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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

The thing I find most bizarre is that Thorpe Park isn't a (proper) resort.

Merlin love their accommodation. I recall seeing an ambition to increase the "number of keys" (by a 1000 if I recall) as a reason for the Stargazing Pods at Alton Towers. Yet Thorpe Park... nope. They have their storage containers, but a proper hotel? No. Not even one, never mind multiple hotels as at other Merlin parks. Why is that?
 
Alsty said:
The thing I find most bizarre is that Thorpe Park isn't a (proper) resort.

Merlin love their accommodation. I recall seeing an ambition to increase the "number of keys" (by a 1000 if I recall) as a reason for the Stargazing Pods at Alton Towers. Yet Thorpe Park... nope. They have their storage containers, but a proper hotel? No. Not even one, never mind multiple hotels as at other Merlin parks. Why is that?
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I think it’s a chicken and egg situation. The park being aimed at the teen thrill market means that demand for hotel rooms just isn’t high enough to justify spending the money to build one.

Coupled with the fact that during the off season there is nothing they can utilise to bring people in, it means the hotel would be sat with no guests between Nov and March.

They need to broaden the appeal of the park and add attractions suitable for winter before building a full scale hotel.
 
If they started going down the family route it would be very strange U-turn given they have two family targeted theme parks already under their Co merely a stone's throw away.

Thorpe is basically what it is. A ran down theme park for teenagers. When people say they prefer it to Towers I just look dazed and confused at them. It's not a patch on Towers. The rides aren't as good and the setting isn't in same universe.
 
11 months for stabbing somebody is why this country is in the state it is in. If you stab somebody you're trying to either kill them or leave them in a position where they might prefer they were dead. 11 months is nothing. We've nearly done 11 months of lockdowns and tiers. Disgrace.
 
It was 11 months because he was only convicted of affray.

From the BBC: "The charges of possession of an offensive weapon and causing grievous bodily harm with intent were dropped after the prosecution offered no evidence at the hearing on Monday."
 
Alsty said:
The thing I find most bizarre is that Thorpe Park isn't a (proper) resort.

Merlin love their accommodation. I recall seeing an ambition to increase the "number of keys" (by a 1000 if I recall) as a reason for the Stargazing Pods at Alton Towers. Yet Thorpe Park... nope. They have their storage containers, but a proper hotel? No. Not even one, never mind multiple hotels as at other Merlin parks. Why is that?
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They’ve had plans come up every few years for a hotel. One actually had boat access to the park. But for some reason merlin just keep putting hotels at all their other parks, etc Thorpe.

But like others have said there isn’t much else to do at Thorpe, but they could certainly build things in to the hotel, a nice bar would suit Thorpes market, rather than the dragon bar which closes at 10.30 at towers. Also a swimming pool would be nice for hotel guests, even if it’s just a fairly basic one.
 
djtruefitt said:
But like others have said there isn’t much else to do at Thorpe, but they could certainly build things in to the hotel, a nice bar would suit Thorpes market, rather than the dragon bar which closes at 10.30 at towers. Also a swimming pool would be nice for hotel guests, even if it’s just a fairly basic one.
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I think the issue with just adding a basic pool is then capacity can be a problem.

I don't think there is the right market for a resort to succeed at Thorpe. Its the same reason Six Flags haven't really bothered with hotels, its a thrill park you go to for the day really. Whereas Alton Towers and Chessington are able to sell themselves as a family short break easier.
 
Alton towers have its natural beauty, Chessington have a zoo, Legoland have Lego <- These are all the things in addition to rides that the parks have. Thorpe Park doesn't really have that much else and can be "finished" within a few hours (let alone 2 days) on a quiet day.
Families tend to be the ones that stay overnight whereas Thorpe doesn't have as much to cater for those compared to Alton or Chessington (even though they actually have a really really nice proposed hotel).
IMO Thorpe is the only Merlin park that can rival Alton Towers and could actually do so with the right investment. Old Town with Loggers and Slammer replaced with more family-focused rides creates a decently sized area for families (if Paultons can do it with Tornado Springs so can Thorpe). The "beach", Depth Charge and Storm Surge (removal of the two) is another potential area that could be remodelled (right now it feels quite shoehorned despite being one of the older areas of the park). To complete their offering the farm could with its railway could even be reopened as they grow the family demand or return TWD:TR back to its former children-focused ride. That leaves an island to implement a new thrill coaster and new thrill flat ride.

At the end of the day, people will come and save up if they think they're going to have an enjoyable day (what the marketing team does really well at cultivating an image of anyway - e.g. the AB marketing was great until you realise the "new area" was just a new fairgrounds dodgems ride with a few new bits of plastic around the other nearby rides). The biggest problem Thorpe have is once people are actually inside there's not really as much to offer other than shelter-less queues and cramped walkways for 1 to 2-minute rides on busy days or a feeling of "is that it, what else is there?" on quieter days (a problem they've been trying to address for almost a decade now since ~2013 with "events" but they tend to be hit or miss).

I think these are more important to address than attempting to install and push for major hotels like the other more successful European parks with multiple hotels which already have that experience nailed (PhantasiaLand being similar to Alton/ Thorpe in ticket price and visitors per year)
With all that said would I pay to visit Thorpe Park in its current state? Yes. In a decade? We'll see when we get there.
 
I'd argue Thorpe Park is only really do able on weekdays in term time due to the lack of decent operations and capacity on rides. My last visit on a weekday in September was actually really good but even then rides manage to build a queue at times with barely anyone on park.
 
Ivsetti said:
At the end of the day, people will come and save up if they think they're going to have an enjoyable day (what the marketing team does really well at cultivating an image of anyway - e.g. the AB marketing was great until you realise the "new area" was just a new fairgrounds dodgems ride with a few new bits of plastic around the other nearby rides). The biggest problem Thorpe have is once people are actually inside there's not really as much to offer other than shelter-less queues and cramped walkways for 1 to 2-minute rides on busy days or a feeling of "is that it, what else is there?" on quieter days (a problem they've been trying to address for almost a decade now since ~2013 with "events" but they tend to be hit or miss).
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I agree with this, there just isn't enough non-thrill filler at Thorpe. And really not enough indoor stuff.
 
skyscraper said:
Apparently Thorpe are preparing for a potential March opening if the restrictions allow, and have asked essential staff to return. Isn't that a little ambitious?

https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/thorpe-park-reportedly-preparing-march-19656742.amp
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What a ludicrous article. There is no restriction against people working on sites where working from home is not feasible or practicable - there's no 'critical' definition of workers who may work, whilst no-one else can. Clearly one angsty engineer looking to make a ruckus.

It would be extremely foolish from a business point of view not to prepare for a March opening. The original timeline for easing of the lockdown is mid-February - of course a) that very likely will slip, and b) it will be a gradual easing, like the first lockdown, with leisure last on the list to re-open, but although unlikely, a March re-opening is not entirely out of the question.

They need to be ready to open as soon as is possible - hypothetically, to get to 1st March, find that they can open on 1st April, and then only have one month to complete three month's worth of winter maintenance, would be suicide.
 
Is the engineer under the impression nobody in the country is working unless they're working food & medicine? Has he just not spoken to anyone in the last few months. Bit strange..
 
Without going off topic it sounds like this worker is enjoying been at home getting 80% of his wages paid by the government. If Merlin thought it was unsafe for 40 members of staff been at the parks at the same time when they be on shifts like I’m currently am at work.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
Without going off topic it sounds like this worker is enjoying been at home getting 80% of his wages paid by the government. If Merlin thought it was unsafe for 40 members of staff been at the parks at the same time when they be on shifts like I’m currently am at work.
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Also there's no way Merlin would go out of their way to pay someone's wages unless it was 100% necessary, the tight gits.

This chap needs to grow up.
 
Our engineering staff never really left through any of the lockdowns apart from a 2 week gap to make the building COVID secure. Troublemaking for no gain seems daft really.
 
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