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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

One thing which I notice on social media is how you get plenty of people who to with phrases along the lines of 'why are all enthusiasts moaning, the park is trying its best, it's a business, blah blah blah'. These are usually people who, because of their following, have ties with the parks by getting invites to press events, etc.

This creates a completely one-sided discussion platform, as these people will defend a park to the ends of the earth. No amount of reason, logic or fair critique will convince them that a park is anything but great.

In fairness, I do think that some enthusiasts are too moany and act entitled. But to say any negative critique of a park is invalid because a park is trying their best is ridiculous. And some do complain all the time because, quite simply, there isn't much to be positive over.

Yes, I know this is completely off topic - mods feel free to slap me on the wrist. But this situation is completely what is happening with Thorpe right now: social media is full of people unhappy and unconvinced by the park's advertised plans for the year, yet has the influencers shouting 'WHAT ELSE CAN THEY DO, THEY'RE NOT MADE OF MONEY, STOP MOANING ALL THE TIME'
 
They call that "Access Media" in the trade, i.e. Someone who cannot see fault or make critism of a product (whether that be a theme park, a film etc.) because if they do, they know they will loose their access to the advanced events and stuff.

I bet companies like Merlin wish sites like Trip Advisor didn't exist.
 
^ if you run a business that provides good value and guest satisfaction, Trip Advisor is an incredible way to attract and retain customers. On the other hand it can be very damaging to visitor numbers.

So yeah Merlin must hate it, but they've only got themselves to blame.
 
Bert2theSpark said:
With regards to the sudden hate train that Thorpe are getting this video explains the context of Thorpe’s situation better than I can ever explain.
Click to expand...


To be fair, the reaction to these events does seem a bit extreme. I mean, it's the biggest backlash from the UK ethusiast community since... probably since Alton Towers decided to charge people £10 to rent a towel.
 
The issue with certain reactions is the way people seem to think for 2019 Thorpe could either do these events or build a RMC/B+M Hyper coaster and they chose the escape rooms/console gaming thing/bouncy castle assault course option.

I feel from my previous visit and what other people are saying is that there are numerous issues behind the the scenes that need fixing before they even think about their next coaster.
 
John_P said:
The issue with certain reactions is the way people seem to think for 2019 Thorpe could either do these events or build a RMC/B+M Hyper coaster and they chose the escape rooms/console gaming thing/bouncy castle assault course option.
Click to expand...

It's 7 years since a coaster was added to Thorpe and Merlin makes millions. Of course they could build a new one it they wanted to. Obviously, it's not possible to just whack up a hyper this year instead of a bouncy castle but a new signature coaster should have been at least announced by now.

Lack of investment/wrong investments (DBGT) /too many gimmicks - that's why people are complaining.
 
Criticism is justified for poor excuses. Whilst I understand the park aren't directly responsible for the purse strings of the powers that be being kept tight, that doesn't mean they are exempt from a slandering. The park has leapt from poor investment to lacklustre investment, to downright outrageous through to a significantly large but pain in the back side from a technical perspective.

In the past 9 years, they've invested in two live action attractions which both saw hours cut only to be removed entirely from the park's line up. An (admittedly well themed) roller coaster that failed to draw the guests in of the target market because it simply doesn't live up to the thrills the park were marketing at the time. A shoddy and tacky IP re-theme of an area that is now out of date and will only continue to do so, done cheaply. Then there's the radically over ambitious dark ride that has had ludicrous amounts of money thrown at it and still isn't at a standard where it should be.

Then after all this time they still don't appear to have a grasp on who their target audience is. Confirmed by the addition of Angry Birds and strengthened by the acquisition of second hand kiddie flats from elsewhere in the Merlin portfolio at minimal cost. They still appear to be trying to target young teenagers, or at least that's how it feels judging by the cringefest responses from their social media team. Yet the actual audience of the events this year will primarily come in the form of older kids who's eyes have turned square from the stupid amount of hours spent on Fortnite.

It wasn't that long ago that Chessington were considered the cancerous tumour of the UK Merlin portfolio. Yet Thorpe's standards appear to have sunk so low that Chessington now appears to be ran by Disney in comparison (of course it still has its flaws).

I'm happy to be told by those who are riding on press passes for free access to events that the parks are doing "all they can" and we shouldn't be too hard on them; at least I'm not having to curl up at their feet like a dog in return for a bone that will bestow some form of self pride. It's better to be able to have an open mind and freedom of expression when it comes to conveying views rather than showering totally undeserved praise for hits. :)
 
I complain because of lack of quality across the board. The park looks a state with themes so similar you might as well call it apocalypse island (dbgt, saw, swarm) and the themes that weren't supposed to look apocalyptic are really starting to.

The operations and reliability are poor, on certain rides more than others but it's an issue across the park. Queues soar and fasttrack exacerbates the problem.

I could bulldoze such a large area of Thorpe park and it wouldn't affect my day out at all it's ridiculous. The disgusting dome, the dismal beach, the leaky storm surge, the broken ghost train, the disappointing flying fish, the depressing walking dead, the lifeless wild west and the shoddy angry birds.

There are good rides and I still believe there is a good day out to be had at thorpe. Just make it a super off peak day .

If these events bring in money to fix the above, bring them on.
 
Lurker said:
If these events bring in money to fix the above, bring them on.
Click to expand...

Will they though?

All these extras are available in most cities, escape rooms are popular as hell (and have about 6 different companies at least in Leeds city centre alone), arcades are somewhat making a comeback with a few getting VR stuff, and there's a handful of extreme bounce places on top of trampoline parks...

All available to me for a fraction of what it costs to go to Thorpe...

I mean the extra activities suit Thorpe more because the hours are longer, but there's still the issue of someone booking 45-60 minutes of their day to go play some games instead of doing rides? I mean some esports competition in London was about £12 for a ticket, why would someone interested in that go to Thorpe instead? Why would I spend £45 (or whatever entrance plus escape room will be) instead of £10-£20 to do one locally?

Just weird decisions and I worry how the season will pan out across the board...
 
Benzin said:
Will they though?
Click to expand...

[Bring in money]

It's worth a try they aren't high budget events. I'm not the target audience and my opinion would be no : they will look sad and nobody will care.

However at least they are having a go and putting events on! Far better than towers in terms of events anyway. At least there is something which has a chance of injecting some life into an (un)dead park.
 
The only reason they're having a go at putting these events on is because that's the only thing they can afford from the loose change leftover in Merlin's piggy bank.

They need serious cash investment, regardless of whether it's spent on one large scale project or park wide to start sorting the park out. Things looked to be taking a turn for the better with the Imascore soundtrack, but it appears to have gone back downhill since.
 
In my opinion the introduction of the soundtrack and removal of chart music is something thats contributed to the lack of atmosphere in the park.

As others have said before when you hear certain songs you remember that day / memory from the park.
 
Thorpe Park marketing is lacking any logic and they spend masses of money on useless garbage like DBGT instead of things that are actually fun and consistently provide a good guest experience. These are the two fundamental problems.
 
DBGT is boring. That should have been obvious from the start and it should never have made it past the planning stages. You can get a similar experience in a high Street gaming Cafe on equipment costing a few hundred quid.

When I think what that budget could have bought.

Should have gone to B and M, RMC or Mack. Great investments that are fun every time and will deliver the goods for decades.

A crying shame!
 
My problem isn't the "new events" that there holding this year...I don't like them, don't need them so they won't affect my day out. My problem is the lack of care shown by Merlin towards the park it's self. It seems everyone is upset because they haven't announced something like a b&m hyper coaster. Well honestly I don't want one. Reason being it won't get the numbers through the doors after the first year because of the state and poor maintenance that affects the rest of the park. If putting on events like this ment older coasters and rides get the attention they need in winter and the park in general was treated to a fresh bit of paint then I'm all for waiting. Let them fix the foundations at the parks problem. My problem also extends to what Thorpe is trying to be/become. I don't think anyone knows. They have angry birds land....yet anyone who would be interested in that can't go on any of the rides due to hight restrictions....the only real coaster they could have gone on is now rethemed to a irrelevant zombie programme...And had it's hight restrictions raised. I mean why? Do the zombies mean guests have to be taller for some rides? The park makes no sense and seems lost and confused.
 
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