January 15, 20205 yr comment_268245 31 minutes ago, JoshuaA said: For me its people who compare everything to Disney like its the best thing since sliced bread. The GP seem to view Disney with rose coloured glasses, they seem to forget about the overcrowding, long queues, overpriced crap, and how the park really is no different from the same crap we experience at your average theme park. BLASPHEMY!! 😮 Nah I can see your point. Don't get me wrong some rides they have given us have been straight up masterpieces but people do sometimes seem to forget they have also given us their fair share of duds...... The long lines and crowds are also a major pain but each time I go to a Disney park, I just resign myself to the fact I'm going to have to deal with long lines.
January 15, 20205 yr comment_268246 To compare anything and everything to Disney is in relativity unfair and inaccurate. You have to remember they are a multi billion company and throw millions on attention refurbishments (let alone new ones), which very few (If any) other major parks or operators can realistically afford.
January 16, 20205 yr comment_268252 12 hours ago, JoshuaA said: For me its people who compare everything to Disney like its the best thing since sliced bread. The GP seem to view Disney with rose coloured glasses, they seem to forget about the overcrowding, long queues, overpriced crap, and how the park really is no different from the same crap we experience at your average theme park. Man, if 'typical average theme park' had things like Everest, Galaxys Edge and Pandora, how awesome would theme park enthusiasts truly have it!
January 16, 20205 yr comment_268254 I dont think that comparing parks to Disney is that unfair though. I mean we can be realistic but I dont see what is wrong for aspiring for better for parks. I'd like parks to at least head in the direction of Disney quality.
January 16, 20205 yr comment_268263 As a regular DLP visitor, going from there to Thorpe you do really notice how dirty and tatty the buildings and rides in some cases are in Thorpe. Of course I realize its a park/company on a completely different scale, but you still can't help going to Thorpe and seeing how grotty it is by contrast lol and its ok to mention it as there aren't really that many excuses for it to be so unkempt. I'll caveat this comment by saying that, like others have said, I agree DLP has a lot of issues itself with overcrowding, long queues in peak times etc so no rose tinted glasses here.
January 16, 20205 yr comment_268264 Think a key thing with parks is how they deal with overcrowding, a well designed and operated park can even on the busiest days be a pleasant day out for everyone. Disney are very good at this, as providing alternative forms of entertainment and pushing throughputs are two key solutions to the problem. They are the pinnacle mind, shortly followed by Universal (in terms of big business quality). The problem is however that whilst our continental brethren have pushed forward in additions and once small parks have become big players over the last few years, the UK has stagnated. Possibly on the back of heavy expansion in the 90s and being a leading player then. But now it's a bit sad and depressing. Paultons being about the only bright spark currently. When small independent parks like Toverland or groups like Plopsa are adding well themed and decent quality additions we get a dark ride that wasn't even planned for Towers, the third/fourth retheme of flats at Chessie and Thorpe have nothing. All parks should aspire to be like the pinnacle. They can't, but operations wise it's bloody easy to.
January 16, 20205 yr comment_268265 26 minutes ago, Benin said: we get a dark ride that wasn't even planned for Towers, This is probably a post for the Walliams thread, but... I've seen / heard people moan about this elsewhere, and it's something I don't get. Sure, the ride system may not necessarily have been planned for Towers, but clearly the ride experience itself will have been. Sure, it's a bit forced and maybe not what was originally planned, but I don't think that reallllllly makes a difference to anyone when it comes down to it, because it's highly unlikely that it will feel like 'this ride wasn't planned for this park' when you're on the ride...hopefully. Not a rant or trigger or anything, just something I don't think is a problem.
January 16, 20205 yr comment_268266 I would say the issue lies in it feeling like they're fitting a randomly spare ride system and cobbling together something; rather than designing something completely ground up and unique for the park. Or the theme came first and they were struggling to fit into the limited budget when someone found a spare dark ride down back of sofa in Poole. It's just... Weird. Like half the new additions to parks have been nicked from Sea-Lifes!
January 16, 20205 yr comment_268268 I think good crowd controlling in parks comes down to (but not limited to): Major rides/attractions with decent capacity/operations Sufficient support attractions such as flat rides and other attractions within close proximity Balanced consistency of shows and entertainment Design and layout of footpaths and locations Tactical ways of moving around guests Over the last 5-10 years we have easily seen many parks go either way when it comes to handling crowds. Some have improved their infrastructure and layouts which improved how they handle crowds, whilst others have striped back on theirs leading to them coping worse when they get busy.
January 16, 20205 yr comment_268269 1 hour ago, Wicker Matt said: I think good crowd controlling in parks comes down to (but not limited to): Major rides/attractions with decent capacity/operations Sufficient support attractions such as flat rides and other attractions within close proximity Balanced consistency of shows and entertainment Design and layout of footpaths and locations Tactical ways of moving around guests Over the last 5-10 years we have easily seen many parks go either way when it comes to handling crowds. Some have improved their infrastructure and layouts which improved how they handle crowds, whilst others have striped back on theirs leading to them coping worse when they get busy. You also have to play into effect guest security has become a major factor over the past 10 years.
January 16, 20205 yr comment_268271 11 hours ago, Mark9 said: Man, if 'typical average theme park' had things like Everest, Galaxys Edge and Pandora, how awesome would theme park enthusiasts truly have it! In the 'typical average theme park' comment I meant Being completely minted of any money you ever had in your pocket Feeling constantly like a cattle in a cattle pen Some rides that really aren't much different from something at your local fair (but for $100!) Disney are great, but IMO there is parks that do things on a similar if not better scale to them. If I was given the choice between most Disney parks and Europa- I would choose Europa in a heartbeat. I didn't feel much magic, or even much immersion in their parks. Everest is brilliant but I never felt the parks are magical or immersive as a whole, but that is my controversial opinion.
January 16, 20205 yr comment_268272 Not liking/hating a ride purely because it's "overhyped"/ "overrated" Never was able to wrap my head around this one. Usually when it comes to me not liking a ride, it's down to things that are the fault of the ride. I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure its not a rides fault if people hype it up too much. Nemesis and Millennium force being the two main examples I can think of in terms of coasters that fall victim to this. It just comes across that those that do this usually are just basing their own opinions off of somebody else's judgement.
January 17, 20205 yr comment_268290 I like it, though honestly I do prefer Dragster, Steel Vengeance, and Maverick over it. Its a good ride, that first drop kick ass, but I do kinda admit on the first ride I was slightly underwhelmed.
January 17, 20205 yr comment_268293 I am one that does love Millenium Force, my second favourite ride on park. It does have airtime, yet people say it doesn't and it just flies around most of the course, which is what I love. That soundtrack however, bloody annoying!
January 17, 20205 yr comment_268298 25 minutes ago, Mattgwise said: I am one that does love Millenium Force, my second favourite ride on park. It does have airtime, yet people say it doesn't and it just flies around most of the course, which is what I love. That soundtrack however, bloody annoying! Beautiful!! 🤩🤩
January 17, 20205 yr comment_268305 On 1/16/2020 at 10:50 AM, Benin said: we get a dark ride that wasn't even planned for Towers Could you explain this for the uninitiated? Never knew it was planned for use elsewhere.
January 17, 20205 yr comment_268308 1 hour ago, EpicSmatty said: Could you explain this for the uninitiated? Never knew it was planned for use elsewhere. Seen it mentioned on TowersStreet by relatively reliable people.
January 18, 20205 yr comment_268314 The, reasonably reliable, rumour floating around is that the ride hardware was originally bought for a midway attraction somewhere in Europe, but for some reason, didn't happen. Walliams World was always planned to have a brand new indoor attraction as far as I'm aware, but the plan of what is was exactly changed a few times.
June 6, 20205 yr comment_270243 When people defend their favourite parks with things that if any other park did it, they would be right on the war path. Just gets on my nerves seeing that.
June 6, 20205 yr comment_270245 14 minutes ago, 08newmanb said: When my mom won’t let me go out during the Galactic Empire My response Do it....
June 6, 20205 yr comment_270246 This tweet: For all we know a park could just be about to go into administration, job losses etc perhaps without the staff even knowing. But this person wants to create some enthusiast 'clout' just because he works within the industry and hears slightly more information than anyone else.
June 7, 20205 yr comment_270258 People who hate on fastrack users Yes. I personally am not keen on paid for fastrack but we got to accept that it is very much the norm at most parks now and when it brings in a fair bit for the parks, there is simply no way it's going anywhere any time soon. If a guest however wants to pay their hard earned money to cut the lines to maximise their own enjoyment on a day out, then its their prerogative. Their money,their decision. Simple as that. I can think of more dishonest ways to cut the queues ;)
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