KarlaKoaster

Be still my beating heart, that train is a total stunner. By far my favourite Intamin train, maybe even one of my overall favourites.

Wow, I love that the layout for this is totally different. It looks really nice nestled into the trees too.

Great pictures, especially the workstation one - it's an interesting aspect you don't normally get to see (although it does remind me of flat pack furniture assembly instructions!)

I can't understand why anyone would pay admission to Alton Towers, then take an hour out of an already short day and pay an additional £7.50 to see what looks to be a very similar experience to all of the other dungeons. These actor-led attractions never seem very popular in Merlin parks, and I can't see how making it an upcharge will help at all. It will be interesting to see how long it takes before it's included on the annual pass, and how much longer after that before it is changed or dropped completely.

Nice negotiating skills! They have Quick Pass which although I have not used before looks pretty good and is not expensive either: https://www.phantasialand.de/en/park/be-our-guest-information/service/quick-pass/

Oh, in that case it's a shame they didn't save the money on the outside too.

Me neither, I thought the showbuilding always looked quite nice. Have they changed any of the theming inside?

Yeah, Vekoma just bought the concept back to the fore with Villa Volta and many more since then. Mack also do a version too. My favourite is probably Hex at Alton Towers. It has a lot of depth of narrative and is actually based on a real local legend. There are a lot of nice touches throughout the ride and it's extremely detailed. The music is also one of my favourite scores on this type of ride. The one at Parc Asterix I thought was outstanding. The preshows (both of them) were just about the best I've ever done on a Mad House; the first one is super clever, the second is just spectacular. And the actual ride itself is very cleverly themed with it looking like you're on a capsizing boat. It's like no other Mad House I've done. I also really like the music on Efteling's Villa Volta, but as a non-Dutch speaker the pre-shows go on for too long and aren't visual enough for me to really enjoy. I also am not such a fan of the brightly-lit room. I remember enjoying Merlin's Magic Castle at Walibi World and also Houdini's Great Escape at Bellewaerde too, whereas Europa Park's (by Mack) is extremely ordinary. Regarding the more classic-style ones, I've only done the one that was at Blackpool, and also one at the end of Alpine Hotel which is a German transportable fun house. Neither of them do anything for me as the trick is not convincing at all, but I love what Vekoma have done with the idea since. I think Legoland Windsor is getting one this year which I'm looking forward to as it has the potential to be really unique.

In news unlikely to shock anyone, VR has finally been removed from Galactica (Air): http://riderater.co.uk/7438/galactica-vr-removed-from-alton-towers-rollercoaster

She's a beauty! The blue and white together look wonderful. Always hard to tell how these things will ride, so hopefully soon I will be able to get over to Japan and give it a go.

Gerstlauer were my first thought too. Changes to classic rides always make me a bit apprehensive, but it looks like they've done a great job here and I'm really happy to see they're investing in the coaster.

But if it was its own park, wouldn't you have to buy an additional entrance ticket which would make it even more expensive? At least by adding it to an existing park you get better value for money out of your outrageous ticket price.

Oh this looks fun. I do really love these 'bit of everything' style layouts which mix inversions, twists and airtime hills.

I would visit Parc Asterix in that case, I think Disney is more of a park to immerse yourself in for a few days. Parc Asterix has some pretty good coasters and has some really quirky theming too, it's also really easy to get to either by shuttle or even by using an Uber if there are a few of you.

No, Thirteen at Alton Towers does, plus Inferno at Cinecittà World.

That was the educated guess of a lot of people, but I don't believe it will be part of the dungeon. The CATCF boat ride definitely is though.

...but we didn't even need to lose it for a coaster anyway, the ride takes up no room at all really. It's just another example of Merlin not looking after their rides properly. It will be nice to see a new coaster there, though, it's been a while.

If you want to recreate the disappointment of the Fyre Festival, you can now do so by booking an optimistically named 'Star Gazing Pod', Alton Towers' latest accommodation offering. For around £100 a night (plus £10 for towels), you can now truly say you're happier than a pig in mud thanks to their similarity with farmyard pig shelters. In other news, Merlin have announced Nemesis Sub-Terra and Twirling Toadstool (Waveswinger) are both now permanently closed. Nemesis Sub-Terra was pretty poor in the first season, but I quite enjoyed it once they made some improvements. The Alton Towers Dungeon is new, however, replaces Charlie in the Chocolate Factory, and will cost £7.50 on top of the £56 entrance fee (which has gone up from last year, naturally). Image: TowersStreet Image: Not TowersStreet

Another day, another ride closure announced by Merlin. "It’s with a heavy heart that we announce the time has come to say goodbye to a much loved ride here at Thorpe Park Resort and what was the UK’s tallest log flume, Logger’s Leap. Later on this year, fans of the ride will get the chance to own a piece of Logger’s Leap memorabilia via an online auction. We’ll be revealing which props and elements of the ride are up for grabs in an exclusive auction in May. Keep an eye on our social channels for details nearer the time." Source: Facebook The ride had been closed for the last three seasons with the park saying the area was under redevelopment and that the flume would be 'splashing back'. Although Loggers was largely uneventful, the last drop was fantastic, and it was a nice antidote to the rest of the doom-and-gloom-inspired attractions around the park. In line with Merlin ride removal corporate policy, no replacement yet. The last few years have flume by

Thanks for the pictures, I was wondering yesterday how construction was coming along as this is likely to be a very difficult build. It will definitely be interesting following this one. This will be a perfect case study to use for whenever someone says a park 'doesn't have room for a new coaster' for generations to come.

I didn't manage to get there last season because the park was either closed, or I knew it would be packed. Even with Wickerman there, I don't feel I really missed it. With the park closed on off peak days, the short opening times, staggered ride openings and the number of closed rides, it seems to be very difficult to avoid the queues. I prefer just to fly to the continent and visit some of the parks there instead.

The hyperbole is unbearable! There were a couple of interesting bits, though, so thanks for the link.

Thanks for another great trip report. Disney definitely went big with Shanghai. What were the queues like? It didn't look too busy from your photos, but I know with the huge pathways it is very good at dealing with crowds there. I have a question on single rider queues (and Fast Pass too, I guess); do they skip any of the 'good bits' of the queue? I want to make sure my first rides on Pirates and Tron are memorable, so if it skips the pre-show(s) then for at least the first time I'll probably slum it in the standby queue with the great unwashed. Thanks again, and looking forward to your Ocean Park review.

Thanks for the report, I'm planning a trip in 2020 so there's a lot of useful information here. It looks like a nice park and I am looking forward to hearing from some of the other parks on your trip

Olympia Looping. What an amazing roller coaster. I can't believe it is transportable and how good layout is considering the crap other manufacturers were churning out before computer aided design. It's incredible seeing it run with four trains too, I would love to see it on five trains one day.