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Haven't read that article but I'll bet there's a "this comes just four years after the Smiler ride crashed" somewhere in there.

The Daily Mail producing excellent quality news articles as ever I see...

Depends how stoned you are....

OLD TOWN As much as I’d love “the next big thing” to happen at Thorpe I really feel like adding a substantial family attraction should be their top priority at the moment. So I’m going with the obvious Old Town overhaul… with a lot of the rides telling a story of how Old Town is now run down and neglected due to the logging company closing down at the hands of the corrupt, money grabbing people (cough, cough) running the town and the residents retaliation in trying to save their beloved town by themselves. Notable theming elements would include the CCR train abandoned and derailed somewhere but also lots of flower beds, painted buildings that still look slightly derelict - lots of little things suggesting the residents of Old Town have taken it upon themselves to make the place look nice again. Loggers Leap: The Legend of Diamond Creek Long after the logging company closed down the residents of Old Town, facing ruin set off on an adventure to look for the never seen before diamond creek. On the journey you will encounter bears, rogue hunters and a strange cave filled with a mysterious gas that will make you “hallucinate” a musical number featuring animatronic animals, all camp as tits and totally out of place. You eventually end up falling down a “waterfall” into diamond creek itself, the end curves surrounded by rocks and all sorts of colourful diamonds and jewels and whatnot. Cows & Aliens One of those Gerstlauer things - similar to Firechaser Express (or perhaps go to Intamin as I'm assuming Merlin wouldn't consider Gerst these days). Using the wooded area beside loggers and meandering over to the Slammer site along the old train track where the reverse/switch happens and the train launches backwards along through the old train station site. The ride being themed to a cow farm that you guessed it - is home to a lot of alien activity! You could even have it so that the cows and aliens have started making babies (imagine the cute little alien cow babies) - and the residents of Old Town are now selling the “super healthy alien cow milk”, with some sort of weird milkshake parlour (think Shakeaway - lots of crazy options) kind of messed up I know but I’m trying to be original ? + show Rocky some love, actually make an effort to incorporate the newer kiddie rides into the Old Town theme and also possibly do the same for Samurai. Also add a Vegetarian and Vegan diner, specialising in fake meats. Vegetarianism/Veganism is a massively growing trend at the moment and meat free options have made tons of progress in terms of quality in recent years so it could do very well. As for the "next big thing", Vekoma gets my vote. Whatever they want to build, give them a maximum height to work with and let them go mad ? (P.S haven't read this thread in years so sorry of I'm stealing anyone elses ideas - everything I've written to me seems like pretty obvious things to go for so I wouldn't be surprised if someone already has!)