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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

jon81uk said:
I think they actually do need to add a few more non-inverting rides, as within a family group everyone has different tolerances. They still don't have a proper non-inverting coaster really. Even just getting rid of The Walking Dead and putting a proper decent indoor coaster in would help.
Don't forget that 1.3m tall is about a 9 year old. I doubt many families take under 10s, but even if everyone is over 13, there will still be a range of teenagers and adults who like different things.
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I would agree with this, I believe Thorpe Park should offer a core offering of Family-Thrill however stick to it's focus on thrill rides as well.

At the moment, I think the family offering at the park isn't right and needs attention.

Whilst Flying Fish, Depth Charge and Mr Monkey's Banana Ride do meet that core offering for families, the Beach and High Striker don't (as they're aimed for young families) and need to be removed or repurposed (for the Beach).

Personally Timber Tug Boat and Rocky Express (more the latter) even fitted that core offering better than the Beach and High Striker.

What the park needs to fit the family offering is rides that can be ridden by those between 0.9/1m-1.2m along with thrill seekers alike. An example would be a Wave Swinger. Dobble Tea Party is perfect in that regard as well. Rides for everyone is the best way to put it.

What the park really doesn't need is rides that are for small children on the lines of High Striker or even Octopus Garden.
 
owenstreet7 said:
What the park needs to fit the family offering is rides that can be ridden by those between 0.9/1m-1.2m along with thrill seekers alike. An example would be a Wave Swinger. Dobble Tea Party is perfect in that regard as well. Rides for everyone is the best way to put it.

What the park really doesn't need is rides that are for small children on the lines of High Striker or even Octopus Garden.
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Don't even think they need to consider those under 1.1m, its more about age, thrill level, fear and bravery than purely the height restriction. Basically make sure there is enough for the "wimps" to do who don't like the more intimidating looking thrill rides. As you say the teacups and banana ride work for that, but they still need a coaster that sits above Flying Fish, but below everything else for thrill levels so those that aren't feeling so brave can work their way up to the bigger rides. X sort of did that before the Walking Dead was slapped on it.
 
jon81uk said:
Don't even think they need to consider those under 1.1m, its more about age, thrill level, fear and bravery than purely the height restriction. Basically make sure there is enough for the "wimps" to do who don't like the more intimidating looking thrill rides. As you say the teacups and banana ride work for that, but they still need a coaster that sits above Flying Fish, but below everything else for thrill levels so those that aren't feeling so brave can work their way up to the bigger rides. X sort of did that before the Walking Dead was slapped on it.
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Honestly, that is what I am thinking.

I'd say more rides that basically appeal to those who are too intimidated for the bigger rides so not necessarily aiming at 0.9/1m but things that can be ridden by both thrillseekers and those who are working their way up.

Totally agree about the in-between rollercoaster, something along the lines of Wickerman or Storm Chaser would hit this perfectly. That is exactly what the park is missing right now.

Loggers Leap hit that perfectly although very well missed.
owenstreet7 said:
Whilst Flying Fish, Depth Charge and Mr Monkey's Banana Ride do meet that core offering for families, the Beach and High Striker don't (as they're aimed for young families) and need to be removed or repurposed (for the Beach).
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To add to this, I'd say the perfect High Striker replacement would be the Zierer Double Family Freefall Towers.

These rides pack a punch even for thrillseekers (much more than the Frog Hoppers) and would suit the park much better than High Striker.
 
Squiggs said:
I hate to break it to you, but afaik that mere fry is actually 40 years old. It had some modifications when it was relocated in 2007, but is basically still the same ride that opened as Space Station Zero in 1984.
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I wonder why RCDB lists the current Flying Fish separately to the 1983-2004 version of Space Station Zero/Flying Fish? Going by their listings for two separate rides I had just incorrectly assumed the post 2007 version of the ride was a clone of the original, I hadn’t realised that it was the same ride. I remember riding Space Station Zero in 1987 I think it was absolutely thrilled by it, must have been my very first coaster cred.
 
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Ethan said:
I do believe that Thorpe should move away from rides below 1.3m now. They are a thrill park and there’s no reason for anything but thrill to be on the island. The handfull of family rides they have gives families false hope that there’s enough for them to do for a day out when in reality there really isn’t
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Lech Coaster, Abyssus, and Untamed are all 1.2m rides, so there are definitely some good thrill rides under 1.3m.
 
Focusing on "thrills" is likely why the park went over a decade with only Ghost Train to show for it. There's not as much money in teenage yobos as there is in families. And Thorpe already makes it an intimidating enough place for families to visit as it is. They need some family thrill and whole family rides.
 
Matt.GC said:
Focusing on "thrills" is likely why the park went over a decade with only Ghost Train to show for it. There's not as much money in teenage yobos as there is in families. And Thorpe already makes it an intimidating enough place for families to visit as it is. They need some family thrill and whole family rides.
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Yeah I feel like Thorpe is in such a niche place in the market where it definitely did grow a bad reputation around the 2010s due to its target audience.

But I agree they need to keep with the thrill market, but expand it further than just super intense rides, with a 1.2m entry level thrill coaster and maybe a non inverting flat ride or two.

Coming to think of it, thorpe seems to be one of the only theme parks in the entire world that purely exists for thrill seekers - sure places like cedar point have a huge roller coaster centric offering but cedar also has a ton of family rides
 
Dhev123 said:
Coming to think of it, thorpe seems to be one of the only theme parks in the entire world that purely exists for thrill seekers - sure places like cedar point have a huge roller coaster centric offering but cedar also has a ton of family rides
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The Six Flags parks do have the thing where almost all the family rides are in the Looney Tunes family rides corner and if you ignore that part of the park then it is almost all thrill rides like Thorpe Park.
 
Dhev123 said:
But I agree they need to keep with the thrill market, but expand it further than just super intense rides, with a 1.2m entry level thrill coaster and maybe a non inverting flat ride or two.
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I'd say a Zamperla Air Race could be the perfect entry level inverting flat ride on top of any non-inverting flat rides.

Totally agree nevertheless

jon81uk said:
The Six Flags parks do have the thing where almost all the family rides are in the Looney Tunes family rides corner and if you ignore that part of the park then it is almost all thrill rides like Thorpe Park.
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That actually isn't a rather bad idea, that would help keep that family offering 👏
 
owenstreet7 said:
That actually isn't a rather bad idea, that would help keep that family offering 👏
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Its actually terrible I think to have a "kiddie korner" as you then have to split the family up. Better to have a mix of different thrill levels in every area of the park I think, then even if people do split up you aren't at opposite ends of the park. For example at AT some of the family can ride Blade while others do Nemesis.
 
Matt.GC said:
Focusing on "thrills" is likely why the park went over a decade with only Ghost Train to show for it. There's not as much money in teenage yobos as there is in families. And Thorpe already makes it an intimidating enough place for families to visit as it is. They need some family thrill and whole family rides.
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Contrary to popular opinion, I don’t think thrills was Thorpe Park’s issue. Thrills worked for them in the 2000s and early 2010s. It was only Swarm’s “failure” in 2012 and the things that happened after that started to make things go awry. It’s worth remembering that Thorpe Park’s most successful years in terms of attendance were 2009-2011, and the park’s prospects went up and up throughout the 2000s.

My opinion is that Thorpe Park’s later rut was caused by a general lack of meaningful investment post-Swarm, but also the fact that they arguably went primarily for things with overly niche appeal when they did invest post-Swarm. Things like Black Mirror and The Walking Dead didn’t have the widespread appeal of something like a big coaster, and to a degree, I’d even argue that Derren Brown’s Ghost Train had overly niche appeal for a major investment. Say what you will about big coasters, but they can appeal to a broad cross-section of the older park-visiting populace. Did Derren Brown, as a 13+ VR horror dark ride, appeal to nearly as broad of a cross-section? I’m not convinced. Had they gone with a more “traditional” dark ride with more universal appeal, I think it could have done, but I don’t think the ride they went for had nearly wide enough appeal for something that cost as much as it did.

A lot of people seem to think that Thorpe Park needs to go back to the 80s and become a family park again to be successful. I disagree with this. With Legoland, Chessington and Paultons Park nearby, I think the young family market in London and the South East is already saturated, so I don’t think Thorpe Park should go back to heavily targeting young families. I think thrills is their USP within the region, and they should stick with it.

With that being said, I think they should broaden the scope of “thrills” a tad. Now that they’ve got a big hyper in the form of Hyperia, I think they could do with a 1.2m height restriction, preferably non-inverting, “starter” thrill coaster of some form. I think something like a GCI woodie would fit the bill, personally. I also think that a more “traditional”, universally appealing dark ride that isn’t Ghost Train wouldn’t hurt either. They should reverse the Walking Dead retheme and make X a universally appealing attraction with a low height restriction again. That would be an easy win.

So my opinion is that I don’t think Thorpe Park needs to totally reinvent the wheel and start aggressively targeting young families again. I think they should stick with thrills. However, I think it would pay for them to broaden the scope of “thrills” to appeal to older families as well as teens and young adults and build things like a 1.2m thrill coaster and a more universally appealing dark ride.
 
Matt N said:
Contrary to popular opinion, I don’t think thrills was Thorpe Park’s issue. Thrills worked for them in the 2000s and early 2010s. It was only Swarm’s “failure” in 2012 and the things that happened after that started to make things go awry. It’s worth remembering that Thorpe Park’s most successful years in terms of attendance were 2009-2011, and the park’s prospects went up and up throughout the 2000s.

My opinion is that Thorpe Park’s later rut was caused by a general lack of meaningful investment post-Swarm, but also the fact that they arguably went primarily for things with overly niche appeal when they did invest post-Swarm. Things like Black Mirror and The Walking Dead didn’t have the widespread appeal of something like a big coaster, and to a degree, I’d even argue that Derren Brown’s Ghost Train had overly niche appeal for a major investment. Say what you will about big coasters, but they can appeal to a broad cross-section of the older park-visiting populace. Did Derren Brown, as a 13+ VR horror dark ride, appeal to nearly as broad of a cross-section? I’m not convinced. Had they gone with a more “traditional” dark ride with more universal appeal, I think it could have done, but I don’t think the ride they went for had nearly wide enough appeal for something that cost as much as it did.
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If you look at the thrill investments in the 2000s they were often things that everyone could still ride, Colossus might have ten inversions but its still a sit down coaster in a lost city themed area. Many of the flat rides like Rush, Quantum, Eclipse are still suitable for a wide range of people. Nemesis Inferno is a coaster in a volcano, not too scary really apart from the inversions.

But then they went down the "adult" route with Saw which brought success due to a headline IP, so they doubled-down on the adult stuff with all the weird big heads themed maps and tried a similar adult theme with Swarm and they kept going with the horror themes. They then tried to swing too far the other way with Angry Birds
As you say, if they had gone for a more traditional dark ride instead of a VR mess then they would have probably been in a better place overall instead of the mismatch of horror and not. Walking Dead right in the middle of the park seemed the worst decision.
 
I feel I should know this yet I can't recall... does stealth have 3 trains and only 2 are ever in use at a time ?

I ask as I've seen a few photos this evening of a refreshed train..

Source Thorpe park mania Facebook
 
Mattie boy said:
I feel I should know this yet I can't recall... does stealth have 3 trains and only 2 are ever in use at a time ?

I ask as I've seen a few photos this evening of a refreshed train..

Source Thorpe park mania Facebook
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Yes, that’s the case. They have 3 trains, but only have 2 on the track at once, and they rotate which train is off the track and in maintenance.
 
Not sure if this is the right thread for this but did anyone see the latest Q&A video from John Burton? (I believe it was originally posted a couple of hours ago on Merlin Entertainments Instagram but I saw it shared on a group). When asked if Thorpe would ever top Hyperia, John said "You never know what's around the corner" whilst stood near the end of Swarm and drinking out of a 'nothing to see here' mug 😂 Confirmation of the empty land being earmarked for development or just another little tease for the fans? 🤔
 
lets put our conspiracy hats on :p what if they are linked, the RMC cup and the watch this space are both on cups, this could be a multiple video promo so... they must be building an RMC behind the swarm.

being serious it is an interesting one, I think something will probably end up going there (it appears to be a nice plot of land and is the main undeveloped plot left) and I wouldn't be surprised if they had some idea on what to put there, but I dont think this video is saying anything, and manly just a troll
 
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