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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

Matt N said:
Hopefully something great comes along that gives people a little more confidence! I’m sure it will, but I wonder what it will be? Maybe it’ll be Thorpe building a coaster in 2024? Maybe it’ll be the London Resort breaking ground? Maybe it’ll be something else entirely that I’m really excited about?

The only reason I’d ever want to prove you guys wrong is because if I did, then it would almost definitely be a positive step for the theme park industry, which is surely better for all of us as it enhances the parks and gives us more fun days out; I’d never want to make any of you feel bad, as I’ve been proven wrong enough times to know that it can be horrible! Me being all smug would only make that worse, and I would never want to make anyone feel bad!

There’s also a little part of me that would love to see the raw excitement and enthusiasm of being really positively surprised by something on the faces of some of the resident pessimists in the community. In my book, there’s nothing quite like that raw feeling of shock and euphoria upon getting a positive surprise, and it would make me so happy to see some of the pessimists and naysayers be able to be really amazed and enthused by something! Nothing makes me happier than seeing other people happy, and I can’t wait for the day that some of the more pessimistic folk are really surprised and wowed by something!
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I agree with you @Matt N ! I do think something positive (or several positive things) will happen that makes everyone a little more optimistic. Perhaps a successful new coaster at thorpe might do the trick?
I don't think me personally is as negative as some people although I admit I am a bit of a pessimist but sometimes do naively trust people to do the right thing. For example with Merlin they haven't been the best owner but they are 100% full of some very talented people. If they were given the right budget and the right constraints they'd be brilliant. I think perhaps they might slowly be transforming and that will obviously directly affect thorpe. Most/if all of the addition we've had since Merlins gone private were almost/partly planned under public Merlin. Projects that are planned under private Merlin might be more ambitious but clever too. We will just have to wait and see but whatever/if thorpe add something it really could be the big teller for the future of the Merlin resort theme parks. It very well may demonstrate the way in which Merlin got forward with there project. I think in a way that's sort of the way you look at things (although I wouldn't want to speak for you) @Matt N ? It's the way I see it.
 
JAperson said:
For example with Merlin they haven't been the best owner but they are 100% full of some very talented people. If they were given the right budget and the right constraints they'd be brilliant. I think perhaps they might slowly be transforming and that will obviously directly affect thorpe. Most/if all of the addition we've had since Merlins gone private were almost/partly planned under public Merlin. Projects that are planned under private Merlin might be more ambitious but clever too. We will just have to wait and see but whatever/if thorpe add something it really could be the big teller for the future of the Merlin resort theme parks. It very well may demonstrate the way in which Merlin got forward with there project. I think in a way that's sort of the way you look at things (although I wouldn't want to speak for you) @Matt N ? It's the way I see it.
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In terms of whether I think like that, you’ve got it bang on!

I have a very similar viewpoint; I have a really good feeling, personally, because private Merlin have landed a lot of positive curveballs thus far. For instance:
  • Who’d have anticipated Chessington’s first coaster in 19 years to be a B&M?
  • Who’d have anticipated Alton (and the others, for that matter) having such a loaded events calendar and such amazing operating hours in 2021?
  • Who’d have anticipated Alton having that big stage and all the entertainment?
In terms of what sort of coaster I reckon Thorpe could go for; I personally see a B&M Hyper Coaster, myself, and quite possibly one that breaks the UK height record of 235ft (I know RCDB says 213ft, but it would probably be easier to go with Blackpool’s claim here). In terms of why I think this:
  • Thorpe’s upper management have previously said at enthusiast events that after DBGT’s failure, they wanted the next major to be easily marketable, reliable and high capacity, and I personally think that a B&M hyper ticks all of those boxes.
  • Based on how record breakers have gone down in Britain in the past (e.g. Big One, Smiler), I reckon a UK height record breaker at Thorpe could be a real slam dunk of an investment, especially when paired with Merlin’s insane ability to generate brand awareness; if Thorpe ever builds a hyper, you can guarantee that everyone in Britain will know about it!
  • One was considered in the past when designing Swarm (during the very preliminary design stages, Wardley and B&M actually proposed a hyper, but it was scuppered due to Merlin HQ forcing the wing coaster upon them), so the park clearly didn’t see cost or planning restrictions as an issue to overcome.
  • Merlin seems to have been very well acquainted with B&M again as of late, what with Chessington’s new coaster as well as the umpteen B&Ms planned for upcoming Chinese Legolands; I reckon there’s some sort of multipack deal going on there!
 
Matt N said:
reckon there’s some sort of multipack deal going on there!
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I'm sure you are aware of my views on this but YES. I think there's a multi ride deal there and that's where chessingtons coaster comes from.

I'm not sure if it'll be a hyper (if there is even anything planned) but I have always dreamed of thorpe smashing blackpool's height record. It would be great for the media too who'd probably lap it up. I'm just not sure if thorpe is allowed to build that height or wether Merlin would go for it.
 
JAperson said:
I'm just not sure if thorpe is allowed to build that height or wether Merlin would go for it.
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In terms of whether they could, John Wardley did research and says that there’s technically no planning restrictions forbidding them from building a hyper coaster, so unless things have changed, I believe that there’s no reason why they couldn’t build a hyper. Given Wardley’s history with Alton and Chessington, I’m sure he knows his stuff on local planning laws!

In terms of whether they would, I’ll admit that that might be a slightly greyer area, but I personally think that Merlin is a lot bolder with their investments than many give them credit for, and I certainly wouldn’t put a record-breaking hyper past them. If you look at some of the rides they’ve devised in the past, I’d argue that Smiler, Wicker Man and DBGT, to name just a few, were all pretty ballsy investments on Merlin’s part that involved a lot of money and/or risk taking. Smiler because cramming 14 inversions into that tiny space is just completely insane as a concept, Wicker Man because they essentially had the guts to ignore every bit of market research thrown in their direction (remember how woodies were always ruled out previously on the basis of them being seen as boring and dangerous?), and DBGT because that ride, for all of its apparent flaws, was immensely unique and experimental, and I think that throwing all that money behind a completely novel and unproven concept in that manner was a hugely gutsy move on Merlin’s part!
 
If the park get a hyper I can see Stealths days being numbered. One of its main selling points gone. Ideally it'd be replaced by another Intamin cable launch but I could see it being swapped for a multi launch of some type (Mack?)
 
Thorpe are in a situation here with what the new coaster should be. Just look at what they have.

Colossus - Multi inversions
Stealth - Height and speed
Nemesis - Inverted
Saw - Vertical drop
Swarm - Wing rider

So therefore any new coaster needs to fit outside of these parameters above otherwise they are essentially going to be repeating what they already have and the public might not see the uniqueness.

A GCI woodie or RMC would give them something unique to market.

Stealth isn’t going anywhere.
 
I can’t see it myself as it’s the only 1 of its type in the uk.
I not been to Thorpe park for 10 years but that’s been down to waiting for my daughter to hit the 1.4m mark but can’t believe they only really installed 1 dark ride and 1 coaster in that time with the rest been short lived IP attractions and 2nd hand kids rides.
 
Poisson said:
If the park get a hyper I can see Stealths days being numbered. One of its main selling points gone. Ideally it'd be replaced by another Intamin cable launch but I could see it being swapped for a multi launch of some type (Mack?)
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If they put in a B&M hyper, for example, the crossover between it and Stealth in terms of what they offer is fairly nugatory. I don't understand your thinking.
 
I see @Poisson 's reasoning about the stealth days being numbered if a hyper goes. But I do agree with @Rick that stealth would probably still be relevant. However I do imagine it's maintenance to be a nightmare. Perhaps poisson is right and its more to do with the new ride being the signature ride. I'd say Stealth is thorpe signature ride and removing it wouldn't look good however if they have a new signature ride stealth's maintenance costs maybe too much to bare for Merlin.
 
A launched Intamin coaster and a B&M hyper offer very different experiences. They’d be no way the park would remove Stealth just because they’re installing a Hyper. Look at PortAventura as an example, it offers both rides which provide very different experiences.

Rumours that Rocky Express and Old Town are being retired after today are rife across social channels. Adds fuel to the fire that this area will be redeveloped.
 
Tom said:
Interesting that the "I only got on X rides all day" and "100 minutes queues" claims on social media have this week gained considerable traction in media coverage. This is the sort of thing that Merlin has moved towards avoiding, certainly this season at least.
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I’m not sure Merlin have been trying to improve guest ride count, Alton Towers definitely has but I don’t think Thorpe Park really has.
 
It wouldn’t surprise me if they just block the area off and remove/move the rides. Then leave the area “under future development” for a year or two (just like we saw with the flume site, when the park was trying to save money) before we see anything major happening. Especially with Chessie having a new coaster in 2022, I can’t see Thorpe having a major ride during the same year.
 
I haven’t been to Thorpe Park for a few years, but haven’t they stopped closing on offpeak days during the season? If so, that’s a tangible thing they’ve done to reduce queuing. The Oktoberfest is arguably trying to move visits from the summer to the quieter period between the summer and Halloween. I think they genuinely are doing some things to reduce the queuing. Also, am I right in thinking that Black Mirror is kind of an extra attraction, rather than a direct replacement for something that’s been removed?

Having said that, there is a big chunk of the park that’s now sitting empty: Loggers Leap, miniature railway, Saw Alive, Slammer. Obviously that won’t help them manage the queues. If they do remove Rocky Express and the Zamperla children’s rides, then that’s a big portion of the park that’s completely closed. There’s no denying that this would make the queues a lot longer elsewhere.
 
The thing is I’ve never seen any of those old town rides have a queue other than 5 mins on the app (which is usually 0 in person), so I can see why they might remove them. Probably cost them more to staff than for the amount of guests who use them.

I guess you could move the two Zamperla rides elsewhere on park, maybe near flying fish or the beach. Or they could just be sent elsewhere in the Merlin group again,
 
As much as Old Town is generally rather quiet and Thorpe Park is mostly a thrill park, they do still need to have some family rides and there are definitely still some children who go there who don't fancy big rides. If you are 1m tall, this would be the list of rides you could ride without Old Town:
Flying Fish
Angry Birds 4D
Depth Charge
Mr Monkey's Banana Ride
Amity Beach (Seasonal)
Wet Wet Wet (Seasonal)
That is depressing...
 
djtruefitt said:
It wouldn’t surprise me if they just block the area off and remove/move the rides. Then leave the area “under future development” for a year or two (just like we saw with the flume site, when the park was trying to save money) before we see anything major happening. Especially with Chessie having a new coaster in 2022, I can’t see Thorpe having a major ride during the same year.
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The rumours from those who believe that a new coaster is coming suggest 2024 as the opening date, so it wouldn’t be colliding with Chessington’s new coaster.

If areas are shutting and being demolished now, and preliminary work is already taking place, as well as markings, then this could be a pretty big project, in my opinion!
 
djtruefitt said:
It wouldn’t surprise me if they just block the area off and remove/move the rides. Then leave the area “under future development” for a year or two (just like we saw with the flume site, when the park was trying to save money) before we see anything major happening. Especially with Chessie having a new coaster in 2022, I can’t see Thorpe having a major ride during the same year.
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This wouldn't surprise me either. I just don't hope they do it too early before they have anything planned.
 
Thameslink Rail said:
As much as Old Town is generally rather quiet and Thorpe Park is mostly a thrill park, they do still need to have some family rides and there are definitely still some children who go there who don't fancy big rides.
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But they need family rides not kiddie rides. I don’t think it’s worth Thorpe bothering with much for under 5s but they need more for 6-12 year olds visiting with their older brothers and sisters that they can all ride together. A decent non-inverting coaster or well made dark ride.
 
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