Mark9

In the past four years both Nemesis and Oblivion have been repainted. Not bad for a company that doesn't give a damn.. All that picture TLC tells me is that rainbow stairs age quickly.

Thats an easy one, people still visit. How many members of TPM for instance, repeatedly slate the parks and yet still visit every other week.

Great trip reports as always BenC, whenever I read your reports, I always get insprired to go to a park, Darien Lake has never been on my radar but, its certainly of interest now. To the Intamin hyper thing, maybe the spate of incidents back in the noughties created a bad atmosphere around the ride type. Could only be a coincidence though. B&M hypers have never had trouble selling, as you know some parks love them so much they build bigger ones..It is a shame Intamins kind of stopped, whilst I never really felt the love for Ge Force, Piraten is such a joy to ride.

The worst decision Disney have ever made. Selling out a classic attraction for a flash in the pan Marvel film. Massively disappointed. Still angers me, five/six months later.

4/10. Photos would be improved if I could see every shed, the second to last photo with one next to Rip,Ride, Rockit is beautiful.

??

Bugger off with your worlds first crap and just make it the best it could possibly be.

I feel like VR is fine if you aren't forced to use it which really is a big problem for me. I loved it on Alpen Express as an add-on but hate it on Galatica. Haven't done Derren Brown so couldn't comment but from the two I've done, its a novelty and nothing more.

I'm one of those that loves Medusa. I'd heard so much negativity about it that it made me sympathetic to it.

In 2010, Beckhams's charity work with Save the Children earned her a nomination for the Do Something With Style Award, an awards show, produced by VH1. She is a patron of the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Beckham promotes faux/synthetic furs. Her stand against the fur industry generated praise from animal rights organisations, including PETA. Beckham has stated that she is "supportive of its [PETA's] high-profile anti-fur campaigns," and pledged "never to work with fur in any of her own fashion collections". Merry Christmas.

Shed/10.

Everyone being brutally murdered not emotional? Darth Vader mowing down troops relentlessly and effortlessly as desperate rebels scramble through a corridor to get the Death Star plans to Leia? Sightly depressing yes but no emotional scenes? I don't agree.

Don't forget the months and months of Aleppo. Humanity sucks.

No you didn't say it was a top ten ride, the opposite in fact. I get the feeling people are critical of going on with the mindset of thinking of a ride in only the terms of ranking instead of just enjoying the experience for what it is. Again, it shouldn't be understated how marvellous it is to have this ride on our shores. Out of interest, has Alpina Bahn ever been in the UK, funfair fans?

Wasn't a bashing. I'd be more surprised if CJ went in and enjoyed either Dungeons or Shrek. Might have saved 2016 for me.

Colour me unsurprised by this post.

My sentiments exactly; it suffers from the same problems that other huge reputation rides suffer from like Nemesis and Expedition Ge Force. I thought it was marvellous personally, I'm very glad that its finally made the journey over to the UK; I hope beyond hope that it isn't the only time it does so and that its successful enough this year to become a permanent fixture at Wonderland. As for preferring a wild mouse.

It's something about the start of the ride, as if they couldn't work out an interesting way to get it from A to B and went for this weird segment of track. I like the ride though, don't get me wrong.

That would fit in well in the Barbican.

Italy With the exception of Gardaland, Italy is a relative unknown in the rollercoaster world. Despite the country containing two of the best rollercoasters in Europe, its relative distance from the UK and distance between parks always means Italy is a difficult nut to crack. Baring in mind, I last did a theme park road trip there in 2011 and the developments that have occurred in the last five years, there is now, no reason not to visit this fantastic country. We started in Rome, back when Rainbow Magicland was a brand new theme park. Since then Cincecittá World has opened which you can explore in Ben C's Italy blog from 2015 http://forum.maniahub.com/blogs/entry/714-roman-roaming-highlights-from-italy-part-1/ Rainbow Magicland This odd little park is a definite unknown. Despite the big promises and high expectations from when it initially opened, the park has never really set the continent alight. It has the space and some very intriguing attractions but it's never been able to grow beyond that. About an hour from Rome itself, it's one I would visit again thanks to Shock and Huntik. Shock for example is a good ride to demonstrate the almost amateur approach of the park. It begins with very odd meandering before launching you off to the sky with some great aerial movements. It's loud, it's fast, its relatively intense, its photogenic and it leaves its best trick till last. Whilst Shock is the parks signature ride, it's pretty much the only rollercoaster that genuinely impresses. The parks spinner is pretty terrible for example, a ride in a giant shed and suffers from the same problems that Winjas and Spinball suffer from; the turns counteract the spinning momentum meaning the ride never really gets going. Luckily the theming is fantastic so at least when walking past the ride, there is something to admire. The surprise stand out was without a shadow of a doubt Huntik, a next generation shoot em up with fantastic effects. We really enjoyed. I'd recommend a visit here to start a trip off with. Miribilandia I really like Miribilandia. That is off course help by Katun which is undoubtedly my favourite B&M worldwide. The height of the thing, the fantastic intensity and the traditional B&M layout combination really works here and the ride whilst feels controlled (unlike say... enthusiast favourite Nemesis), it rides so well that can be forgiven for anything. I love it. Next up, comes I-Speed a well loved Intamin launch rollercoaster. It's a good ride, solid, well paced and keeps its speed throughout. The only issue is those damn restraints which tend to cut into you on the fast corners. If it was able to get the new restraints, it would definitely fly up the rankings. I have yet to ride Divertical but I've heard 'some' good things. The final real quality ride there is Reset, a dark ride themed to.. well I'll let the pictures do the talking. Worth riding and very separate from the rest of the park. And finally, after driving across Italy, we come to Gardaland, at a time when people did generally seem to like Merlin. With Raptor, Krake and The Swarm all built in quick succession, it's amazing how Merlin haven't quite reached that lofty standard for a while. I really like Raptor, I personally think that despite it not really featuring large drops and big inversions, it has a much more original layout, more well paced then any of the others and I really love its industrial look. Since my visit Oblivion: Black Hole has opened so another reason to visit Italy for you all. In terms of when I when I went, Raptor was only really the major ride that shone. Other rides like the awful S&S attraction, so awful I've forgotten its name and the Venom twosome aren't great back up coasters frankly. Other rides really are terrible though, the Atlantis ride is tedious in the extreme. It looks pretty but no, not any good. The park does also suffer from similar Merlin issues to ours such as up-selling and very few support rides. Finally... Just a shout out to Italy as a country. It's a fantastic place and my absolute favourite theme park trip memory is sitting on a balcony in our apartment overlooking the sun setting, with a couple of beers and just enjoying everything about the country. It's lovely and definitely worth a visit over. Thanks for the reading and for Part 3, I shall be attacking the big egg that is Germany.. wish me luck.

Wii just have a difference of opinion, thats all BaronC. Our opinions just happen to be galaxies apart.

That is the Orlando version.

Wizarding World of Harry Potter with added shed. \ And don't go telling me its different at the other castle either, you won't be able to 1-Up me that way

I see your attempt at the pun and have to ask, have you played a Mario game before? Pipe down lad.

Thanks to Southparks or whatever for the image Does anyone remember when the original Zodiac made an appearance as a temporary ride bought from a local fair? Then when Tussauds decided to keep it, it was given a lavish paint job. Thats what I'd like to see here. I just miss the original Zodiac now, as unreliable as it was.