JoshC.

The space was originally set up for shows. It had a small stage and an open area where seats could be placed. The maze space itself was more of a backstage / storage area originally. Our friends at Memories at Thorpe Park show the type of shows that were put on there. Even where The Freezer first opened, the space was still used as a show throughout the 00s. The stage was removed for I'm a Celebrity, but the entrance door for it is roughly in the same place as the stage door!

Interesting development. Jungle Escape was at one point in time meant to be returning this year, and I'm fairly certain that was still the plan quite recently. Obviously things can change though. If the rumours are true that Thorpe are using the Living Nightmare space for a season-round attraction then they're obviously down an indoor maze location and Jungle Escape makes the most sense as a space to use. So that'd be a positive. However, if that all happens, it would once again highlight Thorpe's short-term outlook and terrible decision making. Jungle Escape was thought of as a way to continue to make use of the I'm a Celebrity space for years to come, making use of the solid sets they have there, but lasts less than year because they need the space to replace another indoor space they're using for probably an equally short-term investment...

Another day, another photo:

95% of people with common sense: "I hate it when people write Merlin with the 'e' replaced with a '£'. It's silly" Me: Puts that phrase on a word filter Martin Doyle: ...

PowerPark are teasing their new coaster now, seemingly with an announcement due 3rd February (Monday)... Much excitement! Annnnd I can't justify double posting within an hour, so an edit to show a construction update:

Work on the entrance portal from the main road outside the park continues: Source: https://www.phantafriends.de/topic/1646-neu-20xx-rookburgh/page/157/?tab=comments#comment-146623 Some suggestions are that the colour is temporary and a result of some form of anti-rust material (no idea if that's plausible?), and other suggestions are that more theming will be added. Presumably the hotel name will be back-lit and the theming featuring underneath will receive some sort of effects though.

I'll stick this in a new post because why not... The European Coaster Club have some concepts for Wakala: They have said there are two lift hills: the first, which is standard, and the second which will have "slight acceleration". Curiously, there's no mention of a launch, which one would expect given the spike and the flat piece of track before it which will have to double up as a brake run too. A very odd coaster for sure.

@Mark9 will be pleased.

Track is going along nicely: (Both images from the park) Officially speaking, the park aren't saying anything regarding the Mine Train, but it's still expected to happen (although possibly 2021). The Tilt Coaster has seen delays but is still thought to be a thing; the delay could be a Vekoma-thing rather than a park thing though..

Bellewaerde's family Gerstlauer launch thing has started construction, and also has a name: Wakala Cool name, ugly track colour

I believe that during winter maintenance a major fault was found with the ride which couldn't be repaired. The park wanted to keep the ride but a replacement ship couldn't be gotten in so quickly, especially as the budget had already been spent elsewhere. So a quiet removal followed by a quiet reintroduction was decided upon. Presumably it'll be of a similar size and scale to Black Buccaneer.

You could have a 3-way race with Mission Ferrari in Abu Dhabi tbf Not that it matters, because Energylandia will have built 5 coasters, 2 cheap flats and a dozen kids rides by the time any of them open

The name of the company is Aroma Prime though

Apparently there's been issues with groundworks and the placement of footers, specifically around the cobra roll, which is causing a sizeable delay to construction. What this means in terms of opening remains to be seen...

I know you're joking, but I've seen some escape rooms / self-driven story experiences have this exact concept! And it doesn't work, because people respond to and identify different smells in different ways. And a strong concentration of an artificial smell doesn't always smell how it should, especially if it's designed to be filling a room. Aroma's announcement is clearly just them saying they're working with Thorpe on whatever is happening this year. It'd be no different to a vague announcement from IMASCORE or Scruffy Dog. My guess is that, once again, it's a small experience which probably only has a short life span, so Thorpe aren't planning on marketing it majorly. But getting companies they're working with to mention it lets those who would dig around online know something is happening. Arguably it's a lazy tactic. But not as lazy as their current social media competition of 'get enthusiasts to submit their videos to go on the park's website'.

Correct. So too has Ocean Park, and presumably any other Hong Kong parks / major tourist spots.

Aroma Prime, I'm fairly sure, are just a rebrand of Dale Air. Thorpe have used their scents before, particularly for horror mazes (Saw Alive and Cabin in the Woods spring to mind, no doubt others too..although I think a different company was used for Big Top? Anyway I digress...) and maybe for some rides as well (I'd hazard a guess at Ghost Train off the top of my head, but who knows) The rebrand to Aroma Prime saw them go down a similar route to IMAScore in some ways, in that they're really trying to connect with fans and make themselves seem desirable in their own right. It's not different to what they offered years ago as Dale Air really, but they've just improved their marketing ten-fold and been more forward with parks. What this is for is anyone's guess. If the park do something new for 2020, maybe they'll be involved. I wouldn't get hopes up for 'area smells' though. The trouble is that every ride within an area has it's own distinction - there'd be no 'one smell fits all' idea. And artificial smells are such a subtle thing that you can't really give every ride in an area a smell which is similar as it'd all just blend into one. And having smells outside in pathways is much more costly than one might initially think. Doing that for every area (something which the park did consider a few years ago) is just too impractical.

Wasn't sure where to mention this but here seems good enough... Due to the Coronavirus outbreak which is majorly affecting China, a large proportion of Chinese theme parks have closed completely. These include: -Disney Shanghai -All OCT parks (which includes the Happy Valley chain; a total of 15 parks) -All Fantawild parks (17 total) -All Chimelong parks (3 total) -Most of the Sunac parks (14 parks owned) -and many more. This is of course all happening during the Lunar New Year, which is a Top 3 holiday in China. Most parks in China on in the eastern area of the country, which is also where the greatest spread of the virus is (and, unsurprisingly, the densest part of the country). It's unsurprising that this precaution has happened, but it's good to see it's happened quickly and efficiently all the same.

Rumours are circulating around that FLY has made it's first test run this week. Still no word on an opening date of course. But I'd reckon either start of season (April) or June are the most likely times right now.

Close. You "win" a day if you receive more positive reacts over any other single person. Positive reacts are the 'Like' (heart), 'Thanks' (trophy) and 'Haha' (laughing face) symbols. The other two possible reacts, Confused (confused face) and Sad (crying face), are neutral reactions and do not increase your Reputation Score. This is because these reactions are usually only used when someone makes a confusing post (ie - one which shouldn't positively contribute to a member's reputation) or breaks sad news (say about a ride closing, or Thorpe's continuing painful existence with little signs of improvement...), and again isn't something which needs to positively contribute to a member's reputation. In other words, it's a silly system, and as such is one that should definitely be in the header of your LinkedIn profile, CV and any other formal thing where you just chuck is loads of superlatives to make yourself sound amazing and #sick

Thorpe are still plodding on with their Closed Season updates.. Nothing particularly exciting this this update, but I know people enjoy these things. This year's set of updates doesn't seem to have the same level of charm about it as last closed season for me personally.

tbf if you wait that extra year I'm sure you'll get another half a dozen creds from Energylandia...

Don't the English try to do this with Gullivers anyways? It's better than being escorted round the park by a member of staff like a criminal anyways...

There's really nowhere else to place this, so let's pop it here: British Theme Park Archive are reporting that a dark ride had been planned for many years at Thorpe (stretching back as far as 2008), with a ride similar to Spiderman at IOA being something considered. John Wardley, amongst others, was part of the team designing it too apparently. Many ideas were considered, and apparently Derren was bought on board in 2010. After many more ideas and iterations, eventually DBGT was decided upon and VR was one of the last elements to be added. In the comments its confirmed this info comes from someone they interviewed, who said it was close but "didn't quite happen". How close in unknown. I've heard a very different story behind the saga of how Thorpe eventually ended up with a dark ride (something that many had craved for years): -The park had considered the idea of a dark ride / indoor experience many times (the acknowledgement of the need for this was one reason for Saw's indoor section) -A decision was made for the park to focus on coasters and thrill support rides up until then (plus maybe a 4D show or Vengeance from the old London Dungeons coming over), but they got cold feet after Swarm's failures -Derren was bought on board sometime in 2013 / early 2014, with the plan for a dark ride being decided upon in early 2014 -With the VR trend becoming a thing by the end of 2014, it was decided to incorporate VR then, again quite late in the process Obviously there's no way to know for certain what version of events is correct, if either are. Maybe at one point or another someone somewhere within the Thorpe/Merlin hierarchy decided to look into a Spiderman style. Maybe it was just an idea that never got far beyond the drawing board.

The video in question... tl;dr - Jack makes a claim that the license for The Walking Dead mazes may be up soon, leaving the Living Nightmare space empty, and it could be used for a new year-round attraction. When it comes to smaller IPs, the standard contract length that Thorpe (and Merlin) tend to opt for is 3 years, with an option to extend to a fourth under the same conditions, before they have to renegotiate (for bigger IPs, they tend to go for longer contracts, usually at least 5 years). This is certainly clear to see with many of Thorpe's smaller IPs: Lionsgate: My Bloody Valentine 2013-2015 (not extended), Cabin in the Woods 2013-2016 (extended), Blair Witch 2013-2016 I'm a Celebrity: 2015-2018 (extended) So the mazes for The Walking Dead could definitely be up now (assuming that they're separate to the ride, which I believe they are). To anyone who follows Jack, it's clear he has good connections with Thorpe, and there's been more than one occasion in the past where his "but idk, I'm just speculating" comments are pretty bang on. So it's by no means out of the question that the park feed him intel, he can then throw it out there, and then the park can create a buzz for small things that will keep interested people, well...interested, for small investments and do zero work in the process. So in other words, yeah, it's possible the Living Nightmare space may see changes this year. Question is though: if they decide to remove Living Nightmare for a year-round attraction, how on earth are the park going to cope at Fright Nights with losing another permanent indoor space?