JoshC.

Very fair point. One has to wonder how much time played a part - the long term plan didn't have 2019 earmarked for a major theming project, so it was something that had to be slotted in I guess. If to say Wicker Man had 3 years of planning, and Colossos was only decided to reopen 18 months ago, that's significantly less time to come up with a brand new design concept. Not impossible, but obviously much quicker to modify a existing design. You could argue that other major companies (Disney) do the exact same thing when it comes to the copy and paste attitude, and even though their quality is significantly higher, it's the same basic principle. I guess maybe I'm just more blasé about the fact than others. Of course it would be amazing to see more totally originally concepts, but I don't see it as a bad thing - just a less good thing.

Can't tell if sarcasm.. A battle of monsters around a roller coaster is pretty original. Yeah sure, the company that owns this park built a ride with a similar centre piece as a ride at another park they own. Does that really matter in the grand scheme of things? Is it any different to the fact that both Heide and Alton have launch coasters with almost exactly the same layout?

I believe you collect the pass and you just simply show the pass at each Fastrack ride. Given they've moved towards scanning Fastrack tickets, it would make the most sense. One would hope that the Fastrack pass has your name / photo on it so you don't need to collect a wristband every time. Or at the absolute most you have to show it along with your Annual Pass.. It's probably best to message the park directly to confirm though. I imagine it's a very niche product so they're probably tweaking the rules to suit the few who go for it.

From Heide... Wicker Monster is feeling a bit hot.

Bellewaerde have withdrawn their plans for their weird cred for now, due to a lack of clarity about the net loss of trees. Once this is made clear and agreed upon, new plans will be resubmitted. Source - https://www.looopings.nl/weblog/11669/Pretpark-Bellewaerde-trekt-aanvraag-voor-nieuwe-achtbaan-weer-in.html

To be fair, if they didn't have their event plan for 2019 internally planned in late February, I'd be pretty damn concerned. I mean, just look at how last year turned out... Surely they've learnt from their mistakes...

Bit more detail about the kiddie cred as I embark on a 5 post monologue...

I mean, there were arguably rides which were major that opened before Loggers - namely Space Station Zero and Thunder River. And yeah, as much as I like Loggers, I don't really see the need for it be made a heritage site. That's crazy tbh I've always felt that if a coaster replaces Loggers, having a double-down element where the main drop was would be pretty cool. Following the entire route sounds a bit too much, but I think that'd be a pretty neat nod and a cool thing in itself.

Oh WWTP, how I've missed you.

I mean, Thorpe's response would be funnier if the original comment wasn't true. Prices do go up, the length of the queues has increased, meaning on busier days ride counts go down. I'm all for banter from the parks, but when it's in the face of legitimate points, regardless of how they're presented, it loses all credibility.

It's HUGE. Like that first photo is just mental.

Here's a fun rumour circulating round at the moment... http://riderater.co.uk/rumours/ Flamingo Land are getting an Intamin 10 inversion coaster, which could possible run alongside Velocity near the entrance of the park (where the park's Runaway Train, sky pedal bikes, and some sort of extra car park are currently). Apparently the area is currently being cleared and the rides have been removed. Very much a "I'll believe it when I see it" thing right now, but just imagine...

I find it funny how, generally speaking, people criticise Merlin's approach of needing major attractions to be instant success to be viewed as good or not, yet moan when they feel other parks' major attractions aren't an instant success. I know there's different things to consider and stuff, but you can't have it both ways surely? If Thorpe were to be taken over by a new company, they would have a lot of money. And they would understand they'd need to invest heavily to compete against the Merlin parks, as well as Paultons, and keep the likes of Blackpool and Flamingo Land in mind as well. Just look at the Netherlands over the past few years. 3 parks (Efteling, Walibi Holland and Toverland) have been competing against each other with offering huge new attractions, even though Efteling is miles ahead in attendance, and Walibi and Toverland aren't even in the 3 most visited Dutch theme parks.. It's one of the most exciting markets to watch right now. Imagine if Thorpe, Towers and Chessington were owned individually - you can have some amazing competition!

The are no known plans for the area. Doesn't mean that Thorpe themselves don't have an idea, but there's nothing publicly known at the moment!

Given that Thorpe's social media has taken a bashing lately, only fair for Alton to receive the same. I'm all for banter between parks, but for there to public admittance that it's going to take a long time for part of the same company to 'sort itself out' (especially since it's actually true) seems like a rather large faux pas, surely? Maybe I'm just getting old and don't get social media. Or I'm just looking for things to moan about. But I just don't get it.

The last post in this thread before today was August. I think we have better things to do on January 1st than change the thread titles for new attractions. But, yes, you're right. It should be named differently, and I have done so. Thank you!

But it was new for 2018? The fact it's 2019 doesn't change that...

Just to be more clear: strictly speaking, there's no 'MTDP' nor 'LTDP'. These are more terms for things which are submitted to councils / revealed to local authorities. More accurately, the parks will work on a rolling 5 year plan. Obviously, they'll have the most detailed plan for the current / following year, and it becomes vaguer and less determined as you look further into the future. Those plans will be based on hitting certain targets, and choosing developments which will help them get there. When Thorpe submitted their MTDP to the council, it is fair to say, though, that it would give a rough indication of what their 5 year plan was at the time. Outside of that, they'll have a longer term idea. Again, something based more on hitting targets rather than certain attractions, but they'll be aware of certain rides reaching the life expectancy / needing major work done, areas which could be redeveloped, etc What Thorpe are saying on their social media, about working many years in advance, means very little. They may have a plan set in place for 2 years' time. Maybe 5 years. Maybe they don't. They'll just say it so it sounds like they're doing something. So I wouldn't read into it too much.

Couple more interesting responses from the park (I'll try and screenshot them in later if I can be bothered)... Interesting they're keeping the "thrilling destination" line - very much still points to being the young adult market. Maybe not the most sensible direction to be promoting given the loss of a family ride. Now, I don't doubt that Thorpe had plans to reopen Loggers Leap. In fact, in an alternate universe, it may have even reopened this year. It's closure came at a time when Merlin were tightening their own H&S policies, and log flumes required a lot of work to fall in line with that (no doubt Loggers moreso due to its location over a lake). The money wasn't around, but maybe they hoped it would be. The thing is though, the communication has been appalling. From just quietly removing it from the website, to cheap fences to hide the ride, to just saying they hope it may return it. And then, 3 years later, to announce what they really should have done 3 years ago feels very much like a 'oh s#!t, we can't afford to fix it up and everyone keeps mentioning it, what do we do??'. It's rather jarring. It's a situation where they're damned if they did and damned if they didn't, but it's one they put themselves in. One can only hope that whatever they offer over the next couple of years can help improve the overall resort offering and create a new, decent, family attraction

Announcement feels 3 years too late. Especially as there's no reference to redevelopment.

This is something I've heard too, but never seen anything concrete to confirm. Even stuff I have from 96 (maps) indicate a 1.4m restriction, so if it ever was 1.2m, the change must have happened quickly. Maybe it was more intended to have a 1.2m restriction, but ended up with a 1.4m? Not sure, but would love to know either way!

I love how one of the Oompa Loompas is on £1000 whilst the rest are around the £200-300 mark. Someone's going to be feeling like a right old muppet.

Moved to General Discussion - good luck with the dissertation!

And because I love spamming this thread... And you'll get a lovely view of the park from Zadra... Source: SSC

In something potentially directly related to 2019... Interestingly the same logo as this gaming thing: https://www.hypdgaming.com Coincidence (Thorpe using a random image of the word hyped)? Or some sort of sponsorship / partnership? Years ago (2004/2005 I think) Thorpe has PS2 Weekenders over summer where you could compete in random games and competitions. Could they do something like that again? Maybe have "A year of competition" or "A year of games and fun?" At this stage, feels like anything is possible...