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Thorpe Park: General Discussion
- Thread starter Ted
- Start date
Benjsh
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
Yeah if you're 12
Ted
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Kondaa
Rick
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Crux
I've only met Nick once but he's a very affable chap. Defend yourself old son @nickhutson
Enter Valhalla
TS Member
I’m afraid to say that I do strongly agree that Thorpe’s obsession with tinkering with their audio is not at all wise when compared with what they could and should be doing to the rest of the park urgently in need of attention.
“Old Town” is just a mess, we still have several rides and attractions SBNO, Angry Birds Land now looks faded, dirty, covered in moss and in urgent need of attention. Same for the beach and Wet Wet Wet. And the entire park just has this underlying feeling of neglect.
When we see little improvements like the new Tidal Wave entrance sign and boat theming, I have no doubt that the bosses will all be sending pictures of these around on internal emails and patting each other’s backs for a great job well done lads. But the sad reality is that a shiny new sign only makes its surroundings look even more tired and in need of work.
“Old Town” is just a mess, we still have several rides and attractions SBNO, Angry Birds Land now looks faded, dirty, covered in moss and in urgent need of attention. Same for the beach and Wet Wet Wet. And the entire park just has this underlying feeling of neglect.
When we see little improvements like the new Tidal Wave entrance sign and boat theming, I have no doubt that the bosses will all be sending pictures of these around on internal emails and patting each other’s backs for a great job well done lads. But the sad reality is that a shiny new sign only makes its surroundings look even more tired and in need of work.
Poisson
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- The Giant Squid
My last visit was my first ride on TWD:TR (first ride since it was X:/WTF) and its....eh? The queue line and exit are the worst attempt I've ever seen at a scare maze (worse than no actors Shed Terra) and the ride is still very average, but a bit less uncomfy than backwards. Between the brakes it's just...black. Seems an odd decision to retheme one of the few family rides to a limited IP
Matt.GC
TS Member
You haven't noticed Leisure Centre Land, Decommissioned Ride World and Carley Rae Island? Mate you're missing out!
Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Shambhala (PortAventura Park)
Technically they do, but I don’t think they’ve been very strongly enforced, at least not in recent years.
From my recollection, there’s:
- Amity - The area by Tidal Wave, stretches past the beach and towards Flying Fish. Also houses rides like Storm Surge, Storm in a Teacup and Stealth, although I’m convinced that Stealth later became part of its own sub-area, Amity Speedway, that’s separate from Amity itself.
- The Jungle - Previously known as Calypso Quay, this is the area that houses Nemesis Inferno, Mr Monkey’s Banana Ride and Rumba Rapids, as well as IAC/Jungle Escape/whatever it is these days (I’m not entirely sure; is Jungle Escape still open?).
- The Dock Yard - The area home to Derren Brown’s Ghost Train and The Walking Dead: The Ride. Was previously part of Lost City (TWD:TR’s section, although confusingly, the ride’s entrance has always been in Amity Cove) and Calypso Quay/The Jungle (DBGT; DBGT replaced the Thorpe Park Arena and Chief Ranger’s Carousel, which were originally part of the now defunct Ranger County, but the ride was in Calypso Quay/The Jungle for its early years)
- Lost City - The area home to Colossus, Rush, Vortex, Zodiac and Quantum. Confusingly, Samurai is also Lost City-themed, but is part of Old Town…
- Angry Birds Land - An amalgamation of a former part of Amity Cove with a former part of Calypso Quay. Home to Detonator: Bombs Away, Angry Birds 4D and King Pig’s Wild Hog Dodgems.
- Old Town - Home to Saw: The Ride, Rocky Express, Lumber Jump, Timber Tug Boat, Black Mirror Labyrinth, and, rather confusingly in spite of its Lost City theme, Samurai. This is also where the remains of Logger’s Leap and Slammer are still currently in situ. You probably better know this area of Thorpe Park as Canada Creek.
- Swarm Island - As the name implies, this area merely encompasses Swarm and the surrounding plaza.
- Neptune’s Kingdom - The waterpark-style area at the front of Thorpe Park, home to Depth Charge, Wet Wet Wet, and the beach. Having said that, though, the beach might well be part of Amity; I’m not entirely sure, sorry!
- Port Atlantis/The Dome/Basecamp - I’ve heard numerous names used for this section of the park, but this is basically the dome you enter through at the beginning of your day at Thorpe Park.
imanautie
TS Member
Strictly speaking they can't even make their minds up where SAW is, some marketing says it's in old town, some say saw plaza.
Enter Valhalla
TS Member
Thorpe did actually officially get rid of their themed areas/lands/zones in 2008, but then decided to bring them back in 2015, by which point the damage had already been done. Angry Birds Land splitting up Amity for example.
As I understand it the area around Detonator and the 4D cinema previously had a pirates’ theme. When they planned Tidal Wave they originally looked at a pirate theme, but Legoland already had a pirate theme log flume, and they thought that the Amity Cove theme would be more interesting (which I think it was). Then they replaced Pirates 4D with the Time Voyagers film, and any sense of a theme that the area previously had was lost.
You could argue that Angry Birds Land meant that the area had a consistent theme again, which is probably a good thing, and some of the theming pieces are quite nice. It isn’t a highly themed area like Thomas Land, but maybe a step up from what was there before. At least initially it bought back some life into the area. On the other hand, the 4D cinema had a bit more theming when it was pirates 4D, and it was a more interesting film. There are arguments for having a film that fits in with the area and argument for changing the film regularly. At Thorpe Park they’ve chosen to stick with the Angry Birds film, but I think it’s one of the weakest 4D films that I’ve seen. If it was a more entertaining film, I’d find the area more appealing.
I think there is also a problem that Angry Birds doesn’t feel very exclusive. At one time Sundown, Lightwater Valley and Thorpe Park all had Angry Birds attractions, and a lot of parks have Angry Birds plushes on the sideshows. Also, I think the Angry Birds costume characters look a bit stupid.
You could argue that Angry Birds Land meant that the area had a consistent theme again, which is probably a good thing, and some of the theming pieces are quite nice. It isn’t a highly themed area like Thomas Land, but maybe a step up from what was there before. At least initially it bought back some life into the area. On the other hand, the 4D cinema had a bit more theming when it was pirates 4D, and it was a more interesting film. There are arguments for having a film that fits in with the area and argument for changing the film regularly. At Thorpe Park they’ve chosen to stick with the Angry Birds film, but I think it’s one of the weakest 4D films that I’ve seen. If it was a more entertaining film, I’d find the area more appealing.
I think there is also a problem that Angry Birds doesn’t feel very exclusive. At one time Sundown, Lightwater Valley and Thorpe Park all had Angry Birds attractions, and a lot of parks have Angry Birds plushes on the sideshows. Also, I think the Angry Birds costume characters look a bit stupid.
Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Shambhala (PortAventura Park)
No, it’s OK! I should probably have known it was a joke…
Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Shambhala (PortAventura Park)
Sorry for double posting, but here’s a longer clip of Swarm’s new audio. From what I can gather, it’s supposed to be a radio-type thing like they have in Amity:
If I’m being honest, I’m still not really sure on this new audio, personally. I quite liked the atmosphere that the old audio created.
Although I guess it’s not really my place to complain; I should really be more grateful…
In other news, Rumba Rapids has become Rumba RAPids in honour of ParkVibes, with a new rap music theme including fittingly rap-themed announcements:
If I’m being honest, I’m still not really sure on this new audio, personally. I quite liked the atmosphere that the old audio created.
Although I guess it’s not really my place to complain; I should really be more grateful…
In other news, Rumba Rapids has become Rumba RAPids in honour of ParkVibes, with a new rap music theme including fittingly rap-themed announcements:
pluk
TS Member
I think you're overestimating the cost of music. Tbh, I think everyone does.
Even the likes of IMA Score are cheap for short tracks (like the entrance they've done for Park VIBES). Over the last couple of years, they've got people within the community to produce music too, which is probably even cheaper.
At the very least, the cost of any new music they've got is so minimal that any money they've put into it wouldn't put a dent in any project across the park that needs doing.
It's funny, in the past lots of people complained that the Swarm audio was weak / bland / boring / not-memorable / generally pretty meh. Since the change happened I haven't seen such comments. Whether those people have just had a change of heart, egg on their face or what, I don't know. Not saying that's you or anyone here in particular, just a fun observation I've noticed.
For me, I always felt Swarm's audio was the weakest part of the area, but it was fine. Anyone who visited Fright Nights last year might have noticed Swarm Invasion got a new soundtrack, also done by Nick Hutson. It was a bit creepier, a bit more dramatic, and featured the YM@S song too. I quite liked that. It worked very nicely. I would have been quite happy if it was used full time.
The current Swarm audio is weird. It plays out like a radio station. Such an idea can work (see WWTP), but it doesn't here. A couple of reasons for that:
1. The radio voiceovers are so bland. They sound bored. There's no panic when talking about alien abductions or anything. There's no irony either.
2. It shoehorns everything in. YM@S have a song called 'The Swarm'. The audio explains it's a conspiracy theory by the band. That billboard with adverts on? The adverts are in the radio clips. The near 10 year old video clips used to advertise the ride? They're referenced. It's heavy handed ways of trying to appeal to enthusiasts, and it feels forced, clunky and awkward.
3. It's got songs that reference destruction and such; eg: Zombie. But it doesn't work like WWTP does, as it's not era appropriate and not cleverly blended it.
There's also some of the Fright Nights loop blended in too.
Swarm's audio was fine in my books. Using the Swarm Invasion loop would have been a suitable evolution which would have been nice. The current set up is heavy handed, clunky and simply not for me.
Pirated 4D came about in 1999, and the idea was to develop a pirate themed area, yes. The film wasn't made for the park (I believe it was at some SeaWorld parks before Thorpe, but Thorpe was the first non-American park to get it).
Early plans for Tidal Wave were to have it as pirate themed, featuring particularly a large pirate ship theming feature the size of the ride. I'm not quite sure why plans for the pirate area were dropped (it could be because nearby Legoland and Chessington had pirate areas themselves, or they simply wanted the Americana style, or a different reason). But when Detonator came about in 2001, it didn't really have a theme since it was only meant to be temporary. It was loosely put in with the pirate theme (having canons dotted around) to make the best of it.
Really that whole mini section of the park never fit in at any point.
If you don't like changes, you don't like them. It's not a question of whether you should be grateful or not. Ultimately, you're, in one sense or another, a paying customer who visits the park because you want an enjoyable day out. If you don't like something, that's absolutely fine tbh, so long as you have a reason beyond 'I hate it because I do'.
Obviously it's better to keep a more open mind until you experience things in person. But even then, you'll know the sort of thing you like and don't like beforehand anyway.
If people don't share their fair and honest opinions in a constructive way, and think they should be grateful for any change, then parks will just do changes for the sake of change (or, worse, cost cutting), and away with it.
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I visited the park today (the TPM posts are mine!). Really, the event is not my cup of tea. The whole thing creates a festival, but bordering on fairground, vibe across the park, which isn't my thing. The music overlays for the event are cringey and of a particular taste.
It is nice to see more entertainment across the park. Dancers, singers, etc. It's nice little things to break up the day, mix things up, etc. They're not shows or set times; if you see them when they're performing, you can either walk on by, or stop for a bit and enjoy. It's stuff like that which can work at a park like Thorpe. The presentation is the big issue.
I also think it shouldn't be understated that Thorpe are doing events again. And in fairness, they've managed to create an event which is spread evenly across the park and is consistent across the board.
Obviously the reaction on here is more on the negative side. And my reaction is shared. It's quite clear whatever audience they're targeting with this event, a lot of people on forums like this aren't in it. In theory, that's fine as we make up such a small percentage of the overall visitor numbers, and you can't always cater for everyone. The bigger question is: will the audience who are being targeted visit? And will they enjoy it? At the moment, I don't know.