I was looking to go last weekend but after I'd sat in the car park for half an hour (would have got there at about 12), Wipeout, enigma, Fireball and JR hadn't even shown a trace of being in operation. Entrance price rise as well? Go away.....

I really think this place is going to the dogs. Two years of literal rubbish in terms of investment, and now they can't even keep the main rides open. In peak season.

I wouldn't be surprised if future years follow the same pattern. Most parks in the UK are stuck in a rut, and if they do get something big it's a bit of a risk. The only acceptation to this is Paultons, but that's in a prime location, within reach of London, Bournemouth, Poole and Portsmouth. By contrast, look at PWH. Yes, it's the main park in the east, but you could get to Thorpe park or Alton within 3-4 hours from around here. Flamingo land or LWV have the same problem, way out of reach. What have they managed in the past few years? Got rid of one of the best flat rides in (debatably) Europe and put in a Zamperla torture machine where you lie in a cage. This is why Merlin can't be arsed. Alton's in a decent shape, but Thorpe really isn't. Everywhere looks tatty, colossus really, really needs to be painted and they've went 4 years without a thrilling ride. I'm not saying DBGT is bad, in fact, looking at it doesn't look bad at all, but an I'm a celebrity maze? Chessington's in even worse of a shape, dragon falls is most likely going to be axed, vampires getting on in life and they can't even keep Rameses open on a quiet day. There's no competition for them, and midway attractions make far more money. Paramount won't happen, so it's up to smaller parks to provide that competition. Will that ever be the case, no one knows, but maybe it will happen.

Happy to report that after a visit today, everything seems (well, mostly anyway) to be in good order. I'll write in this thread because I don't have enough material for a full TR. Wipeout was running really well with minimal head banging, fireball was on a great setting and there was no down time at all apart from MM in the rain and wind for a very brief period. Everything was being run efficiently and the new chair swing area is very well landscaped. On top of that, it was an unexpectedly good ride. Quite a lot of people where there despite the threat of rain so it's not all doom and gloom.   

Just come across this on YouTube...

Wonder what protocol they have to follow in an event like that? I'd imagine they'd have to inspect the ride thoroughly. There was a news paper article on it I think. They where smart publically advertising themselves trespassing..... 

What happened too them little shi(don't swear....)'s that broke into the sweet shop in the off season last year? That sweet shop's now closed (it's a normal food/drink outlet stall now if I remember), it wouldn't have had anything to do with the vandalism would it?

I don't care if they put themselves in danger either. At the risk of sounding horrible, I wouldn't care if they fell 30 meters from the lift spike, it's their problem for being there. It's the same thing for railways, you'd think it would be pretty self explanatory not too play around with 25,000 volts of electricity and 100 mph trains, but people still do. Like all of those things with the b&m inverts hitting people in the head who went in off limit areas , it's just common sense. Wonder if they got caught? If they did, they probably only get a fine at the magistrates or some stupid community service.

Then hopefully they'll get charged. What if they'd (grasping at straws here, not saying they did damage) damaged the lift mechanism or did something to the op panel? Assuming this where to happen, then if they where charged it would be for simple trespass. Might be able to get them for criminal damage as well, but they could only have a very small fine imposed on them at county/magistrates courts. The only way to get more compensation would be to appeal the case to the crown court/court of appeal.

Sneaking into places out of hours (especially parks) is utterly stupid. They could cause damage weather intentional or not and probably put their own lives and possibly those of others in danger. Then the governments legislation would shift the favour to their side of the argument when they hurt themselves because there was a small gap in the fence of something, suddenly meaning that the park owes a duty of care to the trespassers.   

And there's not an effective deterrent to stop it. Magistrates can enforce a maximum fine of £5000 but that fine is rarely used. What if someone did more damage to a ride than that? The park would have to appeal and spend their money on appealing. Just imagine if an accident happened because of a trespass. Something serious happens then the park foots the bill and gets it's reputation ruined by the media constantly referring to it because of someone else's stupidity. Things like this need to have more serious consequences for the above reasons.  

Saw this outside the castle today. Cute nod to Blobby.