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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

So for Oktoberfest Thorpe have got IMAscore and everyone’s favourite enthusiast is doing the rides audio, one reason to stick to Towers for the event IMO
 
ringo said:
So for Oktoberfest Thorpe have got IMAscore and everyone’s favourite enthusiast is doing the rides audio, one reason to stick to Towers for the event IMO
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What’s the matter with IMAScore (or the mystery enthusiast you’re referring to) out of interest? Are you just not a fan of their music?
 
Matt N said:
What’s the matter with IMAScore (or the mystery enthusiast you’re referring to) out of interest? Are you just not a fan of their music?
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IMAscore is ok but the enthusiast is just bland, only seems to get the job due to mates at the park - Fright Nights 2018 was a let down due to this and Tomb Blaster 2020..

Just my opinion but usually when it’s jobs for mates it’s not the best it could be.
 
ringo said:
Just my opinion but usually when it’s jobs for mates it’s not the best it could be.
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2020 Tomb Blaster was shockingly awful and stinks horribly of "jobs for mates" like you say. Even felt like "made for mates" and nobody else to enjoy.

For a random event, as long as the music just does what it needs to and sounds good then that's fine, but could do without 'insider' enthusiasts going around sticking their name/face in everything, it's weird.
 
In the UK we don't tend to get a lot of music in other languages. But there are some really catchy songs that they do at the Oktoberfest and other similar events in Germany. You hear some of them at Winter Wonderland. I know so far most of the discussion has been about the food, but the music will also play a big part in creating the atmosphere.
 
Funcone said:
In the UK we don't tend to get a lot of music in other languages. But there are some really catchy songs that they do at the Oktoberfest and other similar events in Germany. You hear some of them at Winter Wonderland. I know so far most of the discussion has been about the food, but the music will also play a big part in creating the atmosphere.
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The snippit of the main Oktoberfest theme THORPE posted sounded fantastic!
 
In terms of COVID, Thorpe along with all the other Merlin attractions went on a big push saying they had received a 'charter mark' for COVID safety (they filled in a basic online form and asked for a logo). But in reality, they're shown yet again to be unable to manage a simple queue, whereas there are plenty of smaller operators of tourist attractions barely breaking even, who have employed additional staff for the single reason of queue management.

There's even the normal complaints that the soap has run out in the toilets - by 10am. For me, indefensible.
 
OilyWater said:
Scrap the car but the entire ride is about murder and violence

Thorpe has way too many scrapyard vehicles used as cheapo theming anyway
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@OilyWater I’m in total agreement with you regarding the state of Throrpe Park. I personally hope that Thorpe Park invest some dosh into the family market. I truly wish we could travel back in time to the late 90’s and early 2000’s as Thorpe was a true family dreamworld back in those days and not the horror/violent based apocalyptic nightmare that it is today!
 
Prof Burp said:
@OilyWater I’m in total agreement with you regarding the state of Throrpe Park. I personally hope that Thorpe Park invest some dosh into the family market. I truly wish we could travel back in time to the late 90’s and early 2000’s as Thorpe was a true family dreamworld back in those days and not the horror/violent based apocalyptic nightmare that it is today!
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There was certainly a sweet spot for Thorpe around 2002-2007, in which the park was generally a pleasant, upbeat environment to visit, whereas Alton Towers was the more dour experience. Nonetheless, I think "family dreamworld" is a bit of a push, and owing to the age on your profile, undoubtedly borrowed nostalgia. Rides like X:/ were always utter duds.
 
Plus by the time you could ride NWO you could ride far superior rides.

That said Thorpe was always nice when I went as a kid. But so were Lego and Chessie. All had their differences but they all provided a good day out.

2005 is where I think Thorpe turned. Two big noisy unreliable (and unthemed) rides. And just seemed to be when the audience began to change. Around then we'd probably spend a morning in park then leave once people filled it up.

Each one now stands as a sad tale in their own way.
 
Plastic Person said:
There was certainly a sweet spot for Thorpe around 2002-2007, in which the park was generally a pleasant, upbeat environment to visit, whereas Alton Towers was the more dour experience. Nonetheless, I think "family dreamworld" is a bit of a push, and owing to the age on your profile, undoubtedly borrowed nostalgia. Rides like X:/ were always utter duds.
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I think Tussauds initially did the right thing of trying to make Chessington the "family dreamworld" and Thorpe the more thrilling day out. It was around the time Saw was added that the marketing all went a bit wrong though.
I agree 2002-7 was probably some of the better years, the addition of Colossus, Nemesis Inferno, Rush, Samurai, Vortex etc were all good for the park and really made it into the thrill-centred park it is. But they should have then added a more "family" coaster at some point (think Wickerman) instead of more and more 1.4m stuff.
 
I don’t personally think Thorpe is really trying to be a family theme park anymore, and I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. There are many parks out there that have succeeded in being thrill parks, including in Europe, and I think Thorpe has definitely made good steps towards following in the footsteps of these parks, personally.

I think the main difference between Thorpe in the 2000s and Thorpe now is that while the rides being installed were very similar in terms of caliber and target market, the themes were almost a little more whimsical under Tussauds (I’m not sure if that was the right word?) and didn’t take themselves too seriously. Even though they were aimed at thrill seekers, things like Tidal Wave, Stealth, Nemesis Inferno and to a lesser extent things like Colossus don’t have overly serious themes; they do almost have an element of light-heartedness about them, in a way.

Contrast this with the investments under Merlin; besides Storm Surge, Angry Birds Land and I’m a Celebrity, which were all aimed more at families, a lot of the park’s additions have very stark, gloomy themes that are more upfront in being dark. Things like Saw, Swarm, DBGT and Walking Dead are all quite stark, serious themes that I think do change the tone of the park a bit. I’m not saying that Merlin’s themes are inferior to Tussauds’ (far from it, in fact, as I think much of Merlin’s theme work at Thorpe has been absolutely fantastic) but they do create a somewhat different tone to the themes that Tussauds created.

For the time being, I do think Thorpe has a sufficient amount of family attractions given the target market of the park, personally, although maybe some kind of other major family attraction might be a nice addition in the future to round things out a little.

I accept that opinions will greatly differ on this, and I totally accept that most people have different tastes in theme parks to me, but I certainly don’t think Thorpe need to go back to being a “family dreamworld” like they were in the 80s and 90s, and for one sole reason; if you look at this in the wider context of the UK industry, Thorpe is one of very few parks in this country that still actively targets thrill seekers (the only other two I can think of off the top of my head are Alton and Blackpool, although Flamingoland may also be worthy of a mention given the coaster being built for 2021), and is arguably the only one has lenient enough planning restrictions, sufficient money and sufficient space to really do the “thrill park” concept justice. By contrast, “family dreamworlds” are extremely common in this country; even in the M25 cluster alone, you have Chessington and Legoland a stone’s throw away, and Paultons isn’t too far either. Most of the country’s independent theme parks seem to have gone down the family route as well, so Thorpe can sell itself and make itself unique far more effectively as a thrill park, in my opinion.
 
Matt N said:
I accept that opinions will greatly differ on this, and I totally accept that most people have different tastes in theme parks to me, but I certainly don’t think Thorpe need to go back to being a “family dreamworld” like they were in the 80s and 90s, and for one sole reason; if you look at this in the wider context of the UK industry, Thorpe is one of very few parks in this country that still actively targets thrill seekers (the only other two I can think of off the top of my head are Alton and Blackpool, although Flamingoland may also be worthy of a mention given the coaster being built for 2021), and is arguably the only one has lenient enough planning restrictions, sufficient money and sufficient space to really do the “thrill park” concept justice. By contrast, “family dreamworlds” are extremely common in this country; even in the M25 cluster alone, you have Chessington and Legoland a stone’s throw away, and Paultons isn’t too far either. Most of the country’s independent theme parks seem to have gone down the family route as well, so Thorpe can sell itself and make itself unique far more effectively as a thrill park, in my opinion.
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I agree, the decision Tussauds took to separate the target markets of Chessington and Thorpe is fine. As you say there is also Chessington, Legoland, Paulton and then Drayton Manor for family days out.

But Thorpe should aim to attract families with kids aged over 12, rather than just young adults over 16. A group with parents and a range of children from 12-18 will be better behaved than 16-20 year olds there without parents. The marketing around 2010 really aimed the park in the wrong direction and although Angry Birds helped to re-orientate back to family slightly, but then Walking Dead kind of undid all the good changes.
 
jon81uk said:
I agree, the decision Tussauds took to separate the target markets of Chessington and Thorpe is fine. As you say there is also Chessington, Legoland, Paulton and then Drayton Manor for family days out.

But Thorpe should aim to attract families with kids aged over 12, rather than just young adults over 16. A group with parents and a range of children from 12-18 will be better behaved than 16-20 year olds there without parents. The marketing around 2010 really aimed the park in the wrong direction and although Angry Birds helped to re-orientate back to family slightly, but then Walking Dead kind of undid all the good changes.
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Correct me if I’m wrong, but are you suggesting that a target market of families with kids over 12 as well as young adults would still allow them to invest in the caliber of thrill rides they invest in now while appealing to a wider market (most kids over 12 will be over 1.4m tall, thus arguably no less likely to respond well to thrill rides than a young adult)? If you are, then I completely agree.

For me, I think it would be good if Thorpe targeted themselves similarly to how the Walibi parks do. Those parks are most definitely thrill parks, from what I gather, but they do have a few less thrilling rides on standby too. By this definition, I’d almost argue that Alton is doing this really well, but a lot of their more recent additions have been more aimed at families.
 
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