short. Madame Frekenreichs curiosity is excellent. A somewhat depressing experience has been turned into sheer joy. The birthday scene at the end is a pure delight. Jom Knopff isn't as good as Circus 99. Whilst the older version was tacky and a bit 80's it at least was visually interesting. Job Knopff, whilst looks better, is actually pretty boring. Most of the ride is just empty tunnels and caves. One scene has a story but thats it. Luckily all the theming for this has been moved onto Gay boat ride and the Vintage cars making them 100% better. Volatarium is excellent, even if completely rips off Soarin'. Amuses me how European audiences barely react to rides whilst Americans woop and cheer. Euro-mir wasn't spinning in the lift hill section. Really odd as it was spinning in all the other areas just not the four minute lift hill. Love, Love, LOVE how they've added steam affects to Alpine Express. Finally saw Blue Fire on a four train operation and they are the slickest, most fantastic operations of any theme park ever. Without fail, a train dispatching every 25 seconds. Silver Star was on three trains, near perfect operations too. Wodan was clearly in a mood as it was stacking a lot and would get stuck in the break run or wouldn't park properly in the station. I have no idea how Scandinavia can open in 3 weeks. It's still very much a building site. It will open on time though because this is Europa Park. Only managed about 30 rides a day though but the park was busier then my previous visits.

As I said a few weeks ago, it's questionable whether Bucaneer will return at all. If it was all fine and dandy it would be constructed and open.

That is most definitely the worst lie to come out of 2016, that's for sure.

I've edited your post for you.

And its open.

I'm like that with bathroom toiletries.

Could depend on when you rode. I seem to remember that you get far longer rides in the morning as the ride hasn't 'warmed' up yet. Of course that could be a decade old information as I haven't had a morning ride on Vortex since 2005 ?

FURY. Also, new ride breaks down creating obligatory anger headline.

Because accommodation makes more money than a theme park ride does. Not only because they can charge £200 a night somehow, but the guests end up spending more on food & drink. I'm still amused by the comments on these things though. I'd aim my.. feedback at Splash Landing hotel still being closed which is just crazy to me.

Nobody is too important to take a little bit of commentary.

Yeah, I remember everybody slagging off the Wicker Man before that opened to.

From what I've heard, Buccaneer could be at the end of its life and may not come back at all. We don't have to make little digs at Merlin at every opportunity, sometimes we can just resist that urge, that feeling that we must criticise something, especially in the *checks notes* Adventure Island thread.

Spoilers. 2020 won't have a big investment.

It sounds like INFERNO has not really had any cleaning attention this year as you're not the first person who has spoken about all the chewing gum.

Pirates in Batavia due to reopen next year. I just...

It's not even a theme park fatigue. You've just grown out of theme parks. Thats the rose tinted glasses. Back when Dragons Fury opened, the period between 2005-2009 was its darkest days. The only new addition being Peeking Heights but we had Bubbleworks trashed, theming ripped off Dragon Falls and minimal investment across the Zoo. Whilst you say a handful of re-themes, we've seen refurbishments of Flying Jumbos and the Berry Bouncers, Runaway Train into Scorpion, Bubbleworks into the vastly superior Gruffalo, Buccaneer refurbished, Dragon Falls refurbished, re-themed and new systems in place this year, Room on the Broom and the Zoo area significantly expanded and improved. Wanyama Village is one of my Chessington guilty pleasures. And finally, I didn't realise this that Chessington has the longest season openings of them all with Winter offerings (Xmas 2018 had Vampire, Seastorm, Gruffalo and Buccaneer available).

Copperhead Strike looks excellent. When Mack get their pacing right, they are unstoppable.

Sick.

Happy 25th to the UK's most well loved and admired rollercoaster. To think on this day in 1994 a coaster that would come to define a generation of fans was opening for the first time. And in all this time, for me at least, nothing built since can match this iconic ride.