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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

A B&M Hyper feels like a great fit for Thorpe, but wouldn't be the typical fit for Merlin. A ride like Wicker Man demonstrated to us (and perhaps them) that a reasonably small scale fun ride with a unique theming element to give them the brand recognition and marketability that they crave, worked wonders. Arguably more so than a record breaking wooden ride ever could have done so.

A B&M Hyper paints you into a corner in some ways, if it's tall it has to be long which adds cost - Merlin typically opt for shorter rides compared to some other chains and it's much harder to theme a hyper in any sort of meaningful way. Parks who are known for being 'theme' parks who build tall coasters do have to break their mould a little - Shambhala, Silver Star, Griffon, Mako, Apollo's Chariot etc (arguably Stealth too) - not saying it can't or won't be done, but it would need a departure.

Not sure how much we should look into the fact that they're doing a consultation. It could be because the ride is taller than perhaps would normally be expected, but equally planning is getting more contentious and a consultation (like the Chessington one) is going to be their way of working going forward because it's perceived to be the right thing to do and perhaps is worth the effort if it smoothens the planning process.
 
Skyscraper said:
He was talking about TWD: TR potentially being re-themed to an Egyptian theme for 2022, with the building being themed to a pyramid. It's all speculation obviously (even more so now the video's been removed), but would make sense. :)
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I think this is very likely, and those Exodus teasers tie into it. The book of Exodus is about the slaves being led to freedom after building the Pyramids, so the story line of being led to freedom and escaping the Pyramid makes sense. One of the posters even had the name stylised like X:\ No Way Out, there was another Egyptian themed poster in Trailers with a Mummy (possibly alluding to Walking Dead) holding a Pyramid.
 
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dazza4783 said:
I think this is very likely, and those Exodus teasers tie into it. The book of Exodus is about the slaves being led to freedom after building the Pyramids, so the story line of being led to freedom and escaping the Pyramid makes sense. One of the posters even had the name stylised like X:\ No Way Out.
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I feel like if this was a 2022 addition we'd of seen marketing step up their game by now.
 
dazza4783 said:
It's not exactly a major addition, just a re-theme of an already existing ride. They wouldn't need to start marketing it this early.
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Hmm. I'd disagree. Marketing for medium-sized additions (which I'd class any retheme of TWD: TR to be) usually would start by this time. For examples- see Sub Terra, Gangsta Granny: The Ride, etc.

We know Merlin like to market a re-theme of an existing ride as a new addition to the line-up too, examples include Galactica and TWD itself.

I would expect a lot of work would be required to convert TWD: TR to a pyramid-esque theme. Plus, it's only been around for 3 years. I'd of expected the license to last longer than that for the ride to make the initial re-theme to TWD worthy of investing in.
 
Sub-Terra and Gangsta Granny were both completely new rides, the latter also including a complete new area. Galactica wasn't just a re-theme it was adding VR so still something special to hype up. The Walking Dead was part of The Year Of The Walking Dead, if I remember right TWD was part of Fright Nights for a year or 2 before that. 5 years is about right for the license for it. It wouldn't take too much theming wise to make the necessary changes. Trains won't change at all. Could definitely be done.
 
dazza4783 said:
I think this is very likely, and those Exodus teasers tie into it. The book of Exodus is about the slaves being led to freedom after building the Pyramids, so the story line of being led to freedom and escaping the Pyramid makes sense. One of the posters even had the name stylised like X:\ No Way Out, there was another Egyptian themed poster in Trailers with a Mummy (possibly alluding to Walking Dead) holding a Pyramid.
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Slavery as a theme for a rollercoaster? Not sure how well that would go down tbh...
 
Squid Game would have been a pretty cool IP to replace it with if they could have done a deal with them. Already talks of a second series in the works and I doubt it will stop there at Season 2 either.
 
Benjsh said:
Squid Game would have been a pretty cool IP to replace it with if they could have done a deal with them. Already talks of a second series in the works and I doubt it will stop there at Season 2 either.
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What has an indoor rollercoaster got to do with Squid Game though? Even for Merlin it would be a stretch.
It could be a walk-through like the old I'm a Celeb one, but not sure killing the guests who fail the task would go down well.
 
jon81uk said:
What has an indoor rollercoaster got to do with Squid Game though? Even for Merlin it would be a stretch.
It could be a walk-through like the old I'm a Celeb one, but not sure killing the guests who fail the task would go down well.
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What has an indoor coaster got to do with almost every theme ever used then if you're going to use that argument? Universal's The Mummy is a classic and one of my favourites. I don't remember a coaster in the films....
 
Benjsh said:
What has an indoor coaster got to do with almost every theme ever used then if you're going to use that argument? Universal's The Mummy is a classic and one of my favourites. I don't remember a coaster in the films....
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The naturure of moving through the Mummy showscenes seems to make sense, a slower moving dark ride wouldn't have worked in the same way. I just can't see why that sort of experiance would work for Squid Game which doesn't really feature any high speed experiances a rollercoaster would recreate.
 
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