KarlaKoaster

Yes, reducing their opening times was another one of the cutbacks they made, along with closing on weekdays (eg, Monday-Wednesdays in September and October), closing food kiosks and quick service restaurants, mothballing or removing rides, closing Splash Landings for six months of the year and making a few hundred staff redundant over the last few years. They were making cutbacks even before Smiler crashed, but since then they have accelerated.

From TowersStreet: So Nemesis and Galactica will only open for 4-5 hours per day and the Rapids is just a seasonal attraction (of course, there's no such thing as seasonal pricing at the park to reflect this). It's really sad to see how Alton Towers is being run into the ground by Merlin. It's just not a fun place to visit any more.

But that increase only lasted a year. By 2011 it was back down to the same level as 2009, and by 2012 it was even lower still. If a park spends millions on a new coaster, they would surely want more from it than just a 3% increase for a single year? Thirteen doesn't seem like a very good ROI to me. If a 3% increase for a single year is evidence that this tactic works, then what about all the other parks that don't employ this tactic and still get an increase of 3% or more? What about Europa Park which has seen a steady increase in attendance year-on-year? Exactly, and that's what everybody is saying; it will be a fun ride, just like Thirteen is a fun ride. But 'fun' is not the message coming from marketing. Every time Alton Towers or Merlin lie and make up some dubious 'world first' claim, it just stinks of them having no confidence in their own product. The park did a poll of what coasters were people's favourites in 2010. Despite the fact it was new, and despite the hype, Thirteen came bottom and Nemesis came top. To me that sounds like the symptoms of an overhyped ride. I hope none of this comes across as rude, it's all meant in the nicest possible way

I visited last week and I was amazed how busy the park was, but fortunately I planned like a ninja before we left - my friends all gently mocked me for getting Fastpass+ a month in advance for what was supposed to be a quiet week and stressing out about timings/restaurant reservations, but I had the last laugh when we walked onto almost all of the e-ticket rides, had time to have a proper sit-down meal and then only had to queue for Seven Dwarfs and a couple of re-rides. It also gave us time to do things like the People Mover and Carousel of Progress which I hadn't done before. It's really good Disney are filling the parks; a busy park is a successful park (at least when it is a well-run park). Hollywood Studios was bit of a buzzkill because a lot of things were closed with the redevelopment but obviously this is a necessary evil and hopefully it will be worth the wait(times). I planned ahead again, so still managed to get on everything.

I guess each park could have a different agreement. Paultons for example might have paid more to have exclusivity.

Thanks for this. I guess this is another prototype? I guess it isn't routine for them to build part of a new coaster if there isn't something new to test right?

No charges pressed against ride operator and state inspector following the Ohio State Fair accident: http://kticradio.com/abc_national/teens-death-on-ohio-state-fair-ride-results-in-no-charges-for-inspectors-abcid36004810/

Everytime I see this thread, my first thought is Big Thunder Mountain

Another vote for Europa and Phantasialand. Europa is at least a two day park, if not more. If you can only do a day there I'd say you'd miss all the little details that make it so amazing. Phantasialand you could probably rush in a day but it's starting to become a two-day park for me now. Heide Park I would only recommend if Colossus is open. Other than that it's quite generic.

Video from TubeRides' Youtube channel of the ride testing, including POV footage. At the moment riders are wearing wetsuits, helmets and possibly back protection, but not sure if this is just for the testing stage or whether this would be a permanent requirement. I still quite like the appeal of not knowing when you're going to stop/start although it's probably a 'once and done' kinda experience. We'll see - it's certainly an interesting concept!

Oh good! Last I had heard Hollenblitz was coming this year instead of Olympia Looping but it's nice to see that Looping is coming back. Who knows, maybe they'll get both? Yes, I saw the ECC mentioned Hollenblitz would be coming to London which would be an incredible bonus. It's been a long time since I've ridden Hollenblitz and your videos really made me remember what a spectacular (and ridiculous!) coaster this is.

Are the black pieces for indoor sections, and the brown sections outside?

Has it been confirmed that Olympia Looping is coming back to London? They haven't started promoting it yet, but it's definitely is coming.

It will probably have 7 when it comes back to London this November

Most of the rides at Scrapyard Amusement Park are pretty terrible to be honest, particularly Windjammer, but at least they have three B&Ms now.

Don't worry, the clumsy contractors have simply scuffed the track a little when taking it down. It just needs a bit of a touch-up, and we'll be seeing Dragon's Challenge at another park soon, right? RIGHT?! To be honest as soon as they announced it was closing I knew we'd never see the ride again, even if it had more years in it yet. I think Universal are too narcissistic to let anybody else have it. It says something that now I'm looking to Epcot for my next Orlando coaster credit

Everything RMC does looks like a mistake. A wonderful, wonderful mistake.

Ah awesome shot. I love how the trains interact with each other, particularly when all five are running. Such a super-cool ride which I can't wait to go on again in November.

10. Bratwurst. i forgot about food after all that beer,lol, thanks for reminding me 10.Bratwurst 11, Händl(chicken) 12 Bretzel of course 13.Currywurst 14.Spätzle(Noodle with cheese dish) 15.,,,and all the desert dishes which are to many to mention 16. Sexy Girls in Dirndl 17. Cool guys in Lederhosen 18. The garden with drunk guys passing out 19. The After Partys 20. Realising that you are at the best party on earth Please add to the list ..... 21. No queues. I think Olympia Looping gets through something like 2800pph?

Here are some more photos from the Alterface Facebook page - I think this is a really fun theme actually!

We were so lucky to have visionaries like Schwarzkopf. I mean it's incredible how he created such great coasters without even using computer aided design, plus many of his rides are STILL running, and still REALLY good! Olympia Looping with five trains running is such a beautiful sight.

Ah you could be right, I was just putting it out there as a suggestion - I can't really tell the difference between Mack and Gerstlauer track

Could the purpley/pink track be for DC Rivals? Not sure how old the photo is.

They don't look like they're being any more careful in removing Dragons than they were with Hulk to be honest.

It's yet another depressing theme, but at least this time it should be a bit more visually pleasing than rust, shipping containers, barbed wire and CCTV cameras which seem to be Merlin's favourite aesthetic at the moment.