KarlaKoaster

I agree as a temporary measure it's a great idea. Hopefully it won't be a race to the bottom once Merlin realise they can get away with sticking in any old crap though.

When a park buys rides like this it's a bit like a middle aged person buying a supercar. It's totally impractical but it's a lot of fun while it lasts, you just have to make sure you give it a spin when you get the chance, otherwise you'll miss out and regret it for ever more.

This is such a horrible story, and I'm devastated for the people in the capsised boat, but also the people who witnessed it, who were working on the ride, who responded to the accident and the park, even if they are found to have been neglectful.

Visited Paultons Park for the first time yesterday, so my last coaster there was Storm Chaser, a nicely-themed Mack spinner cloned from Knotts' Sierra Sidewinder. Not quite as intense as I was led to believe but such a fun coaster and my favourite spinning coaster in the UK. Sidenote: What a b-e-a-utiful park Paultons is. Makes me realise how most of the Merlin parks in the UK are in absolute rack and ruin. Everything was so pristine and you could tell that would be the way from the moment you drive through the gate. Honestly it is one of the best presented parks I have ever visited and I think if you are visiting the UK this should be on your list above Legoland and Chessington both in terms of the credits* but also the park itself. (* Although having said that, their coasters are clones, but they're clones of good rides at least)

Hopefully it proves the need for support rides and Alton will actually replace some of the spin rides they've removed over the years.

I'm not actually against paying to skip the line, most parks use them after all, but what sucks here is that you will still need the stand by pass just to even queue normally now. I guess they're hoping this forces guests' hands into spending 8€ because they're too impatient to wait for their slot, or because simply they won't get a chance to ride otherwise.

I just edited my post as I realised I had doubts about my translation of the 90-degree 'bosse'. I thought bosse in English meant drop so assumed this would be the first drop, but it could also mean bump which might mean a banked hill or wave turn I guess. If anyone knows for sure I'd love to know.

Tonnerre de Zeus to become Tonnerre 2 Zeus with Gravity Group conversion Next year Parc Asterix will reopen Tonnerre de Zeus as Tonnerre 2 Zeus, a remodelling of the 1997 Custom Coasters International wooden coaster. The work will be done by Gravity Group and will include: A 90-degree 'bump' 2 high speed turns 2 new drops 14 airtime moments New trains A tunnel with special effects I rode TDZ a couple of years ago and it was quite rough but not awful. I am really excited about this and (this might be unpopular) actually more excited about the idea of a Gravity Group than an RMC because I have no idea of what to expect now. I love RMC but I also love surprises so I'm really looking forward to seeing what Gravity Group can do with the ride.

I remember it as Warner Bros. Movie World too and my first visit was in 2001. It was a great park then and I really enjoyed the epic Never Ending Story rapids/dark ride and Lethal Weapon Pursuit which was a really original ride. I seem to remember the Bermuda Triangle dark ride was really good at the time too. I also got to ride Bandit (or Wild Wild West as it was) when it was new. It was terrible even then, and same goes for Eraser (MP-Express). I guess it must be very hard to basically retheme every ride in the park when they lose their IPs like that, but after a few difficult years it seems they are making better decisions now about what rides they add.

I've been following the construction of this while also trying to avoid spoilers, and honestly this looks such a classy ride from what I've seen. I really need to get back to this park as they've added quite a lot since I last visited considering that their two biggest coasters before were just about the two worst coasters I've ridden.

I agree, for me Europa Park is best if you totally immerse yourself in it. The hotel resort is amazing if you stay at Bell Rock or Colosseo because you have four or five of the resort hotels within walking distance so you can walk around in the evening and enjoy everything they have to offer. They're just lovely places to walk around and chill in in the evening. Why do your sister and her husband not want to stay on site? If they're worried about spending too much time in a theme park, I would say they shouldn't worry, and by trying to cram everything into a day it will actually be less enjoyable for them because you'll just have to rush everything and it will be ride-after-ride and you'll miss out on all the things that make EP special. My last visit was with 'normal people' and they were worried about 3 days in a theme park, but it wasn't until we got there that they 'got it' and realised the rides were only part of it. Our evenings in the hotels, taking time with lunch, enjoying all the distractions and entertainment elsewhere in the park were among our favourite memories.

Question 1 and 2 were easy to answer. I think Animal Kingdom actually has one of the most cohesive themes out of any of the Disney parks. California Adventure, meanwhile, has great rides and always has. I even enjoyed visiting when it was generally considered to be a dumpster fire - I always thought it was fun. Things like Radiator Springs have really helped bring it up to Disney quality though even though unlike AK it doesn't really know what it's meant to be. As for which park is best, no idea, they don't really have too much in common for me. I voted for CA but I could easily vote for AK.

Wow that's such a classy promotional video. Also those trains are so long, it's basically an omnimover!

Yes that's right, you can see the Quinjet showbuilding here:

Is it likely to go inside that building on the left? I'm thinking if it is an indoor coaster then something like a well themed Intamin multi-dimensional coaster like Inferno at Cinecitta World might be good.

Although Web Slingers looks really underwhelming, it's great they have a more cohesive Marvel area now that includes Guardians. Great work on the report, really enjoyed your photography!

The only one I've not seen in real life is the new Hong Kong Disneyland version. For me... Disneyland Paris is the prettiest, by far, I love the landscaping around it and the dragon's lair underneath Magic Kingdom is a distant second. I like it a lot but it has always looked a bit utilitarian to me. Unpopular opinion but I prefer the current colourscheme Hong Kong Disneyland looked horrible in the artists' impressions and seemed to be a discombobulated mess, but I actually quite like the final result and I like the significance of how each turret represents a Disney princess. It looks so much better for not being eclipsed by the hills behind Tokyo Disneyland for the scale and silhouette, but it obviously isn't as original as the others Disneyland looks like it should be on a mini golf course and is also not particularly pretty, but it has historical significance for being the first and it's quite cute, which is why it is ahead of... Shanghai Disney is easily my least favourite. It's really inelegant, I think it looks boxy and the spread of it makes it look short and dumpy. I also hate the (lack of) landscaping around it

Sorry you mentioned limiting capacity, but I thought parks were back to near-normal levels of busyness which is what I meant in terms of the illusion (the illusion being that they are limiting capacity). By having park pass but still filling the parks, reservations go fast because of FOMO and then people are staying longer and spending more.

I'm not sure if capacity is being limited or if they're just trying to create the illusion of scarcity to give people a fear of missing out. I also feel that by making park hopping more difficult or less attractive, guest spending per head will increase because they are spending more time in the parks.

Does anyone know what this thingamabob is on top of the lift on Monster? It looks like a small crane/jib. My only thought is that it is to help replace the chain as I guess actual crane access is difficult. This is the most unimportant question in the history of unimportant questions, but it is one of those things that always bugs me when I see it. Photo cropped from original by FABH.Adventures, of course!

Wow, this is a great report. I'm glad you made the most of what seemed to be a really busy day. I think for such an ugly park, Untamed looks like one of the prettiest coasters RMC have done and I do actually quite like the 'nature is taking over' aesthetic.

From the front the wheel cover decals look like eyes, so I think it's just that one of the monsters has green eyes and the other orange. You can see it pretty clearly in FABH Adventures' picture here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CNQDhY_h4-R/

So Grona Lund finally ran out of space and needs to expand? I thought it would never happen! Fingers crossed the appeal goes through.

Thanks for posting, it's good to see decent quality footage and that shows that it seems more often than not they're actually timed to run together. I wasn't even sure in the earlier video whether it had riders on or whether it was just testing.

Great POV of a really nicely presented ride. That first drop looks so good, especially into the first inversion.