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Thorpe Park: General Discussion
Well s***.
NuttySquirrel
TS Member
I think I would describe some of them as tragicomedies...
Matt.GC
TS Member
Controversial but I don't think Dazza Browns was produced as a poor attraction. It's an appallingly operated and maintained attraction.
Has it always been flawed? Of course. Poorly engineered? Maybe. Poorly thought out? Hell yeah.
But there are a handful of people out there (and I mean a handful) who the stars have aligned for who have had a decent experience on it when everything was working at some point, myself included.
Merlin put their hands in their pockets and went all out with something unique and quite special. Until they saw the payroll and repair bills afterwards. This is one of the single most incompetent things I've ever seen this business do, splash out on something so expensive without considering how they were going to pay to run and maintain the damn thing until afterwards. So stung by this, they've just reverted back to type and are busy clutching the comfort blanket of building another highly USP driven coaster a few yards away. So USP driven that it appears to need a gigantic length brake run to stop it.
Ghost Train is rightly being judged on the terrible experience it has offered the vast majority of guests over many years. But I don't think it's the imagination or idea behind it that's the problem, it's the incompetence of the company that commissioned it and operates it.
Has it always been flawed? Of course. Poorly engineered? Maybe. Poorly thought out? Hell yeah.
But there are a handful of people out there (and I mean a handful) who the stars have aligned for who have had a decent experience on it when everything was working at some point, myself included.
Merlin put their hands in their pockets and went all out with something unique and quite special. Until they saw the payroll and repair bills afterwards. This is one of the single most incompetent things I've ever seen this business do, splash out on something so expensive without considering how they were going to pay to run and maintain the damn thing until afterwards. So stung by this, they've just reverted back to type and are busy clutching the comfort blanket of building another highly USP driven coaster a few yards away. So USP driven that it appears to need a gigantic length brake run to stop it.
Ghost Train is rightly being judged on the terrible experience it has offered the vast majority of guests over many years. But I don't think it's the imagination or idea behind it that's the problem, it's the incompetence of the company that commissioned it and operates it.
Ian
TS Team
Agreed. As much as I found it pants on the few occasions I rode it, one thing you can’t say it lacks is ambition.
It was an ambitious plan to try and create something totally unique and off the wall that hadn’t really been seen before. The problem is that almost seemed to become the ride’s downfall. It tried to be too smart, and became clear that to pull off the experience they planned it to be every hour of every day requires far more time, effort and investment than the park/Merlin were willing to sink into it. I’m sure in another park, under the right operator it could have lasted far longer and been much better received.
Instead it looks set to become one of those obscure moments in theme park history that will no doubt attract much intrigue from those who never experienced (helped no doubt by the fact it’s not the sort of experience that you could ever really capture in photos or a POV). It’ll be that time Thorpe built a weird attraction with that odd psychic bloke off the telly.
It was an ambitious plan to try and create something totally unique and off the wall that hadn’t really been seen before. The problem is that almost seemed to become the ride’s downfall. It tried to be too smart, and became clear that to pull off the experience they planned it to be every hour of every day requires far more time, effort and investment than the park/Merlin were willing to sink into it. I’m sure in another park, under the right operator it could have lasted far longer and been much better received.
Instead it looks set to become one of those obscure moments in theme park history that will no doubt attract much intrigue from those who never experienced (helped no doubt by the fact it’s not the sort of experience that you could ever really capture in photos or a POV). It’ll be that time Thorpe built a weird attraction with that odd psychic bloke off the telly.
Matt N
TS Member
I don't disagree with much of what you guys say. I truly admire the balls behind Derren Brown's Ghost Train as a project; the concept is frankly nuts, and spending that much money on something so unique and ground-breaking was a very daring move on Merlin's part. Some of the components it entails are incredible.
However, I don't think Merlin can necessarily be blamed for its poor reliability. The ride is/was highly experimental, and using very sensitive technology like VR, so it was always likely to have a rocky journey in terms of reliability.
Also, I'd argue that even had it had perfect reliability, there were inherent flaws with the idea in hindsight that would always have limited its success.
For starters, I've heard many who rode it say that it had a bit of an identity crisis. A common theme I remember from early reviews was that that Derren Brown's Ghost Train had many elements to it that were really good in isolation, but didn't work when they were blended with all the other elements of the ride. The experience was apparently a bit incoherent, which made it feel a bit weak overall in the eyes of many. I also heard a lack of consistent quality throughout all sections mentioned, with things like the actor section and the second VR section being commonly perceived as vastly weaker than things like the first VR section.
From a wider "success" standpoint, one thing I would say about Derren Brown's Ghost Train that I've never heard anyone mention is that in my opinion, its appeal was possibly too niche for a major headline attraction. An alleged £30m was spent on Derren Brown's Ghost Train; at very least, it was referred to as "Thorpe Park's most expensive attraction ever", so its cost beat the £18-20m spent on The Swarm. When you spend that much on a major headline attraction, you want it to have fairly wide appeal. Something like a big thrill coaster has fairly wide appeal; even a big coaster with a 1.4m height restriction arguably appeals to the entire thrill-seeker market, encompassing older families, teenagers and adults. A more traditional dark ride also has fairly wide appeal. Does a 13+, actor-led, horror-themed VR dark ride have wide appeal, though? I'd argue that it doesn't; that type of thing only appeals to a very limited cross-section of the thrill market that likes horror, scare attractions and such. Had DBGT been a filler attraction costing only a couple of million (think along the lines of Sub-Terra), this wouldn't have been so much of a problem, but ultimately, it was very big and expensive for something with such niche appeal in the grand scheme of things. I would argue that placing all of their eggs in the basket of things with overly niche appeal is one of the biggest wider problems that Thorpe Park has suffered from for the best part of the last decade, but Derren Brown's Ghost Train was probably the most disproportionately expensive/major attraction that the park has built relative to its appeal; all of the park's other investments of this ilk were at least fairly low-cost, so it didn't matter quite so much.
However, I don't think Merlin can necessarily be blamed for its poor reliability. The ride is/was highly experimental, and using very sensitive technology like VR, so it was always likely to have a rocky journey in terms of reliability.
Also, I'd argue that even had it had perfect reliability, there were inherent flaws with the idea in hindsight that would always have limited its success.
For starters, I've heard many who rode it say that it had a bit of an identity crisis. A common theme I remember from early reviews was that that Derren Brown's Ghost Train had many elements to it that were really good in isolation, but didn't work when they were blended with all the other elements of the ride. The experience was apparently a bit incoherent, which made it feel a bit weak overall in the eyes of many. I also heard a lack of consistent quality throughout all sections mentioned, with things like the actor section and the second VR section being commonly perceived as vastly weaker than things like the first VR section.
From a wider "success" standpoint, one thing I would say about Derren Brown's Ghost Train that I've never heard anyone mention is that in my opinion, its appeal was possibly too niche for a major headline attraction. An alleged £30m was spent on Derren Brown's Ghost Train; at very least, it was referred to as "Thorpe Park's most expensive attraction ever", so its cost beat the £18-20m spent on The Swarm. When you spend that much on a major headline attraction, you want it to have fairly wide appeal. Something like a big thrill coaster has fairly wide appeal; even a big coaster with a 1.4m height restriction arguably appeals to the entire thrill-seeker market, encompassing older families, teenagers and adults. A more traditional dark ride also has fairly wide appeal. Does a 13+, actor-led, horror-themed VR dark ride have wide appeal, though? I'd argue that it doesn't; that type of thing only appeals to a very limited cross-section of the thrill market that likes horror, scare attractions and such. Had DBGT been a filler attraction costing only a couple of million (think along the lines of Sub-Terra), this wouldn't have been so much of a problem, but ultimately, it was very big and expensive for something with such niche appeal in the grand scheme of things. I would argue that placing all of their eggs in the basket of things with overly niche appeal is one of the biggest wider problems that Thorpe Park has suffered from for the best part of the last decade, but Derren Brown's Ghost Train was probably the most disproportionately expensive/major attraction that the park has built relative to its appeal; all of the park's other investments of this ilk were at least fairly low-cost, so it didn't matter quite so much.
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BarryZola
TS Member
On my one and only run in its opening year I firstly remember the queue being a bit of nightmare. Lengthy, cramped, slow and boring. Then inside it all seemed a bit piecemeal. I can vaguely remember enjoying a bit of it and not enjoying other parts. It did seem to go on and on a bit and I'm not sure if in some bits it was clear what was supposed to be going on. Looked good in parts though. I think by the end I was glad to just get out and go on some rollercoasters or whatever. The VR bit was pretty decent as I'd never used VR goggles before. There was A LOT of merch in the dedicated giftshop. That's literally all I can remember.
Zeock
TS Member
Although I have to admit it was very ambitious, it is/was a terrible ride.The VR graphics are/were terrible, and the headsets are/were uncomfortable. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if I got the gift shop scare, but that scene wasn't part of my experience.
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jon81uk
TS Member
In a way DBGT is like Rise of the Resistance at Disney, a very ambitious attraction with multiple different sections.
Disney put the effort into working on the attraction to get it to a more reliable state. Merlin didn’t really think through the long term future as others have said.
Disney put the effort into working on the attraction to get it to a more reliable state. Merlin didn’t really think through the long term future as others have said.
QTXAdsy
TS Member
With so much hate this ride gets from enthusiasts and even some members of the public, wonder why no one has thought about starting a petition to have the ride removed for the fact that it's a waste of space and not of some terrible accident, even if its planning was one. 
Lord knows how many petitions would be throw out there for nearly every Merlin attraction built, there'd be nothing left on the parks!
Lord knows how many petitions would be throw out there for nearly every Merlin attraction built, there'd be nothing left on the parks!
mo237
TS Member
One of the oddest things from Thorpe's past would definitely be this absolute gem of noughties cheese.
From: https://youtu.be/drwxGkLl1KU
Contains some bad language/sex references/awful attempt at "music"
Apparently there's a video to go along with it, but it seems to have been lost to time.
From: https://youtu.be/drwxGkLl1KU
Contains some bad language/sex references/awful attempt at "music"
Apparently there's a video to go along with it, but it seems to have been lost to time.
AT86
TS Member
Thorpe are at it again. They really don’t hang on to management at that park.
From: https://twitter.com/j_silkstone/status/1615982968249647105?s=46&t=YddEepZxg4ikkXX0AmKgxQ
joelpagett
TS Member
The fact that he's worked at the park before and within other Merlin attractions will hopefully mean he has a bit more longevity than the previous ones. Some stability will do the place well.
