JoshC.

I mean playing devils advocate, what would be a good replacement scene?
honestly, I can see why they got rid of it as the same effect is technically used earlier in the attraction.

I mean maybe not a scare, but I liked the idea of the shop having a 'window' into the platform that you just came from and the train disappearing into a ghostly apparition in a more theatrical ending

Maybe not a replacement but its a shame they could of replaced the effect with something that doesn't require a actor or staff, something automatic.

It has also been announced that Vampire, the SLC, will close at the end of next year.

No replacement has been confirmed, but the park have said they wouldn't close it with nothing in works to replace it.

I've heard pretty much nothing.

One of the big issues the park will face is if staff haven't worked on it in a certain time frame, they will 'lose' the ability to work on it and need complete re-training. This might be why there was a lot of testing earlier this year, to stop that from happening.

It's weird though. It's on the map / app / queue boards. It's got the new RAP signage. It's clearly meant to be a part of the 2026 line up. So why is it just sat there.

The fact that the retail unit there sells just ice cream is absolutely mind boggling.

Get some cocktails/mocktails for sale, and some street food like Cargo at Alton Towers recently and they'd be laughing.

Visited the park for first time in over a decade. Would you believe things are very different?

The ride lineup has markedly improved. Mediocrity was king, and now Kondaa, Mecaladon and Tiki-Waka help to have rideable coasters (ok Turbine was and still is fab).

Mecaladon in particular is a great family coaster. That the kid can ride that and Calamity Mine (just!) but Runaway Mine Train at Towers is too much is hilarious to me.

Kondaaaaaaaaaaaaaa is a great coaster too. #600 for me after some recent hectic visits to Gullivers parks to boost that cred count. Certainly preferred it to Hyperia, helped by it having a decent layout and using the height (though smaller than I realised) well. The bunny hops at the end in back row are also nonsense. Low end of the top 10 for me.

Pulsar is fab. Need more of these in existence. That boat should lumber along but instead it zooms along. Unfortunately only got to do it once as it died a death later on and needed to get the train home.

Apparently Vampire and Loup-Garou were running terribly. Fortunately I didn't have to ride them. The park itself looks nice with the recent area spruce ups, though a few rides are in conflicting areas (Silverton the worst offender) which might get fixed soon maybe.

Yeah, good day and a solid cred count boost. Helped by the park being utterly dead even with a few school groups about so still 5-10 minute queues for everything.

To be honest, I think its a wasted opportunity at the moment.

- No comfy seating
- Lacks shade / shelter
- Theres a small retail unit which just sells icecreams I believe but I think its mad not have a bar + food unit there

Will be interesting to see how it develops and what the area is used for in the future, but I think it says a lot that hardly anyone seems to be using it and sitting in other areas instead.

I was at Thorpe on Monday for one of the 9pm closes too.

Ride availability was pretty poor. One of 'those' Thorpe days - though they are fewer and further between now. I don't think the heat can take the full blame for availability (beyond Stealth, as hydraulic launches do typically struggle in heat), but certainly can't have been a good factor.

In saying that, I had a good time, and there were a good number of people there until close. Was it rammed? No. Was it lively enough though? Yes.

Obviously the extreme heat won't have helped, and the May half term is usually the quietest one of the school holidays (I think, in part, due to it being around exam season, so a chunk of your core demographic are actually less likely to do bigger days out). So I don't think the 9pm closes being quiet are a 'bad' thing in any way.

I find it funny seeing the discourse around that if the parks are quiet on late closes, then they won't do them again. Isn't part of the reason to spread crowds out more throughout the day, improving rides per guest and overall giving guests better experiences. I think, on the whole, the late closes achieved that.

I think it’s quite clever… the vast majority of it is removable, to make a big events space. Those benches, the trailer screen, even the fencing in front of it.

Keep it bland, and it could be quite a versatile space.

I did 6 hours of driving today to get back on Stealth. (3 hours each way and going around the theme park).
She really did well. I managed to get 8 rides on her whilst doing the other coasters. No fast track. Really so chuffed with engineering 😀. Great job Thorpe 😀
Just about managed it all in a day. Knackered myself but worth it.
It's always a massive gamble with the cost of fuel and getting up at 4am to be home for 9pm.

Bit of positive news having visited Hyperia Yesterday is just how good the operations are, the ride took 15 min to open after park open, which is ok as u can tell the ride is running slow in the cold (makes you wonder if wheel heaters are worth investing in)

But such a great ride team, it was the same as when I visited last year, they will fly through the queue. It gets to the point where the ride barely stacks on the brake run (though obviously the brake run is relatively slow)

Interesting observation is how many people where re joining the queue and how many asked for front row (and how a front row queue would become so overwhelming on this ride)

Single rider is good though like Smiler at Towers, you wonder how many people in that queue are on there own ;p

It's a cable replacement and nothing crazy.

The previous prolonged closure is not ideal, but if history is anything to go by, it should be okay now.

Stealth is back open today!

Though a different situation to last year (where Stealth effectively opened weeks into the season), it must be a concern for the park that for the second year running they've had early-season issues with Stealth.

The issues with hydraulic launches are well documented now. And one as powerful as Stealth will add to that complexity.

At the same time, Thorpe are well-versed in dealing with complex, unique and temperamental rides (for better or worse). So hopefully they're not thinking of giving it up yet. But equally, from a purely business perspective, if this keeps happening, one has to expect they'll at least consider changes to it.

Though a different situation to last year (where Stealth effectively opened weeks into the season), it must be a concern for the park that for the second year running they've had early-season issues with Stealth.

The issues with hydraulic launches are well documented now. And one as powerful as Stealth will add to that complexity.

At the same time, Thorpe are well-versed in dealing with complex, unique and temperamental rides (for better or worse). So hopefully they're not thinking of giving it up yet. But equally, from a purely business perspective, if this keeps happening, one has to expect they'll at least consider changes to it.

Never seen that before, and it hasn't been like that all of this year. Could just be because the weather was nice and staff wanted to more be outside. Could be they're trying it there to advise people of potentially long waits for front row (it holds a lot of people). Could be a security thing. Will be interesting to see if they carry on doing that; it's certainly a bit further away from the rows so harder to see

If anyone’s interested, I have a few throughput timings and insights from my Thorpe visit last Monday:
Colossus (Theoretical: 1,300pph on 2 trains) - 786pph (2 trains, average of 4, 13th April 2026)
Hyperia (Theoretical: 1,050pph on 2 trains) - 770pph (2 trains, average of 4, 13th April 2026), 763pph (2 trains, average of 10, 13th April 2026)
Nemesis Inferno (Theoretical: 1,150pph on 2 trains) - 1,023pph (2 trains, average of 6, 13th April 2026)
Saw: The Ride (Theoretical: 1,000pph on 8 cars) - 854pph (unknown number of cars, average of 8, 13th April 2026)
Stealth (Theoretical: 1,000pph on 2 trains) - 827pph (2 trains, average of 9, 13th April 2026), 860pph (2 trains, average of 6, 13th April 2026)
The Swarm (Theoretical: 1,100pph on 2 trains) - 946pph (2 trains, average of 10, 13th April 2026), 1,022pph (2 trains, average of 5, 13th April 2026)
Overall, then, I would have said ops were pretty good, but perhaps not as high-end as I have seen in a couple of cases. Colossus was doing pretty well in my brief snapshot by that ride’s standards, and Saw was smashing it! Inferno and Hyperia were also doing well.

Some others were still good, but perhaps not as high as I have seen. For example, Stealth, consistently attaining slightly below 90s between dispatches, seemed somewhat slower than on my last visit back in September, where the staff were pumping out trains at a rate of knots and attaining nearly 1,000pph. Swarm also seemed slightly less consistent. That is me being persnickety, though; operations were generally good, and ride availability was also strong throughout the day!

One thing I did notice is that Inferno was batching at the station entrance, which I found a bit odd… I wonder why they’ve changed this for 2026?

Shuffles around at that level aren't all that uncommon. I believe the previous VP of Legoland Windsor has moved to a broader role within Merlin.

Obviously we don't know the exact day-to-day responsibilities of the VP / Divisional Director roles of the parks, but as has been mentioned, the past few years with Neil in charge have seen lots of positives with operations and general improvements. Thorpe has, for the last couple of years as a minimum, been generally considered the best operated Merlin UK park, with the best reliability, best food, best Halloween event and just in general doing well given the relative tight purse strings from Merlin above.

That certainly won't be down to one person, but things like that happen when you've got good leadership in place.

And what does Parm Pap like, beyond long-winded ways of saying (I presume) "the water effect won't make a splash back soon"?

I believe it sounds an alarm if the restraint comes down enough to indicate that the person in the test seat would fit.

Very annoying I know - would be better to have a green/red light like I've seen at other parks 🤣

At least its working though I guess! SAWs test seat does the same.

And what does Parm Pap like, beyond long-winded ways of saying (I presume) "the water effect won't make a splash back soon"?

Something I've noticed with Zodiac testing is that its actually reaching the full 90 degrees height and staying at full height for a few seconds before it starts to lower again.

Haven't seen it reach full height in years! Will be interesting to see if it does that when it opens or if its just engineers running it in manual.

They should have kept the price high.

It's weird Towers is charging £20 for one of their coasters, yet Thorpe have reduced the cost of a one shot of their newest coaster foe their newest coaster.

I'd hope that yesterday's long Fastrack queues is a one off due to the mixture of the taste unlimited Fastrack, first day having extra Premium Passholders, etc

The Premium Passholder perk of one free Fastrack per visit is a real wildcard and I expect we'll see lots of quirks over the coming weeks.

I agree most people will end up wanting to use their's on Hyperia at Thorpe.

Haven't updated my top 10 in a while and have a few changes from 2025. New for 2025 in bold.

1) Toutatis
2) Untamed
3) Kondaa
4) Shambala
5) Hyperia
6) Ride to Happiness
7) Taron
8) Balder
9) Helix
10) Nemesis

Kondaa used to be my number one, with Toutatis in second place. After riding both again in October I decided I prefer Toutatis overall. From the moment I got on it in 24 I was addicted to it, I’ll never get bored of that swing launch. I also love its more aggressive airtime.

I might be misremembering this but think the initials related to one of the contractors that worked on the ride. I know the initials on the shop (PGB/PBG) relate to the architect involved with the project.

For a non-AI answer, there's no explicit reference.

When the ride opened, it did have the "JBS.wrks" sign painted on the building. It was purposefully made to look faded, fitting in with the abandoned warehouse motif of the station and the general Saw storyline.


Image from 2009.

Back then, there was much less emphasis on Easter Eggs, hidden meanings, etc. It was likely thrown on there just to add an extra layer of 'this is an abandoned warehouse' and 'JBS.wrks' sounds like a plausible thing for a warehouse.

The addition of the new signage is a bit unnecessary and doesn't add anything meaningful or worthwhile in my opinion. But equally, for some signs that were probably a couple of hundred quid, it adds another layer for repeat visitors to make things feel fresh.

You could even argue that the "JBS.wrks Est 2009" signage goes against the original planned story, as the whole point is that the warehouse was abandoned and taken over by Jigsaw in 2009. But it's not that deep and doesn't matter.

So yeah, no real relevance. Almost certainly doesn't actually mean anything. And very much done for the sake of it.