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Another double post, sorry to my fellow members of the cOMMuNiTy. Got to experience this today for the first time as it's now not on timed tickets, and just a standard queue. Shout out to the guy batching the queue today who was very good in character - and another shout out also to the guy in the registration room with a fabulous moustache, who made me laugh, as when I saw my photo on the screen, I shouted "That's disgusting" and quick as a flash he said "Participants are reminded that their photograph is of their own face" 🤣 The experience itself was pretty good, definitely has zero re-ride (re-experience?) potential but I feel it's been executed pretty well. The mirror maze bit is good and we did get lost. All the effects seemed to be working, it just needed to be a touch darker in there I felt as the projection mapping effect is lost a little when it's brighter. All in all, it seemed to make sense to an extent, and I did enjoy it. Can't really see it lasting more than another 2 seasons though, personally - but I would assume Thorpe know that.

Thought we'd do this today as the park was so quiet and could get a booked ticket. So we took the plunge, what could possibly go wrong? Arrived at 1.30pm, the start of our timed slot. Entered the queue and there were already 2 groups batched (2 trains) in the pen, and a fair few in front of us. Queue time on the app jumped to 25 minutes - and we actually got in at 2.05pm so they were about right... my goodness though, that queue is so frustratingly slow. I think people (not me, I hasten to add) expect that you would be able to jump straight on with a timed ticket and not have to queue at all... that's of course not the case. I assume the timed tickets are still happening with DBGTROTD because of a heady mix of unreliability and slow throughput, meaning timed tickets mean a minimum/controlled number of potentially disappointed guests. Someone in front of us asked the batcher how long the queue would be, and she said "We aren't allowed to give exact queue times but it should be about 25 minutes" - clearly that instruction must come from past experience or management above with this ride (which is odd considering the app shows a time but maybe that's just a guess from number of timed tickets "sold") Anyway, we get in and Dezza B appears (he hasn't aged a bit!) and talks about thrillseekers, scaring babies, keeping secrets and all that. We then enter the preshow. A man is on a plinth with a microphone saying he is from Minds Wanted and we are to go on an expedition to investigate with Sub Core and decipher what's real and what's not (or something). He asks for a lead volunteer for the group, asks them to count backwards from 3 and look left and right to test how intelligent they are, much hilariousness. He then gets us to remember a number and repeat it. He then asks if anyone knows what siderodromophobia is. Of course no one knows, and it's the fear of trains. Asks if anyone has this fear. Picks someone and double checks they don't have it... almost as if he's stalling for time... he then asks if anyone knows what arachnophobia is - bit random - much chatter ensues and then finally someone bursts through the doors saying Sub Core are "drilling in to our mind more like" and the Minds Wanted chap tells her to shut up and stop being a nuisance and tells us to ignore her and we go into the train loading. She roams around telling us to go back etc. Now, to be fair to both of these actors, I can't imagine this is a particularly easy role, but my god it just did not work. For a start, that pre-loading room was never meant to have people in it for that amount of time, it just felt uncomfortable and evident they were stalling for time. We get on the train, and put on the headsets (read: me and my mate both have to hold them on because they will not stay on our heads despite all manner of adjusting the straps and velcro). Dezza pipes up "10...9... 8... 7.... 6.... 5.... 4... 3.... 2.... 1...." Here we go... "the night vision" mode kicks in, train starts to move... within seconds "Please stay seated and follow instructions from your ride hosts, we are sorry for the delay" (or words to that effect). I say to my mate - this isn't good, we've barely moved out of the station. Air con goes on, someone asks if it's OK to get off after about 10 minutes, which of course isn't possible because we are stuck in between the two stations. After what feels like forever, the lights go back on with Sub Core on the screens and we get on with our JoURnEy. This first bit of VR had the old guy with the dog as always, and then a young girl - which I hadn't seen before. There was no jump scare as such from her, think she might have warned us to go back and tell us how the gas was effecting her. Anyway, off with your headsets QUICK QUICK QUICK, we are ushered through a few switchbacks of fencing in the tunnels bit, lots of screaming and such.... we congregate in the main room where a couple of actors seem to have gone feral and are jump scaring etc cos of the fumes and that, and to be fair - it's clear who the scare maze actors are and those who are just normal ride ops being forced to try and act. That's no disrespect to those ride ops/staff, it's just a matter of fact, and I don't envy them for trying to have to make this all make sense. DID ANYONE REMEMBER A SET OF NUMBERS? No cos we've been stuck on a tube train for ages mate it's been a nightmare. 5631. 5..6..3.....1 OK, that's right. How does she know? What do these numbers do or where do they go, who is she telling them to, NO ONE KNOWS but it's immersive. Back on the train we go quick quick hurry put on your headsets NO NOT THAT ONE IT'S IN A BAG quick sit down REMAIN SEATED. OK. My headset this time around was only working on the left hand channel. I'm not sure what's gone on here, but the second section of VR was not only a lot shorter, but actually felt like you were just watching TV, not sure how to explain it but previously it did feel that you were moving with it etc. This time nothing. Odd. Anyway, quick take off your headsets. DON'T GET UP REMAIN SEATED EVERYONE REMAIN SEATED. It's clear the train is in the wrong place for whatever reason as the lights are now on and you can clearly feel movement. Maybe that's why the VR felt dead? ANYWAY we are back in the station where we started - can you believe it? No, I can't but no one actually notices and please exit through the gift shop. Announcement from the staff member behind the photo purchase point (what do you mean there was no photo taking point anywhere in the ride, HUSH) - "Sorry everyone, someone's reacted badly to the VR and they've been sick on the stairs so we have to keep you here whilst we clear it up" WHAT. I mean, fair dues, the group behind us believe it but come on.... Suddenly stuff starts to shake, the lights go off and a coughing man appears complete with noises of a demon that appears briefly in the bit of second VR (and also on the ride sign outside) but said demon cannot be seen anywhere in the shop. Exit into actual - very empty - real gift shop. Absolute disappointment and an absolute mess. I KNOW a breakdown doesn't help but even without that - this ride is a complete hotch potch of ideas and a storyline that doesn't make sense, or only makes some sense in parts. The staff are trying their best but please, Thorpe Park, just shut this thing next year whilst you decide how to fix it. My personal idea to get some money back is turn it into an upcharge year round 15-20 minute extreme long scare-maze experience. You could ditch the VR, maybe amongst the fellow passengers you could have actors who look like customers who become possessed/something during the journey I don't know.... Oh and what time did we get out? 2.50pm. We were in there for ONE HOUR TWENTY MINUTES (including the queue). Thank goodness the park was dead! I don't think I'm being particularly nasty on purpose here - like I always say, the Dezza hologram is good. The theming (Victorian train, building, interior, tube train stations) is top notch. The whole storyline, overall experience and VR? A complete disjointed disaster. Sorry. EDIT: Just read Han's review above, so am pleased to see that I'm not going mad/forgetful and the 2nd bit was a lot shorter, and that it is a general shambles xoxox

Love this! Inferno takes it for me - years ago (pre-saw) on a quiet day towards the end of the day we’d often head to Inferno and just stay on the train for as long as we could (as long as nobody was in the air gates, we’d be allowed to stay seated!) I have no idea what my record would have been, but it was something ridiculous 😂 Good times and great memories. Do they still allow that at Thorpe? ———— On a side note this has really pulled on my heart strings. I spent hours doing this with a friend who lost his life a few years ago. Thank you for posting this and letting my re-live such happy memories I’d forgotten I had 😊 Weird how such specific things bring the memories flooding back isn’t it.

I like how they've given it a rusty paint job to hide the actual rust that the ride will eventually gain after years of no maintenance whatsoever.

Thorpe won three of those awards at this evening's event... Best Theme Park Event Best Set & Design (for Trailers) Best Scare Zone & Roamers (for The Crows of Mawkin Meadow)

I went on Tuesday and had a fantastic day. I'm so biased towards Chessington though. I completely wear the rose tinted glasses. There's clearly issues across the park but sometimes, just sitting back and enjoying the day means more. + Four laps on Scorpion. Why did I love it so much?! I have no idea + Mexicana looks great with all the new little props in the area + I love Grufflalo so much. It stands tall with Wallace and Gromit and Hex as one of the best dark rides in the country + Dragons Fury now sits in the under-rated category. What a fantastic rollercoaster + Great to see the investment in the park. New rides, more announcements on rides, new music. + Croc Drop is fine but doesn't spin anymore. + Bought loads of merchandise because it was the original 1987 logo. Shameless + Free food for the Lorikeets now. - Blue Barnacle was almost as good Black Buccaneer. Surprised how high it went actually. - Very few boats on Tiger Rock. Park needs to invest in new boats now, it's going to be awful in Summer - Tomb Blaster was rough. I don't like the new story or the guns it uses. - Queue boards inaccuracy. Said 40 for Fury, was on the stairs, Said 40 at Vampire, was 5 minutes. - Lots of the Zoo area closed for refurbishment. Pirates Cove was very loud from construction. - Maybe its my Disney exposure, but how thin are the queues. Vampire can only be walked single file for examples. it's so tiny!

Casual first post in this thread in 4 years.... park was absolutely DEAD today, don't think I've ever seen it so quiet, with rides on 0-5 minutes for most of the day - longest I saw was Colossus peaking at 30 minutes at the start of the day. Ride/eXpErIEncE count (could've easily done loads more, but I like to keep my food in my stomach cheers huns) Stealth x3 (including one front row, still love love looooove this) Swarm x2 (no queue all day) Inferno (feeling INTENSE) Saw (feeling sore) Colossus (feeling 20 years old) DBGTROTD (don't get me wound up) Black Mirror Purple Boat In The Tunnel Sit Down Please

I concur, I finally feel safe again with regards to my hobby of licking door handles ❤️

or use as an eASTeR EGg/nOD to ThE pASt (aka lazy theming) in a Fright Nite's maze xoxo

Terrible. Just terrible.

Who has time to stop and watch the people dancing on these stages? When you lose an hour to the Smiler or the Wicker Man, you aren't left with long to get on everything especially with the size of the place. There's not enough filler to spread people around. I felt the same as Madi Gras last year. There's just not enough hours open in the day to spend watching the stage. I just do not understand why the golf or the water park have the same opening times as the theme park. They've done that for years and its stupid. As I said in my trip report, there's no point visiting in 2023 with Nemesis closed. The park is just thread bare in attractions at the moment.

@Matt N blimey that was a pretty vivid and detailed dream! The only theme park related one I can remember was going to Thorpe on a really windy day and Stealth had blown over so it was essentially flat - it still had a big queue which confused me!

To me, without the demon ending, the whole storyline is completely disjointed. Granted the 'infected' ones are the more promiment ones in the storyline, but after they got rid of the demon in the tunnel/lights on a stick schtick for Rise of the Demon - it kind of makes the demon a bit... irrelevant? They should either scrap the demon idea entirely and just focus on the people 'infected by the gas', or scrap the infected and go with the demon. 'Rise of the Demon' doesn't make any sense anymore - but to be fair, I never understood the idea of why a demon was involved when the gas was turning people infected? Really, really poor storyline.

If Swarm’s old plaza audio has returned and the new station audio has stayed, then perhaps controversially, I actually think that would be my ideal Swarm music scenario, as I preferred the old plaza audio to the new one bought in last year, but I thought the new station audio was awesome!

Ok, the two examples could be coincidences. Swarm audio might have been as a result of the audio changes across the park. It wasn’t good audio either way, they are still using the new station audio unfortunately. Anytime there’s a slight pause in a dispatch, the music will stop once the track is played, it doesn’t loop. TikTok board feels like the most reactive, it was clearly deliberately set up and painted. Not long after twitter went at it, it was gone.

Playground not yet open, will not be visiting on Wednesday 27th April. Oh wait, new toilets - T R I P I S B A C K O N 🥰

I honestly don’t think there’s a definite answer here. As others have mentioned it all depends on preference. If your someone who loves awesome thrilling roller coasters and white knuckle attractions, Cedar point will win. If you adore themed areas, random attractions/dark rides, Europa will win. I honestly adore both places, but I guess Europa has it for me, but only just.

Blows dust off topic... Walibi Holland are set to get a RMC single rail coaster in 2024: https://www.looopings.nl/weblog/19781/Walibi-Holland-bevestigt-nieuwe-achtbaan-wordt-single-rail-coaster--opening-in-2024.html

Cant give a definite number but the swarm on a ministry of sound night drunkish ….

40 on Untamed Yes really. Had the fastlane which shaves off 90 percent of the wait, it was an 11pm closure and Untamed is the only ride in that park I find any sort of great!! I was in LOADS of pain after mind!!

Timber Tug Boat has now docked into Chessington. It’s going to imminently be renamed Trawler Trouble. The Ship with its new name and livery is expected to sail again within the next month. Trawler Trouble looks extremely immersive and follows Disney Standards. It’s hard to believe only 6 months ago it was a ride that resembled that of a Traveling Funfair. I knew that Timber Tug Boat was in for a full scale refit rather than a rename to Trawler Trouble. Chessington is the best Themed Park in England. I have always said that Chessington reminds me of the Disney Parks. Image from Chessington Buzz

What? I must have gone to a different event. The Fright Nights 21 visit I had was the worst theme park visit I've ever had. Fair enough. The set & design was fab. Our run-through was awful though. Again, I must have gone through a different scare zone. 🤷🏼‍♂️ --- Congratulations to them for the awards, clearly a lot of hard work went in to creating the event, and as always the actors were incredible and working bloody hard. But based on my visit and my personal experience on the night, the park don't even deserve the wooden spoon. I think it was down to difficulties recruiting staff etc, but even so it's interesting to see how much guest experiences can differ from each other with scare events. It's promising to hear that many thought it was worthy of these awards though. Hopefully consistency is worked on going forward.

Perhaps leaning more towards the &Roamers part.... Would be interesting to know how these awards are decided though is it based on voting or a panel.

I've noticed that the Nemesis Inferno area has been playing the original music recently. A weird decision in many ways, but at the same time, I forgot how much I like it after hearing it again.

Also just want to say thank you to the teams of meets past. The days whereby you could get tours of rollercoasters and ERT sessions for the big old price of £0! some great memories

Sure we love rides but lets face it, the music is the best part of the theme park experience. Rides make up ten or so minutes of the day, music is all round you, encompassing you, selling you the experience. No one has been in that Baron 1898 queue and not hummed along to the tune.

The Extra special, lock down rollercoaster, pandemic 2020 - February 2022 top rollercoaster list that I forgot to do last year because there was barely anything new ridden. 1. Velocicoaster - I'm shameless. This is the stand out rollercoaster from the past two years of coaster desert. If you like your Taron's but you also like your Helix then this is the perfect in between. 2. F.L.Y. - I think the biggest part that makes this a stand out ride is how it weaves between Rookburgh. This is a ride that I would point to if I was to explain why European parks are miles better then American ones. From its 10/10 soundtrack to its extra special details all across the area, the beautiful surroundings and surrounding hotel make this an absolute must do. 3. Hagrids Motorbike ride thing. - I didn't think this was a stand out ride really but in the middle of a coaster drought, things like this will rate highly. I remain amazed that it works at all. 4. Storm Chaser - Whilst I don't think is an outstanding ride per se, I think its testament to Paultons that its theming and integrity are what holds this up as one of the better rides in the UK. I hope this ride pushes the success that this park fully deserves as its rides like this and Cyclonator that younger people will ride and begin to love rides, the same way that vampire and rattlesnake were important to me. 5. Gringotts Coaster - This is a rollercoaster in the loosest sense of the word. If you like effects happening around and endless screens then boy have I the ride for you. Special mention to the Hulk, which whilst isn't an entirely new rollercoaster, was riding much better then its older version.

I went on Tuesday and as Matt had remarked, this day too was very low on attendance figures with only 2500 registered.

https://www.merlinentertainments.biz/newsroom/news-releases/2022/merlin-entertainments-nick-varney-chief-executive-officer-to-retire/ CEO of Merlin, Nick Varney, and CDO Mark Fisher, have announced that they intend to retire over the next 12 months. Nick has been CEO of Merlin since it was formed in 1999, and Mark Fisher might not be a name everyone is familiar with, but he's played a significant role in Merlin as well. Both leaving the company at a similar time could lead to some pretty big changes.

Agreed - definitely no re-experience-ability whatsoever. I've either done it twice or thrice since it opened, and the best way to describe it is a sensory overload 😂 I can't see it lasting too much longer though, which is a good thing I think because the BML show building has got a really decent sized footprint and utilizing that space for Fright Nights (or perhaps an actually good dark ride... ehem DBGTROTD... albeit if they opted for the dark ride, it would be pretty bloody short.

Just to add to what @Han30 said - I just can't believe that the second VR featuring the demon, which was actually quite good, has been cut so much, so that it now barely features the demon - which features in the name of the flippin' ride! Also - that 1950s style microphone on the Minds Wanted plinth looked very familiar, I wonder if the Lycans will want it back for Fright Nights? Or maybe it was an "easter egg".

Wow, it sounds worse than ever. What a mess Thank you for sharing guys - I don't think I was planning on ever 'riding' this again tbh, but now I'll definitely give it a miss. It's been 6 years since this opened now. Surely that's long enough for the park to give it a go now, before getting rid? The whole thing needs bulldozing. In my opinion the park was better off with the unused Arena - it was less disappointing.

Exclusive news from being "on park" and on Saw today is that there was a car parked in Old Town and by Rocky there was a bit of clearance/shingle going on.

Hi guys. I was curious to know; have any of you ever had any theme park related dreams? I only ask because I had a very weird theme park dream last night that I couldn’t not share… Basically, it revolved around my first day at Europa Park, which is coming up in real life in 6 days’ time. And it was one of those dreams where every little thing was stopping me from getting into the park and riding any rides… but far from a regular one. Buckle up, because this dream is weird… Things got off to a good start after a wonderful sleep in Hotel Castillo Alcazar (actually, I’m not sure what hotel it even was… it certainly didn’t look like Castillo Alcazar), but then we went down into the hotel lobby… where I was greeted by my study skills tutor from university, who was armed with a cricket bat and a huge black bin bag. She then proceeded to whack me around the head repeatedly with the cricket bat and throw me into the bin bag… When I finally woke up from being knocked out by repeated cricket bat wounds, my study skills tutor had taken me out of the bin bag, and I found myself in a room that looked bizarrely like the House of Commons if it didn’t have any MPs in it. She then threw me onto one of the green seats and threw an exam paper in my face before informing me that I had to resit A Level Maths for some reason, and I wasn’t allowed into the park until I’d passed. I then started doing the exam, but for some reason that I can’t quite remember, she then came and kicked me out of the room for “acting up” before throwing me into my own private room and restarting my timer from the beginning, even though I’d completed a fair chunk of the exam. The exam was fairly plain sailing after that, but when I got out of the exam, I wasn’t allowed to leave the House of Commons-style room, as it got stranger… two team members from TowersStreet Talk then appeared out of nowhere and informed me that it was time for my “Forum Member’s Review”. They sat me down at this table where I was facing them directly, and then they began to spend a long time grilling me on my past forum posts. I don’t remember exactly what they said, other than that it started with them going “We’ve been looking through your post history… and my god, you’re a moaner!” before then shaking their heads and tutting at me in perfect unison. I don’t remember what they said after that, other than that it was definitely about my previous post history, but for some reason, my mum then appeared and reprimanded me for being rude to the two TS team members. And I again can’t remember what I did… it just came seemingly out of nowhere. After that, I finally found myself in Europa Park… except as is typical for dream theme parks, it looked nothing like I’d imagined it would. I started in this tiny indoor area with Victorian style windows and a tiny little house to navigate your way around to get into the park. It had corridors that were barely wide enough to fit me in them, and it was an absolute maze to navigate my way through. I did eventually get through it, but for some reason, my grandparents (who aren’t even coming to Germany with us in real life) then appeared out of nowhere, and we spent a few minutes exchanging pleasantries. By this point, my enthusiast anxiety was most certainly rising, and it was close to closing time. I then exited the maze with my grandparents… which led us to a massive muddy field that had Silver Star randomly plonked in the middle of it. I yelled “OH MY GOD, IT’S SILVER STAR!” and then started sprinting like I’ve never sprinted before. My grandparents initially tried sprinting with me, but then they told me to leave them behind, as they were too tired. My foot fell into a giant rabbit hole while I was sprinting, and I twisted my ankle very badly (much more badly than you’d expect for merely getting your foot stuck in a rabbit hole, for some reason), but I kept running (albeit in a rather haphazard way, and certainly not straight… I felt like I was going to keel over any second due to my ankle pain). I was very close to reaching Silver Star’s queue entrance… but then in typical theme park dream fashion, I woke up. I know it sounds weird, but that’s exactly what happened, word for word… have you ever had any theme park related dreams?

The whole experience is just a mess and it’s like they never really thought things through that well. The 2 photo points in the queue are no longer in use so the ending part and the photo booth is pointless. They had the bag drop the first year and then got rid of that after just one season. Instead of fixing the mid section which I thought was a really good effect they’ve just hashed up a mini maze in there. The pre show is so long and tedious and they’ve now added almost a second preshow with an actor which seems to go on forever and as a result the second VR section has been cut. The initial second VR section was very odd so I do prefer the updated one but I would rather it have stayed what it was instead of cutting it to accommodate the actors speech which is quite tedious. My favourite part was the exit/gift shop but they’ve fudged that up now that the demon is gone - it genuinely scared me the first time I saw it but now just a person coughing doesn’t have the same effect. Even the shop looks pretty awful compared to how it used to be - half empty and selling other ride merch. Its just not worth re-riding (I only do if I’m with someone who hasn’t been on and wants to try it). There are so many options they could have gone for for a dark ride - even a bog standard ghost train would be better at this point. All the hype surrounding it and it’s just a pile of crud - I guess it was a gamble they took which hasn’t paid off. Wondering at which point it will just be called “ghost train” because I don’t think I’d want my name to be affiliated with it. Maybe I’m being harsh - I just miss the arena in all honesty.

I rode it for the first time yesterday, it was boring and I hated it and there was nothing scary about it

😂 Love this! That dream sounds like a rollercoaster of emotions on its own! Mark9's train parking issues are more of a nightmare than a dream as well tbh. I did have an odd one a few months back - there was a long wooden coaster that opened in Central London, think along the lines of The Ultimate... I joined the queue, and it was extremely busy. The queue was sort of a lot of wooden stairs going up, a bit like Depth Charge.. But a bit more grungy, like Shockwave used to be. I nearly reached the top of the queue, and unfortunately hit my head on a wooden beam, which caused me to wake up 🙄 I never did get to ride the London Woody! Hope you have a great time at Europa Park!

I went on Tuesday - second visit of the season. It was pretty busy in comparison to over the Easter weekend (guessing due to only premium and platinum passholders being the only annual passholders able to attend those dates). The Thrill Makers are…..interesting - I’m not bashing them because they seem popular for younger visitors - one of them came over to us and was really engaging which was nice but we wanted to move on before the show started so used the excuse that I needed a cigarette - I was quite shocked when the girl said “oh it’s fine don’t worry you can smoke here, it’s not enforced” - literally smack bang in the middle of what was a quite busy area and where kids were around. She even pointed to someone else smoking to prove her point. I know Thorpe aren’t as strict as other parks but I wouldn’t sit and smoke where there are kids about because it’s disgusting and I’m sure many parents wouldn’t want their kids inhaling second hand smoke. One fairly big gripe I have is with the Colossus team - painfully slow. Both this visit and last they weren’t even opening the air gates until the station was clear from previous riders which is insane - the queue yesterday was at 90 minutes at this point and my friend timed how long it took from the train coming in and the air gates opening and it was over 2 mins. If this is to do with safety issues then fair enough but it’s not happening on the other coasters? Very bizarre and it also results in being sat on the brake run for what seems like a bloody eternity which is uncomfortable. The new toilets are actually the best thing this year 😂. Staff on the whole are very friendly aswell

Heres the PERFECT solution Somebody in charge FINALLY accepts that its the biggest white elephant project in the history of the theme park industry, cuts their losses,says "time to throw in the towel" and just rip the damn thing out!!

If the wanted to a more conventional dark ride, they would pretty much have to rip out Ghost Train and start again. In terms of tracks, Ghost Train literally just has a pair of parallel train tracks, so a conversion/refurb wouldn't really do much.

We need the equivalent of the Exodus thread piff waff guy to spill the beans innit.

Ouch. The headsets in bags is not good - they've had all closed season to fix them, so that implies to me they just aren't bothered and don't want to throw any more money at it, so will just run it at a reduced capacity until they decide what to do next. Is there a cohesive story with these various actors and final coughing person scene? One would assume and hope so? I really don't know what they will do with this ride once the IP runs out. To have it without the VR seems like a very expensive ride on a train. I can only really imagine going down the permanent scare maze route to get a bit of extra mileage out of it? But then that costs a lot with actors.... it's clear that VR headsets just aren't up to the day-to-day constant use so can't see that being used. Maybe fit projectors/screens to the windows of the train a la Hogwarts? That's possible I suppose. It's certainly going to take some "reimagining" that's for sure. No wonder it's been so long since Thorpe has had a big investment after spunking that wad of cash up the wall on such a white elephant. Who's Ghost Train is it? Well, technically speaking it's mine but I don't like to talk about it xox

Honestly, no clue who they're targeting any more these days. They're a park which are still going for "thrills", but the people and age range seems to be broad and unclear. Apparently the addition of the Playground is something that's come from above. The idea is that Merlin want some form of play equipment at every park, regardless of target audience, etc

Sooooo.... Twisted Clowns is gone and being replaced with something that looks to involve electricity judging by the question mark... and a brand new haunt is coming too. I do wonder if Tulley's will do a full reveal waaaaay before Thorpe to one-up them (especially considering some of their tongue in cheek tweets last year!)

From an operations perspective, I’d say good. Every coaster except for Colossus has been constantly running two trains. The park feels fresh in areas, I’d say each area has had something done to it to make it a little bit fresher. The park and management team seem to be very aware of what people want. They are pushing their TikTok which is working. They listened (I can’t confirm) to comments on Twitter saying about how bad the TikTok board was and removed it. They’ve also returned the old swarm audio after complaints… The Roaming entertainment team have found their feet. The Thrillmakers seem to fit the Thorpe brand, however I notice they are almost always dancing with young children…. The park which has just lost two children's rides. High Striker is ugly from the back and should have been placed against a wall or a less prominent view from the dome. The theme suits the area and the soundtrack which plays is pretty good. They are appealing to enthusiasts by releasing special pins such as a loggers leap pin and selling coaster climbs. Again a good thing, they are quite an open park compared to Alton Towers. The new events seems like they could have a lot of thought put into them. They are really pushing the events on the app and on the park trying to get people to return for the events. TL:DR Very positive start, the park is listening and responding. Few issues to iron out but generally most are out of the parks control and more about Merlin.

Just to say what I did on Twitter - this drilling is for soil sampling so they know what they are dealing with when putting in footers/excavations etc. It will categorically, 100% NOT be being used to drill holes for construction itself and is purely for investigative purposes. Still - progress is progress, and is exciting to see.

Hi @Matt N, I was wondering if you're settling in to Uni a little more now, or if you're still getting used to things? What are you studying? I can completely understand the sudden change from the 'school structure' you get at 6th form in to a more "sort yerself out" kind of situation at uni. I went to College rather than 6th form, which I think set me up really well for Uni, better than 6th form ever could have done. Without doing College however I think I would have found starting Uni similar to you to begin with, and I know that a lot of my friends who came from 6th form felt the same as you. It's A LOT to get used to isn't it, it's all very different to school. I hope it's settled down now though and you're starting to enjoy it? I think if I could give you any advice at all from my experience, it would be to ask the staff for help with things. Be bold, and approach them directly - this is kind of a life hack I've taken with me in to work - just ask and I bet they'll be happy to help! Don't forget, you're paying them for this. If you don't ask, you don't get to remember that you absolutely deserve to be there, and you absolutely deserve to enjoy yourself. You've clearly worked really hard to get your place at Uni, doing the subject you wanted to do. despite what people might tell you while you're there, most employers don't give a damn if you get a 1st. Getting a degree is really hard - which lets face it, is kind of the point! Nobody ever gets 100% on any assignment, that's impossible, just give it your best shot and be proud of what you're achieving! The fact you have been passing your assignments is REALLY good! You're on track to get a degree, that's an amazing achievement! What I'll also say though is this.. Someone I went to Uni with dropped out in the first year, and he now has a collection of incredible cars and runs a web design company employing multiple staff... If you're really not enjoying Uni, if it's not for you, then it's not for you - that's ok! Most of my colleagues at work didn't go to Uni, and here we are in the same position as each other. Ugh.. I've rambled...... Be happy Matt. That's more important than anyone likes to say Look after yourself and do what's right for you, not anyone else.

Hi guys. The 2022 season is just beginning, with BPB starting to reopen its gates, so I thought I’d breathe some life back into TPM’s trip report section (which hasn’t been updated for over a year by the looks of things) and make a 2022 Trip Plans thread! So, what parks are we all planning to do this year, now that COVID’s effect on the theme park industry is seemingly beginning to ease? Personally, I have a variety of plans for 2022. Much of this isn’t set in stone, as it’s only February, but here are my tentative 2022 trip plans, split into categories of their status: Locked In Plans Europa Park (26th-30th April 2022, on park 27th-29th April 2022) - After months of planning, this is finally locked in! We’re staying in Castillo Alcazar for 4 nights and have 3 days of park tickets to Europa Park, a bucket list park I’ve wanted to visit for a good 7 or 8 years now! I’m absolutely buzzing about it; it’s slightly surreal to think that after years and years of wanting to go, I’m only a little over 10 weeks away from finally stepping into Europa Park, the Golden Ticket Award winner for world’s best theme park and a place that many hold in extremely high regard, and I’m going to be riding coasters like Wodan, Silver Star, Blue Fire, as well as seeing other esteemed rides like Voletarium and Piraten in Batavia, as well as seeing what the park in general has to offer… my, this is so exciting! I know a lot of you are probably quite blasé about a trip to Europa by now, but from my personal perspective, I can’t believe that a trip I’ve dreamed about doing since I was 11 or 12 is finally happening! Almost Definite Plans Solo Train Trip to Drayton Manor (Weekday in June 2022) - After my successful pilot of solo theme park visiting at Thorpe last September, I want to take my newfound ability further in 2022 and take the train alone to a theme park in 2022. And where better to begin with that than the easiest park to reach from my location by train; Drayton Manor! I’ve mapped out the route from Wilnecote train station (reachable by direct train from my local train station), and everything looks nice and walkable the entire way, and I’d also like to get back to Drayton even excluding the stuff about my solo park visiting; I haven’t been in 4 years, there’s still some significant(ish) stuff there I haven’t ridden, and I would like to give Apocalypse a good send off before its rumoured removal at the end of 2022! In terms of when I’d like to go; I’ve decided on a weekday in June, as I’m headed to Europa in April, and this is also when I’m off uni and the kids are still in school keeping park crowd levels low, so it’s win-win! I obviously haven’t booked anything or concluded anything for this yet, but I am quite set on doing it at some point in 2022, so I’ll file it under “Almost Definite”! Possibilities Brean Theme Park/possibly Weston too (Unknown) - In spite of having been a theme park enthusiast since I was 10, I still haven’t visited my nearest theme park; Brean Theme Park! My dad has said to me that me and him could remedy that at some point in 2022, though, and he also raised the possibility that we could do Funland at the Tropicana as well, so excluding the kiddie creds at either park, as I don’t generally do kiddie creds, this could be a very easy +4! Blackpool Pleasure Beach (Unknown) - My parents have said we might be able to get back up to Blackpool for a short break at some point this year, and I’ll admit, I am keen for a revisit, what with new Valhalla and retracked Big One, Grand National and Big Dipper all having happened since my last visit, and I’m gagging to get back on my #2 coaster Icon after 3 years away! To tell you the truth, I was originally planning to do BPB myself on the train in one day, but from the South West, the trip was quite an epic one compared to anything I’ve done before, and practically everyone around me thought it sounded like quite a poor travel-to-park-time ratio (I totted it up to be around 8-9 hours of travelling for around 4-5 hours of park time, with me needing to get up at about 5:30am), so my parents said to me “if you want to go to Blackpool, I’m sure we could go up and stay there at some point this year so you get a full day in the park!”, which sounded like a far more pleasurable, less bold idea to me… That’s all I can think of at the moment, and as I say, much of that is not set in stone, so the year could turn out totally differently; it’s only February at the moment! In terms of the Merlin parks; from having talked to my parents, I’m led to believe that after quite a Merlin-heavy 2020 and 2021, our visit frequency to those will be considerably lower in 2022 due to us no longer having MAPs (my parents aren’t buying themselves new MAPs after being angry at the way Merlin treated passholders during COVID). I could in theory buy an MAP myself (my last MAP, the Premium MAP I had during COVID, was one I bought myself), but if my parents don’t get them too, it’s probably not overly worthwhile. But what 2022 trip plans do you have?

Now its more officially out there Tulleys 11th live maze launches this year ….