Leaderboard

But isn't that what Merlin for the most part are experts at - incorporating IPs which are on the downward trend with public popularity? Wouldn't surprise me one bit if all this is hinting at a silly Fortnite IP for 2019. Arguably not as bad as Love Island last year, but still... Imagination and originality at Thorpe really is dead currently.

Doubt they'd be able to just cancel an agreement with another company just cos "oh the game in question isn't as popular anymore", then have to spend MORE money to get a new promotion in for whatever latest fad game is out now... This is the issue with jumping on bandwagons (especially games); if you're slightly late to the party you run the risk of it dying in the popularity stakes... If Thorpe want to be popular with 13 year olds just get Pewdiepie to do a live stream... I'll take a 5% cut of all income for that idea Thorpe thanks...

There's not enough love on here for Liseberg right now, so I figured I'd fix that with a press release I somehow completely missed back in November 2018 hinting at an exciting new investment which is scheduled soon and no, it's not the hotel and water park. It's a dark ride (finally!) scheduled for completion in 2020. http://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/liseberg/pressreleases/liseberg-satsar-200-mkr-I-utoekat-kaninland-2020-2791561 Here is what the article says translated as best I could: So yeah, £17m is being invested into an entire new section of the park for 2020 and recent imagery suggests the dark ride will be located in the old Liseberg Hall (large indoor building next to north entrance) which, to my understanding, is presently being knocked down in preparation for all this. I swear, Liseberg is being absolutely relentless right now with new, worthwhile and sometimes amazing investments every year popping up with Helix, Mechanica, AeroSpin, Loke, Valkyria and now an expensive permanent dark ride. This is all reminding me of Thorpe in the early 2000s. Honestly intrigued by this project and can't wait for more details to be revealed soon!

I mean really ?‍♂️

Just reading the tweets/comments back to the announcement online - excellent if you fancy a giggle.

Only Thorpe could manage to find a way to some how charge for the event as well ?

One doesn't hurt the other I suppose, but it's lazy and unoriginal. It's the attitude that ends up with cut and paste soulless attractions (hi dungeons) which Merlin do so 'well'. You'll always get repetition in hardware as there's only so many options out there, but the theming is what gives a park it's identity and makes it unique. Having done something that was actually good and successful the lazy (and likely less successful the next time round) response is to copy the actual thing, rather than copy the creativity and freedom to do something new the original design team were afforded. It shows a lack of confidence in their own people and abilities.

That looks really cool.

I struggle with long queues but Europa is actually pretty manageable. I wager Silver Star has a similar throughput to Inferno and Swarm combined.. The queues can get long but they usually move much faster and some have great theming too (Wodan is the only ride where I want to queue!) I honestly don't know why someone would buy AUFT, I find Thorpe boring after half a day, going everyone weekend would bore me to death. I guess each to their own, but at least at Europa its hard to get bored as there is a stupid amount of stuff to do and some areas are so lush you can sit down on a bench and feel utterly immersed.

Thorpe better than Europa Park and Disney? I personally think the idea of an Annual fastrack ticket is pretty ridiculous, but if people will buy it then Thorpe will sell it!

I'm just going to ride Stealth all day with @jessica2 tbh.

I'm sorry but we really don't need any more people or companies try to flaunt their Princess Diana association just to try look virtuous. If Princess Diana ate a pizza somewhere once they'd have probably tried to rename themselves Diana Pizzeria by now. Maybe that's unfair to say because it's true the pictures of her on Loggers Leap were more well known. But really all that matters is that millions of people a year enjoyed riding Loggers Leap. That's true for most of it, but I'm almost certain a lot of the mechanical plant would need replacing or heavy servicing by now. Machines don't work well if left unusued for so long especially out in the elements. That's why every year they left it, the less likely it became. The alterations being deemed "not worth it" is highly debatable. That was always the way Merlin were going to see it and it's their cynical policy towards any attraction without 'new PR' value, which is (let's be honest) sadly all those holding the pursestrings care about, not guest experience. I'm sure Thorpe Park wanted it back and wanted the money to get it up again, but couldnt convince Merlin. Sadly this is the trick Merlin pull time and time again. I hear it reliably that Bubbleworks (and by the look of it Hocus Pocus too) was deliberately made to be worse by essentially banning (already low budget) projects to fix the effects in its last years, but still granting it to be badly relit in bright LED for its final season—looked horrendous! And of course the claim was "lost their magic". That way the new rides would seem better by sheer comparison, no matter what they were (wasn't hard anyway after the Imperial Leather revamp!)