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JoshC.

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Posts posted by JoshC.

  1. I don't particularly want to "do" Thorpe Park...

     

    Good to have a date, but it's a brave choice to announce it when trains have only just started arriving on park. So many variables which could impact completion. And we have seen issues like this affect Lego Racers coaster. I also wonder if it will therefore end up opening but not fully finished in terms of landscaping, etc.

     

    Ultimately, 24th May is the latest they could open it for it to be ready for the half term. Opening it mid-half term wouldn't be ideal. So I guess that was the aim anyways.

     

    In other news, the park have announced the Hyperia rooms, and that they're also doing a 'golden ticket' deal, where you can pay once and visit twice: once before Hyperia opens, and once after it opens: https://www.thorpepark.com/tickets-passes/day-tickets/golden-ticket/

  2. 2 hours ago, Matt N said:
    • The return of Tidal Wave’s fire effect is planned, but Russ could not give a concrete timeline.
    • The return of The Swarm’s fire and water effects is also planned. At least one of those will be ready for the start of the season, but I can’t remember which, off the top of my head.
    • Samurai will not be opening at the start of the season, as it is being refurbished and its repaint is still ongoing.
    • The reason for Colossus not being fully repainted this off-season is that a full repaint would have resulted in the ride not opening until later in the season, which Thorpe Park did not feel would be ideal.
    • Colossus’ entrance paint job is going to be altered further. Thorpe Park has taken on board the feedback about it being too yellow.
    • Saw’s chainsaw blades over the drop will be spinning again for the first time in a number of years in 2024.

     

    All things TPM reported here and on social media a couple of weeks ago, without having to watch a 40 minute video with ads ;)

     

    Thanks for rounding up the key things from the video Matt; appreciated as always!

  3. 21 hours ago, Cal said:

     

    Agreed. If it was H&S I'd rather they just made the queue slightly taller. I know its a different park but it amazes me the Nemesis airgates were aloud to stay but this isn't aloud.

     

    I was thinking that re the floor. Hope that does get sorted as they've put a lot of work in to make the area look great, but that looks terrible...

     

    I'd imagine with Nemesis there would be some sort of grandfather ruling where because it's the same ride, they can keep the same station / airgates set-up.

     

    Which begs the question further why Detonator had tweaks.

  4. Very...curious.

     

    H&S is the only logical reason why they would do it, but...why? It's been fine for 20+ years. I know there had never been an incident of someone jumping into the ride area from the queue a few years ago, so unless there's been one recently, it seems like a change for the sake of change almost.

     

    I do hope they manage to jetwash that floor before proper opening too!

  5. Big agree on the paving across the park. It's a detail which can make the world the difference. 

     

    It's like the old Ranger County white patches on the path alongside Ghost Train and near Banana Ride. They fit the style back in the 90s/early 00s, but these days just look out of place. Even if the paving is just replaced with consistent, plain concrete, it will just look smarter and less distracting

  6. I went on the BTS tour of the park today. Great tour it should be said; it was headed up by Russ, who is a fantastic speaker.

    On 3/7/2024 at 10:40 PM, tactic said:

    No way they're staying with that screen for the start of the season. Just doesn't make sense to pay all that money to refresh the rest of the enterance and most of the park but leave the dodgy screen. 

     

    Hopefully the new video/graphic is playing on it just to test how it will look when the new screen arrives....

     

    I did mean to ask about the screen, but honestly forgot. It does seem like it won't be fixed for start of season (I believe the park said this in the passholder group a few weeks back too). A real shame. Hopefully they can hide the dead pixels with whatever they put on the screen.

     

    Okay, now time for some updates. Everything is still a Work in Progress it should be stressed

     

    Toilets

    Loo enthusiasts rejoice. All the toilets have received some love.

    image.png

    Swarm toilets. The walls have been painted green (originally white), and no more foot pedal sinks

     

    image.png

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    Megastore toilets are nicely themed

     

    Tidal Wave

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    The rebuilt bridge, with the original Pier 13 style.

    The fire effect is proving very tricky to implement, but is being planned still

     

    Big Easy Boulevard

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    Stealth

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    Colossus

    image.png

    The park have released that the entrance is a bit flat, and so are looking to add more colour/depth to it, although this will happen mid-season.

    image.png

    The shop front looks nice.

     

    In terms of the rest of the repaint, and indeed a Sparkle Project continuation, the park hope to do that either next closed season, or the closed season after. The park want to do it regardless, and recognise they need to keep up appearances - literally - now that they've started to do this. Personally, I hope it happens next closed season, as it does look a little jarring in places.

     

    The park is looking lovely though, with the Hyperia area coming along and looking smart. There's other small updates too, such as KFC getting refitted and other new food places. Some parts of the park are still a bit tired looking / haven't really been touched. Rumba/Inferno is the big example I would say. And the Sparkling up does highlight how tatty some parts of that area, and the likes of Swarm and Saw, look. I do wonder if this means that, come opening, some enthusiasts will focus too much on those and not the fab stuff that we've seen heavily documented and shouted out about.

     

    But yes, it's clear to see the park have put time, effort and money into things this winter, and they're taking strides in the right direction. I'm excited to see what will happen and hope their plans pay off!

  7. You'll have to forgive a bit of a link dump, but during a BTS tour I got to see a bit more of Hyperia and some fun facts...

     

    https://twitter.com/ThorpeParkMania/status/1766791884666544449?t=c96RATcXM8UrrzRA8-7ObA&s=19

     

    Some views of the site.

    SRQ is confirmed. 

     

    The ride will be complete in the next day or two, weather dependent, with trains arriving on site this week.

     

    The exterior of the station building is complete. It was heavily suggested there will be some cool dispatch sequence in the station. 

     

    https://twitter.com/ThorpeParkMania/status/1766797980240109858?t=0xMAcaISYwT5khd0YDG80Q&s=19

     

    No on board audio

     

    https://twitter.com/ThorpeParkMania/status/1766874159068455258?t=PDHRqEdLGuNipTVLBcEG_w&s=19

     

    Hyperia is easily seen across the whole resort.

     

    There will be a backstory to the ride. Not clear whether it's just a short piece they've written to appease geeks, or whether it will be conveyed in the area / queue line. It's fairly basic. I can't share what it is sadly, but yeah, it's a simple story. The ride doesn't need it anyways. 

     

    In terms of the viewing area. This was planned but has been cut because it was later realised that it would require a lot of fencing which would ultimately distract from the whole area and the view.

     

    The ride's camera point will either be at the bottom of the first drop or prior to the splash effect.

     

    One final thing. The early thoughts for Hyperia were coming together in April 2020. The ride was approved by the old Merlin exec (ie Nick Varney, etc). This means that Hyperia is a sort of hybrid of Merlin philosophies, old and new. Had it been a 'new Merlin' project, it's possible that things might have been a bit different, with more theming / styling present.

  8. Divisional Director Bianca posted an updated stating that the SkyRide will again be closed all year. The decision was made to keep it closed so they could spend the time and money to prolong the ride's lifespan.

     

    The update also stated that the Dungeons would close this summer as the space will be used for Scarefest. It's not totally clear whether this is the end end of Dungeons or just an overlay. But if you want to experience it...experience it before the summer.

     

     

  9. 1 hour ago, Benin said:

    It's somewhat frustrating that a lot of the good work done by these projects end up being primary colour painting over everything.

     

    The additions are nice, but why is the entire structure yellow?

     

    Agreed.

     

    Looking at some of the stuff they've done at Stealth, it shows they are the ability and wherewithal to do detailing. But even then, they've gone for a lot of blocked primary colours there too.

     

    The brightness and freshness is great, but it would be even better if they just added that extra bit of depth to it.

     

    From what we've seen of the Colossus shop, the new paint job looks brighter, and has a bit of detailing with the celestial extras. But it's just doesn't have that interesting depth that the old version had. It just seems a bit Legoland-y.

  10. The lack of viewing area is a real shame.

     

    At the same time, it was always in a silly location, since it could only be located after going on the ride, or by going through the exit shop. So logistically it was a bit weird.

     

    Still, that's not enough to have put a damper on it. Just wish it could have happened; overlooking the lake and getting the view of the ride would have been awesome.

  11. I like the map, but I certainly see the criticism of how it makes everything flat and nothing stands out.

     

    It's a bit of flip from a few years ago when they coasters looked (exaggeratedly) huge, and everything else looked completely pointless.

     

    It's a very functional map and pleasing on the eye though. As I say, I like it. Though yes, it would be nice to see it evolve in the future to develop a more 3D-feel to it. Something towards a Phantasialand-style map would be awesome:

    image.png

  12. To note it here:

     

    The new map has confirmed Hyperia will have a 1.3m height restriction 

     

    The map also shows the ride shop will be called Hyporium and a sweer treat stand, Cloud Nine Treats, will also be located nearby.

     

    The park have also confirmed that there's no backwards row in the passholder group. 

     

     

    Also, looking at the new map, the queue entrance shows massive wings akin to the ride logo. That could be a pretty cool visual for the queue entrance!

  13. 2 hours ago, Benin said:

    Have they got a lift for disabled people somewhere on the plans? 

     

    I mean, it'll end up broken and left to rot like Saw's and Inferno's but it's THERE.

     

    Yep, the lift has been installed.

     

    As tactic said, they've been vocal about improving accessibility, and I know behind the scenes there has been a genuine want to improve accessibility too. I know they've looked at a lot of options to making Hyperia as accessible as possible to as many different people as possible (whether some of these ideas come to fruition remains to be seen).

     

    Also, the Inferno lift was working again last season (I don't know how long for, but it was in use for at least part of the year!)

  14. The Sparkle Project is giving Colossus' entrance some new stuff:

     

    image.png

     

    Interestingly, the park have said that there will be "No blue on the entrance, but it will have the stained glass effect" (Passholder Group)

  15. Interesting one that.

     

    It's on the load side, but away from the entrance to the station, and too far in to be part of a front row queue, or where staff would stand during dispatch.

     

    My best guest at the moment would be a storage room, either for computers which might control AV in the station or for staff uniform, if they decide to have themed/styled uniforms for the ride. Could also be used to store evac equipment, etc.

     

    Or they're forward thinking, and they'll put the computers that run the VR in there when they chuck compulsory headsets on in Year 3 😉

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