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Good riddance 🤣 In all seriousness, I hate seeing SBNO rides, but really wouldn't mind seeing the death of Ghost Train. Never liked it, doesn't provide much capacity to the park, costs a lot to run. If it does close at the end of this season, would be very interesting to see what the building is used for in the future.

There is apparently a poster inside Trailers with an image of Ghost Train, with the wording “Ghost Train - The last train” underneath. I assume this means it will close at the end of the season. Time will tell I suppose. Photo from Theme Park Guide’s live blog - https://live.themeparkguide.co.uk/?live=FN25

Love that Hyperia is lit up red this year for Fright Nights, rather than bright white. Looks brilliant 😍 https://www.facebook.com/thorpeparkmania/posts/pfbid026Rwstrftd6WfrWixrpci43qLc6PCPfHZrQTEve5Dyyrd12rC2fFvyDURntJCsK6Cl

Yeah makes sense, definitely seems like they're trying to reduce the amount of launches for one reason or another Was closed today, but is open this evening for the press event

He no longer works at the park unfortunately

Is there something in the invite to say that all posts have to be tagged with the words VIP? Congratulations to all the influencers who made it. To the rest of us the real proof will be in the pudding. Will those who went tonight be returning to the park to pay £40 to do these mazes again and have the privilege of queueing an hour to do so? Probably not…..

Confront russ on this if you see him.

Wild 2026 prediction for the press event. Anyone will be allowed to go if they pay £300. It’s the only upsell they have left right?

Tidal Wave fire effect is still not working, in case anyone didn't know.

Whilst I don't anticipate there to be significant discourse on here this evening, the Fright Nights Launch Event is this evening, so I'd expect there to be spoilers floating about ahead of the official opening tomorrow. Please share anything that could be considered a Spoiler here. If you want to follow along and get some updates of the event, and insights into what might have changed and the quality this year, follow along with your favourite fansite (that's Thorpe Park Mania, in case it wasn't obvious) on all good (and bad) social media!

Okay, I'll keep watching.

Yep what @JoshC. said - my theory is there is an issue so they are not running it all day so it's available for Fright Nights, all being well.

I'd be surprised if it's related to the launch cable. They have a good routine for that which has worked for a number of years. My guess at this point is that there's another issue related to the extended closure it had earlier in the year. Hydraulic launch coasters are infamous for having parts or issues which need resolving after a fixed number of cycles. It would seem like this solution is the least worst scenario. I'd be very surprised if it was budget related. It is still such an iconic and well-received ride. If they were really in that position, I'd expect them to open something like Tidal Wave late, given that's a costly ride to operate.

And that's an under statement.

You're forgetting that the main draw of the park are the shows. So it's not just a old-timey museum like Beamish. If the quality is like the French park (check out their latest walk through attraction) then it would be a very good option in our rather bleak industry. I think the company have done events up in Durham so they'll know the appetite is there. Shame they're a bit dodgy morals wise.

Stealth does seem to have had its fair share of issues this season, so I wonder if the one train service might be related to this in some way? It’s definitely not ideal, though, particularly as we head towards Fright Nights. During the peak FN season, everything should really be firing on all cylinders operationally!

Seems to be a running trend on off peak days at the moment, was back on 2 at the weekend. So at the moments its; - Running 1 train off peak - Closed 2 off peak Thursdays - Opening at 12pm on Fright Night dates up until school holidays. I wonder if they are doing this purely for cost cutting or theres another reason for it, maybe a certain amount of launches left before a cable change and they need to get it through the season?

Well it has been announced that Puy du Fou wish to create a "themed" park near Bicester, not another factory outlet but a park, emulating their established park in France. An investment figure of about £600 million, but a conservative forecast of 2.7 million annual visitors (optimistic I think). It's a different operation to those theme parks we are familiar with in the U.K., creating "period" villages, but no mention of nutty rides. Apparently the French park is the "third most visited in France". Though I think it carries more weight than the Kent wetland prroject did, I cannot see it working, and I'd stick with Beamish.

It was very busy on Saturday. Though I'd spent the entire morning in CBeebies Land so avoided most of it. Not helped by Air and Oblivion being on one station ops. Wickerman batching was non-existent and exacerbated the poorly designed pre-show and station. There's not enough support rides to spread people out. Downtime didn't seem to be as bad for extended periods though but still. Genuinely feel that we only visit because we get RAP, little one loves CBeebies Land and aren't immensely bothered about going on stuff in Dark Forest and X-Sector.

Went today and only on one train, number 3. There seemed to be less staff around. At least a couple of hiccups later in the day, possibly a positional sensor. The weather was good with plenty of sunshine therefore warmth.

Went to AT on Saturday and the place was heaving with, it seems, most rides having 75 minute queues from around lunchtime. It did feel that the aim of the park has changed, and it seems, to me, that it was not the pleasant visit that I had previously experienced.?

The game will be up when they sell Legoland California. That and the London eye are the bread winners for Merlin. Could see them just wanting to run the London attractions and then franchise the other brands.

To translate, would appear Merlin are outsourcing some more parts of the park operations, such as cleaning. Given how crap Aramark are (Towers specific in my recent visits) this could be a concern of a continuing downward trend.

no clues to hide in the mazes this year, for nothing, is happening :(

something serious is going on, ding dong, ding dong soon, the sauce will be put out, and there will be no more scapes of land or cleanings in the park, sauce will one day be sold, the signs are for all to see, but in the meanwhile, the sauce is out with gravy gravels parp parp parp parp, parp parp parp parp ppaarrpp ppaarrpp