Everything posted by JoshC.
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Bolliger and Mabillard
Sounds like Marmalisation failed for someone. Get me Dr Kelman's number please.
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Fright Nights 2015
It certainly would have been shocking if they did actually open with it... The vibrating fence left me buzzing though, and scared many others.
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Fright Nights 2015
Sometimes, it helps just to dive straight into the deep end and just do one of the bigger, scarier-sounding mazes, since the anticipation and thinking about what could happen is usually worse than the maze itself. It may not sound like the most sensible thing to do if you are scare of mazes, but it really can help. Saw Alive would be a good shout to genuinely see what you'd be like in a Thorpe maze. It doesn't have many claustrophobic moments compared to the others and highlights many of the standard scare tactics Thorpe actors will use in the other mazes.
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The Smiler
After not even putting a toenail out of line during this whole thing, I'd be surprised if Varney really did say it in the manner that the Fail are describing it. Then again, the victims have been very reasonable and understanding when it comes to the public speaking about the event. So it's hard to tell really. Maybe there was a misunderstanding when a question was asked or something? Whatever it was, I just can't see Varney or anyone from Merlin saying to a victim 'We're losing money because of the crash and we want to reopen the ride as quickly as possible', as is being described in the article.
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Fright Nights 2015
My worry about any outside scene is that it could potentially lose atmosphere with normal guests going by over the bridge. I'm sure it's something that's already been thought of (and it's of course still possible that there is no outside scene), but it's something which I keep having worries over!
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Fright Nights 2015
^ I doubt the location will affect how long the queues for Big Top will be that much. Queues will naturally be very long though, of course, because it's the big new thing and the most heavily advertised. Hopefully the throughput will be decent and, equally importantly, has a fun to be in queue line. Those set pieces do indeed look good!
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Official Scary Thorpe Park Meet 18-10-2015
Ah, I see. Don't get why they can't just do the Wheel of Misfortune at the BBQ at 9:45 though; odd decision!
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Park Operations
The way I read the post was that X, Slammer and Loggers would be closed for 2016, and Colossus would be closed for good at the end of the 2016 season? The Colossus thing sounds like rubbish for sure; I doubt they'd have made such a decision so soon, let alone have something like that be leaked out already. Treat rumour with a hefty pinch of salt I say.
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Official Scary Thorpe Park Meet 18-10-2015
How would that work, if you don't know what maze you're doing?
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Fright Nights 2015
Hmm, my memory might be a bit hazy, but I don't remember one? I only did it in 2012 and I know they did change some scenes slightly some years, so it's possible there was one. I guess if it had a fortune teller scene, it couldn't have been memorable on my go!
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New for 2016 - Park-Wide Improvements
As eB said, this investment is alongside the 2016 attraction that is going into the park. So they are investing in both the resort side of things and the park side of things, it would seem. I've nothing against the High Rope Courses, they're fun things to do and I'm sure no one staying at the hotel would be against even more choice whilst staying there.
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Fright Nights 2015
The RnR page is still live and saying October 2nd to November 1st: https://www.thorpepark.com/tickets-passes/reserve-n-ride/overview/ Maybe they've hidden it from view for the time being whilst they update the page / decide whether to make the mazes or the coasters (or both) available on the system? I don't get this obsession about people thinking the park will reuse theming from old mazes? I can't remember any time when the park have reused theming from old mazes (except Passing, where they basically didn't change much from Hellgate)? But I can't think of a time when they've specifically moved sets of major theming pieces from one maze to another maze in a different location. I can see why people might consider it, given things like budget cuts and the like, but from what I can remember, Thorpe have set no precedent of reusing theming in different mazes, so I don't get why everyone jumps on the idea every time they see something that's remotely similar to another maze? I really don't think it is. COS was a very well executed clown-themed maze, which mixed a good amount of humour with scares. It had a lot of scenes which one would expect from a clown-themed attraction. Big Top also has a lot of these classic scenes, including things like a Jack in a Box and the main clown feature. But Big Top sounds like it has plenty that COS didn't - a fortune teller scene, a mirror maze, an apparent dungeon scene, etc. There'll of course be similarities between Big Top and COS because they're themed around very similar things. In all honesty, I'm surprised there weren't more grumbles about originality with this choice! But Big Top won't be a rip off of COS, I'm sure.
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Official Scary Thorpe Park Meet 18-10-2015
If that's the case, then I'd prefer to do the BTS during the day, but get that others might be different. Perhaps we could set up a vote to see what is more popular? Containment is a paid for attraction which seemingly has to be booked for in advance (£8 for AP holders, £10 for normally). Happy to offer a helping hand in running the meet though, whatever the decision.
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Fright Nights 2015
Interesting comments. The rating system has always been a weird one to me. I've always felt that Thorpe should advertise their maze with higher age recommendations, since it creates a slightly different expectation. Plus, some of their mazes are pretty full on - The Passing had some disturbing scenes, Experiment 10 was very shocking, MBV is an intense experience; it's surprising in some ways that it is only a 13 age recommendation. I certainly know I wouldn't have coped with some of that stuff, and many others will be beyond scared by some of those things too! The one about actors touching you is much more interesting though. I always feel like touching is a very cheap scare aimed to surprise you, and very rarely do the Thorpe mazes have touching that fits in with the maze. It's all stroking or jabbing aimed to try and invade your personal space whilst surprising you. Actors who don't touch you can be a lot more intimidating, since they can still invade personal space, and keep you questioning what they will do. It also means they can work more with scenery and the like. I think touching has it's place in more extreme mazes, but in standard maze environments, I always find the scenes where actors don't touch me to be better compared to scenes where actors do!
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Bolliger and Mabillard
This doesn't exactly make sense? You grey out on coasters because of the high positive forces experienced when on a ride. So, the more intense a ride, the more likely you are to grey out. If you're greying out on Swarm, but not on a more forceful ride, then there's something not quite right there... Unless you're saying that you grey out on Swarm on a higher percentage of your rides on it now then compared to Khan, in which case, it's a stupid comparison since you've surely ridden Swarm many, many more times than Khan?
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Project WC16 - New for 2016
The Mind Gap section of Minds Wanted has been updated, featuring yesterday's photo and the following... Wonder if it means something that some words are unnecessarily capitalised? Also, on a different note, some have found a new touch code:
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Official Scary Thorpe Park Meet 18-10-2015
Sounds good fun, though what exactly would a special tour entail? If it's just a maze tour but after park closes, then I'd rather just do a tour during the day to be honest. If it's slightly more than that, I'd be more interested. Happy to go with the majority though.
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Tidal Wave
Totally agree. But the park are obviously struggling to get the people in (no doubt not helped by Smiler); when I visited yesterday the park felt like a bit of a shadow of itself from a couple years ago.
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Tidal Wave
If you think this is Thorpe's golden days, I'd genuinely hate to think what you think bad times are. Thorpe aren't doing as well for themselves really. From having opening hours cut, to rides not being open, etc. I still love Thorpe and really enjoy out, but they are struggling a fair amount. It's a real shame. Thorpe's true golden days were way back in 2003. More recently, even the likes of 2009/2010 were a lot better than this year.
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Official Scary Thorpe Park Meet 18-10-2015
I don't have any preferences to be honest! Big Top would be good fun though. I looked at the booking page for it and it sounds like you don't book for a particular maze though, and the way it's worded makes it sound like you go a BTS on all 4 mazes? Also agree about having a Containment takeover!
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Official Scary Thorpe Park Meet 18-10-2015
Whilst I'm not a huge fan of splitting away from the group during a meet, is anyone else interested in doing a BTS maze tour? I want to do one this season and doing it with some TPMers would be good fun. Also, whilst I'm at it, may as well confirm I'll do Face it Alone with you guys too.
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Tidal Wave
Unfortunately, I didn't grab a photo of it, but there is now a sign in front of Tidal's entrance saying how it closed for the rest of the 2015 season.
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Bolliger and Mabillard
ha, this post made me laugh a lot more than it should have for so many reasons. First of all, what's wrong with being "basic"? You say it like it's a bad thing? Not everyone can go to various parks around the continent, or even the country. By all means encourage and suggest that people travel abroad and see what else is out there, but the way you are saying it, it's like you're insulting people for not travelling. Second of all... Yes, you've said that your opinion has changed and that, and maybe you've ridden 10 roller coasters that are better than Swarm in the past 13 months. But think back to when Swarm was your favourite ride and why you enjoyed it; surely you can at least appreciate the fact that other people will enjoy for those same reasons. Swarm sits nicely at the top of my Top 10, for many reasons which I've mentioned on here in the past. I guess that makes me "basic" (even though I've probably got a similar cred count to you, but oh well). I guess I should "actually travel", instead of magicing myself to other theme parks. I guess I should click my fingers, and magically get the time and money to go to the parks where all the great rides frolic freely in the wind. Or I should go ride Shambhala, without "actually travelling". There's certainly a lot of similarities between the two. I definitely think that anyone who enjoys one would enjoy the other. Whether the hatred thing is the case is something I'm not so sure on. Baron gives a very floaty ride experience which feels completely different to Swarm, so a Swarm-hater may enjoy Baron for that great floatyness. --- Anyway, back to B&Ms. I've ridden 7: 1) Nemesis Inferno 2) Nemesis 3) Air 4) Oblivion 5) The Swarm 6) Black Mamba 7) Baron 1898 I'd put them in the order of how much I liked them, but since I'm basic, I don't think it's necessary.
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Fright Nights 2015
Love that Containment video! I was on park today; Big Top area isn't flooded. No photos as the attractions look no different to last photo update.
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Dragon's Fury
I know it's a traffic light system, but people will still feel like their weight is being judged, even if no numbers are involved. And if you get a red, you are essentially being told "As a group, you're too heavy". Not necessarily the greatest thing to experience at a theme park.