StealthFan

I do find it very good on Vekomas part that a lot of their control panels are similar if not exact copies across various different rides/coasters.

It takes a lot of theming to make a building look so "ramshackle." I thought it just took being at Thorpe Park to achieve that

I cant be the only one who looked at those pictures and instantly thought of those coasters you make on RCT to crash into loads of people.

Don't they both have the same colors, just flipped? Beautiful AND cost-effective! Im confused as to how swapping the paint colours is in anyway cost effective? Its not like the park paint the ride themselves as its installed it comes pre painted from the manufacturers.

Honestly I am surprised no one else has purchased another Falcons Fury that ride is awesome! Of course for a drop tower they won't be cheap I'm sure but I think in Europe it could be a big draw as the first.

I think the reason for that is because most enthusiasts are dumb and terrified of change. I have all the respect in that world for Amanda because she isn't afraid to change things up and do what she believes is best for the park and her family legacy. The park does have a surprising amount of room left to install new attractions when you think about it. There is this new area, the area behind Infusion, fountain garden by Ice Blast and if they removed Grand Prix there would be a huge amount of space.

I dont think they will have brakes here it will just be the hulk standing in front of the train and slowing it down before jumping out of the way once it has slowed down enough.

To go with the new Lost Kingdom land opening this year the park have continued their trend and updated the 4D movie they show. Source [youtu_be] [/youtu_be]

To be fair Runaway Train as a ride is arguably one of the most reliably rides at Chessington, the issues with that attraction was a lot more than the mountain alone. Anyway thats a discussion for the Chessington thread really. This though is something I wouldn't blame the contractor for one single bit. I personally blame Merlin and the pressure they put on contractors to do stuff as fast as possible and cheap as possible. I would like to think that they have rebuilt that station over the winter but I haven't heard anything confirming this yet.

While the engineers do their best to maintain the rides to the highest standards the fact of the matter is they are not given the money to take care of theming etc. Prime example of rides that until recently have not been taken care of as well as they should do due to funds are Safari Skyway, Tomb Blaster, Loggers Leap, Colossus, Nemesis (station mostly), Hex, The Dragon. That's a few rides that have been left to get in an absolute state due to the money not being granted to allow them to fix it. I've spoken to engineers at various parks over the years and they all take immense pride in what they do but they can only do so much with the resources given to them. As for Octonauts station well the less said about that the better........

Exactly! I never had any issues and I am an extraordinarily picky eater. If I was to recommend anything as a quick serve I would go for the Anna and Elsa rice crispy treats! They are amazing! If this doesn't make you either think I'm more retarded than you originally believed or want to try a Frozen Rice Crispy treat I don't know what will!

While I'm not personally pleased about the re paint of Nemesis I am at least hopefully we will see a complete revamp, clean up and repaint of the station to bring it back to it status as arguably the best roller coaster station in the country! I would have preferred to see them repaint Air/Galactica than Nemesis but maybe they have/are doing that also and I didn't notice.

Eh, don't be so sure about that. At least in the Florida parks' case, a loud coaster might be scary to small children. I have to agree. While enthusiasts may love the raw of a classic B&M like Hulk was or Nemesis, I have seen first hand people look at a ride and say "yeah I will ride that". Then the train makes it way down the first drop, the roar begins and they start to question if they want to ride or don't ride at all.

As this ride goes up I am a little more interested in it that I was originally. I still don't expect it to be a mind blowing ride experience but it could be better than I was expecting. Personally I'm more interested in what Busch is installing this year.

Merlin do still care a lot about visitor numbers internally and really like to keep their attraction staff updated on gate figures. Of course once those people are in the park they then switch to putting you through the ringer and extracting every little penny out of you, but thats just how business is. Disney do the same really you just don't notice because its Disney. I think the thing people can forget that when you have a Merlin pass, Disney pass, Universal and so on you can become easily jaded with the parks and they lose the appeal they once had. I know Thorpe Park and to a lesser extent Chessington have both done that to me.

If the 6 ride closures do go ahead that will probably allow the budget to stay the same for staff and they all get sent over to Airlactica to keep the ride as efficient as possible. Its interesting you say about with ride closures and this you won't be doing the 400 mile round trip to the park. I know at least 5 people who are not renewing with Merlin Annual Passes due to issues with all parks including Alton.

But they will be theming. They are snake catching nets Great to see the lift staring to be installed I can't wait to see that all finished and themed.

Looks like the park have yet again made a good decision by waiting a year to finish the theming. It worked fantastically for Novgorod and this looks just as good if not better.

^Yeah I'm sure an increase in attendance will happen and the hotel alone attracts people who wouldn't normally visit due to the fact they can stay on resort. I vaguely remember having a discussion with Elissa about the park and her saying something along the lines of while its a nice park its in the worst place to grow and expand. I just imagine the traffic plan being a long winded pain in the arse process for Legoland just like it has been for Alton Towers.

Thats a bold statement but I am actually struggling to think of a worse pre show so I will have to agree.

Source So with Ghost having been approved and the hotel extension approved it looks like Legoland is going to get some new life injected into it once again. Sadly the installation of the hotel extension does mean the removal of the Dino Safari ride and the parks nicest toilets, but with Ghost coming at least the amount of attractions won't be reduced. If you didn't get to experience Dino Safari check out this POV from last year. [youtu_be] [/youtu_be] What are your thoughts about the hotel extension? Would you prefer more new attractions before the hotel gets extended? Will you stay in the hotel when complete? Comment below! The new extension looks like it will have the Knights Kingdom theme.

This is so true! I remember watching that show with you guys in it thinking "well how do I explain this to KT if something happens". Then also being pretty jealous of your near death experience. Its not often you hear anyone say Paris has the better version of a Disney something!

Im pretty sure Mack have as well. I can't imagine anyone else would ever buy one of those, I'm surprised the one thats still running has lasted this long.

I didn't think Test Tracks pre show/build room felt like it extended the queue at all. I really enjoyed building the cars and making them as stupid as possible. Its actually small touches like that I believe add to the attraction over all and if thats at the expense of even an extra 10 minutes in the queue line I'm happy with that.

I do think that is a good point and may be what bugged me about the amount of simulator based attractions at the park. I really enjoyed Spiderman and I think that was down to the mix of practical and visual effects. I also agree you can't fault them for using very impressive ride system and taking the risk with them. The Potter rides are a fantastic example for that they are amazing pieces of technology, it was only due to the fact I'm not a fan of Potter stuff that I don't think I appreciated it fully as an over all experience. I could see how people who are a fan of the brand would enjoy it though.