Theme Park Girl

So this Daily Mail news article has been released in regards to the Smiler incident. One of the victims has given a detailed recollection of what happened leading up to, during, and after the crash.... EXCLUSIVE - Our agony on The Smiler: Alton Towers victim reveals the hell of waiting hours for rescue and how he comforted his girlfriend who lost a leg that 'nothing would change between them' Very interesting (and also somewhat horrifying) read Thoughts?

I second the weight issues specifically with both the Claw & Scooby Doo, have also witnessed them myself. The latter I saw someone of larger size turned down for a couple of weeks ago because staff couldn't get the lap bar to lock in. The trains for Scooby are pretty tiny.

A great family attraction. It may not entirely appeal me personally, or to our age/target group overall (ie. thrillseeking adults) but it's the only full ride at Movieworld that an entire family can go on simultaneously, due to its low height requirement. My 5 year old absolutely loves it, it's his favourite ride.

I don't think the issue at hand is the routine ride maintenance. Most parks can handle downtime of their attractions through both peak and off-peak seasons without causing any dramas. You certainly don't hear anybody complaining about Dreamworld atm, despite the fact they have recently been rotating through certain attractions for annual maintenance. It's the unexpected breakdowns coupled with the routine maintenance that people are pissed about, especially when the park hasn't a huge amount of rides on offer to begin with.

Exactly. There is a difference between someone paying full price with the intention of going on as many rides as possible, and someone paying full price to enter the park all day without the intention of going on any rides (ie. a pregnant lady) which they knowingly do so at their own financial loss. Those who attend to ride rides expect the park to at least provide such options in the first place, they aren't exactly an added bonus. Let's face it, would people still be willing to pay around $100 a ticket to enter a theme park with minimal or no rides? I doubt it. I know I wouldn't T&C can state whatever they like to cover their park's butt, but at the end of the day its all about providing a decent level of customer service and demonstrating goodwill toward those who are essentially keeping them in business. And that's what matters at the end of the day. VRTP should at the very least be trying to compensate their visitors for not being able to meet their minimal expectations, even if its out of their control. Not just continuing to charge them full price and by doing so, essentially saying to them "tough luck, it's not our fault that our rides are closed." That's not a good way to operate a business.

Lol, I should consider myself lucky that I married a fellow theme park buff.... we regularly attend them together even whilst the kids are at school, they are our second (third, forth, fifth) home apart from work Always talking about them when we aren't. And we've had great lengthy discussions about this accident at Alton Towers recently, speculating on what could have gone wrong and what will happen with it now. I really hope they don't pull this coaster down. I admit I hadn't heard much about it prior 'till now, but have spent recent days looking up lots of videos and info about it. Strangely enough I want to ride it now, despite it having just played host to an accident. Am I crazy??? They will make it safer than ever now though, right? If they do decide to keep it?? These sort of accidents are few and far between, so they never really put me off wanting to ride again lol... although I am very aware this particular coaster has been notorious for causing drama ever since it was installed a couple of years back. I just love the crazy design of it. Along with its crazy-assed theme music.

​I think you'll find that the deadmau5/Disney collaboration for Fantasia never actually eventuated, and probably never will. The only reason it was brought up to begin with was as a form of counterclaim evidence by Joel that Disney was well aware of him - and his logo - many years before they decided to take legal action against him. There hasn't been any recent news that I am aware of in regards to that. Funnily enough, they haven't had any issue with him previously trademarking his logo in 30 other countries And he had been using it well before he became a globally recognised music producer. So he has a very legitimate counterclaim against them. And I am all for companies defending their intellectual property, but when a giant such as Disney is picking on mere painted murals on the walls of small family owned childcare centers and claiming it is damaging their reputation/brand, it seems a little overkill to me. Certainly not comparable to that of downloading pirated movies/music, either... something which I can see could clearly do otherwise and have no dispute over. There is also such thing as fair use of trademarked intellectual property. Obviously this is something that I am sure we could continue to discuss/debate further, but I have a feeling that by doing so we are probably going to derail the topic even further than it already has been. Happy to do so in another topic if you like. But essentially I just wanted to explain my reasons for not prioritising a visit to Disneyland and also to stress that its nothing against the park itself. Just comes down to personal views

Lol whoa, what did I start By all means, I'm not saying anything negative about Disneyland, I know its extremely popular and have heard all about how its this magical place to go to - since birth, in fact I just meant that it personally doesn't appeal to me as much as some of the other parks do. Tbh I'm not really much of a Disney fan to begin with, that and I've not always been impressed with the way the company has portrayed itself (ie. suing/bullying childcare centers and other small businesses for alleged copyright issues - including against deadmau5, my favourite music artist) which I admit has left me with a bit of a sour impression of them. Then there is this latest situation with them laying off 250 of their tech workers and making them train their overseas replacements (ie. this and this) which I'm not impressed about. So yeah, I admit that this has turned me off wanting to go to Disneyland a bit, but that's just my personal choice. Nothing against the park itself. I'm just happier to invest my cash in other ones which appeal to me more and that I don't hold somewhat negative views toward the owning company about.

Yeah I don't blame them either for being pissed off... have been saying and thinking for a while now that I'd hate to be a full paying visitor to MW or SW atm with so many of their attractions currently shut or demolished. Even Sea World only has 3 rides at the moment (Jet Rescue, Storm, Flume) and the latter is the only one suitable for children of a younger age. So with the Kid's area closed, there really isn't all that much for them to do, other than just play in the jungle playground in Castaway Bay. And check out the animals, of course. They really need to do something with the old Corkscrew/Pirate area of the park.

Last week my husband and I went to Seaworld in the morning to check out Creatures of the Deep. Picked the kids up from school that afternoon and then went back again so they could see it too. We told the lady at the ticket booth we had already been in that morning, she just sighted our passes and didn't scan them, only our kids' ones. So apparently it's not a rule they hold firmly. We've done the same thing at Dreamworld as well and they have let us back in on the same day, although they did tell us about the stamp out option for next time.

Good. I must have spent a good 10 minutes yelling abuse and criticism at my phone screen whilst watching that interview. I know there was a pre-warning about it, but damn..... she fired me up ???

I can't really make any suggestions as I haven't been overseas yet. But my dream holiday (which will hopefully happen sooner than later) consists of a trip to the Los Angeles region of the U.S and includes visits to Universal Studios, Six Flags Magic Mountain & Seaworld San Diego. And mayyyybe Disneyland, but tbh it's not high up on my list like the other parks are. Would also love to visit West Edmonton Mall in Canada one day too, and ride the Mindbender ??

Wow! So the testing continues. Good stuff ???

Former staff are stating that a combination of both human and ride system are likely at fault for this incident taking place: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jun/03/human-error-likely-in-alton-towers-smiler-crash-former-staff-claim That video is fairly disturbing. Hearing someone screaming out "STOP THE F&@KING RIDE!" over and over sent chills down my spine ???

Hmmm..... interesting. MW website says "The GREEN LANTERN Coaster is currently closed, re-opening date to be advised." Has it always said that? Or was it "closed until further notice" or something beforehand? The way it is worded atm does suggest that they do intend to re-open it at some stage. But then again who knows

Almost. You said 'mine tide', hahahaha ;p Richard, I apologise for being one of the people guilty of posting a meme. It was an attempt to bring some light humour into a tense situation, but I understand now that I probably assisted in detailing the topic even more by doing so (not that I have been online to see it, have been at work all night) so yeah... sorry ???

​Oh neither do I, and I wouldn't expect them to just for that attraction alone. But the rest of the exhibit blends in pretty well with the regular surroundings. Its just that corner which doesn't. Felt that way even before Creatures Of The Deep opened, it's just even more obvious now that the land really needs to be utilised in some way. Would be hard for visitors who have been to places like Disneyland and other massive parks overseas to come to our SW and see so much of it currently closed for renovation, and/or completely empty/scarce. I'd imagine that they wouldn't feel like they are getting their $$'s worth if they are paying for regular day tickets. Hopefully they do something with it soon, even if its just to add some plantation or something a bit easier on the eye until they decide on something more permanent.

Geez they really need to do something with that old pirate ship/corkscrew area, don't they? The creatures in that area look awesome but their background looks very plain with the filled-in land, sand and boulders etc. Otherwise it all looks amazing ??? I have the day off work on Wed so will be going then to check it all out

Random article in the paper today about Ardent Leisure:

​I agree with a previous poster who said that the red lights created a height illusion effect, making you feel like you were up a heck of a lot higher. After watching an older video yesterday of Scooby when it first opened, it brought back memories of when I first rode it and it gave me the exact same feeling. Plus I think the room looks cooler. But also worth noting that red is also my fave colour lol ​You would have hated it a few weeks back then, when they had a bright spotlight turned on at the bottom of the lift shaft, so you could see exactly what your car was pulling into I actually thought it was an odd new permanent addition at the time, alas its gone now lol.

Ok after today I've concluded that the end Scooby is completely random and erratic! I rode it with my daughter around 4, and yep, mouth was moving - and very erratically, as it was doing it even before/after the voice audio had played lol. Daughter went on again with hubby around 4.45pm. She said that time round, the end Scooby's mouth wasn't moving. Strange, huh? In other Scooby coaster news, it seems it's been under a bit of minor maintenance in the past week. A lot of the lighting effects both in the castle and on the actual ride have indeed improved, seems quite a few broken light bulbs have been replaced. Even the fake fire lanterns above either side of the hallway entrance are working again. Sadly enough, the red vertical lights in the warehouse are still nowhere to be seen, though They really need to bring those back!

It was like a half waist-high door, like this....

Yep, more like a rubbish/storage area. I admit I'm sad to see Chinatown Alley go. I still remember when it was the busy grand entrance for the "all new" Lethal Weapon and how excited my best friend and I used to feel walking down there toward the ride. And the super long queue we had to wait in at the end of it, esp. During the holidays. Ahh. Good times ???

It's gone. Was looking for it last night to compare, but seems it was in another topic this has since been removed/deleted (the one with andrewh's trasspassing photos I think) as I couldn't find the response post I made to it in my post history.

They have the bigass double doors on the opposite side of the room for that