Mark9

That will be a long wait then. The closest we've got so far is either Blue Fire at Europa or at a push Manta at Sea World. The UK will probably never get a well themed, story based Mack Mega. Blackpool doesn't need a story for this ride, it just needs to be good which I have no doubt that it will be.

I think it will be fine to over-hype this personally. I'm allowing myself that pleasure as Helix and Blue Fire (and Taron although of course an Intamin) are excellent rides, I've heard the same of Alpine Blitz. With the level of quality that Mack products contain, I have no doubts here. I'm excited.

It looks great. Seems to take a little bit of inspiration from Taron and Helix. Good on Blackpool for taking the plunge on a lengthy coaster.

I was more along the lines that the last time Pleasure Beach built a rollercoaster specifically for them was 22 years ago. I hope you aren't looking to be picky CJ, I think this is the most exciting project in the UK for a good five years and anything I say in this topic from today onwards will be one of optimism.

My thoughts exactly. This run down look that Thorpe in particular seems to get off on is tedious now.

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.