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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

Rob said:
If you want boring corners, try Balder!

I still think this will be an awesome ride experience, but it will just leave people wanting more. Will be interesting to see if the Mack rattle is present.
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Someone I know once described Balder as "Mr Brightside The Ride".

Prefer it to Colossos mind.
 
The station foundations for exodus are done. And there seems to be rumors that the project is going vertical this week.. not sure if i believe them

projectexodus_september2023-75.jpg

Project Exodus Prepares To Go Vertical | Theme Park Guide

Exciting times for Project Exodus might be just days away! Rumours about the project going vertical this week have been circulating the community
themeparkguide.co.uk themeparkguide.co.uk
 
Just an odd, relatively unsupported thought but if the ride is supposed to be themed after egyptian mythology and there's burning feather graphics...

Could the ride possibly be named after Ra, the ancient Egyptian god? He has the head of an eagle, which could explain the feathers and he's the god of the sun, which could explain why they're on fire...
 
RicketyCricket said:
The Horus sign?

Can't find it now but it popped up on twitter. Looked like it had been hand drawn by a 12 year old and placed there as a wind up.
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definitely wasn't there yesterday.

Ground pins and foundations for the turnaround section are being installed. Workers were working on the first corner yesterday morning. Wonder if they're behind if they're working Saturday mornings now?

exodus2023september17th-06.jpg


exodus2023september17th-10.jpg


exodus2023september17th-05.jpg


Its hard to tell in the photos but it looks like a VERY tight corner
 
A horrible thought just occured to me, what if this is yet another IP tie in with Lionsgate? It's going to be a Gods of Egypt themed area and ride, isn't it?

My faith in Thorpe Park has never been particularly high.
 
Had to Google that to even know what it was. I guess it's not beyond the realms of possibility, but would be pretty obscure to market a ride with (UK) headline stats that should be more than enough in their own right to bother with using an IP.
 
Considering the film came out in 2016 and has been completely forgotten, it'd make very little sense to do. Doesn't look like there's a sequel or anything to warrant particular interest in it now, and as the film has a 1.9 Star rating on Letterboxd, it's hard to say it was well received. Allegedly Lionsgate wanted it to be a big new franchise, a la Dark Universe with the Tom Cruise Mummy remake, but it didn't go anywhere - so it'd be a very silly idea to theme a ride to it all these years later.
 
mo237 said:
Considering the film came out in 2016 and has been completely forgotten, it'd make very little sense to do. Doesn't look like there's a sequel or anything to warrant particular interest in it now, and as the film has a 1.9 Star rating on Letterboxd, it's hard to say it was well received. Allegedly Lionsgate wanted it to be a big new franchise, a la Dark Universe with the Tom Cruise Mummy remake, but it didn't go anywhere - so it'd be a very silly idea to theme a ride to it all these years later.
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That's how I felt about Jumanji, but look at Chessington. I'm wondering if there's anything else in Lionsgate's portfolio that it could tie to.
 
I don't think Exodus is likely to utilise an IP, personally. Thorpe Park are building the UK's tallest and fastest roller coaster, and I'd argue that that's a pretty compelling USP in itself!

Exodus is quite a stark change for Merlin in that it has a USP based on pure scale and statistics. I wouldn't be expecting any overly tenuous world's firsts or IP tie-ins, as the thing pretty much markets itself by virtue of being a UK record breaker!

Historically, Merlin have only tended to use IP themes on major coasters when the ride hardware is not especially marketable on its own. As an example, I'd argue that Saw, one of Merlin's few instances of a major coaster themed to an IP, fell into that bracket. Yes, it did have the world's steepest non-braked drop, but the inherent ride hardware itself was not that unique on its own, as the UK's 3rd Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter and not one that majorly reinvented the wheel compared to the other two. In that instance, the IP gave it a marketing boost and it paid dividends for the park.

Exodus, though, has very marketable ride hardware on its own merits, in my opinion. It's breaking both the UK height and speed records and has a layout design that's very different to that of any other coaster in the country, with some really unique and striking-looking elements.
 
Matt N said:
I don't think Exodus is likely to utilise an IP, personally. Thorpe Park are building the UK's tallest and fastest roller coaster, and I'd argue that that's a pretty compelling USP in itself!

Exodus is quite a stark change for Merlin in that it has a USP based on pure scale and statistics. I wouldn't be expecting any overly tenuous world's firsts or IP tie-ins, as the thing pretty much markets itself by virtue of being a UK record breaker!

Historically, Merlin have only tended to use IP themes on major coasters when the ride hardware is not especially marketable on its own. As an example, I'd argue that Saw, one of Merlin's few instances of a major coaster themed to an IP, fell into that bracket. Yes, it did have the world's steepest non-braked drop, but the inherent ride hardware itself was not that unique on its own, as the UK's 3rd Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter and not one that majorly reinvented the wheel compared to the other two. In that instance, the IP gave it a marketing boost and it paid dividends for the park.

Exodus, though, has very marketable ride hardware on its own merits, in my opinion. It's breaking both the UK height and speed records and has a layout design that's very different to that of any other coaster in the country, with some really unique and striking-looking elements.
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That's a really good way to think about it.

The only exception I can think to make of that is Jumanji. That's a very unique ride that by itself had a lot of people intrigued. But I'd argue that it still fits with the above statement because the rides elements are designed within the context of the Theme. The helix at the end of the track only makes sense because it is looping around an iconic structure, and that is where the IP is core to the experience.
Exodus is too big a ride to be heavily themed, so the ride itself will definitely be the selling point.
 
Tim said:
That's a really good way to think about it.

The only exception I can think to make of that is Jumanji. That's a very unique ride that by itself had a lot of people intrigued. But I'd argue that it still fits with the above statement because the rides elements are designed within the context of the Theme. The helix at the end of the track only makes sense because it is looping around an iconic structure, and that is where the IP is core to the experience.
Exodus is too big a ride to be heavily themed, so the ride itself will definitely be the selling point.
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I forgot about Mandrill Mayhem, in fairness. Although I’d argue that that still falls into the remit of a ride that doesn’t have loads of inherent marketability; while it’s unique for a wing coaster, it’s not the first wing coaster in the UK, and not much of what it does is necessarily unique within the UK. Having that Jumanji IP gave it a marketing hook where the ride on its own may not necessarily have had one.
 
Last bit of IP speculation from me and then I'll shut up about it, until we get more information. The one that's been niggling at me for the last day (sticking with my Lionsgate theory) is the John Wick franchise, especially with The Continental spin off TV show. It's the kind of world that fits in with Thorpe's target market too.

I understand what everyone's saying with tallest and fastest being marketable alone, but Merlin haven't ever actually had a real non-tenuous "world's first" to market; aside from The Smiler. Having said that, Towers hasn't really flirted with IP for their SWs (Cadbury Heroes and Fanta sponsorship aside), but Thorpe really is (at times) the land of IP.
  • Ghost Train, originally Derren Brown, now "original" but just try and argue they're not channelling Stranger Things VIBES with their marketing and logo
  • The Walking Dead: The Ride
  • Black Mirror Labyrinth
  • Nemesis Inferno
  • The Swam (tenuous but there is the You Me At Six song, not IP just marketing)
  • Amity Cove - Jaws but not officially / really
  • Angry Birds Land
  • Saw: The Ride
  • X amount of scare mazes over the years
I agree that they shouldn't have to tie the ride to an IP to get interest and visitors, but I do think Thorpe tends to be lazy with its own storytelling and may want to rely on a ready made blueprint and the additional marketing bump that an IP can provide.
 
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