Everything posted by JoshC.
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Park Music
I know there were a lot of audio changes on Friday to reflect the passing of the Queen. I wonder if that had a knock on effect onto Saturday (especially if the team who look after audio had others issues to deal with).
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SAW: The Ride
Saw has 8 cars. It used to run all 8 until a few years back (my memory is hazy...I want to say like 2018/9, but could be wrong there). I believe there was some operational reasoning behind it; the throughput on 8 isn't substantially greater than on 7 for the additional maintenance and engineering costs sounds plausible enough, but I could be pulling that out of my backside. 5 is the bare minimum that Saw runs on. To run it on that on a Saturday is...interesting. It would be very unusual for the park to actively choose to run it on 5 on a weekend imo, especially when the park have been largely very good at running rides on a suitable capacity the last couple of years in particular. But equally, it would be unusual for at least 2 cars to be out of order (depending on if the 8th car is also receiving maintenance as part of a cycle). So yeah, unusual.
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Legoland Deutschland
It's just so...weird. Like I could almost understand the decision with Chessington if they wanted the very specific factors of a shuttle, launched, winged coaster, and it was something that B&M were in a position to offer. And then to duplicate that across the portfolio once the R&D and tweaks were made makes sense. But to have junior wings pop up at Legolands, and them basically be...kiddie wing riders is confusing. I mean, Chessington getting a shuttle, launched wing is still confusing too. But yeah, these investments are just so out there and filled with "huh?". I'm really intrigued to see how they develop.
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Legoland
Great addition for the park frankly. I think another family coaster is exactly what they've needed, and this hits the spot pretty much perfectly. It makes the park even more well-rounded and adds some nice diversity to the park too.
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Hyperia Speculation and Construction Thread
I could be mistaken, but it's always been my understand that only small pockets of the park are classed as flood zone 3b. The majority of the park is in a flood zone, but not this 'inconvenient' flood zone category. For example, Swarm has a couple of supports in an area that is classed as flood zone 3b, but the majority of the ride is not. That is where Thorpe's argument is standing at the moment, of course. They have form and a handshake agreement of sorts that suggested it would be okay to place supports in this area, but the EA disagree. I'm not surprised at this response, but I genuinely don't know what the next step will be. Will Thorpe try and respond and strengthen their case further in an attempt to get the EA to change their minds? Have they started talking with Mack to see if the support structure could be reworked? Will they just take their chances and hope the council overrule the objections of the EA? Who knows. But it's certainly an interesting situation, and one that Thorpe have never really faced before.
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Fright Nights 2022
I think the most expensive maze before this was Trailers (though it wasn't marketed as such). Though I guess it depends on how the measure expense, etc. And that assumes it's not just some throwaway phrase. But yeah, I like the concept of this at heart. Multi route, potentially being split up and the whole "survival" aspect. Really cool. The social media side is something that's been done a lot lately (you could even argue Black Mirror does this), so I hope that's more just a backstory and not a key focus of the maze. These things are difficult to do right, and it may take some time to bed in, but I'm excited to see how this develops.
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Fright Nights 2022
Today's announcement is a new scare zone, Death's Doors https://www.facebook.com/thorpepark/videos/598885065061349/ It's taking place in the pathway under Nemesis Inferno, and it sounds like it will have 21 different doors which you can open, and each has some sort of reference to Fright Nights. Some will be scarier than others. It's...a thing. The location sounds like a nightmare, especially being adjacent to the Birthday Bash show. And operationally it sounds like even more of a nightmare, especially when the park is busy. Could be a cool thing, but....yeah, I'm not sold on that.
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Fright Nights 2022
The Terminal sounds like an interesting experience and idea. The park are working with Darkfield for the experience, who have lots of experience with audio attractions (they very much became the rage during the Covid lockdowns). I believe that usually you do these experiences blindfolded, and it relies on your imagination somewhat. Couple that in with special effects (movements, mist sprays, etc), and it has potential to be a really cool experience. But. I think this experience suffers from being quite niche in market. I reckon it involves a certain level of buy in from the guest for it to truly work. How many people, at Fright Nights, want to go into a experience and actively participate in making the most of an attraction for themselves, whilst also - somewhat paradoxically - sitting in an enclosed space alone? I don't know, but I reckon it's a smaller proportion of the audience than those who are interested in going into a scare maze. In turn, it runs the risk of disappointing a lot of people because it may just end up feeling like "sitting in the dark with some headphones on". I'm not saying that's what will happen. But there's certainly a risk there. Could be a risk that pays off majorly though. Fair play to Thorpe for doing something which is truly different and not really seen before in a wider market. I really hope it works out well.
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SAW: The Ride
The park did trial single rider on Saw in 2009, 2010 and maybe even 2011-12 (memory is hazy). In terms of filling up seats, it worked well. It was always a bit of an organisational faff though, since it didn't have the infrastructure set up for it to work. As I understand it, this is something which has been pushed to be tried by some staff for a while. So this is serving as a trial period to see if it works at improving utilisation scores (ie number of seats filled), and how it works from a practical / organisation standpoint. Then maybe they can go from there. The issue the park will face is the same they have always faced - the majority of the park's rides aren't designed with a single rider queue in place. Really, Stealth is the only one which has the infrastructure to do it properly and not interfere with Fastrack / Ride Access Pass queues and ride exits. The current Exodus plans don't show a single rider queue either (though these can of course be changed). So yeah, hopefully it works, and hopefully longer term the park can implement ways to make single rider queues work properly. But at the same time, it should be stressed this is just a trial, and even if it does go down well, there's no guarantee it will mean it stick.
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Fright Nights 2022
Vampires vs Werewolves is back: https://www.facebook.com/thorpepark/videos/3248466045420453/ I wonder if the graduation story line is a hint that this is the last year of the zone / show? With the confirmation that this was the last returning attraction, this means that Swarm: Invasion is not returning. A shame, as it was never given the budget it deserved to reach its potential. Although, with a new maze going behind Swarm, I wonder if they will introduce a new scare zone on Swarm's island still, so it doesn't suffer from "Sanctum syndrome" and feel isolated from the rest of the event? I expect we'll see 3 more announcements: the new maze, the new "experience" and one more zone or show. Speaking of the "scare experience", I'm thinking more and more that that could be a VR...'thing'. Alton Towers have also announced a scare experience for Scarefest, and they've already got a VR set up from Mack in place. It fits the bill of being an 'experience' rather than an attraction, is something that can be duplicated and tweaked for multiple attractions (which fits Merlin's remit lately), but is something that could be good if done right. I personally hope it's not a VR thing, but I think that feels more likely right now.
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The Curse at Alton Manor - NEW for 2023
Throw in Rocky Express too?
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The Curse at Alton Manor - NEW for 2023
I know Duel has loads of problems, but I'm sad to see it go. I love a good shooting dark ride, and Duel's length, theming and story give it a really good basis to be a good shooter. I'd really love to have seen it just be given a good budget and a lot of TLC. But we move forward. It'll be interesting to see if they opt for a complete new attraction, update the ride system or just the theming, and hopefully whatever they do it remains a cool, fun ride. There's certainly potential with it, and I feel reasonably confident they can do it justice too.
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Hyperia Speculation and Construction Thread
Yes, Natural England had their own, separate, concerns regarding the Construction Management Plan, as well as some of the archeology of the area. As seen, the park have resolved these concerns (largely by providing more details and making things clearer). From my understanding, it was a largely simple thing to resolve, since all it required was more information and clearer information. These are the sort of concerns which aren't uncommon to be seen during planning applications: ones where a body doesn't really have a proper concern, but they need more information just be to sure But yes, the big concerns from the EA are still unresolved as things stand from my understanding, and we'll see what happens.
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Fright Nights 2022
One thing I'm finding frustrating with these videos is that, in isolation, they give very little detail about the attractions themselves. They're great videos, but they don't tell us: -What type of attraction it is (maze, scare zone, show, roamers, experience?) -Give any feel for what the attraction is actually going to be like -Are largely disconnected from the attractions themselves It's cool to build up extra story, hype and intrigue, but it does feel a bit too far removed for my liking. On a related note, I'm still not a fan of the park marketing roamers as an attraction. Through no fault of a guest, you can search high and low for roamers and not see them (even if they have a set route). Hopefully they have some sort of 'show' piece at set times too. But heyho, that's just a minor pet peeve of mine.
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HUUUUURr
If you have a frog in your throat, try a Strepsil, not a new thread. 🔐
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Hyperia Speculation and Construction Thread
Oh WWTPRadio. It's nice to have your quippy remarks back on the forums.
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Thorpe Park 2022
Rocky Express remains untouched since the end of last season. It is not coming back.
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Fright Nights 2022
I wouldn't be so confident on that. It all sounds like marketing hype to me. I reckon it will be largely the same in the same location. The park have added something new every year since 2008 (technically). But before 2020, scare zones weren't really a thing at the park, so usually the line up would be largely the same, with either an extension to the line or, or replacements introduced. So it's pretty common to see the same things come back yearly tbf
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Fright Nights 2022
Today's announcement was the return of The Crows of Mawkin Meadow... https://www.facebook.com/thorpepark/videos/455278616478459 It's not mentioned if this is still just a scare zone, or returning to the same location, but one would certainly expect so.
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Fright Nights 2022
Looks like they're announcing an attraction every other day. Including scare zones and shows, let's say there's 9 attractions, then that would take us up to the 31st for the final announcement. One would certainly expect the new maze and the mysteriously vague scare experience to be the last ones to be announced.
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Fright Nights 2022
A final teaser video comes 8pm this evening...
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Has anyone used Ride Access before?
With the Ride Access Pass, you will go through the dedicated Ride Access Pass entrance and go on the ride pretty much instantly. You then have to wait whatever the queue time for that ride was before you can use the Pass again. This used to be done by staff writing times on a card, but I'm not sure if it's evolved into a digital format now.
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Thorpe Park 2022
It's good information to have, albeit no different to what they've done in the past really. Presumably Ghost Train's current closure is due to the current weather. The ride is hot enough as is, and unbareable in 30⁰+ temperatures.
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Fright Nights 2022
Re. the farm being used for Fright Nights. This is a rumour that crops up every now and then. On paper, it is clear to see the appeal and potential it has. But logistically, I don't think it would ever happen. 1. The farm is used for back of house operations / storage. Turning that into something suitable for guest view is difficult. 2. How do guests get to the farm? Walking takes a long time, would require a lot of CCTV, H&S and security considerations and just generally is a nightmare. Other modes of transport are expensive. 3. It's not as simple as just opening a new attraction. You have to consider a lot of extra staffing, emergency plans for guest safety, etc. It's a HUGE task. 4. Noise. The farm is by Thorpe Village, and there are some concerns from locals about noise during Fright Nights. Introduce attractions so close to the village will amplify those complaints. I don't know if the park have ever seriously considered the idea of FN attractions at the farm. But if they have, I wouldn't be surprised if the thoughts were given up with very quickly. The only way I could see an attraction on the farm ever taking place would be if they incorporated transport into the experience. Maybe not a hayride (though that could work). More like the experience starts on park, and you're "kidnapped", driven to the farm, go through an indoor experience there, and then driven back, all within story. Trouble with that is that the operating costs would be huge. So even then, I see it as an extremely unlikely option. --- As for the current teasers, they're well produced. The slow-burn teasers do less for me these days, but it gets people talking and hyped, so all good. It seems like they might be making "The Locksmith" a character for the event. That has potential, and the park have had success with these sort of headline characters (The Governor in 2012, The Ringleader in 2015 and of course The Director in 2013-2014). If they capitalise on it correctly, it could be good. I do think the park should go down the Walibi Holland route and have a mainstay headline character (Walibi have Eddie the Clown). It feels like they're trying this by creating a character called "FEAR" (who also 'introduced' the lukewarm Legacy show), but making said character a mysterious figure who almost doesn't exist. Doesn't quite work for me and feels confusing. Just have a physical, cool-looking character for people to interact with. As for the attraction line up. I'm expecting Creek Freak to return; all the pieces are there. I'd've thought the new maze would go next to Rush, possibly in shipping containers (the park said they considered this for Trailers last year). It also means large parts of the maze could be completed off site, and then have it as a 'plug in and play' type thing. The 'scare experience' feels very much set up to be some sort of twist on an escape room. Containment is still there and could still be used. They could also use the compound next to Trailers if they wanted I guess. The bit adjacent to Swarm (where Sanctum was in 2017) is logistically difficult, but not impossible I guess.
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TPM Thorpe Park Meet Saturday 13th August 2022
Due to a medical issue, I won't able to go now. Hope everyone has fun, and see you at the next one!