Marc

Plans have been subbmited to the council for the retheme of X, including the instalation of a "Watch Tower" and new barbed wire fencing around the queue line - sounds like this could be where the "Safe Zone" is! https://www.thorpeparkmania.co.uk/news/01-12-2017/X+Retheme+Plans

I *think* it was the 2008/9 closed season vortex was totally dismantled and maybe even sent to KMG over closed season (of course starting panic all round it have been removed!) interesting to see see it from this angle though!!

Other than the fact that X is having work and it shares a building with TWD maze - No ! But hey closed season is made for this stuff With that said - X is obviously getting some significant work, the fact they've removed the entire entrance is a fair amount of work in its self.

Towers have released opening days (not times for some reason!) for next year. Park opens for season on Saturday 17th March and closes on Sunday 4th November Scarefest runs 6th - 7th, 13th - 14th, 19th Oct - 2nd Nov. Fireworks over 2 days again on 3rd and 4th November. Number of closed days throughout the quieter times like this year. https://www.altontowers.com/useful-info/opening-times/

^True I was more referring to A horror theme can work on a family coaster if its done in the correct way, like Thirteen. I feel sure IF they do do something with Walking Dead it would be appropriate for those who are able to ride it.

To be fair to Thirteen it gets pretty decent reviews - maybe its not all that "stupid"?

^ Would make sense if it is indeed related to walking dead - living nightmare could become a queue / exit - could possibly use some of Slammers queue too.

Everyone would just complain how they are ripping people off making as much money as possible etc

I think plans did actually show space for another room, but I can’t see it happening now after all this time!

Good to see it get some recognition - personally, when the whole thing works from start to finish I do genuinely enjoy it. As time goes on its reliability will get better, hopefully we will start to see it offering a more consistent experience throughout the season - and maybe a few more plaudits among enthusiasts!

Short clip of the music which played at closing time on last day of season - as said same as the start of day track, sounded good!

Meet is Saturday 16th!

Wouldnt get your hopes up about CCR ever returning, im pretty sure all of the 90% of track has been taken up now, along with that the trains which have sat there for 4 years or so now would probably take a lot of work to get going again.

Just to point out this change only affects passes purchased on or after November 28th. Passes purchased before then are not affected.

I think a big problem merlin have with passes is they are actually probably too cheap for what they offer, especially the standard one, they need to add more value to the Premium Pass over the standard one and unfortunately this is one of the ways to do so.

I Agree on X if closing it, retheme on the other hand I wouldn't be against. I doubt Loggers reopening is in anyway affected by the AMC deals, Fright Nights will have totally separate budgets than money to work on loggers leap. As for TWD being permanent, I hear a lot of people say Saw alive / Sub Terra failed, but these attractions didn't close due to them being unpopular, they closed in periods of the respective parks having to save money, NST was just one of 5 closures last year?

Out of interest what on that list would you be against? Not saying it’s true, but... Slammer removal would be good, it’s not reopening. X seeing some sort of retheme, again not a bad thing, depending on the quality of course. Loggers reopening / Work starting, would you be against that? Walking dead open all year round - no issue with that, on busy days the park needs all the capacity it can get. Only bad thing on there id say was Swarm VR.

It don’t think it will - just like travelodges in Chertsey / staines / egham don’t affect Shark. The hotels around the area charge a significant amount more during the season because of Thorpe, Premier inn won’t do any different. Shark also has a tonne of advantages, especially to those who don’t have an annual pass, you can get som me real good value deals, being on site and the hour fastrack really help too. I’d quite like them to get a full scale hotel, and keep Shark making it the budget option, think would work quite well.

I think the hotel investments fall outside of the standard theme park 4 year cycle, so its still possible we could see one at Thorpe at some point, it is abit of a strange one why Thorpe is the only one left without a full size hotel, Towers obviously got their new hotel this year but then we saw Splash Landings hotel closed for most of the year and only open in the peak times, I guess the reason being is the other hotels are more profitable - is a odd one when Shark hotel seems to at least do pretty well for the park.

Thorpe : no idea - loads Chessington: 3 Legoland 3 Alton Towers: 2 Adventure Island: 1 Portaventura:4

^Surely its depends on what the worlds first is?? I think people do forget that it was only last year Thorpe opened Ghost train - regardless of how successful/ how much you like it, its still a significant investment for the park, and by going by Merlins usual 4 yearly cycle it won't be till 2019 we start to see plans for the next big thing opening at the park.

The point I was making is more that we know loggers won’t be opening next season, any work it needs hasn’t started (visibly atleast) - that’s what I meant by being realistic - but as I said it woud be nice if we heard something more concrete on what ever future it has. I don’t agree Slammer should reopen - I enjoyed the ride, it was unique and quite fun, but it was unreliable, unpopular and had a low throughput, if the money pot was unlimited yeah sure reopen it, but IMO it’s not worth them throwing money at, id like to see it removed as soon as possible so the area can be ready for its replacement what ever that may be.

Agree the entrance needs work - it’s unfortunate how extra / higher level security checks were forced on them with such little notice but understandable after events across the U.K. - I can’t see the entrance being totally flattened, especially not this closed season I’ve always seen this be done as part of the hotel, but improvements to the security queue system to make sure it’s quick and efficient are needed. As Mark says, loggers won’t be open next year we have to be realistic, but some firmer idea or what’s going to happen to it will be nice, same with slammer , Cant see that returning would be nice for it to be removed over closed season but we will see. Some parts of the park need some TLC, the path between Detonator and Stealth is looking pretty worn and needs some paint / repair work, and in general where queue lines have been damaged etc would be good to see them looking nicer. Following on with the audio / queue line tv improvements we’ve seen over the year will be good too, getting some more of the quieter areas of the park fixed etc.

It was open last year but the head in the jar photos were not ready, mid way through this season picsolve seemed to have jars what the photo could fit into, maybe we will see it return next year!

They also had a special "end of season" music loop which played at 4PM yesterday, made up of the track above, the entrance music and X music! Similar for the end of Fright Nights - that Big Top music sounds great played across the whole park!