Mark9

Is your job to give things faint praise or are you just very good at it.

If 2014 was a year with new rollercoasters left, right and centre, then 2015 was like returning to old friends and sharing a big hug. This was a first for me. Not a single new park in 2015 and only two rollercoasters to my name. Why was this? I wish I knew but my priorities seemed to be tried and tested parks rather then venturing out into the unknown in a quest too boost a coaster count. To start the year, it took till May to visit my first theme park of the year; the amazing Europa Park. We all know the draw with this, the important thing is that this theme park blows my mind overtime and if you haven't been yet, go. The best collection of rides, shows, hotels, entertainment, bars, environments and theming in the world. We took a detour via Disneyland Paris which just seems to go from strength to strength. A month later, came Florida for my birthday (Although my partner will always maintain it was just for Star Wars weekend). Despite all the criticism Florida gets, I always have a wonderful time at Disney World and always shed a tear when I leave. Was good to see Dan9 on his first trip there too. October time and back to Disneyland Paris before the big refurbishment years hit which includes massive closures to Disneyland Parc. No Thunder Mountain, no Star Tours and other rides down for several months. We were there to take my partners mum on her first Disney trip. She had an amazing time is already pushing us to visit for Christmas in 2016. The final foreign trip of the year was a free trip that I won to Europa Park. I could complain that we were only there for a day and a half and spent most of the time tired, but thats petty when everything about the trip was paid for buy the Stuttgart government. Every ride had some kind of Christmasy vibe such as the Spacemen on Euro-Sat dressed as Santa or entire rafts on the Indian river raft ride taken over by Snowmen. It was wonderful. And now.. the depressing part of the trip report. I've taken a massive break from Merlin, even before the Smiler incident. My trips to Alton, Thorpe and Chessington in 2014 had been pretty depressing. The parks were getting run down, lots of ride closures and things broken and a general feeling that the parks were not where they should be and with no hope in sight I'd just gone cold turkey and wouldn't be talked round to visiting. Once the Smiler crashed in June, I felt compelled, despite my feeling that Merlin don't deserve defending, to defend the park against the public and particularly the media calling our parks unsafe, deserving of closure and other negative comments that really put a shiver down my coaster enthusiast spine. Despite all the bad things that I know of the Merlin parks, safety has never been something I've questioned or even thought of when riding an attraction at their parks. I even felt a need to visit and it wasn't until August that I stepped back into Thorpe Park. The same old issues arose. Loggers, Saw, Slammer, Colossus, Fish, Storm Surge and the Swarm all closed at the same time. The terrible Angry Birds Land and the not even worth looking at I'm a Celebrity Maze hardly inspire confidence that Merlin can get these parks back on track. There are some nice shiny parts of Thorpe but Nemesis Inferno, Stealth, The Swarm and Detonator cannot save Thorpe. A worthy, insightful, interesting, entertaining, fun attraction is needed desperately IMO. October saw me visit Alton. Christ what a ghost town. The Smiler incident has truly ripped the heart out of Alton Towers. I've never seen Nemesis, Air and Rita running one train and struggling to fill all the rows and I've certainly never seen Oblivion on a two carriage operation. Whilst all the outrage at Alton about rumoured ride closures and massively cut hours is justified, theres only so much money that can be made from the few people that visit. It's very easy to sit in a room and declare Alton a disgrace for whats happening there. All we can say is that Alton is ever to get back to its feet, it needs to remember what its sole purpose is and hopefully in two/three years time, Alton would be the popular place it was ten years ago. And with that, happy new year everybody!

I've only been on two of the rides which have won awards. Suffice to say I agree to both awards, go Oz'Iris!

Were you around in the dark days of 2004/5 when rides were closing left right and centre? People do come back eventually, just the Smiler incident has compounded the issue for 2016.

OBJECTION It was never good. Extra strain on Nemmy and Air? That's if customers even decide to return to the park in 2016.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-35157734 Seaworld, now planning to have permanent human exhibits.

Preferred the run down look.

Thing is, Disneyland Paris have pretty much been doing the same thing over the last few years. Advertising that you are refreshing your park is fine. Problem is, Alton has a five month closure, DLP has had four closed days in its entire history and the resort has been making massive losses for yeaarrss. I don't believe for a second that Nemesis or general surroundings are going to be put back to the highest standards. I hope I am proven wrong.

I could have told you there's no point to this game five years ago.

If anyone starts an Alton Towers or Chessington ride game, an instal-ban shall be coming your way..

We get Rogue one next year though.

I get the scepticism, I really do. I don't understand why you have consistently told us how bad you think this things going to be. In my view, Merlin have completely destroyed the UK theme park industry but it's not something I go on and on about. We live in a world of increasingly cheaper travel, where DLP, Europa Park, PortAventura are less then five hours away at the most. If Derren Brown's ride is rubbish, well I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. And neither should you. Ultimately, the general public will decide whether Thorpe deserves success, not rollercoaster enthusiasts and if they enjoy it, then that's the most important thing.

Woo, finally! Drinks are on me! Rather flattered by this and for any of the other various nominations which range from sarcastic to knowledgable. You guys are the best.

Double posting AND revitalising this topic. Best New ride:- Arthur of the Minimoys Kingdom. Worthy Mentions:- Seven Drawfs Mine Train. (The only other new ride was the Dodgems at Thorpe Park, cringe) Best Movie of 2015:- Inside Out Worthy Mentions:- Star Wars 7, Ant-man, Jurassic World Best Album of the Year:- Communion by Years and Years Worthy Mentions:- I don't buy many albums.. Best Song:- Shine by Years and Years Worthy Mentions:- Hello by Adele TV Show of the Year:- Daredevil Worthy Mentions:- Cuffs, Brooklyn Nine-Nine Best Moments - Spending my Birthday at the Magic Kingdom - Winning all expenses paid trip to Europa Park

The Force Awakens.

Have to say, Chris and I were very impressed by the VR headset on AlpenExpress. I was initially very sceptical of it but it was certainly pleasant enough and added enough to the ride to justify the 2 euro cost.

It's just managing expectations. I think its slightly absurd that people have already decided that this Derren brown attraction is going to be a let down though. Especially when there are no details about it beyond the theme. Maybe these people know more then they are letting on.

Great name.

We all know how it will be played out in ISIS rhetoric. The Western World slaughters civilians. They don't care if its the UK, France, Germany or the US. Also if we want to talk mass murder, executions and capital punishment, our relationship with Saudi Arabia is an interesting one.. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/06/britain-regret-cosying-up-to-saudi-arabia

Has this been confirmed anywhere yet. It's not on the BBC website and on Sky its just a story about the US denying the report.

I doubt it will be going anywhere. Intamin will come in with new trains and all will be well.

Muslims already condemn the action of the extremists. IS uses propaganda and brainwashing to recruit potential jihadis and anyone who is a true Muslim will tell you that they sickened by what IS are doing.

They've already been affected. 9 million Syrian refugees are displaced across the world because of the Syrian civil war. They're running away from IS (Or whatever, we want to call them), the bombing of their country by the West, from the Assad government. I don't think bombing is the answer to this crisis but I also think letting France, US and Russia do all the work isn't the answer either. There is no clear cut solution to this. A lot of this is true but don't go down the road of thinking that doing this suddenly makes us a target. We've always been a target because of our close relationship to America and because of our ideals and position in the Western world. I'm not disgusted to be British after this because whilst a majority voted to bomb Syria, a lot of MP's voted against it and this is what a democracy is.

I think it's okay, after all Dragon Falls isn't exactly around the corner from China and Tidal Wave is quite a distance from 1950's America. (I know that's not what you meant, but this forum needs a little bit of spicy right now to get it active again =) )