Chessington World of Adventures, Surrey, UK

Twitter reports that the London Fire Brigade were called to rescue 39 stranded riders as Rameses Revenge ground to a halt on Sunday (16th June) afternoon. Riders were said to have been stuck on the ageing Top Spin for several hours before being freed. The Fire Brigade reports having to cut people free from the restraints in order to release them from the ride. 

This is the latest blow in what many would consider to be a nightmare season for the Surrey attraction. Their flagship new attraction, Zufari, suffered delays and teething problems resulting in disappointed guests at the start of the season. They have also removed large amounts of theming around the park which has lead to long periods of down-time on certain attractions, particularly Runaway Train. 

Rameses Revenge opened in 1995 and is considered to be the park's most extreme ride in their current line up. Could this prove to be the end of the line for the German built attraction?

Busch Gardens Tampa, Florida, USA

Busch Gardens in Florida have announced a new thrill ride for 2014...

It may be just a drop tower, but at 335ft, the park claims it will be the tallest freestanding tower ride in North America... And whats more, it will be the first drop ride in the world to face you towards the ground as you plummet!

Falcon's Fury is set to open in spring 2014.

Orbi, Yokohama, Japan

A new collaboration has been announced between the BBC and Sega. Orbi is described as a Multi-sensory Theme Park. The aim is to allow visitors to experience the natrual world and the Earth's varied wildlife through the use of cutting-edge technology.

The BBC has provided footage for the project, taken from its many and varied nature documentaries. The attraction features 12 zones focussing on different habitats. The centrepiece of the attraction will be a huge 4D cinema showing a 20 minute presentation. It will take visitors approximately 2 hours to navigate the whole attraction.

Orbi will open in Yokohama on 19th August.

2012 Attendance Report Released

Read about how the World theme parks, water parks and museums did in terms of attendance for the 2012 season, as the Themed Entertainments Association (TEA) publishes its annual report.

With a 5.2% global increase in attendance there is a mix of up and downs in each region. North America saw a 3.6% growth, and Asia enjoyed a 5.8% increase in attendance. Meanwhile, in Europe, there was a less rosy picture, as the top 20 parks saw a 0.3% fall in gate figures. 

There were some notable individual success stories for the year. Parc Asterix saw an 8% increase in attendance, which is mainly thought to be down to their new B&M Invert, Oz'Iris. As a result of the opening of critically acclaimed Cars Land and other refurbishments at the park, Disney's California Adventure had a massive 22.6% increase in visitor numbers.

It was a mixed year for Merlin Entertainments, but was generally very positive with a 16.4% increase in visitors across the group. In Europe, the Legoland parks proved to be their saving grace with Windsor up by 5.3% and Billund up by 3.1%. Both Gardaland and Thorpe Park saw a 10% drop with Alton Towers down by 9.1% and Heide park suffering a 7.1% fall. Much of the poor fortunes in the UK are being attributed to the poor weather and the Olympics.

Below are tables and maps showig the headline figures. For the full, comprehensive report, we fully recommend reading the full report by clicking the link below.

Alton Towers, Staffordshire, UK

After just over a week's delay, The Smiler opened at Alton Towers on 31st May 2013. In a surprise "soft openeing", the ride got its first passengers at around 11:00 a.m.

The ride was then officially classed as open on June 1st, with queues hitting over three hours within half an hour of the park opening its gates.

Reviews seem to be pretty mixed, but that may be due to the fact there are still a few problems on some of the trains. Use the links below to read more.