Leaderboard

There was a post on LinkedIn from an BALPA event hosted at Thorpe Park. This graph shows the direction they want Thorpe Park to take. It’s quite simple and fairly obvious but also I’m glad they are taking that direction in becoming the thrill park, nothing else. The graph also shows the way they want to improve revenue and the way they’ve done it. A few things: 2021-2023 it says “event led strategy” and in 2025+ it says “event development” to me it suggest Thorpe management want to and the plan is to bring back events. It was never the plan to drop them from Thorpe’s side. Also they state multiple times how they are keen to remove IP. I hope the management outlasts the cuts as when funding does come back, we need them to push forward with these goals as ultimately this is the correct way forward.

Wow fantastic! How odd to see it so quiet though? I suppose the weather could play a big part there

I agree that would be a real shame. Hopefully they can keep it that way. I’ve been having a think about all this…. It’s weird that so many of us seem to share the same “meh” feeling towards Thorpe & Merlin at the moment, especially with Thorpe, because actually when you break it down they’re really doing very well. As has been mentioned, there are no SBNO rides, which is unheard of in recent years. They have a fantastic line up, including a brand new massive coaster. There are no silly cheaply-made mazes anymore, and they’re even continuing to run their notoriously expensive and less popular rides, like ghost train and Rapids. In fact, the park is in very good shape: the decor looks better than ever, reliability isn’t too bad, the food is quite good considering how it is elsewhere, the new brand is working nicely, and the park feels fresh, modern and clean for the most part, especially when you consider how poor the rest of the Merlin parks are. Thorpe seems to be very well run to be fair. It’s also not like there has been new ride after new ride over the last decade, and now that’s stopped. There hasn’t! Arguably, when it comes to new stuff, now is an excellent time in that regard, right off the back of Hyperia opening. An odd one for sure. Perhaps it’s more a general ill feeling everyone has towards Merlin? Or a side effect of the Universal news overshadowing the “business as usual” at Thorpe? Or maybe it’s an extension of the general doom and gloom shrouding seemingly everything in the country at the moment. Perhaps if we are honest with ourselves, we all take the likes of Thorpe for granted these days? I think I do to be fair, because it be beyond devastated if it suddenly had to close for some reason. I even think of Stealth for instance. If that reached a point this summer where they were forced to make a decision to close it at the end of the season, I know for a fact I’d be up there riding it, and thinking to myself “you don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone” 😂