JoshC.

The Hyperia water feature scenario is pretty rubbish. -It's a Creative vs Operations debacle. Creative / MMM seemingly put in a water feature, with little consultation with the park on whether it will be sustainably manageable with their budget / restraints -Of course, why something as relatively simple as a set of water fountains isn't sustainably manageable (it's the same with Swarm) is something which needs asking -The jets haven't worked since...June/July? Why are the park still making a decision of its future? I fully understand how we've got here, but it doesn't make it particularly excusable.

Attraction Source visited Thorpe this week and have some updates: https://www.attractionsource.com/2025/02/18/thorpe-park-2025-closed-season-update/ -Beach work paused, with small side potentially opening this summer -A small area by the Marquee has been designated as a rest area for Guide Dogs -Ghost Train cafe is having more seats installed where the shop was -Colossus repaint: airtime hill, corkscrews and turnaround to the quad twist Definitely a quieter close season compared to last year, but not all that surprising

Et another video, showing the state of the site

Yeah tbf Thorpe have historically had mediocre Passholder days at the start of the season. Their Fright Nights Passholder events in the past were usually well run, but the start of season ones were a cocktail of some or all of the following: first day teething issues, being too busy, having too many RAPs, not everything being ready, expectations being too high. Hopefully the park are aware of past mistakes and have better luck this time round.

The last time I can recall the park opening after 10am was for Fright Nites 2003, when they did 11am-11pm. Still, a long time ago! In any case, it's been a long time since the park did a passholder day, so it's lovely to see them do one again. The thing with these sort of days (ie ones at the start of season) is that the money they don't earn from standard entrance tickets is sort of recouped by the fact passholders tend to spend more than average on their first visit of the year due to new merchandise. Plus, it helps bring value to the annual pass (despite it already being great value) and added satisfaction. So it is win win. A 7pm close giving the opportunity for a dusk ride or two is a lovely bonus too, and it's good to see the park continuing their experiment of offering later closing times. Hopefully that can continue. I also agree about Fright Nights: it would be interesting to see the park explore 11am-10pm at the very least. I don't know how realistic it is to happen, since one of the things that ties the park's hands is the number of under 18s working at the park. Equally, the park simply seem to have veered away from running rides till 10pm: they don't even do it for buy outs or their VIP/Press events. But it would be interesting to see.

Oh 100%! Great to have, and sorely needed.

I eagerly await the reports of a 2+hr queue on opening day, reviews of it being the greatest addition ever, before then settling into the line up as a filler ride which gets lost on the map in a couple of years because it's not a roller coaster.

I genuinely wonder how many people would care if a couple of Sea Lifes and a Dungeon were to disappear off the MAP. Some people, yes. But I reckon they could get away with removing a few attractions off it, keeping the price the same and it would be a tint proportion of people who would really care.

It's certainly hard to be optimistic about the future. Another wave of redundancies has been made apparent. But really, there have been ongoing redundancies since mid-last year across the companies, and the parks knew it was a matter of time before it hit them. But the bigger issue is that this has happened again. I can think of 2-3 instances over the last decade where there has been a notable wave of redundancies. Is it that the company goes through peaks and troughs and they simply haven't found the balance yet? Or are they cutting staff more and more and more? The company's direction has certainly changed though. 10 years ago, it was all about "catching the mouse" and how they were the second-largest visitor attraction company in the world. It was all about expansion. The idea of being the most-visited is not on the table any more. They have had to acknowledge locations which were failures and close them down. The company aren't creating any new Gateway (fka Midway) brand concepts. There's been talk of selling some SeaLife centres. They are very much consolidating the business and going through a huge re-focus. On the note of SeaLifes, it very much seems like the company want to move away from animals. There have been rumours and plans of removing large chunks of the zoo at Chessington. They have focused away from SeaLife in recent years, and are looking to sell more. The current Merlin don't see a monetary / business value in aquaria, so want to move on. That's something that will take time. At the same time, I do wonder if there's cause for...hope, for lack of a better word. Shrinking the business to focus on key assets gives hope that rather than opening an upteenth aquarium or Madame Tussauds, they can put money into parks. Chessington is arguably seeing its most consistent period of investment ever. There's many ifs and buts, but we can cling onto some hope. Of course, there's lots to be worried about. Towers is a shell of itself. Heide Park is stagnant. Thorpe feels stop-start. Redundancies are never good. A chop and change at the top again, although Fiona Eastwood is now the permanent CEO. So who knows what will happen next. Then of course, there's the matter of Universal GB, which could impact our parks. I remain in the camp right now that Universal won't impact the Merlin parks nearly as much as people think, and if anything, the competitiveness and extra eyes of the country as a theme park country will actually help our parks. But I do completely understand people's concerns, and Merlin do have to be smart about it.

The fake ending shop didn't quite hit the same for the new Ghost Train in my opinion. From my understanding, the creative behind Ghost Train was quite big on retaining that ending, but there was some reservation from the park owing to the fact that it had become known and predictable. So I'm not surprised that it didn't last, and I imagine that there wasn't enough of drive post-opening to be able to change it (given it would require money, time, etc). For what it's worth, the ending only used 1 actor in 2023; the "retail host" would disappear, throw on a cloak, and then come out. In DBGT it required 2 as they were completely different costumes. Obviously the removal of the actor there was balanced by the fact that there were more actors elsewhere. As mentioned, seasonal staff have been cast for Ghost Train, so that at least gives us some evidence that Ents haven't been completely removed from the park, like some people have suggested. I also believe that Thorpe still have a permanent Ents team, who would be responsible for FN and running the main season Ents operation, again, going against suggestions that the Ents team were made completely redundant. The bigger question mark surround Thorpe Ents, and Ghost Train, is the level of staffing we're getting. Will Ghost Train becoming a peak-only attraction maybe? Will we see anything Ents wise outside of Ghost Train and Fright Nights? How else will the day-to-day operation of Thorpe be impacted by the reported redundancies?

Certainly seems like a possibility. At the same time, the Beach is long overdue a revamp and opening that area up and including extra retail / F&B unit options (which this would do) would still be a big positive for the park. The stage could still be of use over FN and be an option for an outdoor cinema for hotel guests in the evening, if the park chose to go down that route.

As mentioned in the Sparkle thread, Hyperia now has grass / turf around its queue line: It's a small thing, but much better than what was there previously.

Another small thing to note is Samurai - which first tested today - has had its central disc re-added, covering the motor. Genuinely can't remember the last time that was there...

Jack Silkstone has a video about Slammer's removal; almost basically done now:

Cables removed; the process has begun

All details of the extension of time and the (potential) consequences are in the TPM news story here

Yes, the lack of updates compared to last two closed seasons is a shame. It's also not necessarily all that surprising. With no major ride construction, there's naturally less buzz. It very much seems like there isn't a Sparkle Project II this year. And there's no passholder group any more. Obviously, the level of updates we got over the last few years was largely unprecedented for many theme parks. Very few gave the level of insight into closed season work that Thorpe did. It was never going to last long, but it's a shame it went from 100 to 0.

Much more speculative than an update, but there's a chance it may not actually happen this year: https://www.thorpeparkmania.co.uk/index.php/2025/01/26/beach-renovation-delayed/ The park have had to submit more planning evidence to satisfy some consultees, which means it's unlikely that planning application will be able to be approved until late February. Just seems unlikely it'll happen for 2025 and more likely be delayed for 2026. There's also rumblings of restructuring happening across Merlin, which may well have knock on effects all round.

-Multi launch coaster. Yes we've got Stealth, but modern day launch coasters are so different to Stealth. Have it as a lower-to-ground, not-as-fast ride with a long layout, and it'll be a winner. Something like Manta at Sea World Abu Dhabi would be incredible at Thorpe. But also the likes of Taron, Taiga, Helix, etc etc. Any smaller version of those would be *chef kiss* -RMC. A balls to the wall RMC hybrid or single rail would be amazing to have in the country. Would it be the right fit for the park? I'm not necessarily convinced. But from an enthusiast wet dream perspective, absolutely. -Vekoma tilt. The gimmick sells itself, and is different enough to anything else on park. But the real kicker is getting a modern Vekoma on park, which are wicked fun. A bog standard Vekoma sit down coaster feels unlikely at Thorpe, simply due to it not having the USP. Chuck on the tilt gimmick and a fab layout though, and they're golden.

It's hard to gauge. In terms of major investments (ie big coasters), the best we can do right now is look at Hyperia's timeline, as that is most reflective for how the planning timelines will work in current-day Thorpe. The public consultation started in December 2021, so a 2024 opening (I believe the original hope was for it to open at start of 2024 too). So, using that: 2029 opening -> December 2026 consultation 2028 opening -> December 2025 consultation Given Hyperia's larger size, if a new coaster is a similar scale to the park's other coasters, it could even be a later. We've got no sense of idea as to when the park will next invest in a major ride. Or anything really. Looking at Chessington, they got World of Jumanji in 2023, and Minecraft Land seems to be coming for 2027. Towers got Nemesis Reborn for 2024 and Project Horizon is rumoured to now be happening for 2027. Thorpe, it's very quiet. The European Merlin Theme Parks it's even longer gaps. Given the changes at the top of Merlin in the last couple of years, it's hard to know exactly where the resort theme parks stand, and what sort of budget is going to them, or how often major rides are coming their ways. In terms of a smaller investment (ie a new flat ride), planning could be submitted just a few months prior. If we were to see a new flat ride for 2026, for example, we could see plans online any time from this summer onwards. I think there will be a level of caution too. Universal is still not confirmed. Certainly feels possible, but by no means certain. If Merlin want to pre-emptively "respond" to Universal and improve their parks, you're right that they will want to "get in there" prior to Universal in terms of constructors, manufacturers, etc. But if the only reason they want to improve and expand and build new rides is to stop people going to Universal, they'll only green light those investments when Universal is confirmed to be happening. Otherwise, if it's just the status quo, and people are still visiting, why would they need to invest and improve? I should add, I don't think that Merlin will necessarily knee-jerk with loads of new investments if/when Universal happens. There will be a natural step-up in their game following a major new competitor coming, but I don't think they'll start majorly changing how they've done because of Universal. I think there's a level of coincidence in, for example, Chessington's recent investments and Universal potentially happening.

Whoever Parm Pap actually is, I gotta give it to them, they sure know how to press TPM's buttons. The revival of the TPM Ride Game but with even fluffier, more nonsensical rules? Well played. Unfortunately the rules are so nonsensical I don't know how to play.

Ding dong no The sky is dark, the coast is rocky, the island mountainous. Construction is far away. Wait bugger wrong account

In theory yes. Looking at that image I've posted (which is a couple of years old now), it does look like there's effectively a road which leads to the main island behind Swarm. This would also make sense since supports of Hyperia were stored on that island during construction. So it could potentially be something as simple as work on the road following that, ensuring it is in a safe to use condition. But it could be for something, anything, else.

Until we see otherwise, this is unlikely to be related to a major investment, but there is a digger on the old Treasure Island plot: https://x.com/ThorpeParkMania/status/1878473914944282751 Treasure Island does feature a service road that links the park's main engineering workshop to the park, but this digger is away from that road. There's a hundred and one potential reasons for it to exist there. But one of those reasons is early work related a future investment...