JoshC.

I genuinely wonder how many people would care if a couple of Sea Lifes and a Dungeon were to disappear off the MAP. Some people, yes. But I reckon they could get away with removing a few attractions off it, keeping the price the same and it would be a tint proportion of people who would really care.

It's certainly hard to be optimistic about the future. Another wave of redundancies has been made apparent. But really, there have been ongoing redundancies since mid-last year across the companies, and the parks knew it was a matter of time before it hit them. But the bigger issue is that this has happened again. I can think of 2-3 instances over the last decade where there has been a notable wave of redundancies. Is it that the company goes through peaks and troughs and they simply haven't found the balance yet? Or are they cutting staff more and more and more? The company's direction has certainly changed though. 10 years ago, it was all about "catching the mouse" and how they were the second-largest visitor attraction company in the world. It was all about expansion. The idea of being the most-visited is not on the table any more. They have had to acknowledge locations which were failures and close them down. The company aren't creating any new Gateway (fka Midway) brand concepts. There's been talk of selling some SeaLife centres. They are very much consolidating the business and going through a huge re-focus. On the note of SeaLifes, it very much seems like the company want to move away from animals. There have been rumours and plans of removing large chunks of the zoo at Chessington. They have focused away from SeaLife in recent years, and are looking to sell more. The current Merlin don't see a monetary / business value in aquaria, so want to move on. That's something that will take time. At the same time, I do wonder if there's cause for...hope, for lack of a better word. Shrinking the business to focus on key assets gives hope that rather than opening an upteenth aquarium or Madame Tussauds, they can put money into parks. Chessington is arguably seeing its most consistent period of investment ever. There's many ifs and buts, but we can cling onto some hope. Of course, there's lots to be worried about. Towers is a shell of itself. Heide Park is stagnant. Thorpe feels stop-start. Redundancies are never good. A chop and change at the top again, although Fiona Eastwood is now the permanent CEO. So who knows what will happen next. Then of course, there's the matter of Universal GB, which could impact our parks. I remain in the camp right now that Universal won't impact the Merlin parks nearly as much as people think, and if anything, the competitiveness and extra eyes of the country as a theme park country will actually help our parks. But I do completely understand people's concerns, and Merlin do have to be smart about it.

The fake ending shop didn't quite hit the same for the new Ghost Train in my opinion. From my understanding, the creative behind Ghost Train was quite big on retaining that ending, but there was some reservation from the park owing to the fact that it had become known and predictable. So I'm not surprised that it didn't last, and I imagine that there wasn't enough of drive post-opening to be able to change it (given it would require money, time, etc). For what it's worth, the ending only used 1 actor in 2023; the "retail host" would disappear, throw on a cloak, and then come out. In DBGT it required 2 as they were completely different costumes. Obviously the removal of the actor there was balanced by the fact that there were more actors elsewhere. As mentioned, seasonal staff have been cast for Ghost Train, so that at least gives us some evidence that Ents haven't been completely removed from the park, like some people have suggested. I also believe that Thorpe still have a permanent Ents team, who would be responsible for FN and running the main season Ents operation, again, going against suggestions that the Ents team were made completely redundant. The bigger question mark surround Thorpe Ents, and Ghost Train, is the level of staffing we're getting. Will Ghost Train becoming a peak-only attraction maybe? Will we see anything Ents wise outside of Ghost Train and Fright Nights? How else will the day-to-day operation of Thorpe be impacted by the reported redundancies?

Certainly seems like a possibility. At the same time, the Beach is long overdue a revamp and opening that area up and including extra retail / F&B unit options (which this would do) would still be a big positive for the park. The stage could still be of use over FN and be an option for an outdoor cinema for hotel guests in the evening, if the park chose to go down that route.

As mentioned in the Sparkle thread, Hyperia now has grass / turf around its queue line: It's a small thing, but much better than what was there previously.

Another small thing to note is Samurai - which first tested today - has had its central disc re-added, covering the motor. Genuinely can't remember the last time that was there...

Jack Silkstone has a video about Slammer's removal; almost basically done now:

Cables removed; the process has begun

All details of the extension of time and the (potential) consequences are in the TPM news story here

Yes, the lack of updates compared to last two closed seasons is a shame. It's also not necessarily all that surprising. With no major ride construction, there's naturally less buzz. It very much seems like there isn't a Sparkle Project II this year. And there's no passholder group any more. Obviously, the level of updates we got over the last few years was largely unprecedented for many theme parks. Very few gave the level of insight into closed season work that Thorpe did. It was never going to last long, but it's a shame it went from 100 to 0.

Much more speculative than an update, but there's a chance it may not actually happen this year: https://www.thorpeparkmania.co.uk/index.php/2025/01/26/beach-renovation-delayed/ The park have had to submit more planning evidence to satisfy some consultees, which means it's unlikely that planning application will be able to be approved until late February. Just seems unlikely it'll happen for 2025 and more likely be delayed for 2026. There's also rumblings of restructuring happening across Merlin, which may well have knock on effects all round.

-Multi launch coaster. Yes we've got Stealth, but modern day launch coasters are so different to Stealth. Have it as a lower-to-ground, not-as-fast ride with a long layout, and it'll be a winner. Something like Manta at Sea World Abu Dhabi would be incredible at Thorpe. But also the likes of Taron, Taiga, Helix, etc etc. Any smaller version of those would be *chef kiss* -RMC. A balls to the wall RMC hybrid or single rail would be amazing to have in the country. Would it be the right fit for the park? I'm not necessarily convinced. But from an enthusiast wet dream perspective, absolutely. -Vekoma tilt. The gimmick sells itself, and is different enough to anything else on park. But the real kicker is getting a modern Vekoma on park, which are wicked fun. A bog standard Vekoma sit down coaster feels unlikely at Thorpe, simply due to it not having the USP. Chuck on the tilt gimmick and a fab layout though, and they're golden.

It's hard to gauge. In terms of major investments (ie big coasters), the best we can do right now is look at Hyperia's timeline, as that is most reflective for how the planning timelines will work in current-day Thorpe. The public consultation started in December 2021, so a 2024 opening (I believe the original hope was for it to open at start of 2024 too). So, using that: 2029 opening -> December 2026 consultation 2028 opening -> December 2025 consultation Given Hyperia's larger size, if a new coaster is a similar scale to the park's other coasters, it could even be a later. We've got no sense of idea as to when the park will next invest in a major ride. Or anything really. Looking at Chessington, they got World of Jumanji in 2023, and Minecraft Land seems to be coming for 2027. Towers got Nemesis Reborn for 2024 and Project Horizon is rumoured to now be happening for 2027. Thorpe, it's very quiet. The European Merlin Theme Parks it's even longer gaps. Given the changes at the top of Merlin in the last couple of years, it's hard to know exactly where the resort theme parks stand, and what sort of budget is going to them, or how often major rides are coming their ways. In terms of a smaller investment (ie a new flat ride), planning could be submitted just a few months prior. If we were to see a new flat ride for 2026, for example, we could see plans online any time from this summer onwards. I think there will be a level of caution too. Universal is still not confirmed. Certainly feels possible, but by no means certain. If Merlin want to pre-emptively "respond" to Universal and improve their parks, you're right that they will want to "get in there" prior to Universal in terms of constructors, manufacturers, etc. But if the only reason they want to improve and expand and build new rides is to stop people going to Universal, they'll only green light those investments when Universal is confirmed to be happening. Otherwise, if it's just the status quo, and people are still visiting, why would they need to invest and improve? I should add, I don't think that Merlin will necessarily knee-jerk with loads of new investments if/when Universal happens. There will be a natural step-up in their game following a major new competitor coming, but I don't think they'll start majorly changing how they've done because of Universal. I think there's a level of coincidence in, for example, Chessington's recent investments and Universal potentially happening.

Whoever Parm Pap actually is, I gotta give it to them, they sure know how to press TPM's buttons. The revival of the TPM Ride Game but with even fluffier, more nonsensical rules? Well played. Unfortunately the rules are so nonsensical I don't know how to play.

Ding dong no The sky is dark, the coast is rocky, the island mountainous. Construction is far away. Wait bugger wrong account

In theory yes. Looking at that image I've posted (which is a couple of years old now), it does look like there's effectively a road which leads to the main island behind Swarm. This would also make sense since supports of Hyperia were stored on that island during construction. So it could potentially be something as simple as work on the road following that, ensuring it is in a safe to use condition. But it could be for something, anything, else.

Until we see otherwise, this is unlikely to be related to a major investment, but there is a digger on the old Treasure Island plot: https://x.com/ThorpeParkMania/status/1878473914944282751 Treasure Island does feature a service road that links the park's main engineering workshop to the park, but this digger is away from that road. There's a hundred and one potential reasons for it to exist there. But one of those reasons is early work related a future investment...

We have a variety of threads for parks all around the world. But it's perhaps hard to track things. And there's also plenty of parks which we don't have threads for. BUT. Loads of parks around the world are getting new major rides for 2025. So let's try something new, and track them all in one thread. So this will be the life and soul of any non-UK ride getting built. Some bigger / more popular parks / rides might get their own thread / attention, but this is for a bit of everything... So here's a few to get us started... Walibi Holland are getting YoY, a pair of duelling RMC single rail raptors... The green track is an "extreme" ride featuring 6 inversions, whilst the blue is a "family" ride with no inversions. Walibi Belgium are getting a triple-launched Gerstlauer family coaster... https://www.instagram.com/reel/DD_9x7_oMeq/ Weiner Prater are getting Weiner Looping, a Mack BigDipper coaster... https://rcdb.com/21673.htm Fantasiana, in Austria, are getting Helios, a Mack Stryker coaster... https://rcdb.com/19395.htm Kings Dominion, in Virginia, USA, are getting Rapterra, a launched B&M Wing Rider... Six Flags Great America, Illinois, USA, will open Wrath of Rakshasa, a B&M Dive Coaster with a 96 degree drop Merlin will also open Legoland Shanghai later this year, which will include Big LEGO Coaster, a family B&M Invert. It will also go around the world's biggest minifigure... Another thing, which I'll create a thread for later, is Six Flags Qiddiya, set to open later this year in Saudi Arabia. It will have 9 coasters, including Iron Rattler, a 200ft Vekoma tilt coaster and Spitfire, an Intamin triple launch coaster with a 240ft tall inverted top hat. Oh, and Falcon's Flight, the Intamin coaster which will be partially built on a cliff. It will be the tallest, fastest and longer coaster in the world. It will have a max elevation change of 640ft, including a 525ft tall free standing airtime hill, a max speed of around 155mph (beating Formula Rossa's 149mph), and a length of 13,943ft (beating Steel Dragon 2000's 8,133ft). Track is complete and testing is set to take place in the next couple of months apparently. Feel free to add any updates / discuss here!

Plans for the new CBeebies coaster are online. Replacing Postman Pat... Very basic layout, not much taller than Octonauts. Which begs the question...why the need for a maintenance building?

And it's now definitely not happening. https://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/202412/10639/

17 new parks this year, my best return yet... Legoland Dubai Dubai Hills Mall IMG Worlds of Adventure Motiongate IMG Worlds of Adventure Ferrari World Abu Dhabi FunWorks SeaWorld Abu Dhabi Yas Waterworld Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi Parque Warner Madrid Parque de Atracciones de Madrid Emerald Park PortAventura Park Ferrari Land Walibi Rhône-Alpes Europa Park 77 new coasters, again my best return yet... In terms of repeat visits: -Thorpe Park (probably around 30-40) -Chessington x2 -Legoland x1 -Alton Towers x3 -Drayton Manor x1 A round-up of sorts: Quick Stats Coaster count at start of 2024: 331 Coaster count at end of 2024: 408 Favourites Favourite new-to-me coaster of 2024: Hyperia, Thorpe Park (Number 12) Favourite new-to-me dark ride of 2024: Ani-Mayhem, Warner Bros World Abu Dhabi Favourite new-to-me park of 2024: Warner Bros World Abu Dhabi / Ferrari World Abu Dhabi Least Favourites Least favourite new-to-me coaster of 2024: Abismo, Parque de Atracciones de Madrid (Bottom 10%) Least favourite new-to-me park of 2024: Parque de Atracciones de Madrid Surprises Biggest surprise coaster of 2024: Mahuka, Walibi Rhone-Alpes Biggest surprise park of 2024: Walibi Rhone-Alpes Biggest disappointment coaster of 2024: Red Force, Ferrari Land Biggest disappointment park of 2024: IMG World of Adventures Other Notable Mentions Manta, Sea World Abu Dhabi - Wonderful ride Uncharted, Port Aventura - Surprisingly decent Mystic, Walibi Rhone-Alpes - Lovely ride Euro-Mir, Europa Park - Rubbish Parque Warner Madrid - Not a fun park Milestones 400th Coaster: Matterhorn Blitz, Europa Park 350th Steel Coaster: Diablo, Port Aventura 75th park: Port Aventura Park General Highlights Going to the UAE in general First visits to PA and Europa - nice to tick them off Hitting 400 creds Hyperia General Lowlights Storms and floods in UAE making my first day in the UAE spiteful and stressful - when I was at IMG, their Blue Fire clone was closed due to the weather, despite at time of visiting, it was 22 degrees Celsius. I only got the coasters done at Motiongate, as a monsoon-style rain storm hit and flooded the park. Had to be evacuated from the park via bus. Going to Ferrari World 3 weeks after Formula Rossa shut down My car being broken into in Madrid, with all my belongings (included passport) being stolen Having to cancel my trip to Gardaland / Movie Land Italy last minute I have lots of thoughts for 2025, though it will probably be slightly less in terms of park and cred numbers.

Don't disagree here tbf. Fantastic model choice which would add to pretty much any park's line up. I certainly won't say no to any park having one. But yeah, RtH just didn't do it for me. (The temptation to use the "o-word" that you love oh so much Mark is strong here, but I'll resist )

Yeah, if I'm being honest, Plopsaland's operations leave a lot to be desired in recent years. I visited in mid-August this year. RtH on 1 train, being run poorly. Park was busy too. When I visited around this time last year, again 1 train, but only 3 of the 4 cars in service on that train. Anubis might run 3 cars, but may as well run 2. Etc Heidi is the only major ride they run well. Food has never been the park's strong point, but it's gotten much more expensive and much worse in recent years. People complain about Merlin's food but it's Michelin-quality compared to Plopsa frankly. Circus Bumba is a weak dark ride too. I'm not RtH's biggest fan. It's good, but I don't rate it anywhere near the upper echelon's of my count, like many people seem too. That RAP situation is ridiculous too btw. Real shame.