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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

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Matt N said:
Numerous manufacturers pitched ideas for the ride, including B&M and Pinfari.
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Interesting Pinifari had a pitch. I wonder what they proposed I suppose this would have been during there last few years so they would have been trying to get work desperately.
Matt N said:
Management originally wanted the ride to be a B&M stand-up coaster, to offer something different. However, the idea was scrapped after the creative team rode some stand-up coasters and didn’t particularly rate them.
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I'm surprised about this as I thought with shockwave at Drayton manor (which would look the same to the general public) already existed. I wonder if they went to try Shockwave as well as some B&M ones.
Matt N said:
As much as the decision to call the ride Nemesis Inferno is/was strongly maligned, it could have infuriated enthusiasts even more had John Wardley not objected to the original plan. Management originally wanted to flat out copy Alton Towers, and call the ride Nemesis, but John Wardley was “absolutely horrified” and asked them to reconsider. As such, Nemesis Inferno was chosen as a compromise between John Wardley and marketing.
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Thank God John Wardley put his foot down here! They didn't even need the nemesis part it would have been fine just calling it inferno but I suppose they wanted to link it back to the original. I have actually seen someone say while visiting Alton Towers (presumably they had already been to Thorpe) 'oh they have a nemesis here aswell'.
Anyway very interesting stuff thanks @Matt N
 
Might have a look at that book.

I was born in 1990 and lived 20 mins away so visited Thorpe pretty much every season for as far back as I remember. I'm perhaps not quite old enough to really remember the pre Tussauds days in a lot of detail but can give a rough idea.

Chessington was streets ahead of Thorpe in terms of theming and thrills but Thorpe had it's own charm. It was very inconsistent in terms of theming, perhaps on par with somewhere like Drayton Manor. But the park was extremely well cared for.

Ranger County was brilliant as a youngster, the area was pretty big and the natural foliage gave it an excellent jungle vibe. There were regular stage shows in the area which I believe is now the Nemesis Inferno shop (some of which is on Spotify! ) as well as roaming characters.

Thunder River was a brilliant rapids for a small park and the cave used to scare the crap out of me. The mist effect used to be a lot stronger and their used to be more lighting effects in there.

The area around the Tea Cups and Flying Fish was lovely, almost like a scaled down Alton Towers Gardens with a model village area. The Burger King had cool American Football theming. Wicked Witches Haunt nearby was a decent dark ride with a very impressive animatronic above the entrance.

Canada Creek was superb, with Loggers obviously being the standout ride. Calgary Stampede always looked a bit tacky though. The train from here to the farm doesn't sound that exciting - but for a family with kids it's an extra couple of hours of time in the park and was always a highlight. The state of 'Old Town' now is boarderline disgraceful given the funds Merlin have.

It was when Tidal Wave and Amity Cove opened that really added the wow factor to the park and from that point on the park started to change drastically.

There's a great video here...
 
Thanks for your detailed account @RicketyCricket (and @Benzin as well); much appreciated! Out of interest, did you ever get to ride X:\ No Way Out when it existed? I’ll admit that that’s an attraction that really intrigues me, and I’m a little bit gutted that I never got to experience X in that iteration (I’ve done X once in 2014, when it was in the nightclub/music iteration).

I’d certainly recommend the book if you’re even remotely interested in Thorpe Park; it’s an excellent read!

I’ll admit I find the history of the Merlin cluster in the South quite interesting; the impression I get is that in spite of Chessington being the families & kids park and Thorpe being the thrill park these days, it was actually kind of the other way round in the early 90s before Thorpe joined Tussauds’ arsenal of parks. As someone who didn’t visit Thorpe until 2014, I’ll admit that I can’t quite fathomed it ever having been the “wholesome, family-friendly alternative to the thrill haven of Chessington” like the book describes… these days, it seems more vice versa, as I’ll admit I hadn’t imagined Chessington ever being a thrill haven either!
 
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I visited the park not long after Collossus opened as we had Tussauds passes and realised from Birmingham the drive to Thorpe wasn't that far really. It was after the fire and Nemesis Inferno was under construction.
We still took the train to the farm and the waterbus back.

I recall going on X No Way out and it had weird sections moving forwards and backwards on braked sections with helicoptor noises. It was a bizarre confusing ride. Making it forwards and adding disco lights probably improved it.

In a way its surprising how little has changed since then in addition to how much has been added. Yes we got five new flat rides, Saw, Stealth and Swarm. But the core area of the park with tidal wave, KFC, Burger King, the arcade, Detonator, rapids, pizza hut etc hasn't changed that much since Nemesis opened.
 
Matt N said:
Thanks for your detailed account @RicketyCricket; much appreciated! Out of interest, did you ever get to ride X:\ No Way Out when it existed? I’ll admit that that’s an attraction that really intrigues me, and I’m a little bit gutted that I never got to experience X in that iteration (I’ve done X once in 2014, when it was in the nightclub/music iteration).

I’d certainly recommend the book if you’re even remotely interested in Thorpe Park; it’s an excellent read!
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Yeah I have a keyring photo somewhere of me riding it around 96-99ish. Vaguely remember the hype around it at the time and the TV adverts.

The misters on the podiums outside the ride entrance were great fun to hold your head over on a hot day haha.

I never really rated it tbh and even when I was a lot younger I thought it was boring because it stops every 10 seconds on what I now know as the block sections. Especially after visiting Alton Towers for the first time in 98 and realising what a real rollercoaster could do!
 
NWO has had so many slight iterations it's hard to keep track.

The original had a lift section (you used to walk through to get into the station at some point) as well as various effects and what not. However I don't remember the first time I even rode it. Especially as it was 1.4m and I was a short child.

Used to have a decent mini golf where Rush/Quantum now sit too. It's amazing how little side show stuff there is now compared to now.
 
All that information in the book is freely available online, the unused coaster plans are online. I bought the book and didn't rate it much, it was somebody's lockdown timekiller who had no real connection to the park. Fair enough to them but all the research was from online or news sources anyway.
 
Benzin said:
NWO has had so many slight iterations it's hard to keep track.

The original had a lift section (you used to walk through to get into the station at some point) as well as various effects and what not. However I don't remember the first time I even rode it. Especially as it was 1.4m and I was a short child.

Used to have a decent mini golf where Rush/Quantum now sit too. It's amazing how little side show stuff there is now compared to now.
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Was it always 1.4? I'm sure the height restriction has changed a few times.
 
Re X:\No Way Out...

-It was always a 1.4m height restriction until the new, forward-facing trains were introduced in 2013. There have been some accounts that it was at one point a 1.2m restriction, but I can't find anything to back that up.

-The original walkthrough was basically just light and sound effects. I walked through it a few times when I was young, so only have a vague memory of it. It's nothing that was overly impressive or groundbreaking, but I guess it would have been unnerving for some, and intriguing for others. In any case, it added a bit of a 'WTF factor' to the experience.

-I think one of the early concepts for the experience was for the walkthrough queue line to be a proper series of pre shows, with things happening, etc etc, as opposed to being what it was. Money and practicality were reasons it were scaled back.
[I can't find the source right now, but I remember reading someone that one original idea was for the indoor queue line to effectively be a series of interactive tasks, almost like a modern day escape room, and have the overall experience of the attraction, entrance to exit of building, be 30+minutes or something stupid]

-When the ride originally opened, there were fake lifts prior to the station/boarding area. They were hexagonal in shape. I can't remember if the shape has been retained for Walking Dead (my gut says no), but they were effectively were the current indoor batching point is now.
These lifts were intended to be your standard fake lift, simulating movement, etc. Their other purpose was to hide the fact that the trains went backwards (to those who were unaware). I think this was a reason why the operator booth is based at the "back" of the station (whereas most coasters have op booths at the front of the station), to further add to this trickery. Basically guests would be greeted with a station filled with an empty train, not knowing where they were going or what would happen next.

Re family rides / direction at Thorpe...

Thorpe were more or less pushed to the thrill market from the early 2000s, and went through with that until 2014. That was when they switched to the 'Island Like No Other' branding, and went for a more family-focused marketing push, along with the addition of Angry Birds Land.

This was mainly for two reasons:
-Big drop in visitor numbers over the previous 2 years.
-Realising families spent more than young adults.

By capitalising on that, it could have turned Thorpe's fortunes round.

The trouble was that the 2016 investment was in the works at that point, and it was again another dark, scary, young-adult focused thrill ride (on paper). And it's fine for a family park to to invest in such things, if they're established as family parks and have a good balance. Thorpe did not at the time.

That led to this confusing situation where Thorpe had tried to welcome families back for 2 years, before switching to aggressively focusing on young adults exclusively again. Unsurprisingly, it did not work.

Around the time Ghost Train opened, new senior management took over Thorpe. And the decision there was to refocus on young adults and the thrill market, whilst acknowledging that families will still visit. This is why Timber Tug Boat and Lumber Jump (two rides which were going free within Merlin) were bought in, whilst the park continued to focus on the young adult stuff.

The trouble is, the focus on the young adult / thrill market did not work (or, perhaps more accurately, was not given the chance to work). That led to the hasty change back to a more broad family market, which we have seen develop today. The trouble is, with minimal investment since that change in direction, we don't know what this means for new additions.

I'd be surprised if we saw mild rides added in, with minimal / no height restrictions. As much as Thorpe could do with a slow boat ride / similar attraction, it still doesn't feel like something suited to Thorpe right now. I could see more additions with a 1.1/1.2m height restriction in the coming years, but it depends on if the park settle on their target market.

Re Thorpe under RMC...

I can't give much first-hand experience about what Thorpe was like under RMC (I was 4 when it was sold to Tussauds). But I think what others have said more or less encapsulates what the situation was like. RMC transformed the park from a water leisure / museum style entertainment centre into a small regional park, with some classic theme park rides (log flume, rapids, small roller coaster, arena show, twister, dark ride, slow rides, etc), before ultimately taking the next big step with the risky X:\NWO investment.

Ultimately the investment in X:\NWO was what truly grabbed the attention of Tussauds and really triggered the series of events that led to the park being what it is today. Who knows what the park would be like if such a deal didn't happen. But I think, simply put, RMC did a good job and created a suitable, era-appropriate, well-received park with the budget they had.

NB @Matt N (and anyone else interested), if you're not already aware: Memories of Thorpe Park, and even the archives on Thorpe Park Mania, have solid accounts of the older Thorpe Park, which may also give some good insight for you
 
JoshC. said:
-The original walkthrough was basically just light and sound effects.
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It was a series of rooms with scenery and animations, there's a video of it online somewhere or was. It was a dark fun-house style, spinning trommel, moving walls, spinning foam gears, an inverted room and that kind of thing.

Eventually the queue was moved outside to close off the indoor queue, I guess to save on maintenance and cleaning the space. The indoor queue was left mostly intact for Freakshow 3D but painted over with the freakshow theme.

The coaster had on board audio that suggested things were happening around you in the dark every time it stopped. I hear that it only half worked as an effect. The on board audio didn't last so the stopping points were left feeling even more redundant. Cool idea that wasn't quite pulled off properly. Also it was intended to be a family coaster, so 1.4m restriction didn't help.
 
JoshC. said:
I'd be surprised if we saw mild rides added in, with minimal / no height restrictions. As much as Thorpe could do with a slow boat ride / similar attraction, it still doesn't feel like something suited to Thorpe right now. I could see more additions with a 1.1/1.2m height restriction in the coming years, but it depends on if the park settle on their target market.
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I agree in general that Thorpe should just ignore guests under 1m really. They can go to multiple other theme parks large and small. But they need a few more attractions for 1.2m and similar size kids so families can take all their 9/10+ age children rather than mainly just the teenagers.
I don’t think they currently need a slow moving boat ride, but a proper indoor attraction is still needed. DBGT should have been a dark ride with proper ride cars and no VR.
 
Looks like the graffiti wall that has been under wraps for a few weeks opposite DBGT is finished.

Can’t say I am particularly a fan, but art is subjective and all that. Seems tacky to me.

But, they made a spelling mistake.

 
Hilarious! What's even funnier is that they have seen the funny side and changed the wording on the app! Love it!

1421058803148152833
 
Rick said:
Seems a bit dirty this ... The park make an error, update the website (quite amusing), but then the park's own marketing manager advertises the fact on their own personal blog and suggests her employer is the best ?
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Is Cupcakes & Coasters employed by Thorpe?
Probably should make that clearer on her Twitter...
 
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