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In addition to the above - I have to say I really do miss the almost obsessive fan culture that used to exist around Thorpe. Not so long ago there would be something to read about online every few days, even if it was just little things like new signage appearing, a change of audio somewhere, things that had been fixed etc. Closed season as well - we would always have detailed updates from many sources (including the park themselves) about what was going on. All that stuff still happens at Thorpe of course - but I suppose we’ve all moved on from sharing about it online! I think for me this sort of thing is what’s missing now. It seems to me that that level of enthusiasm doesn’t exist for Thorpe anymore, or if it does then it looks different now. Perhaps there’s a gap in the market for this since Mr Silkstone has moved on from all that, and the traditional forums are no longer busy. Because actually when you look at other parks, namely DLP and the upcoming Universal UK, there is quite a fan base already following the developments in microscopic detail. Thorpe just doesn’t seem to have that active fan base anymore for some reason outside of big projects like Hyperia.

After last weeks annoyance of the Service, a new cable and train 3 refurbished, yesterday Stealth ran really well and the team were pushing the trains through quickly, even in the high temperatures. Both trains had also been cleaned.

Had my first visit this past weekend. This had become a bit of a bucket list park over the last few years and was glad to finally get out there. Great rollercoaster collection to start off with. I thought Kondaa was fabulous, an outstanding attraction. Intamin were really cooking around this time. I've seen it described as a modern day Expedition Ge Force. Well yeah, it has similarities but whereas EGF always left me feeling underwhelmed, Kondaa was sublime. Also loved Mecalodon. I love family Gerstlauers, there's just a lot of innovation and experimentation with the model. This being the latest one, it just has so much for family groups and is so much fun. Tiki Wawa is okay. It's not an amazing version of the ride type unfortunately. Not worth the regular 45 minute waits. Turbine is amazing. Absolutely loved it. Great theme, great ride. Pulsar also impressed. I didn't think it would be my kind of ride but actually, it was really fun. The backwards air time was lovely and it wasn't too wet. Just enough. Calamity Mine was great, Boomerang was a boomerang. the SLC was fine, I'm now pretty used to riding these defensively so therefore I know when to brace. I still really like the layout on these things, even though the trains really do make them a battle. Loup-Garou was a big reason for the trip, I wanted to get on it before it says goodbye at the end of the year. To be honest, I'm a big defender of these horrible janky woodies. This was hilariously bad. I can see why its being renovated by RMC, but it still has a charm. The dark rides were also of really high quality. I shall be back..

I do agree. The buzz we had with Hyperia and the Passholder Group has certainly gone, and we're technically 2 rides down with Rumba Rapids permanent closure and Zodiac being SBNO for over a year. I'd love to see some new flat rides to bring some excitement back into the park, but there are also some pretty significant issues that need addressing, such as the security/entrance procedure and the Ghost Train. One thing I will say though, is that although we've had nothing new and not much excitement, it's still the best run Merlin park in the UK by far in my opinion, and it continues to have the best opening hours. Operations are always on point whenever I go, and I always have a pleasant day. I can't say the same for most other parks in the country. I usually avoid the park most of July and August but will certainly be going to a couple of the 9pm closes in August.

This will be the other reason that the "influencers" are barely mentioning Thorpe. Everything is ticking along relatively, whereas Towers you can bang out a quick video on park showing some closed rides (think about 3/4 long term break downs yesterday), or whine about the RAP situation and you got yourself a video.

Hard to gauge these days. The last time a new flat ride had permission applied was the Dodgems way back for 2014. That was a simple one and planning permission went in December 2013 and the ride opened May 2014. Prior to that, Storm Surge had an application go in July/August 2010 and opened March 2011. Slammer and Rush were August 2004 and opened March and May 2005 respectively. The big caveat though is in all of those situations, the park had an active MTDP which had already identified those areas as potential spots for flat rides. So it meant the planning permission process was easier and quicker. Obviously, there's no active MTDP now. And more importantly, the last couple of planning applications to the council have been surrounded in difficulties, to the point where the Launchpad was effectively delayed a year. It doesn't mean we won't see anything next year. But one would expect if something were coming, they'd want the application in as early as possible to mitigate any issues or delays. So realistically, I don't see any new rides for next year.

I think what Thorpe need to do to spike interest is to get the Derren Brown IP back on Ghost Train. Thorpe is certainly entering an interesting/worrying (delete as appropriate) phase in it's timeline. There are a whole bunch of flats getting very old all at the same time, Stealth starting to become a bit of a worry, Slammer area empty (still).... then you have question marks over the longevity of TWD and what they do once that IP runs out, Ghost Train as a ticking time bonb that surely has SBNO written all over it sooner rather than later - and now Rumba Rapids rotting whilst they decide what to do next. If they suddenly decide to get a flat or two for 2027, when would we need to see planning permission? Next few months I assume?

Overspeeding is a b*tch XD

Not sure whats up with it, but it has been testing on and off so hopefully nothing too serious. Personally my favourite flat at the park in recent years so hopefully be back soon!

There's a few contributing factors I think... -Post-big investment lull. As Benin mentioned, there can be lulls after big investments at parks. Not every park, but it is common. It's funny because historically Thorpe was good at avoiding that by having some marketing gimmick for the year after a big investment (Stealth's "upgrade", Saw with Saw Alive, Swarm's Brave it Backwards, DBGT and Rise of the Demon). Hyperia didn't have that, and there's not been anything to follow up. It happens, but it's very bland, yes. -'Time thing'. I assume by this Matt you just mean getting older, and that does play a part of it too I reckon. You get older, and busier, and times just change. And also ties in with what Benin says about the world being general a bit rubbish right now. -Lack of updates. There's things happening at the park, whether it's little touch ups here and there or bigger things behind the scenes. Admittedly right now that is minimal, but it is there. But there's less noise about it all now. The Passholder Group on Facebook closed down. Jack Silkstone, who has been the main source of such things for a few years now, has moved into a more professional capacity so isn't making the little update videos. Fansites (like TPM) have succumbed to the time thing. And there's just very few places providing general updates. -Lack of anything to be excited about. There's no plans to the council for anything new. There's no rumours of anything new coming. Other parks in Merlin are getting things and Thorpe aren't. We're kind of just ticking on by. It makes it hard to have the same enthusiasm. On a personal level, I found 2024 to be such a huge buzz of a year for Thorpe. New coaster, obviously, but the Sparkle Project invigorated lots of other parts of the park. There was optimism for the future and such a positive. Since then, they've followed that up with a much-needed open space by the front of the park (although that execution has split opinion), and nothing else. The park is effectively exactly the same as it was 2 years ago, even down to food outlets. With seemingly nothing new on the horizon, there's only so long one can revisit the exact same place before a bit of burnout hits.

This might be a time thing but I’m not sure but does everyone else think the excitement from 2021-2024 has died down now at Thorpe Park. Nothing really happening throughout the year, nothing really to look forward to. I think if Fright Nights stays the same this year, I think maze wise it will. Then it’s quite a boring year and much of the same for next year. There used to be quite a big fan base active on social media but I think that’s completely gone now

4 ‘Thorpe Park Lates’ dates have been announced for 2 Fridays and Saturdays in August. 14th / 15th and 21st / 22nd once again staying open till 9pm. Sounds like they’ll be making use of launch pad with live DJ sets. Great to see!

Does anyone else find that last, or second last little turn out of sync with the rest of the ride. Obviously it's lining you up to come back to the station. A bit of an anti cimlax.

2nd July 2026: Disneyland Paris After a successful trip to Parc Astérix on Monday and trips in between to Paris and Versailles, we headed to another theme park (well, duo of theme parks) today; we visited Disneyland Paris! Now unlike Parc Astérix on Monday, I had visited Disneyland Paris prior to today, but this was over 15 years ago, so my memories of it were quite vague. I was also under 8 years old on my first visit, so there were also numerous attractions that I was either too short to ride, too scared to ride or both on my first visit, so I was excited to experience some of these, as well as attractions I’d remembered from my first visit! And it’s also been over 7 years since I’ve been to a Disney park full stop, so it was interesting to visit some Disney parks again! Now, I should say before I get into this report that we did only spend 1 day across both parks, so this was very much a flying visit and our visit plan was designed around key highlights and things we hadn’t done previously in either Paris or Orlando. I’m aware that this is not really how Disney is designed to be visited, so the report should be taken with this in mind. Anticipating that the roads could be busy and wanting to start early, we headed out of our house at around 8:15am, arriving at Disneyland Paris just after 9am in time for the 9:30am opening and starting our day in Disneyland Park: Upon entering the park, we decided to start on a key memorable highlight of our previous visit… Big Thunder Mountain Big Thunder Mountain was on an advertised 55 minute queue time, so as it had been a key memorable attraction from our previous visit to Disneyland Paris, we decided to have a ride on there to start our day. The 55 minute advertised queue time ended up being overstated, with us getting on within 40 minutes after a relatively fast queue; I can never moan about that! So, how was the ride? Well, 8 year old me had this ride down as being the absolute best thing ever, so naturally as someone who has now ridden far more coasters, I did not expect it to live up to my childhood memories and I did not hold the same view as I did in 2011, but it was still a very good fun family coaster nonetheless! I was sat in row 3, and as you’d expect, it was along much the same lines as its equivalent in Florida; very much a pink-knuckle ride, with not too much going on in terms of intensity, but offering a really good, fun experience with some fun twists and turns, areas of mild speed and tickles where it threatens airtime. As family mine train coasters go, I do think it’s a strong example; I would perhaps place it slightly higher than the Florida version, but not notably so. All in all, then, Thunder Mountain was an enjoyable way to start the day and it was very nice to get back on there after 15 years; we certainly all enjoyed ourselves, although my mum did comment that 15 years and many more thrilling coasters ridden had “ruined good, fun rides like that for [her]”: After Thunder Mountain, me, my mum and my dad headed to another ride in the area that we hadn’t previously ridden… Phantom Manor Phantom Manor was on an advertised 5 minute queue time, so as none of us had ever done it previously, we decided to take a ride on there. We pretty much walked straight into the stretching room, so pleasingly, the queue time was short as promised; in a park like Disney, it’s never a bad thing to have a 5 minute queue! For context, I hadn’t ridden Phantom Manor previously because me and my sister were both scaredy cat children and wouldn’t ride it when we were 8 and 10 respectively, so it was interesting to get on it today. My sister still wouldn’t ride it today, as she doesn’t go for loud noises and scary things. So, how was it? Well, having ridden Haunted Mansion in Orlando 7 years ago, I was interested to see how Phantom Manor compared, and I would say that similarly, it was quite a nice ride with lots to look at and some nice scenes, and it did seem a little bit more polished and story-driven than Florida’s version. The stretching room pre-show also seemed more impressive than Florida’s, and both my parents said this was the most remarkable bit of the attraction for them. It’s a fairly gentle affair, with nothing too scary for the faint of heart (I.e. me!), and I thought it was quite a nice ride overall, if not a top, top dark ride for me, although my dad thought it was “dull”: After getting off Phantom Manor, we met back up with my sister and moved to Adventureland to complete our next unridden attraction… Indiana Jones et le Temple du Peril Indiana Jones was on an advertised 20 minute queue time, so as none of us had ridden it previously, we decided to give it a go. My sister and I were too small to ride it on our previous visit 15 years ago, so we were all interested to try it, and the queue took 20-25 minutes as advertised, so none of us could complain! So, how was it? Well, I was seated in row 5, and we sadly didn’t miss much on our first visit, as this was absolutely terrible! The ride had very old-fashioned OTSRs and seemed to bash your head around horribly whenever it turned faster than about 10mph, but to make matters worse, I didn’t even think the layout was anything that interesting; it felt like there was basically a loop and an awful lot of filler around it, with multiple very dead sections. All in all, I was glad to have ticked off Indiana Jones, but I don’t think any of us would lose sleep if we didn’t go back on it any time soon: After Indiana Jones, my plan originally put Pirates of the Caribbean on the agenda, but it was unfortunately closed for maintenance, so at my mum’s request, we instead headed into Fantasyland to ride a different dark boat ride… It’s a Small World It’s a Small World was on an advertised 5 minute queue, so as it’s a quintessential classic Disney attraction, we decided to have a ride on there. As we were boarding, it looked as though many people were watching the parade, so we managed to pretty much walk on the ride; I can never moan about that! So, how was it? Well, I had previously ridden the version in Orlando and found it delightfully twee, and I had similar thoughts here. As much as it might not be anything intense or earth-shattering, there is something strangely enjoyable about riding through rooms of animatronics singing and dancing in different languages… it’s a nice, gentle little ride that we all enjoyed! My dad also thought it looked a bit newer and more polished than the Orlando equivalent, which I agreed with: After getting off It’s a Small World, we took a walk around Fantasyland and the Sleeping Beauty gallery in the castle before heading into Discoveryland to ride our final unridden coaster in Disneyland Park… Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain Hyperspace Mountain was on an advertised 50 minute queue, so as none of us had ever ridden it before, we decided to take a ride. I was too small to ride it in 2011, and my noise-phobic sister bailed out as a child upon seeing that the ride launched out of a cannon, so it was new to all 4 of us! The queue was broadly accurate, with us waiting 55 minutes to ride, but might I just say that Hyperspace Mountain might be the most half-hearted retheme I’ve ever seen. The ride is supposedly themed to Star Wars, but externally and pre-ride, it’s very much still Jules Verne-themed aside from a few flags and stickers in the queue (which was also surprisingly bland in general given how beautiful and detailed the building exterior is… was it originally better?). Internally, it’s better, with a bit of Star Wars music and audio and some screens making the theme more convincing, but even then, I definitely saw plenty of calling cards of Jules Verne left in there… I’m no die-hard nostalgic, but I feel like the ride must surely be crying out for a return to a Jules Verne theme at some point! But that’s enough about the theme; how was the ride itself? Well, I was intrigued to try the French Space Mountain because while I’d ridden the version in Orlando, that is a lot tamer whereas Paris’ version is a proper launched thrill ride closer to Rock’n’Rollercoaster in style. I was sat in row 9, and I have to say that I did find it a more impressive ride than its Floridian counterpart, with a fun launch and some good speed and inversions, but it definitely isn’t the smoothest of things! The vest restraints make it less uncomfortable than it might have been, and it was hardly brain-melting to the extent of, say, Goudurix, but it was definitely a little bit on the rougher side in places, which did require some defensive riding when combined with the darkness. Even still, it was a fun coaster and I’m glad to have ridden it, even if Thunder Mountain is perhaps still my preferred coaster within Disneyland Park: After getting off Hyperspace Mountain, we ended our time in Disneyland Park for the day, heading out for lunch in Disney Village to break up our day: After lunch, we began the second stage of our day with a visit to Disney Adventure World, which was the more drastically altered park compared to our previous visit: Upon entering Adventure World, I had originally planned for us to start on Tower of Terror, but the queue times in Avengers Campus were looking more favourable, so we instead decided to start on… Spider-Man WEB Adventure Spider-Man was on an advertised 35 minute queue, so as it was a new ride since our previous visit, we decided to give it a whirl. This proved to be a grave error, as the queue time was grossly underestimated and we ended up waiting 75 minutes in what must have been one of the slowest-feeling queues I’ve waited in for some time. I’m not sure what made it so slow, but it seemed to take forever, perhaps not helped by the queue not being the most interesting by Disney standards, with it mostly consisting of painted walls and cattle pens! So, how was the ride after our unexpectedly long wait? Well, I thought it was quite good fun; the shooting technology is quite novel, the 3D was good, and while the ride is mostly screen-based, the novelty of the shooting tech makes for an interesting ride! It’s not a patch on the superb Spider-Man dark ride in Universal Orlando for me, and it perhaps wasn’t worth a 75 minute wait, but similarly to Ninjago at Legoland, I thought it was a fun dark ride with clever shooting technology and good 3D: After getting off Spider-Man, we headed for the other ride in Avengers Campus… Avengers Assemble: Flight Force Flight Force was on an advertised 30 minute queue time, so me, my dad and my sister decided to take a ride. Now of all the rides on offer at Disneyland Paris, this was the one I was most insistent on riding at some point during the day, and there’s a bit of a personal backstory behind that. On my visit 15 years ago, I was tall enough to ride Rock’n’Rollercoaster (as it was then known, and as I kept repeatedly calling it today!), but I refused to ride because a classmate of mine at primary school told me that it gave him tummy ache after he rode it… so I didn’t ride it all trip and I’ve been slightly bitter about that missed coaster ever since, particularly after my family told me about how brilliant it was! I later managed to ride the Orlando version some 8 years later, but I’ve always been keen to return to Disneyland Paris and redeem that missed coaster credit, so I was insistent that I wouldn’t leave the resort today without riding it! The queue for this took 35-40 minutes, and I have to say that it was a somewhat more interesting queue than that for Spider-Man, with some videos and a pre-show with a very cool Iron Man animatronic! So, how did Flight Force stack up after 15 years of regretting not riding it? Did the experience live up to the personal thrill of finally redeeming my 8 year old self and (indirectly) giving my primary school classmate his comeuppance? Well, I remembered the Orlando version of this coaster being a really decent coaster in 2019, and this was decent as well; it’s probably my personal favourite Disney coaster! I was seated on the front row, and in terms of some particular highlights; that launch is excellently punchy for an LSM launch and if I didn’t know any better, I’d have said it felt almost like a hydraulic launch, and the ride also carries its speed well and has some good, forceful inversions! As well as this, the ride also isn’t overly rough either, being notably smoother than Hyperspace Mountain earlier in the day, which makes for an enjoyable thrill coaster and a nice headline coaster for the Disney resort overall! All in all, then, I was glad to finally get on Rock’n’Rollercoaster (it’ll always be Rock’n’Rollercoaster to me regardless of the Avengers theme!), and the ride itself was about as good as I’d remembered from Orlando, which was pleasing: After Flight Force, we headed to another new ride that none of us had ridden anywhere previously… Ratatouille Ratatouille was on an advertised 55 minute queue time, so as it was new since our last visit and we also haven’t visited Walt Disney World recently enough to have experienced it in Epcot, we decided to take a ride on there as we were all interested in seeing it. The queue was understated and took around 45 minutes despite being nearly to the ride entrance, which I can never complain about! So, how was it? Well, I thought it was quite an interesting ride! There were some good bits of physical scenery in there, even if the ride is predominantly screen-based, the animation sequences were generally quite good, and the spinning and interaction between the cars was quite a cool touch! They also very much liked the water squirter in there! One thing I did think, though, is that unlike some rides with lengthy movement sequences in front of one screen (I would give Street Mission at PortAventura and Snorri Touren at Europa Park as examples), I thought the screen sequences felt quite static and less like you were believably moving around; I’m not sure whether this was down to reduced car movement or something else, but it was something I noticed. All in all, then, I thought Ratatouille was quite a good, fun dark ride, and I’m glad we got to experience it for the first time: After getting off Ratatouille, it was gone 5:30pm and my family were starting to flag, so I was told I could ride one more attraction. As such, me and my dad went to ride a favourite of mine from Orlando… Tower of Terror Tower of Terror was on an advertised 45 minute queue time, so as I absolutely loved the Florida version and had never done Paris’ before (me and my sister were too scared to ride it in 2011), I was keen to give it a go. The queue time was broadly accurate, with us waiting around 45 minutes for our ride, although we did have an interesting experience upon boarding in that our lift broke down and had to be brought back to the area for a restraint recheck; that was intriguing! So, how was the ride? Well, I loved Tower of Terror in Orlando 7 years ago to the extent where I would have easily declared it my favourite Disney attraction and quite possibly my favourite non-roller coaster attraction full stop, and riding the Paris version reminded me of the brilliance of these rides. They’re still easily Disney’s top rides for me; the unrestricted airtime is absolutely incredible, and the wonderful theming, story and ambience adds quite a unique dimension to the whole experience compared to a regular drop tower! This version, unlike the one in Florida, was also quite interesting in that it had a spooky little girl appearing in each scene and adding comments; that was a nice touch that I wasn’t necessarily expecting! All in all, then, it was great to get on Paris’ Tower of Terror; this attraction really is wonderful, and definitely some of Disney’s finest work, in my view: After getting off Tower of Terror, it was gone 6:30pm and my family were incredibly keen to go home, so we called it a day there and headed out: So, that brings a close to our day at Disneyland Paris! I had a really good day; it was interesting to return to the parks 15 years after my last visit, and despite us not managing the full day, I managed to get on most of what I’d planned to (I had also pencilled in Frozen and Crush’s Coaster in Adventure World, but my family decided it wasn’t an issue not to ride these as we rode Frozen in Orlando and we rode Crush’s Coaster on our last visit 15 years ago), including everything that was new to me! I do think that doing both parks in a day was slightly ambitious, in retrospect, and I acknowledge that I was perhaps unable to give Disney the chance to show its full potential. Rides-wise, my highlight was easily Tower of Terror, but I also enjoyed getting on some of the other rides I’ve never done before, with Flight Force being a key favourite of those, and getting back on things like Thunder Mountain too. In terms of my thoughts on the Paris Disney resort; I thought Disneyland Park was overall a fair amount nicer to walk around than the Magic Kingdom in Orlando, with lots more little details to look at and a general more polished feel, and I also thought that some of the rides were better like-for-like (e.g. Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Phantom Manor). Disney Adventure World was also nicer than I remembered, and some of the new additions are really good. Both parks, particularly Adventure World, are surprisingly thin on rides, and I do think that some new attractions in both would not go amiss. My dad said that “both parks put together were smaller than Parc Astérix on Monday”, and while I’m not sure I agree with that statement, I would agree that neither park is particularly big individually. What I will say Disney does well, though, is making the environment very nice to walk around and be in. Disneyland Park in particular is a supremely pleasant environment with lots to look at, lots of little details and no visual expense spared, and it does make for a pleasant park to be in. I found it much nicer to look at and be in than the Magic Kingdom, which I wasn’t necessarily expecting. The Disney parks do feel very premium and like real “spectacle” parks in the same way as the Disney and Universal resorts in Orlando do. Of the two theme park days we’ve had in France this week, I would argue that our group perhaps got more out of Parc Astérix on Monday, and while you can fairly argue that we perhaps didn’t let Disney show its full potential, I think what it partly boils down to is that Disneyland Paris isn’t really designed for us, and I should probably elaborate a little on what I mean. My dad argued that this is because the parks are pitched primarily at families with young children, but I disagree; I think it’s that they cater more to fans of Disney than fans of theme parks. If you are a die-hard Disney fan and you love all the magic and pixie dust and characters, you’ll absolutely love it, but we are an older group and not absolute die-hard Disney fans, so we maybe feel less of a connection to the product. I’ve long felt similarly about the Disney parks in Orlando; I really like the parks, don’t get me wrong, but they don’t excite me like the Universal parks or some other places do. With all that said, it was fun to return to Disneyland Paris and we had a good day! Thanks for reading; I hope you’ve enjoyed this report! I don’t know when my next theme park trip will be or where it will be to, but I’m sure I’ll go somewhere else before too long, so keep your eyes peeled!

I’ve returned to Paultons’s Park for the first time since I was a kid, this time with my own toddler who has recently made the magic 1 meter + 4 years old combo, meaning we could go on early everything. It’s probably been over 20 years since I was last there, and the place is now completely unrecognisable. WHAT A PARK. And what a breath of fresh air! I have read reviews and watched videos etc, and had high expectations. But honestly I was blown away by just how good Paultons actually is now, especially when it comes to their newer things. Every expectation I had was exceeded. The rides, theming, food, staff, availability, atmosphere, overall experience, value for money, prices in the park, everything was spot on. Valgard is truly spectacular, and will be unbelievable when the new water coaster opens next year. The back to back large scale additions this year and next are an extremely positive sign of things to come. Can’t wait to see the park continue to grow over the coming years. It’s so encouraging to have had such a positive experience at a UK park, and to see it doing so well. I hope it continues to go from strength to strength as we gain Universal. The future of the UK theme park industry may be shaky across the board, but there are some real positives - Paultons very much being one of them.

Feel like pure sh** man, just don't need this Stealth negativity in my life. Therefore I am happy to confirm that Stealth will be operational for FOREVER. Anyway, Colossus will be the first coaster to go 'cos turquoise paint is very expensive now.

do you ever miss the old days of parm pap? the days back when there was exciting stuff upcoming, and we all waited in eager anticipation? now it is all bad news, and parm pap feels obliged to continue sharing. but no horizons are oncoming at the thorpe of the park in the near of the future and we will all miss the excitement of the construction of a new realm of thrills that happened previously if it happens again parm pap will be there. ready. unless, of course, I have left. LL OO LLLLLL.

Preventing pipe leakages, why not newspaper and bootlaces?