JoshC.

Wicker Man received some work last closed season. I believe some retracking which shouldn't necessarily have had to happen so soon. That would explain why some people noticed it running better this year compared to last. It's also why the ride has been more reliable this year.

^You could even tack on Samurai into your highlighted area, given it is pretty much on its last legs. But I totally agree. The investment of Swarm Island did, in fairness, have vague idea of adding more to the park. We got the introduction of a new toilet block (necessary infrastructure for expanding the park), plus a short-lived food stall (in the much loved Roast n Relish). So it did something, but it didn't quite do enough. And, really, calling it an area is a bit of a stretch. The park could do with completely changing the entire Old Town area. A new coaster, yes, naturally. But a replacement for Samurai (even if like-for-like), doing something more with Slammer's location, a shop associated to the ride possibly and new eateries (even if a new restaurant replacing the BBQ and a new one replacing whatever is in Old Town at the moment). The toilet block there is in need of a proper redo too (rather than just sticking some vinyl on the walls). And obviously, keep some space for Fright Nights too. Do something coherent with a huge space. It would be a perfect step for introducing a big new attraction and improving the overall feel of a good chunk of the park. There is real potential there. And, thinking optimistically: Chessington is getting a B&M coaster in a new IP land which is extending the park's area. That won't be cheap. Merlin are ready to put their money where their mouth is, so let's hope they do that, and that properly, with Thorpe too.

Merged thread with original Rocky thread (and blew off a lot of dust in the process) There has been nothing official to say Rocky Express is leaving. There has been a lot of speculation, and usually there's no smoke without fire. But it is not absolutely confirmed it is leaving. I reckon there's a high chance it will leave. I also think if it does leave, it won't be sold...it's a ride which is over 35 years old. If anyone did want it, they'd be much better off buying a brand new one. I guess we could see some of its parts harvested and sent to Chessington if they match, but that's about it.

Chessington is (meant to be) seeing a £60m worth of investment over a 5 year period. When exactly that started I'm not sure, but obviously Project Amazon represents a good chunk of that. I believe there's also talks of more accommodation coming, which could also be included in that. In any case, the investments such as Croc Drop, Rainforest, etc were all rather cheap. As for these other rumours... -I would not be surprised to see Pirates' Cove receive some attention this year. It's an area which is largely forgotten about by the park, and come 2023, will be adjacent to a brand new, very popular land. -I guess it's possible that the park could get some (cheap) new rides in the area...but presumably we'd have seen some sort of planning application now? Unless they're temporary things... -I see no rhyme or reason to remove Scorpion Express, and would be surprised if that happens any time soon. As for Rocky Express, I don't see why the park would get it. As it stands, it's still not in any way confirmed that it's leaving Thorpe of course. It seems very likely based on the rumours, but I've heard it's still not 100% confirmed... As for Tomb Blaster changing back to Forbidden Tomb / Terror Tomb or whatever. I don't see it happening. I'll gladly eat my hat if it does. BUT, let's say the park do go about doing stuff to it and change it to an older name. Will the ride be any good? Probably not. The "refurb" from whenever it was (2020?) was dire. The new audio and story is appalling. If they were to scrap the guns and bring it back as Forbidden Tomb, there is in my opinion no reason to believe that the park could do anything with it to actually make it in any way a decent ride experience. Again, very happy to be proven wrong, but with the state they "refurbed" it to, there is no reason to believe that any future work will lead to any worthwhile improvements.

They may have one in Maus au Chocolat, but I think that a new dark ride is what Phantasialand needs most now. Especially with the closure of Hollywood Tours, and the fact that the China dark rides aren't exactly great...

In terms of time scales for the big things: Ghost Train: October 2014 Swarm: February 2011 Saw: November 2007 Stealth: November 2004 Nemesis Inferno: April 2001 Colossus: June 2000 So the last 3 coasters (and last 4 major investments) have had plans submitted at most 18 months before the planned opening date. Inferno and Colossus are stranger ones for a variety of reasons (will explain at the end for anyone interested). The thing with Stealth, Saw and Swarm though is they were all approved after being mentioned in the park's MTDP at the time. In other words, there was already a level of "pre-approval" to those rides existed, which makes the application process a bit smoother and easier. Ghost Train technically wasn't mentioned in any MTDP, but they conditions of its construction did not break the MTDP. So even though the park had to submit a full planning application, it wasn't exactly taxing. With any potential new coaster, there's no current MTDP and no level of pre-approval. So that creates an unknown for the application - moreso with locals (since the park will still be having some discussions with the council authorities prior to submitting plans). This could mean the approval process takes a bit longer, or is a bit more complex. Though, I won't lie, I wouldn't know all the ins and outs there. So in theory, 2023 could still be on the cards. But at the same time, I'd be surprised if Thorpe and Chessington opened big things at the same time. And 2024 seems to be a rumour floating around more. Equally, depending on the size of the project (and the scale of any deconstruction and groundworks that need to take place), it could take a while. In any case, if a 2024 coaster does happen, I'd expect to see an application appear sometime around next summer or later. Side note about Inferno and Colossus. -One original plan for Colossus was to be a Premier Launch Coaster, which would have opened in 2001. The park submitted plans for that in December 1999, which were approved. However, they changed their minds, and eventually ended up with Colossus, and the plans were submitted in June 2000, by which point a 2001 opening wouldn't have been feasible in any way. -Of course, there was the Thorpe Park Fire in 2000, which affected old rides in Inferno's location. One early plan was to get in a Vekoma SLC on the cheap, and quickly build it, so it could open in summer 2001. Another option was for a Rock n Roller Coaster clone. A plan was submitted in September 2000 for this summer 2001 coaster, but quickly withdrawn. I assume the park opted to go for quality over a quick fix in this case, and low and behold, Inferno was born. Good choice in my eyes too.

I'd be curious if this is a general feeling you have, or a feeling which is highlighted when you're specifically at Thorpe? I know sometimes I feel old whenever I visit Thorpe, sometimes too old. Another thing that makes me feel old is that I joined theme park forums when I was 15. If a 15 year old was to join the forums today, there's a good chance they would have been born after Stealth opened. I remember watching it being built, as well as The Flying Fish and Model World prior pretty vividly. Jeez. I know you say when you visit a park these days, there's a couple of moments where you feel like the odd one out. But that feeling was expanded at Fright Nights (during half term too I think?). It certainly makes sense that the feeling would be highlighted more in that case. It could also be one of those psychology things. Are you feeling like the odd one out because you think you are, and so are looking for evidence to support that? And so, in turn, you notice all the younger groups, and don't see many people who look a similar age to yourself / are older? For anyone reading who doesn't quite get what I mean: you don't see many yellow cars on the road these days, do you? But now that thought is in your head, you will be more acutely aware of yellow cars and notice them a lot more, and realise that - whilst they're not common - there's certainly a fair few about! Maybe during your Towers visit have in the back of your mind to exclusively look for groups of adults in their later 20s/early 30s...maybe you'll be surprised with how many you see? To stop with the psycho-analysing and answer the more direct question: no, you can't be too old for theme parks. I think there's certain social norms which can be at play (for example, going to a children's park alone can seem suspect in some people's minds...but that's completely different). Theme parks (and moreso rides) are a unique blend of escapism, thrill, story telling and holiday all in one, along with other options - such as the idea of 'collecting' ridden coasters/visiting/number of rides - if you so choose. Few hobbies offer such a blend, along with additional versatility and flexibility. I don't think you can be too old for any of the things theme parks offer. It's just whether you feel like the combination it offers is what you want, or if you want a narrower focus. One thing I've noticed over the years of being on forums is some people who were (and still are!) really interested in theme parks have similar other hobbies too. A couple of examples... -Live theatre and similar (escapism and story telling) -Skydiving / mountain biking / more "extreme" sports (thrill) -Travelling (self explanatory) Maybe that's another reason why there's seemingly less people who visit parks? As people get older, they get easier access to / realise other hobbies which share similar traits to visiting theme parks, and focus their attention there a bit more? That diversification then means they spend less time at parks, and then the concentration/percentage of younger people visiting parks decreases. Another thing which I note as well, is that specific park enthusiasm is much more concentrated with younger people. Unsurprisingly, there's very few 15 year olds which are interested in theme parks more broadly: their focus is on one or two parks, and usually their local park. But after say 15 years of continual visits, that local park won't have the same appeal or interest, and are likely more interested to parks more broadly. Again meaning they spend less time visiting their local park, and instead visiting a broader range of parks (again meaning that the average age of certain park visitors feels very young, and the late 20 / early 30 somethings all feel very old whenever they visit). I feel like I've waffled an awful lot and not said much. But in short: -You're not too old for theme parks (and if you are, I only have a maximum of 3 years left before I am...) -Thorpe Park is probably the park in the UK which would highlight this feeling the most -I think people's interests in theme parks spreads in one way or another as they get older, which can mean there's a skewed view as to how old park visitors are

Timber might be coming to Thorpe.

Ah I love it when people post one liner rumours. I might join in.

There's been many rumours today especially about it being Rocky Express' last day today, with people being told by some staff to get their last ride on it today. Obviously you should always take these things with a pinch of salt, but it's an interesting development of things if true, given the Loggers/Platform things. And usually no smoke without fire. Interestingly there's been no conversation about Timber Tug or Lumber Jump, but then again, they're not classic Thorpe rides. Of course, Rocky is old and has arguably been on its last legs for a while now. So maybe it's just retiring out of necessity. A watch this space thing for sure.

I'm not sure what happened, but this isn't necessarily the right place to ask. If you think that security were using their powers incorrectly, the best port of call in the first instance would be to contact the park, providing as much detail and evidence as possible so that an investigation can occur. However, also keep in mind that every story has at least two sides, and what you saw may not give the full picture (and it's hard to say any more given you have posted very limited details here). Security likely wouldn't give any details to anyone who was not directly part of any incident, if one did occur. In any case, we are simply a fan site with no connections to the security operation of the park. No one here will be able to give any further insight into what happened.

I think this is the thing with Trailers - it isn't an overly scary attraction. Obviously, it has scary elements and stuff - because it is a scare attraction - but it is not particularly scary. I think that's fine with the right tone and marketing to set expectations (and if there's enough variety in the rest of the line up). But it's certainly something which needs to be handled with care. I've had a "clear the queue as fast as possible" run in the past. The pre-shows feel incredibly rushed, in a bad way, as a result, and it leads to an awful amount of bunching in the maze. I think the pre shows for Trailers (and indeed, all the mazes) run a little too long for my liking, but then when the queues are long, they struggle to properly cut it down whilst still sensibly batching the groups. Creek Freak has been very mixed this year. Regardless of my opinion of it, it's a shame to see that after such a strong opening year. There should still be 3 chainsaws in the maze (one on the table that replaced the saw scene, one in strobe, one for runout), but the thing with chainsaws is you can be caught in a crossover unfortunately. But yeah, in any case, it's a concern that it's in this state. It's good to see this is still being well received, especially after I expressed concern about how it would run. It's a great use of the space too. I think they would serve better in a proper outdoor maze now (the too busy to be scary remark is something I agree with), but with rumours the park want to move away from them, maybe that will never happen. After seesawing in quality so much over the year, it's good to see Platform is being well received. I think this is the general consensus of it - good enough for what it is, but ready to go and not worthy of the upcharge era. This is a shame. I think the actors have done a great job with it. It's still not really a scare zone in my eyes, but just an extension to the Swarm story. It needs more props and theming and stuff for it to really become a scare zone. But it means that if you have the chance to interact with the actors, you tend to get really good interactions with them, because they don't have anything else to work with. I think one of the main problems the park have suffered with lately is low actor numbers. What the cause is is anyone's guess, but whilst the plan is for most actors to only work in one attraction, I've heard of plenty of actors from the scare zones being trained and moved into the mazes because of shortages. The knock on effects that has is obvious. I still stick with my earlier opinion, in theory: I have nothing against the park upcharging for the mazes for the right price and for the right experience. £10 a maze is WAY too much for the experiences on offer. Something closer to the £5 mark is much more reasonable. But in turn, they should be limiting group numbers, have a stricter limit on time slots and better operations to accompany it. There should also be a free maze still. An outdoor one which is obviously weaker than the upcharge ones, but gives a taster for the experiences. Something like Blair Witch (or even a modified Platform 15) would work well imo. The argument for upcharging is clear. I believe the standard group size at the moment is meant to be around 10 people, and batching times should be once every 90 seconds. That's 400pph. Say everyone is paying £9 a maze (on average, to balance out the discount trio tickets), that's £3600 an hour per maze...almost £65,000 a night across the three mazes. Even taking away staff wages and running costs, that still leaves a huge profit. Then if you reinvest even a fraction of that profit back into Fright Nights, you can have budgets to build mazes that look more like Creek Freak and Trailers than, say, Dead Creek Woods. Even then, the park are earning more given that group sizes are currently exceed 10 people too...wouldn't surprise me if they can make up to £100k from mazes in a night... Even then, drop the charge to £5 a maze and they're still making a healthy profit, and having a good chunk they can reinvest into future years. It's a no brainer on paper. But they need to make sure the ticket sales don't go over the numbers, and that the operations put their money where their mouth is.

It is, but I'm sure that if they really wanted to get rid of it, they'd find a way. And if, theoretically, it was cheaper to pay a fine and deal with the trouble of ripping it down than it was to fix it, it's something they'd consider. In any case, the word from the horse's mouth is that there's "zero" chance it will be ripped down, so that's that I guess:

You certainly could fit a (small) Raptor into the X pyramid...in theory. In reality, ripping out the track, and then building a new coaster inside the building would be wildly impractical. So I wouldn't expect to see something like that. Of course, they could just rip out the whole pyramid, and along with the Slammer site, that opens up a big plot for a new coaster. But then ripping out the pyramid has a whole host of knock on effects, and would itself be expensive.

There is now an announcement at the end of the show, said by a plain woman's voice, saying that the show has now ended, thank you for watching, please exit the Beach. It's very bland and a testament to the weak ending of the show. I stand by my statement - it's one of the weakest fire and light shows I've watched. But it's still a fire and light show, and they're always good. Hopefully the park carry on with it in future years.

I didn't do it last year and haven't watched the POV. However I imagine it's the same as last year, where it was tweaked and received a new storyline in light of Covid. Last year's version was still largely well received so if it's very similar I imagine it'll still be going down a treat.

Very much agree about Perfect Day tbf. It was only used at one Fright Nights (albeit a good one), and wasn't the best fit then. It's a choice which is lost on everyone except a select few, which makes for a terrible ending. I wonder how widespread knowledge is even of the Director character too. It was only really used for 2 seasons. Obviously a recognisable name/character amongst enthusiasts, but beyond that, do people remember...or care? The MBV and Studio 13 soundtracks would have been good additions (that Studio 13 soundtrack is from the MBV film score...wonder if there was some potential issues using it?).

I guess by 'has Jack Silkstone's fingerprints over it', that's a reference to the fact the show is effectively a throwback to a variety of attractions, past and also present? Archie Stephens also did the music for it. How much creative involvement they had is something is not clear - were they approached by Thorpe and told "This is what we want, do this please", or if they were involved in deeper discussions. In any case, the whole point of Legacy is that it's a fire and light show that was set to music from old attractions. As for the show, it's...fine. I think that's harsh on the show in many ways: a 7 minute long show with fire, lights and loud music is always going to be good. But it's perhaps one of my least favourite such shows that I've watched. Let me explain. Most of these types of shows go one of two ways. The first way is that they tell a story. The fire and lights and whatever else add to that, but the story comes first. Examples are the fire show at Phantasialand's winter event, and the end show at Movie Park Germany's Halloween event. Both fantastic. The second way is that they don't care about a story, and just go "Here's a ton of fire, lights, music and whatever else, enjoy". Example are Tulleys' Wastelands show, and even the mini fire show at the Fearstival Arena at Thorpe last year. Again, both great. Legacy tries to have it both ways. There's an introduction from a character (Fear I think), which is a bit difficult to hear with the voice it has. I don't really get the story still, but it's basically 'Fright Nights has been going for 20 years, here's the legacy of it'. Then after that, you have 5 minutes of fire, lights and music, which blends and bootlegs/mixes different Fright Nights soundtracks and soundbites. Then you get story again, and a terrible ending of Perfect Day playing (which is meant to be like an exit song, but no one realises the show has finished, so are still awkwardly waiting for the finale which has already happened). The trouble is, with the 5ish minutes of fire, lights, etc, it has too many lulls. These lulls happen when they're transitioning from one attraction's audio to the next usually, and sometimes contain some vague story idea. Lulls and breathers are fine in these types of shows if they serve a purpose. But they don't here - there's no story happening, and there's not been enough preceding or superseding it to justify it. So that's my main issue. They've tried to merge two different ideas for a fire and light show, and got the weaker parts of both of them. That still creates a decent show. But still misses the mark for me personally. I also think it's a bit too fan-servicey, which will confuse many people. After the first show, I overheard a lot of blasé and disappointed reactions. We also saw the 9pm show and it was very thin with numbers. Harder to know what the reaction was. But with a terrible ending, there's certainly no applause. It's important to note it's still be tweaked. With the delays, they only had one proper test run of it all, so it will change and improve. As I say, it's fine, and it's great to have a proper fire and light show at the park. But I'm unsure how well it will resonate with the wider audience. And I think it's too fan-servicey for it to truly be a hit. Hopefully it's popular enough to justify bringing back a similar idea on the beach next year, but maybe a bit more polished. tl;dr - I enjoyed it, it's a good addition to the line up, but not my favourite thing.

Yep, it hasn't been officially confirmed anywhere (in the sense that they haven't said on social media / website / app that Legacy is running today), but the fact they've updated the app to include showtimes suggest that it will indeed be running this evening! Everyone's favourite Thorpe Park fansite () will be there tonight hoping to see some fire...

It was delayed for various reasons. I hear the park have been working on it a lot the last couple of days in particular, so hopefully should be ready now, but still no confirmation. A good thing is that the park have released "Legacy Hints" on the park app over the last day, which means that something should still happen.

Who's ready for a good ol' fashioned bit of speculation... So people have seen and brushed aside the 'TP-RMC 22' gag in Trailers. TPM even did a (admittedly somewhat clickbaity) article discussing what it means: https://thorpeparkmania.co.uk/news/07-10-2021/New+for+2022%3F!+RMC+and+Egypt%3F%3F In short: yeah, it's a joke to get people talking and/or laughing. Now if they put TP-RMC 23, it might have got people's attention a bit more. But what if there's something else hidden in Trailers? Some may remember I tried starting up a theme park blog earlier in the year. It's still alive and kicking, but I haven't updated it in ages. The last post on there (cheeky plug) was about the Easter Eggs / references that had appeared on some graffiti-decorated grabbing machines opposite Ghost Train. Most of them I was able to figure out. One I couldn't figure out was Exodus: I wracked my brain and can't think of any relation to has to anything Thorpe-related. I asked around, and no one could think of anything either. Heh, fair enough. Could be anything. And in Trailers, it appears again, albeit slightly more subtly: Okay, it has the obvious X:\No Way Out link, but it's also clearly there to say 'Exodus' too. Pushing the boundaries of coincidence now. Obviously could still mean anything, could mean nothing. Could even be Thorpe making something out of nothing to get people talking and making post like these. A speculative mind could start trying to put 2 and 2 together here though. That poster has trees in the background, with a vague look of the trees which go around Old Town. Trees are being cut down round Old Town, and Platform 15 is closing. So could Thorpe finally be building a coaster again, have it going round Old Town, and the project name is Exodus? Nah, probably not... Unless..?

So let's post the official review from TPM then: https://thorpeparkmania.co.uk/news/07-10-2021/Fright+Nights+2021+Review And now my personal review. Trailers Trailers is great. Starts off with 2 pre show sequences which feels a little unnecessary, but they work and do the job. You then, as expected, go through scenes from seven different films, which themselves are references to previous Fright Nights attractions. A nice little touch is that each film takes place in a different 'screen' in the cinema, and the screen numbers are the year each maze opened (eg: Bozo's Playground relates to The Big Top, which opened in 2015, and so is in screen 15). Once you get through that, you go into the Project Room of the cinema, which has all the characters leave their films and come to life. It features some good spark effects and air cannons, but it needs a little bit more oompf. Something to really just cap it off. I'm not sure what exactly - maybe just more sparks and more air blasts would do it. But it just needs something. Trailers has lots of good effects (many are button operated by actors for added effect and good timing). From a story perspective, I still don't really *get* the electricity motif. Like it's said that there's power surges and outages and stuff, which kinda explains why the films are coming to life. But it feels very removed from the idea of the films coming to life themselves. It's like two separate ideas merged into one. Creek Freak Massacre The same as 2019 pretty much, bar a couple of minor practical changes. It's good, people will enjoy it, but not my thing. Platform 15: End of the Line Another new story and new lighting package. A really neat animatronic of children in a playground near the start too. Aside from that, more of the same. That's off slow and gets better throughout. Couple of good jumps near the end. There's lots of audio throughout the maze explaining the story, making it feel more like a tour. I know others liked it, but not for me - felt very lazy. Crows of Mawkin Meadow Nice use of space, and Saw Alive is completely hidden when you're there. It's fine for what it is, but I reckon this will struggle during normal operation. Birthday Bash This is actually very similar to Fearstival Arena last year, just with a birthday theme rather than a creepy carnival theme. Lots of dark humour. Show is good, maybe a bit long, but easy to dip in and out of. Really strong characters and actors here too. Amity vs LycanThorpe Nice new dance routine. Features full length songs though with the schools 'dancing off' against each other; think it might flow better if the songs cut over one another. Swarm Invasion More props, more actors. Needs a bit more time to bed in but it's decent and fun, and will grow and get better. Creek Freaks Unchained Dialled back from last year now the maze is open; lots of good photo opportunities though. Legacy Currently not ready. Not sure when it will be ready. Hopefully the park handle it's lack of ready-ness well, and it is ready asap. Very much an overview review for now - will hopefully give some more thoughts later in the event. But simply put, Thorpe have created a great parkwide atmosphere with lots of different themes and ideas. It's had the time, thought and money put into it this year, and it's a great event. Are the mazes worth £10? Probably not. Are they of good enough quality that upcharging in its own right feels justified. To be honest, I'd say yes. In any case, Fright Nights is pretty fab and well worth the visit.

As you may have seen, a new spoiler-specific thread has been set up for Fright Nights now: Please post all spoilers in there from now on (will leave any previous stuff here for convenience). This thread will stay open for anyone who wants to avoid spoilers but wants to discuss Fright Nights thangs

It's that time of year again! Tonight is the Press Night for Fright Nights, and so I fully expect some spoilers to start floating around social media from later this evening. From now on, please post anything spoiler related here. The non-spoiler thread will remain open and available. Also, of course, everyone's favourite Thorpe Park fansite will be there and posting updates throughout the afternoon and evening. Make sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter in particular! On a final note, here is the entrance feature to Trailers, from Jack Silkstone...