Thorpe Park: Europe's most un-resorty resort

[jon81uk]

I don't think Thorpe are trying to get rid of teenagers, they just want teenagers with their parents. I.e a family group of a 13 year old and a 15 year old and their parents, that way everyone should be over 1.4m so can ride everything. I think it is the big groups of unaccompanied 17-19 year olds they needed to lose.

I think the Crash Pad / Shark Hotel is perfect for Thorpe at the moment, the park isn't suitable for families with children under 10 so there is no need to have full on family rooms. But I think the main market they are aiming the hotel at is University student age people (so 18-25) so they do need to keep the price low, the main selling point should be the convenience of being right at the park.

 

[_nemesis_]

I think the Crash Pad / Shark Hotel is perfect for Thorpe at the moment, the park isn't suitable for families with children under 10 so there is no need to have full on family rooms. But I think the main market they are aiming the hotel at is University student age people (so 18-25) so they do need to keep the price low, the main selling point should be the convenience of being right at the park.

Tell that to these promotional images:

They clearly want to bring families in. Families who will be very disappointed with a thrill park, whose only decent family attractions are water rides.

---

Oh well, at least the park isn't as bad as the horror that is Six Flags. (yet!)

Out of interest, what do you mean by that? How are Six Flags a horror? Six Flags Great Adventure is far from that and in terms of the coasters it has it is one of the best parks in the world.

Is a theme park all about coasters? No. It is about escapism and experiencing something different from your everyday life. Six Flags does not provide these basics, it is just thrill ride after thrill ride, barely anything theming and some of the most generic targets out there. Rides are just placed on slabs of concrete, over carparks with the only theming being some paint on the ride cars. Their parks are just about fitting in as many coasters as possible in the space they have.

At least Thorpe isn't like that!

 

[Rob]

Oh well, at least the park isn't as bad as the horror that is Six Flags. (yet!)

Out of interest, what do you mean by that? How are Six Flags a horror? Six Flags Great Adventure is far from that and in terms of the coasters it has it is one of the best parks in the world.

Is a theme park all about coasters? No. It is about escapism and experiencing something different from your everyday life. Six Flags does not provide these basics, it is just thrill ride after thrill ride, barely anything theming and some of the most generic targets out there. Rides are just placed on slabs of concrete, over carparks with the only theming being some paint on the ride cars. Their parks are just about fitting in as many coasters as possible in the space they have.

At least Thorpe isn't like that!

No theme parks are not all about coasters. But not all theme parks are wonderfully themed to the extent of Disney, EP or even Towers. And I do stongly believe that coasters themselves lead to escapism to a certain extent, they are not things you find in your everyday life.

Have you been to any Six Flags parks and if so which one(s)? I think Six Flags get a very unfair image here in the UK. Sure some of their rides are literally plonked on car parks (Scream as SFMM for example). However most of them are not. Barely any theming? That is not true. Six Flags Great Adventure actually has some really nice theming. I went expecting none as that is the perception you get here in the UK but it really surprised us when we were there, some of the areas are nicely themed and landscaped. Sure some of the areas of the park looked like they had seen better days but it is nowhere near as bad as some people think.

Also, why should parks that mainly just have lots of coasters be a "horror" as you put it? Cedar Point is largely accepted as one of the best parks in the world. I've not been but there's obviously not masses of theming around the place. The focus is big ass coasters. It's sometimes nice to visit parks that just have a lot of simply amazing coasters. Cedar Fair and Six Flags have and to some extent now to focus on this in the USA. Then you have other parks (Disney, Dollywood, Busch etc) that are more family and theme orientated. Both are good for different reasons.

It may be worth splitting this off into a new topic as that was all somewhat off topic!

 

[James]

Six Flags have always been classed as amusement parks though... which is entirely different to a theme park. Even the words "theme park" are very loose these days. Outside of Disney the definition of it in other parks can be a little shady (especially in the UK).

 

[Rob]

I think today most people see a theme park as a place that has rides and coasters, regardless of theming. Of course that is not the true definition of a theme park. If you go by the true definition of what a theme park is then there aren't as many as we generally think there are.

 

[jon81uk]

They clearly want to bring families in. Families who will be very disappointed with a thrill park, whose only decent family attractions are water rides.

I hadn't seen those images before and I agree that sort of family will be disappointed, there is very very little for children under 11 at Thorpe Park. They need to aim at older families with children/teenagers who want to ride thrill rides, not have bedtime stories (as in the picture). The promotion they did at the beginning of the season where 1.4m 12 year olds got in free was great as it was encouraging families with children who can go on the rides. But anyone under 1.3m only have the water rides and the last remaining kids rides (banana, rocky express, carousel) plus zodiac.

I also thought that the Ministry of Sounds nights (and getting people to stay over) was a push towards an over-18 audience who shouldn't be as much trouble, but I guess that isn't the overall strategy.

 

[JMGPannal]

I hadn't seen those images before and I agree that sort of family will be disappointed, there is very very little for children under 11 at Thorpe Park. They need to aim at older families with children/teenagers who want to ride thrill rides, not have bedtime stories (as in the picture). The promotion they did at the beginning of the season where 1.4m 12 year olds got in free was great as it was encouraging families with children who can go on the rides. But anyone under 1.3m only have the water rides and the last remaining kids rides (banana, rocky express, carousel) plus zodiac.

And X, Flying Fish and Storm in a Teacup.

I went with my 6 year old daughter and she loved the place X is one of her favourite ride now.

And soon there will also be the Dodgems and a 4D Cinema too.

I think they're getting the balance right, so the whole family which includes younger kids and teenagers can have a very full day.

 

[CoasterCrazyChris]

Thorpe park needs to physically expand in size creating more indoor attractions and green 'open' spaces before it can ever stand a chance of clawing back the family market (to the point where it was say 15 years ago).

Once they have done this then they should build a waterfront hotel and entertainment complex in order to become a proper resort. I think there would also be a demand for an enclosed waterpark too.

 

[_nemesis_]

A Dark Ride is definitely needed at Thorpe, their only indoor attraction is X. The problem is that Thorpe really lack any spare space, and they wouldn't want to build on their potential islands just for a family dark ride. Maybe add a more permanent building on a new island where Saw Alive is now?

 

[Natalie]

Phantasialand has very little space like Thorpe do so maybe Thorpe could take a leaf out of their book and start building everything on top of each other and maybe sink some rides into the ground?

 

[markfranklin]

A really interesting topic.

I used to go to Thorpe in the 80’s and 90’s in the ‘glory days’ as I remember, when the park had so much charm – but was quite family centred due to the lack of big thrill rides at the time.

I used to take my daughter there (she’s now 7) a few years ago when they still had Octopus’ Garden area and the Canada Creek Railway was still in operation, and there were quite a few bits and pieces to keep a 4-year old amused for some hours.

In the past few years during the “fat head” period, we largely stayed away as a family, because the advertising just drew in a large number of clientele who would be loud, boorish and smell of drugs. However I did visit with friends from time to time and really enjoyed sampling Stealth, Saw and Swarm.

This season I was really interested to see the new map, having read lots of rumours on forums about Thorpe wishing to adjust their target market. To be honest, whilst the new map was a very refreshing change from the old one, I thought it looks like (to a brand new visitor) there are 6-7 massive coasters on the perimeter and about 10 other very minor odds and ends in the middle of no great consequence.

Having said that, we went as a family on the MAP preview weekend and were shocked at how different the demographic was. For the first time in years, we saw loads of families with small kids wandering about, having picnics on the grass areas, etc., whilst there were still teens and young adults pleasantly enjoying the big coasters. We’ve been back a few times since and I think it is really a nice place to be at the moment. I guess it’s in a kind of ‘hybrid’ state.

We went there on Mothers’ Day and I was lucky enough to meet John Wardley. He seemed to agree that Thorpe was moving away from the exclusive ‘thrills only’ image and welcoming back visitors from a broader age range.

It will be fascinating to see where Thorpe take the brand and image over the next 2-3 years. Like other contributors, I think it would be very nice to see them focussing on the “island” element and the escapism that brings.

 

[Bob]

Phantasialand has very little space like Thorpe do so maybe Thorpe could take a leaf out of their book and start building everything on top of each other and maybe sink some rides into the ground?

Thorpe has a low water table hence why everything sticks upwards instead.

 

[alee298]

I guess that explains most of the unlandscaped rides. And why Colossus apparently (I'm not 100% sure it does) Sinks about 1 inch into the ground each year. :/

 

[CoasterCrazyChris]

The thing is, they want to pursue a new direction for the park yet they are still using the old website with that horrid graffiti branding style.

Surely they should have updated it by now?

 

[Rob]

Good point about the website, it certainly doesn't seem to tie in with the new marketing direction that the park is going in. I'm surprised they didn't get a new website for the start of this season. You'd imagine that one is in the works though.

 

[_nemesis_]

In February they got a number of followers on Facebook to test the new website design and give their opinions. Guess it didn't go well, as the design they are currently using clearly hasn't changed.

 

[MiserableMonkey]

In February they got a number of followers on Facebook to test the new website design and give their opinions. Guess it didn't go well, as the design they are currently using clearly hasn't changed.

I was looking forward to a new site too.

 

[Ian]

Didn't they tail back the site a little bit last year to make it a little more family friendly and less in your face? Developing a new site takes an awful lot of time and expense, so I wouldn't be surprised if the higher powers perhaps turned around and said "You only just had a budget for a re-design! Why do you want another so soon?!".

I wonder if they're still testing the water with this new direction, and if they see it is having the impact they want this season then they'll throw themselves into it with a new look site, etc.

A new dark experience is something Thorpe is well and truly crying out for, but space is just so limited there, and dark rides take up so much room! Even some form of outdoor ride set right at the back on the edge of the park, similar to say Excalibur at Drayton, would be a positive step forward.

On the subject of creating more islands wasn't there some issue raised that they can't keep doing this? Each time they build a new island all the displaced water has to go somewhere, hence why they flooded the farm. Before too long it could end up be Staines-on-Sea if they keep reclaiming

 

[thefatone]

Thorpe's website should be updated in May!

 

[_nemesis_]

If it overly features Angry Birds I'll kill myself.