StealthFan

Okay so I was expecting some massive explosion so I am a little disappointed. Thinking about it though how many rides have had explosives used during construction? I know Nemesis was but I can't think of any others.

Well I can only think this ride will ride very quickly and be constructed before the end of the year. I do wonder how small it will make Psyke look though.

So today a bit more information was revealed on Thorpe Parks Facebook page. Still no word on what the ride will actually be though? What are your thoughts on Derren's involvement? Do you think it will be a popular choice?

While I'm always happy to see another Legoland open as it is a very powerful brand I just wish Merlin would stop relentlessly opening new attractions at the expense of their current ones. If I remember correctly they are trying to open 6 new attractions each year in some insane desire to be bigger than Disney. While you can respect that sort of ambition I just don't understand why you would want to do that if you end up with a weakened product over all in the end.

I remember working halloween at Chessington and being put on "pumpkin watch" to stop people smashing them or having pumpkin fights. We didn't have anywhere near that many decorating the park though. Do Liseberg have a philosophy of "So our park is awesome already but how can we make it even more awesome?". The park looks great for halloween. Do they dress all staff up like on Helix and Atmosfear or is it just done on specific rides and attractions?

Is Derren Brown even as relevant now as he was in previous years? Its not like he is doing his insane stuff like predicting the lottery and playing Russian Roulette "live" on TV anymore. I maybe see his stage show on TV once or twice a year now.

^They are all just black pictures. I assume its something like "The island is going dark". Thorpe Park do like their dark apocalyptic themes.

What a great halloween map. I love how Helix looks glow in the dark.

I know Intamin are known for doing pull throughs on new rides. Im sure it will be quite the challenge to get it done on this ride.

^Is there such thing as a bad photo of Grona Lund? Is there any news on anything new for the park next year or are they just focusing on Wildfire for 2016?

The back seat provided a surprising amount of air time early in the morning. I didn't get to ride in the back later in the day but I imagine it was a lot more impressive. I did see a few people lean over to pick the money up before they realised they were embedded in the floor. As I mentioned in the trip report the park did some amazing things with lighting. The video below is just a preview of the light show that randomly used to go off inside the park. It was so nice to see something like this that wasn't so static. [youtu_be] [/youtu_be] Also the park have very kindly given me a promo code to give to you all that will get you £5 off standard entry to Screamland. When booking online enter the code: SCREAMPROMO4 to receive the discount. This code is valid through to 31st October 2015. -Craig

Last Thursday Theme Park Review was invited to Dreamland Margate for the relaunch of the Scenic Railway and the start of their Screamland event. For those of you who don't know much about the Scenic Railway it was "Britain's original coaster" that opened in 1920! Sadly in April 2008 a major fire happened on the ride which destroyed a large portion of the ride including the workshop, the trains, the station and the entire middle section of the track. Since then the ride sat there in its burnt state while many arguments and discussions were had between people about if the whole Dreamland site should be redeveloped or saved. Luckily for the ride in 2002 it was given a Grade II listed status which meant it couldn't be destroyed. Finally after all the arguments and discussions has settled work finally began to restore the ride in September 2014. Now if I'm being honest the ride was more replaced than restored. The whole track and ride structure is new, the trains are new. I believe the only surviving part of the ride is some of the lift machinery. That being said the ride is as faithful to the original as it possibly can be given modern day H&S rules and the park did a fantastic job restoring it. If I'm being honest I never expected the "Save Dreamland Campaign" to manage to get the park and ride back open due to all the issues that kept getting thrown at them but I am extremely happy they proved me wrong. The one thing I realised while at the park during the day was just how dedicated and enthusiastic all the people behind the project have been, they really want the best for the park and want to see Margate thrive once again! I still believe there is a lot of work to do at the park and in some areas work is still visibly ongoing but they have definitely given themselves a solid platform to work off. "Welcome back to Dreamland!". It took me a while to release but this sign is actually made out of the old Scenic Railway wood! If it wasn't for someone like the Heritage Lottery Fund this project may never have been completed. After many ups and downs its finally time to ride once again! Once again many happy riders take a trip on the one mile long track! and screams of joy are heard around the park. "Only Fools and Horses" ride the Scenic Railway! What mystery lies behind this door? The workshop of course and its MASSIVE! You could hold events in here its so big! This is 100% true engineering! Ever wanted to build your own Scenic Railway? This is how you do it! Why are modern things never this impressive to look at? I do love the fact they have a viewing window to look at all the lift mechanisms though! How many people wish they could sit here? Given the classic nature of the ride sometimes in the morning the train needs a little push to help it back to the station. The Scenic Railway is officially re opened! So get down to the park and take a ride! Think of how many people rode this track before the fire! Hopefully the new track will create just as many memories. If I'm not mistaken there are only 2 of these models in existence and one has already been sold! There is so many cool little items they are selling such as clocks, building blocks etc. These people were instrumental in the restoration of the park! Now its times to take a look at the rest of the parks offerings. You will get some great views of the coast and the Scenic from the top of here! Why not hop on the speedway and take a spin? Every park should have a Frog Hopper/Jumping Star! And what seaside park in their right mind wouldn't have a Wacky Worm! I can't think of anywhere else I've seen an operating Rotor ride than at Winter Wonderland in London! During the day this is a mirror maze but at night The Amazing Mystero's ghost takes over and prowls the maze in search of his beastly bunny! The parks most recent acquisition is this Ghost Train. As of my visit they were still working on the ride and were yet to instal anything in the inside. Definitely one to keep an eye on though to see what they come up with. I would have loved to go on the Helter Skelter and get a POV for you all but sadly due to the wet weather it was closed. You all wouldn't want to see a video of my getting launched off the end them flying into the mouse now would you A traveling Top Spin is something I haven't seen very often. The park haven't forgotten about the littlest members of the family and there are plenty of rides for them to enjoy also. A classic seaside ride is of course the Crazy Mouse. The multi coloured rainbow slide offers some great views of the Scenic Railway but also a great excuse to go "Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Monotopia is the parks Cycle Monorail and it felt very RCT to look at. There must have been some serious action going on here during the last ride. Lets hope that this doesn't need to get used any time soon! How many ride hosts do you think can be squeezed into the average sized control room? With no signs of stopping new areas of the park will continue to open up! Having had a very long day already I think its time for a nap! Since when did Sven look like a Donkey? The floor of the arcade had loads of 1p coins embedded into the floor! I wonder how much they all add up to! After the 20 minute power nap I had to have in my car in-between events it was time to take on Screamland! The park worked in conjunction with AtmosFear! Scare Entertainment (The creators of Scare Kingdom) on its first ever major scare festival. The event has been designed in such a way that its been divided into a day portion for small children and families then evening/night activities for children over 14. Given the fact that AtmosFear worked on this project with the park it felt exactly how I would have expected having visited Scare Kingdom. That of course is far from a bad thing because they provide an incredibly high quality product. Unlike your typical park halloween events in this country everything seems to make sense, its not a series of random mazes and the usually trick and treat stuff. All the mazes at the park relate in some way to the history of the site and provide some serious scares in the process. If I'm honest I think Thorpe Park in particular should look at this event as a whole and take note. I certainly noticed over the past few years that the atmosphere on park during Fright Nights is almost non existent except for the mazes. Its so different at Dreamland because you have amazing lighting all over, music and plenty of roaming characters all of which totally change the atmosphere on park. Darkness has now fallen and its time to head back into the park for Screamland! The park completely transforms at night. Screamland has set a new standard for scare attractions in the south! Thorpe Park, Tulleys and everyone else need to take serious note of what the park has done! The lighting package used around the park was amazing! Every so often the music used to change and it almost turned into a rave. It was better than anything I've ever seen Thorpe Park do. The Scenic Railway feels like a completely different ride at night! There is a lot of mixed opinions on the new trains for the ride given all the HSE issues they had. I personally dont have any issues with them. They ride just fine and even with the seatbelts they are not restrictive and terrible at all. There is definitely worse looking trains out there. The ride has a really simple yet effective light package. Practising my scream at Screamland. "Hello ladies!! Who wants to see my joker?!" Beware of the many roaming creatures and characters that may emerge from the smoke! If you need to hide you can always hop on here. What a competition the park is running! One of the attractions during Screamland is a meet and greet with some weird animals! On the left is a naked albino pig! And this is Bernard the Bearded Dragon! They also had snakes, spiders, millipedes and all sorts of creepy crawlies. Festino's Forgotten Funhouse has clowns in it there for I did not go anywhere near it! From £5 per maze is very good value when you consider general admission to the park for the rides online is £13.95. If you want to do one maze it makes total sense but if you want to do them all its only £24.95 online. I certainly believe you get your moneys work at that price. So the thing on the left does that look like a rocket or a needle? If the scares become too much you can always fly away from them into the night. Wow when did I become a creature in the smoke? Final Cut and Dead & Breakfast are the parks 2 scariest attractions and they are phenomenal. The quality of theming is so good that you feel truly immersed into that world. You can instantly forget you are at Dreamland at all. My 14 hour day at Dreamland finally came to an end and it was time to go home to bed. So over all the park and the events well surpassed my expectations and if you get the chance please go down and check the park out. If they keep on the track working like they are now I do think its possible the park will get back to its former glory and it should do wonders for Margate as a whole. -Craig

No but if your lucky you might get given a TV remote so it feels like your on a real couch!

I will be very interested to see what this looks like at IAAPA but I can't see many parks buying this. The capacity on this would be very poor I imagine.

That´s true. I also believe it´s better to not go there as there is quite high chance some raids are going to be closed, right? Other than Slammer and Tidal Wave being closed early for the season I haven't heard of anything else that is or will be closing. I would expect all the major coasters to be open and all other rides probably with the exception of Samurai because that hardly ever opens and last time I was at the park it was stripped down.

No Butlins no longer has those slides. In 2012 they started a £13million redevelopment in the pool which included 3 new slides, an out door rapids and kids play area along other things. Bonus fact I was one of the last 100 people on the Master Blaster before it got decommisioned! The administrators obviously saw potential in the park which is great, I just hope that when they find a buyer for the park they find someone who is an enthusiastic about it as well.

Is it me of does it look like the tower on the right has a bit on top to allow for a waterfall down the side?

Honestly everyone was fine. Far better than your average Thorpe Park clientele thats for sure! I don't remember that. The only credit I remember at Butlins was the powered figure 8 Dragon coaster.

They were busy building an actual wall... Well why go temporary when you can build a nice big permanent concrete one haha. Also can I just mention the fact that this is one of the cleanest construction sites I've ever seen!

This past weekend I finally managed to get myself back to Fantasy Island during the operating season for the first time since the 2010 TPR UK Trip. Fantasy Island has always had a soft spot in my heart because as a child we used to take our family holiday to Skegness and stay at Butlins just down the road. This meant that as a treat I would always get to go to the park and enjoy the rides while my parents went around the market. Sadly as I'm sure some of you are aware the park went into administration several months ago and things didn't looks too good! Well I'm glad to say the administrators have done a fantastic job with the park since they took over and the future is now looking very bright for the park with investment happening all over the place. Yay I'm finnally back at Fantasy Island! First stop Odyssey! Who wants to sit in this seat? The new train has done wonders for this ride! There is only one headbanger moment that I noticed which for an SLC is a great achievement in my books. Enjoy this colour scheme while you can because next year it will look completely different! After all the years of trouble this ride has had it seems they have finally managed to get on top of everything which is great! Keep an eye on TPR's YouTube channel and social network pages for some brand new POVs of this awesome SLC. After some awesome rides on Odyssey is was time to head to the parks other major coaster "The Millennium" This was actually the first major looping coaster I ever rode all the way back in 1999! Still to this day it is one of the smoothest coasters out there and without doubt the smoothest Vekoma coaster on the planet! You could call this Vekoma spaghetti. The way the ride circles the park is almost like something out of RCT but it works so well here. Who doesn't love a transfer track to no where! After some great Vekoma riding it was suggested to me that I go and ride "Dragon Mountain Descent" which is the parks indoor raft ride. Don't let this ride fool you with its awesome adventure theming. If you are are an adult you WILL get wet. I can promise you this sign does not lie at all! This is a prime example of why you get wet which is then very quickly followed by more wetness! Even though I was repeatedly told that I was going to get wet I was thinking to myself at this point "I don't remember getting wet as a child this will be fine". And at this point I thought "Damn it Craig your an idiot!" Which was then confirmed shortly after by more water! If you don't believe me about how wet you get, watch this POV and find out for yourself! [youtu_be] [/youtu_be] After getting changed I thought I would hit the parks Log Flume because there was no way it was going to be as wet as Dragon Mountain. As part of all the new investments in the park the Log Flume was repainted recently and looks great. It really is amazing what a lick of paint can do for a ride and the park as a whole. Even with 2 rides down today the reliability of the parks open attractions was fantastic and when a ride did go down the engineers got the ride back up in super quick time. The park also has a powered coaster called "Rhombus Rocket". Again a ride that recently has been repainted but it also interacts with many of the rides in the park which is fantastic. Hmmmm now why do you think Captain Rhombus' nose is red? Sadly the Crazy Mouse was closed all day during my visit But the new paint job looks fantastic. The conflict of names I do find off though. Some signs around the ride (including the lights at the top) say "Fantasy Mouse" while others say "Crazy Mouse". Yes that just me being a bit picky but I am a fan of consistency and continuity. Sometimes you just can't beat the classics! Fantasy Island does cater for every age of thrill seeker when it comes to their rides and attractions. Some of them are even too extreme for me! The Beast was also closed during my visit and will sadly be down for the rest of the season. It seems many parks are having issued with their Top Scans these days. None more that Thorpe Park though! Hmmmm whats wrong with this sign? Inside these doors are the hidden secrets of Fantasy Island! Which I am afraid I cannot What a fantastic philosophy to run a park by don't you agree? I love the whole indoor section of the park. The theming inside has really stood the test of time and looks great. How many people would love this kiddie credit? When this S&S tower opened years ago it had a very unique feature on it. Can anyone name what it was? How many coasters can you spot in this amazing view from the top of Volcano! Where does this door go to? If anyone gets it right you could win a prize! Sorry Elissa....... I wonder if these guys are related to Peppa Pig in any way? Clowns are evil! Sadly it was time to leave Fantasy Island and head home. But I can't leave without mentioning the best thing the park have done since my last visit! This car park used to be horrific for so many years but not its one of the best theme park car parks in the country! One last look at a great mess of Vekoma track then off home I headed. Its so nice to see the park improving at such a rapid rate and doing better than I have seen in years. I would like to see a new ride investment in the next couple of years but space is very very tight so they may have to get creative in where they installed it. I do love all the kiddie rides at the park and they seemed very popular but the Monkey Jump (Frog Hopper) looked like its on its last legs. When I was watching it, it wasn't bouncing at all it was just raising slowly then coming down even slower. Hopefully its something that can be fixed as it looked like I was watching a glorified bench more than a Frog Hopper. Still all said an done I had a fantastic trip to the park and I recommend if you get the chance to head down there next year to ride the "new" Odyssey, Millennium and all their other attractions. The parks future is looking bright so please support them! Also I would just like to say thank you to Sean and Craig because they were so much help with filming and navigating round the park and they should be very proud of the wonderful rides team they have assembled. Other parks should take note even on a quiet day their staff were very efficient and enthusiastic. I hope you all enjoyed this trip report and remember to keep an eye out for all that new footage! -Craig

I can tell you from personal experience it won't kill all the long arguments. Some people are incredibly stubborn when it comes to a change like this and will use the excuse "well it never used to be like this so why should I have to provide one now" until their last breath. I will be very interested to see how this plays out in the US thats for sure.

Great news for all Scenic Railway fans it was announced today that the iconic coaster will be opening at the end of the week! Who here is excited to once again be able to ride this classic coaster?

Having not been on an RMC before I don't have anything to base my opinion on this against. With that being said this definitely looks like it will be a great ride and I love how it interacts with the terrain. I hope one day I can get out to ride this as it will be my first RMC of I do. Will it beat Balder as my number one woodie though? Well that remains to be seen

Am I the only one who thinks that the designer of this ride saw a child's scribble drawing and thought "Damn this could make an awesome coaster!"

^I really don't think you should need one as Fright Nights will be over and the park is only open 10am-4pm. I would expect as most schools will be back the park should be pretty quiet.