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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

John_P said:
Seems like all the momentum from Hyperia opening has just evaporated, even Alton Towers got the Toxicator to double down on Nemesis Reborn.
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I think the momentum for Hyperia died halfway through its construction.. as indicated by its lost viewing platform and general unprofessional finish. It feels like they regretted during construction - not a good look for a ride they pride themselves on.

Otherwise Merlin have a good track record for removing rapids, don't they?
 
Dave said:
No one will mourn rumba rapids itself but I feel
this is cost cutting rather than preparing for a new investment.

Plus like Towers how many rides can they cut before you can legit call yourself a theme park?
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John_P said:
Didn't even bother to claim it was being removed for future developments.
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Perhaps I'm naive (probably), but the fact that they made an official announcement about it made me think that perhaps they have a replacement lined up?

I don't remember how they announced that Slammer was being canned, but I assume that they wouldn't make announcements with much fanfare unless they were certain that they had something else ready (e.g. the huge send-off celebrations for Corkscrew in 2008).

Then again: I'm not sure whether a generic announcement on YouTube counts as much fanfare?

I definitely agree with the posts above that they should have given riders the opportunity to have one last go on it, though.

I never rode it once, and - truthfully - I don't even know whereabouts it was in the park! (By contrast, Tidal Wave is a ride that you can't miss !)

For a long time, I got Storm Surge, Depth Charge, Tidal Wave, and Rumba Rapids all confused, because the names sounded too similar to me!
 
Rumba was by far the weakest Rapids in the UK. Adventure Cove River Rapids and Congo River Rapids are far superior in terms of landscaping and theming as well as interaction with other rides.

Rumba has been operating minimally last few season would rather have a ride that can be up all season

The reason why Rumba has been opening later is due to the amount of energy it requires to pump thst much water which energy costs do bite businesses as well. Combine this with having to station a ride op on certain corners now. It was probably the most expensive ride to operate and with little footfall in recent years its no wonder its being removed.
 
I hope they have a replacment plan in place, but we don't know if they do or don't at this point

I am glad it is closed, it IMO was the worse ride at TP in its latter years, essentially becomming a calm raft ride through a damp tunnel and some concrete troughts, even if it is a few years before it starts, it will hopefully become a nice low ride height ride (1m-1.2m) which can act as a stepping stone and give smaller kids something to do at that park (I would like a wooden ride, similar to but taller and longer than the wickerman.

John_P said:
Seems like all the momentum from Hyperia opening has just evaporated, even Alton Towers got the Toxicator to double down on Nemesis Reborn.
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I would agree, AT and chessington have kept up this momentum (with bluey coaster, and somework happening on horizon at AT and all the stuff they are doing at cherssington)

but TP you had a great leadup to hyperia (ghost train retheme, replacment of angribirds, cleaning up of stealth, etc) but then hyperia happened and it effectivly all stopped and the only big news is some ashphalt and benches replacing a land.
 
Call_um said:
Rumba was always showing as 'Returning 2026', so it wasn't planned to close this season. That screams cost cutting to me rather than a replacement lined up.
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Both can be true, I feel.

When The Flume closed, Alton Towers only initially announced its closure as a closure “for the season”… but its removal was later revealed early in 2016. And while many thought it was cost cutting and the ride did stand SBNO during 2016, it was replaced with Wicker Man in 2018, so there evidently was a plan in place to replace it.

Perhaps it is an initial cost cut. But I would not take the park’s prior wording as gospel (social media teams and such will be divorced from long-term project planning to a degree), and I would not be surprised if we see a replacement of some description in the next few years.

Also, if it was a cost cut, would they do a cheery promotional announcement via a vlogger? Surely a cost cut is something you’d want to draw minimal attention to, no? I imagine a raw cost cut would have been handled more like the Logger’s Leap closure, where it took them so long to actually announce its permanent demise that very few expected it to ever return by the time it was announced.
 
Matt N said:
Both can be true, I feel.

When The Flume closed, Alton Towers only initially announced its closure as a closure “for the season”… but its removal was later revealed early in 2016. And while many thought it was cost cutting and the ride did stand SBNO during 2016, it was replaced with Wicker Man in 2018, so there evidently was a plan in place to replace it.

Perhaps it is an initial cost cut. But I would not take the park’s prior wording as gospel (social media teams and such will be divorced from long-term project planning to a degree), and I would not be surprised if we see a replacement of some description in the next few years.

Also, if it was a cost cut, would they do a cheery promotional announcement via a vlogger? Surely a cost cut is something you’d want to draw minimal attention to, no? I imagine a raw cost cut would have been handled more like the Logger’s Leap closure, where it took them so long to actually announce its permanent demise that very few expected it to ever return by the time it was announced.
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I'd certainly say it's decline was managed (The Alton Towers Dungeon is another I can think of with a managed decline) due to the reduced operating season and that it possibly couldn't manage another season to operate. It was thought it'd close at the end of 2024 and probably given a reprieve in 2025. The ride is absolutely knackered and arguably in 2024/25 was in a worse state and less reliable than Loggers Leap in 2015.

The signs were clear with one being the on ride photo camera didn't work at all for most of the season if not all season.

With plans being teased as not being ready quite yet, it's possible that something is well in progress and we'll be getting a consultation very soon for some planning applications. I'm thinking Rumba site, Slammer site and the hotel as most likely but possibly a couple more sites too.
 
Secret Weapon said:
Perhaps I'm naive (probably), but the fact that they made an official announcement about it made me think that perhaps they have a replacement lined up?

I don't remember how they announced that Slammer was being canned, but I assume that they wouldn't make announcements with much fanfare unless they were certain that they had something else ready (e.g. the huge send-off celebrations for Corkscrew in 2008
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Legoland announced their rapids were closing and gave people the opportunity for a final ride, which is considerably more fanfare than an influencer collaboration on social media.

They subsequently sat there for 2.5 years untouched.

By the time they are replaced it will likely be 5 years later if not longer.

Based on the relatively sudden departure at Thorpe I wouldn’t be optimistic of a forthcoming attraction.

Its time to accept Merlin are a budget brand in every sense.
 
Operational purse strings , energy costs, maintenance costs, ride staff costs are excessive. But the big issue here is it’s another blow to family’s that want a primary thrill day out but have younger children still to entertain !
 
rob666 said:
...Chessington or Legoland are local alternatives, so no big issue at all.

Thorpe is and has been the teen market park for a decade or two now.
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I’ve never understood this logic. Families have teenagers in them. Plus there are teenagers and young adults who don’t like thrill coasters. I’ve seen with my own eyes, groups of young adults who visit Thorpe Park and one adult sits out the big coasters. There should be some rides that everyone can go on as a group, even those who don’t like big coasters. Loggers and Rumba fit that bill perfectly. Plus, even as a thoosie, when I visit a theme park, I don’t just want to go coaster-coaster-coaster-coaster. Water rides provide a nice little break in between the big rides.
 
Enter Valhalla said:
I’ve never understood this logic. Families have teenagers in them. Plus there are teenagers and young adults who don’t like thrill coasters. I’ve seen with my own eyes, groups of young adults who visit Thorpe Park and one adult sits out the big coasters. There should be some rides that everyone can go on as a group, even those who don’t like big coasters. Loggers and Rumba fit that bill perfectly. Plus, even as a thoosie, when I visit a theme park, I don’t just want to go coaster-coaster-coaster-coaster. Water rides provide a nice little break in between the big rides.
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I'd say when they tried to go for families in the 2010s, they did it completely wrong

Installing Lumber Jump and Timber Tug Boat was completely the wrong move because these were children's rides and didn't really fit the Thorpe Park market well.

The Dodgems was an example of what if going for families was done right. It's a ride that younger ones can ride but the target audience enjoy too.

I definitely think they should bring in a 1.2m middle ground coaster for the Rumba Rapids site, I'd say it should be thrilling too which a GCI woodie would be perfect for.

In terms of flats, I'd say things like the Wave Swinger, Seastorm/Musik Express etc. would be more appropriate for Thorpe when it comes to family. What I mean is that it should be more rides that are accessible but thrilling while multi generational. A high capacity dark ride or a modern water ride would fit this sort of brief too.

Thorpe Park doesn't need any children's rides specifically because it's not a park that a family would aim to bring young children to. It's more of a park a family would bring older children to and the younger child tags along which is why I'd say rather than children specific stuff, bring in some multi generational rides instead. It'd also help spread the thrillseekers out a bit more too.

In my head, thrills should be primary but definitely work on the family-thrill/whole family rides too.
 
Lumber Jump and Timber Tugboat were literally only there because they got them free from Weymouth. In hindsight it definitely didn’t make sense to have them at Thorpe, however this was during the very confused 2014-2020 era when it felt like they were trying to backpeddle the previous aggressive anti-family branding that Merlin had been going for. So I guess any ride would do.

Thorpe are now, primarily a thrill park, there’s no denying that, but no theme park in the world (as far as I’m aware) is thrill rides only, so inevitably families will visit, and right now there’s not that much for the 1 metre - 1.39 metre tall kids to do, or indeed the older kids and adults who don’t like thrill coasters, of which there are many people like this.
 
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