JoshC.

Working on the assumption that these rides are going to be installed at Thorpe, I think they're a...nice addition? Regardless of how hard Thorpe tried to push away the family market, it simply did not work. Families still came to visit, including families with young children. It's difficult for Thorpe in some sense - they were almost saying "DON'T COME TO THORPE PARK IF YOU HAVE YOUNG CHILDREN", yet people didn't listen. I guess that was one of the reasons why they had to revert back to actively advertising to families; they were coming anyway. Things like ABL and IAC have at least helped expand the offering a bit more, even if it's not what the park should be doing to become a park suitable for all the family. These rides add a bit more for younger children to do. And I mean *younger* children - don't forget that kids as young as 2 are 0.9m tall and able to ride such rides. And there's enough 2 year olds visiting the park (if you don't believe me, keep an eye out on your next visit, you will see a lot more toddlers than you expect!) to warrant some form of rides which could appeal to them. The trouble with the current 0.9m line up is that they are all rides which are either too high, too fast or too rough for many parents to want to take their young children on them. A RockNTug and Jumping Frog are rides which are proven to have more ridership from younger visitors, whilst not being too popular; see the equivalents at Chessington, Towers, etc. I've seen these sorts of comments on a lot of forums, and it always confuses me. People say the park needs more family rides, more children rides, etc, but when they're added in, people say that's not the sort of stuff they should be adding? I just don't get what people want - what sort of small family rides should a park on Thorpe's scale be adding so that it is not labelled as pathetic, shocking or what? NB: If people are talking about the theming of the rides, please read below. I agree Thorpe's sense of direction can be seen as confusing, as can their general 'brand'. Hopefully this is something that can be worked on over the next year or two. However, I think many over-exaggerate the removal of so many family rides. In the last 10 years, they've removed MHFS, CRC, CCR, Octopus Gardens without like-for-like replacements (ie - no attractions of a similar target market replaced them eventually, hence why I'm not including Time Voyagers). And maybe Loggers Leap, but let's take Thorpe's word for it for the moment. Of those rides, how many of them were "family" rides, in the sense of rides that all the family could enjoy? At a push, you could say CRC and CCR. People talking of the removal of the OG rides as a loss is ridiculous in my opinion; they were rides which arguably would have been out of place at Legoland. So keeping them at Thorpe would surely be daft. These rides are ones which are able to produce a slight thrill for adults, whilst still being very entertaining for young children. And I think we can agree that whatever Thorpe's direction, brand, market, is, it is something where they want people to have a 'thrill', and not sit idly by, and that reflects in all of their attractions. And there's nothing wrong with that I guess, even if it's not the norm. I always feel like people are bashing their head against a brick wall with a retheme of the area - they've already put some focus on turning Canada Creek into Old Town, and that should develop in the future. So, in effect, a retheme has already happened, and I can't see one happening again any time soon. I think the big thing for these rides is whether they're themed to fit within the surrounding area. Again, assuming they're going in the Old Town area, if they're left as they are and just plonked down, that really puts a negative side to these rides - they will look totally out of place, feel really cheap and tacky, and justify a lot of hatred towards them, unfortunately. If, however, they are (re)themed, and there's some attempt to make them look part of the surrounding area, then it can make them feel a lot more complete, and belong in the area. And it would then create a nice little area which younger families can enjoy, and inject some real energy into that part of the park. Of course, this is still far from an ideal scenario. I'm sure we'd all love the area to have an open Loggers Leap, or a large-scale attraction replacing it, along with new rides which are highly themed and feel natural in the area. We all know the park are crying out for a major family attraction, be that a coaster with a 1.2m height restriction to appeals to all, or a log flume on the scale of Chiapas or something. But the ideal situation isn't always what we get...far from it sometimes. But regardless of any of that, I do think that if the park are serious about becoming a place that welcomes families, these sorts of attractions would be needed sooner or later. Now of course we play the waiting game to see if these are actually staying at Thorpe, and if they are, where they're going, if they're being themed, etc. etc.

Any idea when a Part 2 might make an appearance? Always love your blogs to provide some inspiration!

One thing which I find odd is that Drayton said the child would need to be measured at every ride. Surely by now they've thought of the whole wristband height check thing that so many other parks offer?

With small scale projects like these, Thorpe and the council seem to have an understanding whereby Thorpe commence work before the plans have been officially approved. It's happened with this, it had with Swarm's billboard and I'm sure it happened plenty of other times too. Wouldn't be surprised if similar things happen at other parks where they have good relationships with local authorities.

There's good news and bad news coming out of Walibi Holland... Good news: Speed of Sound, their Vekoma boomerang, is being repainted, with the same colours. Bad news: (H)El Condor, their atrocious Vekoma SLC which causes pain to every inch of your body, and should be ripped down as soon as physically possible, is also being repainted, also with the same colours. Source: http://www.looopings.nl/weblog/6497/Walibi-Holland-verft-deze-winter-drie-achtbanen.html I wonder if all this money bring used for repaints has come due to the presumed non-appearance of the 2017 attraction?

Yesterday it was running 7 car trainsinstead of 5; apparently they had to be bought over from Germany. First time this has happened out of Oktoberfest too. Obviously proving popular...

Could potentially be part of winter maintenance? I know it's not common to dismantle swinging ships during off season , but always a possibility...

Nothing's really changed as of yet. They've likely got a vision for the future of what they want to do to that area (and the others); to me, it feels more like a potential evolution of Canada Creek rather than a retheme (ie - change the name and keep the same generic theme to reduce costs). But my point is that Canada Creek, technically, no longer exists. It's now Old Town, and that's it's direction...hopefully

I don't see why people are talking about the loss of Canada Creek in future tense, when it hasn't technically existed for the past 2 seasons; it's technically Old Town now... Don't get why they'd remove Rocky Express either. It just needs something else near it for it to sustain a bit more popularity, and it's not exactly like it's not running well. And it takes up so little space it's not exactly like it's removal would create space for anything of any substance. Probably in the minority who wouldn't want an RMC in the Loggers location though - would much rather something a bit more family friendly, so that there's something in that area which is for everyone.

When you look at their other water rides though, Storm Surge - in theory - fills a good spot... Tidal Wave - A ride which 90% of people will only ride during summer / hot spring Rumba Rapids - A 30 year old rapids ride which isn't very rapid, isn't very wet and which many people forget exist Depth Charge - A 10 second ride with a very low throughput. Good bit of fun, but far from a staple water ride. Storm Surge is a family ride which can be 'enjoyed' together, features height to give it a bit of a thrill, can get you a bit wet and I guess is memorable in some sense. No other water ride offers that at Thorpe at the moment in my opinion. Obviously, if Loggers Leap was open, or if a substantial amount of money way pumped into Rumba, Storm Surge would be a spare bit and easily lose-able. But at this stage, I honesty think that if Storm Surge was ripped out and not replaced by a water ride, there would be an obvious gap in the ride line up, and it would hit the park really bad during summer.

For a bit of scale to this addition - this will be the second tallest and second fastest coaster in Europe when it opens (only behind the lovely Red Giant in PA when that opens), so this thing is HUGE. Couple of minor things have changed since the layout above, with the inclusion of a tunnel after the first drop and 4-across trains also seeming to be happening. Could be exciting. Where on earth is all this money coming from for Eastern European parks to be springing out though?!

Voting has been open for 10 days, and I can exclusively reveal some awesome statistics... So if you haven't already...

I always find it interesting how so many people like Furius Baco and feel as if they're in the minority. On this forum at least, it seems to be reasonably popular, and the launch seems to be loved by most.. Much love for the guys who don't like Slammer; you're all awesome. I'd say that me liking DBGT is a reasonably uncommon opinion, but that's when everything flows well. I hate Scorpion Express, whereas most people seem content with it. I like Hollywood Tours at Phantasialand; it's fun. Speaking of Phantasia, I think Mystery Castle is pretty naff as a ride. Theming is good, actual ride is bad.

Travelling backwards makes many people feel queasy. Mix that in with the darkness, stopping and starting multiple times and the unknown of where people were going, it was a recipe for sick.

The park's director said back in February that 2019 would be a unique coaster costing more than Lost Gravity (though there's been no mention of how much Lost Gravity cost). 2017 was said to be a thrill ride, though no sort of monetary budget was rumoured.

Can we please stop the all this petty bickering now - any more of it here will just be deleted. If absolutely necessary, take it to PM. Thanks.

Goliath, the park's headline coaster, is getting a repaint to help celebrate the ride's 15th birthday next season... I like the colour, though some of the community seem to be a bit wary of the loss of the iconic green. In other news, the potential new ride for next year (which was said to be a thrill ride replacing the old 4D theatre near Lost Gravity) might not be happening. One of their Halloween attractions, The Clinic, used the space this year, and had a lot of money thrown at it apparently, and is also returning next year (if you're a fan of scare attractions, I'd recommend looking it up!). But given that this is Walibi, who knows what they're planning...

Ooh, nice thread idea! UK-wise, Vampire's tunnel immediately springs to mind. Also, The Antelope at Gulliver's Warrington had a surprise drop somewhere which 8-year old me loved (see my blog post: http://forum.maniahub.com/blogs/entry/317-what-was-the-thing-with-the-antelope/ ). European-wise, Huracan at Bellewaerde is a standout for it's awesome pre-lift dark ride-esque section; the coaster section is a complete waste of a theme and location! The vertical loop on Typhoon at Bobbejaanland deserves a mention for being so darn intense.

Canada Creek Railway back in 1994. [/OldSchool]

I don't even need to add a comment.

I think we need a "Most Desparate to Want an Award" category at this rate...

Couple of photos of the demon costume in making from the company hired to make it if anyone is curious... http://www.plungeproductions.com/archives/7668

I don't get people's problems about this topic being made at this time of year. Not like there's much else to talk about, and with this year's event still reasonably fresh in mind, improvements will still come to people's heads.. Not only that, Fright Nights is Thorpe's headline event, their busiest part of the season and one of the UK's biggest and well-known Halloween events. With Thorpe growing in popularity and getting more attention overseas, it's also expanding into being well known across Europe, which is only a good thing. So what's the harm in discussing such an important time in the park's calendar a little bit early, and throwing out some opinions? I'm totally against reviving mazes though; especially ones which have been gone for years. I'm not even a fan of having a maze's name brought back in name as a sequel after so many years (so no "Experiment 10: Contamination" please). I don't mind if mazes are sequentially year-on-year (like the Black trilogy at Warwick Castle), but bringing back mazes / maze themes just doesn't sit right with me. Might just be me though.

UK-wise, I guess it'll be the standard Merlin quartet. Would like to be doing Paultons next year since I couldn't fit it in this year.. Abroad, Liseberg, Efteling and Phantasialand are all high up on the list and pretty much must-dos. Plopsaland (if Heidi ever opens), Movie Park Germany and Bagatelle would all be very nice too. Aside from them, I'd like to look into Port Aventura, Disneyland Paris, Europa Park and Walibi Holland (for Halloween), but all of them would very much be time and cost dependent..