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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

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...another IP cash grab for something that was terrible in the first place. Then again I shouldn't be suprised with Merlin at this point with Thorpe.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
Has anyone heard that the angry birds contract ends at the end of the season and it’s been replaced by the Emoji movie.
Now they can easily re-theme the 4D cinema but can’t see how they can theme a drop tower and the bumper cars to this new theme.
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The Emoji Movie came out in 2017, seems a bit strange to use a standalone 6 year old movie that wasn’t even particularly liked as an IP. I really wouldn’t be surprised though if Angry Birds will be going soon though but I think they’d pick something better or more contemporary for the 2024 season than The Emoji Movie.

Anyway, this is Thorpe’s April Fools Day post this year…

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Craig said:
Not originally....

Side note: Please don't go editing your posts and changing/adding context different to what was originally there especially once people have replied. It results in replies like this ;).

Anyway, it's post midday - back to sensible discussion please
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There wasn’t any editing there to change the context. I made the post replying the Angry Birds retheme rumour, and then before anyone has replied I edited it to additionally include the screenshot of Thorpe’s actual April Fools Day Twitter post along with the words stating “And this is their April Fool’s post…”. There definitely wasn’t any changing of context, I was just adding something extra to my post rather than making the heinous crime of double posting.
 
Talking of IP... Someone in the UK needs to take on Pokémon (it could be a stand alone park easily but for some reason the World remains deprived!)- surely I'm not the only one that wants to live out my childhood dreams? 😂 Anyway, returning to topic... I'm always baffled at the IPs chosen by Merlin...it's all usually a bit discombobulated in my opinion! Would love to actually see the back of AB in favour of a unique area like the original (cal)Amity Cove or a really immersive & strong IP. Any thoughts on what could really work for the park?
 
BooMT said:
Talking of IP... Someone in the UK needs to take on Pokémon (it could be a stand alone park easily but for some reason the World remains deprived!)- surely I'm not the only one that wants to live out my childhood dreams? 😂 Anyway, returning to topic... I'm always baffled at the IPs chosen by Merlin...it's all usually a bit discombobulated in my opinion! Would love to actually see the back of AB in favour of a unique area like the original (cal)Amity Cove or a really immersive & strong IP. Any thoughts on what could really work for the park?
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I think Universal has recently struck a deal with the Pokémon Company to develop Pokémon experiences at Universal Parks. As much I would love to see a Pokémon IP in a UK theme park, you'd really need the budget and ambition of Universal to do the IP justice!

On a sidenote, have their been any updates on Ghost Train recently? I feel like that has the potential to be something worthy of a Universal park, considering how ambitious it's predecessor was and how underwhelming it ended up being.
 
Honestly Thorpe, what a crap attempt at an April Fools joke. Lame!

I could just about near Pokémon. Just please don’t put Minions in a Merlin Park. Little yellow sods really wind me up.
 
I do the miss the days when some IP's UK parks had then had some class like the Peter Rabbit ice show for Towers...now its all these crappy American things that should be fed to the Nemesis monster, though even the old girl might get stomach ache from eating such garbage.
 
I seem to recall there being a similar fountain I'm the courtyard near Wicked Witches Haunt, on the Mr Monkey's side.
 
Purely a speculation post from me, so ignore this if you're just looking for Thorpe Park news but I've been wondering about what a TWD retheme would look like. So here's my idea:

Club Thorpe: X Marks the Spot!
  • Themed around a series of murders in Club Thorpe as the guests are sent in to comprehend the murderer in the club
  • The preshow sees guests enter a detective's office, with the preshow meeting the lead detective for Greater London, however, unlike TWD, it is a rolling preshow as the indoor section serves as the queue once more. There are also TV screens with the preshow playing around the office area before heading out the backdoor into the night down into an alleyway, there is graffiti on the walls alluding to the whereabouts of the murderer and his signature "X" mark when he claims a victim to his crimes.
  • Then as guests are queuing there are projections onto the walls as the shadows are seen from streetlamps and police car lights with the bass of club music in the distance.
  • Guests then enter Club Thorpe, a nightclub with a neon, sci-fi theme as they enter the ride's station and board the trains designed as seating with velvet seating, in the style of a rocket.
  • The first half of the ride plays out similar to what X was, but passing various cut-outs with sci-fi popups, such as rockets and cartoon aliens.
  • Then the mid-course break run scene returns and the guests are witnesses to a murder through a curtain, with a spray of water before the train reboots to get away as the murderer tears his signature "X" into the curtain...
  • The second half of the ride returns to the club with near misses with the murderer. As the ride hits the break run, we see and hear police sirens once again, with the lights blending into the club lights. The murderer got away, again.
  • The exit corridor is once again street alleyways, with neon lights and graffiti visualising the "X" murderer once more but with piping around with the occasional air blasts to break the tension.
 
So I popped to Thorpe the other day whilst passing, did a few rides but mainly had a nosey round.

Now compared to EP it felt like the park was awful. But I guess for Thorpe it wasn’t too bad.

The first impressing of the park is awful, I don’t know why Thorpe needs so many temporary fences and barriers where no other theme park in the world seem to use. It just looks so messy and temporary, not helped by the prison style fences which surround the whole entrance plaza.

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One thing that strikes me this season more then most across all the merlin parks is the amount of rides which just haven’t opened yet (some of which don’t look anywhere near ready). At Thorpe colossus, mr monkeys banana ride and tidal wave are all yet to open, nearly two weeks in to the theme park season. Also the Thorpe approach is to just remove them off the app so people don’t notice. Tidal wave was being filled so I assume they will open soon.

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In the few hours I was there, General ride availability was pretty awful, I saw the following closed for periods during only a couple of hours: samurai, walking dead, stealth, swarm, inferno and detonator.

Also music was very hit and miss, the likes of Swarm island is really quiet with the station in silence, and all the screens and effects off across the whole ride. Meanwhile it was like a nightclub around Saw, I would say almost too loud. The same could be say around Stealth, the music blasting so loud you couldn’t hear yourself think.

However the positives, the lower done looks a lot nicer but very plane at the moment, but it didn’t look like it was finished, I’m guessing they’ll add some stuff to the walls soon. Also the food and drink options are so much better than at Towers, with so many more options. Also the area around Saw Alive looks much nicer, but it’s not currently open.
 
djtruefitt said:
Also the food and drink options are so much better than at Towers, with so many more options.
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I think because Burger King and KFC have the basics covered at Thorpe it forces the park to innovate a bit more to get a cut of the food sales. Whereas at Alton and Chessington Merlin/Aramark are getting all the burger and fried chicken money anyway so why bother trying harder. Although at least Chessington are doing something better with the smokehouse taking Woodcutters place.
 
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