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Already knew this as I like and subscribe to my pin up Jack Silkstone ❤️ Also, I love that blogs actually get exciting by details like that... "Well, the maze was utter garbage BUT DID YOU SEE THE SPINNING SAW ON THE SIGN THO!" By contrast - I think Tulley's signage for mazes are pretty damn poor - but no one really cares about that. Because they are signs. So if Thorpe get something over Tulleys this year, it will be a spinning sign - UNLESS Tulleys will now upgrade all their signs too #speculation #gassed #signofthetimes

Definitely an unpopular opinion! It's a bloody dreadful name!

Hi, Long time lurker, 1st time poster. Excuse the long post, there is an on-topic observation at the bottom TP has been a big part of my life, from visiting the park in the late 80's to throughout the 90's. I then worked there for 15 years (2000 - 2014), in a variety of departments. Retail - some of the best times of my life (I've made life long friends from working in this department) Park Development and Planning - one of the most rewarding jobs I have had to date (see below) Facilities Management/Engineering - this is where my journey ended Park Development and Planning - I was the project lead for the land expansion project, and was involved in some of the early design/planning activities on SAW The Ride, SAW Alive, Kobra (CWoA), The Swarm, and an early Ghost Train concept. Whilst working in this department I learnt some fascinating history about the park. For example, did you know when the park was being constructed in the 1970's, RMC flew in an Imagineer from the States to help design the entrance and car park? Anyways, back on topic... I visited the RTP's for the 1st time (since leaving TP) last year and noticed that the overall quality has dropped across all 3 parks (CWoA probably was my favourite park out of the visits last year TBH). I noticed that at AT, unless you like roller coasters or kids rides, there actually isn't that much there. Duel should have been removed and replaced, or even reverted back to its former scary self years ago, and Hex is a shadow of its former self. I have never liked the Rapids since they removed the old boats. TP - DBGT - Ok this was not what I had originally envisioned for this plot of land. I found it to be an interesting concept, however it was not delivered well. The queue lines design (or lack of) makes it one of the worst (if not the worst) queues I have ever been in. I strangely found IACGMOH to be quite an enjoyable experience. I think TP are now in a weird position where they have got to develop two large areas of the park - the island next to Swarm (Island A) or Loggers. Which one do you do first? Island A needs that development to remove the dead end at Swarm (Parks should never have dead ends, they need to be free flowing), or do you develop Loggers which is a dead corner of the park? Is the investment there? CWoA seems to have flown under the radar a bit, and appears to have missed a lot of the Merlin clusterf**ks that have happened over the years. However, the drop tower replacing Rameses is again lacklustre and screams of "cant be bothered to develop this park properly"... Which leads me onto why I think these parks are suffering: The Smiler accident - I should imagine the insurance premiums across the UK parks are now extremely high, effecting large scale investments As far as I am aware, Merlin did not operate any theme parks until acquiring Legoland and the Tussuad's Group. I've noticed that all of the Merlin investments to date have either been lacklustre or poorly delivered (Ok Wickerman was good, however not too sure a pre-show was required - even though the show is good). I think there is a lack of interest within the company (I found this out when I was working at TP, and was shocked to find so many senior people not interested in the industry - a lot of them had never been to a Disney park... Its just a job to them) If you look at what parks around the world are announcing as new attractions, Merlin's UK offering is waaayyy behind everyone else. One of the most heated discussions I had whilst working at TP was surrounding the lack of a decent family zone/area. My argument was that parks such as Six Flags and Cedar Point (parks TP tries to emulate) all have decent (ish) kid friendly/family friendly areas. The answer from management was a return on the investment would not be possible as "how would they sell it"? Hopefully when (if) Paramount Park gets built, it will give Merlin a kick up the backside in getting there act together. Just my two cents... M

Quite interesting, got me thinking about the Merlin rides where I've been happy enough to run around and ride again; - Duel - Nemesis - Oblivion - Vampire - Dragon's Fury - Swarm - Stealth - Inferno I always have the most fun at a park when the queues are low enough to do that on one of those rides. Most I've done is seven times on Nemesis. Had an awesome one-off time on Colossus at the end of the day where we got to go round twice without leaving the station, staff were hyped up to go home. When the ride hosts are motivated it really makes the atmosphere electric and 1000x more enjoyable. For this reason the best part of the day at any Merlin park is usually the hour before closing.

Surprised nobody has posted any of this yet: From TowersTimes: “The Attic: Terror of the Towers” will invite guests to venture into the head spinning heights of The Attic, which is said to be haunted by the Governess. Legend says she is trying to avenge the death of her charges by taking the spirits of the living as penance. “The Attic” promises to provide a new, unique and truly chilling experience, using the sensation of colour in a clever and masterful way to add an additional layer to the multi-sensory terror and provide an unforgettable experience. Also new for 2019 is Darkest Depths, a maze cleverly developed for families and thrillseekers alike. Guests will be invited to board the infamous ghost ship, “The Mutiny” and journey into the darkest depths to earn their piece of eight. Guests will encounter treacherous sirens who will try and lure them into the depths of the ocean as they dodge the swords of mutinous ghost pirates and come face to face with the sea’s meanest legend of all, the Kraken. https://www.towerstimes.co.uk/blog/2019/09/12/further-scarefest-details-revealed/

For a moment, thought I couldn't make it as we were due to complete around that date with buying our house, but sacked that shiz off in place of experiencing Freak Creak Woodz.

Definitely agree about lack of fun/relaxing rides - when I’m at Thorpe after I’ve eaten I’m very limited as to what I can go on due to pretty bad motion sickness (which I take meds for). Chessington have the animals and sea life and more gentle rides which are perfect when digesting food! I know this is a post about Thorpe but going back to Chessie I recently took my younger sister and my 3 eldest nephews over the course of the past 3 weekends and they loved it - yes it helped that they are 8, 7 and 5 years old but even my niece and I enjoyed it - and we usually just do the coasters/Rameses/log flume. One day we did Toadies Crazy Cars 3 times and still had a fab time. Chessie is just more relaxed and for me at this point in time, a nicer atmosphere than Thorpe. Heck I even enjoyed Howloween last year more than Fright Nights. @Mer I’ll go with you if you want!