ChristmasPud
TS Member
I'd say this is quite a popular opinion with the public and many enthusiasts too. Not so much the idea of the ride/illusion, which I think had the potential to be ingenious, just was terribly pulled off and the whole opportunity missed. The resulting ride was pointless and very self indulgent.- Derren Brown's Ghost Trains is one of the worst ideas and biggest wastes of money in the UK industry.
I strongly believe had a different approach been taken (and preferably not with Derren Brown, but still that Victorian illusion theme) it would be incredible fun!
Unpopular opinion of mine – it's possible to have much more fun at "tacky" Blackpool Pleasure Beach than it is at "clean cut" Merlin parks today. And I didn't even expect to like Blackpool all that much. It's an absolute blast and I love Big One too in all its technical 'badness' as a coaster.
Also, Bubbleworks should have shut the moment it re-opened with the Imperial Leather retheme in 2006. All the colour and fun of the ride had been stripped to a boring, corporate and very dated feeling attraction, which was not what the original ride was all about at all.
Gruffalo, though very sparse and not nearly as unique or broadly appealing as Prof Burp's, is a very good replacement to the 2006 version. I get that some people still enjoyed it for what was after that. But anyone going around saying "RIP Bubbleworks" in 2016 or paying £1000s for a plastic Imperial Leather sign either didn't go on the original or was totally deluded, haha.
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