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Mark9

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Everything posted by Mark9

  1. Musical heaven. Pick any track from Tropical Freeze and its just beautiful.
  2. Mark9

    Wicker Man

    Some things we just don't get compared to everyone else. I didn't experience a ride built only for 6-8 year olds and I think people really underestimate how much scares kids can take.
  3. Just try getting the Central line from Tottenham Court Road on a Friday night. The two experiences sound very similar.
  4. The park had a rather frank 'InsiderEars' presentation last night with some interesting things announced. - Ratatouille will be closing for three months for building works. There's subsidence. - The pipe that supplies the smoke at Big Thunder Mountain has a leak and they are working on a solution. The ride is running faster then pre-refurbishment. - The Mark Twain riverboat will be returning to operation in 2020. It's been in dry dock since 2011 - Philarmagic will be opening in Discoveryland theatre in October. - A new Phantom Manor float will be added to the Halloween parade this year. It will feature three different dressed Micky Mouses - Phantom Manor will be returning in the 'Fall' with a slightly retooled storyline. The whole thing is being refurbished top to bottom with new effects. I'm personally really excited for Philarmagic, it's one of the more under-rated attractions in Florida and I never leave a showing without a smile. DLP really is on the up at the moment.
  5. If this was counting down to their announcement of a new rollercoaster I'd be all excited. But its probably counting down to a scare maze announcement and I don't give a toss.
  6. Kind of irrelevant. After the Smiler incident they built giant fences all over the place and after the rapids incident at Drayton last year, the Rapids was closed and that was the time to update their signage board. If they are going to call someone out like this, they have to have all their legalities in check such as the front entrance board or they just look stupid. So a parent could in theory be ejected from the park for photoing their kids on 'In the Night Garden'.
  7. Run from it, hide from it. Ride cutbacks still arrive. ( (The person who tweeted this put a smile on my face)
  8. Thank god they got that second boat ready in time for a rainy weekend.
  9. Mark9

    Legoland

    I'd say its the complete opposite actually.
  10. They don't need a new ride anyway. They have the best and scariest attraction of all time in the Walking Dead. Why try and beat that?
  11. Mark9

    Wicker Man

    Tower of Terror has an even lower height restriction and thats far more ominous then any of Wicker Man.
  12. Mark9

    Wicker Man

    Kids love being scared don't they?
  13. The top 25 rollercoasters in the world (according to Theme Park Review) 1. El Toro - Six Flags Great Adventure 2. Lightning Rod - Dollywood 3. Wildfire - Kolmården 4. Medusa Steel Coaster - Six Flags Mexico 5. Outlaw Run - Silver Dollar City 6. Maverick - Cedar Point 7. Expedition GeForce - Holiday Park 8. Intimidator 305 - Kings Dominion 9. Phoenix - Knoebels Amusement Park and Resort 10. Skyrush - Hersheypark 11. Millennium Force - Cedar Point 12. Helix - Liseberg 13. Fury 325 - Carowinds 14† Mega-Lite/Kawasemi/Fly Over Mediterranean/Piraten 15. Balder - Liseberg 16. Storm Chaser - Kentucky Kingdom 17. Superman the Ride - Six Flags New England 18. Boulder Dash - Lake Compounce 19. New Texas Giant - Six Flags Over Texas 20. Taron - Phantasialand 21. Twisted Colossus - Six Flags Magic Mountain 22. Wicked Cyclone - Six Flags New England 23. iSpeed - Mirabilandia 24. Shambhala - PortAventura Park 25. Iron Rattler - Six Flags Fiesta Texas
  14. I think it generally looks okay to be honest. There's clearly things like the Dragon which should have been left alone (what were they thinking) and it's kind of frustrating that the bits that haven't been cleaned or replaced (like the bamboo hanging off the trough after the final drop) haven't been given attention. But in general it looks perfectly fine and I really like the tiger rock. Mixing the Zoo in more with the rides is the right direction for Chessington.
  15. I know that. I also know there is far more out there that is completely under the radar that deserves attention. Plenty of big name parks in Europe and yet the same three are the only ones talked about.
  16. There's slight hero worship behind Europa Park, Phantasialand and Efteling. Almost to the extent that other places don't get a look in. Which is a shame. Parc Asterix, Miribilandia, Tivoli Gardens just to name three are fantastic theme parks that get completely overlooked for some reason. #CONTROVERSY
  17. I don't know why but the support structure really bothers me.
  18. Mark9

    Wicker Man

    YAS! I have never seen a UK ride receive this much love and excitement for since well, Nemesis. It's an absolute pleasure to ride and it to me is the single most important ride built this century. (hyperbole necessary). I'm so glad it comes across as so middle of the road because when you get off the thing, you're blown away by how good it is and Alton fully deserve the praise. And here's what bugs me. Wicker Man is excellent but it cannot paper the cracks of poor decision making. On a hot day the park should never close at 5. Oblivion only runs two stations on absolute peak days, thats crazy. Wicker Man is clearly having a big effect on the park, more people are visiting and therefore the park should be reacting quicker to this stuff. Galatica is a mess. The quicker the VR goes the better. The sad thing is Saturday was a travesty but I went on Monday and at one point WickerMan only had a 5 minute queue, was running three trains all day and had no breakdowns. Thats the kind of guest experience the park should be delivering every day and a 4/5pm close to me seems no longer warranted or excused.
  19. The way I see it, Icon needs to be a success straight out of the gate or the Pleasure Beach is in real financial trouble. Hasn't it been making almost zero profit for years now? The lack of advertising is worrying too. Towers nailed it with Wicker Man but I haven't heard a peep from the Pleasure Beach so far on Icon. Thats concerning.
  20. Back from the dead ooooh. Popped over to Venice for Gardaland and Mirabilandia over the last few days. Mainly to get the B&M but also to get in a bit of culture. Garda is a great theme park. It does suffer from Merlinism's such as effects being off or odd operations. Raptor and Oblivion ran an empty train nearly all day for some reason and only loaded them towards the end of the day. Raptor remains a great wing rider. It's definitely more unusual compared to the Swarm but has much better near miss effects such as the support on the first inversion or the destroyed platforms over the station. Oblivion the Black Hole is pretty unusual. It's a ride that would be far more effective at night as somehow entering a black hole in pure sunlight is unusual. I like this ride but I don't love it. It's my fourth dive machine and by now, I think they are the most dependable B&M ride type. Always enjoyable, aways know exactly what you are getting. I especially liked the air time in the bunny hop. Real floater air time, felt like I was out of seat for ages. It's odd that the drop is almost hidden away from the footpaths though and I'm not so sure the effects driven queueline works that well. Felt like the Smilers stage four room on acid. So yeah, I liked. (look at the joy) Gardaland itself has a lot going for it. Great dark rides (the Pirate ride is fantastic) and the work they've done on Shaman makes the ride very rideable if you get on with Vekomas. And then Mirabilandia. Katun is fantastic. I always wondered if it would remain so good seven years on but it really does. A properly fast, old school B&M with massive inversions, pops of air time throughout, intensity and speed which all come together to make the second best B&M in Europe. Nemesis still beats it but it's close. iSpeed is excellent truth be told. A forceful and fast blitz coaster that feels relentless without ever suffering from Intamin tropes like roughness and poor reliability. It's pretty lucky for this park they just happen to have two of the best rides in Europe almost by accident. Final big ride is Divertical. This things pretty horrendous and yet somehow it isn't terrible. It's soaking and the rollercoaster itself is mediocre but it is perfect in the Italian sun. Both parks had staggered opening just to note. And so concludes this mini trip report. If you can get to these two parks do it. As well as the nice weather and the great rides, Italians are so relaxed and it makes visiting their parks very enjoyable.
  21. Looks fantastic. August can't roll around fast enough.
  22. I live in a world where planning = hard work. Made out to be laborous and against the very face of what theme parks are about. I'm surprised at the reaction to my initial post frankly. Especially as you all make plans when visiting theme parks. A plan is literally 'I shall go and ride the Smiler and Oblivion first'. Such hard work.
  23. Mark9

    Wicker Man

    Europa is becoming a bit of a lazy comparison these days. It's the best theme park in Europe, possibly the world so is there much point saying Europa do this, Europa do that when Merlin are never going to be at that level. Saying they should aim to be that also isn't ever going to happen. The UK theme park market is stagnating and whilst I love the Wicker Man and I think Icon will be excellent, its a temporary positive and I think 2019 will be back to normal. Ooh go on then. Big Thunder Mountain smoke effect as well as the water splashdown, off. Snow Whites hand which has been broken for at least a year off, half of the last room on It's a Small World not working, water effects in Adventureland off, Cheshire cat's eyes off and no water effects on Alice in Wonderlands maze, R2 D2 stuck looking one way in one room, robot covered in tarp in the next room on Star Tours, no fire on Frontierland entrance sign. This is why Merlin shouldn't do the effects thing too often because they don't have the budgets to maintain them. When someone said the fire on Swarm was still on I was taken aback.
  24. I bet people can't wait to ride this indoor rollercoaster at midnight, it's going to make a big difference.
  25. Mark9

    Wicker Man

    Out of interest does anyone have a picture of the Swarm station and the bit thats been ripped out.
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