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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

Re: Thorpe Park

Benzin said:
Can't help but feel a lot of enthusiasts are jumping to conclusions about the idea of Thorpe building a woodie... Especially when the Facebook page is literally swarming with them...

Unfortunately if we were to get one we'd probably be burdened with a soulless Intamin or some hybrid crap thing that's all gimmick and no pyjamas... What's wrong with just building a solid non-gimmick ride these days?
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No pyjamas, love it!

Agreed, none of the rides at Thorpe really feel 'complete'. They all offer different experiences but nothing as a complete package (even The Swarm, which I love to bits, doesn't satisfy me in terms of ride length and theme). Many say The Smiler is more of a 'complete' experience, but with the finances as they are I just can't see anything like it ending up at Thorpe (and I'd have no idea what would even work!)

Thorpe puzzles me but I really want it to do well. I've never had a bad day there since Merlin took over (although I'm sure many have, I have been lucky). It's just missing something to bring it all together, whether that's a new ride, landscaping, shows/roving entertainers...or just a shift in market focus.
 
Re: Thorpe Park

Benzin said:
Unfortunately if we were to get one we'd probably be burdened with a soulless Intamin or some hybrid crap thing that's all gimmick and no pyjamas... What's wrong with just building a solid non-gimmick ride these days?
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I think you'll definitely be in the minority in having that opinion. I don't think there's anything gimmicky about Intamin wooden coasters, they're widely held to be one of the best types of coaster available. I don't buy the soulless argument, it's just a manufacturing technique, it's no more soulless than any steel coaster. Out of all of the wooden coasters I've ridden, Balder is by far the one that I enjoyed the most, no amount of "traditional" construction can change that. For me the coaster's soul comes from the quality of the ride, not how the ride was built.

I doubt any of this will convince you as you seem to be on some sort of personal anti-Intamin crusade but even if Merlin were to get a traditional wooden coaster, they require a lot of TLC in order for them to remain good rides. This is not something that I can see Merlin doing and a prefab wooden coaster would suit them much better.
 
Re: Thorpe Park

For me, Thorpe Park is like a bigger, more flashy, Flamingoland.

On paper, it SHOULD be amazing. A park with a B&M invert, an Intamin Accelerator, a B&M Wingrider, an Intamin 10-looping coaster and a Gerst. Eurofighter should be amazing but somehow it just isn't. And that's sad :(
 
Re: Thorpe Park

CGM said:
I think you'll definitely be in the minority in having that opinion. I don't think there's anything gimmicky about Intamin wooden coasters, they're widely held to be one of the best types of coaster available. I don't buy the soulless argument, it's just a manufacturing technique, it's no more soulless than any steel coaster. Out of all of the wooden coasters I've ridden, Balder is by far the one that I enjoyed the most, no amount of "traditional" construction can change that. For me the coaster's soul comes from the quality of the ride, not how the ride was built.

I doubt any of this will convince you as you seem to be on some sort of personal anti-Intamin crusade but even if Merlin were to get a traditional wooden coaster, they require a lot of TLC in order for them to remain good rides. This is not something that I can see Merlin doing and a prefab wooden coaster would suit them much better.
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I am in the minority, but I did not like Colossos one bit... In a similar fashion, I don't like most Intamins for varying degrees of reasons (usually settling under the attempts to behead me via their restraints, such as Maverick and iSpeed or just general over-ratedness in the case of many of them not being able to be any good beyond the first drop, applying to Millenium Force and EGF as two examples)... Only an Intamin coaster has actually created a cut on my body as well...

On the other hand, Steel Intamins with lapbars I tend to enjoy quite well... So it's not a 'crusade' as such... Just an opinion that differs from the usual Intamin adoration that they tend to get for being 'edgy' and 'groundbreaking' whilst tending to have major problems with being such (how many rides require extensive retracking after one season?)...

It is an opinion thing, but I'd much rather have a GCI an hour away than another Colossos...
 
Re: Thorpe Park

I've only been on one Intamnin woodie, El Toro, and it is an incredible coaster. The amount of airtime is crazy. Admittedly both of my rides on it were on the back row but it was one of the most fun, crazy and awesome experiences I've ever had on a coaster.

If a Merlin park in the UK is going to get a woodie then I do think that Thorpe is the most likely location. I also think a that a woodie would fit in well with their current coaster line up. We know that they've considered and planned one in the past so I guess it is more than possible that they are considering one again.

:)
 
Re: Thorpe Park

A wooden coaster would appeal to families and thrill seekers in one go. If they want to move in that direction, a wooden coaster would fit the bill perfectly.
 
Re: Thorpe Park

What would the ground be like to hold a woodie at thorpe?

Just wondering whether the quality would be hampered by it.
 
Re: Thorpe Park

LordOfDarkness said:
What would the ground be like to hold a woodie at thorpe?

Just wondering whether the quality would be hampered by it.
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The old arena would be perfect as it is stable and already has a concrete base to it, it's where Experiment 10 was last year for fright nights.
 
Re: Thorpe Park

I don't get why people slate The Swarm? It's the UK's best themed coaster by miles. Certainly better than that joke of a "theme" slapped on The Smiler.
 
Re: Thorpe Park

DiogoJ42 said:
I don't get why people slate The Swarm? It's the UK's best themed coaster by miles. Certainly better than that joke of a "theme" slapped on The Smiler.
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I've not ridden it, but how depressing it that when you think about it? From what I've seen, the theming looks average but disjointed at best.
 
Re: Thorpe Park

No one would have believed, in the first years of the twenty first century, that theme park affairs were being watched from the careless world of Merlin.

No one could have dreamed we were being scrutinized, as someone with a microscope studies creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. Few men even considered the possibility of charging for parking, and yet, across the gulf of an old gravel pit, minds immeasurably inferior to ours regarded our wallets with envious eyes.

And slowly and surely, they drew their plans against us.
 
Re: Thorpe Park

For five pounds I don't want to have to dig my beloved Ford Ka out of a gravel pit, at least at Alton you get some concrete to park on!

Thorpe Park needs a new ride which will bridge family and thrill. If you ask me it should be either a wooden rollercoaster if the ground is strong enough, or something that spins. If you look at Thorpe's line up there's no spinning coaster. Spinball Whizzer for all its faults offers a fabulour family/thrill experience and bridges the gap between 'my first rollercoaster' and 'laugh with the lads'.
 
Re: Thorpe Park

DiogoJ42 said:
No one would have believed, in the first years of the twenty first century, that theme park affairs were being watched from the careless world of Merlin.

No one could have dreamed we were being scrutinized, as someone with a microscope studies creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. Few men even considered the possibility of charging for parking, and yet, across the gulf of an old gravel pit, minds immeasurably inferior to ours regarded our wallets with envious eyes.

And slowly and surely, they drew their plans against us.
Click to expand...

The chances of charging for parking of cars
Are a million to one they said
 
Re: Thorpe Park

DiogoJ42 said:
I don't get why people slate The Swarm? It's the UK's best themed coaster by miles. Certainly better than that joke of a "theme" slapped on The Smiler.
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I think Swarm has a great theme (though I like Smilers mostly too) I just find Swarm as a roller coaster gets a more dull the more I ride it in a similar way to Air.

It's becoming a coaster I can't be bothered to queue for.
 
Re: Thorpe Park

I personally love the floaty feel of the swarm. And without the ball crunching restraints of air. I love the theme though. It is probably the best merlin has done at a UK themepark.
 
Re: Thorpe Park

DiogoJ42 said:
I don't get why people slate The Swarm? It's the UK's best themed coaster by miles. Certainly better than that joke of a "theme" slapped on The Smiler.
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The Swarm's theme is fantastic. The ride itself, however, is too short and kinda dull. Of the five big coasters at Thorpe it's probably my least favourite. It's not bad, but it's not particularly exciting.
 
Re: Thorpe Park

AirFAN said:
Plant lots of trees, landscape the s**t out of the place.
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How do you landscape somewhere that is, largely, built on reclaimed land in the middle of a lake?
 
Re: Thorpe Park

AirFAN said:
Plant lots of trees, landscape the s**t out of the place.
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Even if they did that, it would take years for the trees to become "Landscaped" (I.E being the right height).

Besides, Thorpe Park does have scenery, but not the same as say like Alton Towers has it. It has the lake which is Thorpe Park's main scenery.
 
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