JoshC.

If Thorpe chucked more mazes to the line up, I'd worry about a potential dip in overall quality. Yeah sure, it means people spread out more and there's more to do, but is it worth risking quality for quantity? I'm not too sure. Also remember the park are trying to move away from sticking mazes in tents. Up until about 2010 I think, Thorpe did run Fright Nights for about 3 consecutive weeks, but the weekdays were just so quiet if I remember correctly, so they just cut them away. Given how the event is growing though, it would be interesting to see if it's popular enough to sustain enough visitors for it to be worthwhile now. Nahh, don't think so. Very few people will turn up on the gate after 12pm just expecting to buy a ticket easy peasy. Most of those who turn up after that time will be AP holders (who have to prebook) or people who have prebooked. Certainly won't be the same number of complaints either way.

Yeah, it is worded a bit badly! I think most people are under the assumption you need the park ticket anyway, and it's just there to cover the park.

It means you have to have a valid entrance ticket to be able to go to the Grotto. The Grotto is an extra on top of park tickets, for use one you're in the park, not a way of getting, essentially.

It could also be that loads of people have prebooked but haven't turned up just yet.

Just to say, that's always how Fastrack operates. When the park isn't insanely busy, it normally works 'okay' (by which I mean, okay for a Fastrack system...)

Given that yesterday the park was the busiest of this season (and probably last season), that a couple of rides were down and other reasons, I don't think throughputs are the thing that needed improving!

Rita (even if I haven't ridden Baco, but meh). FRIGHT NIGHTS or FRIGHT NITES?

Image from Theme Park Guide's FB page This is what confuses me about people and the Fastrack culture in general - people are happy to queue THAT long (which is surely a good 30-40 minute wait), just so they can skip a slightly longer queue, and pay for the privilege of doing so?

Storm Surge - July 2010 The Swarm - February 2011 ABL - January 2014 Those are the dates when the plans went online.

Depends what you mean by announcement I guess. Thorpe may "tease the geeks" again like with the LC12 mushroom clouds like Jack says, and that could happen as early as the end of this year. The park also sometimes have a small press release when plans are submitted/accepted for a major attraction, and that normally makes it way into local news. They'd probably also mention it on the park map (New attraction coming 2016, etc). An official announcement on name/theme/etc could happen at any point after plans are approved I'd say though.

If the Inferno shop does go, they will of course redirect the exit. Given the on ride photo booth is also housed in the Inferno shop, they will need to find a different place for that as well. Remember, it's still a big if at the moment. There's been no planning application to extend the Inferno workshop? It was mentioned on the MTDP, but it seems very unlikely to actually ever happen! If the Inferno shop goes (and personally, I'd be very surprised if it does!), then I'd expect the exit will simply be the same, except just last a little longer and take you round just past the Mr Monkey area.

I want a dark ride, but I can't magic up several hundred pounds to go to Universal to ride one. Just because something is elsewhere, it doesn't mean Thorpe (or indeed, anywhere in the UK) can't make something that's good in its own regard.

Loggers Leap, Rocky Express, Rumba Rapids, Teacups, Dodgems, Angry Birds 4D, Depth Charge, Zodiac and Quantum are all family rides, and are under no rumoured threat. Carousel and Mr Monkey are very old rides which have very little appeal any more. It would be a shame to see them go, but there are plenty of other family rides and attractions... Success is a funny word, especially how Merlin use it. 2012 was a quiet year for the park, quieter than expected most probably. That doesn't mean Swarm wasn't a success. I bet it is one of the better received attractions on park now, so looking at in the long term, it's clearly been a good investment. Saw is very well received, but remember that it is nicely themed around an iconic film series which is due a new film in the next couple of years. So I do think your comparison is a bit unfair in honesty. A dark ride would be a bit of a risk, yes. However, I'd expect that Thorpe have done a lot of research and if that whatever they add in the future will respond to public demand.

In fairness, I doubt Mondial would do any more than say "It's old" and recommend a replacement, or supply any required replacement parts!

In fairness, we've known for a couple of years that the "2015 coaster" has been delayed. From there, it's still natural to assume the next big thing would be a coaster. But it could well be possible that the park decided then to have delayed that for a few years and get a non-coaster major investment before then. It's nice that whatever is happening, we have no real indication what it could be. (Unlike Swarm, where we basically knew what we were getting from 2010). So it's nice that that's happened at least!

Whilst that's true, remember that up until the middle of 2012, the plan was (as far as we know), to have a coaster open in 2015. Plans have changed an awful lot since then, so whilst there may have some initial ideas back a few years ago, any plans for a potential major ride in 2016 would have only really come into swing in the past couple of years!

Bit of an 'out there' suggestion, but if we're looking at a high-budget dark ride, perhaps one of these - http://www.dynamicattractions.com/products/sfx-coaster/ Whilst it's a coaster at heart, I'm sure if can primarily focus on being an immersive dark ride. I'm sure Thorpe and Dynamic Attractions could work together for a custom layout too. Sure, it will be expensive, and there's plenty of other options for a dark ride experience, but if this is the route they decide to take and they can splash the cash, I wouldn't complain!

James - why not just post it in spoiler tags? Or even better, everyone asking - why don't you just enjoy the maze how it was designed to be and explore it without knowing?

Bare in mind the Screamscape article is literally just a rewording of the Southparks article. As I said before, I've heard that X and the Arena could be making way for whatever comes about in 2016. There's obviously some plan for the Arena, but what, who knows for sure? I'd be very surprised if the Arena and Ranger County/Fungle spot are used for the same ride/development though, given it would take a major pathway away from the park.

Here's me favourites. Made up many of my own categories and didn't include others because why not... Theme Park: Thorpe Park Coaster: The Swarm Live Action Scare Experience: Face it Alone Film: Silence of the Lambs Film Series: Harry Potter Film Genre: Horror Book: 'Animal Farm' - George Orwell Book Series: Harry Potter Book Genre: Nothing specific really (chucked the category in for symmetry compared to films) Food: Spaghetti bolognese Drink: Banana smoothie TV Show: The Simpsons (newer and older seasons; like most of them) Restaurant: Any decent curry place that serves hot curries / Nandos Item of clothing: I like underwear. Never leave the house without wearing a pair. And because I'm a mathematician, it would be a shame if I didn't include some mathematical things... Area: Algebraic Number Theory Theorem: The Fundamental Theorem of Finitely Generated Abelian Groups (FTFGAG, for short) Conjecture: Goldbach's Conjecture Proof: Showing that there are infinitely many prime numbers. Maths-orientated leisure book: '17 Equations that Changed the World' - Ian Stewart

Yeah, they sometimes do that as well. My experiences have more been an actor simply hiding in the darkness and banging on the fencing. But yeah, is a shame it's so dark!

It's from Saw 5, so comes just after the Mausoleum room (the smoky room with heavy chains and a metal thing in the middle) and before the corridor which leads to the Carousel room. It's usually very dark and only lights up the table, meaning you miss most of the theming. Sometimes you'll hear a swinging pendulum in it though.

Some photos from inside Saw Alive and Studio 13 from Scruffy Dog's Facebook page (spoilered for obvious reasons)... Scruffy Dog refurbished Saw Alive (the bathroom scene certainly looks fresher!), as well as designed and produced Studio 13. Those sets in particularly are exquisitely themed! Also, a couple of photos from Thorpe's Twitter about the 'Extra Cut' overnight experience...

With regards to the naming of Nemesis Inferno... http://forum.maniahub.com/topic/10112-ert-nemesis-inferno-10th-birthday-celebration/page-6#entry162079 In other words, it won't change it's name any time soon. Not really necessary or anything and Inferno has it's own separate identity to Nemesis these days.

Music and audio is something Thorpe have largely gotten right every time. Ignore the cheap pop music that was chucked onto rides near the entrance and the entrance itself, and Saw's perhaps slightly too well-fitting audio, and I think everything is spot on. IMA Score are great and would love to see them do something at Thorpe, but I imagine they're quite expensive to work in comparison. Given how well Thorpe usually are at making their own music, I'd much rather see IMA Score only used once or twice.