Mark9

Kids love being scared don't they?

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

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.

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.

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

I don't know why but the support structure really bothers me.

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.

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.

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.

Looks fantastic. August can't roll around fast enough.

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.

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.

I bet people can't wait to ride this indoor rollercoaster at midnight, it's going to make a big difference.

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

All those rides and you managed to get to Towers for Nemesis! Impressive. Thorpe does seem a little bit quieter then usual this year, whilst Towers has been pretty rammed the last two weeks. Maybe its the effect of having no 'new' rides this year or maybe Thorpes operations are better at the moment.

They don't care what the ride used to be. Merlin don't care if we just moan about it etc or if it used to be a fantastic futuristic dark ride with a robot entering a TV set or an explorer trying to steal an ancient jewel or a quest to defeat an ancient curse. It never had a soul, it never had a legacy. It went from unpopular 80's kitsch to unpopular (but beloved by some) Egypt narrative to a relatively popular shoot em up. I think its wrong (if its true) that they are letting Tomb Blaster fall to ruin to prove a point but to be honest I don't think there is a master plan at work. I think there is quite literally no money for Tomb so they are keeping a dying ride running at zero cost as a dying ride is better then no ride at all. It's not how theme parks should be run but then if people were that incensed by this they'd stop visiting.

Lets face it, if you hate the first inversion on the Smiler, you've not much choice in the other 13 inversions, you'd have to do them if you're already on the ride. Nemesis is intense but its one of the greatest highs you can have in the UK, the adrenaline rush it gives you is almost addictive. It is more intense then Fury and Wicker Man which are more family orientated but don't let that dissuade you. Nemesis is sublime and you will love it once you conquer it.

No one wonders. Every review on this ride has mentioned how the effects will be off/broken soon.

I get your point. You don't have to actually plan each day in minute detail though, I'm saying, actually take a logical way through the park. I still maintain its absurd people are only managing two rides though. They are just to using their time well IMO.

Don't ever go to a Disney park my friend. Going to any Disney World park involves planning where you are going to eat 6 months in advance, what fast passes you want to book 3 months in advance which means knowing what parks you are going to be doing 6 months before you get to them. Besides, the people who don't go a particular way around a theme park, like the ones you describe, aren't exactly having fun with their 2 rides are they. A little planning goes a long way.

-> Don't queue for the monorail, walk to the entrance. Save 20 minutes -> Buy tickets online, print ticket out at home. Save 30 minutes -> Don't head to the new ride straight away. Instead hit Oblivion, The Smiler, Rita, Thirteen. Save 3 hours and ten minutes ->Head to Wicker Man later on when the queue is likely to be lower. You haven't then only got on two rides, you've managed to hit at least four of the major rollercoasters, probably got on Nemesis just as it opens, saving a 35 minute queue and have probably managed to get in Duel, Rapids and the Mine Train because you didn't just head to the new thing, remembered its still going to be there 6 hours later after you've entered the park and woah and betide, managed to get on more then two rides, haven't had to go on Twitter to moan at the Towers team and had a much better day because you haven't been following the crowds all day. Time saved, 4 hours and 35 minutes. This is how Mega-Lite should have gone around the theme park that day.

I don't know why but I find the people who moan on twitter at Towers really funny. Some of them I understand, but the ones that only get on two rides in 6/7 hours really crack me up. Literally, what were you doing with your day.

I've got a kitchen sink handy if they need that too.

The Terror Tomb music. I haven't heard it for 18 years and yet hearing it on that video, takes me right back. From the old Rameses Revenge design, to Action Man, to riding the Skyway. That was the Chessington I fell in love with.

And yet I started my post with a compliment.