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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

Erm... A New Orleans themed area right next door to Tidal Wave?

Oh dear.

I know it's been 18 years since Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flooding, which devastated the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana, but this does seem a LITTLE insensitive... Or at best short sighted. How did no one bring this up in the planning stages?
 
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Matt N said:
The announcement is that the new theme for Angry Birds Land is Big Easy Boulevard:


I know it's only a simple retheme, but I think it sounds quite nice; it's certainly nice to see Thorpe doing something more light-hearted, anyway!

I also think it could coexist quite well with Amity in terms of visuals, which is good!
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Wow! I really really like this, looks really fun! And it looks like it will finally tie the Tidal Wave section of Amity and the Speedway/Stealth section together, since the themes are quite similar. Here's to hoping that they stick with what is shown in the concept art.
 
It looks like an improvement, but then a medium sized fire would have been too.

I don’t know, I like that it's light and bright, but it feels stylistically and by area kind of part of amity and also kind of not. Neither one thing or the other. With the park having struggled so hard with identity with both areas and as a park as a whole I think I was hoping for something more defined, as either it's own thing or as part of Amity or NI areas.

But I'll stop being negative. It is an improvement.

Nothing given away at the 4D I see, with placeholder title used in the plans...
 
DiogoJ42 said:
Seems like the perfect theme when you put it that way.

Where would such logic end though? There’s a lot of disaster themed rides out there.
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If Tidal Wave were over on SAW Island, the other side of the park, I don't think I would have even thought about it or made the connection.

Volcano themed ride and Pompeii, also fine.

I can't give you exact rules, but perhaps avoid things that are in relative recent memory? You wouldn't have a airplane crash themed ride in a New York area, for example.
 
Might as well make the whole park USA themed. Seems a very easy option to me. Understand why they’ve done it, but would love to see some more imagination myself.
 
GooseOnTheLoose said:
If Tidal Wave were over on SAW Island, the other side of the park, I don't think I would have even thought about it or made the connection.

Volcano themed ride and Pompeii, also fine.

I can't give you exact rules, but perhaps avoid things that are in relative recent memory? You wouldn't have a airplane crash themed ride in a New York area, for example.
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I get what you're saying, but isn't Tidal Wave about... a tidal wave? And wasn't Hurricane Katrina... a hurricane? It's true that both involve/d water and flooding, but I don't think it's so obvious that many people would make much of a connection, I certainly didn't at first. Your average Thorpe Park goer was born in the last 25 years and has the brain capacity of a single celled organism.
 
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whywhowhere said:
I get what you're saying, but isn't Tidal Wave about... a tidal wave? And wasn't Hurricane Katrina... a hurricane?
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Hurricane Katrina caused tidal surges and tidal waves, which devastated New Orleans.

A few photos: -

The Sky Before Katrina Struck

The Sky Before Katrina Struck
www.generatorjoe.net

US Weather service: -
The average Thorpe goer probably won't register it. The Americans probably will. It's just about being a little sensitive, especially as has been pointed out, this is to link the two Amity areas together... With the radio station that plays warnings about the coming tidal wave. It just feels a bit all on the nose. Perhaps we don't really see it over here, because the UK doesn't really suffer with national disasters.
 
GooseOnTheLoose said:
Hurricane Katrina caused tidal surges and tidal waves, which devastated New Orleans.

A few photos: -

The Sky Before Katrina Struck

The Sky Before Katrina Struck
www.generatorjoe.net

US Weather service: -
The average Thorpe goer probably won't register it. The Americans probably will. It's just about being a little sensitive, especially as has been pointed out, this is to link the two Amity areas together... With the radio station that plays warnings about the coming tidal wave. It just feels a bit all on the nose. Perhaps we don't really see it over here, because the UK doesn't really suffer with national disasters.
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I doubt even Americans would make the connection. If you themed the immediate area of tidal wave to New Orleans then maybe but that’s not the vibe here.

Anyway as for the retheme it’s a basic one but so long as done well it will be good for the area. Nice to see Thorpe get some love.
 
Universal used to have an earthquake themed ride, that trapped you in a BART station as it was ruined, and it was in California. No one had a problem with that.

EDIT: Wait, it was part of the tram tour. The stand alone ride was Florida. But the principal is unchanged. ;)
 
I think it’s a genuinely great idea, it finally links the two sides of Amity and transitions nicely into the tropical Nemesis Inferno area. This part of the park has always suffered for being at a weird junction of two areas. When it was technically part of Calypso Quay, you had the Pirates 4D frontage between Tidal Wave and Stealth.

They’ve released more artwork showing the Teacups side of the cinema is being rethemed in this style as well.
 
Dave said:
If you themed the immediate area of tidal wave to New Orleans then maybe but that’s not the vibe here.
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In the mock-up, of the dodgems gas station, there's a sign saying New Orleans with Tidal Wave in the background. It pretty much is the immediate area. Perhaps I'm being overly sensitive, but I just think why even go there?

Then of course there's the fate of Six Flags New Orleans too.
 
I love this new theme!! I've always been a sucker for 50s American styled stuff, but this looks like a great improvement! And would you look at that, not everything is painted in black or grey!!

On a side note, I'm curious, since the area used to play Angry birds music and sfx, this being an extension of Amity, will we hear new audio for WWTP radio?
 
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Trooper Looper said:
I love this new theme!! I've always been a suckered for 50s American styled stuff, but this looks like a great improvement! And would you look at that, not everything is painted in black or grey!!

On a side note, I'm curious, since the area used to play Angry birds music and sfx, this being an extension of Amity, will we hear new audio for WWTP radio?
Click to expand...

I reckon they will give it its own New Orleans jazz type of soundtrack.
 
Johnny Rocket said:
I reckon they will give it its own New Orleans jazz type of soundtrack.
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Perhaps, but they did make a Fright Nights edition of WWTP radio a few years back, so it'd be nice to hear the return of Big Bob Jones himself with more 50s jazz instead of 50s rock n roll. Besides, WWTP stands for World Wide Thorpe Park, so I don't see why I couldn't be included with the new area, as long as the music it plays is coherent of course.
 
It will be interesting what they do with the 4D film, it would be nice to see the film change every so often. I used to quite like the Angry Birds one, it it never changed in ten years so I stopped watching it in its later years.
 
It's a great choice for some light hearted fun. I think those offended by it need to question themselves. A hurricane is different from a tidal wave and it's done to be a fun zone. Good on you thorpe! I do miss captain lucky but I think this is a huge improvement... Now please demolish ghost train and try again.
 
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