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This comes from a fun feature Towers have on their website: https://www.altontowers.com/40-years/model-my-map/ It's clearly a bit of silly fun, but I wouldn't be surprised if some of the questions have been designed to get some insight into what people want (especially the non-ride stuff). I'm a big fan of everything Towers are doing right now for their 40th. A solid plan has been laid out, and I really hope they follow through with it. And, forgive me for making the obvious comparison, this is how you do it Thorpe. On top of a proper new addition, proper events all throughout the year, which are all varied and have a clear identity, whilst linking it back to the overarching theme of being the 40th anniversary.

I can' tell you how much enjoyment I get from people moaning at Chessington for not having enough rides open or being really busy when the February half term event is called Animal Adventures.

Oktoberfest means good beer. If they have good beer then excellent, but they won't, will they?

Do not get your hopes up It's probably Game FX 2, with it's slogan "It's not what you wanted, but it's what you got"

Taziker Industrial have written a fantastic article on the retracking of The Big One - lots of good info! https://ti.uk.com/case-studies/the-big-one-rollercoaster

Can I also just put out there that most of the time park's social media teams have no clue what is going on behind the scenes at the park, or even within the park itself (in terms of ride availability etc). At the beginning of Phantasialand wintertraum talocan was closed for about a week due to having its control box changed yet the social media team decided to post on instagram advertising riding talocan during the winter season... they later then took this down after a number of people (including me) commented that talocan wasn't actually open and therefore was misleading to advertise it on instagram. The reply from Thorpe's social media team means nothing. There's no point poking around at what big development is going to be new because when a big new development comes through(if ever), then planning permission will be submitted, otherwise there's absolutely no point getting your hopes up. Their 5 year plan is probably to try and survive on the low budgets that merlin have given them by bringing in new temporary attractions to try and save as much of their falling visitor rates at possible. It's such a shame as I used to enjoy Thorpe a few years back but now I'm honestly waiting until Merlin sell the place off and hopefully someone who actually cares about the place can do something to bring it back up to a reasonable standard again. Merlin's focus clearly no longer lies with Thorpe anymore because they don't have the secured market that chessington, Alton Towers and Legoland do. Unfortunately they have built themselves up a reputation of being a place for "local teenagers" to hangout and that's unfortunately not a market that can be relied upon for a sustainable future of the park.

Personally I don't think pestering Thorpe park with private messages is the best way to try and get them to reveal their secretes.

My niece is only 7, don't bring her into it m8, she's not even tall enough to ride Vampire.

This year for its 30th anniversary Vampire has new music and a refurbished station. Will it be good and finally restore that atmosphere that was lost years ago? Or will it be another terrible DIY revamp

I don't know what you're talking about... (thanks!)

Hi Matt, Put me down as attending please. Looking forward to it. Put me down for the meal to if you plan to have one?

If the queue is walk on or 5 minutes then you would find they close it in tandem with the park. But 15 minutes seems to be the cut off at minimum.

I personally found helix extremely overrated and actually a bit boring compared to modern launch coasters (notably Intamin; Taron, taiga etc). I enjoy icon because I think it's really the best of a bad bunch in the UK, it has a pretty weak layout but small pops of airtime and hang time make for a fun ride if you sit at the back. So yeah, whilst I find both helix and icon fun, I think icon is more of a novelty because its in the UK where we don't really have anything like it, whereas Helix is out in Europe with the big players and doesn't really compare IMO to other coasters out there in Europe. To be honest I wasn't the biggest fan of the park either as a whole(the best thing about it is the chocolate tombolas everywhere!). I much preferred the atmosphere at Grona Lund, Grona Lund felt much more quirky and vibrant whereas Liseberg just felt a bit dead in terms of atmosphere.... I much preferred my second day at Liseberg to my first though as spent pretty much the whole of the first day queueing whereas on the second day I could appreciate the beauty of the gardens and detail within the park (really wanted to ride the big wheel but queue was too long and operations were also slow which was another gripe). My other main issue with Liseberg was they advertised a closing time but the actual ride queue lines didn't have a particular closing time, they just seemed to close whenever the staff felt like it, so wanted to do a night ride on Helix but missed out because the queue line was shut way before park close...

I think this is the thing with Helix, and probably all Mack launch coasters (at the very least, all Mack launch coasters I've done). Helix shouldn't really be thought of as a 'launch coaster'. It is a coaster that happens to feature launches. They are not there as a way of making you go very fast very quickly. They are there as a way to maintain and/or build up slight speed in unnatural positions of the layout (ie: flat / inclines upwards). There's nothing wrong with that. It's good. But it certainly can make it underwhelming if that's not what you're wanting / expecting. Helix's layout more than makes up for it in my mind (and clearly in the majority of people's mind too!). Plus the location, length and such really adds to it. But I think there is a managing expectations vibe to it as well, given it was the first 'modern' multi launch coaster and really burst onto the scene in that sense. It says a lot the most powerful Mack launch coaster I've done is probably Pulsar: a ride which is regarded by Mack as 'a coaster with a launch', rather than a 'launch coaster'!

Alton Towers finally starting to stand up to the resort status. I also love how people will say OctoberFest will fail, as people need to drive to AT. With over 500, ballpark figure don't quote me, rooms people who stay over may want something to do in the evenings. With late night riding this is an excellent way to extend the attendance in the generally quiet month of September. In my opinion a cheaper to run scare fest, whilst extending the popularity of the Halloween event period, just with the offering of beer and lederhosen rather than scares. This is a clear moneymaker, so go to AT and have a few bevvy's this September.

Led ones?

Not a meme per se but certainly dank (to tune of those Lego toy commercials you see on TV, what with Merlin being taken over by Lego): (this was not written by me)

I don't get the fuss behind Helix TBH, I was hugely disappointed with it after YEARS of people banging on about it. The launches were naff, the airtime wasn't half as much as expected, the restraint dug into my leg more and more as I went through (Icon and Blue Fire doesn't do this as bad), and the whole thing rattled and was not as smooth as it should have been. That added with numerous technical issues made for a not so pleasant time with it. I know i'm in minority, so no need for backlash. I am however entitled to my opinion. Odd considering I like Icon!

Top five parks that I love with all my being and would recommend whole heatedly. But please bare in mind this doesn't always have the groundbreaking rides, its all about that sweet, sweet theme as I at heart prefer escapism to just being thrilled. 5. Chessington. Nostalgia is important. Chessington has that nostalgia for me and every time I go I enjoy it far more then a lot of bigger, high budget parks. Whether its exploring the Zoo which makes this the more unique Merlin park or sitting in the hotel bar overlooking the savannah, this feels like the chill out park that I love. Vampire is a classic, Fury is great and the nostalgia for operating these rides will always make it a special place for me. 4. Phantasialand. Wonderful place. Naturally Chiapas and Taron are the standouts. There are parts of the park that are pretty weak such as the awful Winjas Force, Temple of the Knight-hawk and the tedious Chinese Vekoma madhouse. But the charm remains around the rest of the place and its always hotly anticipated. 3. Disneys Animal Kingdom. Immersion is the name of the game and this is the most consistent, natural and beautiful parks that Disney offers. From the wonderful food and drink (siting in Nomad lounge is a pleasure) too the unique Kilimanjaro Safari which is the ultimate E-ticket, a trip to Animal Kingdom has become more and more integral the more I go to Disney World. Pandora has only made the park more important. 2. Efteling. I don't think any theme park is as timeless, beautiful and charming as Efteling. European theme parks can be divided into two categories, the modern like Phantasialand and PortAventura or the classic like Alton Towers and Efteling. This place is gorgeous and a pleasure to explore. 1. Europa Park. Yeah this is an obvious Number one. It's a theme park I've been going to for nearly twenty years and it has everything that I require from a theme park. Whether its escapism with well themed rides or beautiful resorts, Bundles of rides and walk throughs, good food and lots of cheap beer. Yeah this has it all. My personal favourite is walking through the diamond cave and watching Alpine Express zooming through every two minutes. It's wonderful.

Top five parks that people love but I don't really enjoy as much as others and I won't use the word over-rated because that implies that I think the place is rubbish when it actually isn't apart from the Number 1 park which really is awful. 5. Blackpool Pleasure Beach. I don't mind the pleasure beach as such. I like Icon and I like the Wallace and Gromit ride. Big Dipper is okay as well. But everything else is just a bit bad. It doesn't help that Blackpool as a place really needs to sink into the sea and never return. 4. Islands of Adventure. I know why people love this place but I've never felt any love for it. Sheds. Thorpe Park on steroids. The first park to destroy not one but two B&M's. Thats a cardinal sin. It also has that really bad log flume where you just travel past cardboard scenery but nobody talks about it because the final drops look pretty on instagram. 3. Disneyland (CA). The grand-daddy of the Western themed area, Disneyland holds an amazing amount of nostalgia for so many people. It was Walt's park, he walked those streets, came up with the groundbreaking hub and spoke, the man was a genius. But this was a park for a different generation and these days, Disneyland is a struggle. It's tiny, full of low throughput attractions and is frustrating when all queues spill out into walkways all over the place. Nah. 2. Liseberg. I like Liseberg. But its a park that gets ridiculously busy all the time and is a real hassle to get around. I've been twice and I like Helix a lot, Lisebergbananananananana is wonderful, I liked Kanonen and I don't so much mind Balder. Valraven is boring. I find this park such a pain to get around because it was clearly designed with a smaller amount of people in mind. During my last trip when it was open 6pm-12am, the park was empty and it was lovely to be around. We could appreciate the rides and layout and how beautiful parts of it are. But on a busier day, forget it. I don't like the escalator up to Helix and the drop tower and I find the park annoying to get around. 1. PortAventura. The typical love for this place comes down to two things; It's hot and has good opening hours. For me it has two rides worth doing in Shambhala and Dragon Khan, a pretty good show and then you have 10 hours of wasting time because there's nothing else that I enjoy to ride or see. And worse is the queue-jumping. This isn't exclusive to PortAventura (The Madrid parks have exactly the same problem). But PA is far busier and full of queue skipping children. The only park where I recommend buying Fast-lane because if everyone queue jumps anyway you may as well do it within the park rules.

Some nice theming has been delivered: Source

I'm hearing Omnipollo soft serves in steins.

@MattyMoo will have a lot to say about this.

If Thorpe don't have a 5 year plan, they aren't going to tell you, and will tell you they do have one. If they do have a 5 year plan, they aren't going to tell you what it is. If social media is to be believed, the idea of charging your phone by screaming on TWD The Ride was definitely not just a one off PR stunt and was of course a trial that definitely didn't just happen to last the night of the press launch and then never be seen again.

From Thorpe themselves, they seem to be confirming they've completed their LTDP:

If you read between the lines it’s been mentioned on here too.

Do any of the Black Mirror episodes feature a yellow school bus? 😁

I think they underestimate Paulton's Park too - wouldn't surprise me if they already have plans for some more "thrill" rides to add to the mix.

And this to me is why I personally enjoy Helix and not Icon. Icon to me has the dull launches and in my opinion a poor layout. Whilst Helix also has poor launches in terms of forces and has several moments of it just meandering around, the moments such as the inverted top hat, the Norwegian loop and that final airtime hill make for an incredible coaster experience. It utilises a decent variation of elements to counter it's weaknesses and that's the word that inevitably is why I rank Helix highly. Variation. Though I can absolutely see why it's not some enthusiasts cup of tea.