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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

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I've removed a number of posts which are completely off topic and simply "joking" about future/returning attractions. I'm fine with the odd bit of it, but it's been done to death now and it's derailing what should be a topic about what's actually happening at Thorpe Park.

Back on topic please, and if you have actual news/rumours then please quote sources where possible. Future "mickey taking" posts will now be removed.
 
Thorpe is feeling like the neglected child of the estate at the moment. Towers and Chessington seem to have turned a maintaince and presentation corner, Lego has actually seen consistent investment for a good few years now. Thorpe feels like it's floundering until Exodus happens. Not sure I've got any motivation to be there at the moment.

(Edited, this is a different thread to I thought it was)
 
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If Merlin parks were kids, the Lego ones get to go on all the ski trips, Garda gets let off the hook for all kinds of things but has a back hand now and then, whilst HP, Towers and Chessington get ignored and sent to school in shoes that are falling apart and Thorpe gets laughed at and locked in the understands cupboard on a regular basis.

One would hope that a new investment there would be done out of love, when in reality they've bought a tiny coaster because they feel they have to to prevent social services from moving in and heightened the lift hill and lengthened the brake run to further get the feds off of their case.
 
I'm pretty optimistic about Thorpe post-Exodus, if I'm being honest! I genuinely think it could launch Thorpe into a new golden era, of sorts; as much as many enthusiasts bemoan its layout, Exodus is pretty significant for Thorpe, as well as the wider UK industry, and I really think that grabbing that UK height record, as well as potentially the UK speed record, could do phenomenal things for Thorpe and provide that zap of momentum that gets Thorpe moving again after a quieter couple of years!

The fact that Merlin is investing £18m into Thorpe in the form of Exodus strikes me as a definite vote of confidence in its long term future, anyway!
 
Matt N said:
The fact that Merlin is investing £18m into Thorpe in the form of Exodus strikes me as a definite vote of confidence in its long term future, anyway!
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They ostensibly invested ~£40m into a dark ride a few years back (I'm aware it's probably about half that but such a figure has definitely been mentioned numerous times in the past), and look how that turned out...
 
Burbs said:
They ostensibly invested ~£40m into a dark ride a few years back (I'm aware it's probably about half that but such a figure has definitely been mentioned numerous times in the past), and look how that turned out...
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I guess that's a fair point, but Exodus is using more tried and tested hardware (which should increase reliability, in theory) and arguably has a far more overt and easily sellable USP than DBGT (height), so hopefully that will make it perform a bit more favourably.

In terms of DBGT's cost; I seem to remember £30m being thrown around a lot, and Merlin cited it as "[their] most expensive investment ever", which would put it above Swarm's £18-20m (it varies dependant on source).
 
Burbs said:
They ostensibly invested ~£40m into a dark ride a few years back (I'm aware it's probably about half that but such a figure has definitely been mentioned numerous times in the past), and look how that turned out...
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To be fair, that's just the worst symptom of one of their biggest problems... someone(s) high up seemingly having no idea of the difference between an IP that will get everyone excited and an IP that everyone's technically heard of but that peaked years before they managed to get an attraction open. Derren Brown was not the nationwide megastar they thought he was by the time they opened the 'train' (box) in 2016.

See also: The Walking Dead, Angry Birds, Black Mirror...

I love Thorpe, genuinely, but I'd estimate we're currently three or four years off of Squid Game: The Experience opening on the sight of BML or something.
 
I worry that because Thorpe Park got their hands burned with Derren Brown and Swarm (neither of which were the big hits they expected), they are scared of investing in the ride hardware they actually need. The danger is they only go in half-hearted, which reduces the financial risk if it's a failure, but ironically increases the chances of it being a failure.
 
Still the big issue with this project I think is that it is just a multi-inversion coaster with a tall first drop. Thorpe already has three multi-inversion coasters (Collossus, Swarm, Inferno) plus Saw with fewer inversions. Stealth is the only major non-inverting coaster. Even within the UK there are plenty of inverting coasters but the only major non-inverting steel coasters are Big One and Stealth.
For me it looks like Thorpe could have built the even Bigger One as a new non-inverting hypercoaster. Whereas we are getting closer to a taller version of Swarm with more inversions that doesn't add more vareity to the parks line-up.
 
We’ve already had quite a few conversations about The Swarm and Derren Brown’s Ghost Train and I think most people will already have their opinions on whether or not they’re good rides. In terms of IPs perhaps there is a problem that the top tier IPs are very expensive, and often mopped up by Disney and Universal. Below that, the entertainment sector has become more fragmented with more TV channels and streaming services. Derren Brown is still being very prolific and producing a phenomenal amount of work, but he’s gone off to do US tours as well as British ones, and he’s moved from Channel 4 to Netflix and Amazon. I can see that he might not have the same presence that he did a decade ago.

He has done a remarkable amount though, with the live shows, TV shows, books, podcasts, painting, photography… I know he’s got a team around him, and he co-writes his shows, but it’s phenomenal how much he’s achieved. It certainly makes me feel lazy.

At the same time though, I do think this has more to do with word of mouth than anything else. The Swarm ticked a lot of boxes, but I found the ride a bit lackluster. Definitely a shame it didn’t have an airtime hill like Fenix. Derren Brown’s Ghost Train I actually like, but some of the effects have been hard to maintain, which has been a problem. Losing the effect where the Underground train bursts out the tunnel has removed one of the highlights and made that middle section of the ride a bit pointless. Long term the cost of maintaining the technology and the number of staff needed is going to be a drain on resources. I think it’s a decent experience though, with a couple of cool illusions and some original ideas.

In terms of this new coaster, I think it will have an impact in the short term. The UK’s tallest roller coaster is an impressive record, and if it is a Mack it will be fairly well engineered. It’s not often that the UK gets a major new roller coaster these days. Merlin does have a big marketing machine ready to fire up. Whether it’ll have enough appeal to keep on bringing people back remains to be seen.
 
As much as I agree that this coaster has its short comings my gut tells me this will be a success for the park, certainly in the short term anyway.

The ‘failure’ of Swarm and DBGT is that they didn’t result in any material increase in guest numbers. So for whatever reason despite the might of the Merlin marketing machine they just didn’t capture the public’s imagination enough to book a ticket and go to the park.

This coaster feels different, it has a gimmick that will get the attention of thrill seekers and the media will love the ‘tallest coaster in the UK’ angle.

Another element that plays into the demographic that TP cater to is ‘instagramability’ which DGBT kind of falls down on. It’s a dark ride with no ability for people to share pictures and comments of how ‘sick it is bruv’ - this coaster again won’t suffer from that issue, the splash down, the height and some of the inversion visuals will really play to that side of things. The viewing platform will be full of people taking pictures for social media.

I guess what I am saying is that this coaster will probably be style over substance, but it will get people through the gates in a way neither Swarm or DBGT did.
 
Interesting promo vid from Thorpe! :)



(Disclaimer: don't try this yourself!)
 
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Sambiasso said:
Does anyone know if opening day tends to be overly busy? Just curious ahead of our first visit to TP. Thank you
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Luckily most of the geeks will be out the way as it's annual pass preview day on Saturday, otherwise it probably will be very busy (but Thorpe usually is very busy outside school time unless it's chucking it down)
Unfortunately Thorpe suffers from low throughput attractions and high usage of Fast track and RAP.
 
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