JoshC.

Looking back at previous 'biggish' rides, Storm Surge's plans surfaced in early July 2010 and Slammer's in late July 04 (with Rush's in September 04). So it does seem unlikely that a flat ride of some description could be coming our way in time for the start of season (judging from previous applications, at least). Could still see a ride open mid way through the season mind, though I'd prefer that not to happen.

That's the 'artist impression' from when the project was initially unveiled, showing some coasters. I don't think anything has been said either way about whether there will definitely be a coaster or not when the place opens, but if the artist impression shows coasters, I think it's fair to assume that there'll be coasters at some point not far after opening.

G Force's lift is wacky, so I'm gonna have to go for that.

Posted by AT's Facebook... "World's first horizontal flying coaster". Now no pedantic geek can complain that Air wasn't a world first...

The main trouble with this would be the locals and the council - Thorpe have the agreement to have rides stop at 11pm Monday-Saturday and 10pm on Sundays. Plus they've got the opening of the Dome till 3am for 42 times a year. Taking everything into consideration, Thorpe have it good. But trying to open any later just seems to difficult to negotiate; they have to keep the locals happy, and I imagine a fair few will be against having rides open until midnight on the sheer principle of it all. The last time Thorpe stayed fully open past 10pm was 11 years ago now; all other times (ie Summer Nights and MoS), they've only had a few rides open and marketed as a separate event altogether). I do believe back in 2006/2007 there were plans for opening until midnight (when I think the agreement with the council was different), but they were cancelled? To have the full park open beyond 10pm, and have it marketed to everybody, is a very different kettle of fish in terms of Thorpe being allowed to do it, especially nowadays. I do think that Thorpe would be one of the best parks in the UK to be open very late, but I just can't see it ever happening, more because of the restrictions on the park than the park's own wants.

You're right Callum; the pipes I believe had to be severed for Stealth's construction. It's certainly been talked about that the fire could return side Swarm has fire effects, but there's probably other issues to our as well (could be wildlife living in there; bats live in the water tower for example!).

And that now gives an answer to what I (and no doubt others) have wondered for a while - "What is Slammer's throughput?". With an experienced team, a cool 384..

I can't believe people could of been so lazy and inconsiderate to do such a thing! It annoys me whenever I see litter on the floor, but on somewhere like a beach is just not on.

Launch on the wingrider looks interesting - certainly some of the elements earlier in the ride look like they're going to be taken at some speed, which is different compared to most wingriders. The zero-g looks like it could end up being a highlight! I agree with pluk about the near misses (or lack of) if the POV holds accurate, but that's something not to judge at this stage. The shorter trains are an odd one actually; perhaps to minimise risks with B&M's first launch coaster? Good to see B&M expanding out and hope this is a success for them!

We all know Merlin's logic with theme park entry prices - have a ridiculously high on-the-gate price to encourage people to book online or use 2-for-1s. So, in some respects, the price for Thorpe (that Merlin expect people to pay) is £25-27. It's weird really, but you can sorta see their reasoning behind it (making guests book online makes it easier to predict gate figures and such, 2-for-1s help make people think they're getting a better deal). There's obviously a huge push to try and get people to get season passes too - make people think 'Well, we've got a season pass, why not go back?' - so it's an interesting strategy, even if it's not the best one.

The thing with Detonator is that it's sold as a ride that goes up and down. With Detonator, the point of the ride is you go up, then dropped back down. With Tidal Wave, the ride serves two purposes - to be a visual spectacle (hence why it's so prominent in marketing images and with merchandise), and to get riders very wet. Take away getting the riders wet, and you lose the point of the ride from a rider's perspective. Sure, they may be some people who want to try it, but for a "normal" guest, if they've got a choice between going on a water ride that won't get them wet, or another ride which completes it's purpose properly, they'll almost always choose another ride. How can you know this though? Every ride on Tidal Wave will get you wet, so how can anyone know if they will enjoy the ride without the 'getting wet' element to it? Given covers to the ride is an interesting idea, but I just could never see it working out in practice.

^It really is a shame Purge isn't a Lionsgate film, as they could make for brilliant roaming characters. I found that, bar one or two corridors, Cabin was brilliantly themed - much more so than the likes of Hellgate or The Passing. MBV was really good as well, except for the ending. Both of them did have a mish-mash with the themes though. Cabin makes more sense, as it each was meant to represent a different monster / scenario (at least, that's how I took it to be ). But MBV was very weird - from hospital, to mines, to forest, to a random room, it didn't have a consistent story line. Personally, I think that they're just as well themed as Se7en and Curse were (with some of their biggest flaws being blank corridors between scenes), but the older mazes did have a more consistent story going on. Kinda ironic really, given that with IPs, there's a ready made story for them to work with!

And happy birthday to Nick!

Good to see Scruffy Dog are involved still; I'm guessing they also did some stuff for Cabin as well as MBV. Fingers crossed we see some nice improvements!

Loving the report so far toofy; thanks for doing it! Oh and hey, I'm going to Tesco today, really looking forward to it!!!

I see what you're saying there Mark, and in theory, it could end up going down that route. However, at this stage, I don't really see anything to support your fears, other than that one comment. Thorpe still are investing in the park (Swarm and Frights Nights being the two major ones recently), they're focusing a lot of guest experience / satisfaction, they're improving opening hours (okay, Summer Nights is a paid extra, but they've still got good opening hours all year round I think for a UK park); I could go on some more. Sure, there are still some flaws with the park, and some of those flaws need a lot of work to iron out. But I don't think Thorpe - or Merlin - will get into a state of complacency. Indeed, the reasons they feel guests will go back to them could be because of what they are going to do! As I say, I see your concerns here, but I do think (or maybe I should be saying 'hope' here?) they'll be unfounded.

Happy birthday Worthy!

Personally, I don't think Merlin have too much to worry about. It's been noted that no other major theme park operator operates within the UK - it's just Merlin. There must be a reason (or reasons!) for that. Whatever those reasons, it shows that the UK industry is hard to penetrate. So this is a huge risk for Paramount, and there's lots more things that could wrong than right - there's a good chance that it could indeed fail, or at the very least, not do as well as Paramount will want. Also, Merlin have a very good stronghold on the UK market. The market is saturated with Merlin, and most who are interested in theme parks will probably have been to one of the Merlin attractions. So if Paramount Park is a success, in the long run, will it really make much difference? Some people will choose Paramount over another park, yes, but in the long run, people will still go to Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, Chessington and Legoland, especially if Merlin keep investing in the parks (which they are!). I don't think many people are going to get a magic light bulb go over their head when they visit Paramount Park and go "This is much better than Thorpe Park (say), let's never go there again!". Basically, as long as Merlin continue to invest in their parks, the arrival of Paramount won't do any harm. It may lead them to have to do better investments, who knows, but guests will still come back. But I don't see any reason for them to hit the panic button yet and have to dramatically change anything.

Since this is more a general FN topic rather than related to any specific year, makes sense to post this here... http://www.scareattractions.co.uk/thorpe-park-se7en-exclusive-pics/ - Some pictures from inside Se7en in it's first or second year. Shows a good amount of detail in there; some that I'd missed as well despite doing the maze several times!

Same year they had characters having sex in the middle of Rumba on their map; what did you expect?

It was posted on their Youtube channel with the title 'ROLLER COASTER PORN' (or something like that). They took it down quite quickly I believe. Don't miss the days of that marketing.

Colossus certainly isn't unbearable (as the ERT a couple of years back showed me). However, in my experience, it's very much pot luck as to whether you get a good ride on it or not. Some rows are fine, others are not. However, in my recent ride (as well rides in general), I've found the cobra roll and double corkscrew to be unpleasant experiences, and even bracing yourself doesn't do much on the cobra roll. It's a shame really when any ride has pot luck for what experience it gives. More so a shame for Colossus since I enjoy the second half of the ride..

Gotta feel for Paultons.

No idea where to put this, but it needs posting... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea5F7VfjN8A (first 3 minutes)