JoshC.

I was hoping that with the theme being a literal cinema, the park had a plan to change the 4D film regularly. It'd be a simple win to change the film shown yearly (albeit maybe a bit of a faff). Who knows what the contracts are like for these things. I know Merlin in the past liked to go for 3 year rolling contracts with IPs. Whether that's still the case - and the case with a 4D show - I have no clue. I agree that it would be nice to see something new in there for 2026 though.

I took a wander down Monks Walk on Monday and I didn't take any photos/videos, simply because there was nothing to take photos of. I think in some ways we've been spoilt over recent years, with lots of works visible from Monks Walk (from Hyperia, to Fright Nights, etc) as well as many in-park updates. But it hasn't always been like that - rewind 10+ years ago and Monks Walk never really showed anything particularly interesting beyond the odd glimpse, despite many things happening. Okay, we still got the odd in-park update too, but right now the level of updates is going back closer to a reset of what was once the norm. I do also think compared to many other seasonal parks, Thorpe gets a heck of a lot of eyes put on it out of closed season, with many updates shared and visible. Thorpe have, in some ways, been the exception to the rule in that case. That's not to say the lack of any visible updates isn't disheartening though. Finishing off Colossus' repaint would be amazing. Inferno and Swarm would benefit from TLC. Rumba Rapids is dying. The fact there's been no visible work there is a shame, and indicates we're unlikely to see much there. The Beach area cannot really be seen from outside the park, so we're none-the-wiser about anything happening there. The 'New for ___' is a double-edged sword. New stuff each year can be beneficial, but Thorpe in particular are seeing the dangers of adding in new hardware/rides yearly as now they have several 'old' rides which are going to require more work all close together. New events can be okay, but gimmicky and don't really draw people in. If you look at some of the better-received parks, the likes of Phantasialand and Efteling, they don't add in many new things. Since 2015... Phantasialand have added in 3 new coaster, rethemed a coaster and a 4D show and added in a couple of walkthroughs / play areas. Efteling have added in 2 new coasters (I guess technically 3 as one is a duelling coaster), 2 new dark rides and rethemed a couple of things. In that same time, Thorpe have added in 1 new coaster, 1 new dark ride, rethemed some things and done a couple of walkthroughs. The level of investments isn't as big a difference in the overall park experience and quality. And that's the bigger issue - Thorpe haven't consistently been able to upkeep their attractions (or revitalise them) the same as other parks that invest at a similar frequency. I think the other issue - which is Merlin-wide - is Thorpe does rely extremely heavily on returning visitors, as opposed to new visitors. Whether that's them, over a 10-20 year period, having exhausted the market and not been able to expand it or a purposeful strategy to not try and reach more people, or another reason entirely, is unclear. But it is certainly the bigger issue that the park face. They've had a huge new coaster for 1 and a half seasons - that's still a big deal, and not really something that should be viewed as stagnation. But when the park aren't pushing it and rely too heavily on repeat visits, then it will feel like that. You say that, but then they've recently announced Legoland Germany are getting a Lego Harry Potter Land, which will be Merlin's single biggest investment into any theme park. Legolands California and Florida are getting substantial new coasters next year. Chessington are getting Minecraft World soon, and Towers' big new coaster seems to still be going ahead. Gardaland invested 12 million Euros into retheming their indoor boat ride this (where that 12m went I don't fully know, but that's what they did). They're financial issues have been documented in the press, and their selling / closing down of midway attractions, outsourcing and structural changes are further signs of that I expect. But they are still making investments, and notable ones at that, in many places. But it feels like Thorpe is being brushed aside a bit right now (along with Heide Park...if I didn't know any better, I'd have thought Merlin forgot they still own it).

It was the future of theme parks 10 years ago. So that means it is actually now the present of theme parks.

Get a TopSpin whilst we're at it plz. Obviously the space is a prime location for a flat ride. Thinking bigger, they could get rid of the tented food place next to it (whose name I cannot be bothered to recall) and fit in a compact, but still worthwhile, coaster. The unrealistic but awesome dream would be the fact that removing The Walking Dead, Ghost Train and the tented food place opens up a huge space for a brand new land which could have an indoor attraction, roller coaster and flat ride. Effectively it serves as like for like replacements (replacing a coaster and indoor ride with a coaster, indoor ride and a flat), but a blank slate would be best for that area. It would never happen, but in la la land, it's what I'd love to see.

I said a couple of years ago that Merlin slowly turning to people as IPs could come back to bite them. Walliams, Derren Brown, that YouTuber Daz, etc. All it takes is one unsavoury claim against them and it puts Merlin in a hugely difficult (and totally preventable) situation. I'm not saying that any of those people are problematic (okay, Walliams definitely seemed dodgy, but the other two definitely not), but it was always a risk. Obviously there's still nothing confirmed in terms of Walliams. If Towers kept Walliams World during his previous controversies, I don't see why they would get rid now. The bigger issue is, if something came out confirmed tomorrow, what would they do? They wouldn't realistically have the time or associated funds to retheme it for season start, so it'd surely be just closing the area. Or very very hastily removing all Walliams references and just keeping Gangsta Granny closed in a best case scenario.

The opening times for the 2026 season have appeared (subject to change). They're very similar to 2025: https://www.thorpepark.com/plan-your-visit/before-you-visit/opening-times/ Season starts on 27th March and finishing on 1st November, with 13 closed days during this time (mostly in September, with a couple of Wednesdays in April/May). The park closes at 5pm on weekdays, 6pm on weekends and school holidays and 7pm in August. Fright Nights starts on 2nd October and runs for 24 days up until 1st November, closing again at 9pm nightly. They're not bad opening hours for what we have on offer in the UK. I'll forever stay in the camp of saying I'd want later closing times for Fright Nights still, and it would be nice to see them experiment again with later closes over summer. But for now, it feels positive that there's no reduction on the decent times that we currently have, especially given some of the wider uncertainty that Merlin feels like it gives off.

We've got a green light from the government, this is happening! BBC NewsUniversal Studios gets green light to be built in Bedford...The park is expected to attract more than eight million annual visitors and open in 2031. Construction will start next year if all goes to plan.

Here is my absolute Top 10: 1 Toutatis Parc Asterix 2 Taron Phantasialand 3 Taiga Linnanmäki 4 Untamed Walibi Holland 5 Skyrush Hersheypark 6 Helix Liseberg 7 Oz'Iris Parc Asterix 8 Balder Liseberg 9 Der Schwur des Kärnan Hansa Park 10 Phoenix Knoebels At the same time, it feels a huge disservice to not mention so many incredible rides I've ridden. As my coaster count has risen, I've found a "Top 10%" is a still-arbitrary, but more reflective, view of my absolute favourites. So without further ado, here's my 11-43 ranks... 11 Kondaa Walibi Belgium 12 Hyperia Thorpe Park 13 Lost Gravity Walibi Holland 14 Jersey Devil Coaster Six Flags Great Adventure 15 Joris en de Draak (Water) Efteling 15 Joris en de Draak (Vuur) Efteling 16 Colossos - Kampf der Giganten Heide Park 17 Manta SeaWorld Abu Dhabi 18 Kingda Ka Six Flags Great Adventure 19 Candymonium Hersheypark 20 Goliath Walibi Holland 21 Nemesis Alton Towers 22 El Toro (SFGAd) Six Flags Great Adventure 23 Troy Toverland 24 Black Mamba Phantasialand 25 Mahuka Walibi Rhône-Alpes 26 Fønix Fårup Sommerland 27 Flying Aces Ferrari World Abu Dhabi 28 Hyperion Energylandia 29 Lisebergbanan Liseberg 30 Van Helsing's Factory Movie Park Germany 31 Juvelen Djurs Sommerland 32 Batman Gotham City Escape Parque Warner Madrid 33 Pulsar Walibi Belgium 34 Voltron Europa Park 35 Silver Star Europa Park 36 Shambhala PortAventura Park 37 Nitro (SFGAd) Six Flags Great Adventure 38 Nemesis Inferno Thorpe Park 39 Storm - The Dragon Legend TusenFryd 40 Colorado Adventure Phantasialand 41 The Storm Coaster Dubai Hills Mall 42 Lech Coaster Legendia 43 Mission Ferrari Ferrari World Abu Dhabi Only Kondaa is new to the list in 2025, although there's been a bit of movement too. After riding RMC Single Rails YoY at Walibi Holland a couple of months back and not really rating them, I expect Jersey Devil wouldn't be anywhere near as high up if I re-rode it. But who knows.

Parm Pap has gone so crazy they think their name is Parm Pom

Not just the fact that the park could do with a couple of new mid-sized investments to tide them over, their current support/filler line up is approaching the end of life. As you say, the newest of those big ones is now over 20 years old. Even 2011's Storm Surge was second hand. Whilst we know these rides can last 30-40 years, their reliability and maintenance costs increase, and their appeal can shrink. Just look at Zodiac, which was closed for half the season. Samurai which has regularly spent months closed in each of the last 10 seasons. Even something like Tidal Wave (okay, not a flat ride, but still fits) is incredibly expensive and could well be having parts reaching end of life. I'm of the broad opinion that I wouldn't particularly mind if Thorpe went down the route of becoming a coaster park. A UK Six Flags style park as it were. But they still need a support line up, and they need to invest in that sooner rather than later. There's huge potential these days with flat rides. Things I could see fitting into the park... -Intamin SkyJump (see Falcon's Fury / Ikaros) -ART Wild Swing (XL version or bigger version...ART could do that I'm sure) -Zamperla Nebula -Zamperla Big Wavez -Zamperla Endeavour (would be a great Zodiac replacement) For clarity, I'm not saying I want these or the park should get these. But I reckon they'd work at the park.

Go on, who saw this coming... Lego Harry Potter land is coming to Legoland Deutschland... https://www.merlinentertainments.bi...ter-is-coming-to-legoland-deutschland-resort/ More details on the new land, as well as the world's first official Harry Potter themed accommodation, will come "in the next 12 months". A sign up for information page is here: https://www.legoland.de/en/harrypotter/ The biggest thing that stood out to me was the following quote... "This partnership launches at our Resort in Germany and marks Merlin’s largest-ever single investment into an existing site, reflecting our strategy to prioritise locations with the greatest growth potential." Presumably the cost is down to the IP, but the fact that this means they're spending over £20m (at a low-end estimate) on this investment speaks a lot. This is quite a surprising announcement in itself (Harry Potter and Legoland was not something I ever expected). But it's also interesting to see that this is Merlin's current direction.

Park Count Thorpe - Loads Phantasialand x2 Towers x1 Legoland Windsor x1 Chessington x1 Efteling x1 Holiday Park (now Plopsaland Deutschland) x1 Walibi Belgium x1 Bellewaerde x1 Gardaland x1 Movieland Italy x1 Walibi Holland x1 Coasters New coasters: 26 New parks: 4 Current cred count: 434 Top 5 new coasters Kondaa, Walibi Belgium. Sitting just outside my Top 10 outright, this is absolutely bonkers in the best possible way. The only mark against it is the double down which starts off the final third of the ride, which just feels a bit unnatural to me. Karacho, Tripsdrill. Gerstlauer with some of their finest work. It sits just outside my Top 10%, is a great deal of fun. If the MCBR was slightly less harsh, this would be a lot higher in my rankings. Expedition GeForce, Holiday Plopsaland Deutschland. It's good. The middle third is a bit boring, but the first drop and finale are fab. It's very classic early 00s Intamin. Raptor, Gardaland. Good, not great. But theming is fab. MecaLodon, Walibi Belgium. The Gerstlauer family triple launch coaster is something which people have raved about. I like it, especially once it warms up, but I'm not as big on it as most. The ride type has buckets of potential though. Disappointments YoY, Walibi Holland. I liked Jersey Devil at Six Flags Great Adventure. I was disappointed by YoY, which didn't offer much even with the duelling. I also have aged and the leg arrangement was uncomfortable for me. Gardaland. It was nice and I enjoyed my day there. But it did feel a bit meh at the same time. Hals-uber-Kopf, Tripsdrill. Unlike Mark, I haven't been blown away by either of the Vekoma STCs. They're fine, I can see why people enjoy them, but they don't click for me. Other Notable Things Danse Macabre, Efteling. This thing is superb. Movieland Italy. What a strange park. But I had an absolute blast of a time. Amazonia, Bellewaerde. A fantastic rapids-esque ride from Intamin with lots of cool quirks. Slaughterhouse, Walibi Holland. I returned to Walibi's Halloween event, and this alone experience is so raw and visceral and just genuinely fabulous. Us vs You, Walibi Holland. An international scare maze which feels like it's slipped under the scare attraction's radar, because this is bloody great.

Yep, the Merlin Platinum Pass now includes one Fastrack per day on any ride, which does include Hyperia. It will presumably not include major new additions the year they're included, but Hyperia is now old enough that they can get away with it. Presumably such things will come out of each ride's standard Fastrack allocation. Which will then affect their profits. Will be interesting how that hits the park in mid-to-longer run.

There's likely several factors in play. Theme parks being closed environments, which people have to pay to get into, which are surrounded by CCTV, probably detracts potential thieves anyway. Very few people are focused on other people's belongings too; they just want to get their own and go. And any thoughts of 'I could take someone else's belongings' is little more than a common, healthy, intrusive thought.

Not at all. The park changed strategy, and realised that they could communicate with more people through social media (which, 10 years ago, was a growing sector for brands to utilise). And then the way people consume online content changed, focused more on videos via social media rather than text/forums/websites.