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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

I feel Thorpe are lurching at the moment. It's quite evident that there hours are, as it stands, the worst in the UK resort portfolio *and* they seem to have the least in terms of additions and events.

There was a point when it was this park which had the events and the hours. Currently, I am struggling to see where the next ride is coming from.
 
A few updates from across the park from Jack Silkstone on YouTube, there’s a new van at the entrance plaza (the old stealth van) which will be open in the morning for breakfast and coffee, and then at ride close for hotdogs, etc,

Stealth has lost its baggage and its been replaced by Rita style baggage which is a bit disappointing, as it really doesn’t work on Rita, but it is bigger so hopefully will work a bit better.

In other news they’ve done a lot of painting around the park, and tidal wave has had a few updates including a new fire effect, replacing the old one which has been off for many years.

Finally Nitrogine has gone, and replaced by their own version. Assuming this may be the case at towers as well
 
AT86 said:
A look at the entrance to Black Mirror. Puts me in mind of a council leisure centre entrance, not a new theme park attraction.

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Also, the old queue line for Slammer will be used for this attraction, so you queue up next to the old rotting ride. Great!
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Must have completley missed this, what actually is it? I'm guessing some sort of indoor maze? Looks pretty awful either way!
 
I'm a bit confused as to why Thorpe have spent years on a re-branding of the resort to make it more friendly and themed by re implementing the themed areas and adding theming into the park to then this year revert back to the basic orange and blue marketing everywhere, drop the island wording and remove references of the themed lands from the signage around the park? Why go to all that effort to remove it. Personally I liked the island branding but I'm not a fan of this years.
 
Thorpe have been rudderless for the best part of a decade now. Every couple of years someone new comes in with their own plan to fix the place but it never works out - they move on/are pushed out and the cycle begins again
 
siralgenon said:
I'm a bit confused as to why Thorpe have spent years on a re-branding of the resort to make it more friendly and themed by re implementing the themed areas and adding theming into the park to then this year revert back to the basic orange and blue marketing everywhere, drop the island wording and remove references of the themed lands from the signage around the park? Why go to all that effort to remove it. Personally I liked the island branding but I'm not a fan of this years.
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Because they have no idea who or what they are. No idea at all.
 
It seems Thorpe’s measures still aren’t particularly working when it comes to queue lines.



Also, I am not a big fan of this blocky repaint of Tidal Wave. It needed attention for sure, but they should have been faithful to the original design. This reminds me of when Splash Landings was repainted a few years back.

 
The new look in the dome is a bit meh too. The old Atlantis theming is all gone but it’s a mix of the new-ish Infinity bar and the older Surf style coffee shop and other shops. With a too shiny blue floor.



the tidal wave colours might look better in a year once the weather gets to them. But right now it’s a bit garish.
 
I think it looks quite nice and vibrant, personally! And as some have said, it might look different once it’s worn in a little!
 
Not sold on any of it really, and disappointing to see the gas sphere replaced with such a simple piece of theming. Has the flame effect been restored? I’m only going from the fact that the speedboat and fuel pump both look blackened and the fact there’s clearly some form of power supply running out to it with a big e-stop on the oddly out of place conduit box (funny how they find the time and money to theme air conditioners in op cabins for new rides, but can’t give a box in plain view a bit of a roughen up).

The blocky colours look out of place. Hopefully once it’s been exposed to the elements it’ll look a little less in your face, but it’s the usual “Here’s a tin of Valspar and a roller. Go paint that.” as oppose to any sort of detailing or thought that these buildings should look like they’ve just been through a hurricane/tsunami. I know it’s done with the best intentions of cleaning the parks up, but it’s a cheap and garish cover over, rather than any sort of real care and attention to detail as a proper restoration should be.

The Dome looks more and more like a 90s leisure centre with each passing year and “refresh”... Can’t wait to see how faded and scratched that floor looks after a season’s worth of footfall.
 
Ian said:
The blocky colours look out of place. Hopefully once it’s been exposed to the elements it’ll look a little less in your face, but it’s the usual “Here’s a tin of Valspar and a roller. Go paint that.” as oppose to any sort of detailing or thought that these buildings should look like they’ve just been through a hurricane/tsunami. I know it’s done with the best intentions of cleaning the parks up, but it’s a cheap and garish cover over, rather than any sort of real care and attention to detail as a proper restoration should be.
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I would hazard a guess that the repaints like this are done by some form of general park staff with good intentions as opposed to any ‘artists’ or MMM. If this isn’t the case then the quality is kind of shocking.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
AT86 said:
A look at the entrance to Black Mirror. Puts me in mind of a council leisure centre entrance, not a new theme park attraction.

b4CWMdU.png


Also, the old queue line for Slammer will be used for this attraction, so you queue up next to the old rotting ride. Great!
Click to expand...

What does the ISO warning say? 'Cause either it's poorly placed, like... incredibly poorly, or it's theming, which doesn't really work when you have hundreds of them across park warning of death or ejection from park if you breach a ride area...
 
I think the changes reinforce the fact that Merlin really lack any type of show quality standards. They continue to ruin themeing and replace it with much cheaper “improvements”. It reminds me very much of the refurb of Duel, which was clearly done with good intentions but actually makes the experience worse.

It’s quite shocking to think how amateurish some of this stuff is for such a large company.
 
Thorpe seems to have consistent issues with social distancing. Is it a capacity issue or is there simply a lack of stewards and guides?
 
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