Marc
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Posts posted by Marc
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I don’t really see how screens would work on Ghost train - on Hogwarts it works well with the movement of the train, but with Ghost train most of the time the trains physically sat still and really only moves a very short distance - they maybe able to come up with something but really not sure how it would work
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I don’t imagine Thorpe having much issues with the CAA in regards to height - planes going over are already several thousand feet so I imagine it would be more the locals which would cause issues.
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I agree with lots of the little points, better park lighting, fright nights audio for every ride more smoke machines would be good to see, they are quite cheap and easy things to do too in the grand scheme of things.
Creek Freak maybe I’ve been lucky but my run throughs have been actor heavy (not just press night) but obviously this does seem to vary a lot.
Id bring in a new maze to replace platform, use the lost city space again and make it a original theme / indoor maze. I do think they lack a maze they can just throw people though, they are all very story based now and when you throw through huge groups you lose abit of the experience, mazes like the Asylum were effective even when they were throwing in huge groups quickly when queues got large.
I don’t think lowering the price of mazes is really realistic at this point, they are clearly selling too many as it is and with fastrack it’s all about supply and demand, we saw fastrack start off cheaper than it is now with far too much of it, over the years they have tweaked pricing to the point where generally it’s less of an issue (not all the time granted) but will still make a tidy profit for the park. I suspect we will see them playing with maze prices too till they get the balance right (I hope so anyway!)
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29 minutes ago, JDann said:
I went for the cheaper one without mazes on, but as long as we can get on all the rides and the queues aren’t really bad then I’ll be happy enough.I’m sure will be fine, I doubt things will be walk on with fastrack but will still be significantly quicker than main queues!
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They tweaked it throughout the evening it seems - I like it I think the ending is weak, people don’t seem to realise it’s finished, think the ending needs more umph to finish it off.
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1 hour ago, Coaster said:
Potential X retheme if the Walking Dead sponsorship has come to an end?
Hmm I’m not sure they would Re-theme X again. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but walking dead is probably the most complete experience of the coaster there has been i can’t see them changing it again before the coaster is at the end of its life. I would guess they would just renew with AMC now till the time comes they want to remove it.
Could be wrong though stranger things have happened !
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51 minutes ago, Coaster said:
Potential X retheme if the Walking Dead sponsorship has come to an end?
Hmm I’m not sure they would Re-theme X again. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but walking dead is probably the most complete experience of the coaster there has been i can’t see them changing it again before the coaster is at the end of its life.
Could be wrong though stranger things have happened !
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3 hours ago, Martin Doyle said:
Correct me if I am wrong
But unless the upcharge for mazes is just the cash grab I said it was last year, isnt the whole point of upcharge timed ticked maze admission to STOP long waits?
The boards outside mazes do state there will be waits for mazes and it’s not instant access, queues will i suspect remain shorter than they would if they were still free mind.
Have had similar issues at towers where the queues are so long it makes making the others a real rush, not ideal but hopefully they will adjust accordingly when they better learn the throughputs especially trailers.
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Don’t the VIP host offer “front of line access” so I assume straight on skipping even the fastrack queue? But realistically ultimate fastrack would be fine for most.
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Looking forward to hearing the changes - I always thought swarms soundtrack was quite dull - I remember thinking last fright nights that it’s fright nights track would suit it permanently so look forward to seeing how it sounds.
I do hope they’ve managed to fix the speakers in the ambulance/ under the plane and the bell tower - the tower effect in particular was always very impressive both in the queue and even for riders when it was timed right.
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2 hours ago, Martin Doyle said:
Try and stop a project that could serve as competition to the parks and continue to be lazy with said parks as opposed to embracing competition which could improve the quality of the industry in this country and actually making an effort.
Yep seems legit!!
M£rlin (emphasis on the pound sign) really are the absolute pits of the industry.
They are literally a business - any business in a similar situation would do the same. Universal objected a new attraction on international drive and they are certainly not the pits of the industry.. -
19 hours ago, RobF said:
Thorpe copied October fest
this just seems a rehash of the mardi gras idea at Towers.
Thorpe seem to be unable to come up woth Unique ideas at the moment
To be fair they are literally all the same company - I wouldn’t say it’s unusual parks do similar / same events
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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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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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10 hours ago, Bayorame said:
Looks like the parks speaker system has had yet another overhaul! Swarm island and saws speakers have all been replaced with rcf p series and monitor Q series which sound amazing apart from saws station which has no bass but I think its due to saws speaker system still not being finnished leaving some areas without audio (by the way hello zepp it now played on dispatch!) and that they have left the old bose subs remianing making me think they are still keeping them but they have not be turned on yet.
Infernos old soundtrack is back with them new rcf subs that are pumping out the sountracks low frequency beat and lost citys speakers are sounding amazing with that great imascore sountrack. The parks amtmospere has changed alot with the new speakers giving it a refreshed feel, its looking like its going to be a great season!
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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10 hours ago, pluk said:
I imagine that whatever restrictions Covid necessitates could be overcome if the desire was strong enough to keep the ride running. This conversation seems to be jumping the gun a little but if it has gone it surely is because they want it gone, not because it has to go.
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.
Fright Nights 2022
in The Past
Posted
They had the masks in the first and last rooms on Saturday evening and they all seemed to have some sort of mega phone so was much clearer than on press night too which was nice!