daboywunda

Probably why they should take stock of what they have already... IAC was always on its way out, Loggers won't return regardless to what theory can be put forward and so they now need to focus on what they have that works well to fix that, rather than concentrating on upkeep of outgoing end-of-life attractions.

The issue that Thorpe have is that they had their fingers burnt with DBGT.. Spent a LOT of money on something that didn't return investment. The same argument could be said about The Swarm - a lot of money for little return in business terms. (Swarm is my fav coaster at Thorpe by the way). So, launching a big attraction off the back of these before getting the park in a state that it's ready for it is a bad move and wouldn't secure the capital for it. This isn't a Field Of Dreams "Build it and they will come" situation - They have to make people want to stay by focusing on their offering. No point attracting people to the park if the offering when they are there isn't good. Thorpe have a lot of work to do to discover who they are again, reassess their strategy, decide new plans etc. That's why I think this year will be the year of stripping out the dead wood and ramping up preparations for their next investment. I'd also expect Alton to be ramping up SW9 for a potential 2021 launch, so they'll probably want to work around that.. In other words, I wouldn't hold out much hope for anything coaster related at Thorpe until 2022 - allowing for this year to be a write-off (in new attraction terms), not enough time to plan for next year while analysing this year's success and Alton taking the light in 2021..

It's a woman I believe. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd expect there would be an element of holding back while they take stock of everything and decide a way forward. It seems that this year there is a focus on what they have now rather than something new and shiny - as evident in the Winter updates where they make a big deal about uncovering the old theming on Colossus, the new grass and some changes to Nemesis Inferno. Ultimately though, I expect that Magic Making would be involved in the process of any planned new attraction. Would be interesting to see whether Magic Making would press on regardless or whether they'd wait to see where the land lay first. Either way, I think this may be a quiet season for developments as much as I'd love to see surprise planning permission for a major investment..

Hardly nonsense.. It's business sense.. Every business will consider an ROI on every decision they make. It's just whether that business deems "customer experience" an investment worth investing in if something else will generate bigger returns.. Of course, every business gets to a point of having to take stock and re-focus before moving into the next investment..

I'd love to see a Lech-style Vekoma coaster at Thorpe. It's pretty compact, fast and from reports is smooth.. That would fit quite nicely if we aren't going to see an RMC or GCI...

Don't hold your breath for anything new in 2019... I think this might be a regroup and reconsider year - Events and licks of paint. Expect focus to be on presentation and operations rather than new and shiny. They'll be focusing on getting it right for the visitors they currently have before trying to attract new ones.

Probably safe to say that with the success of the events over this year and it being a potentially low cap-ex year, we will see some form of refit to allow better events.. such as Neptune's Beach (most likely) or Old Town (least likely). Thorpe are probably holding onto the Old Town area for the next high cap-ex cycle but I think there are other plans a-foot first. It'd be nice to see the rumoured re-configuration of the entrance area to include shops, restaurants, "Second Gates" like SeaLife, Dungeons etc that can be open all year round (that also supports the hotel too), but I doubt we will see that.. I think there's a lot of excitement brewing about "Project 2020" or "ProjectZero", but I can't see any signs in any of the financial reports that can verify this sort of spend. I think fingers have been burnt with DBGT and Swarm.. Remember that in an interview Nick Varney said that unless there is a 20% return on investment it doesn't get built... I think Swarm and DBGT have some way to hit that point. Until then, I doubt funds would be released.. So, for now, I think a focus on entertainment and retail offerings will be in the pipeline before any significant investment..

Just an opinion... Hotel expansions across the whole Park Portfolio also opens up different customers who may not be going for the Parks.. Suddenly you have business customers who want unique conference facilities and packages, you have passer-by trade (I've used the Thorpe Shark hotel when working down that way in a previous job) etc as well as an expanded park visitor capacity too... Some people criticise the likes of Alton for closing Splash Landings because of expense but still building more rooms / hotels / accommodation when they haven't actually seen that at peak the accommodation offering is not enough to keep up with demand and so the investment in additional rooms brings more money in at peak season than they lose by closing hotels off-peak. It's a really clever business decision as this means that they can diversify the customers they have beyond theme park goers, meaning that theme park expansion investment doesn't have to keep pace with hotel expansions... Some people seem to have the wrong idea that the park should expand at the same rate as the hotels without looking into the business model behind it.. They think that the phrase "build up a resort profile" means adding a tonne of rides and attractions in addition to hotel rooms when in reality it's about balancing the offer.

It's very possible that Thorpe themselves haven't confirmed their offering yet.. We'd have seen stuff LONG before this point this time last year, surely? And if it's the case that they haven't finalised it yet, then it looks increasingly unlikely that anything that requires a sophisticated build will make an appearance this year. I think the only thing that is safe is The Walking Dead Maze in some iteration.. Have they started recruiting yet, do we know?

I just wouldn't hold your breath... That's all...

I have a feeling that Big Top won't be coming back this year. There seems to be no activity around building it, Neptune's Beach is being used for Love Island (Even though BT was relocated last year) and the general consensus seems to be that it may have run its course and rather than refresh it badly, it's time to introduce something else..

Just having a think on this one.. Could this possibly be the "last horah" for X? I mean, it's billed as a YEAR of walking dead... so what happens next year? Will they continue to have a disjointed Walking Dead Ride or does it return back to X? Or..... Does it pave the way for X Removal and redevelopment of that and Slammer's site?

If the M25 is kind, I'm 17 mins away now...

I genuinely don't remember.. but if I had to guess I'd say it was either Rush or Stealth (my first year was Stealth's opening, so I think Stealth)

Based on the generic pattern of coaster builds throughout Europe, it might be a safe bet to say that a Woodie could be heading to Thorpe in the future based on mapping out what was where over the last few years: Saw at Thorpe, Smiler at Alton (probably a bit of a tenuous link) Raptor at Garaland then Swarm at Thorpe Krake at Heide then Oblivion Black Hole at Garda Wickerman at Alton......... Heide already has a Woodie, Chessie and LEGOLAND wouldn't market one, Garda isn't due a new coaster yet...

I was on a roll-back in 2007 (I think) and it's a strange experience.. It's not as fast or forceful as you may think (you'd think it would be like the drop on Oblivion, but it really isn't).. I remember sitting on the launch for ages though.. The wind was howling and it was raining... Not a nice place to be up there lol

...Or Storm Force 10 at Drayton Manor. Vile

If the dodgems were replacing an existing building or being situated inside a new building, wouldn't we have seen a planning application by now? Does this suggest that they will be kitting it out inside an existing building where planning permission wouldn't need to be granted? But looking at the above... I just can't see where it would go..

I'm seriously contemplating the VIP pass - purely for the unlimited fast-track everywhere I go! That alone is worth a fortune! Imagine being at Alton with Smiler's queue at 4 hours, Nemesis at 2, Air at 2 etc.... Now imagine that the £500 you stumped up is suddenly worth it in that one trip alone. Plus, I'm planning on travelling a few times over the year, so Gardaland and Heide Park suddenly become accessible.

A theme park on a flat runway as opposed to a flat quarry? Novel idea..

I thought that the whole 205ft restriction was only for Stealth and that Thorpe had no intention of exceeding this any-way as it's their signature ride? (Although, they DID categorically deny that The Swarm would be turned backwards) Also, if Boris Island gets the go ahead, Heathrow will close and become an urban district, not an airport.... So, who know's what will happen then... The other thing to consider is the space that's available to Thorpe... I was under the impression that the flooding of the farm was the last thing they were able to do to obtain new land and after that, they are out...

Sign me up - date depending...

Haven't Thorpe confirmed that the 2015 coaster is actually going to be 2016 now?

If Ministry is anything to go by, you won't have any problems picking up your tickets - they're pretty quick. They CAN be picked up at any time during the day too. As for the queues.. Again... Using Ministry as the example - the first one this year, Swarm was walk on ALL EVENING even though it was on 1 train operation. As was Stealth and the other rides, yet that had about 1000 people there.Although, it was pretty cold so take it with a pinch of salt. For the Ministry in September last year, the max queue was 20 mins for Stealth.

Errrm... Am I the only one that thinks this advert is a bit Drayton Manor? In the sense that it looks like an advert made on the cheap by a park that doesn't have a huge marketing budget... For the sake of having an advert.