All Activity

It's a curious thing with Colossus actually. Unlike Vampire and Nemesis which I couldn't imagine their respective parks being without, Colossus is majorly overshadowed by pretty much every rollercoaster they've built since. I actually quite like it but there's no denying that guests aren't the biggest fans of it. It could be easily replaced by a more modern, multi looper and not be as rough. With that being said, I find it rather harmless and does its thing rather well. The first half in particular is so well paced and I personally find it really enjoyable.

That's interesting - The need to re-track it wouldn't suddenly go away... I wonder if it's a case of re-tracking would give it another 20ish years of life, and not re-tracking would leave it with 6ish or something... Perhaps a decision was made to go with the shorter lifespan and instead of investing millions in retracking, invest in replacing it in a few years? Factors like Universal came in to play during that time as well didn't it... Perhaps a decision was made to focus on creating 'new' and bigger experiences going forward in order to compete with a new and bigger park. Realistically, is Colossus going to keep punters coming through the gates for another 2 decades as much as a brand new, higher throughput (and probably better) coaster would? Probably not! There was also recent experience with Nemesis Reborn's re-track - could feedback about "no new rides for ages" have been listened to? I can definitely see why parks would want to replace old with new, instead of spending many millions to keep the existing aging rides running past their initial lifespan. (not that I'd want to see Nemesis go of course) Who knows.

Bit like the Tidal Wave fire effect 😁

Yeah agreed. The whole park in general is looking pretty fresh and definitely the best since I've started visiting around 2010. Colossus and Stealth in particular look the best they've looked since I've started visiting. Vortex is nearly 24 years old but looks and runs like a brand new flat... They confirmed on the passholder group that the re-tracking was a multi year project and large sections of track would be replaced. I remember them saying that track that needs replacing won't be repainted, but since then no track has been replaced and the whole layout has nearly been painted? As far as I'm aware, in 2023 they just repainted the original bit of track and put that back on rather than get a replacement from Taziker, so that section that didn't fit was never actually replaced.

I agree it really is looking good isn’t it. It helps that all the trees have really had chance to grow around it, and make it feel ‘lost’ as it’s supposed to. What amazes me is it’s been running for 23 years…. The footage from when it was new looks ancient doesn’t it. For some reason in my head everything at Thorpe is quite “new” compared to other parks - but it just isn’t. A very large portion of the park guests on a given day weren’t even born when it opened… It’s doing well considering its age I think. Was there ever really a project to retrack it? I thought it was just that one section that needed replacing? I think that section did end up getting replaced after the initial problems where the layout was left incomplete for a few weeks 2yrs ago or whenever it was.

Every time I see an old video of Thorpe, it makes me realize how different Colossus looks now. It really does look the best its done in years. On another note, does anyone know what happened with the re-track project? I would assume its been cancelled after that segment not fitting and not seeing any track get replaced since. If the park were doing bits of re-tracking, surely at some point soon parts of the track will come to the end of there life and need replacing?

It’s a shame because barely 12 months ago, with great fanfare, the new brand was launched which was based on being open and transparent - things like this were championed as the new way forward… The annual new season videos were also missing this spring.

Wouldn't surprise me. I've definitely noticed the app hasn't been updated as much since the days of the passholder group, where they were regularly asking for feedback and making changes. The single rider page on the info section still hasn't been updated to include Hyperia for example...

They definitely don't reply to Tweets etc. as much as they used to, so would make sense.

I wonder if with the cuts / redundancies, the people who would usually be responsible for things like that (ie app / website updates) have been let go / had their job modified and people there just haven't joined up the dots for what needs to be done?

Noticed they're open an additional day, Wednesday 23rd April was previously scheduled to be closed but it'll now be open

Strange its not been added to the ride availability page too, they're usually quite good at keeping that updated

By the way, bit naughty that the app allows you to buy a one shot fasttrack for Stealth still, and has done all week 🙃

Get zamperla on the phone!!

I fear stealth may be screwed.

That's what I thought. I wouldn't think they'd stop making parts for them seeing as it'd be a bit daft if they didn't. It's good to see Thorpe in contact with Intamin. Let's hope it's back up again soon. The downtime may signify that part may be on it's way but who knows. We can only hope I guess lol.

Interesting, not something I've really heard before. Whilst Intamin don't make Accelerators any more, I'd be surprised if they completely stopped making parts - or at the very least having an active role in their production. There's still multiple out there which certainly aren't near their end of life, so it would make sense for them to still provide for the parks that operate them. Regarding the current closure, I believe Thorpe are in contact with Intamin to find a solution to whatever the issue is. Seems to be a new issue which just has rubbish timing of happening at the start of the season

I heard that Intamin don't make the parts anymore and that they have to be made custom (which is a long process) and very expensive. I saw people in the launch bunker with the door open a few days ago so it's probably a launch issue (not getting enough power etc) I'm sure it'll be back up again soon, seeing as it made it through the summer 2019 incident.

Seems to have some issues causing rollbacks at the moment. Hopefully just waiting on a part and will be back open soon 🤞

They decided to make an exception for Hyperia last week 😛

Think they stopped using that now lol....hopefully it's back up and running again soon (the ride, not the page)

Think they need to update the ride availability page on the website as that's a week now...

Stealth Thrill 2 anyone?

THE MOST ADVANCED RIDE IN THE UK?! 👀 | Ghostly Manor Construction Update #6 👻

I can definitely imagine some UK theme park staff will be tempted by a move. Moving from (say) the Surrey parks towards Bedford isn't a huge distance / upheaval. Prices for rent etc will be similar. Salary will probably be similar. But the draw for UK people to be able to say they work at Universal will be big. When I worked at Thorpe, which is when the London Resort park seemed potentially possible, I know people were saying they would be looking to move if it happened. I especially think your middle-manager folk will be tempted. It could represent career progression, that opportunity to be a part of something new and big, and look at going somewhere else if they become disgruntled with Merlin. Same could also be said for engineers and maybe even those slightly higher up. Universal will have their own Creative Team, Senior Leadership, etc in mind and happy to relocate as necessary. But they'll need plenty of people from the UK, and I'm sure they wouldn't grumble at people who have multiple years at the top UK theme parks coming over. This is what I've always said is the biggest risk for Merlin: the short term loss of staff. I think they'll be fine with visitation, and the premium price and product of Universal will just add a layer to the dynamic of the UK industry, rather than completely change it. But they will struggle if there's an exodus of staff looking to see if the grass is greener. I also think staffing for Halloween will become significantly harder. I can imagine loads of scare actors will have their heads turned at the prospect of saying they worked at Halloween Horror Nights for example. Even ones who live in Surrey (for example) will be happy to relocate for a couple months if needs be.