Dodge2002

I'm still not convinced this maze will have real actors. I'm certain it'll just be themed ride hosts, which they claim to be live actors in the press releases and that's where we're gonna see the big difference between this and other year round Merlin live actions mazes. Providing the running costs of the effects are kept to a minimum in the long run they'll be able to run it at bare bones operation for FAR cheaper than Saw Alive if/when it loses popularity, paying host wages instead of actor wages Among other things I haven't seen any advertisements recruiting for Acting roles yet...

I personally don't think its fair to compare UK parks like-for-like to overseas parks due to the amount of tax we pay. I'm not saying that this would solve all of our problems, but if we were paying 5% VAT instead of 20%, the current gate price would be sat at a more sensible amount. Then when you add in the cost of merchandise, food etc. Merlin are probably sitting on a much smaller profit margin than their worldwide counterparts which they need to recoup somewhere. That said, I'm not naive enough to actually think if they did get a tax break they'd pass it on the consumer. That'd be going straight in their back pocket at this stage. And its safe to say they've more of less trapped themselves in to a 2-4-1 discounting black hole, which they'll probably never get out of.

Am I being crazy, or can you kind of make out the word "Edge" in the background of the sign? Isn't that what Stealth was originally gonna be called? An odd random easter egg if it is...

Nothing a couple of temporary safety fences couldn't solve, surely?

The real question is, will they have finally replaced the ceiling by the exit/old bag hold which is currently boarded up using old annual pass signage, instead of you know, an actual ceiling?!

The queue will probably just cattle pen up and down where Studio 13's queue was, with those ghastly temporary barriers running along the Safari fence until its initial popularity dies off. It could also potentially run through the chainsaw corridor, with the entrance actually being the old S13/Asylum exit, and the new exit being the current fire exit which actually leads right in to Inferno's gift shop to the right of the till. That would work perfect really.

Is the Buffet bar still separated from the kitchen, or have they moved it to where the oven is like at Alton Towers? That was probably one of Pizza hut's biggest downfalls that they could never keep it topped up well enough at peak.

I find it quite interesting that IAC is an IP with very little international appeal, with only a few international variations. When you consider the Paramount Park looming, and its international target market, its almost as if Thorpe and Merlin really don't care about it. Lets go five or six years down the line here, and just *assume* IAC is still a relevant IP. When trying to compete for international custom, no European is gonna give a damn about some silly IAC ride, when pitted against the competition. I'm not still not saying the IP was a good or bad decision, but it is very telling of their long term aspects for growth, considering I should imagine international visitors make up a good portion of their market share.

Am I the only one under the impression that this attraction just won't have any actors at all? Maze =/= Actors all the time. Among other things, they would have done a casting call by now. All of Saw Alive's actors were hired by Mid Feb, with the advert usually up by the start of January. Sub-Terra also only has 2-3 Max actors at peak as it is, the rest are just in-character ride hosts. The difference here is, they already have a pool of actors that roam the park and perform shows which they can use. Saw was an entire attraction based around actors, with only 1 or 2 interactive elements. I don't see how "Costs are gonna spiral out of control". Aside from paying for the IP, the attraction will be a lot more sustainable. Considering its gonna have a gift shop, the merchandise alone has enough potential to carry this attraction. If you wanna take some positives, they're essentially luring people right into the new development zone, so there'll be some fantastic marketing opportunities for the 2016 attraction I hope. We'll also hopefully see a lick of paint in one of the parks more aging areas too, its an attraction that isn't themed around destruction or a derelict setting, something that everyone seems to moan about. And finally...its not Take Me Out: The Ride.

It would be interesting to see what everyone's reaction would be without the IAC branding. I bet it would be a whole lot more positive

This could be Thorpe's spin on a petting zoo/sea life centre. A I'm a celbirty themed walkthrough with bugs and reptiles. It would be different and well suited to the target audience. The only missing piece to all this speculation is that there haven't been any job postings for any actors/vets/hosts. One thing for sure is Someone somewhere is sat having a right laugh at all this wild guessing.

It looks like a female mouth screaming?

While I have yet to form my own opinion on whether Thorpe is likely to get the hunger games or not, I think it was always safe to say it was only a matter of time before the film was adapted to a ride at some park or another at some point in time.

Actually, now I think about it, isn't this going to be the first time in over 10+ years that we won't see a new addition to the park? (That is of course if you count the crash pad as an attraction)

I do feel terribly bad for Thorpe and the way RnR has panned out. People persistently moaned about queue times and when they finally try to do something about it, its failed miserably.Even though it's the type of investment that was always likely to have next to no return. As I've said before though Thorpe are usually very receptive of negative feedback, so I really have no doubt that they will have learned from their mistakes. And I really don't hope this puts them off from exploring new ways to fix the parks problems

My guess is we'll get some sort of teaser when the season opens. I don't think Merlin would miss a chance to plaster "New for 2016" banners up around the construction site at the very earliest opportunity. That said, considering The Smiler and its very first marketing material, we're still a very long way off from getting any definitive idea of whats to come.

I hope they fall out of this habit of slapping up random additions half way through the season this year. Don't get me wrong, new things like the entrance signage and queue boards etc. have been appreciated, but why couldn't they have done all that in closed season? Its kind of like Christmas, seeing all the new little bits and bobs on opening day, and it kind of just ruins that when they just decide to add them all sporadically over the season haha.

The way I see the situation with the £5 surcharge is that Merlin need to bring extra value to the Premium pass because they probably just aren't selling enough, or something along those lines. We're only really seeing the smaller picture here because inherently we're all focused on Thorpe Park, and not the rest of the Merlin estate. As of late there seems to be a lot more of a push to unify their brands aggressively. Yes you can argue there is no surcharge for Alton Towers, but that has been the case for years, long before Merlin came in to the picture and the introduce a charge now would be far more detrimental. If however they can offer a huge portfolio of new events for "Free" rather than £5 they'd get from the Standard pass, the Premium pass starts to become a whole lot more appealing, when you consider how little it costs to upgrade, whilst also reminding you of the fact that Merlin have a multitude of events too. Its all a game of numbers really, and whether I agree or disagree with it is besides the point. In my eyes there should have been a lot more unity between the parks back when Tussaud's acquired them. Had we had this from the beginnings there would be a lot less hate, a lot less comparing and a lot less scrutiny over Merlin's decisions. Unification is something Merlin have needed to do a long time to breakthrough, because their brand visibility is terrible when you think about it.

Is Brainiac returning for Feb Half term? If not it seems likely they might just block off the entire area leading to Colossus and Saw, all the way around to Inferno. That way they could continue with the work taking place around the arena unhindered, and restrict access to a huge chunk of their most maintenance prone rides, Saw and Colossus in the cold weather, Loggers probably shouldn't be open when its that cold, and then also Slammer and Samurai, which I guess need more work done than most rides.

It's probably the easier route, logistically, for Merlin to Copy and Paste their generic stores throughout every park. It means they can all use the same supply chain. they all have the same equipment, food prep guidelines and training. But I much prefer the non-chain brands that were around before this started to happen. Just look at the courtyard BBQ, Bar360 and the Calypso BBQ. they all offer superior food. at decent prices in my opinion. They should be doing more of this, not more Pizza Pasta Buffet type places. I think its safe to say, as a whole, branded outlets within theme parks have had their day though. Especially when you consider Alton Towers, the park that pioneered the idea, now doesn't have a chain in sight.

From the way I was told, Merlin were originally all up for keeping them on in the first place, but what you're saying would actually make a lot of sense, because Pizza Hut weren't in the greatest financial shape back in 2007, and probably just plain couldn't afford to run at those costs. Whereas now Pizza Hut have the money, Merlin just plain aren't interested anymore. My understanding is that Pizza Hut even offered to refurbish and re landscape the surrounding area too. As for Merlin owned outlets, Pizza Pasta buffet is good enough, but I feel like they missed to opportunity to add another Full service restaurant, which they're really lacking in. They have a good enough variety, but its all fast food. Especially considering now Fright Nights is carrying the whole seasons success on its shoulders, they need a place for people to go on the longer days in the season that isn't all rush rush rush.

I'm told that KFC and Burger king managed to renew their contract. Essentially if I'm understanding it correctly, Merlin were demanding 50p for every £1 profit made, whereas the Tussaud's era contract was only 10p per £1, which caused Pizza Hut to retaliate, and when they did Merlin told them where to shove it. I guess KFC and BK just decided to foot the cost.

Is there a possibility that the bag drop has something to do with British H&S vs. the rest of the world? Perhaps because the ride goes a certain speed or has a certain elevation, the law requires off ride storage, whereas if it were built in America, for example, it wouldn't be needed at all?

I definitely think we'll see either a retheme/refurb of something or some new event, like a concert or festival will be introduced in 2015.

Going back to the bag drop, Isn't the reason they've moved to drops instead of revolving station lockers to increase throughput? They can't start their dispatch checks until everyone is seated, which is inevitably delayed by the mess of people getting off and getting on trying to scramble for their stuff. I'm not saying Merlin's bag drops work, but I can 100% see why they opt for them over in-station storage.