Mark9

It's not really, a lot of its really important, significant rides are Grade 1 listed so will never leave. Wild Mouse was obviously a shame, it's never coming back though and I don't see much point holding onto that and saying it time and time again. Considering how much effort they've gone to with Icon to have it weave its way through rides like Steeplechase says to me they intend to keep them for the long term.

ICON ICON ICON. I Love that we're finally getting a proper Mack ride.

Double post but meh. Rock N Rollercoaster is to be re-imagined to the Avengers. Which seems to confirm that Tower is definitely safe from Marvel control for now. Good riddance really, Paris R'N'R is a better ride experience but a pretty lousy theme.

Figment ****ing rocks.

Has anyone ever told you that you swear a lot?

The target audience with the least disposable income. Nice work.

When did Holland suddenly become the theme park capital of Europe?

The Good Place is one of my favourite shows for years. It's sold as a comedy but I'm all over it for its original concept an creativity. I love it.

Couldn't give a toss. And I mean that in the politest possible way.

Everyones decided it's rubbish so stop with your fake opinions and optimism.

It's just beautiful. I love this era of rollercoasters where layout is everything.

Amanda Thompson (OBE) just tweeted this. I know it's only a turn around but I love the look of this ride. My only criticism is it's pretty boring colours. Everything else is just amazing.

I think it looks sublime. Nemesis is absolutely pivotal at Towers and for it to get the love it deserved makes me very grateful that its finally been completed. I could nit-pick but I'm not going to as there's too much misery in this world as it is. Can't wait to see it in person.

Canada Wonderland is getting a Dive Machine next year. Also Colossos is re-opening in 2019 and Miribilandia is opening a Ducati themed area too. It happened throughout last year as well with rides opening weeks after visiting such as Pegase Express at Asterix, Star Trek at Movie Park Germany, Symbolica at Efteling and Volatrium at Europa Park. MUST. PLAN. TRIPS. BETTER.

When you plan a trip somewhere and then the park announces a big ride for the next year. GRR

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)