KarlaKoaster

You spared no expense with your Jurassic Park reference. Clever girl. Thanks for all the pictures. It seems like only yesterday that vertical construction started.

Oh I wasn't doubting him to be honest, I just wanted the confidence to say "thanks for confirming" I didn't expect anything close to a layout change, but wondered if some of the elements might be smoothed out a little, but I'm happy for a simple CTRL+P of the existing layout

Tobi has some serious skills! Thanks for the video, I can't wait to see the real thing

I didn't expect anything major anyway, so I don't mind either way. Where did you hear this out of interest?

It might only be the angle of the photo to be honest, I only mentioned it as a possibility. It's crazy how different the same inversion can look from different angles. Nemesis' first inversion looks quite dull in this photo for example: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7124/7700160684_06a8f9d481_b.jpg

Hulk's corkscrew has been installed. It looks like it has the same trajectory through the whole element and that there's not much of a snap at the top, but it's hard to tell whether it's the angle, or even whether it was exactly this shape before. I suspect the only changes we'll see to the layout will be to smooth out some of the transitions so the ride is smoother and to reduce wear and tear. Image thanks to Attractions Magazine.

It doesn't bother me, I just think it's funny that's all.

Isn't G Force at Drayton Manor basically 180-degrees steep?! Plus it's the most boring record ever, I don't even know why they'd market that! It looks such an incredible layout, I can't wait to hear what our Emirates contingent think of it I hope to be there for a couple of months from June.

The red one, Chinese Fireball. The Hungarian Horntail is really good, but Chinese FIreball is head and shoulders above this one in my opinion. The pacing is a lot better, I prefer the elements at the beginning with the airtime* hill and the second inversion, and the ending is better paced. Apart from that they're pretty similar. (* There's not too much airtime**, so don't get too excited!) (** This is not a general "B&Ms have no airtime" complaint!)

There's a long road ahead for Paramount but there seems to be good momentum behind it, it's a solid project and the majority of locals seem to be very positive about it. Chessington had 1.6m in 2014, not sure about last season. I'm really excited for Blackpool's new ride, whatever it ends up being. Anything to keep Merlin looking over their shoulders is a good thing, and I think Blackpool is a really, really, REALLY underrated park. Unlike Drayton and Merlin parks, they've spent so much money on tidying the place up!

Yes, sorry, didn't mean to suggest that they don't care about visitor numbers full stop, just that their priority is the bottom line and keeping shareholders happy. Of course I understand that this is how businesses work, and that they're completely entitled to run their parks how they feel fit, but I think the difference between Merlin vs Disney (and a lot of other parks) is that Disney seem to want to entertain guests (who will then go on to spend money), whereas Merlin just want to make money even though their 'business' is to entertain people. Merlin are like second-only to Disney, though, so obviously it's working for them and their shareholders. Oh yes, I totally get that. I don't think anyone can argue there's been a distinct drop in quality though. I've been visiting Chessington and Thorpe Park for years now, but it's only been the last few years that I've just totally lost interest. I think Chessington really started turning a corner and then ever since they started tearing down theming that was falling apart and not replacing it, and then also not really installing anything new, then I just fell out of love and honestly, haven't really missed it since. Anyway, none of this is a huge deal to me really, I was mainly just responding to 1aflack. Like I say, they're making money and the shareholders are happy, and there's plenty of other parks for me to visit so it's no biggie Oh, cookiex, they're making progress with Paramount and more land has been purchased, but the opening date has been pushed back to 2021. There's a lot of red tape!

Most of Merlin's attractions are style over substance, anyway. I don't think they care so much about visitor numbers anymore, it's just a case of extracting as much money out of each guest, and things like accommodation help them do this. I, meanwhile, haven't had a Merlin pass for several years now (many of the things on it I was just visiting for the sake of visiting), I've not been to Chessington for about 4-or-5 years now, Thorpe Park for about 3 years (both are my closest parks at the moment) and Alton Towers only once a year, and if the reviews of Galactica aren't incredible, I might take a year off from there, too. Having said all that, if that's how they want to do business, that's fine. Every operator has a different business model. I just think their way of running parks is pretty cynical and goes against the whole spirit of entertaining visitors, which is why it's a free market and I'm lucky to live in Europe with so many other great parks, and with easy, relatively cheap access to long haul flights elsewhere too.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane... I love Islands! Is Hulk missing the fibreglass cover on the zero car on the pic of it coming out of the tunnel? Was this so they could mount cameras there or something? Thanks again!

I'm pretty sure it'll be nothing drastic. There's been no groundwork other than to replace the existing footers so it will probably either be identical, or possibly slightly refined to smooth out some of the elements. I'm also sure the Universal marketing machine would be hyping it up if it was anything else

Oh that's true, I should mention I rode DK a couple of years ago before the reports of excessive braking on the mid-course.

Now that I think about it, Port Aventura has two very good B&Ms in DK and Shambhala. Dragon Khan I would say is a little behind Kumba in terms of intensity, but it's like a hair's width to be honest. I find it a lot more intense than Nemesis and Montu, and the second half is better than Hulk. If you like B&M Hypers I think you'd love Shambhala. I've ridden Apollo's Chariot, Nitro, Silver Star etc and I'd rank it above those by some margin although I've not done Raging Bull or Fury. The camelback hill after the first drop has some brilliant airtime and I love the ampersand followed by the little airtime hill. It's a really good layout and honestly one of my favourite B&Ms.

Thanks for the pics! This pic... ...reminds me of... ...one of those houses in China where the occupier refuses to move when they build a new road

I agree A.J., this has been my theory since page 52. I also wonder if the trains might be similar to Skyrush's seating wise which would explain the walkways on the lift. The track does look very wide too, I thought this when I saw pictures of it on the back of the lorry.

I'm not sure, maybe there will be some kind of theming element here and it will all make sense. Looking forward to seeing the trains!

It's in spanish, but it's in this article on PAC. It basically says that between 2010 and 2014, the park has gone from having 600.000 annual visitors to 1.6 million and are wanting to open up to an even more international market, similar to PortAventura. It also says that there are expansions currently in progress (including an on site hotel and new attraction) for 2017. That's fantastic news, I really liked Parque Warner when I visited and am really happy that it is gaining popularity. A hotel should definitely help, particularly as it is a bit out of the city. Regarding PortAventura, thanks for the artwork, I can definitely see a twist. Hopefully it wasn't a case that the artist was just told to copy Kingda Ka or TTD, and honestly the twist on a shorter ride could be even better than on TTD or Kingda Ka. Also, from Screamscape: "While the plan is to allow guests only interested in Ferrari Land to buy admission to just that area through a separate entrance, the land will also be accessible to PortAventura guests through a separate entrance within the main theme park. This is where things are more up in the air, as admission to Ferrari Land may be included to regular PortAventura guests, or they may offer it as a separate small upcharge item." Obviously it's just speculation, but that sounds like a reasonable approach if they really must charge (which I guess is part of the licensing agreement they have with Ferrari)

I didn't realise Parque Warner was expanding! I couldn't see any news on this anywhere else on the forum.

RCS, not RMC (I know, I have RMC on the mind too haha) But yes, they're the best at what they do, and specialise in coaster construction so it's great to see the coaster going up so quickly. You're lucky to live in such an amazing city so close to a great resort

If I didn't know Mack were building this, and someone asked me who the manufacturer was, I'd probably say Pax

Duelling? I hadn't even thought about that. It just keeps getting better and better. I need to lay down.

Thanks for the pictures, and for your mockup! Was there any sign of a bigger crane on site as I guess they'll have to think about using that soon? Looks like they're making amazing progress though.