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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

Are we expecting an announcement from Thorpe regarding X:TWD today? Or was yesterday's announcement the thing they'd been teasing towards? I reckon it could be 7pm, if their Facebook posts from the last couple of days indicate anything.
 
I received this email today

OxuViGy.jpg
 
Why are they announcing this so late? 5th March isn't even during prime holiday-booking season! Well, at least they haven't done a BGW and announced it on the day the park opened for the season.
 
I know Varney recently said something along the lines of “IP’s being the way forward” but that doesn’t really count when you’re consistently using way past their prime ones, clearly because the rights cost less.


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IP’s work, but the issue you have as a park is locking into them before they become obsolete. And Merlin won’t pay for ones that are fresh and new.
 
So it has been confirmed this morning that X is to become ‘Walking Dead: the ride’ for 2018.

The height restriction has been raised from 1m to 1.4m with a recommended age limit of 13.
 
I'm not too happy at the prospect of the X retheme but I see why they've done it.

Also the theming for this ride should be promising even if it is just your generic Merlin theming.

Also heard a rumour (Please don't take this as a definate fact, I find it untrue) but supposedly this is costing £11 mill and is 'more than just a retheme'.
 
"It’s 15 out of ten on the scare scale.”
(John Burton, Thorpe Park)
Click to expand...

Expectation bar set extremely high, scarier than anything they’ve ever done before. Fright Nights will look tame unless they do “it’s 16 out of 10 on scare scale” :D
 
The park currently makes no sense... If we look at the history of the park in the past 4 years...

  • 2014: Angry Birds Land, An area for younger guests
  • 2015: I'm a celebrity get me out of here, An attraction for the younger / teenage guests
  • 2016: Derron Brown's Ghost Train, An attraction for the teenage / older, "braver" guests
  • 2017: Derron Brown's Ghost Train 2.0. A scarier incarnation of the attraction, still same target audience
  • 2017: Timber Tug and Lumber Jump. For the younger guests (Finally opened 75% through the season)
  • 2018: YEAR OF THE WALKING DEAD! SCARY OOH! NOWHERE IS SAFE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!
 
KingNemesis said:
The park currently makes no sense... If we look at the history of the park in the past 4 years...

  • 2014: Angry Birds Land, An area for younger guests
  • 2015: I'm a celebrity get me out of here, An attraction for the younger / teenage guests
  • 2016: Derron Brown's Ghost Train, An attraction for the teenage / older, "braver" guests
  • 2017: Derron Brown's Ghost Train 2.0. A scarier incarnation of the attraction, still same target audience
  • 2017: Timber Tug and Lumber Jump. For the younger guests (Finally opened 75% through the season)
  • 2018: YEAR OF THE WALKING DEAD! SCARY OOH! NOWHERE IS SAFE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!
Click to expand...
That’s just the normal cycle isn’t it. 2020 someone at the park will say hey where did the families go and then cycle starts again.
 
I would love to know what Thorpe Park's long term growth strategy is; they really do seem to keep changing their minds. Over the past 10-15 years then they have generally been a park aimed pretty much solely at thrill seekers, which is fine and makes complete sense considering their distance from both Legoland and Chessington (and to a lesser extent, Paultons). There is demand for thrills in the south of the UK.

Yet more recently, say over the past 5 years, they cannot make their minds up over whether or not they want to also attract a broader family audience. You've had the removal of lots of kids rides, followed by the introduction of some kids rides. Some of their marketing turned more family orientated, then not, and now they want to be some horror park for the whole year and turn one of the family coasters they do have into a thrill/horror coaster.

I'd say that at the moment Thorpe Park seem to be appealing to the horror thrill market (Walking Dead stuff, Saw, Derren Brown, Fright Nights etc.). I can't say that excites me but I would also bet that they make another sudden change within the next couple of years.

At the end of the day it never seems to matter with Thorpe. Whatever they do it is always hellishly busy in peak season and rather quiet in off-peak season.

:)
 
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