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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

It's not just a theme park problem with having such a boring and unimaginative audience (the modern British youth), it's a wider societal problem, and it's obviously got a lot worse during the 2000s. Their idea of fun is limited to snorting ketamine and listening to pointless grime music that encourages them to speak the English language in an even more stupid form than before. I don't believe this is to do with being working class at all, I think you'll often find its the middle class sorts that fit best in to it nowadays. Anyway, Thorpe park is full of them, and with that kind of target audience, it does help explain why the attractions can end up as unimaginative rubbish.
 
Sauron97 said:
Their idea of fun is limited to snorting ketamine and listening to pointless grime music that encourages them to speak the English language in an even more stupid form than before. I don't believe this is to do with being working class at all, I think you'll often find its the middle class sorts that fit best in to it nowadays.
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As someone who is well over a decade older than you, presuming you surname dictates your age, and has had a great time both listening to 'pointless' grime (rather than music of huge cultural significance, such as the Spinball Whizzer soundtrack) as well as snorting ketamine on various occasions, I'd like to counter that this is an opinion of extreme misanthropy that says more about outsider communities of enthusiasts like us, rather than anything particularly tangible. Of course, society is constantly evolving and young people are constantly annoying, but there have always been "Kids today!" arguments. It's just that in theme park communities, they tend to emerge from, well, kids today. As for "speaking the language in an even stupid form than before", well, Thorpe Park is a park just outside of hugely multicultural central London, and that's where language tends to evolve.

Nonetheless, Thorpe Park is rubbish and this looks terrible.
 
Sauron97 said:
It's not just a theme park problem with having such a boring and unimaginative audience (the modern British youth), it's a wider societal problem, and it's obviously got a lot worse during the 2000s. Their idea of fun is limited to snorting ketamine and listening to pointless grime music that encourages them to speak the English language in an even more stupid form than before. I don't believe this is to do with being working class at all, I think you'll often find its the middle class sorts that fit best in to it nowadays.
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I think you'll find it is the product which is the issue here, and your description of British youth is clichéd and far from accurate. Criticising "pointless" grime music seems particularly bizarre considering the value of all music is in the utility it gives to the listener.

Young people appreciate a good theme park attraction / experience when they see it. The issue is that the standard for this kind of thing in the UK theme park industry at the moment is set so low that expectations are lowered too. I don't know a single non-enthusiast who is excited by the concept of the lame looking Walking Dead refurbishment and evidence suggests that nobody was particularly thrilled with the other boring and unimaginative attractions opened at Thorpe recently; Saw Alive flopped, I'm a Celebrity too, and even Derren Brown was disregarded as a below-par experience.

The issue is a lack of competition. That's why the "general public" keep visiting despite below par additions. It's the same reason you keep visiting as well. Stop belittling people, they're not as thick as you think.
 
I will add that there is something to be said about Thorpe Park targeting yoovz, and yoovz alone. The taste of young people is largely fickle, and the park are forced to constantly reinvent themselves every few years in order to stay hip and relevant. There's not much in the way of brand loyalty, and this is especially problematic when they invest so much in IPs, which in the vast majority of cases, blow out of fashion with the wind.

I don't know what I'd do at this stage if I were in charge of Thorpe's development. It once seemed like such a surefire success, and it felt like it for a fair number of years. But everything seems to have fallen on it's arse from The Swarm onwards. It's no longer as simple as putting in a massive coaster to prop up attendance. The park has zero direction.
 
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Oh I agree that there's a lack of competition, but I also think my point still stands that a hell of a lot of them are boring, uncultured and don't appreciate a good theme park. I'm not saying all either, but definitely a decent sized portion of them. As you noticed, I'm part of their generation and that's how I know so well what a lot of them are like.
As for what Thorpe can do. Widen their target market. Families are a nicer (and larger) audience and in comparison are much more open minded towards rides having themes and storylines. Just my opinion :)
 
It's true, we are a terrible generation :p

Although, if there is one positive thing that I'll take from Blackfish (yeah, I'm at it again), it's that this generation has a heart, even if it's being misdirected.
 
So much to say, so little time.

A lot of interesting points raised here. There are things I agree and disagree with in almost every post. I think young people can still be engaged but I think it's a lot harder and therefore you have to do it in a very different way.

Take the Oblivion queueline full of teenagers in 1998. They have almost nothing to distract them from what is around them, they are glued to the TVs, engaging with the ride experience.

Fast forward two decades and you have many opportunities to be distracted. You can play games, chat to people on the other side of the world and do anything bar be immersed by the experience. Furthermore, there is far more cynicism surrounding far fetched narratives and to things in general.

Plus, if you really want to ruin the experience, just fire up Youtube and experience it virtually.

(Also, don't do drugs, kids).
 
Sauron97 said:
Oh I agree that there's a lack of competition, but I also think my point still stands that a hell of a lot of them are boring, uncultured and don't appreciate a good theme park.
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As an avid, lifelong enthusiast, I don't really consider theme parks to be 'culture'. They are, by their nature, artifice and quick sensation. Sure, some of them are really lovely places to be, and perhaps a few such as Disneyland/Magic Kingdom have a broader emotional palette thanks to the deep well of nostalgia they can instantly tap into with their properties and iconography. But people go to the Tate for culture. Thorpe Park, perhaps more than any in the UK industry, is about cheap thrills and getting to them fast. So maybe it's just not the place for you?

As for dark rides and immersive experiences, timeless examples still exist. People, young and old, love Phantom Manor, Hex, Arthur, and even miss the original Bubbleworks. The industry just needs to evolve to deliver these experiences in a contemporary fashion, although as @Rick points out above, they are definitely up against it these days. Ironically, Derren Brown's Ghost Train was aiming wholly in this direction, but it was just either too ambitious, under or overcooked to have worked. Now it sits in the centre of a park that totally lacks that kind of experience like a big, spooky white elephant.
 
Nope. Disagree, also as a lifelong enthusiast :) I think theme parks are a part of our culture, and have their own quirks and customs that often reflect on wider society. Just like everything else in the entertainments industry really. I'd even go as far to say that you could see them as an art form.
Plastic Person said:
Thorpe Park, perhaps more than any in the UK industry, is about cheap thrills and getting to them fast.
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Well, that's the central issue here isn't it. Is that what the park should be about?
 
Plastic Person said:
People, young and old, love Phantom Manor, Hex, Arthur, and even miss the original Bubbleworks.
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Hmmm... now I wouldn't say that this is entirely true. At least not in Britain, anyway. It is admittedly true in some cases, but not in all. I'll use my sister as an example. Last July when we visited Alton Towers, I said to my Dad as we were passing the Towers that I wanted to go on the new and improved Hex. My Dad said that we could and said to my sister "Are you going to come on Hex with us?" and she said "No. Hex is boring and pointless. I'll wait outside." Another example I'll use is Derren Brown's Ghost Train. When that ride opened, it didn't exactly get glowing reviews, and not many of Thorpe Park's visitors really got the idea of the attraction so to speak.

On the other hand, I do suppose that British young people appreciate immersive attractions like the Harry Potter stuff at IOA. Maybe I should rephrase what I said to "British young people do not really appreciate immersive attractions unless they are themed to a major IP".

Sorry if my argument seems flawed. Also, on a side note, would I be right in saying that British people don't really dig immersive, themed attractions as much as people in Mainland Europe do, or would that be very stereotypical? In which case, I apologise.
 
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Matt N said:
Also, on a side note, would I be right in saying that British people don't really dig immersive, themed attractions as much as people in Mainland Europe do, or would that be very stereotypical? In which case, I apologise.
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I'd say this is probably true, with the usual exceptions. Mainland European parks and their visitors are much more invested in shows and entertainment, as well as dark rides.

Pleasure Beach is something of an exception to this rule, or was until fairly recently in it's history. It's not really ever thought of as 'immersive', yet shows and dark rides were as much a part of the DNA of the park as their coaster collection.
 
I think 'cheap' is perhaps the wrong word.

That said, I am very much of the view that a large pecentage of Thorpe's audience want low complexity thrill rides with ballsy stats, IP tie ins and a distinct lack of complex narratives.

I think that's a shame and is not my preference, but alas I think that's where we're at.
 
Every generation produces good and bad music. Unfortunately, for the last few decades, it is only the bad music that ever makes it in to the popular charts. Personally, I blame the demise of Top Of The Pops.
One of the defining moments of my late teens was when I discovered that rather than going to the naff local club that played chart crap and was filled with drunks trying to fight and f*#%, I could get the tube in to town and go to a proper rave with good dance music, where everyone just wanted to get boshed and dance.

.... Having said that, you kids today blah blah....
 
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