JoshC.
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Everything posted by JoshC.
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I like the look of these S&S 4Ds to be honest and have heard decent reviews of them, so I guess it could be worse. Still would like to see one built a bit closer to home. But yeah, agree with the lack of originality and whatnot. More of the 'looper flats' sounds extremely disappointing too..
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Okay, here's what I said... I said I'd be surprised if a maze went "near" where the Island Beats stage is (note, your original post said that a maze was going near the stage, not where the stage was). I didn't say nothing could go there though. Still, I am a bit surprised and its easy to forget the size of the area with a huge stage there. Your original post mentioning about using that area also said about using the WC16 building for a maze this year, which even you note imply is wrong. So forgive me for being sceptical about your source when something so ridiculously out-there is said. I didn't realise proving me wrong was such a big deal. I'm happy for you that you've been able to prove me wrong. Maybe next time it happens, you could be a bit more polite about it though?
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The majority of rides run through the night; they will only advertise the biggest rides for night rides though since that is what people will be interested in most.
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That particular Facebook page is not official and in no way connected to Thorpe Park. Take anything they 'confirm' with a pinch of salt.
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ScareTOUR have announced on their FB that the other attraction will be called Breakout.
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They've been doing that photo trick for a while now at Warwick Castle; very sly and frustrating. I really hope they stop doing this and don't roll it out further!
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We can only really know if it is a flop if we know what Thorpe wanted out of the attraction in the first place. The attraction itself is a well themed, non-thrill ride addition to the line up. Something which was desperately needed in my opinion. I doubt that the park were expecting this to draw the crowds in, but rather fill in a gap in the park's line up (probably for a short term basis) and fulfil the park's fetish of adding in something new every season. The point you raise about the queue and throughput is interesting. As I've said many times in the past, mazes just don't seem to work outside of Fright Nights for Thorpe (and probably for many other places too). Freakshow 3D and Saw Alive weren't popular when they were open outside of the Fright Nights season. But during Fright Nights, they are always popular attractions with very long queue, because that's what Fright Nights is about. Over the summer, if people see a 40 minute queue for IAC and a 50 minute queue for Inferno, I bet they're more likely to queue for Inferno because they've gone to ride rides and coasters, not walk through a maze. Some people will be happy to queue that, but many people probably see it as "Something they'll do later" or "Something they'll do if it has a 10 minute queue". So I think if the throughput was a lot better, there would still be a queue (albeit probably shorter), as it would attract people who see it as that something they'll do since it has a short queue. Fantastic for you, but that's not really the point being raised.
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Ian Habgood; who has worked with a few parks for several bits of music in the past.
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Anything not about the new attractions has seemingly just been copy and pasted from last year's press release! The thing with any carnival / clown themed maze is that they will almost always rely on similar ideas, so it'd be a surprise if Big Top didn't have similar scenes to COS in my opinion. However, by the sounds of it, there are plenty of differences, and Big Top also sounds a lot darker, so I doubt it'll be a re-hash of COS. Also from the press release is more about this escape attraction... Would suggest that the escape attraction is an after hours event? Also seems like they're going to play the mystery card and reveal it quite late on.
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New for 2016 - Park-Wide Improvements
JoshC. replied to MarkC's topic in Chessington World of Adventures
Samurai has been taken down for "essential maintenance"; it should return to Thorpe in the future. If it leaves, it won't return to Chessington. -
Try this link: https://www.thorpepark.com/fright-nights/fright-nights/ (found by Googling 'Thorpe Park Fright Nights')If you go to the main TP website and click on Fright Nights, it takes you to https://www.thorpepark.com/island-beats/fright-nights/ , which is now an outdated link since Island Beats is now finished.
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Probably just haven't updated it. It took them a while to update the site in 2011 when they moved Se7en to the Beach from the Arena. With noting that The Big Top is rated 5/5 for scares, along with MBV. Asylum and Studio 13 were both rated 4/5, along with Cabin and Saw. BWP remains 2/5. The website also suggests that the overnight experience will have a story related to the Figaro brothers.
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Roman Roaming: Highlights from Italy, Part 1
JoshC. commented on BenC's blog entry in Theme Park Travels
Just looking at those mini airtime hills on Freestyle makes my male region feel sore... Surprised that Cinecittà World was so quiet. I thought it really was the next big thing for Italy and was being given huge amounts of attention, though I guess it's hard to judge these things when being an enthusiast and this getting attention for it's 10-looper. Awesome-sounding trip though; thanks for the report! -
There's reviews of the Blair Witch Overnight Experience on ScareTOUR. Their first try on one of the first nights was pretty disastrous, but a follow up visit proved much better... First try: http://www.scaretouruk.com/review---blair-witch-overnight-experience---thorpe-park.html Second try: http://www.scaretouruk.com/review---return-to-blair-witch-overnight.html Think about it from an even larger perspective. The park are trying to market themselves as one of the scariest places to go to. As their Fright Nights video says, they don't do clichés, or trick and treats, they do scare. They want to attract the bravest of the brave, the people who really do enjoy their scare attractions (a market which is surprisingly large). In ordinary conditions during the day, they can't offer the scariest of experiences for many reasons (time constraints, no age restrictions, etc). By offering out-of-hours and overnight experiences, they can draw in the people wanting the extreme scares, without scaring away the people who don't want something that extreme. So I think overnight experiences are something that Thorpe genuinely need to improve their event as a whole. Of course, they shouldn't lose focus on the ordinary attractions that operate during the day, but they aren't really - 5 free mazes and continuous additions to that line up since 2010 shows their commitment!
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Island Beats has ended this weekend, in a rather quiet fashion. I do hope that this has been a success for the park as they've obviously put a fair amount of time and money into what is a bit of a risky idea. Will be interesting to see if it returns next season, and whether it will be bigger or not! Also, we have this from Showcase Live...
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Last year, when Swarm had basically no queue (ie - just a bit in the station), I actually saw staff not take Fastrack tickets off guests, because of no queue, and said to go to Guest Services to get a refund (whether the people actually got one I don't know). Presumably there's something in the small print which covers them from a legal perspective in situations where people use Fastrack when there's no queue? Morally it might be wrong to sell them in that situation, but legally and from a business point of view, they've surely got their backsides covered?
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The construction summary is weird, as it only ever feels like it makes reference to the construction of the building, and none of the ride hardware. Certainly odd. I personally wouldn't rule out some form of tracked ride system, but certainly agree that it looks very unlikely. I agree with Ben that if we are in for something truly ground-breaking and game changing, all speculation is probably going to be fruitless. I certainly hope it is! The part about the Noise Assessment saying being open by Summer 2016 has always made me curious. However, I've heard some staff mention how it will be open in March, though whether that's because they are as clueless as we are about the whole project and just going my assumption I don't know! I wonder if, after Smiler's construction issues, they're just playing it safe and saying summer just in case they have some problems over the next few months?
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If the mirror maze was a separate attraction, they would have mentioned it. The second experience won't be a maze of any sort; it'll likely be a new overnight experience or a scare zone.
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In an unexpected turn of events, I should be able to make this meet now. Scary stuff...
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The Big Top had been confirmed as a scare maze in its own right; the mirror maze is definitely part of the maze!
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Update ahoy: http://www.vhcoasters.com/?p=4669 Flying Aces is coming along nicely; still no sign of that 52m loop yet though.
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I think you're reading too much into it - for marketing purposes, they'll of course focus on the big rides that you can ride at night. They're not going to advertise how you can ride Toadies in the evening now, are they?
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Mirror Maze sounds fun, but I immediately have some concerns about throughput. Very easy to have congestion in a mirror maze if not controlled carefully, ruining the experience a bit. Also easy to allow plenty of time for people to escape the maze, but can slow down throughputs a bit. Don't get me wrong, a mirror maze in a scare maze does sound fun (I can't think of any scare mazes that do have one actually?), but it will surely be difficult to pull off?
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The way I'm seeing it is that the promotional teaser for Molly Crowe is that video, which is very nicely done. Anything else before then was unnecessary teasing to the teaser. If they hadn't posted that photo (and the diary entry which hasn't even been posted on here!), it wouldn't have made a blind bit of difference to the advertising of the attraction and - arguably most importantly - the attraction itself. I find it almost gobsmacking that people are complaining about one picture posted on social media in all honesty. There's wanting the best for parks, and then there's ferocious nitpicking in my opinion!
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I think there's enough height for there to be a roller coaster in there. It wouldn't get much momentum or anything, but they could certainly fit a roller coaster in there if that's the system they wanted to get people around the building. I'd be surprised if they did put a coaster in there, but I don't think it can be ruled out to be honest!
