JoshC.

Green bulb replacement
 

Stealth is scheduled to be closed 23rd - 25th July. 
 
I assume this will be launch cable replacement.

Smiler is constantly Towers busiest ride but that doesn't make it the most popular 😘

Voltron is really REALLY good.
 
Relentless in pacing and doesn't let up aside from the turntable and final brakes. A good variety of elements as well keeps things interesting and the airtime I don't think gets mentioned much.
 
And if people think it's rough then they clearly don't know what a rough ride is.
 
Blue Fire walked so Voltron could run. Straight into my top 3.
 

Colossus being closed would improve my visit 😉

I'm really impressed by the ride teams at Thorpe. We really take for granted how hard they work to keep the rides moving so efficiently. It's really telling how good we have it, The Swarm probably had the worst ops but they were still only stacking trains for about 10 seconds per cycle (and that is an exaggeration). 
 
The Hyperia team must have been chosen by the goddess themselves, because they run that ride so well, never stacking, always dispatching as soon as they can. Also shout out to Inferno's team who were doing a great job. They need a batcher though as lots of trains going out with two empty seats next to each other.
 
And finally, the older I get the more I see myself preferring Thorpe's coaster line up to Altons. As much as I like Nemesis Reborn, I think the rest of the line up is either gimmicky nonsense, run awfully or just dull. Whereas Inferno is running the best Ive seen it (honestly, it's so good right now), Stealth and the Swarm are just so much fun, Hyperia manages to be open (  ) and I still love hanging out around Colossus and hearing that music.
 
In general Thorpe is just a better experience all round. Better hours, better rides, better food, better operations. I would have never said that 20 years ago, but now, to me, Thorpe is in a different league. 

Ok there are plenty of jokes to be had with this one, but I’ve got a few observations of things that have quietly disappeared from theme parks over the last decade or so.
 
Park branded Ponchos
This is a weird one for me.  Seemingly overnight about 10 years ago these all just vanished out of thin air.
These used to be everywhere.  On all the water rides there would always be people wearing them, and when it rained there were ponchos galore!
Although I know it was a waste of plastic, I almost miss seeing these.  I remember being in Florida years ago and spotting countless UK park ponchos around.
The iconic “don’t wet yourself” Thorpe ones were everywhere.

Cigarette smoke
As someone who’s always lived in a non smoking house, growing up I always associated the smell of smoke with theme parks!
It’s a sign of the times I suppose, but the smell of smoke has all but disappeared from theme parks (replaced by those toilet air fresheners that people suck on now).
 
Wasps
Another sign of the times I think. Many of the fizzy drinks are now sugar free by default.
The queue lines across the UK were always dreadful for wasps during the summer time.  Remember those horrible wasp catchers they used to hang in the trees that were always full to the brim with dead ones?
 
On ride photos 
What happened to these? You used to see countless people wandering around with ORPs at the parks!  They seem to have faded away!

The push for digital only ORPs. That said they're still about and have 2 physical ones that I've purchased since 2023.
 
Can I change it to things you now see all the time? Because vloggers. And (especially at Towers) cosplayers are just everywhere. Saw someone last weekend in full Phalanx get up complete with name badge and box with fake egg of Nemesis creature in it. It’s weird to me.

Thank you everyone for your help and advice!
 
We all had a blast - great little park with the good and unique rides!
 
Some key takeaways that took me by surprise however…
The merch is HYSTERICALLY expensive. Frankly it’s no wonder Merlin are in a financial state. It’s clear that nobody ever buys anything any more from seeing the evidence - dust on a lot of the ridiculously priced novelty mugs- which priced far higher than better quality ones at DLP. Most of the restaurants and coffee shops today were closed, including the fish and chip place, burger kitchen, and the chicken shop.  I poked my head in to Pizza Pasta to see the prices, and most tables were vacant at lunch time, which I’m not surprised about given it’s £22.something pp…. Clearly Merlin’s pricing strategy is not working if they can’t even half fill the only open restaurant at lunchtime… There is evidence that Merlin are struggling - the area where the show was is very out of place now, and there are bits around the park that show signs that the company isn’t doing well - the rapids sat abandoned, a lot of decor falling in to disrepair, etc. the car parks are also not staffed at all, causing chaos with cars going in all directions due to conflicting signage etc. single staffed cafe in heartlake as well was not good for anyone involved. Also many rides stayed closed throughout the day. HOWEVER - it’s a great little park. Plenty of people having a great time! The railway is a fantastic attraction! Lots of interaction on the way round, and brilliant team working there! the new duelling coasters are excellent and seem to be going down extremely well. (ignoring the dreadful landscaping and plastic sheeting on the fences?!?!) another high capacity ride somewhere in the park would be very welcome I think. I really like some of the finer details around - like the slides on the hill down to the main park, and the little rivers down the paths. Really adds to the experience for the little ones. When they build something on Viking River Splash, it’s a huge plot in a great location. Hopefully something good coming here soon!  
Overall, impressed.  Certainly an expensive day out now, and I think Merlin need to be careful not to let the experience slip any further as it’s borderline at the moment….. but still on the right side of quality vs price at the moment I think.

In a nice, but admittedly very random, addition, Colossus now has a smoke effect!
 
https://x.com/ThorpeParkMania/status/1936799436602065404?t=uY0MNotqAIdP5sGeIsb4tA&s=19

In a nice, but admittedly very random, addition, Colossus now has a smoke effect!
 
https://x.com/ThorpeParkMania/status/1936799436602065404?t=uY0MNotqAIdP5sGeIsb4tA&s=19

Sounds like the discourse over Nemmie Rebs atm. Saturday didn’t feel much in the way of roughness at all. Way people go on about it makes it sound like riding an old school Vekoma.

Rode it twice today. 
 
Dunno what all this discourse is about it being rough. It's fine.
 
There are vibrations present, and you can notably see the train shift during the stall. But it doesn't negatively affect the ride experience for me. There are significantly worse rides out there, even in the park itself.
 
I will say it is more vibratey than say this time last year though, and it does make me fear for how the ride will age. 
 
But yeah, for now, I'd love to ride it with someone who is calling this rough and see what on earth is going on. Because if that's rough, then....

I get the reference however..
 
The only thing worse than people moaning about Christmas stuff in shops in August is forums talking about halloween.

I did a Hyperia coaster climb this evening.
 
There was some chatter when it was made live about the cost being expensive (£120). It is, no beating around the bush. But it is worth it. My experience was about 3hrs all in, and included lots of time spent scaling the ride, time spent in the console and time spent around the turnaround outside the station, with lots of opportunities for photos, fabulous hosts and a great vibe. 
 
Find attached a variety of photos (of me). I'll write a proper TPM article later.

It's strange because the rest of the park received new TVs which are basically always on and working. So is Swarm just cursed with other issues, or is there another reason why it doesn't work. 
 
The effects situation is a crying shame. It's easy to forget that when the train goes through the tower before the station fly over, it used to (/ is still meant to?) trigger the Swarm 'noise'. I can't remember when I last heard that.
 
There's definitely a disparity between creative and operations. I find it hard to believe that Thorpe would actively have wanted the water effect on Hyperia given the way Swarm's has gone down, and how quickly it stopped working. Hopefully they can stabilise and streamline that process in the future. 

There was a post on LinkedIn from an BALPA event hosted at Thorpe Park.
 
This graph shows the direction they want Thorpe Park to take. It’s quite simple and fairly obvious but also I’m glad they are taking that direction in becoming the thrill park, nothing else.
 
The graph also shows the way they want to improve revenue and the way they’ve done it. A few things: 2021-2023 it says “event led strategy” and in 2025+ it says “event development” to me it suggest Thorpe management want to and the plan is to bring back events. It was never the plan to drop them from Thorpe’s side.
 
Also they state multiple times how they are keen to remove IP. I hope the management outlasts the cuts as when funding does come back, we need them to push forward with these goals as ultimately this is the correct way forward.

Just a general observation/thought.
 
I find my enthusiasm & excitement for Thorpe Park/ Merlin parks muted this year. It’s just simply “open”, no new things to do, no events to change things up every few months, no dramas or issues. 
 
No 2025 TV advert, no real advertisement. No communication from parks e.g passholder page.
 
Simply there’s nothing going on and nothing going to happen in the near future (excluding fright nights). There’s no evolving, it’s a difficult one as we had a period of investment and events. To simply going back to basics and providing what they have already. 
 
This is my first season since becoming a passholder which there has been no events or new attraction to keep it entertaining. I suppose what I’m asking, is this normal? Down periods in years gone by, with not much happening.

Depends how little your little one and what rides you're looking at doing, but some general thoughts...
 
-Flight of the Sky Lion has a horrible queue (especially if it's warm), and it does move quite slow
-Ninjago and Dragon queue times often are inflated / over stated
-Log flume gets you wetter than you'd expect
-There's lots of play areas about; most of them are pretty decent!
-Food is expensive (even by Merlin standards)
-The duelling coasters have a quick moving queue, even when the queue is full

Well having it closed will do no 'arm to the line up.

Well having it closed will do no 'arm to the line up.

Well having it closed will do no 'arm to the line up.

I visited this park three weeks ago and I had some thoughts. You can tell this was a Disney park on a budget and was obviously planned in the days where Disneyland Paris was seen as a failure and budgets were tight. When it opened, its major rides were Space Mountain, Jungle Cruise and at a push, The many adventure of Winnie the Pooh. Investment has come with an outer ring basically built on the left side of the park with it starting at Grizzly Bear Mountain Railroad, into Mystic Point, Toy Story Land and finally Frozen Land. The right side of the park hasn't been left behind though with the removal of Autopia in favour of the Ironman Experience, Buzz lightyear re-themed to Ant-man and a rumoured Tower of Terror ride themed to Spiderman. 
 
I will say this, it is most definitely a one day park, maybe even a half day. The queues here are minimal (which is refreshing for a Disney park) and a lot of the rides are basically filler (again, quite refreshing). The longest waits are for the Duffy and Friends characters near the park entrances. If you aren't interested in queuing an hour to meet Lina-Bell, you have a problem. 
 
Grizzly Bear Mountain is the parks Big Thunder Mountain equivalent and It's a really good family coaster, it lacks the jank of thunder Mountain and its backwards section is pretty weak but the rest of the ride is great. The bears are used for comedy, one rubbing its bum on a points changer, another two setting of the dynamite in the mountains. The launch is pretty powerful and there's great forces on the turns through the valleys of the mountain.
 
Mystic Manor was closed. This absolutely sucked. 
 
Toy Story land is exactly the same as Paris's, just slightly bigger. 
 
Jungle Cruise is excellent. When we went you could wait for either mandarin or english skippers. Because the English was done in slightly broken English, it made it an absolutely hilarious time. The skippers were so fun and over the top. The finale is sublime and puts this as the best Jungle Cruise in the Disney parks. 
 
Frozen Land was fine. It still pains me that this Frozen Ever After is the big new hope for Disneyland Paris when at its heart, it's a very mid fantasyland reject and isn't really good enough. The Disney Sea equivalent is far superior. Onkens sleds is fine if a bit basic. Its best bit is the lift hilll animatronic. The rest of it is junior rollercoaster fluff.
 
Small World is the best of the five and was in good condition. All figures and effects are working.
 
Hyperspace Mountain is the same as the Disneyland version and is pretty fun if unremarkable. Its permanently hyperspace mountain so does need a proper refurbishment.
 
Antman and the Wasp is dull. All the sets are just grey and brown as you are shrunk down to destroy micro-chips. This leaves you with a very bland experience. Iron Man experience is pretty good, a more modern version of Star Tours. I personally.. prefer star Tours as it feels more mechanical and less fluid. However there's no denying it is a fun and unique experience.
 
When we went there was no parades or special entertainment as the trip was during the parks off-season. The only offering was the fireworks display at the end of the night, called Momentous which was fantastic and a beautiful display. I was pretty emotional towards the end.

Needed new part, took a while to arrive. Just the way these things go sometimes. 

I did a Hyperia coaster climb this evening.
 
There was some chatter when it was made live about the cost being expensive (£120). It is, no beating around the bush. But it is worth it. My experience was about 3hrs all in, and included lots of time spent scaling the ride, time spent in the console and time spent around the turnaround outside the station, with lots of opportunities for photos, fabulous hosts and a great vibe. 
 
Find attached a variety of photos (of me). I'll write a proper TPM article later.