Coaster

I visited twice last year and managed to get every haunt done both times, but that was through planning ahead and not having much time to relax. This new ticketing method is interesting, I'm not sure how it'll turn out really. Obviously "unlimited mazes" sounds much better on paper but in reality I can imagine the queues being longer and it might actually become more difficult to get everything done. Also, is this change likely to mean less people are watching the shows/seeing the live performances? I hope this isn't a way to mask a cutback to that as the overall atmosphere is what makes Tulleys so good IMO.

Colossus (5) Depth Charge (5) Detonator: Bomb's Away (5) Flying Fish (5) King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems (2) Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride (5) Nemesis Inferno (7) Quantum (6) Rocky Express (5) Rumba Rapids (5) Rush (5) Samurai (5) Saw - The Ride (5) Stealth (5) Storm in a Teacup (5) The Swarm (5) The Walking Dead - The Ride (5) Tidal Wave (5) Vortex (5) Zodiac (5) Nemesis Inferno + Dodgems -

Exactly my point! 😁 New technology produces perfected designs which can be recreated over and over but you'd never get another ride like PMBO built nowadays and you'd never get another first drop quite like that one. I have huge appreciation for rides like The Big One and (as a more extreme example) The Ultimate which aren't perfected, the random transitions and strange layouts are what makes them different!

Arrow track is so cool looking! I'm glad that The Big One is being looked after to prolong it as it is rather than getting another manufacturer to completely retrack it; I see so many people calling for it to be "RMC'd" or replaced entirely but I'd hate to see either of those things happen. The Big One is, IMO, such a special coaster. It has character, I like the unusual layout and it also still has the best first drop I've ever ridden. Everyone raves about B&M hyper coasters, I rode two in America and found them bland and unremarkable. Rides like PMBO and Magnum have something different about them - the sound of the lifthill, design of the trains, the random bumps in the track are all part of it! In my opinion, there is something special about rides from The Big One's era that modern coasters can't match.

I disagree, isn't the idea of a fan forum to discuss all aspects of a subject (in this case Thorpe) whether good or bad? Being a fan of something doesn't mean you have to defend or be positive about everything they do, IMO. If Thorpe was in a brilliant state I'd be singing their praises, but equally it's just as important to talk about the aspects that aren't good. And unfortunately, there are IMO quite a lot of those with Thorpe currently! I won't be a PR machine for the park and say that everything's wonderful, that's for brand advocates and marketeers not fans.

£9.60 for a hotdog and chips is extortionate even for a theme park. That same venue used to serve full BBQ meals for less than £8 (before discount). You can't really blame people for taking their own food when the quality of park food has decreased and the prices increased massively, IMO.

Whilst we cannot really analyse the running cost figures for Valhalla, the evidence is there to suggest it took its toll on the park. Pleasure Beach in the 90s was thriving, busy and appeared to be making money. Whilst Valhalla was a hugely popular and world-renowned ride when it opened, it also marked the start of the park's decline. Valhalla opened in 2000, in 2001 three rides went SBNO. The high running cost and poor reliability of Valhalla took its toll and combined with the introduction of wristbands it's plausible to believe that the park could have gone from profitable to losing money rapidly. You only have to look at how many rides have gone from Pleasure Beach since 2000 with no replacement to see that the park has not been in a healthy state for a long time. Whilst this can't all be attibuted to Valhalla, it was definitely after it opened that things took a turn for the worst. Also consider, between 1994 and 2000 PB invested in The Big One, Ice Blast and Valhalla. Before PMBO they were also investing pretty well. After Valhalla, it took 18 years before a new investment on the same scale was made. And the opening of this saw another coaster removed and overall park standards continue to drop. Says it all really. Original Valhalla had a constantly cold room with ice and real snow being sprayed from the ceiling, much more fire than nowadays and a multitude of other effects (tesla coil, a better steam effect to the one used now) and with it originally running more boats and therefore triggering each effect more often, it's easy to see why the running costs were high. The ride system itself is also flawed, maintenance heavy and I can imagine uses an awful lot of power. The boats smash against the concrete/metal sides of the trough all the time which can't be good for maintenance. It's also had a number of quite concerning issues, particuarly in the last few years. It's difficult (for me anyway) to watch that documentary and not be a bit sad at how bad PB let the ride get. It isn't even always the expensive things, little details like the style of lighting used or much more foilage in the ice room which has since been torn out and replaced with artificial Christmas trees. The ride has been treated so carelessly as a themed experience and it's such a shame because I genuinely believe it'd still be up there as one of the world's best dark rides if it had been looked after properly. As for whether it will ever reopen, I really don't know. Let's not forget that Pleasure Beach told us the Wild Mouse was closed for "maintenance" before tearing it down in the closed season. If Valhalla does reopen, I think it's likely to be a very cut back version compared with how it was even in 2019 (which was terrible!). Expect to see the fire replaced with timed lighting/smoke, no steam or ice, etc. Lots more dark sections. Personally I'd rather see the ride replaced than reopened in a much less impressive state. If it opens after a year's closure with the majority of effects removed, that won't go down well at all. That said, the park have promised that it will reopen in 2021 so they'd have a backlash if it didn't anyway.

Thorpe were charging £12 for a hotdog and chips when I looked in at the new place early last year, no wonder people take their own!

Amity Beach (2) Colossus (5) Depth Charge (5) Detonator: Bomb's Away (5) Flying Fish (5) King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems (5) Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride (5) Nemesis Inferno (6) Quantum (5) Rocky Express (5) Rumba Rapids (5) Rush (5) Samurai (5) Saw - The Ride (5) Stealth (5) Storm in a Teacup (7) The Swarm (5) The Walking Dead - The Ride (5) Tidal Wave (5) Vortex (5) Zodiac (5) Nemesis Inferno + Amity Beach -

I wonder if they did that so people buy at the higher price first?

British Theme Park Archive has uploaded an incredible documentary about Valhalla from 2000! It's incredible and definitely worth watching through to the end.

Amity Beach (4) Colossus (5) Depth Charge (5) Detonator: Bomb's Away (5) Flying Fish (5) King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems (5) Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride (5) Nemesis Inferno (8) Quantum (7) Rocky Express (5) Rumba Rapids (5) Rush (5) Samurai (6) Saw - The Ride (5) Stealth (5) Storm in a Teacup (5) Storm Surge (0) The Swarm (5) The Walking Dead - The Ride (5) Tidal Wave (5) Timber Tug Boat (5) Vortex (5) Zodiac (5) Nemesis Inferno + Storm Surge - (Bye bye bye!) RESET Amity Beach (5) Colossus (5) Depth Charge (5) Detonator: Bomb's Away (5) Flying Fish (5) King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems (5) Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride (5) Nemesis Inferno (5) Quantum (5) Rocky Express (5) Rumba Rapids (5) Rush (5) Samurai (5) Saw - The Ride (5) Stealth (5) Storm in a Teacup (5) The Swarm (5) The Walking Dead - The Ride (5) Tidal Wave (5) Timber Tug Boat (5) Vortex (5) Zodiac (5)

Amity Beach (5) Colossus (5) Depth Charge (5) Detonator: Bomb's Away (5) Flying Fish (5) King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems (5) Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride (5) Nemesis Inferno (6) Quantum (5) Rocky Express (5) Rumba Rapids (5) Rush (5) Samurai (5) Saw - The Ride (5) Stealth (5) Storm in a Teacup (5) Storm Surge (4) The Swarm (5) The Walking Dead - The Ride (5) Tidal Wave (5) Timber Tug Boat (5) Vortex (5) Zodiac (5) Nemesis Inferno + Storm Surge -

Amity Beach (4) Angry Birds 4D Experience (2) Colossus (5) Depth Charge (5) Detonator: Bomb's Away (5) Flying Fish (5) King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems (5) Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride (5) Nemesis Inferno (6) Quantum (5) Rocky Express (5) Rumba Rapids (5) Rush (5) Samurai (6) Saw - The Ride (4) Stealth (6) Storm in a Teacup (5) Storm Surge (5) The Swarm (6) The Walking Dead - The Ride (5) Tidal Wave (6) Timber Tug Boat (5) Vortex (5) Zodiac (5) Nemesis Inferno + Angry Birds 4D Experience -

I doubt it's true, if they did revert it back to Thunder River it probably wouldn't mean anything would change other than a new vinyl sign badly stuck over the Rumba Rapids sign.

Attendance was down 5.8% in Icon's first season, however the loss was 1.2 million compared with 1.6 million the previous year. https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/business/losses-fall-at-blackpool-pleasure-beach-as-poor-weather-reduces-visitor-numbers-1-10189718 In my opinion, it's very concerning that after such a long wait for a new coaster, it didn't draw in any more guests. Improved turnover could be attributed to things like all the new merchandise, increased fees etc - but if the overall gate figures are down in the year a 16 million pound coaster opens... I don't think things will improve until the park stop blaming external factors and start focusing on what they can actually do to improve.

Amity Beach (5) Angry Birds 4D Experience (5) Colossus (5) Depth Charge (5) Detonator: Bomb's Away (5) Flying Fish (4) King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems (5) Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride (5) Nemesis Inferno (6) Quantum (5) Rocky Express (5) Rumba Rapids (5) Rush (5) Samurai (6) Saw - The Ride (5) Stealth (6) Storm in a Teacup (5) Storm Surge (5) The Swarm (5) The Walking Dead - The Ride (5) Tidal Wave (5) Timber Tug Boat (5) Vortex (4) Wet Wet Wet (4) Zodiac (5) Nemesis Inferno + Vortex -

Amity Beach (5) Angry Birds 4D Experience (5) Bouncezilla (3) Colossus (5) Depth Charge (5) Detonator: Bomb's Away (6) Flying Fish (5) King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems (5) Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride (5) Nemesis Inferno (6) Quantum (5) Rocky Express (5) Rumba Rapids (5) Rush (5) Samurai (5) Saw - The Ride (5) Stealth (5) Storm in a Teacup (5) Storm Surge (5) The Swarm (5) The Walking Dead - The Ride (5) Tidal Wave (5) Timber Tug Boat (5) Vortex (5) Wet Wet Wet (5) Zodiac (5) Nemesis Inferno + Bouncezilla -

Amity Beach (5) Angry Birds 4D Experience (5) Bouncezilla (3) Colossus (5) Depth Charge (6) Detonator: Bomb's Away (5) Flying Fish (5) Jungle Escape (1) King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems (5) Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride (5) Nemesis Inferno (7) Quantum (5) Rocky Express (5) Rumba Rapids (5) Rush (5) Samurai (5) Saw - The Ride (5) Stealth (8) Storm in a Teacup (5) Storm Surge (5) The Swarm (5) The Walking Dead - The Ride (5) Tidal Wave (5) Timber Tug Boat (5) Vortex (5) Wet Wet Wet (5) Zodiac (5) Nemesis Inferno + Bouncezilla - I don't understand why Bouncezilla is on here, it isn't a ride and if this is included surely other seasonal attractions like the Fright Night mazes should be too?

Does Elmer fly?

Amity Beach (5) Angry Birds 4D Experience (5) Bouncezilla (4) Colossus (5) Depth Charge (6) Detonator: Bomb's Away (5) Flying Fish (5) Jungle Escape (3) King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems (5) Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride (5) Nemesis Inferno (7) Quantum (5) Rocky Express (5) Rumba Rapids (5) Rush (5) Samurai (5) Saw - The Ride (5) Stealth (5) Storm in a Teacup (5) Storm Surge (5) The Swarm (5) The Walking Dead - The Ride (5) Tidal Wave (5) Timber Tug Boat (5) Vortex (5) Wet Wet Wet (5) Zodiac (5) Nemesis Inferno + Bouncezilla -

Amity Beach (5) Angry Birds 4D Experience (5) Bouncezilla (4) Colossus (5) Depth Charge (5) Detonator: Bomb's Away (5) Flying Fish (5) Jungle Escape (5) King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems (5) Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride (5) Nemesis Inferno (6) Quantum (5) Rocky Express (5) Rumba Rapids (5) Rush (5) Samurai (5) Saw - The Ride (5) Stealth (5) Storm in a Teacup (5) Storm Surge (5) The Swarm (5) The Walking Dead - The Ride (5) Tidal Wave (5) Timber Tug Boat (5) Vortex (5) Wet Wet Wet (5) Zodiac (5) Nemesis Inferno + Bouncezilla -

Amity Beach (5) Angry Birds 4D Experience (5) Bouncezilla (3) Colossus (5) Depth Charge (5) Detonator: Bomb's Away (5) Flying Fish (5) Jungle Escape (5) King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems (5) Lumber Jump (3) Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride (5) Nemesis Inferno (8) Quantum (5) Rocky Express (2) Rumba Rapids (5) Rush (5) Samurai (5) Saw - The Ride (5) Stealth (6) Storm in a Teacup (5) Storm Surge (5) The Swarm (5) The Walking Dead - The Ride (6) Tidal Wave (5) Timber Tug Boat (7) Vortex (5) Wet Wet Wet (5) Zodiac (5) Nemesis Inferno + Bouncezilla -

Amity Beach (5) Angry Birds 4D Experience (5) Bouncezilla (3) Colossus (5) Depth Charge (5) Detonator: Bomb's Away (5) Flying Fish (5) Jungle Escape (5) King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems (5) Lumber Jump (4) Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride (5) Nemesis Inferno (7) Quantum (5) Rocky Express (3) Rumba Rapids (5) Rush (5) Samurai (5) Saw - The Ride (5) Stealth (6) Storm in a Teacup (5) Storm Surge (5) The Swarm (5) The Walking Dead - The Ride (6) Tidal Wave (5) Timber Tug Boat (6) Vortex (5) Wet Wet Wet (5) Zodiac (5) Nemesis Inferno + Bouncezilla -