Merry Christmas, from Theme Park Insider

December 22, 2007, 7:17 PM · Well, you've probably noticed the new look around here. I'm still tweaking the design here and there, so please bear with me. :-)

The main format of the site hasn't changed all that much -- mostly just the colors. But the right rail from the home page is now found on all pages of the site, making navigation from park to park a bit easier.

Also, you no longer need to be a registered member of the site in order to vote on listed attractions, restaurants and hotels, though you will continue to need to be registered in order to submit a comment, a Blog Flume item, a discussion post or to update any of the park, attraction, restaurant or hotel description wikis. So if you are a TPI lurker, please jump in and submit your ratings for all the locations on the site that you've visited in person.

(Long-time readers, don't worry. I'm putting in place some safeguards to prevent ballot stuffing by unregistered readers.)

Finally, the bug reports: We typically keep votes on the site for 12 months, but in switching over to the open voting system, about 10 months of votes have gone missing. I'm trying to restore some of those with a back-up, but until then, please take this as an opportunity to recast your votes and submit fresh comments for the locations at the parks you frequent, or at least have visited recently.

Also, the page layout is a bit ragged at the bottom of shorter pages. I've got a potential fix for that which I'll be trying tomorrow. But right now, I'm tired. Time to go shop for Christmas dinner!

Best wishes for your holiday season, and, as always, thank you for reading and participating on Theme Park Insider!

Replies (13)

December 22, 2007 at 8:46 PM · The new colors look VERY nice! But, just my opinion, the side bar on the right would look better on the left side of the page with the ads on the left.

Happy Holidays everyone!

December 23, 2007 at 5:18 AM · I like the new colors and home page image, but I don't like how the sidebar has narrowed the text in the discussion section.
December 23, 2007 at 9:06 AM · Wow, the site looks awesome Robert!!! Two thumbs up.
December 23, 2007 at 10:55 AM · Nice look!
December 23, 2007 at 12:51 PM · happy holidays robert!!!
December 23, 2007 at 4:27 PM · Kudos on the new look! It's quite nice. Is that Lochness Monster on the top of the page?
December 23, 2007 at 4:56 PM · Yep, Chris. Sharp eye. I looked through about 500 photos submitted to the site before finding that one, which aligned into the available space on the masthead perfectly. (Plus, Loch Ness was the first "major" coaster I ever rode, so it's a sentimental pick for me....) Thanks, Chris!

(That said, I might change the photo up there from time to time. Want to keep the site fresh, and all.)

December 23, 2007 at 5:06 PM · Yeah, I knew that photo looked very familiar...LOL. I'm looking forward to the new changes.

Thanks Robert!

Again, the site looks great!

December 24, 2007 at 2:58 AM · I like the new look Robert, very colourful. However I would like to point out that you havn't featured a single British park in the 'International Parks' section you've displayed on the right hand side of the page. Congratulations, you just ruined christmas!

On a serious note, happy christmas to Robert and to all the other insiders! Long may this site provide thoughtful insight and information to theme parks for years to come!

I'll celebrate with a glass of cola and some doughnuts.

December 24, 2007 at 8:51 AM · I like the new look. Love the new banner.

Merry Christmas everyone!

December 24, 2007 at 10:28 AM · Looks great! Thanks! Merry Christmas & many thrills for 2008!
December 26, 2007 at 11:01 AM · The new design is nice, I the overall 'feel' of it, but the top buttons look a little out of place to me. The navigation though is awesome and looks great, definitely comes in handy throughout the site.

The site appears to be lacking in Firefox due to the ads being blocked, but in IE things seem more in place. Overall, the new look is great and I love the colors!

December 26, 2007 at 8:15 PM · The site looks fine in my version of Firefox, but I don't have any ad blocking extensions installed. Just the pop-up blocker. Which one are you using? I'll test with that so it doesn't break the lay-out.

(FWIW, we do not on TPI run any ads that pop up, block or takeover any of the content areas of the site. I always look for an excuse to remind readers of that, because once in a blue moon I get a complaint from someone whose computer is infected with malware that dumps ads on every site they visit. So if anyone's seeing those types of ads on the site, it ain't us.)

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