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Yes I know, Hyperia has barely just opened, but it's only natural sooner or later to ask the question "What comes next?" If we were to rewind 20 years ago, Tussauds had a clear investment cycle strategy for Thorpe, with a major investment coming every 3 years. That carried on into the Merlin era, before being tweaked to every 4 years. Obviously, we all know the story from here. Swarm didn't give an instant increase in visitor numbers, so the powers that be at Merlin deemed to some form of failure (despite the several flaws in that logic). Thorpe tried something different with DBGT and that, frankly, flopped. 2020 was at one point pencilled in to have a major investment, but that was cut when Merlin decided to pull tens of millions of pounds of investment from their Resort Theme Parks. But obviously things have changed in the last few years. Merlin have been taken over. We have a new CEO, and new board members. And with that, there seems to be more investment coming into the theme parks again, slowly but surely. And a fresher wave of optimism has come. So, more to the point of the topic. When do you think we'll see the next major investment at Thorpe? Arguably any new attraction could be classed as major, after years of very little new things, but of course I'm talking of a something along the lines of a new coaster or similar. Could a 3-4 year cycle be back? Could it depend on Hyperia's success? Or even the rest of Merlin's success? And even more importantly, what would you like to see? Blue sky or realistically, this is the place to share your thoughts. --- For me, I think one thing is clear: Thorpe should stick with coasters. There's no harm in them becoming a roller coaster park at this point. It's what the public want. They're not going to compete on the international stage in terms of immersive experiences, nor would they with Universal if that comes to the UK. That's not to say they should stick car park coasters here, there and everywhere, but for major attractions, they should stick to coasters. Part of me thinks an intertwined family coaster / log flume would be perfect. A 1.2m family coaster would be a perfect addition, although of course it doesn't have to be tame (RMCs tend to have 1.2m height restrictions for example). And I think the park need a solid, new water ride, and a log flume hits the spot. A more modern one with restraints will no doubt appease the Merlin H&S folk too. Yeah, that suggestion goes against my 'stick to coasters' idea somewhat, but it does also solve a glaring gap in the park's line up.

They're also charging £12 for a one shot maze ticket over Scarefest. TWELVE POUNDS.

Regardless of thoughts, we can't deny Thorpe has by far been the best run Merlin park this year. It has been a disaster at Towers and CWoA most the year!

And the cuts at Towers continue... - Rapids closed for the season from from 14th October - CBeebies land closes at 5pm daily on scarefest dates (previously 7pm) And worst of all, more staggered openings. To me they just make no sense. Why have Spinball closed till 11 when its close to the entrance and popular in the mornings? Why open Thirteen at 10 when pretty much everything around it opens at 11? Just an absolute pain when everything is so far away from eachother. You can't just complete an area and move on as there'll be attractions closed. Can imagine there'll be a lot of confused guests in the morning finding closed rides. Just open at 11 if you can't commit to opening everything at 10 in my opinion.