MattyMoo

My money's on 2025 now, which will mean - finally - 2024 will see the new IP with the "Stath Lets Flats" area taking over Angry Birds land, with the long rumoured 2nd Detonator tower being installed, a record breaking 5 Frog Hoppers, a Miami, and Ramases Revenge being installed inside the 4D Cinema (it's currently in storage in one of the Shark Cabins).

Not the tip - it'll end up in the TPWW woRlD oF TheMEpArkS (version 2)

This would never happen this way. You'd bring him to a pub, you THINK you offered him a drink but in fact you've just signed over your house, life savings and cat to him and you'd be none the wiser.

This would never happen this way. You'd bring him to a pub, you THINK you offered him a drink but in fact you've just signed over your house, life savings and cat to him and you'd be none the wiser.

This would never happen this way. You'd bring him to a pub, you THINK you offered him a drink but in fact you've just signed over your house, life savings and cat to him and you'd be none the wiser.

Yep - I think the
 
Yep - Black Mirror doesn't exactly get massive queues considering it was new for 2021... and is a very slow throughput attraction. Was a good bit of fun when I did it earlier this year - mainly due to the actors - but it screams temporary and filler to me.
 
Do we just anticipate absolutely nothing "new" for 2023? Not that a playground and relocated Frog Hopper is much to write home about for 2022, but still. Maybe new for 2023 is the Tidal fire effect?
 
100% agree with Josh - there's literally nothing to stop them clearing the area now and prepare for construction - even without planning permission and get ready. I mean, yes, pausing things means they haven't got to build a bridge to get to Creak Freak and will save a few quid, but come on - there's no way that's the reason for re-opening Old Town for access to a maze in the grand scheme of things of a project of this size...

Soz for double post - but this 100%. Samurai is having it's usual dead time, but then bear in mind it's 24 years old for crying out loud. We've seen it at Alton with Hex throwing a wobbly and CWOA with Scorpion deciding to end itself - these rides do not go on for ever, and when they decide to conk out, you just shift the queues elsewhere.

That shop is HUGE too -almost as if they thought DBGTROTD was the future of theme parks 👀

With regards to the partial opening of Old Town:
The Construction Management Plan for Exodus did show the queue entrance for Creek Freak to be where Platform 15's was last year, with a bridge over the Loggers trough. The exit would then be a narrow pathway to the old train crossing by Samurai.
 
However, actual construction for Exodus was never planned to really kick off until November. There will be preliminary work that would have happened before, but the key work wasn't meant to start till November. So, technically, there is no delay
 
But with no approval in place, one has to wonder if they've paused the preliminary work. And one has to wonder why they've changed their original plan for Creek Freak's entrance. It could be purely innocent / a FN design choice, but it does raise eyebrows.
 
However, as has been mentioned, I do have concerns about delays. We still don't have approval. It's not set to be discussed in October, so it's likely that approval from the Council - if it happens - will come at November at the earliest. If that's the case, the park are up against it to stay on their original plan. And that doesn't account for any delays that could occur with groundwork, construction, getting parts delivered in a post-Brexit, Russian-war landscape. If the plan was to open this at the start of 2024, it is going to be very tight, and summer feels that bit more realistic. 
 
And yes, this doesn't even discuss the need for the park to invest in other rides and attractions too, which is a huge other discussion. 

Was saying to Josh last night - I think we are looking at Summer 2024 now - at best. If it slips to 2025, then I really don't think Thorpe can get by on just "events" for the next 2 seasons.
 
Like I've said previously - I'd be surprised too if all goes to plan with construction and clearance, bear in mind that Loggers is 30 years old, there will 100% be pipes/infrastructure etc. that won't be accounted for underground, plus throw in the fact it's surrounded by water - not ideal.

That shop is HUGE too -almost as if they thought DBGTROTD was the future of theme parks 👀

Was saying to Josh last night - I think we are looking at Summer 2024 now - at best. If it slips to 2025, then I really don't think Thorpe can get by on just "events" for the next 2 seasons.
 
Like I've said previously - I'd be surprised too if all goes to plan with construction and clearance, bear in mind that Loggers is 30 years old, there will 100% be pipes/infrastructure etc. that won't be accounted for underground, plus throw in the fact it's surrounded by water - not ideal.

It's official now innit. Bit cheeky for Merlin to phrase it like that though, implying that OMG Nemesis is closing 4 good!!111 - either the work experience social media admin did this, or it's done on purpose to get that sweet sweet footfall.
 
Also - Phalanx... return of Sub Terra confirmed? Or at least "a nod" and eAStEr EGg to Sub Terra.... 
Would be good to have another dark indoor ride back considering Hex seems to have thrown a wobbler all season.
 
 

This content will be available to SLKSTN Patreon's only, sorry.

It's official now innit. Bit cheeky for Merlin to phrase it like that though, implying that OMG Nemesis is closing 4 good!!111 - either the work experience social media admin did this, or it's done on purpose to get that sweet sweet footfall.
 
Also - Phalanx... return of Sub Terra confirmed? Or at least "a nod" and eAStEr EGg to Sub Terra.... 
Would be good to have another dark indoor ride back considering Hex seems to have thrown a wobbler all season.
 
 

It's official now innit. Bit cheeky for Merlin to phrase it like that though, implying that OMG Nemesis is closing 4 good!!111 - either the work experience social media admin did this, or it's done on purpose to get that sweet sweet footfall.
 
Also - Phalanx... return of Sub Terra confirmed? Or at least "a nod" and eAStEr EGg to Sub Terra.... 
Would be good to have another dark indoor ride back considering Hex seems to have thrown a wobbler all season.
 
 

Yes. Because you're no longer a mod the whole place is a nightmare.
 
Just wait until construction and we have daily updates from Monk's Walk showing how one pile of dirt has moved 2m.

He says "This is my Ghost Train" 👌

He says "This is my Ghost Train" 👌

He says "This is my Ghost Train" 👌

I don't understand why the audio at Thorpe is consistently a mess... is it because of a mix of systems/tech? 

Sorry to reply to a 2 month old post, but I think the illusions and Smiler graphics on the back of the trains were removed in favour of clearer safety signage following the crash. The back of the seat in front where the illusions were is certainly where the safety signage now sits, and I seem to remember that changing after the crash.

👀

Long time no see! First visit to Thorpe since 2019 yesterday, have a few thoughts about everyone's favourite ride. Anyone from here who knows me irl (That's 4 or 5 people) knows that I'm a little bit of a Ghost Train apologist, post-2016 and pre-Covid I was generally visiting the park around once a year, and have been lucky enough to avoid some of the catastrophic experiences others on here have had. Obviously, the ride has its faults but I have quite a soft spot for it. 
 
Didn't get the new opening spiel that others have mentioned here. capacity was apparently reduced yesterday so this could've been a reason for this, or it could've just been cut entirely. Probably for the best tbh.
 
The first VR section is still good. I've always enjoyed this section, creepy and fun and generally gets people screaming during the big scare moment, however, the already dated in 2016 CG animation is looking especially ropey now, the dog looks like something out of an early generation PS3 game. Luckily a lot of this section is focused on real actors, so it makes it easier to overlook imo. 
 
Middle live section now. One thing jumped out to me here, the ride staff is absolutely giving it their all. This section has been cut down massively since 2017, but yesterday's ride was the first time since then where the staff was trying a more scripted sequence as opposed to a generic scare maze section. That being said, this section is still where the story begins to fall apart a bit. In 2016 and 17 this was the introduction of the demon to the storyline after having it foreshadowed by the dialogue in the first VR section, but since 2018 this section has focused more on the infected. Unfortunately, no amount of effort on the part of the team can make up for the fact that this section makes the following VR section kind of nonsensical. A real shame.
 
Second VR section now, still the same campy fun it's been since 2017, but like the first section, it's looking pretty dated. I feel like the good grace of it being significantly better than its 2016 incarnation has well and truly worn off by now, parts of it look really goofy. There's a real tonal imbalance between the first VR section and the 2nd. The first section is genuinely quite creepy, but the second descends into pure B-Movie Schlock, this was more palatable when the middle live-action section built up the demon as the real antagonist, but without this it makes it seem like two different stories colliding with each other.
 
Onto the fake shop - sigh... This section suffers from the demon costume no longer being a thing. Massive props to the actor for trying to make the infected jump scare work, but this makes the story of the ride more disjointed than ever. The plot is as follows - First VR section centres around the infected and does some light foreshadowing of there being something else going on, cool. Middle live-action section... focuses on the infected again, right, okay then. Second VR section now introduces the demon, but this feels like such a big jump from the infected stuff that came before. Now the shop scare is.. oh. It's the infected again. What exactly was the point of the demon then?
 
Don't get me wrong, the plot has been disjointed for longer than this year alone, but the demon scare in the fake shop would kind of help with this because it's reinforcing the idea that the demon is the real antagonist, this not being the case anymore really lets the experience down.
 
All in all, I enjoyed the ride as I always tend to and while this wasn't the worst experience I've had on this ride, it certainly made the least sense. 
 
I think this ride just makes me kind of sad. I know a lot of people on here are down on VR, but it's a seriously amazing technology when done well and has evolved so much in the last few years. I fundamentally disagree with the view of some people on here that the use of VR was a bad idea from the get-go, Merlin was the wrong company to attempt a ride based around VR as their reach always exceeds their grasp with things like this. Attempting a ride like this in 2016 was also a mistake, VR has evolved massively since 2016 and the current technology clearly can’t keep up with the demands of the experience. I genuinely believe that a team who cares with a decent budget could turn this into a world-class dark ride, but as it stands it’s just a bit of a mess, what a shame.

We can only hope Spinball gets removed.
 
Maybe they can move it to Thorpe with a Top Spin?
 
Haven't entered the area since they got Octonauts so I don't particularly have much of an opinion towards it. I'll be reevaluating this in a few years mind, but I think it fits well and is definitely popular. Retheming the stuff there as well gives a bit more difference to it as well I suppose as shows come and go far more regularly. 
 
The Farm was probably slightly more universal but wasn't exactly anything special (unless you grew up with the park). Was less embarrassing for a group of adults to go round there but least the rides actually have visitors now.
 
Shrek would've been an ugly addition to the park. Merlin probably tried to do their usual cheap nonsense but when you have Universal as another option is it any surprise they'd want more?