JoshC.

*Inserts Mark's joke about last season's joke about potential flooding at Thorpe* http://forum.maniahub.com/topic/9916-thorpe-flooding Though considering it was one of Chertsey's worst floods since the 1950s (so much so that Chertsey bridge was closed for a while, for example), I too wouldn't be surprised if there was a bit of flooding around the park...

And if you want any more confirmation, Drayton just posted this: Lines up perfectly with what EC posted earlier. Hopefully this'll be open for my visit this summer!

The thing is, if the park were to retheme Asylum, they could essentially keep it exactly the same (route, colours, etc.), but just add in different scenes and change the name. It's not a lot required at all if they want to keep it simple. The amount of work done to it would suggest to me that they were planning on changing it, but the IP fell through at the last minute. What we've got to remember is that in 2012 Thorpe introduced The Passing, which was a 'new' maze (okay, new-ish, considering it was essentially Hellgate backwards, but you know what I mean) and did some changes to Experiment 10. Of course, neither of those mazes returned for 2013, so just because they did a lot of work Asylum for one year, doesn't mean they wouldn't be prepared to completely change it for the next year!

Regardless of the date chosen, I WILL be there!

Along with most of my love for the park as well...

Yay, this is all sorted now! Going to be doing a project in the area of Maths I find the most interesting and even if I'm unsuccessful with the application for the bursary, the Maths Department at uni will fund it for me! Win-win! (Only downside is I'll be spending 6-8 weeks of the Summer Holidays at uni, which means it's another 6-8 weeks I'm away from Thorpe. [/FanboyProblems] )

http://airgates.co.uk/2014/01/15/how-was-the-smilers-iconic-ride-music-created/ An interesting article where a couple of the people from IMAScore were interviewed about Smiler's music.

It's always been referred to as the P4D building since the film left. Just like X is still going to be called No Way Out.

Plans are online - http://planning.runnymede.gov.uk/Northgate/PlanningExplorer/Generic/StdDetails.aspx?PT=Planning%20Applications%20On-Line&TYPE=PL/PlanningPK.xml&PARAM0=186762&XSLT=/Northgate/PlanningExplorer/SiteFiles/Skins/Runnymede_AA/xslt/PL/PLDetails.xslt&FT=Planning%20Application%20Details&PUBLIC=Y&XMLSIDE=/Northgate/PlanningExplorer/SiteFiles/Skins/Runnymede_AA/Menus/PL.xml&DAURI=PLANNING (Fingers crossed the link works, otherwise just go to http://planning.runnymede.gov.uk/Northgate/PlanningExplorer/GeneralSearch.aspx and type in 'Thorpe Park' as the address, it's the 6th one down). So, the dodgems replace the games area, with a new set of Loony Ladders and Battle Beam being placed in the area. The area has three entrances: one just past Tidal Wave's entrance, one just past Stealth's diner, and the other by the toilets near Inferno. The exit of the cinema will have some foilage planted I think, meaning that you don't exit the cinema and go back into Amity Cove, but go back to Angry Birds Land. Other things I've noticed: -Total value of project: £2.3 million. See here - http://62.254.5.209/AnitePublicDocs/00141837.pdf -The entrances to the areas will be about 7.5m tall. -In the application, Thorpe say that the "brand will not be released before launch". I wonder why the park changed their minds? -The dodgems will have a themed structure, with what looks to be the expected blocks and such, and will be a maximum of 5m tall. -There will be a queue line for the film, which will involve a modification of the old batching area. All looks pretty standard. For an area of that size, £2.3 million is a reasonable amount I guess. Will be interesting to see the quality of the theming and other things. Also, as there seems to be very little in the way of construction outside the on the route between Detonator and Inferno, I wonder if that route will be kept open, and closed closer to the time to add on final touches? After looking at the plans, and seeing exactly the area we're seeing spruced up, I think it's going to be a good investment. That whole area had very little life to it, so it's nice to see it getting attention. And, if people hate the idea, it's only really added attractions, so it's not going to affect the park in other way (you could pretty much spend an entire day at the park and only really walk down a path of the area and ignore all the Angry Birds stuff if you so wished). So I remain interested and hopeful! Also, on the first plan, there's a couple of other areas that are marked in red, mainly around Tidal Wave and Flying Fish. Usually areas marked in red are to be developed, so I wonder if there'll be other a couple of touch ups over there? Also, find it weird that - despite Swarm is shown on the plan - Storm Surge is not, and Saw Alive is on the car park side of the lake! EDIT: From this document here: http://62.254.5.209/AnitePublicDocs/00141833.pdf , it looks like Detonator will be kept with the same name, and the dodgems will be called 'Piggy Egg Dash'.

It's just water from the lake, isn't it? The exact same with Loggers Leap and Tidal Wave too. I assume it's filtered to some degree of course (and Tidal Wave's water is chlorinated too...)

Would just like to say thanks to TPM and AI for getting this organised. It's great to see things like this and I'm sure it'll be a great day. Unfortunately, I can't makd it due to the usual uni reason. Shame, as it would be a great offer for a first-timer, and lovely to meet up with people somewhere other than Thorpe. Till March it is...

No idea where to post this, but it's probably handy for some to know: http://www.thorpepark.com/prices/modal/annual-pass-opening-hours.aspx If people have ordered / going to order an AP online and are planning to collect it from Thorpe, the AP office is open again during certain times over the closed season, so you can collect it then if you wish.

I'm pretty sure the MTDP is only used as a guide to show the council where rides will be. They agree maximum heights, lengths of coasters, etc and I guess the plan is that only the possible locations are used. I think it works differently to Alton's GDO whereby they can build anything that fits within what they outline (which is why Smiler's plans only really needed the Marmaliser, buildings and high points of the ride to be shown I believe). The wording of the submitted document SCB posted in the other topic is a bit confusing though, as it says an application to waive certain conditions has been submitted and the "approach has been approved by Councillors". So who knows if we'll actually see an actual document for this? I expect we will, but it's all so hard to understand... Pretty certain the theatre could seat up to like 500 people at a time(?), and had shows every half hour back in its hey day. Queues would normally start about 10 minutes before the show started. I guess they could create a short queue inside the fenced area outside the entrance, but it may not be necessary I guess. Will be interesting to see how frequent the shows are..

http://www.aecom.com/deployedfiles/Internet/Capabilities/Economics/_documents/2012%20Theme%20Index%20Combined_1-1_online.pdf 2012's (and 2011's) attendance figures can be found on page 51 of the booklet. 1.8 million isn't exactly bad, but considering 2011's 2 million figure, it was quite a large drop. At a guess, I'd say we're looking at 1.8 to 1.9 million for 2013. The family marketing stuff didn't really become apparent until summer time, and the beginning of season was hit with the terrible weather.

It's strange for me; the photos aren't coming up on my timeline either, nor can I find them on Thorpe's timeline. I only seem to find them when a friend, somehow, finds it and it appears on my Timeline that they've liked it! :S I'd normally agree with you here, but I think the shark is rather quirky and, to a degree, funny. It looks clever and pleasing to the eye, and I think it's something a lot of people would remember. That's my main trouble with the board walk idea. As nice as it looks, I don't think it's got that special edge which would make people remember it. It is very much the typical board walk though (when I saw it, it felt very classic), so maybe that feel will work well. Hard to tell from concept art of course. I still think it's a great idea though. From the 3 that have been shown, I think that if we could have the shark or ship lead to this tranquil board walk (as a lost, peaceful area or something), it would be amazing. Would be happy to see any of it though!

Slap my wrist I'm double posting! Very nice!

April could mean 30th April though. If these plans have been in place for a while, they may just go with the most popular one and submit plans quite soon. The actual ideas themselves don't look particularly difficult to construct, so a three month period to do so seems almost realistical.

I like it, but it makes me think Brighton Pier, not Thorpe Park. The first one felt a lot quirkier, and could still create a relaxing atmosphere afterwards, just with a bit f humour thrown in. Could still work rather well though!

An alternative concept. Much prefer the first idea Thorpe!

This seems to have slipped completely off the radar... Posted on Thorpe's FB page (hopefully this link should take you there too... https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=p.10152133644380867&type=1 ) Interesting idea; if pulled off correctly, it would look pretty sweet!

^(I think) He's referring to Teacups and Stealth, which are technically Amity Cove. I'm becoming really confused by people mentioning about having different level of intensities in a family area. Angry Birds Land will be marketed at a family market (regardless of the fact Angry Birds as a game was meant to target a younger audience, it is now a family thing), and families want a range of things. The dodgems and 4D cinema will appeal to all the family, and be suitable for young children, and Detonator will appeal to the older audience (by which I mean anyone above the age of what, 8 or 9?). Isn't that what the perfect family area should do? And considering Thorpe are still aiming for thrills, why shouldn't their family area have a thrill ride? It's sorta funny how people say Chessington need more thrill rides because 'they are a family park', but Thorpe's 'family area' can't have a pre-existing thrill ride incorporated!

Ah, didn't know they did everything! Though, since the end of 2011 (I think Experiment 10 was the first project they did?), there's been an obvious increase the quality of theming (and hey, Krake's theming looks decent too). I personally can't think of any 'stinkers' they've done quality-wise, though of course not seeing all the work in person probably contributes to that. Saying that though, I see no reason to doubt that the theming we get for the area will be of at least a good quality. Hey Sidders; nice to see you! You say I'm being optimistic there, but surely you're being equally (if not, more) pessimistic? Yes, Thorpe's last two big-themed projects had sporadically placed theming, but they were built from the ground up. I think the fact that with Swarm they added in theming elements afterwards, which helped create a bit more of a complete feel, shows that Thorpe took on board the response of the sporadic theming, and tried to rectify that. Of course, with Swarm, it's going to be difficult to get the full complete feel enthusiasts are craving, because it's now too late to go back and add everything missing, to a degree. This is the first major retheme of a ride / area Thorpe have done in a VERY long time. I can think of Ribena Rumba Rapids back in 2002, and that wasn't exactly major, really? For me, I'd find it very hard to justify how people can say 'it will feel the same as before' or 'there won't be much theming' or whatever. This isn't Thorpe building something from the ground up, it's them having the basics sorted, and able to actually construct something which will be thematically interesting, I hope. This is what I'm hopeful for about the area; they have a template, and there's plenty of opportunities to work from that template. Whilst I agree with you about no innovation and lack of space, and no imagination is 50/50 really, but there is certainly the appeal. Saw worked wonders, is one of the best received rides on park (from what I've been told, at least) and is a very big name in the horror franchise the decade (whether people think it's worthy of that is a different matter, but still). Did anyone really think it was going to stop after 7 films? If everyone is honest to themselves, I'd say not. And with the reboot / sequel / whatever, there's still appeal there. I reckon Angry Birds is the same. It's more risky, but I think it could work out well. It's by no means a dead IP, but it is a bit of a limbo-state at the moment. It's no where near big enough in the gaming world to be seen as something special really. Regardless though, there is appeal. Also, whilst previous IP projects probably could have done with more budget, we have no idea what the budget is for this area, so who knows what that will hold? I could well end up thinking the area is rubbish when it opens, and could be eating a lot of my words here. But I remain hopeful that we'll see something decent for this sort of investment, and won't make any concrete judgements until we at least see some plans / concept art / more information.

I'm not that fussed by it. So what, it'll still be called Thorpe Park by basically everybody and it will soon seem natural. We all surely knew it was inevitable anyways? I remember when the original Crash Pad plans came about and I asked Thorpe if they were planning to become TPR for 2013. They said no due to Crash Pad's temporary status. However, due to the Waterfront Hotel's semi-permanent position at the moment, it makes sense for them to fastrack the idea of calling themselves a resort and possibly attracting more people. But, as MattyMoo says, calling yourself a resort doesn't make you a resort. Hopefully Thorpe will continue to improve their out-of-hours activities to give a more justified claim to that name, so this could be a good thing...

The fact that MMM are involved makes me rather excited for the project. From memory, they've been involved with: Experiment 10 Swarm Smiler Flight of the Demons Fright Nights 2013 Sanctuary (I think) Probably more... All of those have great quality theming (the amount is up for debate by some, but meh). I don't see any reason to doubt that this will be of poor quality theming-wise. Dodgems come rather cheap, and a 10 minute 4D film won't be overly expensive to produce. I bet that £3-4 million would be enough to create some good theming, and the budget for this could (and probably will) be higher than that. I think some people are jumping the gun here tbh. At least wait until there's a tad more information.

It's pretty much official now: https://twitter.com/THORPEPARK THORPE PARK Resort. I'm a bit surprised (if that's even the right word) that Resort is not in capitals. Maybe, eventually, we'll see the return of Thorpe Park?