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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

Smiley said:
Calling TP a "theme park"...?? I don't know now, but Paulton's "Peppa pig" was awesome when it opened. It seems that the UK can't do "theme". It's a shame. Most (at least Florida) parks are awesome on theme. It makes a big difference
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Thorpe Park definitely has several coherent themed areas (ie Swarm Island, Amity) and also some individually well themed rides (Saw, Inferno, etc). Therefore it’s a theme park, though admittedly Hyperia and its surrounding area lacks in theming. I think some people get a bit too hung up on what constitutes a theme park as opposed to an amusement park. But I put it this way, if a park looks more like say Fantasy Island then it’s an amusement park. But if the majority of the park’s areas and rides are themed to something then it’s a theme park. Thorpe is clearly in the latter category alongside the likes of Towers, Drayton, Paulton’s, etc.
 
After going on Hyperia a couple more times today, including the back row, I wouldn't say that my opinion has changed much. There was no rattle on either of my rides today, and everything before the zero-g stall was extremely enjoyable, but said zero-g stall still did absolutely nothing, and the MCBR looked atrocious, as reported by plenty of people on this site. The speakers in the queue line were definitely having plenty of issues with crackling, and the queue line still looked unfinished, but slightly better than in June.
 
Shaggy_Dog_ said:
Thorpe Park definitely has several coherent themed areas (ie Swarm Island, Amity) and also some individually well themed rides (Saw, Inferno, etc). Therefore it’s a theme park, though admittedly Hyperia and its surrounding area lacks in theming. I think some people get a bit too hung up on what constitutes a theme park as opposed to an amusement park. But I put it this way, if a park looks more like say Fantasy Island then it’s an amusement park. But if the majority of the park’s areas and rides are themed to something then it’s a theme park. Thorpe is clearly in the latter category alongside the likes of Towers, Drayton, Paulton’s, etc.
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Thorpe is more what I'd personally call a 'themusement park', as is Paultons. Like Liseberg, it's an amusement park with a few themed areas and a lot of stylized attractions. The park does not have a themed identity, it has a loose amusement park aesthetic and it can get away more with not focusing as much on immersively themed experiences, though they are very nice to have and the park agrees. Thorpe Park is more about putting the ride hardware front and center as the main focus, which is what an amusement park does.

On paper Hyperia is perfect for Thorpe as a stylized coaster, though it could do with more stylistic flourishes and enhanced landscaping, because lets face it, it's a bit of a dump at the moment. What sets a themed area at a true amusement park apart from a place like Thorpe is the focus on non-linear storytelling across an area; take Avalon, Rookburgh and Frontierland as examples. Swarm Island and Big Easy Boulevard are the only two themed areas that can be mildly compared.

At true theme parks, storytelling is their exclusive focus, and it's not always clear linear storytelling on their attractions themselves. The ride systems play a role in their storytelling and are often integrated into the themed environment a bit like a character in the story and something that is clearly part of that storytelling world, rather than simply being treated as amusement ride hardware first and foremost. Paultons are taking very strong strides in becoming a true theme park fully. Chunks of Thorpe Park lack the storytelling focus to fully consider it a pure theme park. It has themed attractions, but it's not a pure theme park.
 
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The Big Mack said:
At true theme parks, storytelling is their exclusive focus, and it's not always clear linear storytelling on their attractions themselves. The ride systems play a role in their storytelling and are often integrated into the themed environment a bit like a character in the story and something that is clearly part of that storytelling world, rather than simply being treated as amusement ride hardware first and foremost. Paultons are taking very strong strides in becoming a true theme park fully. Chunks of Thorpe Park lack the storytelling focus to fully consider it a pure theme park. It has themed attractions, but it's not a pure theme park.
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Which parks truly qualify by these metrics? Disney, Universal and Efteling...? Europa and Phantasialand (haven't been to either but from what i've seen)?
 
Bowser said:
Which parks truly qualify by these metrics? Disney, Universal and Efteling...? Europa and Phantasialand (haven't been to either but from what i've seen)?
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In recent years, all of the above. Efteling have only recently been creating more cohesive lands, but the park always had the underlying themed identity of fairytales, folkelore and myths. What sets Phantasialand apart from the rest is that themed areas like Klugheim have worldbuilding elements that you kind of have to research so as to better understand what they are. Taron, for example, I originally thought was themed to a dragon flying through a village, but it's themed to an ancient device created by the villagers to harness the raw energy of the land, which is meant to provide Klugheim with power.

Phantasialand is mostly about creating environments where their guests can escape into, environments that are full of character, but the storytelling isn't as in your face. Disney are (or were) perhaps the masters of crafting clearer stories and fully cohesive themed environments that best fit the overall themed identity of their parks.

As far as the UK goes, Chessington and Legoland are the country's most authentic major theme parks if we're to go by these metrics. At the end of the day, theme parks are a 360 degree non-linear storytelling universe, an art form which was pioneered by Walt Disney and the original Imagineers at WED Enterprises during the development of Disneyland, which set the benchmark for what would become the themed entertainment industry.

Thorpe has theme park like elements.. but it's not an authentic theme park. It's just like other amusement parks that dabble in themed experiences. It stood a strong chance of becoming a theme park back when it was An Island Like No Other, but this has been ditched in favour of a very Amusement Park identity of Feel Good Thrills. Perhaps they finally realized that in order to fully return to the park's original theme park roots they'd have to spend an awful lot of money at making the Island themed identity truly cohesive across the park so as to remedy the brand identity crisis.... the park genuinely did not know what its identity was from one attraction to the next.. horror warehouses galore...

Hyperia would've been a strong entry to the adventurous Island identity, but we simply have a stylized hyper coaster, which isn't a bad shout for an amusement park catering to thrill seekers predominantly. Authentic theme parks mostly cater to a wider breadth of people, families, capturing the imaginations of children while making adults feel young again... that's the ethos of Walt Disney and it's adopted by the parks mentioned above as well as many others like Parc Asterix, Toverland, new parks in development like Hossoland etc.
 
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I thought I do my 1st post of the topic after my 1st ride of Hyperia yesterday 1st impressions the coaster was good and looks bigger in person. I do agree for theming it looks like they just wanted to get the ride open ASAP but 4 months later it still looks not finished.
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It’s like they miscounted how much wood chipping they needed and thought that would do showing guests the exposed cabling and raised man covers. Even the back of the Burger building has the old theming in place.
Also the operations for the ride for how quick they were getting the trains out the station we still had to wait 100 mins and the queue moved very slowly but then at the bottom of the stairs having 4 separate queues (Main, Fast track, Single rider and I guess the other was for Easy Access).
For the coaster it self OMG yes after all that moaning it was worth it in the end with the speed this coaster goes and how many times I was lifted out of my seat I felt it was worth the wait. Now is it my new no1 coaster at the moment yes but I haven’t been on Nemesis reborn yet (going on the 27th October) so will decide then.
Also would I queue up 100 mins again no but would buy a 1 shot fast track ticket for it as my daughter screamed all the way around and hated it so I doubt I get her back on again.
 
Mr Pedantic Gardener calling.
Last week I observed several large heaps of bark chippings, within the site...they just need spreading!
Closed season in house job, but could easily be done early/late out of ride running hours, tomorrow.
Not a big job guvnor, I'll bob over at the weekend, do it for a season pass or two, and a couple of fasttrack packages.
 
rob666 said:
Mr Pedantic Gardener calling.
Last week I observed several large heaps of bark chippings, within the site...they just need spreading!
Closed season in house job, but could easily be done early/late out of ride running hours, tomorrow.
Not a big job guvnor, I'll bob over at the weekend, do it for a season pass or two, and a couple of fasttrack packages.
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That might not be the parks fault.
Last time I went I saw some toddler (?!) kicking wood chips around, and also spinning the par cans that light the sign up!

That being said Merlin seem to not like mid size fences..? We don’t want more kids going in miniland godzillla style too…
 
Team of 5, 2 hours before park opens. You can get a massive amount done. That's 70 hours of work in a week. No real reason to wait until the season closes, especially with Fright Nights looming.

Am looking forward to visiting first thing during one Fright Night - usually completely empty.
 
Smiley said:
Team of 5, 2 hours before park opens. You can get a massive amount done. That's 70 hours of work in a week. No real reason to wait until the season closes, especially with Fright Nights looming.

Am looking forward to visiting first thing during one Fright Night - usually completely empty.
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can't get anything done a couple hours before the park opens (and probably an hour after it closes) in any restricted area due to maintenance performing morning checks to wake the ride up (or put it to bed) something like this has happened (not sure if it was a morning thing) but in 2002 a six flags landscaper was hit by batman the ride.
 
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flyingguitar said:
can't get anything done a couple hours before the park opens (and probably an hour after it closes) in any restricted area due to maintenance performing morning checks to wake the ride up (or put it to bed) something like this has happened (not sure if it was a morning thing) but in 2002 a six flags landscaper was hit by batman the ride.
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The areas what need the most work doing could be done while the ride is open as it’s not within the ride restriction zone or where guests have to queue.
 
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