Sidders

Hello and welcome back Spider! I do recall reading your posts on occasion, back when the SouthParks boards were still functional. Hope you enjoy your stay at TPM.

So... warming.

That image is also being kind to Cypress Gardens. People like to compare Storm Surge at Thorpe to Storm Surge at Cypress by using that picture and forgetting that the angle hides most of the ugliest part of the ride - the support structure. I'd actually say Thorpe have done a better job themeing Storm Surge with the continuity of Amity Cove (though lets be honest, the ride is geographically in Lost City...) than Cypress Gardens ever did.

I'm pretty sure there's a picture floating around mapping out the occupied X-Sector space that will be off-limits to visitors as well as which parts won't. I think Liam had it. It also locates the temporary direction boards which will aid visitors access the rest of the X-Sector whilst construction is still ongoing. If you could post the image Liam, I'm sure we'd all greatly appreciate it.

So that's construction delayed by another week then...

GRAB THEM DIBS.

As I understand it, the billboard will be positioned on the track from the Zero-G to the inclined loop. I would love it if Thorpe put one of their own adverts, complete with those annoying screaming heads on it for The Swarm to crash through. It would really show their ability to laugh at themselves once in a while, and after all, no-one is safe from The Swarm...

Always nice to see they found a good use for Cameron Diaz... Seriously though, I love that image. And the spider thing looks amazing too. Pleeeease make it that design. As for the lexicon thing: a lexicon is a bank of words or essentially, a vocabulary. It's not going to be the spider thing. Basically The Smiler will feature it's own jargonised language, possibly as a way of making the processes and experiments performed there part of an inaccessible elite to outsiders who won't understand terms like "Marmalisation" and "Inoculation" in the context of The Smiler. And also, it'd be worth noting Tussauds/Merlin were/are a bit crap when it comes to OTSRs in promo images. Stealth Inferno anyone?

Why does my posts do this when I edit them? <blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Dan9" data-cid="148596" data-time="1358769580"><img alt="DOsA6XQ.png" src="http://I.imgur.com/DOsA6XQ.png" /></blockquote> <p> </p> <p>Always nice to see they found a good use for Cameron Diaz...</p> <p> </p> <p>Seriously though, I love that image. And the spider thing looks amazing too. Pleeeease make it that design.</p> <p> </p> <p>As for the lexicon thing: a lexicon is a bank of words or essentially, a vocabulary. It's not going to be the spider thing. Basically The Smiler will feature it's own jargonised language, possibly as a way of making the processes and experiments performed there part of an inaccessible elite to outsiders who won't understand terms like "Marmalisation" and "Inoculation" in the context of The Smiler.</p> <p> </p> <p>And also, it'd be worth noting Tussauds/Merlin were/are a bit crap when it comes to OTSRs in promo images. Stealth Inferno anyone?</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="http://www.thorpepark.com/images/signature-images/stealth.jpg" style="width: 770px; height: 275px;" /></p>

Not to mention, the logistical difficulties of having a main queue, fastrack queue, front seat queue, front seat fastrack queue, back seat queue and backseat fastrack queue would be eradicated if Thorpe ran one whole train backwards and one whole train forwards. Would also explain the lack of modification to the Swarm's train in that snowy photo that appeared two weeks ago.

Speak for yourself! The 9's right on the money with the whole backfiring installation strategy thing. It's almost like Thorpe have an obligation to do something every single year as a result of the exponential growth of the park's arsenal during 2000-2006. The result being that on a small investment year we end up with crap like Storm Surge because they just never seem to have a clue unless they're building a coaster. I'd rather them take their time over new ride construction instead of whipping out every possible fairground flat HUSS or Mondial have ever invented so they have something new to market every year. Guests won't come back for a HUSS Booster because a HUSS Booster isn't going to improve their day. A general park-wide TLC and making some of the older rotting rides look more presentable are the small things that will bring people back. The Crash Pad will be interesting, as people will actually be staying on-park for more than a couple of hours and they'll see in from a different point of view. Thorpe is still a park in which you can do most of the bigger rides within one day, so by the second or third day of someone's visit the park will show it's flaws more easily - the flaws that Thorpe should be focusing on instead of fiddling around with the shiniest new ride they've got or chucking in a few random flats.

Pretty sure The Smiler was simply the name Alton gave the logo IP (the grinning face that's gone viral as part of marketing). It's quite possible that what Fred said about The Inoculator being a similarly copyrighted image/experience/themeing element owned by Merlin is true. Hopefully The Inoculator is some part of the enclosed experience, such as, a room where you meet a machine named The Inoculator and become 'corrected' before completing the ride. As an actual ride name though, I'm really not sure about it.

The problem with the HUSS Jump2 isn't the dire popularity; it's a ride so unpopular it bares merits the term. But the main issue is the fact that first and foremost, the ride is gigantic. It's got a bigger footprint than Rush. Add to that how much they actually cost to buy, to power and then to upkeep, given Sledgehammer's downtime as noted by Turtle, it could just prove a logistical and financial nightmare. Add to that the pisspoor hourly throughput and the repetitive ride experience and it's really not a ride Thorpe should be considering based solely on it's size. If Thorpe had to go with a HUSS-manufactured, low-throughput, downtime-plagued spectator ride, then a Topple Tower is my choice.

Ah, the return of the duck-egg blue Gerstlauer estate car. Best part of this photo. I have fond memories of it chilling behind Inferno during Saw's construction.

In short, probably not. As well as a vast array of economic and financial issues that they've been facing even presently, there is the need to take into account where Thorpe Park was in 2000 and where it is now. In 2000, Thorpe's largest ride was Tidal Wave, with Zodiac second-in-command. Alton Towers and even Chessington at this point were more thrill-orientated days out. Comparatively few guests ever visited Thorpe at this time (especially compared to it's own gate figures now). After Colossus, Thorpe put their name on the map and their foot in the door of the boardroom for some of the biggest-hitting theme parks in Europe. Nothing like Colossus was ever tried at Chessington, and the 'Sensory Overload' a year earlier (which saw the openings of Vortex, Detonator and Quantum) gave the park the necessary queue-eaters to manage rising popularity of the park in the 2002 season. By 2003, Nemesis Inferno was added in order to give the vast onslaught of guests that were arriving after Colossus' enormous success. Eclipse was a Ferris wheel added possibly as a bid to give the kids something else to do with their parents, as Thorpe still offered a balanced array of thrilling, fun and family attractions (Eclipse and Samurai played swapsies in 2004, but Eclipse was then renamed Peeking Heights). By the end of 2003, Thorpe had made the name they'd been aiming for in just three short years. The mass indulgence on flat rides and record-breaking coasters continued though, until now, when it does seem that given their current position and prospective plans to focus more energy and money on their accommodation strategy, the installation of rides is slowing. But you then have to consider other factors, such as - what flat ride experience do Thorpe not have? They have the standard array plus a few more exclusive designs (Slammer, Rush, Detonator even). They're also running out of space without having to do the immensely costly and time-consuming process of creating new land in the surrounding lakes (though they currently appear to have plenty of free space since the 2008 infilling plans). And then of course we could always talk about the recession...

Those sheep share my dismissal of your poor joke...

No, no and no. There does not need to be a change to the pyramid building, regardless of whether or not it becomes a bolt-on to The Swarm.

Or it could just be the Daily Fail Mail's appalling excuse for journalism getting their facts wrong. Again. Cynicism aside, the 'drop' isn't quite the same as 'max. height'. Max height is from the ground to the highest point, in a vertical line. Unless the drop is a vertical drop, a coaster who's max. height is 85ft isn't going to have a drop of 85ft. The length of the track from the highest point to the lowest point before the first element is what is counted as the 'drop' usually, so 100ft is probably accurate, but it's not like the Mail are going to be capable of pointing that out. Being that SW7 is built on a hill/dives into a small ravine, 100ft won't be too hard a stretch.

That's how my posts seem to quote text now...

That SeaLife advertising... just wow! Can't say much that hasn't already been said, though this really is the best subliminal advertisement campaign I've ever seen. I'd put it above Oblivion's but then again I wasn't really there for that one. EDIT: MarkC please appropriately reference and give credit to wherever you find images like that! EDIT EDIT: FRED.

DAT SUN. Lovely work Merlin. Banksy did it first though. moo baa.

Yeah I posted that earlier in the thread, Ste, then Mark reminded me Thorpe lie about things. And Marc, fair enough that's a good response, but we're not dumb enough to not be able to imagine what it would be like to be riding the Swarm as we always have, only in reverse, in our heads. Given Benin's ridden plenty of rear-facing coasters as well, I imagine he's already got a fairly good grasp of at least the visual impact of rear-facing seats, which even in my comparatively limited experience, seems to do exactly what Thorpe didn't want and take away a lot of the effect of the near-misses.

It's not my phrase! To be fair SAW: Alive is a renovated boat that's been pissed in...

Must be just me that think Storm Surge was considered a medium investment and SAW: Alive was the small one then... Also, why would they, if installing Vengeance, not fix the guns if they don't work?