• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

Thorpe Park: General Discussion

Status
This topic has been locked. No further replies can be posted.
Still doesn't feel impossible to me when 50 years ago they wrapped the Gold Mine around the River Caves.
 
Ahhh my sons, there are always unexpected ways to repurpose attraction buildings and earn new value from them.

Will still be limiting though and once the ride system is defunct surely that's the main value gone.

I hope they don't give up on the ride system, it's potential still hasn't been properly used!
 
OilyWater said:
Ahhh my sons, there are always unexpected ways to repurpose attraction buildings and earn new value from them.

Will still be limiting though and once the ride system is defunct surely that's the main value gone.

I hope they don't give up on the ride system, it's potential still hasn't been properly used!
Click to expand...
I'm not too sure if there's a viable low staff use for the ride system.
 
jmc said:
It has been known to be a fairly good indicator of an attractions future when this has happened in the past...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Click to expand...
To be fair most of the website is having a sale so I wouldn't look too much into it at the moment. Although that aside unfortunately I can't see the Ghost Train opening this year. (I'm one of the minority that actually likes it).
 
*Blows dust off account for my biennial post...*

I believe staff are needed on board the trains for DBGT as a safety thing as well. Guests have to remain seated during the ride, and it's much easier to control that with a staff member there since there's no restraints. It can obviously be run without staff on board the train (engineers do that during testing), but presumably that's in a sort of manual mode which Merlin would never allow with guests post-Smiler.

If they did get rid of the VR headsets, introduced some sort of restraints system and kept everyone on the train for the whole ride (ie - didn't make guests leave for the tunnel scene), I guess they could have the ride reprogrammed to run without staff on the train. But that requires a huge effort to change the ride's focus (you lose the illusion aspect for example), and there's big questions about how you keep 58 people entertained for 6 minutes in that train set up.

It's not an impossible task, but the size of it should not be understated, and one would have to wonder if it's worth the effort.

I'm by no means an engineer, but I don't see any particular reason why the building as is couldn't be repurposed for another ride. There's a pit which houses the motion base and helps with the illusion of the hanging carriage, but the rest of the building is effectively on one level. I don't see why that part of the building couldn't be used for a (more simple) tracked dark ride for example, especially if they were clever with the space.

Again though, something like that is not an easy task, and I imagine that it would be expensive to remove the the ride hardware. Then you have to take into account the actual design and construction of a new ride in its place. And making it a ride that Merlin would be willing to invest in. And consider the fact that Thorpe have invested minimally over the past few years, and there's arguably more important needs across the park.

There's no easy answer on how to solve Ghost Train.
 
I think once DBGT gets beyond a "minimum term", it'll be totally altered and eventually removed.

Sadly, for all the effort and ambition it is the biggest white elephant a UK park has ever seen.
 
I have a question; from someone who’s never actually ridden it, where do you guys think Thorpe went wrong with DBGT? What could they have done to make it a stronger dark ride, in your opinion?
 
VR is one of the main issues. You have to get on the train, take your seat, adjust the VR. Then you get off, go through the middle section, get back on the train, take your seat and then re-adjust your VR. It's a lot more faff then there should be on a ride. I want to sit down, on the ride and go.
 
MattyH said:
VR is one of the main issues. You have to get on the train, take your seat, adjust the VR. Then you get off, go through the middle section, get back on the train, take your seat and then re-adjust your VR. It's a lot more faff then there should be on a ride. I want to sit down, on the ride and go.
Click to expand...
I see that as more of an issue with the particular headsets they chose to use, not the concept itself
 
Speaking of the VR; I know that 2016 wasn’t that long ago, but surely the HTC Vive headsets that they use in the ride must be nearly obsolete by now, if not already obsolete? As far as I’m aware, the technology hasn’t been majorly upgraded since 2016, and as much as I hate to say it, 5 years is a really, really long time in tech.

Smartphones and computers from 5 years ago are now practically obsolete; the big tech companies are beginning to end support for devices and operating systems of this sort of age. This tends to open unsupported older devices up to all sorts of dangers like cyber attacks.

If the ride has much longer left in its present form, surely the technology will need a pretty substantial upgrade before too long, because I shouldn’t think Thorpe want the technology on their ride to be open to these types of risks?
 
Status
This topic has been locked. No further replies can be posted.
Top