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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

Rick said:
I think you can, but it's easier to do that at the other end of the market, ie families.
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True, but you couldn't really describe it as a theme park - it's too specialist. A theme park means all the family.

For the record, speaking of parks that only target families, I hate how Chessington now only focus on the family market, having neglected the thrill seekers.
 
andeyhart said:
True, but you couldn't really describe it as a theme park - it's too specialist. A theme park means all the family.

For the record, speaking of parks that only target families, I hate how Chessington now only focus on the family market, having neglected the thrill seekers.
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Why does a theme park have to aimed at families? A theme park simply has to immerse the guests into a themed environment. Thorpe may not do this very well in some places, but you can't argue that swarm, amity cove, and calypso Quay the jungle all have decent theming.

And while I desperately want chessington to just put a couple more thrill rides in (currently: one half dead top spin that only opens on weekends and holidays), it's not like chessington advertise to a thrill market. towers is far worse, neglecting the too old for CBeebies, to young for th13teen group, yet still promoting themselves as a park for every one. at least with all the parks so close together, you can do all three in one trip, catering to anyone in the family.
 
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Leah said:
Why does a theme park have to aimed at families? A theme park simply has to immerse the guests into a themed environment. Thorpe may not do this very well in some places, but you can't argue that swarm, amity cove, and calypso Quay the jungle all have decent theming.

And while I desperately want chessington to just put a couple more thrill rides in (currently: 1 half dead top spin that only opens on weekends and holidays), it's not like chessington advertise to a thrill market. towers is far worse, neglecting the too old for CBeebies, to young for th13teen group, yet still promoting themselves as a park for every one. at least with all the parks so close together, you can do all three in one trip, catering to anyone in the family.
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I didn't mean theme parks have to aim at just the family, meaning the young family market, hence why I stated I don't like Chessington's current direction. I meant the family as in everyone - children, teenagers, young adults, the elderly even. A family of how ever many people of all age ranges should be able to turn up a theme park and find rides catered to them, be it thrill rides or children's rides. Even the thrill dominated 6 flags parks have a selection of rides for the very young. How are young children supposed to be "immersed into a themed environment" at Thorpe Park when there's barely anything there for them to ride? It's almost complete alienation, and Thorpe know it themselves hence why they're making an effort (albeit a poor one) to accommodate more for younger children.

Highlighting how Thorpe and Chessy are close together is a cop out in my view. They are still separate entities; they should cater for all markets. A family with young children isn't going to necessarily know that Thorpe mainly caters for thrill seekers, so to arrive and realise they're, in effect, not welcome and should've gone to another theme park isn't going to sit well.

And yes, Towers have depleted the gap between Th13teen and CBeebies, but in 2016, there was still Congo River Rapids, Runaway Mine Train, Duel, Battle Galleons, Marauder's Mayhem, Twirling Toadstool, Ice Age, Sharkbait Reef, Heave Ho - that's more than what's currently on offer for thrill seekers at Chessington and far more than what's on offer for young children at Thorpe Park. Towers are hardly lying by saying they cater for everyone, when they clearly still do.
 
andeyhart said:
I didn't mean theme parks have to aim at just the family, meaning the young family market, hence why I stated I don't like Chessington's current direction. I meant the family as in everyone - children, teenagers, young adults, the elderly even. A family of how ever many people of all age ranges should be able to turn up a theme park and find rides catered to them, be it thrill rides or children's rides
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I would say chessington does this. Yes it doesn't have the super thrill rides like Smiler or Oblivion, but there is Kobra, Rattlesnake, Dragons Fury and part-time Rameses Revenge. Then there are rides for all the family, Tomb Blaster, Bubble Works, Zufari, bumper cars. And then the kiddie rides, vintage cars, flying elephants, etc. Plus the zoo truly is for everyone.
In fact I would say Chessington is the most well-rounded all ages park of all the Merlin parks.
 
jon81uk said:
I would say chessington does this. Yes it doesn't have the super thrill rides like Smiler or Oblivion, but there is Kobra, Rattlesnake, Dragons Fury and part-time Rameses Revenge. Then there are rides for all the family, Tomb Blaster, Bubble Works, Zufari, bumper cars. And then the kiddie rides, vintage cars, flying elephants, etc. Plus the zoo truly is for everyone.
In fact I would say Chessington is the most well-rounded all ages park of all the Merlin parks.
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Almost, but a lot of the thrill rides you've highlighted are, at best, family thrill. I think a real adrenaline junkie would find Chessington fairly flat.
 
andeyhart said:
Almost, but a lot of the thrill rides you've highlighted are, at best, family thrill. I think a real adrenaline junkie would find Chessington fairly flat.
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Yes, but if a mixed age group is going together that shouldn't be too much of an issue. I think Chessington could entertain age 2-92 quite easily, even if someone who wants big thrills isn't so interested in what the rest of the family want. Whereas Thorpe is only really for age 8-65amd only those who don't get sick easily.
 
andeyhart said:
And yes, Towers have depleted the gap between Th13teen and CBeebies, but in 2016, there was still Congo River Rapids, Runaway Mine Train, Duel, Battle Galleons, Marauder's Mayhem, Twirling Toadstool, Ice Age, Sharkbait Reef, Heave Ho - that's more than what's currently on offer for thrill seekers at Chessington and far more than what's on offer for young children at Thorpe Park. Towers are hardly lying by saying they cater for everyone, when they clearly still do.
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Trust me, as a guy with a family, the most universal park in the UK is not a Merlin one. Out of the Merlin ones it's actually probably Legoland. Although it has bugger all for thrill-seekers, it has rides for both older and younger kids, although my older 2 boys are starting to get bored with it (both will be over 1.2 next season). Second would be Chessington which is actually piss poor for pre schoolers but can entertain young thrill-seekers relatively well.

You must bear in mind at AT that Marauders has a 1.1 limit with over 1.3 to be accompanied (no good if you have a pre schooler in toe) and contrary to popular belief, Twirling Toadstool IS NOT a universal family attraction. It has a ridiculous 1.2 mtr limit, the same as Thirteen. If you take these 2 off the list and compare that to Chessington, Alton has far fewer universal family attractions that Chessington and isn't that much better than Thorpe if these new attractions come to fruition and Loggers leap reopens.
 
matthewgcole said:
Trust me, as a guy with a family, the most universal park in the UK is not a Merlin one. Out of the Merlin ones it's actually probably Legoland. Although it has bugger all for thrill-seekers, it has rides for both older and younger kids, although my older 2 boys are starting to get bored with it (both will be over 1.2 next season). Second would be Chessington which is actually **** poor for pre schoolers but can entertain young thrill-seekers relatively well.

You must bear in mind at AT that Marauders has a 1.1 limit with over 1.3 to be accompanied (no good if you have a pre schooler in toe) and contrary to popular belief, Twirling Toadstool IS NOT a universal family attraction. It has a ridiculous 1.2 mtr limit, the same as Thirteen. If you take these 2 off the list and compare that to Chessington, Alton has far fewer universal family attractions that Chessington and isn't that much better than Thorpe if these new attractions come to fruition and Loggers leap reopens.
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I was referring to all the attractions over the board, not just family attractions. Towers have more of all three ride types - thrill, family and young children than Chessington and Thorpe. I'm not denying Chessy has more family attractions than Towers, but it has just one thrill ride. That one thrill ride is a lot less than the amount of family attractions at Towers, even if we take Toadstool and Marauders out of the equation. And for little children, Thorpe has almost nothing. Their family line up is okay, but I was referring to the CBeebies demographic in my previous post. There's Rocky Express, Neptune's Beach and that's it. Logger's Leap reopening is irrelevant, as that's a family attraction, not a young children's attraction. And for what it's worth, I wouldn't be surprised if Loggers Leap never reopens. Rides like Hex will probably be back long before Loggers reopens.

So that's the point I was making. Towers family line up may be smaller this year, but it still has the best variety for all three (children, family, thrill) than Thorpe, Legoland or Chessy.

And I have a 9 and 11 year old (both of whom are over 1.2), so I probably took for granted the higher height restrictions on Toadstool.
 
Who on earth is running Thorpe Park these days?

The last 4/5 years have been shambolic to say the least starting with that steaming pile of turd Storm Surge.

If they are serious about attracting the family market back again then they need to get serious about investing in rides to attract them.

A dodgems, cheap interactive maze and a bunch of second hand fairground rides with tacky IP's attached does not cut the mustard.

Derren Brown for all its shortfalls was a step in the right direction but it doesn't come across as very family friendly. The marketing and brand image of the park has also improved in the last few years but it's very far from being brilliant.
 
^ This is the reason why I haven't been to Thorpe for quite some time.
Derren Browns Ghost Train doesn't even entice me to visit. There's just a feel to that theme park that I just don't like, maybe the god awful music that's blearing out once over the bridge.
 
It's up there with WDS for the award for the most confused park in Europe.

Storm Surge, Saw Alive, DBGT, I'm a Celeb and Angry Birds.... just think of what else thy could have got with the licencing fee alone!
 
I've seen in that Facebook group, a pic of all the Flumes boats sitting in a nice orderly fashion... I wonder if they could be on their way to Thorpe?

I mean, if they weren't going to be reused, surely they'd be thrown in the skip along with the Flume already?
 
Lordy said:
I've seen in that Facebook group, a pic of all the Flumes boats sitting in a nice orderly fashion... I wonder if they could be on their way to Thorpe?
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I really hope not. That area is mismatched / ugly enough already.
 
Plenty of other parks with similar flumes that may buy them. I don't have much doubt that someone will get them, they're all still in reasonably good condition.

Don't fool yourself though. loggers leaps won't reopen. prepared to be wrong with that, but looking at the facts, it's not looking good.
 
I honestly don't care anymore. If they wanna introduce second hand kids rides and get rid of the best flume in the UK, they can go right ahead. The place is a joke.
 
andeyhart said:
I love log flumes. The fact that the oldest (and for me, most iconic) in England is no more, and now the best and most thrilling is also likely to never return, I find quite upsetting to be honest.
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My thoughts exactly. I think flumes are great family fun and I love them. Both parks had the best 2 in the UK. Perversely, in terms of the Merlin parks, the best 2 (The Flume and Loggers Leap) are no more, yet the worse 2 (Dragon Falls and Pirate Falls) continue to operate.
 
Are we counting Valhalla as a flume?

If so it's hands down the best flume, the others don't even come close, although Stormforce 10 is good.
 
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