Mark9

You guys are mean. If this was a playground you'd all be the school bullies.

Easy solution then, just leave it there like Sub Terra, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Slammer etc. Every park needs an abandoned SBNO attraction.

So things are still worse then the 2017 season but they've shown that it could be worse so now we're all okay with it even though we are still losing hours. Oh and 'flexible closing' has always been there, they just rarely ever act on it.

Australians aren't that bad.

This really is the problem. The more they cut, the less people feel the need to go, the more they feel the need to cut, thus making the cycle more vicious. Four hours for Nemesis and Galatica is the absolute pits though. After the initial Smiler incident I defended their cuts because it was inevitable that there would be a backlash to what happened. Three years later though, these cuts are indefensible and Towers (more specifically Merlin) need to decide their priorities because opening your theme park with four big rollercoasters closed for the first hour is simply unacceptable.

Whats become apparent to me is that increasingly, the small investments always look desperate or knee jerk reactions to something. We can argue about the merits of Derren Brown Ghost Train for ever but at least with that attraction there was a vision, an attempt at something grander then just a flat ride dumped on a bit of dirt. That vision for their big rides never carries over to anything else so what we're left with is dirge like 'I'm a Celeb' or the Tug Boat in Old Town. I don't think anyone can doubt the quality of rides like Swarm, Smiler, Oblivion Black Hole or pretty much anything coaster orientated. It's everything else, the support attractions that leave a lot to be desired. If they could just nail that point that's half the battle. Ironically, I think Chessington nails the small term investment years quite well. Tiger Falls is a much needed adaptation, Gruffalo is one of the best investments since Dragons Fury and whilst I know some hate Scorpion Express, I think that was a desperately required refurbishment.

And a second one opening this year.. who knew that parks had money to literally burn.

Thank god, I thought you were dead. I don't want to see any reviews of cloned rides in these trip reports, only original attractions. If I see even a hint of an SLC or Boomerang, I'll be calling for your account to be suspended. I don't want a repeat of your Japan trip report where you spoke about Diavlo.

Does anyone care. X wasn't a ride crying for a Walking Dead theme and I can see it failing very hard. It comes across as desperate and the fact that no one is talking about it, even in enthusiast circles, really says a lot

I don't find any of that stuff innovating. You seem to be talking about success, I'm thinking about technical innovations. In the noughties (or late 90's whatever), Intamin came up with their new cable lift system, they broke the 400 foot barrier twice, the accelerator coaster was a technical marvel and had parks clamouring for them. I'd count their wing rider design but Baco is a bag of pants. They pretty much came up with impulse system all by themselves and back in the 00's, B&M were definitely left behind. I agree that Intamin are improving but I'd argue not from technical improvements but by building much better solid rides. It's actually my preference but there are now so few parks in Europe certainly, that actually bite the bullet with an Intamin ride that it's really hard to find these new gems. And Mack, don't get me wrong, they are absolute geniuses and Blue Fire, Helix and Alpina Blitz all feature high in my personal favourites. But they aren't that innovative, more an evolution of whats come before. And thats just as fine because they perfect the idea to such a degree that they're rides are so much better. And thats the thing. B&M have never come up with much. Look through their history and they have always been the manufacturer who refines existing ideas. But what they do do is provide a product that works and brings people to a place. The most innovative thing they ever really did was create the inverter and then build Nemesis. Ever since then, their reputation can sell a ride alone and thats a pretty big deal. I think they would build a 4D coaster but after all the problems with X/X2, many parks don't need the headache or can justify the problems that come with it. (Intamin have 16 coasters opening this year, B&M 10, Mack 6)

I don't think Intamin and Mack are innovating as much as is perceived. Take Timekeeper, its a natural progression of Euro-Mir and Blue Fire. We've been known its coming for a while after seeing Blue Fire testing with spinning cars. Intamin, I mean aside from the new ride at Energylandia and a couple of ten looping roller coasters, seem to have completely fallen off the radar. B&M's luxury if you like is their reputation. The fact that we're seeing them built in parks like Efteling, Liseberg and Toverland shows that even the smaller parks are trying their hands at something a bit more bulky, a bit more luxurious.

Can we get some colourful rides in the UK please. (Not that I like this orange particularly but its better then black, grey or white)

These two are the gold standard in unpopular opinions.

Someone remind Merlin that theme parks are supposed to be fun. We've got burning people alive at Alton Towers and Zombie apocalypses mixed with torture porn at Thorpe.

Wasn't Nemesis advertised as a European first whilst Air was definitely advertised as worlds first. This 'worlds first' stuff can only work so many times and when its wheeled out for every. single. attraction then it just looks like overblown bluster. Especially when they get more and more tenuous. I think marketing worked for Thirteen at first, it backfired and now because of its low height restriction, is available to a lot of people as a first step towards the more intense rides. Thats how I see Wicker Man going down, people love wooden coasters which is why its so frustrating that its been so long to get one built.

So there's no denying that some are cred chasers. So here's the cred thread. Talk about any cred aims here and stuff. I'll start by asking, whats your coaster credit that you think no one else will have? Mine are Gebirgsbahn(12) and Grand Canyon Bahn(13) which burnt down at Phantasialand in 2001. I rode them in 2000 on a school trip. (RCDB) Burn baby burn.

They're refurbishing it. (I was just going to leave it there but I'll be nice) We don't really know although if there was to be a change in the rides theme I think we would have known about it by now. They've said the tours will continue when it reopens. There's been rumours that the Vincent Price voice-over would be bought in and I'm assuming the exterior will get a repaint as it was looking a wee bit bare when I last went. A new rumour has emerged that Tower of Terror will no longer be getting the Guardians makeover. Instead, a new story will be developed for the Tower and it will lose all references to the Twilight Zone. It's structural refurbishment will still happen this year.

I bet you're really jealous that I get to do both Peppa Pig lands this year. Admit it Baron.

I really like the Wicker Man promo stuff. It's just a bit unnecessary to declare it a worlds first when it's actually tenuous. Still, I'm pretty excited to get a woodie for the first time in two decades. This should be a pretty solid family rollercoaster too.

It's kind of a disgrace to be honest. Their reasons are utter bollocks (excuse my French) also because this is a park that prides itself in fitting things in. Big One, Icon, Steeplechase all rides that knit and weave between other structures and something that made Pleasure Beach unique. Saying they are making room for future development, yeah I'm not buying it. We're not talking about a run of the mill Vekoma or a kiddy coaster either, we're talking about one of the UK's oldest coasters and its like they couldn't care less.

NOOOO! (If True) then this is very sad news. I loved that ride.

Who know that the Netherlands would be one of the most exciting coaster countries of this decade..

God I hope not. I rode Colossus at Magic Mountain backwards and it wasn't enjoyable at all. That trailer Charlie posted is such generic Merlin, I find the whole thing so tedious now.

It's a good example of how cold hard facts like that don't take into account context. Voyage of the Damned, screened as a Christmas special when viewing was still high, it had Kylie Minogue in it and Doctor Who was still new and riding a wave of popularity. That episode was still not the most watched programme of the day (Eastenders 13.9 million). Eaters of Light, third to last episode of the season, screened in the middle of summer, during a heatwave.

Whilst the viewership has fallen (for a number of reasons), don't just take the absolute best and compare it with the absolute worst. The Christmas special 2017 for example has a final rating of just under 8 million, making it the fifth most watched programme of the day. It beat anything ITV put on all day. I agree with a number of posts above mine but to put it into perspective, Doctor Who throughout its history has seen highs and lows. I haven't enjoyed the tale end of the Moffatt written era and feel like Capaldi was completely wasted with stories where people stand around talking to each other. Ironically, if Capaldi had left with the Cybermen two parter I'd have been far more impressed then having to go through the Christmas special where nothing actually happened. Indeed. Id love for the show to go back to how it was during the Peter Davison era where the Doctor isn't a legend or for all intents and purposes God. I'd love for him to return to being just a man in a box who uses his wit and intelligence to beat enemies, not tell them what he's going to do but never actually do it.