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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

I also think the preview are a bit differnt, alton only had their park partially open but thorpes is fully open with quite a limited ride selection, then opened to essentially a fully booked day.
I hope alton learns from thorpe, and aims for:
1. Ride openings seperatr from park opening (reduce crowds)
2. Slower opening (start with preview days with limited numbers)
3. No special events on opening (alton after dark) to reduce crowds.
 
When was the last time a Merlin park in the UK built a high capacity ride? Something that can regularly exceed 1000pph?

Must be at least 10 years and even then the likely candidates probably don’t achieve it anymore…
Swarm. We used to comfortably get 1,150-1,200 pph on that, aiming to send the train when the other was passing over the station.

In regards to Hyperia, a three train model with MCBR would have been nice, but do Merlin have really install these types of coasters? I can’t think of any, but happy to be proven wrong. Three trains on Wickerman is kind of pointless anyway since they’re usually only just opening the gates when the train behind parks in the brake run. Surely having that third train can’t achieve that much of a higher number than running it on two.
 
Three trains on Wickerman is kind of pointless anyway since they’re usually only just opening the gates when the train behind parks in the brake run. Surely having that third train can’t achieve that much of a higher number than running it on two.
By my reckoning, the 3rd train on Wicker Man gets at least an extra 150-200pph. My timings have pegged it at about 800pph on 2 and 1,000pph+ on 3.

As much as the 3rd train does park behind the one currently in the station, there’s a definite long gap between trains when they only run it on 2, so it still provides a benefit. If it were double stacking, you’d be right in thinking that it doesn’t provide any benefit, but as the ride only tends to stack one train when running 3, it does mean that the ride attains a higher throughput than it would on only 2.
 
I also think the preview are a bit differnt, alton only had their park partially open but thorpes is fully open with quite a limited ride selection, then opened to essentially a fully booked day.
I hope alton learns from thorpe, and aims for:
1. Ride openings seperatr from park opening (reduce crowds)
2. Slower opening (start with preview days with limited numbers)
3. No special events on opening (alton after dark) to reduce crowds.
Thorpe's ride selection yesterday was full line up with unplanned closures for Stealth (and most of the day Zodiac and Walking Dead).

The only planned closures were seasonal rides such as Amity Beach and Rumba Rapids.
 
Thorpe's ride selection yesterday was full line up with unplanned closures for Stealth (and most of the day Zodiac and Walking Dead).

The only planned closures were seasonal rides such as Amity Beach and Rumba Rapids.
Yeah, I think I miss worded it, I meant that altons was limited, and they didn't really get the full benefits out of the preview days unlike thrope as they didn't have all the rides running their paces.
 
Tweaks to Project Pivot has been submitted following a report from Attraction Source.

It seems to be streamlining the area so it's two kiosks, a smaller stage, a larger area for the public and less landscaping.

Hopefully this will have a quick turnaround with the tweaks.


From: https://twitter.com/AttractionSc/status/1902049032706400601?t=m5RF0KsRlqXIH0rbH70oeg&s=19

Seems silly to scrap the terrace seating and build a smaller stage, they’ve obviously been told to reduce the budget ahead of an obvious sale of Merlin from Blackstone.

It would have been a nice event space and a ‘chill’ zone from all of the hustle and bustle of Thorpe Park. Hopefully they can bring back the terrace seating and a larger stage at some point.

If they’re changing planning applications, I also wonder if they’re planning on making changes alongside the delay of the attraction.
 
I imagine with all the cuts in ents (which came after the original planning) it’s now just been cut to be a basic stage and area for frightnights only.

My guess is this is only ever planned to be “temp” and there will be longer term plans for the whole beach area.
 
Seems silly to scrap the terrace seating and build a smaller stage, they’ve obviously been told to reduce the budget ahead of an obvious sale of Merlin from Blackstone.

It would have been a nice event space and a ‘chill’ zone from all of the hustle and bustle of Thorpe Park. Hopefully they can bring back the terrace seating and a larger stage at some point.

If they’re changing planning applications, I also wonder if they’re planning on making changes alongside the delay of the attraction.
I believe the Thorpe Park plan was more to do with delays to the planning application due to requests from different parties. These are believed to be environmental factors.

The amended plans are likely to address those concerns.

Please see here from Thorpe Park Mania: https://www.thorpeparkmania.co.uk/index.php/2025/01/26/beach-renovation-delayed/
 
Merlin are not off to a great start for the 2025 season.
Just left towers after a great couple days although opening weekend sounded like it was shambles.
Hyperia has been a disaster since opening it's just something after the other and it's definitely going to valley again soon just a matter of how many times this season, really expected better from mack and I'm sure thorpe did too.
 
Just to confirm Hyperia didn't open all day. They did issue a fastrack after evacing the queue at the start of the day, but with the amount given out, I suspect it would've caused chaos.

The engineers, to their credit, tried continuously with various parts coming off or being adjusted at the bottom of the lift, but it would last a few laps before doing the same fault.

Unfortunately, operations elsewhere in the park were poor with a lot of rides down. I assume this is because there were at least 5 engineers dealing with Hyperia
 
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