JoshC.

It doesn't. My point more was making Fright Nights specifically just for the older market (by recommending it to be 13+) gives the park more opportunities to make the event better overall. Specifically, gives them a chance to allow the roaming characters to do more, and maybe even have some decent park-wide theming (a long shot, I know). I get what you're saying, but I don't think calling it a "family" attraction would be the best way about it. A lot more emphasis on the fact it's a 2* scare rating and how it should be a tamer experience than the rest is needed though.

In fairness, mazes about a serial killer, evil governments killing teenagers, a miner going on killing sprees or deranged madmen making innocent people star in a horror 'film' are a lot less family-friendly then creating a profile on Tinder... It's a difficult one; Thorpe are trying to be welcoming to families again, but are still focusing on the 16-24 year old market. It seems like they want to make Fright Nights the time for 16-24 year olds and no one else, and then make the rest of the year more open to everyone. Best way to go about getting in the family market? Probably not. Good way to improve Fright Nights? Yeah, I think so.

I don't think Thorpe are lacking in space. MHFS and island behind Swarm/Stealth are empty spaces just waiting for development. Places like the arena, Canada Creek, the beach and the Shark Hotel island are in need of work as well in my opinion, and can be redeveloped to accommodate new attractions. Given a park of Thorpe's size in their situation, I think that's quite a reasonable amount of space! I'm not saying Thorpe have lots of space to spare, they have to use what space they've got wisely, but I don't think it's as bad as some may think.

One of the Tinder profiles that Ryan was mentioning earlier... (screenshot retweeted by Thorpe's Twitter)

Can't think of 10, but the links of Son of Beast (because vertical loop on a woodie), Ring Racer (because fast), Thunder Looper (because why not?) and Big Bad Wolf (again, because why not?) all spring to mind. Wouldn't have minded being able to have tried out Space Station Zero, just to see what it was like I guess. And the broncho bikes at Thorpe sounded fun..

I'm a no I'm afraid. It's a shame, if it was the 17th/18th , I'd have made an appearance, but alas I'm either traveling back to uni that day or at Alton Towers. Hope everyone has fun and all those who do Face it Alone live to tell the tale...

Where have you heard that from just outta interest?

I personally think Thorpe's non-conga line mazes have been pretty good, and don't see any reason why Studio 13 can't continue that good trend. Given the story behind the maze, I think there's good opportunities for the park to utilise a non-conga line experience as well.

"It's not your successful friends posting inspirational quotes on social media." Oh, the irony.

Saw most definitely does not have nine trains, just for the record.

Who wants to see awesome night time shots taken by Liseberg of Helix? Everyone of course! Beautiful; can't wait to go next year!

Happy birthday to Cameron (ie coastercameron98)!

The last time Thorpe ran Stealth on one train, which I believe was a couple of months ago, they got ripped to pieces for it. And yet within a week or so, it got back up to two trains. That time, the reason for one train op was because one train was broken and the other was receiving maintenance. So, given the park's record in this sorta situation, I expect it'll be a similar issue this time around and that Thorpe will work as quickly as possible to get it back to two trains.

Right, not wrong.

"Catch the Mouse" is it?

*Awaits an angry pluk to give a link to the Health and Safety thread and explain the lack of three trains isn't H&S-related*

That's a fair point; unless it's going to take a long time to clear (for reasons we may not know), though that seems unlikely. The more I think about it, the more it would be a good space for something for Fright Nights; like maybe for the overnight experience or something. I guess there's nothing stopping it from being used for both Fright Nights and a future development too! EDIT: This is something I've always wondered. I'm pretty certain it can't be kept wholly secret, so if someone contacted the council's planning office directly and enquire, then the council would have to allow them access to it. Also, people within a certain radius would be informed, and usually sent all the details. But there might be a way for them to ask that it's not put online!

I hate adding fuel to the fire, but... A lot of the previous investments haven't required many (if any) trees to be taken down. ABL, Storm Surge, Stealth and Rush all replaced rides/sideshows that were in operation, so the work on those areas would naturally be left as late as possible. Swarm, Saw, Saw Alive and Flying Fish were all on infilled land, and didn't need any trees to be taken down. So really, the last time Thorpe had to clear a tree-area for a ride was for Slammer, and that started quite early (which I guess was more for flattening out land?). All I'm trying to say is in the past, there's been little need for Thorpe to start work like this for a new attraction. So, I don't think it's unreasonable to suggest that this removal is for a permanent future development. What that development is and when it arrives, however, is sheer speculation and rumours, and there's nothing concrete we can say about that.

This was tweeted Southampton University's SU and retweeted by Thorpe Park. Linky - https://twitter.com/YourSUSU/status/515447375553654784/photo/1 Could this be one of the 13 roaming actors?! And could we see 12 others crop up around 12 different places? Would be a different way to marketing FN, and could be effective!

If a ride is on a reduced capacity, then there will be less Fastrack tickets sold. It is rubbish to suggest they'll sell more Fastrack tickets, or indeed encourage more people to buy them, when a ride isn't running at it's full capability...

I doubt Vortex could be modified to go 360 degrees over. Or, if it could, it would take so much modification it would be easier top just straight out replace it!

Just want to make it clear, I'm certainly not defending Thorpe over this! I can understand the park sometimes running coasters on one train, or that there's times when one train operation is necessary for a short period of the day, but doing it on a regular basis is silly, especially when they're aiming to make off peak days busier and improve guest experience on the whole. It's simply a case that I think comparing how Thorpe operate their coasters to the likes of Europa or Cedar point is a bit unfair, given the differences in the places. Admittedly though, it doesn't really take away from the point, so I guess it doesn't matter that much anyway! But given that Alton can do it, Chessington can do it and every decent park all over the world can do it, why can't Thorpe? There's clearly something up, and I just hope that they can sort it out...

http://www.gardaland2015.it/en/operation-orange/the-spiral-experiment Another video, 'The Spiral Experiment', is online. Seems to be the beginning of a new chapter too. Very nice and slow build up; fingers crossed that it all ties together nicely!

I think the idea behind that one was it being 18 years after Inferno's opening, much like how Sub Terra was 18 years after Nemesis' opening. Y'know, because of the long-standing joke about the parallels and whatnot..