Mark9

The lack of write up for Chiapas disappoints me. I hate Log flumes but that ride does things to me that no other water ride does.

Yes Blackpool, yes! Most exciting ride project since the Swarm for me. Of all the parks to get it, Blackpool was probably the most unlikely but I am glad that they are.

I thought DIC bought the Tussauds group in 2005. Tomb Blaster was redone at the end of 2001 for the 2002 season.

Probably not an issue as such, The Smiler being a relatively new ride would not have the procedures as ingrained as say, Nemesis where rules and guidelines are twenty years young. If we remember they closed all their multi-car rides too to update procedures, procedures they thought were adequate before the incident. Certainly when I operated Fury and Rattlesnake, there was a lot of reliance on visual checking combined with the CCTV to ensure all cars were counted for in a shutdown. The 5 million figure sounds low but I suppose if we think of the amount of money that will paid to the victims for potentially the rest of their lives, the profits that were massively hit across the UK theme parks and that Merlin from day one have never said they were innocent shows that the fine was appropriate. I know some have laughed when it was said that Merlin wasn't an emotionless, corporate entity, but lets face it, other companies such as Six Flags would rather have endless court appearances and not take the blame for incidents in their park. Merlin did the right thing by saying they were at fault and I find that commendable. Just a shame it took the loss of limbs to see that.

As if SeaWorld need an excuse to make the throughputs lower then it already is. The positive I suppose is that Kraken is a relatively long ride so the staff should have time to clean the headsets in between cycles.

Thanks for taking a thread about a Swedish theme park and making it all about Merlin. This dive machine is a perfect fit for Lisberg although I find it rather amusing that Northern Europe now has three dive machines in a relatively small area, in fact you could include Oblivion in Northern Europe if you felt so obliged. I'm not sure I completely agree here. Helix is a great ride but (hiding from the pitch-forks and rotten veg), as a ride experience I think the Smiler is superior; although I will concede thats a minority opinion. In fact, I'd go and say that Thirteen and The Swarm are top quality rides as well with enjoyment levels just as high as Helix. You don't realise how spoilt that sounds do you?

Dive coaster makes sense for Lisberg, it's not exactly a park with massive room for an invert; not that a smaller invert couldn't be made of course.

As they've pleaded guilty, I doubt there will be much they will say.

The difference for me is that Drayton and Paultons are family owned business and the money spent in the parks, does get reinvested and you see the results. If I pay for an Annual Pass I'm probably helping to build Legoland India but my parks get shafted.

There is no jolt because I choose not to ride.

I'm just amazed that we're saying goodbye to Loggers before Depth Charge. That thing doesn't deserve its place and yet there it is, remaining at large. Whilst I hate Log Flumes with a passion, Loggers was kind of the exception, its double dip drop was always fantastic and by far my favourite flume drop. At least I'll have my memories, riding it for 7 straight hours in 2004.

How many there are or how many they will run are very different things. I can answer how many they will run though, the bare minimum they can get away with.

Report the post if you think it's off-topic.

Ooh Where are you going? Another 7 days straight at Blackpool?

Enthusiasts are their own worst enemies. As a group its all about being the first, the last, getting the most rides, being ahead of someone else. It becomes a massive competition, whether it's to get more coaster credits then anyone else or to go to the most parks. But thats only the negative aspects. Some of my best friends are ones that I grew up with in the earlier days of rollercoaster forums. So many from Thorpe Park Guide made the jump over to TPM when that forum closed down and a lot of coasters enthusiasts from those days, I worked with at Chessington. Whilst things like the Bubbleworks last day or the time Inferno closed early and enthusiasts stormed guest services are a nasty aspect of being coaster geeks, the positives of being in a community far outweighs the negatives.

The only group of fans who I know actively dislike Shambhala is Theme Park Review. It's a good ride thats for sure, I'd have ridden it a lot more if it wasn't at PortAventura.

I don't think so. In my teenage years I was a proper little Chessington fanboy but as time has gone, the very essence of what Chessington is supposed to be has completely gone. For every great thing they do (the compass in Market Square for example) a lot of awful is also completed. It's a real shame too because the park in its heyday whilst lacking the clout of Towers, was an awesome theme park to visit.

When they get round to finally confirming that Loggers is never coming back, will you still include it in closed rides lists?

When was it renamed PortAventura world?

Going downhill? It's already rock bottom.

Welcome to the world of Thorpe park then.

I'm normally against paid express pass but frankly, it's the only way to do PortAventura. It's either queue jump or be queue jumped. Your experience doesn't surprise me LC, the park is notoriously unforgiving.

The first part of this trip report did not deliver! I understand the Silver Star criticism though, it's the rollercoaster equivalent of a gentle hug.

Humidity and heat could affect software. Excessive rain could lead to floods in the building etc.

Lots of things Merlin do, they don't announce to a website/twitter, they just do it. Just because Alton Towers did a Tender loving care thing does not mean that Thorpe and Chessington have followed suit. I think the parks do deserve credit when they 'plus' an attraction, particularly as geeks, we're very hard when an attraction is refurbed in the wrong way (Tomb Blaster, I'm looking at you). If a ride is improved in some way, be that a Colossus repaint (If that ever happens) or X No Way out trains turned forwards (Which was a positive change, even if I personally don't like it), we should be more giving with our praise when its a positive change. Besides, with the examples you gave, Disney jump on the chance to promote massive changes to a ride whether that be Star Tours changed to a new version or a massive refurb of Thunder Mountain. Europa did the same with Whale Adventure.