Marc
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Everything posted by Marc
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The thing is I think there is potential with ghost train - on paper it’s really a very good idea in my opinion, the illusion is great and the movement of the train is really good and surprises plenty of people. I don’t even have a problem with VR, it’s the only way this attraction could work but long term for it to work it really needs a better story and more reliable VR headsets. I also think the middle section is such a letdown now, the original was the best despite the effect rarely working!
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Not much has changed atall - they’ve added abit more of a story told by the actor before you enter the floating carriage room which is carried on in the middle section, other than that it’s the same as previous.
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They used to play saw sound effects think they used to work up will recently at least!
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The tower speaker has been replaced with a large RCF one - you can see it if you look up as you go through the tower but it wasn’t working my last visit. As for under the wing maybe there’s a new one there now just not working yet - noticed a new rock with holes like around stealth which seem to have speakers in but not certain!
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Saws indoor sections had its audio back yesterday sounding good although the station still sounds abit tinny, hopefully they can add a sub somewhere to improve that, think Stealth would also benefit as saw it’s Bose subs from under the station have been removed hopefully they plan to replace with new RCF ones. Swarm island has also been turned up, although sound effects from the train under wing / tower still off but that could be related to the other water / fire effects currently being off.
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No idea what is up with storm surge but it’s certainly had closed season work so can’t see it being removed this soon!
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Agreed it is sounding a lot better , although as you say don’t think it’s completely finished. Also noticed saws station lacked bass, and only the bathroom sound effect had any sound, hopefully the billy speachs and the offload announcement can be fixed soon. The Swarm area was very very quiet ok open day - also none of triggered effects were working either but as above I’m sure it’s not 100% finished. Overall though good improvements!
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I think the problem with Thorpes entrance is to sort it you really have to flatten it and start again which would obviously cost a lot of money. Things like security, Covid checks etc have had to be implemented, usually with little notice and little budget and you get where we are now - that said realistically if you was to start again other than some maybe more modern buildings and better styling I’m not sure it would function majorly different as it does now? I guess you could well have more space for things and have more security lanes etc to Improve efficiency.
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Every few years rush gets taken apart as much as it is now - it has opened late some seasons when they have done this so it’s possible but the extra few weeks may mean it does open on time but don’t worry it will return!
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Good topic! 1. Skyline - it’s got the best skyline in the U.K. by far - it looks so good, from walking over the bridge to driving past on the m3, it stands out and is pretty unique. 2. Fright Nights - like you it’s definitely not the best Halloween event anymore but I’ll still visit multiple times every year, even without the mazes the atmosphere at the park alleys seems to be so good. 3. The rides - it maybe an obvious one, and Thorpe are in desperate need of something new but that don’t take away from the lineup they have - they have a great selection of rollercoasters and flats even with the lack of resent investments in this department
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I think the problem with ghost train is before this the cleaning was very much a quick wipe of headsets when guests were in the tunnel - even if restrictions allowed I don’t think guests would accept this so much now, they would need to properly clean each headset between every load now - it’s throughput was bad enough before I think it would be even worse now - along with even come june I’m not sure people would be happy sitting packed in on a train like that. To be fair that’s not to say it won’t reopen - but I can’t see it being able to run “well” atall any time soon - definitely not during the 2021 season.
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To be fair if it is destined not to reopen it is a direct result of Covid, it would have continued to operate at least for now had Covid not happened
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Have removed a couple of posts from here - Regardless on your opinions on Nick’s music - fair play to him for organising this - just looked and I saw he’s raised almost £600 to donate to a mental health charity and no one deserves to be berated for that - that’s significant amount especially during these times from such a niche market. Whilst I get it may not be everyone’s cup of tea I think it’s great people when people l come together and do things like this which will ultimately benefit others more in need, especially in times like this!
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The parks you compare them with are huge tourist traps attracting millions of guests from around the world each year, sat conveniently close to some of the most popular theme parks in the world, that’s where their big bucks will be made rather than how it is here in the uk where the Merlin parks are catered for a very different type of visitor. For the passes I think it’s been a long time coming, of course I don’t want to pay more for a pass but even at the new price points it still offers great value for money for how much I use the pass each year. Merlin sort of created an issue for them selves in my opinion by making passes so cheap for so long, don’t get me wrong I know Merlin have their problems and are far from perfect, but even throughout their worse years we’ve still seen continued and frequent investments in the Merlin parks (although maybe not Thorpe!) There’s no denying Merlin have a monopoly, whilst the smaller independent parks are constantly and maybe not far from giving Merlin a run for their money (I’m mainly thinking paultons here). But what people are saying is right, if you don’t feel you get value from it then it’s not for you, but that’s like everything in life too!
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Certainly hope so! That said I think the park would want to know early summer at the latest so fingers crossed we are back to a more normal come Easter as is being suggested!
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Personally I don’t think it was their intention to completely remove it - sadly it was deemed it needed a fairly significant amount of work at a pretty bad time where budgets etc started to be cut - had it been a couple years earlier it wouldn’t surprise me if it had got the money it needed and had been saved.
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Ah yeah I meant what they immediately proceeded rather then their originals!
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Hadn’t really thought about it like that tbf but I’d say Gruffalo, Tiger Rock, Walking Dead The Ride are all good examples of a revamp improving the ride. That said I guess you could argue all 3 were better in their original form (Maybe not XNWO!) Fingers crossed Valhalla is a similar improvement!
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The unit has been split into 2 - fish and chips is still there although wouldn’t be surprised if it goes it never seems particularly popular at the best of times.
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The problem is merlin have already made it clear many pass holders are pre booking and not turning up, increasing pass holders tickets makes this problem worse and I can see why they don’t want to give pass holders too much % of the capacity they have for them not to turn up. They could introduce a higher pre book price (seems unlikely now they’ve made it free) which gives you money back when your at the park to spend. Or you could have some sort of system which gives gives priority to Those who have actually turned up and gone instead of booking and not going, problem with both options is I doubt they have the systems in place to do anything like that.
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Noticed inferno volcano last time lol too - that’s not had audio in a good 10 years maybe more. Agree about stealth - the plaza area is OK but the queue line is very quiet. Noticed colossus station has lost its automatic announcement when the train is ready to go - hopefully this can be fixed, it’s a shame that the station has lost a lot of the bass it used to have, same for Stealth but hopefully that can be fixed later on!
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I guess the problem all ultimately comes down to money, back in 09/10/11 the park was packed out on the back of Saw being an overwhelming success for the park, generally year on year numbers visiting was going up. Then come 2012 with the Swarm there was abit of an unexpected slump, could be down to external factors such as the olympics etc we will never know for sure what caused it, but I guess it’s where nerves set in, and it’s fair enough I can see why Merlin would worry about large investments if they were not confident in a return. The got through to 2016 their next “big” investment and sadly again it didn’t deliver, I’m not sure if they were too ambitious with ghost train with the technology available for the time, but sadly it couldn’t live up to the hype, to be fair many of its issues were solved for 2017 but it was probably too late by then, and it still didn’t offer a consistently good experience, but worse for the park still it was another large investment which didn’t deliver a return, so I guess I can see why merlin are hesitant now. When the time comes it’s so important for the park the next investment is the right one and it launches successfully.
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The thing is anti social behaviour and a stabbing are 2 very different things - you can have all the searches etc in the world but you’ll still get things like anti social behaviour. I don’t really think there’s a right answer - even in Orlando I think it’s only universal and maybe one Disney park (Epcot I think?) who put all guests through a x ray machine, I think there’s a fine line between checks an every day guest would expect when entering a theme park to the point where it gets too much, for example the hospital stabbing the other day I don’t think everyone will expect to be searched upon entry to hospitals now. After this Thorpe may well look to change how they let people into the park and may decide everyone needs some sort of search - as with a lot of these measures like this they are bought in in reaction to something like this, and that’s not just within theme parks. I saw towers also had additional security with handheld scanners since the incident it’s good to see merlin are taking it seriously across the board.
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Thing is when you start thinking about things like MOS nights there’s tonnes of alcohol involved - I expect most clubs end up with numerous fights. It’s a tough one I think the parks target if anything has moved more towards family over the last few years but with the park having the thrill line up it does it will always attract more teenage guests I feel.
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They have never had an incident like this - hindsight is a wonderful thing. Thorpe have never searched everyone entering the park, they don’t have the facilities too and have felt they don’t need to. Blackpool’s setup is rather different, if I remember rightly Blackpool had huge issues with anti social behaviour which I assume is why their very strict security was implemented? Theres only so much they can do to mitigate risk, compared to other parks in the U.K. I’d say Thorpes security is already fairly strict and will no doubt evolve as required.
