SteveJ

Thorpe Park's lovely days were really something special. That's not the greatest footage of it but nice to see a bit more of it in video. I just started visiting at the end of that sort of era and it's pretty shocking to look back now and see the difference, and the things that I'd almost forgotten

You can't really judge screen based dark rides or VR attractions based on anything I know of in the UK, they're mostly mediocre examples or poorly integrated digital FX that sticks out in a very un-theme parky way. Otherwise when done properly they open up a very different kind of experience. Digital/screen FX are an alternative to the practical or scenic styles, I dont think they should ever replace each other. The same changes happened with movies in the 2000s and so many that went heavy on stand-out digital FX from that time aged awfully and feel dated to watch now. The same will quickly happen to all the new attractions that use screens & VR as a novelty. The way forwards is to use the tech only if the intended effect necessitates it or if its used creatively. I'd love a big good old fashioned practical animations dark ride to be built in the UK too. But the fact is its often cheaper to create digitally now rather, because so many of the scenic/animation/theatre studios went out of business in the UK when attractions started becoming so minimalistic and cheap in the 2000s, whereas there are many growing digital FX businesses currently. Shows what happens when one company dominates a market and all other businesses live or die depending on what the monopoly company want that year...

Virtual reality has a place so long as the attraction is designed as a theme park ride, and not a VR demo or flash in the pan novelty like certain attractions in the UK.. It won't replace other formats of attractions like people constantly claim they will, a claim that comes about every time there has ever been a new entertainment technology ever. It will become a new format used in a combination of other fun techniques old and new, hopefully. VR attractions could be amazing if designed inventively!

The old carousel was a standard boring carousel and they're replacing it with a better themed one, that's my opinion. The old one had nice paintings on it that were a nice touch and something I long remember, but they dont represent those past attractions really. Removing the carousel isn't killing the heart and soul of the park, that was done back in the early 2000s. The African animal theme I dont think has ever worked for Chessington. It's just a brand that Merlin imposed on the park in 2010 because they run their parks according to brands and sloganeering (rather than any true substance I feel). Plus their impression of Africa is the kind someone would have if they've never been near Africa and have just watched Madagascar, and I am certain this is the kind of audience they are appealing to anyway. The 80s park started out having world culture themes but it was never this generic/commercial and didn't comprise of only bamboo and themed vinyl signs like today. Present day Chessington is a desperate attempt to be Longleat or Disney's Animal Kingdom but without spending any money. At the height of its success, the park's original USP (which is only a business term to simplify things after all) was that it was an unconventional, quaint and eccentric park with big theme designs, flamboyant dark rides and general gutsy fun for families. Not the sentimental 'explorer' brand that it is now. Also the zoo, while a good asset to have, has always been awful and in need of brand new facilities, not the park's jewel in its crown as Merlin have been able to promote it as. Zufari was a failed attempt to integrate the park and zoo, it won't last long as its not economical, popular or any good.

I believe the interior has been completed deconstructed and will have new scenography so hopefully it will be more substantial than just that.

To be fair, why'd you want anything more 'exciting' for what's just a themed carousel, the park's a world of disappointments but no point criticising arbitrarily. At least it isn't something more over the top or cheesey. Transylvania's shop area looks much improved from the tacky early 2000s signs and text painted all over it and dirty peeling paint. Apart from the brown buddha last year, Chessington's scenic team are generally on the ball and one of the last good things about the place (considering they are given menial budgets). Scenic painting and this kind of thing should be done much more often than Merlin parks commit to, so its a step in the right direction. However Gruffalo's paintjob (and this is a Merlin project not Chessington's own)... not so nice, whether that's pre-texturing or not.

It's a very average coaster really, yes, and probably dated quickly after inverted coasters that could do inversions were invented a couple years later. It's only really good as a family coaster now. However it used to be more thrilling with its original, heavier and better swinging trains. The station & queue is a tip now compared to how it used to be, and has barely any effect, such a shame.

The area was never overrated, it was fun and great, a charming little scenic area with the park's two best rides in. But it became so botched year on year ever since the late 90s when the park kept trying to change it with fiddling with its appearance, or the rides, or trying to make it more "spooky" and cartoony to give the park a new goofy image. Vampire and Bubbleworks were fudged for a long time since, Gruffalo wont really change that, it will still be a mess like the whole park.

Looks as gaudy and generic you'd expect a Merlin family dark ride to look, a good start. But hopefully they've seen sense and removed the awful queue layout that's been fiddled with so much over the years and put the entrance back to the facade and not some poles over to the side. Hopefully the buggy shelter blocking the neighboring Transyl. buildings won't return and the area will be tidied up again.

This time CoasterJamie's post actually sounded like a genuine opinion and not at all unreasonable, why bash it?

This clearly seems like that practice of just shoveling around leftover stuff to try appease the people complaining about the closed attractions at that end of the park. What does it matter if they're themed or not, will that really make these filler attractions interesting? No need to be concerned about nothing of no substance at all

"Refer to Loggers Leap as Old Girl in all tweets so as to sound casual and spontaneous and don't say ANYTHING other than what we tell you"

I was being ironic Matt sorry

It's traditional for the castle to be horrible and green and be painted a shade of sick

I remember like just last year ish the vinyl arcade signs were made all swish and it was hailed as a great improvement and now its already changed again to powerpoint style FUN FORT ARCADE. The area coud do with redeveloping, the back-of-house buildings really need a total refurbishment and the defunct Skyway infrastructure takes up too much space and blocks people's movement to the back of the park. Or just carousel-it ok then

I'm not saying the fountains should be kept at all, I've said before I wanted them to be removed and Merlin to come up with a new ending. Had projection mapping been around in 1990 I'm sure they'd have used the technique to enhance the fountain scene (in fact prototype projection based FX were penned and attempted for both BubbleWorks and Terror Tomb, but the technology wasn't right). But Merlin often like to use such features as gimmickry rather than actual illusion and enhancement. I do know what you're saying, but your point "Projection mapping, if it works correctly will be a much more impressive finale than some fountains and strobes" totally gives the impression that Projection Mapping is something leagues "better" just as long as they do it well. And I don't think that is automatically the case whichever way its done. The two are totally different in nature, and whatever amazing digital projections, lighting or technology-based FX they come up with, it won't have the practical charm and effect of the tunnel fountains. There'd be no point comparing them really. Merlin's general attitude to technology is often gadget-based and novelty, which results in 'Maplin demo' experiences, so I hope a different approach has been taken with this project. And if projection mapping isn't commonplace now, it will be within a couple years, so novelty shouldn't even be banked on. It's taken UK theme parks a while to get on it but it happens a lot in the UK outside of theme parks and I'm sure we've all seen it. Id love to see it in the ride, and more dark rides, but as a tool in a combination of many techniques to create a good show, not as a gadget.

Apparently it is the same company as the Smiler's projections but that doesnt necessarily mean it will be poor quality. What suggests it will be poor quality is Merlin's track record of everything. Projection mapping as a technique can be amazing. But I'm yet to see Merlin even try it properly, so maybe this is their big attempt? As a singular finale spectacle however, I think saying it will be "much more impressive than some fountains and strobes" is a total mistatement. They're totally different. The fountains were a spectacle and a show, projection mapping is a method of scenic design and not a feature in itself. If the whole ride was standard and then ended with a 'projection mapping finale' then it would come across as gimmickery with 'cutting edge technology', just like Derren Brown's supposed "VR finale". And bare in mind the fountains were awful for the last 10 years or so, nothing like the scene should have been. When built it was a hands on spectacle. It was a big practical effect that was once an amazing illusionary sight with the strobe effects. The flashing LED lights in the corners seen in recent years barely count and create none of the true effect it used to have. Even many years on, the feeling of floating through those fountains is unique and enchanting (if the scene werent in such a poor condition akin to floating through a watery garage). Whereas digital effects are more status quo, passively-entertaining and easy to do. I don't see how it automatically means it will be "much more impressive", no doubt that's what Merlin expect though. I dont know where in the ride Projections will be used, perhaps they will be throughout the ride anyway. The technique opens up all sorts of amazing possibilities, but Merlin seem to love using such technology purely as show-off gadgets, done cheaply and as a flash in the pan thing. Whatever happens, the Gruffalo will be totally at odds with the silly and energetic nature of the old BubbleWorks, comparing them will be pointless to the extreme And I agree they had to go, the ride needs to move on, no more pilfering off existing designs anymore.

To be replaced by projection mapping FX of course

There's a lot of fluff and vagueness on why the Vampire was changed and the nature of those changes. I gather the main reason was that the park needed a supplier for the ride's maintenance (Vekoma are still regularly contracted for new parts or refurbishment of parts today). The ride was forcibly closed for a year and at the time it was expected not to reopen. Something fundamental needed to change to get it open again, now that Arrow had closed. An alternative is to contract to other firms to retrofit parts and take on the running of the ride, which Vekoma was contracted to do with The Vampire, and rather than keep the existing trains (which would still have been possible, although perhaps more costly in the long run), the idea of making a 'New' Vampire won out with the floorless trains. In fairness, unlike many other similar marketing-friendly modifications to existing rides (laser guns in Terror Tomb, The Swarm backwards), the change to floorless trains did help stop the ride becoming more dated, once floorless coasters became prevalent in the UK. However the new trains are just cheaper and naff compared to the originals. They look so tacky and came with all the gaudy bright purple 'New Vampire' branding at the loss of the ride's original theatrical, darker theme. The tunnel was mostly removed I think to create access into the tunnel, in order to dig out the ground a bit more to accommodate the new trains, and perhaps widen the openings to the tunnel (the rock work was removed). Shame because it should have been built up again afterwards, now it is just a shack. Other changes made was the floor of the station was removed and lowered over a foot, which changes the feel of the room quite a bit, and the decorated loading bays were removed for the awful steel scaffolding. Some chunks were cut out the supports and trenches dug all around the ride track. That was it really.

Everyone else on the planet understandably hated Annual Ass day 2011 but I found it oddly hilarious. It really was the year everything became a parody of itself. Here are some pictures to bring back all those lovely memories for you (back when I was a camera happy geek).

Most drama the BBC does, even the popular stuff, always feels like film students with some good ideas but a bit too naive and self indulgent. Either that or so woefully poe-faced and watered down. But The Missing is masterful, clever, better than the nihilistic first series and some of its simplest scenes have genuine blown me away.

Yeah its sort of fun for a laugh but you've got to wonder what on earth things have come to, that you've spent so much money to come to a supposedly high quality park and are now riding down a multicolour tube in a dinghy over a concrete/dirt patch. It is funny though and I will never forget its opening on Annual pass day, wowee

Last time I visited Thorpe Park I was genuinly surprised to remember that Storm Surge hadn't just been some lurid dream I had. Its amazing such a pointless and monstrous thing exists. With hillbilly signs and dirt painted on it to try and make it "make sense". Amazing.

One day the internet will stop circulating the same wrong-pitched bad quality cassette recording of the BW music

Social and media departments wont be in the loop as much as people always credit them for, they might not even be experienced with the kinds of decisions theme parks make or the way Merlin likes to flip flop. People inside Chessington didnt even know their "New ride for 2016" was cancelled at first. Then of course the "Dragon River refurbishment" announcements, "Hex are Charlie are currently being refurbished" situations at Alton Towers. Also, we'd know for sure if renovation was being carried out on Loggers because the maintenance it needs is all stuff out in eyeshot like replenishing the building, fixing the troughs and drop, etc. They havnt been secretly taking things away in the night so that nobody notices. What you see isn't what you get with a company like this, anything could happen really. We know guests are badly affected by this and Loggers' loss with no replacement would really detract from the park's offering. But the only certain way to get their system to take notice is if visitor numbers and their shoddy iPad satisfaction stats fall off.