All Activity

Not just the fact that the park could do with a couple of new mid-sized investments to tide them over, their current support/filler line up is approaching the end of life. As you say, the newest of those big ones is now over 20 years old. Even 2011's Storm Surge was second hand. Whilst we know these rides can last 30-40 years, their reliability and maintenance costs increase, and their appeal can shrink. Just look at Zodiac, which was closed for half the season. Samurai which has regularly spent months closed in each of the last 10 seasons. Even something like Tidal Wave (okay, not a flat ride, but still fits) is incredibly expensive and could well be having parts reaching end of life. I'm of the broad opinion that I wouldn't particularly mind if Thorpe went down the route of becoming a coaster park. A UK Six Flags style park as it were. But they still need a support line up, and they need to invest in that sooner rather than later. There's huge potential these days with flat rides. Things I could see fitting into the park... -Intamin SkyJump (see Falcon's Fury / Ikaros) -ART Wild Swing (XL version or bigger version...ART could do that I'm sure) -Zamperla Nebula -Zamperla Big Wavez -Zamperla Endeavour (would be a great Zodiac replacement) For clarity, I'm not saying I want these or the park should get these. But I reckon they'd work at the park.

Honeslty when thinking about the next major investment, like towers the park doesn't need "just another coaster" The coaster line up is probably pretty stable and more than enough veriaty and capacity. What the park is lacking is secondary experiences that the crowd who ride the coasters want to do. Looking at the parks history, the last brand new thrill flat investment was Slammer and Rush in 2005. You had Storm Surge in 2010 which was a relocated ride, the dodgems in 2014 which straddles the line of a thrill flat. and of course Ghost Train in 2016 but due to the complexity in maintenance and staffing I would class this more like a coaster in its operation than a thrill flat. But even if you did thats almost 10 years since the last proper flat ride (mainly due to habit of making walk through 'Merlin midway' mazes as attractions) What the park needs is a thrill flat package similar to how Zodiac, Vortex and Detonator where done, and more recently the Rumour that Toxicator at Towers was bought in a multi ride package. With the right ride choices this would work as a solid coaster level investment with the benefit of also being able to spread out queues around the park.

Has anyone seen any updates in regards to this? Any drone flyovers ect?

Just returned from my very first Wintertraum event. Was very impressed with the park decoration, and it was busy, but not too busy. We stayed in Charles Lindbergh. Arrived around midday, after some shenanigans with delayed flights and an hour queue for passport control at Cologne airport. Checked in and one of our rooms was ready so we went up and chucked all our luggage in there. Noticed that a FLY train was stopped on the first launch (empty). They started doing test runs as we were walking down from the room. Managed to get a walk on straight away as it just reopened as we entered the park. When we came off, the queue was 40 mins. Managed a back row ride on this, and it was crazy! Did Taron front row in the rain which was a painful experience haha. Had our first go on Mystery Castle - wtf!! This thing is insane. Braved Chiapas in the cold (stayed on and did it twice). Got soaked and had to go back to the hotel to dry off. Did a night ride on Black Mamba and found this way better than the last time I rode it. Thought it was a bit tame originally, but it was hauling in the evening! Fireworks were decent in the evening. Had a better nights sleep this time around (as last time I couldn't get comfortable in the small cabins). All in all was a good trip, got to do the majority of the park, probably should have booked an additional night. Also shout out to the thoosies we met at breakfast (think they were from the midlands). Was great chatting coasters over coffee and bacon!

Ah love these. Unfortunately my lists are very short nowadays, but I've had a fair year theme park wise (considering how life is now!) Thorpe Park x1 Alton Towers x1 Legoland Windsor x1 Disneyland Park Paris x3 Walt Disney Studios Paris x2 I do miss the days when I had huge lists, and I was at Thorpe & Towers 10-20 times each! Sad to have not been to any fireworks events or halloween this year, for the first time in... I don't know how long. Still, could be worse. Paulton's next year for the first time in 20 years!

For any that used this service between Orlando and Busch Gardens, you would have been pleased because it was free, and highly convenient. It is ending on the 1st February, 2026, grrr! If I go back over there, I will have to find an alternative or stay a few nights in Tampa.

Go on, who saw this coming... Lego Harry Potter land is coming to Legoland Deutschland... https://www.merlinentertainments.bi...ter-is-coming-to-legoland-deutschland-resort/ More details on the new land, as well as the world's first official Harry Potter themed accommodation, will come "in the next 12 months". A sign up for information page is here: https://www.legoland.de/en/harrypotter/ The biggest thing that stood out to me was the following quote... "This partnership launches at our Resort in Germany and marks Merlin’s largest-ever single investment into an existing site, reflecting our strategy to prioritise locations with the greatest growth potential." Presumably the cost is down to the IP, but the fact that this means they're spending over £20m (at a low-end estimate) on this investment speaks a lot. This is quite a surprising announcement in itself (Harry Potter and Legoland was not something I ever expected). But it's also interesting to see that this is Merlin's current direction.

Movieland Italy is a fantastic park purely due to its bizarre Mafia led nature.

Park Count Thorpe - Loads Phantasialand x2 Towers x1 Legoland Windsor x1 Chessington x1 Efteling x1 Holiday Park (now Plopsaland Deutschland) x1 Walibi Belgium x1 Bellewaerde x1 Gardaland x1 Movieland Italy x1 Walibi Holland x1 Coasters New coasters: 26 New parks: 4 Current cred count: 434 Top 5 new coasters Kondaa, Walibi Belgium. Sitting just outside my Top 10 outright, this is absolutely bonkers in the best possible way. The only mark against it is the double down which starts off the final third of the ride, which just feels a bit unnatural to me. Karacho, Tripsdrill. Gerstlauer with some of their finest work. It sits just outside my Top 10%, is a great deal of fun. If the MCBR was slightly less harsh, this would be a lot higher in my rankings. Expedition GeForce, Holiday Plopsaland Deutschland. It's good. The middle third is a bit boring, but the first drop and finale are fab. It's very classic early 00s Intamin. Raptor, Gardaland. Good, not great. But theming is fab. MecaLodon, Walibi Belgium. The Gerstlauer family triple launch coaster is something which people have raved about. I like it, especially once it warms up, but I'm not as big on it as most. The ride type has buckets of potential though. Disappointments YoY, Walibi Holland. I liked Jersey Devil at Six Flags Great Adventure. I was disappointed by YoY, which didn't offer much even with the duelling. I also have aged and the leg arrangement was uncomfortable for me. Gardaland. It was nice and I enjoyed my day there. But it did feel a bit meh at the same time. Hals-uber-Kopf, Tripsdrill. Unlike Mark, I haven't been blown away by either of the Vekoma STCs. They're fine, I can see why people enjoy them, but they don't click for me. Other Notable Things Danse Macabre, Efteling. This thing is superb. Movieland Italy. What a strange park. But I had an absolute blast of a time. Amazonia, Bellewaerde. A fantastic rapids-esque ride from Intamin with lots of cool quirks. Slaughterhouse, Walibi Holland. I returned to Walibi's Halloween event, and this alone experience is so raw and visceral and just genuinely fabulous. Us vs You, Walibi Holland. An international scare maze which feels like it's slipped under the scare attraction's radar, because this is bloody great.

I went to Europa Park and Towers 3 times. Prime enthusiast. Voltron was at least worth the effort. As was getting a rollback on it.

Yep, the Merlin Platinum Pass now includes one Fastrack per day on any ride, which does include Hyperia. It will presumably not include major new additions the year they're included, but Hyperia is now old enough that they can get away with it. Presumably such things will come out of each ride's standard Fastrack allocation. Which will then affect their profits. Will be interesting how that hits the park in mid-to-longer run.

There's likely several factors in play. Theme parks being closed environments, which people have to pay to get into, which are surrounded by CCTV, probably detracts potential thieves anyway. Very few people are focused on other people's belongings too; they just want to get their own and go. And any thoughts of 'I could take someone else's belongings' is little more than a common, healthy, intrusive thought.

Hello. How was your year? Here's mine- Parks visited Efteling X5 Animal Kingdom X3 Hollywood Studios X1 Southend Adventure Island X1 Chessington X1 Schwaben Park X1 Tripsdrill X1 Legoland Deutschland X1 Hong Kong Disneyland X2 Ocean Park HK X1 Himeji Central Park X1 Parque Espana Shima X1 Nagashima Spa Land X1 Fuji Q X1 Disneyland Tokyo X2 Tokyo Disney Sea X3 Thorpe Park X2 Wiener Prater X1 Fantasiana X1 Epic Universe X2 New Rollercoasters ridden - 62 I'd say my top ten new rollercoasters of 2025 are as follows- Flying Dinosaur - The most intense flyer out there. It is absolutely fantastic. Stardust Racers Green - I love this ride, the flowing elements and air time are excellent and the duelling with yellow is so good. Stardust Racers Yellow - I mean come on, they are both so good and theres very little in between them in terms of quality. Steel Dragon 2000 - Aside from the really frustrating loading, this is a really long ride that does deliver. The air time at the end is also excellent. Pyrenees - An Inverter that sits under the radar, this is a very good rollercoaster, it just has a really odd ending. Hals Uber Kopf - The vekoma STC is so good. Both it and Fienna Force are so class. I thought this was a surprisingly forceful rollercoaster and really enjoyed it. Hollywood Dream - A surprisingly good hyper coaster. I only got the chance to ride this backwards but I thought it was excellent. Harakugei - A very good RMC but I find the loading procedures really take away the fun from a lot of Japanese parks. This is still awesome but its tiresome waiting for it . Diavlo - I don't really care that this is just a batman clone, it really is an excellent version of the ride. It looks a little rusty and run done and its amazing that the park have bothered to keep it running. Glad to have got on it. Zokkon - An excellent Intamin straddle coaster. Full of unique elements and excellent pacing. Landmark moments from 2025 Rollback on Mandrill Mayhem where we were stuck just before the Statue helix. Star of some B- tier tiktok vlogs. Loved it. Evacuated from the break run on Stardust Green. Lots of fun watching Stardust Yellow continue to run. Also managing to get on it after the death in September. Finally making it to Tokyo Disney and getting on all the major rides multiple times. Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Sinbad, Indianna Jones, Winnie the Pooh and Beauty and the Beasts felt like life changing rides in my theme park career Reclaiming the 'ridden all B&M's in Europe' after getting to Legoland Deutschland Saying goodbye to way too many attractions this year. Kingda Ka, Muppets 3D, Six Flags America, Tough to be a Bug, Scorpion Express, Blade. Also our last ever rides on Dinosaur before its closure in 2026. So please share your 2025. We love content.

the goddess stands tall, defiant, but unfortunatley she hides shadows since day one, the problems have persisted, another delay, another long day, it was the experiment that never landed as it should have no one will say it outright, ding dong, but a shift is underway, ding dong, maybe it can be saved, ding dong, maybe not, tick tock!

it is uncertain.

Are the towers open at the start of season?

Just a standard TP pass now. Merlin Platinum (£299) comes with 1 free 1 shot fast pass a day. Presumably this means in any Merlin place you visit and doesn't exclude Hyperia at TP? https://www.thorpepark.com/tickets-passes/passes/

People do trust them. In fact, even the other rides eg Inferno riders leave their phones on the shelf. I find it astonishing that they trust that no one from the next ride will take their phone, and even more astonishing that seemingly no one actually does take it? Is it something about theme parks being enclosed from the outer world?

What baggage room?

bass in the place London, b b b bass in the place London

Booked a visit for over the Xmas period. Can't wait to get back there! Danse Macabre is an amazing attraction!

moving is a difficult job, and not desirable but capital is limited, ding, dong, and guest numbers are waning, ding, dong these are desperate times. something 'new' to bring the hype, with a new name and theme, is the mega saving worth the scares of the hassle?

Visited Efteling just over a week ago, I absolutely love this park and was very pleased to get on Dance Macabre for the first time (twice!). I hadn’t looked at any videos, pictures or reviews of it so really didn’t know what to expect other than it’s a bit like a ‘show’. It was incredible! Very immersive, surprising, mesmerising, and magical. I found the story quite loose but the charm made up for it! A wonderful transition from the old into the new.

👀

I think the thing is, there's pros and cons to both. dunelm has more going for it with the whole full product scenario, but for bargains of the home variety, can you really beat home bargins? what do you prefer?