Leaderboard

Room On The Broom is awkward and has no fun factor. The beginning scene and the kids bashing the fire flies was as excited as they got. Hocus Pocus Hall was more stupid and fun, and I think that worked better really. You didn't have to stop in each tiny, cramped room to watch a barely-moving animation or a TV. Yes, stop and watch a TV. Why? The new stop and watch format means you awkwardly need to have a staff member stopping everyone from just walking past. In a corridor, people's instinct is of course to walk down it. It means the queue is now incredibly slow too. It's just not worth the slow pace you end up with. It could have been really good, but the way it's turned out it feels like it's barely an attraction.

I was at the press event tonight. Some general thoughts/comments: -There sections are PlayStation 4, XBox One, VR and retro (plus a tournament area) -There will be 16 VR options available, each priced at £5 a go (you buy tokens for the VR experiences at the bar) -It's not necessary to book a time slot, but if the marquee is full, you need a ticket Personally, the retro area disappointed me. It was old consoles with certain games. No doubt it'll bring nostalgia to some, but it didn't do it for me (I expected like retro arcade game machines like Pacman, Space Invaders, etc). There was a small selection of VR experiences to try tonight freely. I tried a walk the plank experience, which was fun, but I wouldn't think it's worth £5. Some of the other VR experiences are a lot more involved though (team zombie shooting game will be there apparently). Personally, this wasn't my thing at all. I'm sure for some people, it is their thing, and plenty of people were really enjoying it. And I kind of get it I guess - it's just like an upgrade on an arcade, except you can't win money. It also adds something indoors for people to do, which is good. I really don't know how it will be received and how successful it will be. Hopefully it will do the trick for some people though. As a final point - cost. This is a free thing, but there's a lot of upcharges (the 16 VR experiences really do feel like the focal point). This isn't a money-grubbing thing from Thorpe. Hypd (the company Thorpe are doing this with) get all the money from that, since they're not making money from it in any other way. I'm under the impression Thorpe have had to pit very little money into the event, so this isn't an event where money has been spent in one way when it could have been spent elsewhere. This event purely exists to try and diversify the line up, it's just an unfortunate scenario that the focal point of it has been made an upcharge by a third party. Hopefully this doesn't cause too many problems.

You know what, it looks really well done. Impressive line-up of games and consoles in my opinion, and the interior is well designed and lit. It’s basically a gamer’s paradise. However, I would consider myself a pretty avid gamer and it does not interest me one bit. If I’m going to Thorpe Park I’m going because of the rides and the atmosphere, not to play videogames. I just find the whole thing a bit of an odd idea personally.