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Waiting for Thorpes 2020 attractions alongside Towers new area, Chessingtons new area and Legolands new attractions like...

I doubt it's true, if they did revert it back to Thunder River it probably wouldn't mean anything would change other than a new vinyl sign badly stuck over the Rumba Rapids sign.

They are nothing alike , pirate falls is a proper log flume, just not a massive drop

I am one that does love Millenium Force, my second favourite ride on park. It does have airtime, yet people say it doesn't and it just flies around most of the course, which is what I love. That soundtrack however, bloody annoying!

Can you not just use pre existing threads?

Does anyone believe the rumour that has been going around the theme park community lately. People have been spreading rumours regarding Rumba Rapids being reverted back to Thunder River as it was prior to the 2002 Ribena Rumba Rapids sponsorship that has since expired resulting in the simple name change too Rumba Rapids. Please share your opinions and thoughts about not just this rumour but the general long term future of this Thorpe Park classic!

Millennium Force is rubbish though.

Well I've found quite a few control panels over the internet. Just didn't know TPM had a thread for this! Hopefully some new ones for those of you interested in this stuff. There's mainly Thorpe Park stuff but also ones from fairground equivalents and also some that aren't from Thorpe Park. Please note some of the pictures are from previous posts within this very thread that I've re-uploaded due to the fact certain other pictures have been deleted and so those pictures don't share the same fate. My other intention is to create a comprehensive guide within this one post for Thorpe Park ride control panels. Some new pictures have also been added to give a different view of the control panel. I don't know how to operate these so if anyone is willing to share that'd be great! Detonator (Bomb's Away) Control Panel: The Swarm control panel: Swarm's CCTV cameras views for the operator: Interesting stuff about the operation of The Swarm including that if someone let's go of one of the buttons the trains stops! : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv_wXGCbFYA Olympia Looping Control Panel: Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9mR9FhKyXI Mondial Top Scan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwoRM3tdVWg (like Samurai) Still image of panel: KMG Afterburner: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/KMG_Afterburner_Control_Panel.JPG (like Vortex, sry it's in European) Rush's Control Panel (unobstructed shot without the sound panel unlike the one previously posted here - also taken in 2016 so many years after the previous image on here): Source: https://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=71751&start=20 Also interesting to note that this review also says on their BTS tour that the reason The Swarm backwards was removed was that in a potential crash this would have unthinkable consequences for the park so they removed it (which does make sense that it was removed for the season after The Smiler occured). Remnants of The Swarm backwards rows: Colossus control panel (source: Reuploaded from prior post in this thread): The restraint-checker's safety control panel: Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bug1pJFBBlB/ Huss Enterprise (taken from a sim as I couldn't find a real one online annoyingly) - This is similar to Zodiac: A Dodgems Control Panel (looks similar to the one at Thorpe Park iirc from my brief glimpse through the control box window - this is NOT the one at TP sadly): A Reverchon Bumper car control panel (guessing Bertazzon - the company that made the King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems ride - have a similar style): Nemesis Inferno (source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PNzPJU7LAY) : Closeup of the Inferno Control Panel (reuploaded from prior post in this thread): Also potentially of interest is how the glow is made on Nemesis Inferno in the tunnel - it uses way more lights than I thought it did: Source: https://www.southparks.co.uk/features/behind-the-scenes-thorpe-park/) Rage Control Panel (a Gerstlauer Eurofighter which is the same model as Saw:TR) However I've actually seen Saw's control panel (can't remember where) but it looks very VERY similar to this more modern look than the above image: (below is control panel for a Belantis Eurofighter. source: http://www.coastersandmore.de/previews/belantis/belantis.shtml) The differences above to Saw's are the top left button (next to key) is yellow on Saw. Also, where there are 2 green buttons in the bottom centre, on Saw's panel there are 5 green buttons (I'm guessing because there are 2 load/ 2 unload stations and 1 spare button). The Allen Bradley display obviously shows Saw ride-related information. "Tidal Wave" at Adventure Island (I'm guessing has a similar control panel to Depth Charge at Thorpe Park seeing as they're both raft slide rides): Source for above 2 pictures were from this thread but unviewable. Luckily the "Wayback" machine somehow retrieved them: https://web.archive.org/web/20200116233837/https://forum.maniahub.com/topic/6156-control-panels/page/1 Flying Fish Control Panel: Before this Flying Fish was manually controlled (changed due to Smiler accident) as seen in the following photo: Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/BeiNnEiFHAi/ Slammer Control Panel (reuploaded from prior post in this thread): Stealth: Closeup of control panel (reuploaded from prior post in this thread): Rocky Express (right, through the door. The teacups ride has a similar control panel too): Logger's Leap: 3rd Picture Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CIMB5lBhQ65/ 4th Picture Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bd3VaK-Fpk-/ Rumba Rapids (from Hurjakuru situated in Linnanmaki. This ride doesn't have a rotating disk-platform but is also an Intamin Rapids ride like Rumba Rapids so other controls should be similar. This ride operates from the platform when open at Linnanmaki but in the absence of the actual control panel at Thorpe this is the closest I can get to it. Source: https://themeparkreview.com/forum/uploads/monthly_2012_03/Kuva0039.jpg.5e14361ff8df875767e1afe68197c4e8.jpg Thread: https://themeparkreview.com/forum/topic/36235-the-control-panel-enthusiast-thread/ THE ACTUAL photo of the Rumba Rapids control panel from a VERY OLD image (presumably similar to how it looks today) from 1998 including a close up of its audio panel: Sources for above two images: https://www.instagram.com/p/B_Z4b6RJvJq/ https://www.instagram.com/p/B_ZgNkzJVtk/ TWD:TR: Vekoma Illusion control panel (Revolution at Bobbejaanland so should be similar) (source: https://themeparkreview.com/forum/topic/36235-the-control-panel-enthusiast-thread/page/11/?tab=comments#comment-1639947 then ctfl+f "vekoma) Look into the control box of TWD:TR (from RCDB copyright Nic Jenkins) when it was formerly known as X:\ No Way Out: Above is an image of the actual control panel. However it is quite old and it's probably been upgraded/ rehauled by now (photo from when TWD:TR was X:NWO) Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/BfAnY2EFCUy/ Another more complete image is below (source: https://www.instagram.com/p/BfGxhkilZSS/😞 Storm Surge host control panel (source: https://themeuk.net/CWTP/?page_id=6690#1489589875900-5e48a9e8-714a) DBGT: Above images are from: https://merlin.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/4/home/requisition/8008?c=merlin The rides at Thorpe which we don't have a picture of the control panel on this thread are therefore: Timber Tug and Lumber Jump Mr Monkey Banana Boat Tidal Wave Storm Surge (main) Quantum I will edit this post/ make a new one as I find more rides. Hopefully @StevenVig can repost his old Saw photos so we can cross that one off the list. If you're interested in control panels and also programming and PLC logic I recommend checking out Irvine Ondrey Engineering: https://www.facebook.com/IrvineOndreyEngineering They have very informative posts about programming control panels and they're the ones who did The Swarm control panel amongst a huge range of other very popular and large rides. Many many American coaster control panels and assistance panels: https://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=61998&start=350 You may also be interested in a glimpse of morning inspections on a Windseeker ride: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdZcGclDzts

@Hethetheth makes a fantastic point about why Phantasialand are able to invest in greater depths compared to Merlin parks. But even then, it's not just Phantasialand that are able to do this: look at the likes of Liseberg, Hansa Park, etc - independent parks that are able to invest in large amounts on a regular basis. (I'm ignoring Europa and Efteling because of their other means of incoming). A better question to specifically ask is simply how are Phantasialand able to invest ridiculous amounts of money? Klugheim was said to cost something in the region of €60-70m. Rookburgh is rumoured to be a larger investment. Maus au Chocolat (2011) and Chiapas (2014 but should've been 2013) cost another €60m between them. The Deep in Africa land (2006) was another €30-40m. That's insane, and beyond anything that most companies could invest in several parks, let alone one company in one park. How they manage it is still mysterious. The park is owned by the Löffelhardt family, who co-started the park originally. Clever entrepreneurship meant they were able to continue to invest. They also bought Mirabilandia in Italy (they were in charge at the time the park added key rides like Katun), before selling it in 2006 (which no doubt was a big helping hand) in the future. From there, it's simply a case of having ownership that knows how to do business and how to cleverly invest in the park. There's a lot of passion within too which is great. In some ways, I guess their situation could be likened to what we're seeing at Energylandia. They're owned by someone who is wealthy and already has a great deal of experience in running a business, but also someone who is deeply passionate and wants something they can be proud of. The difference there is they very openly receive EU grants and the like to help accelerate their development, and are going for size and quantity over details and quality (of theming). The amount the park have invested on new rides between 2018-2020 probably could have seen them invest in something of similar depth and quality to any of Phantasialand's investments if they wanted to. Let's not pretend that the UK are the only place that is thrifty. Everywhere in the world is. The trouble is, Merlin have dug themselves into a hole. They set high prices and then give out a ton of promos. So of course people in the UK are then going to dig for the best deal. They'll naturally end up complaining that something doesn't represent a good enough value because, simply put, they've be trained to think they can always get something for next-to nothing. Merlin give tickets away because they chose to. Now they do it because they have to. This is a very common tactic. Have a low entrance cost and hit visitors with high secondary spends. Look at Vue cinemas - many of them have decreased their standard price significantly (my local one is £5 for any film). But then they can hit you with upgraded seats, high costs of drinks and snacks, etc. And people are more willing to do that because they feel they've 'saved' money for their ticket to watch the film, even if they haven't. Heck, even Phantasialand do this over their winter event. They usually have strong price integrity, so their pre-book online price is only a couple of euros cheaper than buying on the gate, and have very few promotions (and their entrance price is high, around €50). But over Winteraum, especially later in the event, they sell tickets online for €24. Why? Because during the event, they have lots of pop up stalls serving various food and drink (almost like a mini Christmas market), which are extremely popular. People spend a lot of money there and the park recoup any losses they may make from reducing the entrance price. I'd hardly call any of those parks competition. Drayton is dying. Blackpool ticks along, but when they invest in a brand new coaster, don't market it and then don't see suitable increases, you have to wonder how big a threat they are. And the Yorkshire parks are hardly competition when they barely invest (bar this year). Towers sees the most investment because Merlin know it's their crowning jewel. It's the UK's biggest park. It's the park that can easily get the highest attendance. It's well known abroad. It has hugely popular and well-known rides like Nemesis and Smiler. Plenty of legitimate world records / firsts that people are actually intrigued by. Towers receives the most investment because it's the safest bet to get a return. I don't get how you can laugh at Paulton's as being a competitor? They have made very wise investments and continue to do so. They're improving and growing constantly. They're a very legitimate threat to Chessington, whether Merlin admit that or not. Thorpe is different because of its target market. But it's clear to see that its numbers have been falling and popularity has decreased. It and Chessington benefit from location of being so close to London. But Thorpe needs to really push the boat to remain in a profitable state, because they're really sliding. It's a similar situation to where Chessington were 5-6 years, except Chessington were at least slowly retheming rides to bring them to standard.

Don't know about you guys but I love all my Deno clothes, bloody good lad he is. One of the huge success stories of 2019. EDIT: Just been on boohooMan x Deno page and they don't have any stock left, bad times.... ahem https://www.boohooman.com/mens/collections/boohooman-deno

This gem of a video was missed last season.....

I remember the days when Rumba had Halloween decorations and horror audio around the entire layout, and actually operated into the night (closing at 10 along with the rest of the park).