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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

I agree that that is an age group they should focus on. I think as well as losing family rides, increasing height restrictions haven't helped. X was a pretty fun family ride which was suitable for 1m tall children but not too babyish for teenagers to enjoy, TWD has a 1.4m height restriction and as well as losing children they have lost anyone who doesn't like loud noises or actors (like myself). The other ride I am thinking of is Rumba Rapids, apart from the height restriction being increased from 0.9m to 1.1m that ride also has an all children must be accompanied by 18+ policy, this makes it almost impossible for school children to ride and if children aged 12-17 are in the park on their own (which is allowed) then they also cannot ride although given recent events the 18+ rule on Rumba Rapids is probably justified.
I would like to see TWD returned to X, perhaps add in another low height restriction all family ride (looking at the Paultons line-up as inspiration).
 
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I agree with @jon81uk; Thorpe has made it quite clear that they aren’t really a children’s theme park anymore, and I’m not sure whether it would necessarily be overly intuitive for them to be installing rides for tiny children with so many family theme parks in close proximity. Being a more thrilling theme park is a way that they can distinguish themselves from the pretty plentiful family-focused competition; in the M25 corridor alone, they have Chessington and Legoland, and Paultons isn’t that far away either. That’s to name just a few.

The thrill market is far more of an empty niche both in the area and in the wider country as a whole, and I think Thorpe’s situation restrictions-wise really plays to the thrill market.
Skyscraper said:
It's entirely possible that the only reason trees were being cleared was to facilitate removal of Logger's Leap.
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I certainly think that’s a possibility; surely they wouldn’t be able to do too much removal without touching a large amount of trees?
 
Matt N said:
I certainly think that’s a possibility; surely they wouldn’t be able to do too much removal without touching a large amount of trees?
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I think that's why Towers have left the forest to grow around the remains of the Flume; removing it would require trees to be removed, which the Local Planning Authority (LPA) wouldn't allow.
 
Skyscraper said:
I think that's why Towers have left the forest to grow around the remains of the Flume; removing it would require trees to be removed, which the Local Planning Authority (LPA) wouldn't allow.
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Are you talking about that lone support and the underground section that are left, as I thought they demolished the big red building and the channel through the forest when they started building Wicker Man?

But yes, I think tree removal is quite a sensitive issue up at Towers; I thought that one of the key stipulations of Wicker Man being approved was that they had to return that wooded area to how it was pre-1981, which is why I thought that the bulk of the Flume channel and the building were removed so promptly in the first place.
 
Sorry to double post, but for what it’s worth, staff on the ride confirmed that today was the last day that Rocky Express would operate before being removed:
 
*shrugs*

If that's the end for Rocky Express, I guess they could be Frankensteining it with the Chessington ride ?
 
Matt N said:
Sorry to double post, but for what it’s worth, staff on the ride confirmed that today was the last day that Rocky Express would operate before being removed:
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@Matt N this news is devastating,Rocky Express was legendary. My Cousin who is now 29 went on this ride when she was 7,incidentally it was the day of the Thorpe Park fire. Could the removal of Rocky Express and Platform 15 signal the refurbishment of OLD Town? I bet when Thorpe opens next year we will have a new Family area. I expect this Family area will be in the location of Old Town
 
The Rocky Express music will be missed but honestly couldn't care less about Old Town. Should've been fenced off when Loggers went.

Canada Creek used to be a lovely part of the park nestled away in the corner. The railway was a nice escape from the rest of Thorpe and Loggers Leap made you feel like you were miles away from anything. Spent many an hour in the Loggers Leap cattlepen accompanied by Dolly Parton's bangers (her music, of course).
 
The only things that have come of Thorpe's "strategy" of removing family attractions and increasing height restrictions - fights, queue jumping, profanity shouting and the smell of weed in the air.

Old Towns attractions no longer work because the rides that compliment them like Loggers have closed, their rapids is hanging and X had its height restriction upped and horror theme attached. Also worth noting that Gerstlaur Eurofighters can also operate with a 1.2 restriction. If you've got kids with you, you just won't bother paying the entry price to go to Thorpe at all now and why would you? I'd fully understand why families wouldn't be a target crowd for Thorpe but providing virtually nothing for them? That's only going to lead to one thing.
 
In fairness, I don’t think the suggestion from @Prof Burp is at all inconceivable, personally.

Thorpe did previously express intent to return some family attractions while maintaining a thrill focus at an enthusiast event a couple of years ago, and while I’m unsure on the likelihood of them going down the full-on family area route, some new family rides wouldn’t surprise me, especially if they were built as supplementary rides to a major new investment in the area, in a similar vein to how Chessington’s 2023 coaster is having supporting family flats built alongside it.
 
Matt N said:
In fairness, I don’t think the suggestion from @Prof Burp is at all inconceivable, personally.

Thorpe did previously express intent to return some family attractions while maintaining a thrill focus at an enthusiast event a couple of years ago, and while I’m unsure on the likelihood of them going down the full-on family area route, some new family rides wouldn’t surprise me, especially if they were built as supplementary rides to a major new investment in the area, in a similar vein to how Chessington’s 2023 coaster is having supporting family flats built alongside it.
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I do agree with you to an extent @Matt N . I'm just not sure when they will ad some new family rides. The way I see it is that I think they'd only do that if they were adding a big investment around the same time. They could be a year or so apart. I think if old town is actually being blocked off for future development and they are going to put a big investment in there then making a whole new themed area with some family rides is quite likely. Especially if the coaster itself is very thrilling. Some less thrilling rides to complement it would be great.

I also don't know who close this might be. In the short term closing old town might well be a cost saving measure until they're nearly ready to build there new big thing. If they do build something big we will likely be waiting until at least 2024. Chessington is opening there next big investment in 2023 so I think we'd likely be looking at 2024. Which will mean that old town will be closed with no replacement for at least 3 seasons which really doesn't help Thorpe all that much.
 
If Old Town does just get fenced off I wonder what this means for Black Mirror - it’s only been open a few months and sits in this area. Maybe a hastily re-arranged path from Colossus area could be added, it will certainly be out on a limb on its own though.
 
AT86 said:
If Old Town does just get fenced off I wonder what this means for Black Mirror - it’s only been open a few months and sits in this area. Maybe a hastily re-arranged path from Colossus area could be added, it will certainly be out on a limb on its own though.
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Maybe they'll theme the entire area to Black Mirror? :p

In all seriousness though, we've only heard that Platform 15 is closing and not Creek Freak. That could indicate that they are not demolishing the Loggers Leap station building yet or are keeping it for future use.
 
I’ve got a question; if this were to be a cost-saving measure, why do you think they wouldn’t they have done it when Loggers closed back in 2015? Surely it would have made sense to cordon off that entire area in one hit, not least because it would have saved more money?

My personal thought is that some form of preliminary work will be taking place in Old Town from next year. I’m not talking all-guns-blazing major construction or anything, but I certainly think they will be conducting more in-depth work and making a start on construction of a 2024 project, and they’re simply closing Old Town to make that easier to carry out. They wouldn’t just close Rocky Express and the other rides for the sake of it.
 
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