JoshC.

To be fair the height restriction has always been there to help with the age recommendation. There's no reason for any sort of height restriction for what is effectively a train ride. Interesting to reduce it but keep 13+ as the age recommendation. Not quite sure what to make of that. For some rough numbers, kids hit 1.3m at 8 years old on average, and 1.4m at 10. So there's a big jump there.

Sod it, why not?

The Lost City coaster was originally planned to open in 2001. The codename was a reference to 2001: A Space Odyssey, and nothing to do with the ride.

Simply put, the park don't know when it's going to open. They're not be coy for coy's sake - they just don't have a firm enough time frame from the manufacturer of the track as to be able to say when it will open.

Whatever theme/style they're going for, it's obviously going to be very light. There's no major theming pieces in the plans. The station building is very simple. That's not to say there'll be no theming, but it's simply going to be minimal. That's fine with a coaster like this too imo. I don't think an Egyptian theme does it for me. Something like that could work well at Thorpe, but not for this. This ride is ALL about the height, tacking on some Egyptian hieroglyphics and whatever doesn't hit the spot for me. Some sort of soaring bird over nature would be much better. Simple, easy to understand, makes sense. Just ticks all the boxes.

Nice to have an opening date. I wouldn't read much into the graphic beyond the face value. We can see the train and the grim reaper, which showcases both the literal 'ghost' and 'train' aspect of the ride. I fully expect the attraction layout will remain the same. Pre show, upstairs to the train (which I guess could be floating / hung above a graveyard), some sort of scene on the train, get off for some form of walkthrough, another scene on the train, then a possible post-ride scene to replace the fake shop.

The new track was on site about a month or so ago, but did not fit correctly. It has had to be sent back to be realigned. No updates as to how long it will take.

Having ride-centric rooms is fine enough. But they're not "themed" rooms. They're rooms where instead of broad/generic Thorpe stuff on the walls, they have ride-centric stuff. And a couple of extra bits on drawers. Fine enough idea (and I think that having a few for each ride would be a nice touch), but they don't justify any real extra upcharge imo, even with the bonus Fastrack.

Don't get me wrong, many of the projects John Burton has worked on have been great. But it's silly to have any kind of thought process that: 'John Burton = good Not John Burton = not good' Ghost Train and Alton Manor are only loosely comparably anyway, so even if he was involved, it wouldn't necessarily mean we should expect the same standard.

Rode this yesterday. It's a good Ghost Train ride. Not the best one I've done, but it does have a nice story which you can sort of follow (which is less common in my experiences with these rides). Without posting anything too spoilery, but also giving mild spoilers, I particularly liked the mirror scene and the final scare (the physical prop is well hidden). At the same time, there's 3 scenes which are effectively just pitch black, and they don't quite work. One almost does, because it's a "hide and seek" style scene, but it needs something a bit more (lighting effects with eyes or something). The other two pitch black scenes need something. Now here's something which seems to be controversial. I preferred Duel. I significantly preferred Duel. Part of this is because I'm a sucker for interactive / shooting dark rides, and Duel was just a ton of fun for me as a result. The other part of it is that Duel never felt like an attraction which took itself too seriously. It had the spooky / scary theme, but seemed to have a bit humour / light-heartedness sprinkled in a a result. Alton Manor takes itself a bit more seriously, and goes the full nine yards on the creepiness scale, but doesn't have any sort of humour or 'fun-ness' to it. Now this is very much just a me thing. Is Alton Manor 'better'? Yeah, probably. It's got some cool effects and a nice story and a good creepy vibe. It's definitely on the higher end of ghost train rides I've done. But given a choice, I would rather ride Duel any day.

The creative actually left at the end of March, to further pursue her own creative company and projects. Whilst it's not ideal, there will have been a detailed and competent handover process which will have minimal, if any, effect on the final ride.

They won't request planning changes or anything to stop enthusiasts knowing theme or anything. Simply put, it's not worth the hassle to hide the theme from a small minority of the audience.

The whole point of this ride should be its height. It's the tallest coaster in the UK, that's its USP and no theme or story will add to that in a meaningful way. I'd be all for the front car having a cool style (a la Untamed at Walibi, for example), and some stylising in the area (like Fury 325). But beyond that, I don't think theming is necessary. What is important though is, regardless of theming, the area is well presented and bright. I don't think another dark, dreary feel is needed.

And that's with it missing a key coaster, their headline water ride still yet to open, no Banana Ride, and technically still being a ride down compared to last year since Ghost Train has yet to open. Eek.

The thing is, there has been an obvious drop in quality and notable increase in price since Aramark came on board. Food portions sizes have decreased. The food is simply not as good, with choices in individual restaurants / food outlets being reduced too. The price of food in relation to minimum wage, for example, is notably higher. Thorpe is hit particularly harder by this after they made a conscious effort to reduce the cost of food in 2021. Food at a theme park should be seen as a treat, yes. And it will be expensive. But let's not pretend it's reasonable.

Any particular reason you think this?

There haven't been any updates recently. There's no indication of when it might open beyond "Spring". However, I'd say it's looking unlikely it will open this month now.

Is it that they've always put OTSRs on their coasters, or that they've chosen coasters which require OTSRs? I think Smiler is the only example where they effectively had a choice between OTSRs and lapbars. You could argue in the past they were consciously choosing coasters with OTSRs in part because they had them. But that's a flimsy argument at best. I'd also so the modern lapbar has only come into fashion fully in the last decade, and Merlin simply haven't added that many coasters in the time frame. So it's less that they've created a culture, it's more that they haven't kept up with culture.

This is the least controversial opinion in this thread.

I have to echo Matt's comments sadly. We can say everything about this being a "preview" day, and so that gives the park an out for not having everything be ready. But at the same time, this is still the first day the park is open for 2023, and it felt like the park wasn't really ready in some ways. To highlight the point... -Incomplete renovation of the Lower Dome -No visual work done to various new F&B outlets (Doughnut Time in Lost City, Tacotina, etc) -Multiple rides not ready -Signage not in place I'm understanding that these things can sometimes be out of the park's control. And again, this is a preview. But when there's so many things that aren't ready, you have to wonder if it's poor planning from the park, since they're the common denominator. Dobble Tea Party is an inoffensive retheme tbh, but I hope they paint the entire building purple. The higher up parts are still dark blue and it's a jarring contrast. On a more positive note, the Lower Dome looks nice and I'm sure will be cool when complete. The picnic area replacing Containment is a nice idea, and if they add some more shrubbery it'll be cool. There's been some good touch ups throughout the park and they've made some positive changes, as have already been documented. It's fair to say though that they should also be looking at the wider picture of the park, because things feel disjointed and a bit weak for now.

It's funny how the park have managed to convince people that the return of paper maps is a new thing, and that this is some new style map. The map has been around for a few years around the park. Paper maps returned last year, with event overlays also happening too. People have short memories. The map focusing on direction and ease of use is weird. The park have said they're not focusing on themed areas because the park is small, yet they're using a highly accurate, bordering on bland, map so people can direct themselves. It's like the park hear feedback and seesaw from one extreme to the other, even if it creates contradiction. The BK modernisation is a good thing for practicality. However, to completely lose the theming is a real shame, especially when they seemed to be focusing on smaller details again.

Whilst it could be read as this is the final year of the contract (which would make sense as Thorpe/Merlin tend to favour 3 year contracts on IPs for smaller attractions), it could also be read as "we don't/can't confirm beyond this year due to the contract with the IP". BML could easily remain without the Black Mirror branding too tbf, with no changes to the experience. Though if they want to repurpose Slammer's site for a ride in the future, arguably it should leave when that time comes.

It looks nice in isolation in an "abandoned train station" vibe, which seems to be the theme/story. I'm still concerned how it will look in a wider context when you look at it integrated with the brick warehouse. Whilst I understand why they're showing close ups of the work, I think it's also telling that they're not showing wider pictures.

Not quite in the way you're describing. They have a team of 'Entertainment Technicians', some of who will have experience and ability to do creative work. But their focus will be more on the technical work for events, rather than scenic work. The park work closely with external companies, like Unique Concepts and UVE, to provide creative scenic work. In the last couple of years, there's also been overlap of Thorpe and Chessington departments - for example, I believe the Creek Freaks Unchained float used during last FN was designed and made by Chessington's creative team. In the past, Thorpe have had more scenic creative individuals, and have pushed for a more dedicated department. Unfortunately, for one reason or another, it just has happened.