• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

Merlin Parks & Attractions: Quick Questions.

Is it a fake discount like the 50% off park offers because the park entry price is inflated by 50% in the first place?
 
pjanvil said:
Is it a fake discount like the 50% off park offers because the park entry price is inflated by 50% in the first place?
Click to expand...

That is very much a UK specific pricing strategy.

Generally the gate price at Merlin’s other locations around the world are not inflated in the same way.

For example the gate price for Gardaland is €50. €25 (or about £22) for a day ticket is a pretty good offer.
 
AT86 said:
That is very much a UK specific pricing strategy.

Generally the gate price at Merlin’s other locations around the world are not inflated in the same way.

For example the gate price for Gardaland is €50. €25 (or about £22) for a day ticket is a pretty good offer.
Click to expand...
Although they do still have some variable online pricing, with it ranging from €44 to €52 for an adult dated ticket or €55 for an adult any day ticket. So the online price is comparable or more expensive than the UK parks, its just they don't have the stupid on the day price the UK parks do to allow for 2for1 vouchers.
 
Morning 😊 Could anyone tell me whether hypothetically you can use a Thorpe Park 'coasters fast-track' 5x for the same coaster or you have to do each of the listed 5 once? I may be popping in for Hyperia later this week but have a very limited time on park and want to be able to fit a couple of rides on my personal favourites in if possible 😊 (No RAP availability so also going for Hyperia Fast Track on the morning of visit)
 
BooMT said:
Morning 😊 Could anyone tell me whether hypothetically you can use a Thorpe Park 'coasters fast-track' 5x for the same coaster or you have to do each of the listed 5 once? I may be popping in for Hyperia later this week but have a very limited time on park and want to be able to fit a couple of rides on my personal favourites in if possible 😊 (No RAP availability so also going for Hyperia Fast Track on the morning of visit)
Click to expand...
It's once per ride, but if an attraction is unavailable you can use it on another one twice. 😊
 
Hi, I'm thinking of buying a Gold Merlin pass next August so I can use it for the latter half of the summer holidays next year and the early part of the summer holidays the year after. How likely would we be able to book any theme parks for the back end of the summer holidays with only a week or twos notice, but run the risk that we cant book any. If anyone has had them this summer has there been any availability for last minute booking the big 4 theme parks or have they all been booked up well in advance as if they are then there isn't much point in trying to do it.
 
Echoing @Leigh, I've never had any problems with availability and last minute booking. On some visits I've only realised as we're arriving that I didn't make a booking before hand and we've still been ok.
 
gravy173 said:
Hi, I'm thinking of buying a Gold Merlin pass next August so I can use it for the latter half of the summer holidays next year and the early part of the summer holidays the year after. How likely would we be able to book any theme parks for the back end of the summer holidays with only a week or twos notice, but run the risk that we cant book any. If anyone has had them this summer has there been any availability for last minute booking the big 4 theme parks or have they all been booked up well in advance as if they are then there isn't much point in trying to do it.
Click to expand...
I'd say you won't usually have problems booking a trip to the theme parks.

If one of the parks ever gets sold out, it'll be posted on the park's social media pages and usually is on the day or night before. I haven't seen it sold out days in advance in recent years.

Busiest times usually is August Bank Holiday Weekend to when schools go back, School Trip season from Late June to when schools break up in July and October Half Term.

It may be different if you are a Ride Access Pass user as you'd need to book another slot and those slots get filled up weeks and months in advance.
 
Apologies if I have posted this in the wrong place, but I can’t find a “Quick Questions” thread for Thorpe Park specifically:-

Does anybody know why Stealth at Thorpe Park was built at 205 feet high rather than 236 feet?

If it had been made slightly taller then Thorpe Park could have taken the record for the tallest rollercoaster in the UK from Blackpool all the way back in 2006 instead of 2024; I assumed at the time that perhaps height restrictions imposed by Heathrow Airport had prevented them from building any higher, but the size of Hyperia in 2024 would suggest otherwise (unless the council is more relaxed now than they were at the time?).

I remember reading in the “Making Thorpe Park” book that John Wardley had wanted to build a hyper coaster around 2012 (instead of The Swarm), so was it the case that he had intended for this ride to take the height record instead, and thus didn’t want Stealth to steal its thunder ahead of time?

(This makes sense, although there was no guarantee that a hyper coaster would ever be approved or built, and thus Stealth may have been their only opportunity to build that high)

I can’t think of any other reason and so I would be curious to know if anybody has any other thoughts!
 
Last edited:
DiogoJ42 said:
I suspect that a one word answer to that question would be, "Heathrow".
Click to expand...
That's what I thought at the time, but then why didn't Heathrow object to Hyperia being even taller than Stealth?

That surely proves that Stealth could have taken the height record if Thorpe Park had wanted to?
 
Last edited:
Secret Weapon said:
Apologies if I have posted this in the wrong place, but I can’t find a “Quick Questions” thread for Thorpe Park specifically:-

Does anybody know why Stealth at Thorpe Park was built at 205 feet high rather than 236 feet?

If it had been made slightly taller then Thorpe Park could have taken the record for the tallest rollercoaster in the UK from Blackpool all the way back in 2006 instead of 2024; I assumed at the time that perhaps height restrictions imposed by Heathrow Airport had prevented them from building any higher, but the size of Hyperia in 2024 would suggest otherwise (unless the council is more relaxed now than they were at the time?).

I remember reading in the “Making Thorpe Park” book that John Wardley had wanted to build a hyper coaster around 2012 (instead of The Swarm), so was it the case that he had intended for this ride to take the height record instead, and thus didn’t want Stealth to steal its thunder ahead of time?

(This makes sense, although there was no guarantee that a hyper coaster would ever be approved or built, and thus Stealth may have been their only opportunity to build that high)

I can’t think of any other reason and so I would be curious to know if anybody has any other thoughts!
Click to expand...
There is a possibility inspiration was taken from Xcelerator at Knotts Berry Farm as it is exactly the same height as Stealth. 🤔

There's possibly a space consideration as well as Top Thrill and Kingda Ka were longer and taller.

UK Planning and Heathrow may have also been a factor in not going for 250ft+ heights.
 
Secret Weapon said:
Apologies if I have posted this in the wrong place, but I can’t find a “Quick Questions” thread for Thorpe Park specifically:-

Does anybody know why Stealth at Thorpe Park was built at 205 feet high rather than 236 feet?

If it had been made slightly taller then Thorpe Park could have taken the record for the tallest rollercoaster in the UK from Blackpool all the way back in 2006 instead of 2024; I assumed at the time that perhaps height restrictions imposed by Heathrow Airport had prevented them from building any higher, but the size of Hyperia in 2024 would suggest otherwise (unless the council is more relaxed now than they were at the time?).

I remember reading in the “Making Thorpe Park” book that John Wardley had wanted to build a hyper coaster around 2012 (instead of The Swarm), so was it the case that he had intended for this ride to take the height record instead, and thus didn’t want Stealth to steal its thunder ahead of time?

(This makes sense, although there was no guarantee that a hyper coaster would ever be approved or built, and thus Stealth may have been their only opportunity to build that high)

I can’t think of any other reason and so I would be curious to know if anybody has any other thoughts!
Click to expand...
It's also worth considering that when The Big One was built, it was the world's tallest, not just the UK's. It's possible that for Tussaud's, merely chasing the UK's height record wasn't worth it. Additionally, as Wardley had often pointed out, someone will eventually go taller than you which sort of defeats the point.
 
owenstreet7 said:
There is a possibility inspiration was taken from Xcelerator at Knotts Berry Farm as it is exactly the same height as Stealth.
Click to expand...

Given that in the era of Tussauds when Stealth was built they weren’t spending as much on attractions as in the previous 10 years this would be my bet.

If they could take the plans from an existing ride and use those instead of having to work with Intamin on a more bespoke coaster that is exactly the kind of money saving decision that would have been made at the time.
 
AT86 said:
Given that in the era of Tussauds when Stealth was built they weren’t spending as much on attractions as in the previous 10 years this would be my bet.
Click to expand...
Are you able to elaborate more on this?

My understanding was that Thorpe Park was on something of spending spree from 2000 to 2012 due to all of the new rollercoasters and flat rides that were built after Tussauds bought the park, but was there a lull around 2006 ?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top