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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

Interesting to see if anyone has an update on the current TLC state of Loggers Leap?

An update a while ago showed that the greenery had taken over... such a shame. Don’t imagine things have improved since!
 
Interesting to see if anyone has an update on the current TLC state of Loggers Leap?

An update a while ago showed that the greenery had taken over... such a shame. Don’t imagine things have improved since!
According to Wikipedia, the latest update is that the grass outside the station was mowed in April 2017. Other than that, I can't find anything. I'm sure something will happen with it soon, though. I'm optimistic that it could reopen, but I wouldn't be averse to Project 2020 being placed on the site, either.
 
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Come on, Matt's optimism is nearly as famous as his overuse of exclamation marks.
He might be going to BPB in a few weeks you know.
Sorry, I'm only excited and I want to make it a good first visit!

With regards to Logger's Leap, I think it might reopen dependant on whether Thorpe receives funding to refurbish the ride or not. I reckon they might, as Heide managed to get funding to refurbish Colossos! Although I reckon there is also a decent chance of Project 2020 being built there. Or at least part of Project 2020, anyway, if it turns out to be the heavily rumoured B&M hyper.
 
Its unlikely, theyd have to make it a clean and closed water system like tidal wave instead of the lake water it used to use if the ride gets modified to comply with newer H&S laws, which it probably will need after rotting for so long.
On the B&M hyper, didnt the MTDP state the heights of the coasters being 40m and 50m? Its going to be a wasted opportunity, too short to be a good B&M hyper.
 
I think the heights were stated as 40m and 50m on Thorpe's original MTDP, but I think they might have updated that recently, and I don't think they adhere that closely to the original MTDP anymore. I think that Thorpe can build up to 500ft in some parts of the park, so they could definitely build a reasonable size B&M (or any other manufacturer) hyper coaster and potentially even snag the record for UK's tallest coaster while they're at it!
 
I'm not sure they can build more than about 200ish ft it's definitely nowhere near a 500ft limit though, they had a planning struggle with stealth, hence why its painted white on the top hat ect
 
I'm not sure they can build more than about 200ish ft it's definitely nowhere near a 500ft limit though, they had a planning struggle with stealth, hence why its painted white on the top hat ect
Ah OK. Thanks @alee298! So maybe a hyper more similar in size to something like Mako at SeaWorld Orlando is more plausible, then? If it is, I'm not complaining, as Mako is currently my number 1 coaster! It's absolutely outstanding, and something similar in Britain would be a stunning fit for Thorpe, in my opinion!
 
Thorpe can't build to 500, that's more than twice the height of Stealth and they had to get special permission for that, 500 is also the lower limit for manned aviation so no way they'll be allowed to do that there.

Height isn't everything either.
 
Mako really is superb. Better than Shambhala IMO.

Even an average B&M hyper would still be the best coaster in the UK tbf.
I wholeheartedly agree with your bottom statement. Even though I've only ridden one B&M hyper (Mako), that one B&M hyper was so outstanding, so airtime-filled and so smooth that I knew it had to be number 1 as soon as I came into the brake run. It still holds that number 1 spot two years later, so that really is a testament to how excellent Mako really is. It makes me look forward to experiencing the world's other B&M hypers!

I believe that a similar ride would work well for Thorpe's Project 2020 because Mako ticks all of the boxes that the ride designers apparently want out of Project 2020; a ride that is reliable, a ride with high capacity and a ride that can market itself. Mako is a B&M, and B&Ms are very rarely unreliable. Mako apparently has a theoretical throughput of 1680pph or some insane figure like that, so a similar ride would be the highest throughput coaster at Thorpe without a doubt. And Mako is a very different ride to anything else in the UK industry right now, so a similar ride would be marketable. Even if it wasn't the UK's tallest coaster, Merlin could always pull a line out like "The UK's first coaster over 200ft in 14 years" or something, sort of like Wicker Man's "UK's first wooden rollercoaster in 22 years" line.

So that is why I reckon a B&M hyper would work well as Thorpe's Project 2020.
P.S. Sorry for long post.
 
High throughput is not compatible with the Merlin business model, especially at Thorpe if their recent attractions is anything to go by. Hopefully they will get that out of their system before P2021 or P2022 (it's 2018 already, this ain't gonna be built in 18 months, too many cooks will need to inspect and sign off every stage for that to be feasible).
 
The thing I'm banking on @IanSR is that that kind of thing has already been done behind the scenes and that a planning permit will arrive fairly soon. The reason I keep referencing Project 2020 is because Thorpe themselves said about it at a TowersTimes talk last July.
 
If it is indeed a hyper I can’t imagine it needing much landscaping so in theory it could go up pretty quickly. 2020 isn’t impossible at this stage.
 
I still think an RMC would be a perfect fit for Thorpe. Seems to be no legs behind that rumour though, just deluded enthusiast optimism.
 
Re: Love Island

It only occurred to me last night how big this thing is. On a boys and girls trip to the cricket, the girls talked about it constantly and a good number of the chaps seemed to be passive viewers too! 3 million viewers on ITV2 is very respectable.

Thorpe has always been jumping on a bandwagon or other, even in the Tussauds days.
 
Thorpe needs a family coaster! A coaster which is still thrilling just not as thrilling as the likes of stealth and swarm. I think the park would benefit from a new 1.2 meter coaster investment with some good theming, similar to wicker man and thirteen at towers!! :)
 
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