Theme Park Obsessed

14/06/2026

Here is the second photo of Nemesis in 1998 vs Nemesis Reborn in 2026! 🦀

I think this is probably the best photo in terms of lining it up in my opinion but unfortunately the train is slightly off. Although in the 1998 photo, you can see the a bit of the monorail without any vinyls on!

14/06/2026

Corkscrew opened at Alton Towers back in 1980 as Alton Towers’ first ever coaster, it was also the UK’s first full circuit two inversion coaster!

I went into the history of this ride not that long ago but that’s not the entire point of this post. There’s one fact that I think is quite interesting that I don’t really see getting said anywhere and with particular piece of track. 👀

Vekoma is known for their old rough coasters and amazing new coasters but did you know, this element of Corkscrew is the second oldest Vekoma track piece left standing! It is only beaten by Super Wirbel that opened at Holiday Park (Plopsaland Deutschland) back in 1979, Plopsaland Deutschland still has one corkscrew element still standing above a path between 100% Wolf and Sky Scream!

Did you know that fact or is that new to you? ➿

14/06/2026

What are your thoughts on the UK’s first ART Engineering Wild Swing, Vild-Swing at Paultons Park?

Do you love it or do you hate it? Also if you could add one to another UK park, which park would it be?

13/06/2026

A family member recently came across some old photos of Alton Towers from back in 1998. When I went to Alton Towers a few days ago, I went around and tried to recreate the photos to the best of my abilities.

Here is the first one of the train on the vertical loop!

13/06/2026

This Gerstlauer Bobsled is Paultons Park’s oldest major coaster, opening in 2006 before getting reborn this year into a brand new experience! Raven is a great ride, far better than Cobra in my opinion. 🐍🐦‍⬛

What are your thoughts on Raven and is it better than Cobra in your opinion?

Link to the YouTube video! (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pnmOBeb1B6E)

12/06/2026

The Skyride officially reopened today, it is great to see this transportation ride back open!

12/06/2026

Velociraptor is Paultons Park’s Vekoma Family Boomerang Coaster that opened alongside the rest of Lost Kingdom in 2016!

It has great theming and a good soundtrack and it currently gives views of the new for next year’s Mack Rides Water Coaster, Serpent Curse!

Enjoy this video!

Velociraptor is Paultons Park’s Vekoma Family Boomerang Coaster tha...

11/06/2026

‼️ This is a SPECULATION post ‼️

Every knows Minecraft is coming to Chessington in 2027, they are spending £50 million altogether on the project, from the IP to the rides to the theming. Mojang, the game designers for Minecraft, will want it done properly. This post isn’t about that exactly though.

Yesterday Alton Towers announced Minecraft: Meet the Mobs. I’m sure it’s just to help advertise Minecraft World down at Chessington, but what if there’s more to it than meets the eye. I have this strange feeling, maybe wishful thinking! But what if there is more to this and I want to go into that with this post.

What if Alton Towers were to replace an existing IP with a new AND a lot more popular one? The IP I’m talking about removing is The World of David Walliams, I believe that IP runs out at the end of this year and I find it hard to believe it’s going to be renewed. 📚

Merlin is known for getting deals/putting multiple of the same sort of ride into their parks, for example Bluey and Chase’s, both Zierers or the 3 HUSS ride deal at Alton. If the Minecraft IP would do well at Chessington (which I am 100% sure it will), why not bring it to the UK’s busiest park too. This would certainly be something that could bring life down to that area of the park.

I also thought of all the major family areas in the UK and almost all of them are IP’s: CBeebies Land, Thomas Land, World of Paw Patrol, Peppa Pig World, Nickelodeon Land… it just makes sense for this possible family area to be an IP area too. Finally, Project Horizon is hopefully going to that area of the park. I always thought Horizon could mean something to do with space but what if it was about exploring, exactly what Minecraft is about? ⛏️

When I last spoke about Project Horizon, I said about an Intamin Multi Dimensional coaster. However due to this post yesterday, if they go down the Minecraft route, they wouldn’t be able to say Chessington’s coaster is the world’s only Minecraft themed coaster. So I thought, “what if it wasn’t a coaster but a Flying Theatre?”. If you don’t know, a flying theatre is a relatively new ride model, currently only one exists in the UK at Legoland Windsor, Flight of the Sky Lion. 🦁

The possible rides I’ve thought which could go in this area relatively quickly are (again this just my thoughts, no proof of any of it):

- Starting off with Royal Carousel, I’d personally say keep it but retheme it to Minecraft Animals. 🐴
- I’d remove Raj’s and the Driving School and replace it with a new family flat ride and track ride
- Retheme Gangsta Granny into some sort of Mineshaft escape ⛏️
- Use Project Horizon as if flying through the whole game, from the overworld and caves to the nether and eventually the end and beating the game 🐲
- Use the dungeons boat ride as a ride that explores the sea 🌊
- And finally a new food place in the place of Burger Kitchen 🍕

This would certainly bring life to this area of the park and would be perfect if it is was raining (we are talking about the UK after all). They could even put another flat ride out near the entrance of the dungeons if they wanted to too! 🤩

This is obviously best case scenario for if they were to go down this route. Also, just like with Minecraft World at Chessington, Mojang would want it done properly so it would be very well themed if this were to be the case.

I know this is all stemming from one post but I just have a feeling this could be what’s happening. Even if this isn’t I am certain something will be announced at some point either this year or early next year.

What you think? Could this happen and would you want it to happen? I did skim through the possible ride details a bit, so if you want me to elaborate I’ll reply in the comments!

11/06/2026

Yesterday, Alton Towers announced a new event for this summer, Minecraft: Meet the Mobs. This event will be running from the 18th July all the way through to the 28th August. I have seen a lot (and I mean A LOT) of mixed reactions to this, some are ecstatic, some aren’t sure and some think this is a horrible decision, I want to write my thoughts on this and what this could possibly mean for the future. ⛏️

I am familiar with Minecraft and do know the game. The game developers of Minecraft, Mojang, do have their say in all of this like any company would with their own IP and I know full well they will want it done to the best it possibly could be. Chessington World of Adventures is obviously getting Minecraft World next year and I believe Minecraft: Meet the Mobs at Alton Towers will be an advertisement of sorts to get people excited for Minecraft World down at Chessington.

I believe Merlin chose Alton for two reasons, one of which I’ll say now and the other will be for an entirely different post. Alton Towers attracts far more visitors than Chessington, so it makes sense to have this advertisement of this £50 million investment at their busiest park. 🎢

The meet and greet at Alton itself will feature loads of different mobs, that means we will most likely be seeing actors dressed up too which is great to possibly have some actors back in the park! There will also be the “Meet the Mobs Trail” where you will be able to discover baby mobs, could that mean there may be some small animatronics here? 🤔

I believe Minecraft World at Chessington will be Merlin’s best themed and most popular area in any of their parks which brings me on to the other topic I’ll be writing about soon.

I personally think this could be a good thing if it’s done right (which I’m sure it will be). Minecraft is 17 years old and is still one of the most popular games played today and as much as it’s a game for a younger audience, adults do still play the game as well so it will appeal to a large audience. What are your thoughts on this?

11/06/2026

Apparently, as of today, the hold at the top of the drop on Oblivion is back! 🤩

I am genuinely a bit surprised that this has came back, the “don’t look down” earlier this year was one thing but this is another. I thought it would never return bearing in mind that the ride is now 28 years old. It seems to hold for 2-3 seconds so plenty of time to hear the whole audio plus it gives more time to see your surroundings too!

Are you surprised this is back like I am or did you think this could happen just like they reinstated the don’t look down audio in April? 🤔

Thank you to Coastertog for the info!