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You might want to avoid supermarkets for the next couple of months m8

The "we're a small park" excuse is rubbish. Go back 20 years, when the park was (excluding The Farm) technically smaller, and they had defined areas, with portals and signage. Look at a park like Phantasialand, which is small and compact, and they have some of the most well-defined, high quality themed lands out there. The simple and honest reason why the park don't do themed lands is because they don't want to. That's fine too, if that's the case. But let's face, it's not because they couldn't.

I will not be contempt until I see JK SLKSTN in a neon Thorpe branded T-shirt riding a wrecking ball into Loggers Leap shouting “EXODUS EXODUS EXODUS EXODUS EXODUS EXODUS EXODUS EXODUS EXODUS…” 1000 times. I hope Shane Sandwich gets first dibs on the obsolete signage.

[Citation Needed] Is your confidence in this less than or more than your confidence in Rocky Express returning or Forbidden Tomb returning? It is entirely possible you are correct, but don't claim you're somehow a knowledge on this because you've simply followed other people's speculation.

Instructions unclear, hope I did it right.

The Curse of Alton Manor

Distinct lack of poodle images in that post.

More U-turns than a Tory government.

This is all very well but we are straying from the elephant in the room - is Rocky Express coming back for 2023 or not?

Maybe they can save Rocky Express and Apocalypse.

I mean its just concept art there. The final product might look as dark and dingy as your local station's Pumpkin Cafe/Costa/Nero.

Look's like someone has pressed the button too early on the Thorpe Park official site 😱

Proceeds to be a video revealing the same entrance sign

Ding Dong Derren is dead 🥰 Calling it now, this is termed as a brand new attraction...

Who are these people though? Do they exist? Are they like Secret Tories? The usual ones I see on forums are either keeping quiet or don't have anything to add on things going on. Usually get a few but if it's all theme park Twitter stuff then count me out. There's literally no public knowledge beyond now a poster with a girl and some dolls heads. It really feels like many are putting 2+2 together and getting 5 because they want it to be rather than it actually is. As a result, the designers love to tease people in such a manner. Especially with little nods and hints to the past like referencing Sparks in the poster. Riles up the goons no end. I dunno. Maybe it's just me getting old and being open to whatever shenanigans happen inside rather than deciding early on it'll be a certain thing and clinging to it. Would laugh if the ghost girl referenced in the posters was called anything else but Emily though. It COULD be a reference. Not it is. I still wonder why they would use a side joke that a number of visitors didn't even see and that only enthusiasts know the full story of (not that there even IS a story, it's a ghost girl who lives in a doll house and has a white cat, here endeth the tale). I must be getting old and ranty. Maybe I'm becoming a Tory?

You don't find cursed rides at the UK's thrill capital for this exact reason... https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/nostalgia/opening-day-stealth-rollercoaster-thorpe-23115667 That was a really humdinger on a marketing stunt, left everyone on the edge of their seats.

No cat in the promo art. Therefore no Snowy. Maybe that's why the ghost girl is annoyed; like John Wick but ghosts and houses. Keep the blasters and its an easy connection. Look I can jump to random conclusions too! Towers might need to get a priest in soon though. 3 cursed rides now. Plus an alien with a clutch of eggs. Plus In The Night Garden. Horrifying.

Which definition of the term operational will it be using?

Themed around a garden centre?

Sounds like every annoying person who plays the "I know something you don't know" card for Internet points.

This is the current most recent state of old town. It’s so big and open (without rocky express which it’s track has now been destroyed) I am starting to imagine the coaster in it place now. It’s starting to move fast now and they will need it

You've had some fun silly posts, but there comes a point when you cross a line and it just reads like a spam bot. This is the point. Let's stop the overt obtuseness now please.

Nicked from Facebook - now THERE'S a view we've never seen before!

I request that should TCaAM be 'better' than Phantom Manor by an unknown metric as yet to be determined by myself; @MattyMoo be banned.

I mean it could be better than Phantom Manor but basing it on marketing alone is a bit odd. We know what Phantom is about, we've had four years since it reopened. We don't actually know anything concrete about the new attraction.

Officially confirmed to be a Merlin Magic Making project and not Thorpe doing it themselves! This project just gets more and more exciting…

Thanks @coasterverse - you beat both me to creating the thread, and StevenVig to moaning about an improperly titled thread! I'm impressed and thankful!!

I thought this was a weird flex - having a video scheduled just to prove the fact that you knew they were making this announcement... bitter much? 😆

Announcement is due at 10am tomorrow, whatever is happening.

I definitely would not be surprised if this is true after the Silkstone sponsorship Fright Nights we had last year. I do think it could potentially be for the better, however I also feel that Thorpe is losing a lot of its nostalgic charm at the moment. It’s nice that they are getting input from enthusiasts, but it feels as though they are trying to stay up to date with current trends and catering to a mostly younger target audience. I can’t say I know what the answer would be to bring back the nostalgic charm, but for a start the themed lands definitely made Thorpe feel like more of a complete experience so I am sad to see them go.

The current state of Swarms station, I know this forum has been really critical of general upkeep and they are finally doing it (aka getting the budget) HOWEVER *prepare for hypocriticalness* I can just see these repairs only last a year before they go back to before and that’s not the parks fault. Unless they really keep on top of it but that’s slightly impractical for Merlin. Really good to see, hopefully it will feel fresher and park have confirmed they have done similar upgrades in other queue lines. I wouldn’t assume it’s on the same scale. FYI, it’s a work in progress at the moment. It will get weathered and all that I assume

You're right Josh, it is easier said than done. I was part of the team that moved the Belle from its old location across the lake to where it sits now. It was extremely challenging and that was when it was fully buoyant! I would be surprised they don't demolish it in situ as that is going to be a nightmare to move

Just leave the fencing and random props/junk there and it becomes the World's First Horror Themed Picnic Area: New for 2023. Merlin, sign me up! Talking of horror themes - that logo. Cripes. Bet they were tempted to even use Comic Sans.

Urgggh. We know not much about this silly retheme. All we know is that it will be spooky themed and it will probably be better than Derren Beowns Ghost Train. Need I say more.right.

If you rebrand to CSTRVRS you might be in with a shout 🙃

It's taboo mate, not sure if you know but we are supposed to keep the secrets, that's very important, Darren himself said so.

Some rare shots of inside DBGT in the new TP recruitment videos on YouTube. As much as I hate this ride, I’d love a look around it! Anyone got any images of the ride behind the scenes? (Or is it still a bit of a taboo subject even now?)

And that's just the headset straps. Derren hologram spotted on Thorpe Farm, I can confirm.

SBNO is a Thorpe Park favourite, they love those. If that happens, all they'll do is what they've done here and replace the sign and pretend it never existed 👀

Surely the obvious answer guys: bring back Rocky Express. It will solve all our problems. In all seriousness though, a high quality dark ride and proper decent water ride.

This can also be filed under "posts that could be from 10 years ago". Single rider on Inferno in mid 2000s was fantastic fare.

They'll most likely use the space as a new FN maze and market it as the worlds first scare maze with a "ride" half way through. Perhaps a year round scare maze, Saw Alive 2.0 anyone?

This would be a post from 10 years ago. Deja vu esque.

'Here we have this huge warehouse space, right in the centre of the park. Prime real estate. Let's only utilise it for 20 days in the year'

They really are cracking through things, and good to see Rocky being kept safe for it's retheme to fit in with Exodus.

Still on the website, once it's gone from there that's the final nail in the coffin. Edit to say - looking at the replies to that Twitter post, it really has been an unreliable mess of a ride attraction experience, innit? Shout out to the time we lost an hour and a half to Dezza after queuing and then getting stuck in between stations mid-ride.