JoshC.

Whilst the park have been pretty good at tarting up the park in recent years, I will hold my breath on Slammer's removal. They've said it before (internally, admittedly) and they've publicly said stuff that hasn't happened or been delayed (Tidal fire, Stealth SRQ, etc). Obviously it makes sense to remove it and put a ride in its place, given the proximity to Hyperia, but we shall see. As for Labyrinth, obviously it's been a prime spot for Fright Nights mazes. And of course, it's good to have a permanently set up maze, rather than having to re-build a maze each year. At the same time, it's not the largest space, and with mazes being upcharge, I'm not sure they can create a standard maze which is worth the £10 charge.. So it might be a prime spot for a different type of experience. Whether it's an alone experience, a non-maze experience or something else, I think that's the direction the park should go with that space, if they choose to use it for FN. I'm also not sure 4 upcharge indoor mazes is the way the park needs to go.

Been open for 3 seasons, which is the standard IP contract that Merlin used to go for (especially for smaller attractions). Certainly possible that the Black Mirror IP expired and the park chose to not renew, especially since Merlin seem to be erring away from IPs

https://www.instagram.com/p/C3DwDhTt2jh/?igsh=cXZmYjBrYTR4dTdl The main drop is twisting up

Top 25 European parks? oooh, that's a doozy of a question... 1. Phantasialand 2. Parc Asterix 3. Efteling 4. Thorpe Park 5. Walibi Holland 6. Walibi Belgium 7. Djurs Sommerland 8. Heide Park 9. Legendia 10. Alton Towers 11. Movie Park Germany 12. Linnanmäki 13. Toverland 14. TusenFryd 15. Hansa Park 16. Plopsaland 17. Fårup Sommerland 18. Tivoli Gardens 19. Hellendoorn 20. Legoland Billund 21. Liseberg 22. Chessington 23. Energylandia 24. Legoland Windsor 25. Bellewaerde This was difficult and probably would change order. Legendia I visited 6 years ago, and I hear the park isn't as good as it was then. So that may change. I'd be interested to go back to Liseberg and see how I feel about it; I just didn't vibe with it when I visited 7 years ago.

The main lift hill tower is rising:

Update on the Colossus work. The shop is feeling a bit less Legoland-y now:

Swinging Seashells has been scrapped and will not return anywhere.

This is a photoshop, along with the poster's other post in the Hyperia thread. @towersnurd we are all for people sharing their thoughts of how they want things to look, and sharing photoshopped images. But please make sure you say this. If these aren't your photos then link where you found them.

The monster is well and truly reborn...

Colossus is currently looking fresh

Interesting, I feel the opposite. The image has been the key concept art image, and really drives home the height and scale of it to me. And I think 'tallest and fastest' coaster is enough of a draw in its own right. In construction news: Here's another look at the non-inverting Immelmann... And lift hill supports have gone in today:

Ehhh, I wouldn't say this is classic Merlin. This is something any park would do, and indeed something other parks do. This isn't a more contrived, Wicker Man esque world first which is a key focus of the advertising. The key focus of Hyperia is the fact it is tall and fast, and breaks notable, legitimate records. Mentioning tallest inversion in Europe and a unique element (which could well be the highlight of the ride) seems pretty reasonable within extra talk for the ride. Cedar Point do it regularly with their coasters. I think Valravn broke like 6 records, with some being awkwardly specific. Phantasialand did it with Taron: "roller coaster with most track cross overs", plus "longest and fastest multi launch coaster" I get the joke about Merlin doing silly records, but as secondary things, I think it's fine and not out of the ordinary for any major park. They will 100% do a big TV advert. I expect once they have a solid known opening date they feel comfortable advertising to the public, marketing in general will kick up a notch

Europe's tallest inversion and the most airtime of any UK coaster:

Trims on the exit to the non-inverting Immelmann (the element prior to the outerbank dive): hopefully one of those 'just in case' trims, like the one at the bottom of Swarm's drop, but we shall see

We're (perhaps overly) lenient with the silly posting, but it's a step too far creating threads with no reference tbh Harmonicas blow, and you suck for posting this

What happens when the retrack Inferno in 9 years and rename it Nemesis Inferno Reborn though?

Don't know what you're talking about. Anyone who does something like that would be ridiculous..... 👀

This is quite possibly the clearest post you've ever posted. Must be a lie.

Dunno how long it's been since you've been in the Boulevard Bogs, but the foot pedal sinks were removed from there when the toilets were tarted up in 2017! They are gone for good; another quintessential Thorpe classic lost

Lots going on today!

Good opening hours all round. I agree that Fright Nights should go back to 10pm, even if it's just FN attractions and coasters that stay open till then. I would presume that the main issue is staffing. The park is open till the first weekend of November, which seems later, but just coincides with the dates of local half terms. I hope they can build towards that. Tbf in the current UK park landscape, 7pm is still pretty good though. It's interesting that no Carnival (or indeed, any summer) event is advertised currently. I wonder if last year's event schedule was too much for the teams involved? Could also potentially mean an Annual Pass day on the Saturday. Equally, there could be a long-shot suggestion of Saturday being the opening of Hyperia, meaning longer opening hours or, again, the potential for AP previews.

It feels like construction has gone in ebbs and flows. When the outerbank dive was going up, everything felt like it was flying. But then after that, it's felt like vertical construction slowed down. Obviously there's still been progress, but at this point, I would have expected work on the lift hill / drop and more high-up track, given that in October the outerbank dive was completed. I think March is an outside bet. For all the other Thorpe coasters which opened in March, I believe they all complete their first test run by January of the year they opened, and some of them had tight turn arounds to opening. There can be a quick turnaround from first test to riders, but it also depends on landscaping, queue construction, etc. I think April-early May is the most realistic safe bet at the moment, but it certainly could be earlier than that. I'm aware that this week staff who will be working on the ride (as hosts and operators) were told and allowed to share the news publicly, which is usually a sign that the park themselves have an idea when training can start. When that is isn't publicly known though.

The plans for the retirement home were announced in 2019; we had discussions about it here and here. Adverts around the site suggested it would open in Spring 2023, but it's still looks like there's a lot of work to do with it. Next time I go to Monk's Walk I'll try and take some photos. It's a weird position for a retirement home and I'm still slightly surprised it got the green light. Will be interesting to see what happens in the future. The actual land itself probably never would have been used by the park for public stuff, given there would be a staff area in between it and the main park. But it could affect the park's potential investments nearer to the site.

I appreciate this is just a singular screenshot of a website, but the design of it makes me feel like that website should avoid throwing stones whilst in a glass house.

This is the main thing really. By doing all these things up, they need to commit to doing other things which need doing, and keeping up appearances too. The tart ups of Colossus and Stealth will highlight how Inferno needs a freshen up. The effects and theming on Swarm need some attention. Again, tarting up other areas will highlight that Swarm needs attention. And then they need to maintain them. With Stealth, Teacups and Big Easy Boulevard all getting attention, all of a sudden Rumba Rapids will look even more run down. The Beach and Depth Charge are still things that need attention. The Sparkle Project does have a feel of Towers Loving Care. And whilst that was great in the then and now, we've seen how things have been abandoned since. But as has been said, it does feel like the park and Merlin are putting more money into the park (/ parks in general), which is very good. Hopefully the Sparkle Project will become a more standard winter maintenance. And yes, more importantly, that they have a department who can maintain everything and keep on top of things. But big thing: I'm loving the updates that they've talked about. Really looking forward to seeing what the park manage.