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Chessington is (meant to be) seeing a £60m worth of investment over a 5 year period. When exactly that started I'm not sure, but obviously Project Amazon represents a good chunk of that. I believe there's also talks of more accommodation coming, which could also be included in that. In any case, the investments such as Croc Drop, Rainforest, etc were all rather cheap. As for these other rumours... -I would not be surprised to see Pirates' Cove receive some attention this year. It's an area which is largely forgotten about by the park, and come 2023, will be adjacent to a brand new, very popular land. -I guess it's possible that the park could get some (cheap) new rides in the area...but presumably we'd have seen some sort of planning application now? Unless they're temporary things... -I see no rhyme or reason to remove Scorpion Express, and would be surprised if that happens any time soon. As for Rocky Express, I don't see why the park would get it. As it stands, it's still not in any way confirmed that it's leaving Thorpe of course. It seems very likely based on the rumours, but I've heard it's still not 100% confirmed... As for Tomb Blaster changing back to Forbidden Tomb / Terror Tomb or whatever. I don't see it happening. I'll gladly eat my hat if it does. BUT, let's say the park do go about doing stuff to it and change it to an older name. Will the ride be any good? Probably not. The "refurb" from whenever it was (2020?) was dire. The new audio and story is appalling. If they were to scrap the guns and bring it back as Forbidden Tomb, there is in my opinion no reason to believe that the park could do anything with it to actually make it in any way a decent ride experience. Again, very happy to be proven wrong, but with the state they "refurbed" it to, there is no reason to believe that any future work will lead to any worthwhile improvements.

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?

#JustClosedSeasonRumours

The legendary Karen who works in guest services has also confirmed the return of professor burps bubbleworks!!

Was Swarm badly marketed though? Personally, I think they did a solid job with it. Anyone who visited the park in 2011 heard about it as they had a good on-park marketing campaign. They played on the popular 'end of the world' gimmick for 2012. The online stuff was good. The last minute You Me at Six song drew a lot of attention to tbf. I think Swarm's major issues were that the brand was weak, and that the ride experience wasn't the intense thrill ride people expected. But they were both post-opening issues. Personally, I think whatever they did in 2012, it would have "failed" in Merlin's eyes. The park were coming off the back of their two best years ever attendance-wise, and 2012 was a year when a lot of other things captured people's attentions. People just didn't want to go to Thorpe, and indeed theme parks in general saw a dip. Swarm has stood the test of time though and is largely a popular and well-received ride. But obviously that means little for Merlin's short termism.

Mark's post has hit the nail on the head really. There's also a similar discussion here where there's loads of great points raised about Thorpe's current position (ironically with the same name, but I'll keep them separate for now): I think one thing which should be stressed too is Thorpe's ever-changing branding. Even when they've stuck to a specific target market, their branding has been a flip-flop mess for about 10 years now. It started with the 'fat heads' and the brash, in your face marketing. Something like that can work for a theme park (Walibi Holland have made something similar work imo), but it needs to be done slowly. Thorpe rushed into it. They then dropped it and went back to a family target market with the 'Island like no other' branding. But they then shifted target market to thrills with DBGT, but kept the 'Like no other' brand. They then see-sawed flipped away from this whimsical but thrilling 'like no other' brand to the dark 'Year of the Walking Dead' and horror brand, which disappeared again for the family-friendly but still thrill focused 40th anniversary thing last year. The 'Island like no other' branding has drifted away and we've got a slightly blander, but coherent, style. But how long will that last? And will they once again dip their toes into the family market?

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.