KarlaKoaster

I realise I could lose any street cred I had left by making this observation as this is 'peak geek', but I noticed there is no antirollback noise at all. It looks like B&M are using the same system as Intamin now where rollback dogs only engage when the train slows/stops as it appears there is a fin to the right of the antirollbacks.

Yes, I think that was always the assumption. I think it's a combination of not needing to open it for the games, the fact the area is quite compact and relies on touchy-feely elements like the AR binoculars, plus I guess construction did slow down as a result of coronavirus. My expectation would be that they will open it at least a few months before the games, because then at least they can take advantage of tourists during the busy Spring season and then can hopefully enjoy a second wave (the good kind) should the games take place as normal.

Yes, loading odds and cleaning evens and alternating after every cycle seems to be a decent compromise. Hopefully once they find their stride they'll be able to improve the process.

Here's some drone footage of FLY. I am really excited about this ride as I have absolutely no expectations of what it will be like. This whole area looks really overwhelming, the walls make it look like they've forgotten to put the lid on an enclosed coaster. Source: nicoxx68xx on Youtube

Super Nintendo World in Universal Studios Japan has been delayed. No new date announced yet. The construction (from the outside) looked close to completion but not sure how much work was left on the inside. This new land looks amazing, but totally understand why it has been delayed, both for commercial and practicality reasons. TDR Explorer (in English) NHK News Web (in Japanese)

Crazy how Six Flags seems to be doing a better job than the Seaworld parks. The operations seem to be borderline bonkers, but it doesn't look much better at Seaworld in that respect either.

Wow, this is a surprise! I thought it was curtains since the coasters ended up at Tripsdrill. It makes sense that there'll be a few years before they open as hopefully there will be some kind of upswing in the tourism industry by then.

I adore Splash Mountain, but the Song of the South has sat uncomfortably with me for several years and I think this is a classy response by Disney that by including their first black princess goes further than I expected. I'm cautiously excited about the future for the ride.

Thank you. Yeah, I think there's light at the end of the tunnel but I'm not 100% sure yet if it's daylight or a train coming the other way. I think we were too slow to lockdown and too slow to take testing seriously, but our health service wasn't overwhelmed and the government here has an extremely generous furlough scheme which has meant staff are paid 80% of their salary by the state. This has undoubtedly saved companies and saved jobs.

The government in the UK have announced today that theme parks will be able to open from 4th of July, so Alton Towers (along with all Merlin parks, Blackpool and Paultons etc) will be reopening. In addition to my previous post masks will be required on most major rides/coasters within the park. I'm not in a rush to visit but probably will at some point as I have a season pass.

Thinking about the Grand National at Blackpool, I don't really see any problems specific to racing coasters. Each side is not really that close and it looks the same at Kennywood. The only thing I can think of being a problem is unloading two trains at the same time, but that's quite easy to work around. Sorry if I'm missing something obvious here.

I didn't realise this was the oldest theme park in the UK. Normally administration means the park is essentially taken over by accountants who look to salvage the park and either sell it on or wind it down. This happened to Fantasy Island and arguably the administrators did a better job of running the park than the previous owners! The 'gates will not be opening again' line sounded pretty certain, but the quote from the owner at least makes it sound like they are at least hoping there is some way out. M&Ds in Scotland also went into administration a while ago, but I feel like this park has been circling the drain for a few years with the accident on their Pinfari invert not helping and covid being either the final straw or the perfect excuse to call it a day.

Thanks for taking the time to explain about the laws surrounding reopenings, AJ, that's really interesting. I feel like Seaworld's plans were well intentioned but badly managed. I can't wait to hear follow-up reports to see if they nip the problem in the bud. For me the lack of people wearing masks was a self-fulfilling prophecy in that as soon as a few people go unchallenged, everyone else thinks 'why bother' and give up and it snowballs from there. It's sort of like a gum wall where as soon as one person sticks some gum there and it's not removed, everyone does it!

When Seaworld did their presentation to Orange County last month, they said masks would be mandatory and social distancing measures would be in place. If this continues not to be enforced, could Orange County take measures against the park? For example fining them or telling them to temporarily close? In the UK (not a model template in dealing with coronavirus, for sure) companies have to be 'covid secure' prior to reopening and can be fined/closed if they don't follow guidance. I was wondering if it was the same in the US as I'm not really sure how these things work there.

Hong Kong Disneyland is reopening on 18 June after being closed since January. All the usual measures will be in place including requirement of online reservation, masks/face coverings and temperature checks at entry. Along with social distancing measures and additional cleaning guests also have to fill in a health declaration prior to visiting.

This part of things just seems well intentioned but kind of pointless. They're going to block off half the seats and enforce that we keep a distance between everyone else on the ride...including the people we came with, that we live with and drove to the park with, etc etc? They'd be able to get much closer to normal capacity if they could just let groups distance from other groups. I suppose it's not like they can trust people to have common sense to just keep distance away from people they aren't normally on top of. Half the country has shown to have none of that at all. Normally they'll try and keep groups together on rides with wider seating - so on B&Ms, rides with bench seating etc they'd keep groups of four together. But obviously on 2-across seating they'd probably split groups into pairs. Strictly speaking I suppose they could just keep an empty row between each group but it's probably faster just to have every other row empty.

I'm really surprised and disappointed in Seaworld. It's generally a very quiet park, has a lot of space and has everything going for it to set the gold standard in safety measures. There's no point having rules if you let people break them, otherwise it's just meaningless lip service. There are a lot of rules in place to keep people safe in a theme park. If someone stands up on a ride they'll be told to sit down, just as if someone takes their mask off they should be told to put it on. If guests can't follow the rules, they shouldn't visit. If the park can't enforce the rules, it shouldn't open. The virus doesn't respect park boundaries, so they're not just putting these measures in place for their guests and so-called ambassadors, they have an obligation for the wider community.

Ah I think so! Thanks for that. My understanding is that the times you feel it are the only times it moves (it's stationary for the actual ride I think, in the same way Carousel of Progress stops to allow people to board), but nevertheless it's such a great solution and really seamlessly integrated. What I love about things like this (and the carousel screens on Forbidden Journey) is that it's this amazing tech that is basically invisible and the average rider wouldn't even know it exists. It reminds me of that Arthur C Clarke quote that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

I couldn't find a video which had an animation of this, but I found this image on Reddit which hopefully answers your question. I believe the doors you might walk past in the corridor close in such a way they're disguised with the panelling on the wall. Then all the ride vehicles are on turntables (apart from the ones for disabled riders) which slowly turn during the ride and in between loading/unloading of other ride vehicles.

Well, I'm not about to start picking holes in South Korea's coronavirus response considering they have lead a masterclass in dealing with the outbreak. I think many countries could learn a thing or two from them.

Yeah, I nearly mentioned this the other day that the B&M Wing Riders were basically built for social distancing.

Oh this is shame, it's like the end of an era. Between him and Oscar Bruch they bought so many incredible rides to the German fair scene (and beyond). The model coaster is an extension that was planned for Olympia Looping which never happened. The economics no longer make sense anymore unfortunately, and the glory days of gigantic rides debuting at German fairs are now a distant memory unfortunately.

I'll be visiting parks I have an annual pass for as I don't feel the pressure to ride lots of rides or even have a good day. I can just walk around, experience it for myself and ride whatever I feel comfortable with, and if I don't enjoy it or feel safe, I can just leave. If I lived in Orlando, for example, I'm sure I would have gone to Universal already but I don't feel I would have actually ridden much - probably a few rides here and there, eating a meal or something, but that's probably it. I will probably think about visiting a few smaller parks to support them later this year when things here begin to open up (eg, Paultons), but anything more ambitious than that would be a pleasant surprise and not something I'm expecting anytime soon.

Running rides less will definitely save money, both in terms of staffing and maintenance. Things like shorter days, closing certain days of the week (like Seaworld appear to be doing) and shortening the season will all help achieve this. Likewise, operating with fewer trains will help. Alton Towers has run a masterclass in money saving over the last few years by mothballing some rides for a season (Hex), removing others that require lots of staff (Nemesis: Sub Terra), replacing others with upcharge attractions (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and removing maintenance money pits (Ripsaw), so we can expect to see a few things like this too. Other things include closing less-popular food locations, simplifying menus and cutting the entertainment budget (particularly roaming characters etc).

Haha yes, I think I subconsciously assume it's 'just' France that's easily accessible through the tunnel, not Belgium etc too. I think I will want to do a lot of these quick little European jaunts once we can travel again, especially ones that avoid planes assuming social distancing will still be a thing, so I'll add this to the list.