JoshC.

So I went to Oktoberfest at Thorpe yesterday. There's some photos and videos on TPM's Facebook page and as I'm only on my phone I'm too lazy to drag them all in - so check them out over there... [/plug] First thing first: the event isn't finished yet. They were still putting out benches, bunting, etc today. Some of the stalls don't have a full range of food yet. The steins you can buy aren't in yet. It's a bit of a shame. I don't quite get why Thorpe decided to have the event start so early, especially when they only decided to have the event a few weeks ago. It's likely put a lot of pressure on staff to cobble it together and ultimately it feels a bit unprofessional to have a half ready event at opening. The Oktoberfest area is basically the stretch alongside Derren, turning a dead spot into the highlight spot. It could do with more speakers and stuff as it's a bit lifeless at points. There's typical German-market like stalls; all but one run externally I think. There's a main stage, which will have acts perform on Fridays and Saturdays. There's some audio changes around the park. Notably Rumba Rapids (which has stickers over Rumba saying Oompah), Detonator and Stealth. Many other rides have Oktoberfest audio too, but they play intermittently. The Oktoberfest area, entrance, bridge and dome have audio too. Some thoughts and moans: -Some of the stalls (like the bratwurst bar) are cash only. In a time where Thorpe have been pushing going cashless for a couple of years, and Covid where card payments are strongly encouraged basically everywhere, I was surprised. -The stage doesn't have social distancing marked outside it yet. Performers who sing or play instruments should be at least 3m away from people during Covid I believe. It'll be interesting to see how that works... -The area has a lot of benches and barrels now. I can see it being quite congested in busier days, which could be a social distancing nightmare. -I found out from a staff member yesterday that most Thorpe food places are also doing German inspired food options. But nowhere is this said round the park. -A lot of the ride audio is a bit meh in my opinion. And the announcements are caricature level German to the point it sounds more Austrian in my opinion. -The huge focus on yodelling too, which is a bit odd given yodelling isn't a big Oktoberfest thing. It's more a Swiss thing, but whatever. All in all, the event has potential there. It's clearly been done very quickly, and is a knee jerk reaction to a lack of other events. It would be foolish to expect anything top notch from the word go. But equally, it isn't hitting the mark yet, and it's a bit of a shame it isn't really ready yet, and that they haven't got the stage performers daily (they do have roaming performers, but they're...not good). Hopefully it grows, hopefully they iron out the flaws and - in honesty - it would be nice if they continued it in future years and gave it a chance to properly develop.

I wouldn't expect it to open this season. Even on the recently updated Fright Nights FAQs page, they list Walking Dead, Ghost Train and Jungle Escape as unable to open due to Covid. As mentioned, there's only fans in there as opposed to aircon. Likely turned on for engineers who may have been working in there.

This isn't the most accurate thread to say this, but probably the one that will be seen the most.. From Tuesday, Annual Passholders no longer need to spend £1 to reserve entry to any Merlin attraction. I know it's a contentious point, but given the fact that many dates for passholders are sold out at other parks (especially weekends), and people don't always turn up despite paying the £1, it's perhaps a weird move.

There's a lot going on there. Quite a bit of good. A bit of not good too. Okay so first, the upcharge mazes. Ultimately to be expected. If you can only go through a maze with the people you visit with, it's going to drastically reduce the throughput. If you have it as a free for all like normal, you're going to be left with ridiculously long queues and people will be unhappy. There's the second issue of the park needing to make money. The park have missed out on half a season. So they're going to want to play catch up wherever they can. And they haven't extended park opening hours like the rest of the Merlin parks (except for one day). Which suggest they may not be doing as well as the other parks. So using Fright Nights to make extra money is a good idea. There's also the third point of maybe they should start charging for some mazes. Towers' system works because they charge for mazes - they spend money on the mazes, they charge for them, they get the money they spent on them back from maze tickets plus more, meaning they can invest more next year and still make a profit. It's a nice, neat closed system which doesn't rely on park entrance tickets or Fastrack or whatever. Thorpe just put a pot of money into Fright Nights each year, the number depends on how the entire park performs. A pay per maze structure works much better in a long term sense. And it's something I know Thorpe have considered for a while now. The issue, though, straight up is the price. £10. That is a heck of a lot for one maze. I've been thinking and thinking, and I can't think of any standard scare maze which has a higher price. I can think of special / extreme / alone maze experiences which are priced higher. But standard experience? No. (Okay, actually, I lie - I can think of one. Walibi Holland have introduced a new maze to their - severely Covid impacted - line up this year, which is priced at 10€. It's not clear if that's a standard maze experience though, so wait and see there..). Sure, Thorpe may do something different, but does anyone honestly expect that? I expect not. Especially when their hands are tied with Covid restrictions. It's a very high price which will command very high expectations. And honestly, I don't think it can be met. This is particularly the case for Platform 15, which has been free for 4 years. And even then, Roots of Evil in Blair Witch's space can only do so much and only be so different to the maze that was there for 2 years previously. The idea of charging for mazes is one I can get behind (though Thorpe should always balance that with at least one free maze imo). But this is way too high, and too much of a change too soon. I can only see that ending with a lot of unhappy guests. Also, another issue - there's still charges for Standard Merlin Passholders and Thorpe Season Passholders. At peak period, these people have to pay £25 to enter the park, plus pay for mazes. A bit of a kick in the teeth for them, especially when Towers' set up has entrance included for those types of Passholders. Enough moaning about the charges now... As for the maze offering. Platform 15 is going in reverse this year. Brave it Backwards if you will... I love the idea in theory, as it means you can have a weak, but potentially unnerving, start with the tunnel, build up through the village, then have the train explosion, then have a chaotic finale with the space they have. Obviously with the space they have they couldn't do that normally due to there being nowhere for a queue to go. Covid seemingly forces their hand here as it means they can control guest flow through the tunnel better. The issue is, the maze is designed to flow from the train station to Samurai. The village looks great going that way, and boring going the other way (because you're not meant to see the back). The train is facing the wrong way and has less impact. The ending will be very open and weak. These are things which aren't easy changes, or cheap changes, and a quick fix round them isn't going to have much impact. So again, nice idea, but I can't see them executing it well. Roots of Evil is a nice theme and backstory. As I said earlier, I don't see what they can do with the space to make it feel different to Blair (given that not much work has gone into the area at the moment). But hey, Blair was decent enough the past couple of years, so it'll be okay enough in its own right I'm sure. The scare zones, however, sound good. I'm not fussed either way about IPs, but this is the first year since 2016 that IPs haven't been the focus, and the first since 2009 where we've had no IP maze. It's also a nice varied thematic line up: vampires, werewolves, hillbillies/chainsaws, clowns/freaks and aliens, plus the roamers (btw, a stretch pushing roaming actors as an experience, but whatever) and the ghosts and dark/creepy theme of the 2 mazes. They're not doing anything particularly original or groundbreaking, but sometimes that's a good way to get the quality right. Interestingly, Swarm: Invasion isn't said to be a Scare Zone on the website, whilst all the other scare zones explicitly say 'Scare Zone'. So I have reservations there...almost not expecting actors, just set pieces.. But we'll see. Fearstival Arena looks like it'll be a mini freak show, and will probably reuse some Big Top props. A stage has been set up opposite Ghost Train for Oktoberfest, so they'll probably use that. Hopefully Lycanthorpe High is another dance show type thing. Make it feel like a competition between the two. Links things together a bit more. So all in all, some cause for optimism, but also a lot to be weary of. I hope for Thorpe's sake that the price point of the mazes. Some other stray thoughts... -I like that they're calling it Fright Nights Fearstival. Helps show that it's not a normal Fright Nights. -I wonder if any of the scare zone themes will develop into fully fledged mazes in the future? Or if any of those themes were meant to be mazes this year? -It's great to see practically the whole park have something Fright Nights based now. Swarm island, Lost City, Jungle, Amity, Old Town all have something! The quality of those things remains to be seen, but it's a start.

Entering Phantasialand is a weird one as there's actually 3 'main' entrances. Entrance 1: Berlin. This is the most "main" one in design, but practically anyone who drives won't use it, since there's basically no parking for day guests. You enter with the carousel directly in front, and then look down Berlin street towards Wellenflug. It's small and tight but pretty cool. Entrance 2: Mystery. Probably the most used one since the car park is accessed by using the road under the park next to the main entrance. Entrance 3: China. The car park for this is found by driving past the main entrance, turning left at the roundabout (going past Hotel Matamba) and following the road along. Neither Mystery nor China entrance is great, in the sense that you just go straight into the park. It's a very harsh contrast (like a lot of Phantasialand's transitions between areas). They're practical, certainly not memorable. Crucially, the park do know these areas all problems. They want to expand the land they own so more people can use the Berlin entrance, and so they can make it a bit grander, but they have experienced issues getting permission to expand. They don't own the land of one of their car parks (I think Mystery, but could be China). It's owned by a local who effectively leases it to the park and refuses to sell. A couple of years ago he tried building his own train through the car park... So it makes it hard to do work there. And even then, there's limited space to expand their car parks, meaning any work done to improve entrances outside the current perimeter costs valuable car parking spaces. They do have plans and do want to improve, but their hands are very much stuck at the moment. On top of that, each hotel has a dedicated entrance into the park (though Matamba's only happened this year). None of them are particularly great either. I agree about Maus being on the long side. It is certainly an arm workout! It's probably a toss up between China and Crazy Bats/Hollywood Tour for what sees the chopping block next. Given the investment in Crazy Bats and current rumours, it's more likely going to be the China area that goes first.

Rookburgh news: Staff previews are happening next Monday. Staff are, of course, being explicitly told not to share anything online and will be searched for phones, etc. before entering the area. Klugheim had staff previews around 3 weeks before opening, so we must be nearing an announcement or opening very very soon. Some rumours are circulating that on the 14th we'll have more news.

IMA Score did the main theme overlays. Nick appears to be doing overlays for rides.

I believe the technical term is that it is buggered...

Jack Silkstone recently uploaded a Fright Nights video which shows that some work has happened around what was Platform 15's queueing area last year. In particular, it shows new fences and a new themed section. It's hard to know when the work was done of course, but it certainly points towards the maze returning this Fright Nights. Obviously Platform would be one of the easiest to bring back too. Outside of that, there's no obvious work happening towards Fright Nights.

May as well have a thread for this. IMA Score have done a version of the main theme: I believe this is the first time the park and IMA Score have worked together since 2017. There's also an overlay of Rumba Rapids, going to "Oompah Rapids", which has music not done by IMA Score... More event details should hopefully follow, since it starts a week tomorrow...

Hard to tell with Covid restrictions how busy the park will be (and some things may have changed, so this might not be perfect), but... -Taron will always have a queue. If you're not one of the first ones there, you may as well leave it for later (it warms up and rides a bit better later in the day anyways). -If the weather is good, River Quest will have a very long queue. It has a bad throughput too. One to get done earlier in the day if possible. -It might be different with Covid, but the Fantasy area (where Winjas is) opens at 11 some days. So try and head over there for then. -The Berlin rides (carousel, Maus au Chocolat and Wellenflug) usually open before 10am. -As Crazy Bats has no VR, it will run really well. Likely won't have much of a queue. -Colorado Adventure has a physically short queue line, so don't be alarmed if the queue looks long. On a good day, even if the queue is really external you can be on in under 30mins. -If you're pressed for time, I wouldn't bother with Feng Ju Palace or Wakobato. The latter you should only really do if you want a relaxing ride to do and you've got the time. -Hollywood Tour (indoor boat ride) has been closed for a long period of time due to maintenance. So you don't need to bother trekking up the hill past the Crazy Bats entrance. -Don't miss out on Tikal! It's not exactly hidden, but the closest thing they have to a hidden gem imo. -Ride Chiapas a bunch of times The park is open until 7pm so even if it is busy you should get on everything. Most queue lines close 15mins before park close, but when busy, the park sometimes close their queue lines earlier, but these are always advertised. The advertised queue times are usually pretty accurate, but sometimes a bit off with the likes of Taron and Black Mamba in my experience. Most of the park's food places are great, so you can't really go wrong there. It's a small park with a lot of stairs and you will probably double back on yourself more than once throughout the day. Always worth looking at a map / the app to find your way round; it's pretty accurate.

So the park have given more details on what to expect next year... https://www.movieparkgermany.de/en/press-release The new attraction will be an Intamin Multi Dimensional Roller Coaster. What's one of them I hear you ask? Well, Intamin's website now list their drop track coasters (a la Th13teen) as one. They also have Escape from Gringotts (where Intamin were the turnkey provider) listed. So it's basically a coaster with trick track elements and the like. Some stats: -532m long -Max speed 37mph -3 trains of 12 people, with a throughput of 900pph -Rotating platforms -Multiple launches -Forwards and backwards sections -Lots of multimedia effects, including large screens, onboard audio and 4D effects The ride will be almost entirely indoors, in the old Ice Age boat ride building, as mentioned earlier. It sounds almost like Movie Park's take on Gringotts in my opinion! So I'm very much expecting a dark ride experience with coaster sections, rather than an indoor coaster (which they already have in Van Helsing). That also makes sense given the low speed and short track length. Construction of track is due to start in October and the ride will open next Spring. The theme is being kept secret for now. The park obviously have a lot of IPs, with their last major ride being the Star Trek coaster. They also recently opened some Paw Patrol rides. However, two of large water rides have been rethemed over the past couple of years and have been original concepts, so it's 50/50 whether we'll see an IP or not! Movie Park is a decent all round park and their indoor attractions are particular highlights, so this should definitely be one to watch!

Ah yes, the screenshot of a webpage with no link to said webpage. Always useful... Didn't realise that season pass holders no longer for discount. The fact that they're slicing away at the discount for Thorpe Park specific passholders sucks a little bit to be honest. Makes sense I guess given how cheap they are and how many they probably sell. Though maybe that's a sign they should scrap the cheapest version of their season pass... I guess the Infinity version has the added discount, maybe free parking and less restrictions.

I think it's only Hotel guests who booked pre-Covid who (should) get Fastrack, and that's usually just unlimited for the first hour. It's certainly not listed as a park for staying there currently. That and those who pre-booked will make up a tiny percentage of people going. There's no Passholders who are entitled to Fastrack either (unless people bought the season Fastrack pass if they offered it during off-season, which again will be a tiny tiny proportion of people). Thorpe haven't been offering Fastrack in a normal sense though; just to a very small proportion who booked it 5+ months ago.

Thorpe aren't offering Fastrack currently. Was unaware that Legoland were too tbh?

Testing, 1, 2, testing...

The Storm Surge rule was being enforced by a staff member at the front of the entrance. Didn't seem to cause many issues, but did overhear one conversation from a group of 3 who just didn't get it. It's a weird one as I don't think similar rides have the rule, nor did it have the rule in Cypress Gardens. Reason it exists is to prevent it from 'stalling' whilst going down the slide I've heard, but just seems weird.

I hated the batching system on Hyperion, so sad to learn it's been adopted on Zadra too. Just confusion and faff for no real reason in my opinion. A shame you don't particularly rate Energylandia as a park. Whilst it's true parts of it have a fun fair feel to it, I think a good chunk of it is a decent park with enough fun rides and okay levels of theming to be considered on par with plenty of other parks out there. And they're forever improving too, which is great to see.

Visited Towers yesterday. Overall, was pretty impressed. The park have adapted themselves well to Covid measures, and having all the park's pathways open from 9am is great. And getting rides open before 10am when possible is nice to see to. Operationally, Wicker Man seemed to have some issues and didn't open till mid-afternoon I believe. Hex was rather painful to go through; not sure if it was having technical issues / shutdowns whilst I was waiting, but batching was very erratic, and it there were long waits after each preshow had finished too. Because of social distancing, the physical queues are very long too: Nemesis' queue was outside Sub Terra. Th13teen was looping round the Dark Forest. But generally, operations seemed quick, and the length of queues are deceiving at the moment. Out of the 4 UK Merlin parks, Towers is probably dealing with Covid the best now. This was the park where social distancing was followed the most too...hard to say whether that's because the people who visit at the most sensible, or because of how they've explained and handled it. But yeah, it was nice to see.

And a little more about the event: https://www.thorpepark.com/explore/theme-park/events/oktoberfest/ The event sounds promising, and it's good to see they're actually planning on having an actual Oktoberfest drink there. Hopefully they can do it some justice. --- On a different note, I visited on Monday. Something which was very striking was that, during a thunderstorm, every ride was closed (completely understandable and obvious). The only open attraction was Angry Birds 4D. I know there's a slight element of this being out of their control (Derren and Walking Dead being closed due to Covid, though I'm sure the latter could have reopened by now, which makes me wonder if there's a different problem...), but it really highlighted the park's need for more indoor rides frankly. They'd also have two indoor walkthroughs if it wasn't for Covid, but yeah, that's not what I'm talking about. Yes, it's always been a problem for the park, and they face challenges with the amount of indoor space they can have. But it's something that really needs addressing, and something which I was just starkly reminded of during my visit.

I've heard the Mine Train is planned to be an extension to the Dragon Zone, but honestly no idea. Given their recent investments though I think it's likely it'll be reasonably well styled at the very least.

Flamingoland have updated their park map confirming that the new ride won't open until 2021. The ride is coloured grey on the map, and shows two trains with Union Jacks on the front. I'm sure at least one aspect of that drawing will be wrong, and it's not the colour of the track... Still no word on a name, but if they don't call it Invers10n I'm not bothering with this.

Stuart Beare, the owner, confirmed on a Facebook Live that they'll make an announcement regarding Shocktoberfest by next Friday. It sounded rather 50/50 as to whether it'll happen in my opinion, but just a wait and see for now...

An update on Aqualantis; particularly a look at the theming: The first photo, which shows a large blank space, is the rumoured location for the Mine Train, which is expected to open in 2021.

Construction continues: