Mark9

pa-dah. Top ten new rollercoasters of 2018. 1. Steel Vengeance 2. Gatekeeper 3. Flug Der Damon 4. Behemoth 5. Karnan 6. Raptor 7. Icon 8. Wicker Man 9. Magnum XL 10. Maverick Top five new parks of 2018 1. Cedar Point 2. Canadas Wonderland 3. Hansa Park 4. Heide Park 5. Six Flags Great America Top five UK rollercoasters 1. Nemesis 2. Icon 3. The Smiler 4. The Wicker Man 5. Nemesis Inferno Top five moments 1. Meeting the former CEO at Disneyland Paris at Disney Fandaze. 2. Being pleasantly in awe of Wicker Man and the achievement of Towers. 3. Icon living well up to expectations in being a fantastic rollercoaster and exactly what Backpool needed. 4. Finally conquering all the B&M's in Europe (Before Fenix and Valykira opened, grr). 5. After so long, getting to Cedar Point and it being a park with too many fantastic rollercoasters.

Florida Disney parks, Disneyland Paris and Europa Park are my only real definite so far. Potentially Efteling, Toverland and Walibi Holland although that depends on wedding financing. In the Uk, only definites are Alton and Blackpool. Right now, Thorpe doesn't deserve my time and I wouldn't mind going back to Chessington.

Nemesis is my favourite rollercoaster so I'll naturally say its the best invert. Rides like Katun, Raptor, Monster, Oz'Iris and the original Batman come very close though. The only bad invert is Montu which is garbage. If you want to talk about disappointing, tell me how you feel during the second half where it just ambles back and forth doing nothing at all. Even Silver Bullet is more interesting. COME AT ME BRO.

Pleasure Beach has to face reality that Blackpool is a dying seaside town, in fact the whole leisure industry of the North has to face up the issues it will continue to face, especially with so much uncertainty surrounding Brexit for example (especially if the estimates of damaged local economies comes true). I think the Pleasure Beach itself is making the right steps, in fact, I'd say its making essential steps to continue its own survival. It can't absorb losses like the Merlin parks and it certainly can't have the wide hours it has done previously. Icon is a funny one because it is clearly loved by most enthusiasts and the visitors on both my trips really enjoyed it. Maybe it will be a bit like the Swarm in which it seems unappreciated and have no effect on visitor numbers but is actually well loved by park guests. And to me, that's far more important then flash in the pan successes with no redeeming features.

I'd personally say the rollercoasters at Efteling have more personality than any other park in Europe. Perfectly tailored to the family audience, full of whimsy and quirkiness. Baron is a painfully average dive machine but everything that surrounds it elevates it to one of my favourite coasters. Yes it doesn't have the big coasters but a lot of big coaster parks are completely soulless, lacking any magic or enthusiasm or anything that resembles pride.

I'll believe that when I see it.

Never a greater post on this forum.

Interestingly enough, Thorpe did a Colossus post the other day and every single comment complained about the head banging. It's an interesting thing that the park will invest in failures like Love Island Nights, I'm a Celeb and VR on Derren Brown, but a proven winner like new Colossus trains will never see the light of day. It shows you that the drive and ambition is completely misplaced within the company as a whole.

Anyone remember the TPM meet where some members rode Tidal Wave in the snow. That was a great day.

People who overlook out-dated social practises just to ride rollercoasters =/

Thorpe Park X1 Alton Towers X3 Blackpool X2 Drayton X1 DLP X12 Gardaland X1 Miribilandia X1 Heide Park X2 Hansa Park X1 Liseberg X2 Cedar Point X2 Six Flags Great America X1 Canadas Wonderland X1

I won't hide my sexuality to ride a few rollercoasters. Being flogged, imprisoned, tortured or murdered just to ride Flying Aces isn't worth it in anybody's book.

Disagreed. They actually harm no one (apart from the people stupid enough to stay in them) and if there is a market for them, then that's what's being tapped into. They're literally on the same level as something like the Tipi village at Europa Park.

Can I jump on the slag off Alton Towers new pods bandwagon too?

Same as everyone else really. Helix, I'd forgotten how incredible that ride was. Blew me away. The sheer force of pacing on the thing is extraordinary and the launches get completely overshadowed by inversion after air time hill after inversion after air time hill after inversion. Its such a tour de force for Mack, just an amazing ride and the second best ride in Europe. Valkyria, I get the feeling I'm suffering from dive machine fatigue as I wasn't as blown away by this as others but it is a good ride and one of the longer dive machines out there. Definitely better then Krake and Oblivion the Black Hole.

This is certainly true. Merlin need to take a long look at Thorpe because right now, its really not in a good place.

You guys are absolutely brutal this year.

I didn't say it was a good idea. I didn't say it was a bad idea. I stated the facts that when you're losing money you find ways to save money.

When your theme park is flopping beyond believe, haemorrhaging money at an alarming rate and seems unable to attract people.. you close the rapids.

Concept of it is fine. Execution of it in a park like Towers is just not going to be good.

Oh I knew. I just feel the UK at its highest point was between 1996 and 1999, around twenty years ago. Imagine it, Megaphobia, Oblivion, X No Way Out (;) ), Rattlesnake, Samurai. ?

Is it?!

Welcome back. ? After a week of travelling miles and miles across states and countries it was time to relax. Two years ago my fiancé and I had taken a cruise around the Med and we were instantly hooked. This time we wanted something a bit different and we chose the Alaskan cruise which sets sail from Vancouver. The ship this time is the second in the chain, the Disney Wonder. This is the sister ship to the Disney Magic and whilst sharing a lot of similarities as some minute differences such as Tiannas restaurant instead of a Tangled restaurant and has a different art styling. Aside from the obvious differences, this one isn't taken in beautiful Mediterranean sunshine. It instead features cold, ice and a lot of rain. Launch day is a very special time on a cruise in general as you start to settle into the ship. You meet your entertainment team, your cabin cleaner, your restaurant team and your dinner friends. We recognised a few crew members from our first cruise. Entertainment Joe Slow is a wonderfully Northern lass from England, her co host from Wales. That gave us lots of moments where they would make jokes that only English people would get. This made the cruise feel very personal. We also learnt they don't have halloumi in America. What the hell?! Day one, sailing away day and our first meal was in Animators Palette, a restaurant where the screens around the room change depending on the course of the meal before ending with Sorcerer Mickey dances around the music to Fantasmic music. We got to meet our dinner pals which were a dutch married couple who were on their honeymoon. When marooned in America, with kids and crazy proud patriots all round you, it's quite nice to have some European sensibilities around you. It was like a nice break from the crazy and we got along very well. They turned out to be theme park enthusiasts to boot and were visiting Disneyland, Magic Mountain, Knotts Berry Farm and Walt Disney World before flying back to Amsterdam. The days at sea are ironically the best days as you get to enjoy all the facilities on board. The views from the ship as we went into Alaska are absolutely spectacular. For all the good that the MEd was, this is something else. GLACIER! We also met Mickey, Donald and Minnie because.. it's a Disney cruise. The stops allowed us to get very close to nature. Whether that be the salmon doing their run up the river (which was absolutely amazing) or wild Black bears a few metres away from us or orcas swimming alongside the ship the link with the wild was something I'll never forget. BEARS! ORCAS! Alaska is a beautiful state and such a contrast to other states I've done. Whether that be glaciers, waterfalls, forests or beautiful towns that look like they've not changed in decades. And when it comes to the last day.. well. It's not like a Disney theme park where even if you don't want to leave, you know you can come back. A Disney cruise is something different. The people you share the ship with whether that be the hosts, the people you eat with or the entertainment hosts, that will never be the same. I found it hard to hold back the tears on day 8 because it really is a special week and the idea of not being on the seas, completely relaxed and free with wonderful people is something hard to let go. This for me is probably the purest Disney experience because you are around or near the ship 24/7. And I wouldn't want it any other way. We've already booked our 2019 cruise around the Bahamas and for anyone that wants to holiday a little bit differently, a Disney Cruise is something I wholeheartedly recommend. Till we meet again

Wish he'd learn how to edit though. I watched his Magic Kingdom vlog last night. Had to endure 5 minutes of him talking about milk, coke, water and hydration and yet he edited the hell out of watching Happily Ever After. I was outraged. It's a beautiful poetry for me personally. I first rode G Force on its opening year, didn't go back until this year which has turned out to be it's last year. I won't miss it.

It's more a case of seeing what you want to see. Our parks build new rides with original IP's (Icon, Smiler, The Swarm in the last six years), Europa Park are building IP rides (Arthur), refurbishing old rides with IP (Jim Knopf) or adding popular characters to VR and meet and greets (Paddington). Besides, the 90's were a near 20 years ago and European parks have just caught up. I agree the UK is strangled through a lack of competition but I think that does a discredit to our parks which have been doing good stuff of late.