AstroDan

I have no issue with wanting families back - in fact, many people posting on here and other forums were saying 10 years ago that they were concerned about the OTT thrill focus at the place... But it isn't like they have actually added any quality family rides in the past few years. They are just basic or cheap additions. I get the impression many have been quite last minute. The fact this won't open until the end of March, rather than opening day, shows that it is indeed last minute.

Does this really fit Thorpe Park? If you had been told 10 years ago that by 2012, the parks direction would have been so badly messed up that they ended up adding low cost, last-minute re-themes and maze attractions to TV shows and mobile phone games - what would you have said then? It smacks of a lack of direction and a clueless management who seem not to care about any sort of fluidity to the park - throwing in random attractions here, there and everywhere. Whilst I have nothing against the idea of a jungle themed walkthrough per-se, the IP itself makes me cringe a little - it's really cheapening the overall Thorpe Park brand which ultimately is one of the most expensive days out in the country. The throughput will be awful, it will probably have no relevance in 3 years time and, unlike what was going on 10-15 years ago Thorpe Park, the vast majority of attractions added since Stealth have been appalling. Check out the list below and consider which you would consider 'highlight' and 'top' attractions of the park... 2007: Flying Fish re-opened, appallingly themed and presented. 2008: Time Voyagers. Ermmm... since removed. Short termism. 2009: Saw. Fair enough. 2010: Saw Alive - a complete flop. Closed most of the time. 2011: Storm Surge - the less said the better. Leaks half the time. 2012: The Swarm - good addition but ultimately failed to get the guests in 2013: Cheap hotel. Looks awful. X refurb - improvement. Swarm backwards, hmm... 2014: Angry Birds land... 2015: I'm a celeb Now, in my eyes - 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2015 have been largely rubbish. The best thing out of all of those years is probably the refurbishment of X... May 2016 be AMAZING!

The days when Thorpe Park added high quality additions on smaller/medium years is clearly over. With 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014 all being pretty low-quality investments, I don't really have much hope for anything worthwhile here. I haven't posted on this forum for a while because, well, quite frankly, Thorpe park just seemed to have dried up of direction or ideas and only do anything worth discussing once every 4 years!

To my knowledge, the ride has 7 trains and it is indeed 12 per train, with a rolling loading station.

I couldn't be LESS interested in this wretched development. The only thing that is of vague note is the shark entrance. The rest of it truly stinks and I have absolutely no plans to ever stay there. Certainly not for the approx. £40 per person charge based on the annual pass rate for weekends when I would look to be visiting in June. This, ladies and gentlemen, is what Thorpe Park are using in order to term themselves a resort. Why do people even settle for this rubbish? It's about as basic as they could possibly get away with. The idea of spending a night in the bar 360 with their limited menu grates me even further. I am well travelled across theme parks and I have to say I have never seen a more butt-ugly theme park hotel.

Warning: Your hand will ache by the end of Maus au Chocolat's 32nd screen.

I find it odd that Thorpe are promoting annual passes for only £48. Are they desperate or something? I am not saying it's a bad thing necessarily, but when Alton Towers are charging £120, Chessington £67 and LEGOLAND £99... considering each charge similar for 1-day admission, the difference in AP prices between Thorpe and Alton is staggering. £48 is really bargain basement.

Looks bland. I've done Swarm, Raptor and GateKeeper and this isn't bring anything new to the table at all. Not to mention the complete lack of proper near misses built for the ride. Raptor is brilliant at landscaping and near misses - it's a shame that Merlin are gradually making less and less of them with every Wing Rider they build. I hope Alton Towers never gets one.

The new extended queueline I thought was fine. It looks far better than temporary fencing and is actually far less claustrophobic than the main queue. It also means that they can fill the new extended part of the queue from 9am, for those wishing to ride first thing - even if it's not open. As it was, The Smiler opened at 9:45am on Sunday, which was 15 minutes early.

I thought the AP day yesterday was good, compared to my previous AP day experiences a few years ago! Apart from Slammer and Samurai being closed all day, I did lots. They eventually brought 2 trains out onto Swarm and Nemesis Inferno, although I still don't understand why Thorpe doesn't OPEN rides on two trains... Swarm had quite the queue in the morning considering the fact there were only around 6,000 guests in the park. Stealth being on one train was not good either, as the queue was consistently around 30 minutes. But other than that, enjoyed it.

The recent history of U turns (ride closures, closing times, temporary food outlet closures), brash sponsorship decisions (Fanta on Oblivion), repetitive delays to The Smiler and subsequent build quality problems, unrealistic marketing for coasters such as Th13teen, scaffolding tunnels under Rita... Don't get me wrong, I love Alton Towers but I really don't think the park is in anywhere near the same league as Europa-Park - apart from physical rollercoaster hardware in some aspects.

I am sure the standard lodges will be cheaper than hotel rooms, when filled and based on a per person pricing basis. The treehouses, however, I expect to be significantly more expensive.

There's one difference... Europa-Park is generally a very respected park. Alton Towers, with their track record, is far less so That said, it's a big shame that the ride has been delayed - I would image it'll open either by Easter weekend or sometime in May. At last we're not looking at a Chiapas style delay!!!

I was under the impression that the entire mountain was going to be rebuilt... They did a great job on Mammut at Gardaland... Bah.

Oblivion was removed from ERT for most of last season, but occasionally opened. As it was, Nemesis was the only thrill ride available for most of the year... Great to see Oblivion back on. Can nip on that at the start of the day and then join the throng for The Smiler! Hopefully they will still be employing the "entrance" for ERT next to Battle Galleons - I felt this worked much better than the awkward 'show your pass' procedure that was in place during 2012, anyway...!

Perhaps now is the moment we refer all correspondence and news reporting on the lovely little Alton Towers animals from TowersStreet to Maniahub. Personally, I am more than happy if we can thrash out the finances.

It's not so much the Scarefest hours. It's the fact they persist with closing at 5 or 5.30pm even when it's still quite busy at those times.

Nothing like a lower throughput!

It's a shame that Thorpe Park beat Phantasialand to these rights. Originally, I am aware that there was a high stakes, big money battle between the two theme parks to secure the rights to Angry Birds for 2014. Phantasialand in the end lost the battle, and instead went for Chiapas (which admittedly, was meant to open in 2013). Thorpe Park however managed to secure the rights, and get the dodgems, 4D re-theme and drop tower re-theme! Phantasialand management are said to be truly, under rug swept.

Oh god.

Alton Towers' opening hours, that perennial sore point. Since 2011, Alton Towers' opening hours have gradually been squeezed, with 7pm closes in August cut back to 6pm, and even fairly busy days remaining at 5 or 5.30pm through the season. To be honest, 5pm during term time weekdays is usually perfectly adequate (aside from school trip season), but it continues to perplex me how little they will adapt the hours on, for example, a Saturday. Typically, the park may welcome 5 to 6,000 guests on a quiet weekday earlier in the season, and they will close at 5pm. Yet the Saturday may get double the guests - but it remains at 5pm. Alton Towers should introduce blanket 6pm closes on Saturday and school holidays (at the earliest), 5.30pm on Sunday and 5pm on school term time weekdays. Then, Scarefest is obviously 9pm. There were times last year when the park closed at 5pm and The Flume still had a 30-45 minute queue... the queues to get out were horrendous and Towers Street was still packed at 6 or 6.30pm because people didn't want to leave, but were being forced out. Hopefully, as we saw in 2010, 2014 will be a bumper year and they will have the cash to extend more.

I feel that Alton Towers ride line up is improved with this removal. The park doesn't really have any offensively painful rides now.

The ride was appalling. It didn't all work and hadn't been run on both sides for years. The restraints were awful. The noises it made were alarming. That said... This now means Alton Towers have removed two inverting rides for heights of 1.2m+ since 2008 (Corkscrew and Submission). The only upside down ride for those under 1.4m now is Enterprise. I feel as though there's a hole emerging in the market within the park. Firstly, I now firmly believe they should lower the height restriction on Nemesis: Sub Terra to 1.2m, as it should be - but retain the "PG" rating at the entrance so as to warn prospective riders that it's quite dark and sinister in theme. I also think that Enterprise should now run with 2 staff. The park lacks flat rides as it is, so hopefully it's in the pipeline. But I cannot see this being replaced until at least 2016.

Just in case anyone thought they'd built that indoor queueline for this ride, they haven't. That was the queue for the parks (really good!) log flume, which was removed for construction of this ride...

They're good rides. The one at Coney Island was a lot of fun!