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I personally think the next area earmarked is the X Pyramid... Once the Walking Dead IP goes, are they really going to rehash it again?

Don't really mind what kind, but a coaster on the island behind the swarm would be awesome and a good use of space. Although that said a RMC wouldn't do any harm... Not the biggest fan of water rides, so not overly fussed by the idea of a log flume, however I do see that would be a good addition to the park!

Give us an RMC for God's sake haha

Either a coaster or a new water ride in my books. RMC is the top choice here, especially as it would be at or the near the parks 50th. Failing that, something like Toutatis or Veloci-coaster could also work. Wouldn’t mind seeing a modern flume/rapids or water coaster too, as this could work. There are three areas they could put this new development, on the unused island, where the beach & depth charge is or where Rumba is. Might be fitting if they chose a water based attraction.

Just news companies exaggerating as per usual

I think the next big investment will be for the parks 50th birthday in five years, but what that looks like is anyone's guess. Totally agree a log flume of sorts would be good, even if it meant Rumba closing I'd take it.

As far as I know only inferno has seats designed for bigger chest measurements. Not actually seen anyone not get on Hyperia yet, all seats are the same size.

As far as I know, it's only done once a season. I don't know if there's a number, but it also makes sense to do it around now rather than July / August simply because the park is quieter and it affects less people. Doing it in summer would cause bigger issues / complaints

Yes I know, Hyperia has barely just opened, but it's only natural sooner or later to ask the question "What comes next?" If we were to rewind 20 years ago, Tussauds had a clear investment cycle strategy for Thorpe, with a major investment coming every 3 years. That carried on into the Merlin era, before being tweaked to every 4 years. Obviously, we all know the story from here. Swarm didn't give an instant increase in visitor numbers, so the powers that be at Merlin deemed to some form of failure (despite the several flaws in that logic). Thorpe tried something different with DBGT and that, frankly, flopped. 2020 was at one point pencilled in to have a major investment, but that was cut when Merlin decided to pull tens of millions of pounds of investment from their Resort Theme Parks. But obviously things have changed in the last few years. Merlin have been taken over. We have a new CEO, and new board members. And with that, there seems to be more investment coming into the theme parks again, slowly but surely. And a fresher wave of optimism has come. So, more to the point of the topic. When do you think we'll see the next major investment at Thorpe? Arguably any new attraction could be classed as major, after years of very little new things, but of course I'm talking of a something along the lines of a new coaster or similar. Could a 3-4 year cycle be back? Could it depend on Hyperia's success? Or even the rest of Merlin's success? And even more importantly, what would you like to see? Blue sky or realistically, this is the place to share your thoughts. --- For me, I think one thing is clear: Thorpe should stick with coasters. There's no harm in them becoming a roller coaster park at this point. It's what the public want. They're not going to compete on the international stage in terms of immersive experiences, nor would they with Universal if that comes to the UK. That's not to say they should stick car park coasters here, there and everywhere, but for major attractions, they should stick to coasters. Part of me thinks an intertwined family coaster / log flume would be perfect. A 1.2m family coaster would be a perfect addition, although of course it doesn't have to be tame (RMCs tend to have 1.2m height restrictions for example). And I think the park need a solid, new water ride, and a log flume hits the spot. A more modern one with restraints will no doubt appease the Merlin H&S folk too. Yeah, that suggestion goes against my 'stick to coasters' idea somewhat, but it does also solve a glaring gap in the park's line up.

We're just over 3 months to Fright Nights 2024 and we don't have a thread? We're slipping guys... Nothing is confirmed for the event, so for now, everything is speculation / what you want to see... My Predictions The return of the 3 mazes Trailers, Survival Games and Stitches Return of Lucifer's Lair and Amity High (in some incarnation) Something new in Death's Doors' location Mysterious new attraction The glaring omission here is The Crows. I would love to see them return in some way, and I think the scare zone works well. But the simple issue is for now: Hyperia. The area is being used for Hyperia's extra queue. Do the park expect that by Fright Nights, their busiest time of the year, they wouldn't need that extra queue? If that space is used for a FN attraction, where would they sensibly contain people? It just seems like a massive headache. Obviously it's difficult: maybe by October they wouldn't need it. But they'll need to make that decision, at latest, by August really. So they've got time to see how it goes. But if they're regularly needing that area over the next month or so, I reckon they have to pull it this year. As for something new, this is a tricky one. I'm behind the park charging for mazes; I think we've seen improvements in the quality of mazes (at the very least, the budgets have increased). But a 4th upcharge maze stretches things a bit; can the park appropriately staff 4 upcharge mazes worth £10 a pop, as well as scare zones and shows? Might be tight. That's not to say they won't do that though. However, I'd rather the park try something different. Obviously we saw them do that a couple of years ago with the audio experience which flopped massively. But something that isn't a standard, upcharge maze is worth a shot. Maybe a proper alone experience? Or a more intimate show (like the Exorcism show at FEAR)? Or, maybe be wild, and do a smaller, but high-throughput / constant conga-line, free maze? Give people a taste for the mazes without them having to pay. I don't know, I'm just throwing ideas out here, but I think it's time for something different.

I will say from our visit, is that the queue times were basically spot on - which is always good. If anything, they were slightly on the over cautious side.

It’s been running flawlessly today so far, opened maybe 10/15 mins late, hasn’t had a moments down time, hopefully it continues this way! Queue is currently just within the main queue advertised at 75 mins.

Hi guys. In recent days, Hyperia, the UK’s tallest and fastest roller coaster, has opened at Thorpe Park. It’s only been open for a few days thus far, but a lot of people who’ve ridden it (although admittedly not everybody) are already declaring it their top UK coaster. With this in mind, I’d be interested to know; is Hyperia your top UK coaster, if you’ve ridden? Has it finally knocked Nemesis off its top spot? Or if Nemesis wasn’t your top UK coaster before, has Hyperia usurped whatever you previously had on top? Or did it not quite reach the mark for you? I haven’t personally ridden Hyperia yet, so I’m voting undecided at the moment, but I’m interested to see the consensus!

So the problem wasn't as major as some made out then? Shocked I say. Shocked.

It's currently open with a 90 minute wait, had a bit of a staggered opening by the looks of it

Just a quick question on oversized guests please... I'm taking my friend to TP for the first time this year. He has a 49 inch chest so should be ok to ride but I want to check about the best train seats to pick. Colossus is tight at the best of times but I forget if it's more roomy at the front or back of the car? Also same question for stealth and any others that might apply...

Had another day at Thorpe for my birthday on Friday and a few more thoughts about operations. I'm kind of blown away by Thorpe's operations at the moment, I hope that somehow they are getting the feedback that the hard work the staff are putting in is having a positive effect. For example, I've been pretty complimentary about Inferno and Stealth so far this season and that remains the same. What iIwasn't expecting was Colossus and Samurai to be operating so well. I don't normally bother with those two (because people I'm with never want to ride them) but I was keen. Colossus was exemplary, especially as a ride that always struggles to operate well with its bulky restraints. We joined the end of the queue just under the first corkscrew and the operator announced it was a 45 minute wait. Back in the day that may have been true, but on Friday it ended up being 10 minutes from that point to on the ride. The ride wasn't stacking for ages like it used to, the staff were just on it. Samurai, bless the poor platformer. By themselves, completing all tasks and yet was efficient and speedy. Mightily impressed. The Swarm seems to be less consistent so far, it happened to be good on Friday but I've seen it have bad stacking on other trips.

Fully remember that Inferno situation. Was sitting up there virtually a month. Totally agree all coasters have issues. This really shows the negative approach and damage that modern social media can have. We have heard all sorts of nonsense spread about it. For the time being appreciate any rides on it and expect delays or being spited or it is just best to wait a fair while if you want it to have less issues. I'm sure in time it'll become a very reliable coaster.

No one remembers Inferno spending most of July stuck at top of the lift hill in 2003 or when Saw had its 'I don't care about block breaks moment' on its open day in 2009. No one will remember Hyperia's issues in a couple of years time. These are annoying opening issues and whilst it's frustrating, people have to grow up a bit (on twitter at least) and show a bit of maturity. I've seen conversations about it needing more testing time. No amount of testing time would have bought about a lot of the issues the ride seems to be having at the moment.

Clearly doesn't want to work weekends. Lazy coaster.

I’d expect the park are hoping to reopen it tomorrow, as Josh said it was testing all day after its shutdown this morning, I think Mack may even still be around (although not certain!) - fingers crossed these are just teething issues we would have seen a few weeks ago if it didn’t have its couple of weeks down! Will say after it closed and queue was evacuated the park were pretty good at communicating, the app pinged a notification that the return guarantee had been activated and park wide announcements then followed. A couple of hours later when hyperia started to test and a crowd started to form they used the app again to send a push notification to inform everyone the ride would not reopen, obviously not good but was a good use of some of the tech they have to hand to communicate with people around the park. Does seem a decision has been made to just use pre record announcements at Hyperia - fingers crossed when it beds in it becomes less of an issue.

Do you guys reckon it'll be back up by the 21st?

I just about managed one ride on Hyperia today for the first time. It’s a stunning coaster with amazing views, fast snappy elements combining what must be the finest moments of airtime and hangtime in the U.K. at least. Most likely my favourite U.K. coaster, but on the worldwide map it’s a bit of a blur right now. Sadly 20 minutes after this experience, the ride broke down at the top with the queues eventually cleared. The ride tested throughout the afternoon but never reopened. I strongly enjoyed my go on this attraction but really hope they can sort the ride’s reliability out pronto, because it seems like a mess at present. Hyperia is one of the hottest new additions to the park in its 45 year history and they must strike the iron while it’s hot!

Hyperia is remaining closed for the rest of today

Such a shame. Seems like Saturdays are cursed for Hyperia 🤣 @JoshC. Yeah I was also unsure why they haven’t built a front row queue on the right? If it gets full they can just close it.