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With the recent announcement of the Universal theme park for the UK, I’ve been wondering about the prospect of other similar mega-parks opening up in this country. There was of course the proposal for the Swanscombe Peninsula theme park, but this has been kicked into the long grass. Then I had an idea. Many British theme parks aren’t really themed around British culture, and with the rise in popularity of immersive experiences and living museums, I think this would be a good opportunity to trial a combined theme park and living museum attraction, that educates the British public on their country’s history through rides and experiences. I’m not expecting this to be the UK’s next thrill park, but more of a family park that appeals to all ages, consisting of a mixture of moderate rides and immersive experiences. Like many theme parks, this park would be split into different lands, with each one corresponding to a period of British history. There would be a big emphasis on theming to fit in with the area’s period, with rides camouflaged or located indoors wherever possible. Some of my ideas for areas include: - A Roman Britain themed area. - A Tudor and Shakespeare themed area. - An area themed around British myths, legends and folklore. - An area themed to British farming, particularly in the West Country. - An area themed to a remote Scottish fishing village at risk from the effects of global warming. - An area themed to a Welsh mining village, in an area where the future of coal mining is uncertain. - A peaceful “flora and fauna” area with no thrill rides, home to native British plants and wildlife. - An area themed to Wartime Britain, with emphasis on the two world wars and global domination of the British Empire during that period. - A science and technology area themed around British industry and inventions, celebrating the innovations of the past alongside those of today and tomorrow. - An area themed to British pop culture from the 1960s to the 90s, with an emphasis on the arts, sport and leisure. - The park’s hub, themed to a traditional market town in the South East of England. - A transit system to connect park areas together. Could be a replica of the London Underground. Each area would consist of: 1 rollercoaster, water or dark ride 1 flat thrill ride 2 childrens’ rides 1 immersive attraction 1 food outlet So to round things up, this would essentially combine the thrilling aspects of a theme park with the educational side of museums, and the Insta-worthy appeal of immersive experiences. Do you think such an attraction would work in the UK?

Has Stealth died again?! 🫠

Not exactly a great way to introduce guests to it. But the ridiculous amount of netting also hates it when it rains too.

New water feature in the Hyperia queue

Very sad indeed. Was one of my favorite rides when I went to Florida back in 2015, hope it can be saved. I swear they only just repainted it?

Always had a soft spot for Colossus, love the area and has always had one of my favorite pieces of theme park music. I do agree though, it definitely doesn't have the same reputation of the likes of Nemesis or Vampire and can imagine when that time comes they'll be better off looking at something else. But yeah, just interesting what happened with the re-track project as the need to re-track would still be there, but would be an odd choice to repaint the whole coaster if they needed to re-track it. An Intamin multi launch could be a potential good replacement that could work without destroying the pathway when that time comes 👀

Looks surprisingly nice that! I'm staying at the park next week so will give it a try

Definitely recommend checking out Vibes Bar and Kitchen in the dome. Genuinely shocked at how tasty it is considering the mess of food a the parks the last few years.

Does Legoland Windsor brick or treat during the weekday during school term or is brick or treat only during weekends during school term time even though parents do take their children on holiday on weekdays during school term time.

Going to be a few of these sad days where once iconic rides bite the dust.

Kumba is now officially SBNO and last operated in November. As influential as this ride was, it does feel like its time may be up. There's been no information from the park yet which is slightly unusual.

I want to run, I want to hide, open for now, but choice to be made....

Stealth is back open today 😅

It's alive!!! 5fd2386bbb246854d662bfb97b9db6fe.mp4

ask me why, you say it's most unusual, how can I, even try, to explain, why today, it feels like breaking, rolling back like Asda, when it wouldn't normally do this kind of thing

Amazing!! Might book a visit for a couple of weeks time

Was testing in the afternoon yes, and wasn't rolling back which is a good sign 🤞 Hopefully the issue is resolved and it'll be open in the next couple days.

Yeah, track replacing seems to have been pushed aside for now. Whether it was the issues with the previous new piece of track, a shift in strategy or something else that is the reason for that, we'll never know. I'm not a fan of Colossus - I can tolerate it on the front row (which is the only place I've ridden it in the last 8 or 9 years, and even then, I can count the number of rides I've had on it on one hand). But it does still seem to attract a reasonable crowd and runs reliably enough for now. But yes, it doesn't quite have the draw of a Nemesis or a Vampire. On the other hand, the park still have plenty of other development spots before they'd have to consider ripping rides out, so Colossus may hang on for a good while yet. My biggest concern with losing Colossus would be that we would no doubt lose the fun pathway that goes through the ride. Merlin just don't build rides which interact with walkways these days, and I'd be surprised if a potential Colossus replacement has anything beyond a straight pathway running alongside the ride, as opposed to a nice hill or similar.

I heard it's been testing this afternoon...can anyone confirm...?

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?