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So here's the Thorpe problem in a nutshell. Their investment in the 2000's was big. it was exciting, it was dynamic, it was a dream to be a Uk theme park fan with rides left right and centre. But the Thorpe problem comes down to a lack of space and a lack of diversity. They've got themselves into a rut when The Swarm kind of failed. Their target audience demands the newest, most exciting attractions. Who cares about Colossus and its measly ten inversions when The Smiler has fourteen.So then when they fail to grow, they start to downsize. The problems start to increase. The lack of investment means a lack of return which just spirals until we get to now. Thorpe doesn't have the advantages of the family market. Chessington went through a similar slump when it left the thrill market altogether and turned to family. The difference there though is that the family market spends money. Kids demand toys and treats. Ap family holders are all too happy to grab a nice meal and a pint with their family. They like staying in an over-priced hotel. Kerching. Thorpe's target audience doesn't. Thorpe AP holders are happy to only spend a pound in the park all day. It starts to cost too much money to remove the SBNO attractions. Just build a wall. Who do you target at now when the bulk of your attractions are thrill heavy. Really there is absolutely no reason why the park couldn't build a family rollercoaster or some entry level flat rides (give me a breakdance you cowards). But they won't because all they want are headlines and aren't interested in sustaining the park beyond the end of the financial year. So we get short term rubbish like I'm a Celeb or Black Mirror instead of attractions that stand the test of time. I'm amazed that Chessington actually replaced Black Bucaneer and are replacing Rameses with a generic drop tower AND redid Tomb Blaster AND built a Rainforest area, refurbishing Toadies and building a Log Flume at the same time. This stuff never happens at Merlin, it will certainly never happen at Thorpe because the idea of cookie-cutter attractions would never fly. So instead the current attractions just age away and nothing gets built or done. If you were to ask me what Thorpe should do, I'd go with refurbish attractions, build rides that attract a wider audience and beef up that awful entrance with a new look and better security stations. Inferno shouldn't be turning green, family rollercoasters are awesome additions and a stabbing should never be able to happen again. There is absolutely no point in building an RMC or B&M Hyper if the rest of the park looks like a rubbish dump. Putting a bow on trash is still trash. And that for me is the Thorpe problem.

Seriously! Back in 2008 when I first visited the park was arguably the most exciting park in the UK due to amazing investments the park was installing each year! Now every new attraction is either a maze or “experience” and the fact they turned their only “good” family coaster into a horror themed attraction is just ridiculous! Why don’t they add any new coasters or flat rides? It’s becoming such a bore! The last decent addition was in 2012! The 2nd hand kiddie rides they’ve added to old town don’t even blend into the area they stick out like sore thumbs with their colourful colour scenes and old “theming” Why have they closed rides and left them to rot? Loggers leap is closed and rotting, Slammer is closed and rotting, Saw: Alive is closed and rotting are they just going to leave them there it’s so strange and sad to see the once great park in such a depressing state... I also don’t understand who they are marketing themselves at anymore are they are thrill park or trying to be a family park because there image is all over the place and doesn’t quite fit together because they market it a lot different to the addictions they then add or don’t add... what’s going on?

There is a few core reasons to why I think Thorpe has reached its current state. Heavy expansion, and then, nothing at all. Thorpe had a rapid expansion/investment rate up until about 2012. They received the cream of the crop when it came to investments. Merlin at some point seemed to be more keen in investing in Thorpe over Alton even. Ever since 2013 the park has seen to take a backseat, and their last proper investment was the nail in the coffin (DBGT). The Ghost Train basically ruined all hope of Thorpe ever regaining its status as a worthy rival to Alton Towers for the best park in the UK. It also ruined all hope of any good investment anytime soon. Merlin have no reason to pump money into Thorpe anymore. Lack of a resort. Thorpe Park is barely a resort. It barely has a hotel, and honestly it offers the least out of the 4 UK Merlin Parks when it comes to non theme park stuff. Look at Alton, they offer 2 hotels, Enchanted village, the roller coaster restaurant that is open past park hours, a water park, golf, a ropes course, and entertainment in their hotels. Thorpe Shark is absolutely pathetic in comparison. Chessington and Legoland also have much better accommodation. I bet those hotels are cash cows too, why invest in a park with one small budget hotel when you can invest in a park that is a full resort (Alton Towers) No image. Thorpe Park is like a middle age person going through a identity crisis. It doesn't know who it is, who its target audience is, and it shows.

I'd have exactly the same attitude. I wouldn't hold the park at fault regardless of who got hurt, even if it was me let alone family or friends, not unless they gave them the knife or set up the fight. This is one of the major things wrong with the world in my eyes; everything is always someone else fault. Someone should have prevented, someone should have intervened, someone should have seen the future. The suspect is the suspect. You can mitigate against a risk, but you can not eliminate all danger. The security as it is is a reasonable response to the risk presented. With this being the first incident of this type in 40 years, how many issues have they prevented with their actions in this time? Loads I expect. Considering your opinion of their clientele you'd be hard pressed to argue against that having been the case, but you can't prove the effectiveness of a preventative measure. You can learn from incidents, you can see how something happened and amend your processes for the future, but that does not prove an ability to have foreseen.

Pluk summed up what I think. The main thing that went wrong here is the person who did indeed bring the knife in the park. I am sure this could of happened at most parks. Thorpe actually have a fairly decent system in place. Some parks in mainland europe you can just walk into without even a search.. It is very easy to sit here in hindsight and list everything that the park has and hasn't done, though before this happened I swear nobody was complaining about security/searching at the park? Nasty things happen everywhere all the time. Theme parks are not exempt from this. ^^^ This There is many things Thorpe do wrong, but I find some of this hate thrown at them for this to be a bit uncalled for.

Nemesis made me feel alive after months and months of constant depressing news. It is unlike any other ride for me. It's the small things. I love how the top of the lift hill is at ground level which is just pure uniqueness, I love how its first drop is so gradual and then it just throws you into the tour de force of element and element, getting faster and faster until the vertical loop. I love the terrain, the way you explore every element of the ride and are up close and personal with the trains. I love how this is a B&M that they will never even attempt to build anything like again because of the difficulties with the ride and it's shifting environment. I love its unique theme, how the station is the monster itself or how its just a capacity machine with a queue that never stops moving. I love how 26 years later it is considered to be one of the very best rides B&M have ever built and one of the best rollercoasters ever made. I love how it can be endlessly compared to its younger brother at Thorpe and how we have two rides with the same elements in a completely different order. I love how it only came about because of two cancelled projects and the launch of Batman: The Ride in Great America, without all these things coming together, we may have never got Nemesis and Alton Towers would be a vastly different place. When I think of perfect rides, only Nemesis can ever fit the target. For me its what rides are supposed to represent and be all about, the passion, the drama, the soul of creativity. Long live the queen, the Jurassic Park of 1994.