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I have a few theories. None of its concrete evidence and is pure conjecture on my part. - The failure of the Swarm. We all know that Merlin were initially disappointed by the Swarms first season. Many reasons were cited (which I'm sure those in the know can find) but essentially, I think this lack of interest in the new coaster dented confidence in what the park could do. Baring in mind, 2011 saw one of the biggest years the park had and that was on the back of Storm Surge. Cheaper investment bought massive returns. - The next Big thing. I think Thorpe has fallen into the trap that Six Flags did. By appealing solely to the thrill sector you severely limit interest. Teenagers want the next big thing and in the 00s, Thorpe easily provided that thrill. Hit after hit, success after success. Coasters galore, several years where we got two flat rides. That investment was unsustainable. Now though, rides like Colossus, Inferno, Tidal Wave, Detonator & Vortex are old hat. They are unmaintained and look their age. Thorpe were unable to drum up interest with The Swarm, Derren Brown opened late and was pretty weak and the less said about the reliance on IP to drive interest the better. The park has a real image problem which leads me to.. - Branding. Thorpe has a huge perception problem. Is it a thrill park, is it a park for up for it families, do we make X a family coaster then two years later refurbish it for adults. Do we change our market to families and then close the biggest family ride we've got (Loggers Leap). Do we advertise our park in our 2019 advert or have an image of goats, donuts and a hotel room. None of this evokes excitement. It smacks of a park throwing anything, everything at the wall to see what sticks and new general managers are not given enough time to evolve/change the place before they are fired and a new one bought in. - The Smiler crash. Ironically, four years later, I feel like the crash has had this weird echoing effect at Thorpe compared to the other two main Merlin parks. It's almost like it never recovered from the initial drop in attendance whilst Alton has recovered well thanks to Wicker Man and Chessington never saw the drop because of its family audience. You could say the lack of investment is really hurting Thorpe right now but then there seems to be no steps to change this. - The park itself. It's fallen a long way since the hefty days of 2006. If they are to recover the place they need to sort out their offering. Having abandoned flat rides and log flumes standing doesn't help, neither does the game stalls or the lack of maintenance and paint jobs on their rollercoasters. The basics need to be sorted for Thorpe to recover. Chessington was exactly the same way in the 00's but that now feels like the strongest Merlin park IMO. If Thorpe can sort this then they might be able to get back to the top.

Hello guys, Been a regular of the forums for many years but decided to ask the burning question this morning... just what has happened to the park? Thorpe Park a few years ago was arguably the best park in the UK, it was going from strength to strength in terms of investments and then all of sudden we get IACGMOOH, bouncezilla, the year of the walking dead etc They even pulled The Big Top off the Fright Nights bill which from what I understand was a favourite by many I assume 2020 will be just as poor in regards to the parks line up / investments as no planning has been put through for a coaster or even a new flat ride... Any information regarding the reasons behind the decline of the park would be interesting to hear...

I was so shocked I'm only going back to Thorpe this year if I can blag entry to the FN press night, good day to you Sir. LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE - CLICK THAT NOTIFICATION BELL

Yes, this is true. The reasons include: -A decrease in visitors compared to 2011. Despite the fact that 2011 was one of Thorpe's busiest and most profitable (and so, in that sense, 'best') years ever, Swarm still had to deliver an increase. It didn't, so Merlin saw Swarm as a failure, and immediately lost faith in whatever their thought process was behind that direction. -Weak brand. Swarm didn't capture people's imagination. It was very generic and not very recognisable. The end of the world vibe was overdone and it merged in with so many other things that went for that. -Experience didn't match marketing. For one reason or another, people expected an intense thrill ride, similar to Saw. Instead, Swarm offered a much more graceful experience, leading people to be disappointed. So basically, people had minor niggles about the ride, and less people visited Thorpe (which would have happened regardless). So, Merlin see it as a failure. Despite that, in the long term it's done a good job, is less generic these days and scores very highly in KPI scores, which Merlin love. So it's been a slow burner. But Merlin's model doesn't allow for slow burners. Just a couple more to add: Derren Brown's Ghost Train Going for a dark ride over a coaster was always a risk, but it was one which needed to be done in my opinion. Sadly, DBGT missed every single possible mark, which really damaged the park. It did attract attention, and it did cause attendances to rise. But it damaged the park's reputation by so much more than the worth of a few thousand visitors. Two big investments in a row that failed is a big recipe for disaster. You need a sure-fire win after that; something with minimal risk. But when everything is spiralling downwards, the pressure is even great, and the amount of risk you take has to decrease. Ultimately it leaves us in the situation we're in now: the best way to minimise risk is to not take a risk at all. Can't lose money if you don't spend money, right? Terrible Non-Big Investments You have to go all the way back to 2007 when the park added a solid non-big investment, in Flying Fish. Arguments can be made for Storm Surge (diversifies the line up and added a much needed family ride) and Walking Dead (a solid scary-themed indoor attraction at the end of the day). I guess you could say 2013 with turning X forwards but that slipped under the radar with the focus on Swarm backwards. But I think Flying Fish is the last one where someone would struggle to come up with a reasonable negative for it. Since then, we've had short term investments, based off fads or needless IPs, which have led to a mish-mash of identities and ideas, and nothing which has really improved the line up. This is coupled with a lack of general upkeep in the existing parts of the park. The bare minimum was done to rides, theming, presentation, etc., which eventually led to rides closing, theming being taken away, etc. Focusing too much on Scares Fright Nights works for the park. Regardless of its quality, it's still the busiest, best received, and most profitable time of year for the park, year in year out. The park tried to capitalise on that and make it work all year round (which, in fairness, isn't too unreasonable). It worked with Saw - The Ride, because that was handled properly. Saw Alive was a nice idea and helped absorb the busyness whilst it was full time. After that, Thorpe should have quit whilst they were ahead. Scare attractions don't work outside of Halloween in a theme park setting. Scary stuff doesn't work outside of Halloween in a theme park setting. One thing to compliment a line up, yes. But an overarching focus on it? No. Yet Thorpe didn't realise this. They didn't learn that in 2005 when Freakshow 3D was dead during summer because no one cared. They didn't learn that after Saw Alive's popularity dwindled in 2012. They didn't learn after Swarm. They didn't learn after Ghost Train. They probably haven't learnt after The Year of The Walking Dead. Keep scares for Fright Nights, and focus on a diverse line up. Not Learning Lessons Related to above, Thorpe make the same mistakes again and again. This likely comes down to management seemingly being a revolving door, especially in more recent years. A new person comes in, tries something, it doesn't work, leave. A new person comes in, tries that same thing in a different disguise, it doesn't work, leave. Repeat. They need to take a step back, look at what they've done for the past 15 years and realise what hasn't worked, and what has worked, and start building from that.

The £18 million is going on theming to fully enclose the ride so it feels like you are actually at THORPE PARK whilst at Flamingo Land. Evidently, it isn't cheap to recreate the back of XNWO's building and fill a pit with concrete, whilst also creating a lake with a SBNO old boat-come-scare maze.

Sadly I think the key thing in their decline was DBGT, they created such a hype for something that is pretty much a sit down VR experience you could get at home with some Halloween maze like acting thrown in the middle to break it up a bit (I haven't experienced the new version, so I assume its similar but better themed for the ending) They threw alot of money into a project that just simply didn't return the profit or the hype for the park even after an essential do over attempt. Then there's the fact old town has been a dormant area for years now with Loggers left SBNO for such a long time with no actual word and mixed social media messages angered alot of enthusiasts because its such an iconic ride (at least they had the decency to admit Slammer wasn't coming back) an area that now houses a couple of kids rides in whats marketed as a thrill park falls flat They then choose a sinking ship of an IP in the walking dead that's been ravaged by bad reviews, much of the main cast being lost/going and fast dropping viewing figures to overlay a ride that had already actually been given a new lease of life and was making progress and adding another dark and depressing theme to a dark and depressing park tbh. These IP events like love island lates and walking dead etc scream of latching onto something in desperation. Part of what has made our theme parks great in the past is creating unique immersive environments for rides that aren't bogged down by and IP and it feels like we are losing that, rather than being imaginative and daring the park seems to be latching onto BLANK the ride just to create buzz which evidently is only fleeting. I wouldn't mind if we got something to the quality of Harry Potter World etc (I KNOW I'M DREAMING HERE) but a walking dead re-theme that involves dark corridors a video and a couple of screens on the ride falls incredibly flat imho. What they really need is a line of strong new additions to really draw people back to the park and stop disregarding unique immersive themes for IP's for a quick fix that obviously isn't lasting. I fear that if they don't announce something soon the park is just going to fall of the map, the UK industry as a whole tbh really needs a kick up the ass right now, look at Eftling for example going from strength to strength great new additions and feedback essentially going head to head with DLP if our parks actually tried to compete with the better offerings out there like you see at Florida with Disney and Universal our theme park industry would improve vastly but being all owned by one company there sadly really isn't any competition that's why I pray this London Resort eventually happens and they actually start competing so they put some effort again into their offerings.

Sorry who are you and what influence do you have? I only listen to the lord and saviour TPWW Alex.

Funny that - it's almost as if they haven't put a new coaster in for 7 years!

Cheers for the advice bruv.

Okay