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Hi there! I’ll probably be a familiar face if you’re a frequent reader of TowersStreet or CoasterForce, but for those of you who don’t know me; I’m Matt, I’m 18 years old and I’m a theme park enthusiast from the Forest of Dean! In terms of my own history with Thorpe; my first visit was back in 2014, when I was 11, and I’ll admit that even though I didn’t visit Thorpe at least once every year as a child in the same way that I did Alton Towers (the bulk of my Thorpe experiences have certainly been quite recent, unlike Towers where I have a plethora of childhood memories), I have grown a real soft spot for the park over all my visits since then, and I always enjoy a day there! My favourite Thorpe ride is The Swarm, but I’ll admit that Nemesis Inferno has really grown on me in recent years and comes a very close 2nd these days; it’s a smashing coaster, in my opinion! In terms of other theme parks and rides; my current coaster count is 79, my current favourite roller coaster is Mako at SeaWorld Orlando (I last rode it in August 2016, but my goodness do I remember the airtime being brilliant!), and my favourite theme park is Universal’s Islands of Adventure (the theming and general sense of immersion is just spell-binding, in my opinion, and the rides are excellent too; it really is the full package!)! So, that’s a brief introduction to me, for those of you who don’t already know me! I apologise if that’s a little more than you wanted to know (I’m not the best at concise writing…), but that’s some stuff I thought you might find interesting!

Wicker Man received some work last closed season. I believe some retracking which shouldn't necessarily have had to happen so soon. That would explain why some people noticed it running better this year compared to last. It's also why the ride has been more reliable this year.

I remember end of 2020 it was riding dreadfully, just crawling round the unbanked turn around, which then seemed to sort itself out in 2021. For me I still find Wickerman to be a bit naff near the front of the train, and earlier in the day. If you can get towards the back at the end of the day I find it packs more of a punch.

I’ll admit I’m a little unsure what to think about Icon getting spinning cars, personally. On one hand, it’ll certainly be a unique feature for the ride to boast, and will hopefully give it that marketability that it perhaps lacked in its initial years. Time Traveler and Ride to Happiness have also received rave reviews, so hopefully this could boost the ride’s middling reputation among enthusiasts. (Although Time Traveler and RTH use slightly different tech) On the other hand, I personally absolutely love Icon as is, and I think the back row is my favourite row. I’m also not overly keen on spinning coasters, so I’ll admit that I would be quite sad to see my favourite seats go in favour of spinning seats. I’m not really the target audience for this, though, and the park shouldn’t care what I, a statistically insignificant enthusiast who hasn’t visited since 2019, thinks or whether I like spinning coasters or not; I hope it’s a success for them, even if it’s not an idea I’m necessarily sold on from a personal point of view.

Sorry to bump this thread, but I just wanted to ask; is it me, or has Wicker Man been riding a little better in 2021? From my experiences, the ride has felt a little bit faster than in previous years, and it has also been packing quite a few pops of surprisingly excellent airtime where there was previously none! Does anyone else agree with me, or am I just perceiving things? I’ve always really liked Wicker Man since first riding it on opening weekend in 2018 and having my expectations exceeded by a considerable margin (given that the forums were very pessimistic about how Wicker Man would ride and I had no prior GCI experience to compare with, I had pretty low expectations, but I was absolutely blown away!), but over the last year or so, it’s strongly grown on me! Since an excellent couple of rides in July 2020, I’ve been absolutely loving it, and it seems to have gone up by another level again for me in 2021! I just love the fast pace of it, as well as the fun turns, great pops of airtime and the relative smoothness and comfort compared to other wooden coasters! Overall, I do absolutely love it, and it really is a coaster I rank highly! I apologise if this is controversial, but as someone who rates fun and rerideable coasters highly over the out and out intense, I personally have it as my comfortable favourite at Alton Towers, and it’s only narrowly beaten by Icon within the UK for me! For me to rank a ride highly, it has to pack enough thrill for me to get a real kick out of riding, but it can’t be so intense or rough that it causes nausea or hurts me, and I personally think that even though I wouldn’t traditionally call myself a wooden coaster person, Wicker Man satisfies that brief for me more than the vast majority of coasters I’ve ridden! It’s certainly made me look forward to hopefully riding Wodan next year, anyway, as most seem to think it beats Wicker Man by a considerable margin…

Thanks for the info, but with regard to the bolded, what makes you think this will be a Mack, out of interest? I’m not saying you’re wrong by any stretch, as I certainly think it’s plausible, but it does seem like an interesting contrast to the other strong rumours I’ve heard. Many online, including some who I know are well connected within Merlin, seem to think that this will be a B&M Hyper Coaster, and I do think it’s a plausible conclusion; based on Chessington’s 2023 coaster and the family B&Ms planned for numerous Chinese Legolands, I think it can be inferred that Merlin is at very least in strong cahoots with B&M at the moment, and they may well have had some form of discount on numerous rides. As such, I could see Merlin wanting to utilise this for as many rides as they possibly can within the chain, which would make a B&M Hyper quite a good possibility for Thorpe, in my opinion. Merlin also has quite a strong history with B&M; of all the Merlin-built coasters listed “Extreme” on RCDB, all bar 2 of them were built by B&M, and the other 2 (Saw & Smiler) were built by Gerstlauer, who I don’t see Merlin going back to after the Smiler incident. For clarity, Thirteen, Wicker Man and Mammut are listed as “Thrill” on RCDB, but even if we look at all of the coasters Merlin has built in RTPs since the initial purchase of Gardaland in 2006, 5/13 of them were constructed by B&M, and that percentage grows substantially if you include the upcoming coaster at Chessington and exclude kiddie & family coasters. For one manufacturer, that’s a big percentage, and I do personally think it shows that Merlin has a rock solid relationship with B&M. Mack, on the other hand, haven’t done an awful lot for Merlin besides some clones for Legoland parks, and I did hear a rumour that Mack are not too fond of Merlin as a client based on past treatment, and would not be keen to enter into a bespoke, large-scale project with the company, although do take that with a pinch of salt. Besides, I think one would be a fantastic fit for Thorpe, and would satisfy many criteria that the management themselves previously cited as being required for any major investment. At an enthusiast event a few years ago, the park management themselves said that after the failures of DBGT, they wanted the next major investment to be marketable, reliable and to have high capacity. I don’t know if you’d agree, but I personally think a B&M Hyper would fulfil all of these criteria (“tallest coaster in the UK” would certainly be a good USP for marketing, and B&Ms are typically both reliable and high capacity), and I also think that it would provide a really rerideable coaster that’s just pure fun, which I personally feel is something that Thorpe presently lacks. So in essence; my personal money is on a B&M Hyper Coaster here, and I also think that it will break the UK height record. Regardless of what replaces Logger’s Leap, though, whether it’s a B&M or a Mack as you suggest, I certainly think it’ll be an exciting ride!

Don’t get your hopes up for any theming for the 2024 Mack . Samurai looks like it’s staying for a while! plans will be out soon 🤫

^You could even tack on Samurai into your highlighted area, given it is pretty much on its last legs. But I totally agree. The investment of Swarm Island did, in fairness, have vague idea of adding more to the park. We got the introduction of a new toilet block (necessary infrastructure for expanding the park), plus a short-lived food stall (in the much loved Roast n Relish). So it did something, but it didn't quite do enough. And, really, calling it an area is a bit of a stretch. The park could do with completely changing the entire Old Town area. A new coaster, yes, naturally. But a replacement for Samurai (even if like-for-like), doing something more with Slammer's location, a shop associated to the ride possibly and new eateries (even if a new restaurant replacing the BBQ and a new one replacing whatever is in Old Town at the moment). The toilet block there is in need of a proper redo too (rather than just sticking some vinyl on the walls). And obviously, keep some space for Fright Nights too. Do something coherent with a huge space. It would be a perfect step for introducing a big new attraction and improving the overall feel of a good chunk of the park. There is real potential there. And, thinking optimistically: Chessington is getting a B&M coaster in a new IP land which is extending the park's area. That won't be cheap. Merlin are ready to put their money where their mouth is, so let's hope they do that, and that properly, with Thorpe too.

Had a great time at Efteling this past week. It's funny reading the Max and Moritz conversation, 18 months on as I liked the ride. The green was definitely the better side but to be honest, with zero queues and multiple re-rides, it ticks the correct boxes that Bob never could. Lets face it, beyond history, Bob was a tired old ride with a terrible throughput and could not shift the numbers that a park like Efteling needs. Max and Moritz go way beyond that, introducing an entry level coaster that can get through close to 2000 people an hour. It's not perfect, but it does a lot right. On another note, even with the pre-show not working properly, Baron 1898 has jumped into my top five. Whilst on a ride level, its as near basic as they come, but there's just something about it that brings me untold levels of joy. It has drama, and attention to detail and so much that I personally appreciate about theme parks.

Considering Merlin apparently deemed The Swarm and Ghost Train a financial failure, I wonder if the next big project will be handled any differently? The projects Thorpe have done for a while now (really since Stealth) have very much been good attractions 'tacked on' to the existing, ever-crumbling park. Saw the Ride for example was added on some new land at the side of the existing park - great ride, and great reception, but it's out on a limb. The Swarm, again fab ride, but was added to another island and had little impact on the rest of the park. Derren saw just a single building added to the centre of the park, offering nothing new to the overall park experience at all unless you decide to ride it (and even then returning guests won't bother) None of these did much to make Thorpe a better place in general, they just added another (all be it mostly very good) attraction to the list. I am hoping they think a little differently this time, and build something that incorporates itself in to the rest of the park a little bit. I'm thinking in the same way that Manta at SeaWorld for example is more than just a ride, it's an entire area complete with aquariums, shops and scenery, forming quite a big part of the theme park itself instead of simply being another attraction. I'm hoping whatever they build won't just be a single ride in a given area, but will extend in to its surroundings, and in doing so, redevelop the areas that it inter-twines with. I'm hoping that (assuming this new attraction is in Old Town) some of the ride might go towards the centre of the park, and come with new landscaping and scenery - for example, look at the sheer amount of un/poorly-used space available here. Back to my SeaWorld example - I think it would be a great opportunity to see something on the scale of Manta, which involves the tired and disused areas of Old Town and Slammer being demolished and re-developed in to something fresh and new, maybe even have several attractions on the same site - something like a Manta-style SeaLife aquarium, along with a themed restaurant and nice surrounding scenery in this instance would be good I think. I'm not necessarily saying "I want Manta" - what I'm hoping for is for this new project to be something more than "the cool new ride". I want it to actually change a big portion of Thorpe Park, and become part of the park in general, not to simply add something cool to the side of it. In my opinion, Thorpe needs 'general park refresh' as much as it needs a new attraction, and I think a big project that achieves both could be a good thing and turn the place around a bit.

Oh hi 'Fred'. I'll fill you in on my top five favourite theme park stories since 2014. 5. Everyone described Taron's second launch as 'sex'. 4. Energylandia added its 400th rollercoaster but I can never visit because Poland are a bunch of homophobic, back water biggots. 3. Thorpe Park's best investment was a bouncy castle. Chessington also added a bouncy castle but no one cared. 2. Ellens Energy Adventure closed in 2017 to be replaced by a Guardians rollercoaster, around the same time Tron started being built. We are still waiting. In that time Universal destroyed two B&M's but has already opened two replacements. And finally. 1. Frights nights is still a thing. It's played out girl, please just move on.