SteveJ

What is this life expectancy you speak of? I've never heard of it. And the ride's had mechanical struggles for years, since it opened really, inherent in its design (because of trying to run a fast, tall prototypey coaster in a very restricted space) and complicated by the constant fiddles over the years. Not sure how much longer it can last but its not like its on its last legs as we speak, it's just same old as ever. Not sure about the building though, maybe that will trip it up, due to the "If you don't look for it, the problem's not there" approach to structural maintenance they've had for years.

He didn't like the ride and rated it very low on his approval visits shortly before it eventually opened, based on his standards of illusion and his expectation on what the experience was going to be like. Dont know what he made of the ride when it eventually opened. He's contractually obliged to still be a part of the project in name/brand and so surely would want to be involved in this redesign, though pretty sure he doesn't have all that much input at this stage

No, that has never been the intention, as amusing as it is to think that the trains are massive alien penises flying around. From what Ive spoken to Tussauds studios people about, the basic concept for Nemesis was that it was a half dead/skeletal, half coming back to life alien creature that's been buried in the ground for years. Pinned down with steel. It's meant to remain unexplained and mysterious as to what this creature actually is. However its a much misunderstood thing, because many years ago the fans got hold of an elaborate backstory that was written up (mostly for design purposes, but was deliberately over the top and silly, it was never meant to be taken seriously as a public backstory). The more elaborate backstory about the monster reawakening after a cult goes there to feed it and the Phalanx army coming in, bla bla bla, was never meant to be a big part of the ride and misses the main aim of its design. The main aim of the ride was to thrill and enchant, with its (originally) powerful otherworldly appearance and interaction amongst the landscape.

Good.

I mean there's always a chance I was told wrongly, or that it speeds up and opens on time anyway, but I wouldnt say such a thing in the first place if it were just a flimsy rumour I heard. It was certainly considered moving back to April last I heard anyway, and Merlin's track record doesn't fill many people with confidence. I have my reasons!

It's still a big investment, a big production at least, the fact Derren Brown was super-inflated expensive wasn't the reason it was delayed, or why every Merlin project ever has been delayed. Building a dark ride is a big challenge. Though I believe the original Bubbleworks opened on time in May (bearing in mind it had been built from scratch, and the team also had to complete The Vampire the same winter). The Tomb Blaster redo thingy not opening on time last year was a right embarassment, they managed to take longer to install a fire exit and some half-arsed equipment than it took to build the whole of Terror Tomb from a totally empty building in 1994.

The Gruffalo is delayed as per Merlin tradition and likely open in April, despite the advertising

I'm sure the water has always been a closed filtered system. It certainly was dyed green/turquoise originally as I have pictures of its opening day where the water is practically glowing blue! And heard from someone the reason it stopped being used was because it ruined the filters after some years, but not sure how accurate that is.

Mustve found a market for disability fetishes then. Strange world! One way of dealing with the situation I suppose!

if Thorpe Park is nearer then you'd probably find Paultons is miles too far and wouldnt be worth it, as you'd have to work regular shifts like at least weekends weekly if not more. Low paying wage wouldn't be worth the travel and Thorpe Park sounds better for you, you'd probably find it better for your longer term interests even if its just experience. Even though Paultons is your favourite and probably a more pleasant place to work, Thorpe has a lot of community that you could become a part of and grow your interests for the same wage

Yes but it sets a precedent and has 1000+ followers, a significant following and we saw the same kind of thing promoted to the public at Chessington last year with Tomb Blaster's H&S project sold as a "UV upgrade" with some terrible new lighting and sound thrown in which made the attraction even worse. As far as this stuff is on the internet for anyone not employed by the park to see, its public domain and being aimed at the public, the geek side of the public yes but it is a shame. Of course one reason its being promoted is probably to prove to higher management that improvements "get noticed", and therefore prove its worthwhile. That things have got to this stage is a shame. Better parks like Disney (who Merlin continually compare themselves to and their main business aim is currently to grow bigger than Disney) clean and paint their parks daily to STOP people ever noticing deterioration or change in the first place.

Yes, just like propaganda and branding to try hard at keeping fans loyal, having them spend more money on ever-declining experiences run by careless management, instead of just going somewhere else that's more fun! I think keeping people from really seeing what a theme park CAN do or thinking for themselves is the worst part about Merlin really, it's such a shame.

At least we know the touch ups aren't just being done for the sake of it, and the repainted wall looks fresh & fine, but seriously what is going on? That picture (and many of their ones on Facebook) is a joke. Is this some kind of Emperor's New Clothes game with fans now? The two pictures might as well be the same thing but one has brighter lighting than the other. What is the point of advertising this? It was great to showcase see long-awaited improvements like Nemesis station and Oblivion's black track restored colour. But it's become some handyman's dull DIY blog. It's making theme parks so dull and pedantic for the general public, yet people love this stuff. Such people seem to have forgotten that theme parks are meant to be about the imagination and fun in the bigger picture, not whether a red wall has been painted or some toilets are being replaced. The fine details shouldn't be promoted so on-the-nose and things shouldnt be changed for the sake of it, just as much as the detail shouldnt be forgotten and left to decay. There's no balance, and ts really weird now to see parks like this!

Oh yeh there's no problem with this article, but I can quickly see it becoming the norm with social media and British theme park enthusiasts' such misaligned view of how parks run themselves. Parks would be able to promote anything as being well worth the £100s to get in, even if it's practically falling apart behind the scenes, just because look - we've painted over some railings! Or telling people every change they make is "looking much better" even if its just a bodge fix with some cheap contractor or paintjob, etc. Its like rubbish propaganda and it sucks, yet people will fall for it by and large because they don't know (and to be fair, shouldnt be expected to know) how parks REALLY should be maintained.

This is the problem that Towers Loving Care is going to cause. Theme parks never used to have to make a promotion of their behind the scenes work. However places like Alton Towers had been under-maintained and had almost no scenic schemes for so long, that they needed social media to prove to the management that the public do care when things look better. Blackpool and soon most parks will need to showcase similar maintenance works (which may have been going on every year anyway without us knowing, or are so basic that they should be happening anyway) in order to keep up with the image Towers Loving Care are portraying. So it's a good thing if it leads to more improvements, but pretty embarrassing when they dress up basic maintenance as something special. And when it becomes poor quality work or cheap remedies dressed up as "improvements" and "£800k upgrades" (see Tomb Blaster redo at Chessington), it is truly awful and stops people being able to think for themselves.

Until they dig the flowers up and throw them away once summer's over, because they are a landscape department, their job is to prune trees and cut grass most the time. I dont think trenching up and flooding most of the farm helped the environment, it's just being used as a base for storage and landscaping resources honestly. There were always houses just next to Thorpe Farm, a village just behind the walls, but it surprised me to learn this as it always felt like it was isolated in its own far off world.

The smoothness is to do with how they put the trains back together over winter and the cheaper-than-ideal engineering of the trains. The shunting is annoying indeed and Vampire could be a pretty nifty fast family coaster if it werent for that . Here's what I'd consider doing in the future if Vampire's still around.. Completely rebuild the track following largely the same layout, as a newer model Vekoma family suspended coaster, not half & half with Arrow and the (not very good) earlier Vekoma model. Except that would never happen, but would make for a great thrilling family coaster. Make it to fix the dispatch and sequencing issues too, so that the ride can run quickly. And then landscape the area so much more than it currently is. Plant shrubs and build up banks to create some interesting landscape to interact with on the first section. Rebuild the coaster tunnel on the second section as a themed, pitch black tunnel. Landscape the queue as well and completely rebuild the pathways. Build new entrance gates, or link the original gates. Build a replacement spooky crypt shelter for the one that got demolished, and more themed structures in the queueline to pass around. Re use the queue tunnel and restore its smoke effects. Restore the whole station and its animatronic, real lighting & new audio system. Build a castle facade around the side of the building facing the queue, scenically design the exit walkway and portal where the train re-enters the building, for example flying into a grand smashed chapel window and back into darkness.

No, that's not the reason. And no large attractions can be built in that area anyway. The area was still very popular before it closed! It needed a better investment and draw rather than closure. It's just to do with age and under investment. Not having a replacement ready for Charlie was a bit silly, but shows again how flawed and money-centric their 'investment cycle' system is instead of having new projects ready for the right time, in the areas that need development the most.

They are the park landscape department and they're using the area for their workshops, growing decorative flowers/shrubs to plant around the park. Not for some kind of environmental resource as you seemed to suggest. Literally just workshops and areas grow decorative shrubbery and arrange in the park like they do every year. I didn't say landscaping wasnt important!

I don't think growing flowers is anything to do with helping the environment... It's a resource for the landscaping department yes. Very eerie to see what's happened to it, it had so many people through it in its time and was much more than a few sheds. It was from another time though, when Thorpe Park was not a thrill ride park and was more of a big leisure park. The park truly felt like it had been cut in half when it left, as no day was complete without the train ride over to the other half. It wouldnt work today though, I mean obviously it wouldnt. The nature of the park is so different really. Luckily it won't be demolished, but its a little shocking to see the fields where the train used to drive through now underwater, places that exist in my memory like just yesterday!

THorpe Park didn't use that demon costume though, it was commissioned by an external ad agency who were hired by Merlin to create the PR, and given designs for the demon based on the attraction. However it never was anything to do with the attraction at all, just the PR campaign, unless they find it and sell it to Thorpe.

There is a lot that could be done, it needs real imagination and determination, to surprise people. But they usually just want to do it by stats and the stats are asking for 'better VR and more scary' - so that's the approach theyre going to make. Their main aim is to makeup for the visitor numbers that (quite rightly, after so many mistakes and the ride not opening) were a disappointment in 2016. If its properly rethought as a great new attraction, that's fantastic, if its just a superficial change and massive rebranding to build hype again, don't bother.

Ouch, that feeling when Derren Brown doesnt want to promote his own ride anymore but is still contractually obliged to give his name to it. "However, I do have faith in Thorpe Park and really hope they don't screw this up like Sub Terra." Ok but it's exactly the same team that produced both and "improved" both when they had such poor responses. Derren Brown has an even higher chance of shutting in a matter of years than the relatively simple Sub Terra did. Unless theyve practically rebuilt everything to do with the VR & train tech-wise, behind the scenes. Which is what they should have done, but the company has proven year on year how it likes to cut corners and only focus on looking like theyve done a lot.

If they have properly restored anything then that would be great. So much was broken with Hex, after years of little work (other than the ride, which did have engineering work and was still a bit broken), that it didn't really justify opening in that state and should have been restored long ago. However I don't think this TLC thing gets a very good budget, judging by their "restoration" of Nemesis track (which looks nothing like the original paintwork), vinyl signs and replacing facades with 2D painted-on versions. The best thing they did was hire the guy to repaint the Nemesis station (umm, half), which actually I believe looks better and more detailed than it was in 1994! If its an "upgrade" like with Tomb Blaster, that would destroy the whole attraction.