JoshC.

Took a little poodle down Monks Walk. Not really anything new to report, but at least a different perspective: https://www.facebook.com/thorpeparkmania/posts/pfbid025dr7GehAecmu5bMU7hvujxmQTpCoPxAsyGNoWZbdND7p47U7m1vPwaciGH3tFw28l

Themed around a garden centre?

The "we're a small park" excuse is rubbish. Go back 20 years, when the park was (excluding The Farm) technically smaller, and they had defined areas, with portals and signage. Look at a park like Phantasialand, which is small and compact, and they have some of the most well-defined, high quality themed lands out there. The simple and honest reason why the park don't do themed lands is because they don't want to. That's fine too, if that's the case. But let's face, it's not because they couldn't.

RIP Loggers Leap station https://www.facebook.com/thorpeparkmania/posts/pfbid04HKs4vJGkAGo2cFnPYbiewqLP6WYBFLBH2RFhFYFMuoLfvkV7E9YWJ7MfH92NH4Sl

You might want to avoid supermarkets for the next couple of months m8

Teasers are coming a bit thicker and faster... https://www.instagram.com/reel/CnR1Yj1KcLp/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=

Appropriate. Or is this considered spam? Agree that it was a lose-lose situation.

It sounds like this very much is a statement, and also just the beginning. I've noticed there's a job advert for engineers at Chessington, which very much reads like they're expanding the team: https://merlin.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/4/home/requisition/16836?c=merlin&lang=en-GB 3 years would include the water park no doubt, as well as Jumanji. There's also rumours floating round of other medium-to-large investments coming next year. Obviously this could all be standard marketing spiel, but still interesting. Also interesting to note them saying Jumanji opens in summer, rather than the advertised spring, so probably isn't worth reading into things toooooo much.

As I understand it, Russ hasn't left the park, he's just taken on extra responsibilities in overseeing Chessington too. Unless things have changed..? In any case, his role was/is as Commercial Director. Whilst he'd have an input on those things, one would like to hope that input wasn't the be all and end all of things like special effects on rides!

Whilst they haven't had a new (non-kiddie) flat ride in 9 years - yes, I'm counting the Dodgems - I'd still argue Thorpe's flat ride collection is decent. Good variety and good amount. Is it as impressive as it was 10 years ago? No. Is it still better than a lot of other parks? Tbf, yeah

Saw's single rider trial came as a result of a lot of pushing and campaigning from a Rides Team Leader I believe. Was a bit of a passion project in some sense. Glad that's paid off and they're looking at rolling it out further. Agree that, in practicality, Stealth is the only ride which has the capability to have a single rider queue (re)introduced, mainly because it was designed to have one in the first place. I guess a couple of flats could too. I hope that they see the worth in it and can consider some minor changes to Exodus' queue lines and include one for that too.

As I understand it, when it was confirmed in Jack Silkstone's 2020(!!) video, there ended up being delays due to Covid. Understandable enough. Then 2021 came around, and it could be done in time for start of season because parts were delayed due to Brexit laws. Frustrating, but forgiveable. So why didn't it come about last year? At what point do we have to go they've just swept it under the rug? Or raise an eyebrow of concern that it takes multiple years to get a fire effect installed? It's a shame how laughable it is.

This would be a post from 10 years ago. Deja vu esque.

Another Jack Silkstone update from all around the site: Appears as if things are progressing well; Creek Freak Massacre and soon Loggers Leap will be demolished.

Very open indeed. Exciting to see this progress!

Rocky Express is not going to reopen at Alton Towers, or anywhere.

Interesting. It's still on the main website, for now at least: https://www.thorpepark.com/explore/theme-park/rides/derren-browns-ghost-train/ But yes, one would imagine it takes a certain level of direct intent to remove a ride from the app. So it will be interesting to see if it's a goner or if they're planning a retheme. As I've said prevuously, they can't leave it in the state it was in at the end of last season. Rocky Express is not returning. Highly unlikely. If Thorpe were getting a new flat ride, it would almost definitely have required planning permission. And if they wanted to open it for this season, we would have seen a planning application by now.

Reports were seen, but am a terrible mod and didn't respond to them. With the forums being quiet, and with Parm's posts usually getting some reaction whilst also having an obvious relevance to Exodus, was letting things slide. But yeah, posts which read literally like a spam bot are too much. If you leave the reveal entirely in darkness, then there is no light. You cannot balance the ying without a yang. Always happy to have some fun, silly, cryptic posts. Always happy to play along if it's not too much. But there is such a thing as being too much.

You've had some fun silly posts, but there comes a point when you cross a line and it just reads like a spam bot. This is the point. Let's stop the overt obtuseness now please.

I believe the screenshot has now been deleted. At least, I can't see it. Thank you to those who reported the post and helped resolve this. The mod team is aware of the spam issue and looking to resolve it. Unfortunately we are also busy with other things outside the forums, so thank you for your patience.

I don't know what exactly is replacing Cliffhanger, but I am under the impression it will not be a roller coaster, and instead a small-ish flat ride. Basically none of those rides would be viable options. Enterprise is on its last legs, and takes a lot of effort to keep open (much more than a park of Blackgang's size could cope with) Spinball is too big a coaster for the park Rocky Express is being scrapped Apocalypse is way too big a ride for the park

With my year now over in terms of new rides (and probably parks in general), here's my Top 10% of coasters, with new-for-2022 ones in bold: 1 Taron Phantasialand 2 Taiga Linnanmäki 3 Untamed Walibi Holland 4 Skyrush Hersheypark 5 Helix Liseberg 6 Oz'Iris Parc Asterix 7 Balder Liseberg 8 Lost Gravity Walibi Holland 9 Der Schwur des Kärnan Hansa Park 10 Phoenix Knoebels 11 Jersey Devil Coaster Six Flags Great Adventure 12 Nemesis Alton Towers 13 Joris en de Draak Efteling 14 Colossos - Kampf der Giganten Heide Park 15 Goliath Walibi Holland 16 Kingda Ka Six Flags Great Adventure 17 Candymonium Hersheypark 18 El Toro (SFGAd) Six Flags Great Adventure 19 Troy Toverland 20 Black Mamba Phantasialand 21 Hyperion Energylandia 22 Lech Coaster Legendia 23 Lisebergbanan Liseberg 24 Van Helsing's Factory Movie Park Germany 25 Pulsar Walibi Belgium 26 Nitro (SFGAd) Six Flags Great Adventure 27 The Swarm Thorpe Park 28 Nemesis Inferno Thorpe Park 29 Colorado Adventure Phantasialand Notable new additions missing out here are Batman The Ride, SFGAd (#32), Ride to Happiness (#41) and FLY (#43). New rides for me which disappointed were Flucht von Novgorod, Storm Runner, Great Bear and Talon. New rides which surprised me, but aren't really in the upper echelons of the count, were Lightning Racer, Krake and Steel Force.

And here it is ladies and gentlemen, the post of the year.

If anything happens, don't expect changes to the ride system. The standard winter maintenance on the ride has already commenced, which means that the ride system will return. I am under the impression that the Derren IP was originally 6 years long, which would mean it would expire this year. There were some unknowns there, with the ride having opened late in 2016, and not opening at all in 2020. But I imagine its in both parties interests to just wrap things up with it and move on. The thing with Ghost Train is it would be very easy to remove Derren from it. Replace the pre show and edit his voice out of the start / end of the VR. Stick a different video in the finale, if they even keep that, and boom, done. Just drop the 'Derren Brown's' part of the name. Very easy, very cheap. Given the state of the VR headsets and the general mess they are though, it would make sense for them to attempt to do more. New VR. The long-suggested have screens in the windows instead. Have it as a completely actor led experience, turning it into a more Dungeons-esque experience. There's lots of more costly options there if they choose to do anything substantial to it.

Except people weren't saying that. With Fish, the ride went into storage, with an intention to possibly sell it. The plan then changed and the park reintroduced it, with a new train. Being in storage, the ride was protected from the elements and well looked after. This is very different to Rocky, which has been effectively abandoned for a year now. Rocky Express is not returning.