OlivusPrime

Looks like something out of Nara Dreamland, not a top-end, currently-operating theme park...

Looks like something out of Nara Dreamland, not a top-end, currently-operating theme park...

Visited Towers today (or rather, yesterday... darn this need to work overnight...) on a rather enjoyable "research trip" for my dissertation.
 
Nemesis continues to look better with each lick of paint, but looking at last year's side suddenly made me realise - a lot of wear and tear happens within a year, and I'm now wary about how much the final year's worth of paint on the alien will contrast to the side that was repainted first, which will then be 3 years old. I also feel like clearing all of the overgrowing vegetation in the ravine would make a huge difference to the ride's appearance, but I assume that this isn't a likelihood as it probably "makes it look natural".
 
Regarding Hex, the changes are mostly good and will be excellent with some tweaks. The new lighting in the queue provides a nice transition between the daylight and the darkness of the preshows, and the sound in the preshows is now nice and loud (though so loud that it can be heard in the courtyard next door!). My only complaint would be in the Octagon, where the main lights don't fully turn off until the entire room's power cuts out, meaning that the room is still pretty bright when the equipment is malfunctioning, somewhat dampening the tone. The new smell does smell strongly of Listerine at first, but it grew on me. More than anything, it's nice to have the ride back!
 
With Duel, the lighting is worse than it's ever been, so I can completely understand and respect their decision to TLC it this winter, though I do pray that we don't end up with another 2016 Tomb Blaster.
 
I also really realised this time how much the park needs to bolster its supporting rides lineup. Over the past few years, we've seen its water rides, dark rides and large flat rides cut down by half each (Flume, Sub-Terra and Charlie, and Ripsaw, Toadstool and Submission closed/removed respectively), meaning there's very few major all-ages rides to do aside from roller coasters. If I were in charge, I'd include a flume and Charlie retool/heavy rework in whatever they plan to do with Cloud Cuckoo Land (fat chance, I know), reopen Sub-Terra and Toadstool to fill up their respective areas a little more (even if both are only temporary), and put a couple of new flat rides in, perhaps one in X-Sector and one in Dark Forest. 
 
EDIT: Forgot to mention that I saw two people carrying a wooden bench out of Sub-Terra, so I'm assuming it's just being used for storage at the moment.

Doesnt mean it has to be a bad ride, yes. But it is done purely for commercial reasons and is basically a business-led project rather than anything creative-led, so the process is quite different and very different priorities in what gets produced.
 
I dont think you see how an IP completely changes the design process then, and that the IP owner becomes the design client, the design team essentially have to strictly stay within their representation all design is done to appease the client. The majority creative process is gone and it becomes a case of just fulfilling the existing brand as accurately as possible, by contract.

It is a commercial cop out in every sense of the word. It makes more business sense, for a company that'd care only about profit intake, to pick whichever IPs are available and then get their revolving door of design teams to produce it as automatically as possible. The entire ride also then depends on the success & characteristics of a completely separate entity. It waters down the entire attraction design industry, which pretty much doesn't exist in the UK anymore, as just churning out franchises for other industries in a very mechanical way.

It's an entirely different process to the design that goes into an original concept. The Gruffalo is much of a nicer IP because it has freedom to play with, and theyve worked nice touches into it, but its still so limited compared to what's possible with an original concept. Merlin don't seem to do original concepts very well though, and the company approaches design very formulaically, so of course they'd prefer IPs - it suits their business structure better. Unfortunately.
 
I dont think anyone misses the ridiculous "soap factory" theme over this. To this day that the "soap factory" idea actually happened amuses me no end. Remember the soap factory idea was done purely to satisfy the sponsor in exactly the same way, except much much worse and no budget, at the cost of all the ride's fun. It was never done by design, it was done out of business only.

Professor Fart's Stock Exchange confirmed

Wake up to that? I'll pass thanks.
 

(For me, at least) it's less about nostalgia and more about a ride's identity as a piece of work. Like I said, I wouldn't not change John Williams' Star Wars score out of nostalgia, but rather out of acknowledgment that it's one of the collaborative elements that makes the work what it is.
 
 
Hey, it's early in the season, making assumptions is why we're here!

It's really a shame, I'm reading "Theme Park Design and the Art of Themed Entertainment" at the moment for my dissertation (really fantastic book - would firmly recommend to any enthusiast), and every mention of Chessington's "theme" regards the "Wild Adventure" brand they've got going on, with no mention of the park's dramatic origins. Such horrendous management for the park to have nosedived in critical eyes like this.
 
Considering the worldwide respect for both, I'm relieved for the refurbishments to Hex and Nemesis, but equally bitter that such attention isn't being paid elsewhere.

While I think area themes can be treated slightly differently, I think music themes for individual rides are much like movie compositions, in that they shouldn't be permanently removed/replaced. Sure, shuffle it around for special events and overlays, and maybe even create remixes/rerecordings of the original music, but a music theme that has been associated with a ride since its inception shouldn't be replaced simply to make the park seem more robotically homogeneous.

Things can always be improved upon but homogenising the park's music to entirely IMA score (which is just a company favoured by parks, not some kind of musical divinity that instantly improves everything they touch, like they are often treated) will start to really deconstruct the rides' identity. Whose to say the soundtracks didn't have an enormous amount of effort put into them in the first place?
 
The entrance theme previously used was well known but suited an older version of the area, and didn't nearly gel as well. So I can easily see why music was replaced there.
 
Nemesis Inferno however, which actually has a very surprisngly well written theme, really sonically good, unique and a big part of the ride's identity  - the idea that you can just "upgrade" it with the latest flavour of the day is something that has happened time and again with parks, it doesn't work. That just fiddles around with the ride's identity. Crispin Merrel (who also did Hex) wrote the Inferno music, and with its original sound system and set up, it sounded ace. No need to change it.
 
It would be throwing away something special for the sake of the latest theme park fad. It needs a new sound system, not more easy money for IMAscore and their popular 'brand' of soundtrack.
 
You just know IMA score would produce overblown swelling orchestral stabs and with no melody, stick some jungly sounds on it and amplify it to sound flash on YouTube. Because that's what theyre good at and always askd to do by UK parks for some reason. Do we really want the whole park to sound like that?
 
If theyre going to change the music, change the whole ride theme too.

Don't worry about Slammer lads, the new mini drop tower coming soon to Old Town will fulfil your freefall needs.
 
In seriousness - would doubt they are about to scrap the thing due to A. being on the freshly printed park maps and B. the amount of money they have spent on it already - meaning it had a very successful 2016. It was probably available for longer over the season than DBGT

I don't think anyone would mind if Storm Surge was replaced by an actual turd...

I think most wouldn't have minded if this had replaced Storm Surge instead.

I think most wouldn't have minded if this had replaced Storm Surge instead.

Imagine a theme park that didn't have run down theming with the excuse that its meant to be old/abandoned...
 
What magical places those must be...

What on earth are they thinking?! It looks so out of place there, but would look completely natural next to fish, or tidal, or rumba, or pretty much anywhere else really. Are we supposed to see the word timber in the name and suddenly think it's a good match for the area, despite what our eyes tell us? 
 
With that wagon sitting there it's a nice bit of contrast where previously something as small as  place to sit was worth theming well, to today where it's fine not to bother with theming on a whole ride. Well done everyone.

https://www.thorpeparkmania.co.uk/news/18-03-2017/2017+Friends+and+Family+Day
 
full round up from the day!

Having only managed to try it just once today thanks to some monstrous queues in the whole park, I have some mixed opinions on the whole attraction, but overall really enjoyed it. There are some parts which I really enjoyed and liked which worked very effectively, but at the same time, it felt like parts of the attraction were left unfinished and empty.
 
First impressions of the outdoor queue were average with a new coloured buildings and new music (which did turn out to be the music posted the other day from the 2009 animated film) and thankfully no more of that ghastly exterior music used before. Whilst there were no issues with this or with the moved entrance, once again like every single new attractions that is built now, there MUST be a green screen photo opportunity to upsell you on which has now been placed just before you go inside. Hardly surprised, but didn't appreciate this after waiting in line for 70 minutes and with Fastrack in full operation congesting the main queue.
 
Ignoring that, the station area was quite nice and simple with what looks to be 2D drawings of the characters against the walls. Now I understand some have criticised this and have said it's cheaply done, to which I wholeheartedly agree with. But I got the impression that the build-up to the ride was supposed to be referring to the book instead of the animated film and once inside, it all comes to life with 3D characters. So I'm not that fussed about the station - It's simple, has better roofing and feels fresh again, plus it is a lot darker than when it was Bubbleworks which is a big noticeable difference for the whole attraction.
 
Now onto the ride, this is where things begin to get mixed. Unlike Bubbleworks where everything was on a loop with no synchronised scenes to reflect the positioning of your boat, almost the entire ride up until the drop was timed so that when you enter each room, a voice read out passages from the book where some of them were shined onto the wall such as "A little brown mouse walked through the woods" as soon as you enter the first darkened room. This helped make the experience feel more complete and enjoyable and the mix of storytelling with the scenes was very well done.
 
One of the biggest and most noticeable differences with it is how much darker and dimly lit all of the scenes are this time. Bubbleworks during its final years was almost entirely lit up which made everything easily visible. But this time, only the scenery and characters are lit with filtered lighting which draws your attention to them and not the surrounding enclosed walls. The lighting was very effective and is far better than what we had before.
 
However, there were some scenes where there were blank walls with absolutely no theming or details whatsoever and this really aggravated me. At least with Bubbleworks you got a printed pattern or painting to look at, but this time, they are plain, white and ordinary. For instance when leaving the station down the ramp, that small room where the professor previously sat at his desk is now completely blank with white walls everywhere and no theming was added to the flooring either. All that happened was a projector shined on the wall with an animation of the mouse walking, with the words from the author read out. Not the best first impression of the ride, but after that, it gets a lot better.
 
One thing that did surprise me greatly was the sheer size of the characters through various scenes. The 2nd room where Mouse encounters Fox for instance was simply enormous and was very close to you when you passed by! Same for Owl and definitely the Gruffalo.
 
There were some thematic elements which involved the use of projectors and TV screens of the characters through these small windows, primarily from the animated film. Whilst I didn't necessarily have an issue with this, my worry is will they be maintained on a frequent basis to stop them from breaking or going wrong? If the park can do this then that's great, but if it ends up like Smiler's queue line where the projectors over time became dimmer, unaligned and frankly broken, the effect will become useless. The fact some scenes are almost entirely dependant on this has me concerned slightly.
 
Something else that I couldn't help but notice is with the entire attraction being much darker inside than previously, it became quite hard to distinguish the walls and the whole thing felt smaller inside. So much so that I'd go as far to say slightly claustrophobic due to the close proximity of the characters with the boats. It didn't bother me at all, but thought it's something interesting to note.
 
As for the drop and finale, this is now where your on-ride photo is now taken. Just before you reach the bottom, the Gruffalo appears above you with moving orange eyes and a flash, blinding you, takes your photo.
 
Inside the finale, there are still SOME of the overhead fountains present, but only the ones where you are either entering or leaving the room, not in the centre where there is now a massive tree overshadowing you as you pass under with Owl looking down at you. The centre piece where the bathtub used to be confused me. From what I gathered, it looked like Fox's tail trying to run scared because of the Gruffalo, but maybe I'm wrong. In full, the finale still has plenty of lighting effects used in different colours with some of the fountains working and it is a much better room than what was there before. The best way I can explain is try not to think of this room as a finale anymore; just as the penultimate scene to the ride instead following what the book says.
 
Lastly, the corner where after you just leave the fountain room is where the story finishes and Mouse is sitting on a log with his acorn, and you pass through a mist of air with a projection on it of what I believe is an animation of 'Gruffalo Crumble', as well as a vertical screen of the Gruffalo running away from the mouse, just like in the book and film before coming back into the station again. Nothing too dramatic, but a nice way to end the ride.
 
So whilst there were some really good elements such as the lighting, atmosphere, story telling and effects, the big issue I have is with the longevity and lack of substance in some areas I've seen. The fact they have ripped out some areas and simply replaced it with white walls which are used only to project sentences from the book, along with some drawings really annoys me greatly because they could have used a lot of that space to add theming elements such as trees and bushes to fit in with the theme a bit better. You know, like the promo art suggests? That coupled with characters that hardly move at all in this attraction and are static, non-animatronics irritated me slightly too.
 
But besides from that, this overall I would say is a far needed and I believe welcomed addition to the park. It's not perfect in anyway and there are some potential flaws with the design I can see with broken effects and lacklustre scenes, but all in all, I enjoyed this far more than what Bubbleworks was in it's final last years from 2010 onwards and I conclude this is a worthwhile investment made. Despite it appealing to the younger audience, it clearly still has a place for families and older members.
 
All I can advise is get on it as soon as you can whilst everything is currently working to experience it properly!
 
Bubbleworks (1990-2005): 8/10
Imperial Leather Bubbleworks (2006-2016): 4/10
Gruffalo River Ride Adventure : 7/10
 

(On-ride photo for those interested. I apologise. I can never seem to get a normal on-ride photo with my family for some reason... )

I kind of like the new muted colour scheme for Rumba (similar to what I imagine Thunder River looked like), it just needs more props to make it visually interesting!

No I'm not dear, I didnt even agree with your previous swathe of negativity on here (apart from the music being dull), which you've now so easily changed your tune from some pictures & videos. This is how I expected the ride to look and it looks just like a good, decent kiddie grotto. But nothing more really. I'm not being cynical, I'm being objective.

Lights on the stairs is a very standard modern feature of attractions these days, and should have been done for BubbleWorks. Foliage on the ceiling and vinyl walls/flats, gobos on the floor is all very standard to. Nothing wrong with it at all, it's simply average and not pushing the boat out - because this is your standard commercial IP job.

Same with the music and audio throughout, and all its scenes & animations. The only truly nice touch I believe is the mouse on its tail animation and the waterfall effect - nice touches.

The previous Bubbleworks  from last year is irrelevent since the park management made sure to keep it looking trash, broken and terribly lit for comparison's sake - which obviously works when you have fans putting up two photos together and basing their opinions off that. If we want to play the photo game, how about this beauitful lively set:
 


Flat white walls where used to be 5 big, different animations.

Or the whole ride plastered with vinyl prints


Even better, a room of nothing but a white projection screen.
 


My point is, the comparison photo game is arbitrary and meaningless. Judge by how much it entertains you in person, not by comparison or by photos.

Its because it costs less to do 'abandoned', both in maintenance and in sourcing materials for it. Just paint the existing 'warehouse', clad with scrap materials easily sourced, then leave it. People think it looks cool, even though it doesnt really entertain or provoke any excitement, and then you realise the entire park now looks like that and is a miserable place. Shame they insist on using it absolutely everywhere.
 
One of my favourite real-life places is a huge abandoned factory in the woods near some family relatives of mine, incredible detailed surreal place. Amazing vaults and creepy corridors. If they went for THAT kind of "abandoned" it would be amazing. But they go for steel rectangular boxes painted dirty instead.

Whatever they do with HEX, I just hope they've left the music alone! 

Not sure if that's especially true, and I think that's the problem behind many of these recent changes. I never went on the original Vampire but even the watered post-refurbishment station was enough to capture my imagination at a young age and influence me to follow theme parks much more closely, and that's likely because 1. I didn't know any better, and 2. the original elements that remain still shine through in how high-quality they are.
 
Keep just enough of the original, inspiring features for the attraction to still feel above-ordinary, and cost-cut the rest. As long as there's an organist still sitting in the Vampire station and the music plays, nobody will care that the brilliant extras are being trashed or thrown out.

You compare Merlin to Universal and Disney, two other even bigger, more corporate and marketing led multinational companies.

My post was nothing to do with stopping people being excited. I don't know why people have taken it personally, if you want to believe in Thorpe's latest video designed to make you excited of course you can. I'm not trying to be negative.

Maybe people could let me express my perspective as well about how misleading and false this kind of advertising is. Disney's and Universal's is even more brainwashing if anything, except they create much better quality attractions regardless. (not commenting on how recently Disney is also going down the globalised IP route recently... sad to see)

If you are confused by criticisms of Merlin then I recommend going to work for them or learn about how the company works. It's not a coincidence their parks are run by such a big company yet are so poorly maintained, poorly developed with 4-year lifespan commercial attractions (dressed up as "cutting edge" and "world first" all the time to blind people to their mediocre entertainment factor), and their staff/resources so underfunded. You compare it to Tussauds, it's well known that Tussauds was butchered in the 2000s exactly the same way that Merlin now is - by poor managements taking over, short term profit policies introduced and corporate shareholders taking over who don't care for anything but numbers and expansion.
 
The Tussauds before this, however, was a totally different company that gave us amazing attractions, best known being Nemesis and Alton Towers in the 90s, old Chessington (when it was fantastic fun), and the beginnings of Thorpe Park as a thrill park.

Ugh, why do they have to go and slap the station music on everything? That piece is meant for a big sound hall, not tinny queue line speakers. 
 
Audio creativity has slipped quite a bit at Chessington recently...