JoshC.

Spoiler thoughts from me: Some non-spoiler bits, found out during the Press Night: -Kieron Smith, Global Artistic Director for The Dungeons, was described as the "writer and director" of Ghost Train. What they means exactly I'm not sure, but in any case, it means that this has had significant input from someone who is in charge The Dungeons, which are very successful, and what this attraction should aim to be like. -The park acknowledge this will take some time to perfect. As with things like this, there will be a need to be responsive to guest and actor feedback, and things like timings, scripts, etc may need to be tweaked. The park will do this. -Not having the restriction of an IP means it is easier to change / update the story too. -A general consensus from everyone I spoke to who rode it was that it was perhaps the best they could have done given the constraints they had. There's a "ride system" in place, but it is minimal and restrictive, and was designed for a very specific purpose. The building was designed for that ride system. Replacing the ride system is pipe dream worthy at this stage. But what they've with it, and what they've turned Ghost Train into, is (as I've already said), on the higher end of what they could have done. They could have done more, but they've done a good job.

Very very brief thoughts from me as I am exhausted It's good fun. It's an actor led, story driven, Dungeons-esque experience. It's an improvement on DBGT and more rideable, but it doesn't have strong rerideability. It's on the higher end of what they could have done with the ride system in place. I have concerns about how it will run with full groups of paying guests. But that will be seen in time. Theming is good for the most part. Story is clear and straightforward. There's some cool, simple effects. It's up there as one of the better incarnations of the ride (probably joint with the 2017 version when all effects worked for me). It's not perfect, but it's a good, well rounded addition to the park's line up. Fuller review with spoilers to follow.

Just as a reminder that whilst TPM will not be posting spoilers on social media, others may. If you are posting spoilers in this thread, please mark them appropriately!

Keep an eye on TPM's social media channels this evening from 6pm...they might be some (non-spoiler) thoughts from yours truly from the preview event!

In terms of 'extreme' spinning Mack coasters, there's only the two Xtreme Spinners (Ride to Happiness and Time Traveler), Icon/Enso and Steel Taipan. All of those are launch coasters, so not like Exodus in any way really. Obviously they have some tamer spinning coasters too, but again, nothing like the scale of Exodus. It's not impossible to imagine there being a spinning car, or a backwards row / rows, on this. But at the same time, you have to wonder if: 1. It really needs it. This is the UK's tallest coaster, do we need anything more? 2. If it will be too much. This is going to be a fast, hard-hitting ride, unlike any of Mack's other spinning coasters. Adding the spinning to it might be unnecessary.

When you need to hit the word count on an essay.

The slight vibration and rocking was a "butt kicker" effect; the whole train would judder slightly I believe. The vibration was more a by-product of that movement rather than the point of the effect. I could certainly see a proper seat vibration effect being installed, or even leg ticklers, for example. I'm also fairly certain that the butt kicker effect wasn't in operation last season...at the very least, I never experienced it on any of my 3 goes..

Nice to see this sort of information included. There weren't any seat vibrations. Presumably with the removal of the computing hardware for the VR headsets there's now space for this sort of stuff.

Tbf Thorpe could be a lot better if they nicked more of Walibi Holland's ideas, so I'm not against the notion.

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.