SteveJ

Sure, although I brought up the whole attraction and area when I said it was dull, so if "incredibly themed" you mean ignoring everything other than constant Disney style decoration around the track then no. But now that would be picking things apart and anaylsing. As a decent themed coaster where it actaully adds something to the experience, there are far better even in the same park.

Nemesis —The quarry setting is incredible and is what creates half the fun, all of which had to be created for the ride as we all know. You get right down into it, explore over and under the ride before youre even at the station. The waterfalls and the ride over pools, the music, it all comes together for a really exciting ride. Hey it even has some junkyard theming but actually adds some style, not just token vehicles parked on flat ground. Nemesis' landscaping beats The Swarm's car park-coaster style  by miles. Eve just looking at it, the ride is an impressive picture.
 
Nemesis Inferno—Simple but good, you queue around some jungle planting then up into a volcano. It sets you up well for the ride. Starting the station at high level then immediately into the tunnel is a great kick off to the ride, really pacey. The interaction with the surrounding paths is great. Very different to The Swarm's pretty piecemeal, empty plaza.

Colossus—Well, it used to be much better when it was half over the water, and the station is very cheap. But the bridges over the ride mix things up and hide how formulaic the layout actually is, adds some fun interaction. The planting, music and waterfront queue was originally very good. Felt much more substantial than the Swarm ever did.

Black Mamba—A real labyrinth of the coaster through the landscape, buildings, paths. The queue deeper into the village and into the cave is a brilliant set up, keeping a lot of the ride quite secret. Incredibly detailed too. Brilliant moment starting and finishing in complete darkness, very memorable.

Taron—Whoever says the theme is dull must be one incredbly jaded enthusist! If we're talking about The Swarm being "good enough for the public" then are we really suggesting the same public would shrug their shoulders walking around Taron?

Wicker Man—Miles better, has a lot more character than Swarm, the area is a lot more interactive, the coaster is quite thrilling and fast. Ironically many enthusiasts who love The Swarm scorn Wicker Man for being a pretty average GCI (fair enough, but its still lots of fun) despite the public clearly loving Wicker Man and the theme.

Raptor Attack—Yes its a dead simple coaster but I actaully think its more fun and the trail down to the ride is a whole lot more creative than The Swarm's pavement.

Baron—Probably the only one on this list where the coaster alone is same as Swarm for me, but the brilliant theme is what makes the difference. Cool preshow, simple and good, great station setting, adds a lot to the ride.
 

Total mediocrity wins out again then, because a few sparse objects, shipping containers and broken TVs  scrape by as 'good enough'. No wonder we are so far behind many other parks in Europe and people are steadily not bothering to go back to Thorpe Park for the cost.

If you enjoy it then good but it's not as amazingly themed or a special ride as fans often make out.

That'll mostly be it then. I love me a sustained g manoeuvre, a real brain draining sustained force. But if that is not for you then there's not much about Swarm that would be!
 
It is too short, the station is dire (especially now it has been unclad), the theme is dull, but I've come to love what there actually is of the actual ride. It has worn in superbly.

Icon was unfortunately very disappointing, it feels like it would be great if it was just faster! Blue Fire I think is also a little overrated.
Taron on the other hand is lightning, absolutely incredible all the way through for me, perhaps one of my favourite coasters ever. Although that one isnt really an unpopular opinion!

My big unpopular opinion seems to be that I think the Swarm is rubbish.

I'm really surprised that it's so admired. You dont hear fans say it's just a decent coaster, people often say its one of their favourites! Fair enough, but I'm really baffled. The layout is boring, slow, short and the drawn out turns have a really uncomfortable, sustained G force that just gives you a headache.

It looks bland and dull, a  grey loop stuck out the back of the dome on some dirt. It could have been so much more.  People say it's amazingly themed, but it's just some old trucks parked about the pavement, fences and a hideous station building that looks really weird. Doesnt conjure any atmosphere at all, just a featureless white blob of a building.

The theme is so patchy that I get nothing from it. The Swarm is a terrible name but it doesnt seem to fit what was made anyway. A swarm of attacking creatures? More like a solitary fighter jet doing stunts in the air, that looks like... a metal alien? I'm sure there was some tacky 'backstory' for the cobbled together features we ended up with, but nothing that actually translated to the ride experience.

The queueline video is all kinds of awful and it would improve the queuing experience massively if they just turned the screens off! lol

I remember being very excited to go on the Swarm when it opened, I was really looking forward to it until the moment it finished and I realised that was all it was. There are hundreds of more thrilling, spectacular or just fun coasters out there.

But I'm definitely in the minority!

My big unpopular opinion seems to be that I think the Swarm is rubbish.

I'm really surprised that it's so admired. You dont hear fans say it's just a decent coaster, people often say its one of their favourites! Fair enough, but I'm really baffled. The layout is boring, slow, short and the drawn out turns have a really uncomfortable, sustained G force that just gives you a headache.

It looks bland and dull, a  grey loop stuck out the back of the dome on some dirt. It could have been so much more.  People say it's amazingly themed, but it's just some old trucks parked about the pavement, fences and a hideous station building that looks really weird. Doesnt conjure any atmosphere at all, just a featureless white blob of a building.

The theme is so patchy that I get nothing from it. The Swarm is a terrible name but it doesnt seem to fit what was made anyway. A swarm of attacking creatures? More like a solitary fighter jet doing stunts in the air, that looks like... a metal alien? I'm sure there was some tacky 'backstory' for the cobbled together features we ended up with, but nothing that actually translated to the ride experience.

The queueline video is all kinds of awful and it would improve the queuing experience massively if they just turned the screens off! lol

I remember being very excited to go on the Swarm when it opened, I was really looking forward to it until the moment it finished and I realised that was all it was. There are hundreds of more thrilling, spectacular or just fun coasters out there.

But I'm definitely in the minority!

My big unpopular opinion seems to be that I think the Swarm is rubbish.

I'm really surprised that it's so admired. You dont hear fans say it's just a decent coaster, people often say its one of their favourites! Fair enough, but I'm really baffled. The layout is boring, slow, short and the drawn out turns have a really uncomfortable, sustained G force that just gives you a headache.

It looks bland and dull, a  grey loop stuck out the back of the dome on some dirt. It could have been so much more.  People say it's amazingly themed, but it's just some old trucks parked about the pavement, fences and a hideous station building that looks really weird. Doesnt conjure any atmosphere at all, just a featureless white blob of a building.

The theme is so patchy that I get nothing from it. The Swarm is a terrible name but it doesnt seem to fit what was made anyway. A swarm of attacking creatures? More like a solitary fighter jet doing stunts in the air, that looks like... a metal alien? I'm sure there was some tacky 'backstory' for the cobbled together features we ended up with, but nothing that actually translated to the ride experience.

The queueline video is all kinds of awful and it would improve the queuing experience massively if they just turned the screens off! lol

I remember being very excited to go on the Swarm when it opened, I was really looking forward to it until the moment it finished and I realised that was all it was. There are hundreds of more thrilling, spectacular or just fun coasters out there.

But I'm definitely in the minority!

Definitely an unpopular opinion! It's a bloody dreadful name! 

Hey thanks
 
Originally the idea was to use the arena as the new location for a "Ghost Train", as the arena wasn't being used all year round,  Also it was the largest plot of land at the time to fit a show building on (remember at the time this idea was put forward the infill project was still ongoing). The original idea that was put forward was to:
 
Emulate the old Alton Towers ghost train - something scary and fun!  The attraction would have been called The Amity House of Wax, and would have been a "take" on a dilapidated Madame Tussuads, where the was figures would come to life. Big Bob mentions  The Madame Tussuad's House of Wax in his radio show (tickets as the prize).  I left the park in 2014 so not sure what had happened to this concept (even if it was any good lol), however its good to see the land was used as intended, just not delivered properly.
One of the ideas was to move the maze (think it was Seven at the time) to underneath the Stealth top hat.
 
I think if I was coming up with this type of attraction now, I would have used the trackless ride system (Ratatouille etc.). (They should replace Duel with this ride system and build a proper Ghost Train! )
 
M

Hi,
Long time lurker, 1st time poster.
Excuse the long post, there is an on-topic observation at the bottom
TP has been a big part of my life, from visiting the park in the late 80's to throughout the 90's.  I then worked there for 15 years (2000 - 2014), in a variety of departments.
Retail - some of the best times of my life (I've made life long friends from working in this department)
Park Development and Planning - one of the most rewarding jobs I have had to date (see below)
Facilities Management/Engineering - this is where my journey ended
 
Park Development and Planning - I was the project lead for the land expansion project, and was involved in some of the early design/planning activities on SAW The Ride, SAW Alive, Kobra (CWoA), The Swarm, and an early Ghost Train concept. Whilst working in this department I learnt some fascinating history about the park.  For example, did you know when the park was being constructed in the 1970's, RMC flew in an Imagineer from the States to help design the entrance and car park? 
 
Anyways, back on topic...
 
I visited the RTP's for the 1st time (since leaving TP) last year and noticed that the overall quality has dropped across all 3 parks (CWoA probably was my favourite park out of the visits last year TBH).  I noticed that at AT, unless you like roller coasters or kids rides, there actually isn't that much there.  Duel should have been removed and replaced, or even reverted back to its former scary self years ago, and Hex is a shadow of its former self.  I have never liked the Rapids since they removed the old boats.   
 
TP - DBGT - Ok this was not what I had originally envisioned for this plot of land.  I found it to be an interesting concept, however it was not delivered well. The queue lines design (or lack of) makes it one of the worst (if not the worst) queues I have ever been in.  I strangely found IACGMOH to be quite an enjoyable experience.   I think TP are now in a weird position where they have got to develop two large areas of the park - the island next to Swarm (Island A) or Loggers.  Which one do you do first?  Island A needs that development to remove the dead end at Swarm (Parks should never have dead ends, they need to be free flowing), or do you develop Loggers which is a dead corner of the park? Is the investment there?
 
CWoA seems to have flown under the radar a bit, and appears to have missed a lot of the Merlin clusterf**ks that have happened over the years.  However, the drop tower replacing Rameses is again lacklustre and screams of "cant be bothered to develop this park properly"...
 
Which leads me onto why I think these parks are suffering:
 
The Smiler accident - I should imagine the insurance premiums across the UK parks are now extremely high, effecting large scale investments As far as I am aware, Merlin did not operate any theme parks until acquiring Legoland and the Tussuad's Group.  I've noticed that all of the Merlin investments to date have either been lacklustre or poorly delivered (Ok Wickerman was good, however not too sure a pre-show was required - even though the show is good).  I think there is a lack of interest within the company (I found this out when I was working  at TP, and was shocked to find so many senior people not interested in the industry - a lot of them had never been to a Disney park... Its just a job to them) If you look at what parks around the world are announcing as new attractions, Merlin's UK offering is waaayyy behind everyone else.   One of the most heated discussions I had whilst working at TP was surrounding the lack of a decent family zone/area.  My argument was that parks such as Six Flags and Cedar Point (parks TP tries to emulate) all have decent (ish) kid friendly/family friendly areas. The answer from management was a return on the investment would not be possible as "how would they sell it"? Hopefully when (if) Paramount Park gets built, it will give Merlin a kick up the backside in getting there act together. Just my two cents...
M

This is the part that confirmed this thread must be a joke
 
Lol, there was a Bubbleworks campaign in 2016? That would have been about 10 years too late to save Bubble works...

This is the part that confirmed this thread must be a joke
 
Lol, there was a Bubbleworks campaign in 2016? That would have been about 10 years too late to save Bubble works...

Christ, this change sounds horrendous. Cringey. Bloody awful. 
 
Hex is one of my favourite things about Towers, and always a highlight when I visit. It’s sad and frustrating to hear that they’re destroying the atmosphere in there with annoying, cheesy “Come this way guys!” stuff, which it was doing absolutely fine without. What’s more, this is an attraction that relies so strongly on the atmosphere, whilst also creating its own atmosphere (I.e by utilising the Towers themselves). You can’t just plonk shouty staff members in there. 
Also, it hardly ever has a queue - so what’s the issue if the odd guest is a bit slow to leave the Octagon scene anyway? I can hardly imagine people have actually been left behind in there!
 
(Or maybe they have, and Towers are now retrieving their skeletons, hence the ride closure.)

1) There are other top spins in the UK (just not Huss ones)
 
2) No.

They are free to trial things, and we are providing the feedback. There's only a problem with trialling things if they dont listen to feedback.

Plus this idea sounds like its such a bad fit that they may as well trial painting Nemesis pink, putting VR on The Blade, getting Durex to sponsor Oblivion, etc
 
It was fine in the past because it was maintained properly in the past. If you remove or don't maintain the lighting that was designed to guide people on cue then they're not going to realise an entrance has opened up, and they don't understand that they're supposed to move forward.

If there is a group that still refuses to budge, use a pre-recorded announcement to tell them to move forward. It's really basic operational show stuff, there's not been some kind of cultural shift that means people no longer move through dark rides. It's the same story with all of Merlin's dark rides, bad maintenance.

Hex on the whole has seen better days, and people no longer respond to it as well as they used to. It needs a proper refurbishment to get it back to its original standard.

The lighting was bodged a fair bit in the TLC redo (people woudlnt have noticed specific changes, but you probably noticed it isn't as dramatic anymore, with lights going up and down at random.. meh). The cinema video needs a technical update too, find an inventive solution to keep the video but make the room more interesting ie Wickerman's preshow.
 
Easy! But it won't happen sadly.

They are free to trial things, and we are providing the feedback. There's only a problem with trialling things if they dont listen to feedback.

Plus this idea sounds like its such a bad fit that they may as well trial painting Nemesis pink, putting VR on The Blade, getting Durex to sponsor Oblivion, etc
 
It was fine in the past because it was maintained properly in the past. If you remove or don't maintain the lighting that was designed to guide people on cue then they're not going to realise an entrance has opened up, and they don't understand that they're supposed to move forward.

If there is a group that still refuses to budge, use a pre-recorded announcement to tell them to move forward. It's really basic operational show stuff, there's not been some kind of cultural shift that means people no longer move through dark rides. It's the same story with all of Merlin's dark rides, bad maintenance.

Hex on the whole has seen better days, and people no longer respond to it as well as they used to. It needs a proper refurbishment to get it back to its original standard.

The lighting was bodged a fair bit in the TLC redo (people woudlnt have noticed specific changes, but you probably noticed it isn't as dramatic anymore, with lights going up and down at random.. meh). The cinema video needs a technical update too, find an inventive solution to keep the video but make the room more interesting ie Wickerman's preshow.
 
Easy! But it won't happen sadly.

“Our most intense maze ever”
 
Man, I genuinely cannot wait to see what the vloggers such as Park Pixie, Coaster Click and Backseat Boiiii have to say about this, sounds as if they’re gonna have a field day over it!

I think the scariest attraction is going to be leaving the car park at the end of the night. 
 
The amount if time it takes to leave is honestly frightening!

Oh yes, I forgot, but that was just a temporary unadvertised staff idea for Scarefest (basically enthusiastic staff dressing up) one year. A bit of fun for Halloween I suppose, but not a big change really.
 
Duel Live was better, was advertised and had the different music, guns turned off, etc. The actors were alright, didn't add a huge amount, just banged things really. But it was turning the guns off and putting music in that made it feel so much better!

They are free to trial things, and we are providing the feedback. There's only a problem with trialling things if they dont listen to feedback.

Plus this idea sounds like its such a bad fit that they may as well trial painting Nemesis pink, putting VR on The Blade, getting Durex to sponsor Oblivion, etc
 
It was fine in the past because it was maintained properly in the past. If you remove or don't maintain the lighting that was designed to guide people on cue then they're not going to realise an entrance has opened up, and they don't understand that they're supposed to move forward.

If there is a group that still refuses to budge, use a pre-recorded announcement to tell them to move forward. It's really basic operational show stuff, there's not been some kind of cultural shift that means people no longer move through dark rides. It's the same story with all of Merlin's dark rides, bad maintenance.

Hex on the whole has seen better days, and people no longer respond to it as well as they used to. It needs a proper refurbishment to get it back to its original standard.

The lighting was bodged a fair bit in the TLC redo (people woudlnt have noticed specific changes, but you probably noticed it isn't as dramatic anymore, with lights going up and down at random.. meh). The cinema video needs a technical update too, find an inventive solution to keep the video but make the room more interesting ie Wickerman's preshow.
 
Easy! But it won't happen sadly.

There have been some whispers lately that apparently Hex has received actors inside the show rooms this summer and I can now confirm this is indeed the case after trying the ride today. But rather than enhance the experience, in my view, this change has bastardised the ride instead.
 
Now, I realise in the past this ride has had actors in the show buildings so this is not a new concept, but the way the actor interacted with the guests was honestly shameful to what the intention and design of this attraction was intended for. Here’s how it went:
 
The cinema room remains the same and everything up until that point was as it typically is, but as soon as the doors opened into the Octagon room, there was an actor with a torch in his hands shining at us telling us to “move along and follow me” obnoxiously loudly. We did so and once we gathered in the room near the TV screens, he started babbling lines about welcoming us to this historic site and that we should be observing all the artefacts around us before the screens started. He even injected some humour into the mix trying not to confuse his co-worker Boris for the PM... (*golf clap*)
 
But anyway, once the video finished and the equipment was malfunctioning, he proceeded to begin shouting “Stay calm ladies and gents! Remain where you are! It’s only a temporary glitch...”. From this point where the strobe lights occurred, he just aimlessly started flashing his torch in our faces, pointing the light randomly with an OTT reaction coupled with screams in sync to the effects used, almost as if this scene is meant to be funny, like a Dungeon scene.
 
Once it all ended, he shouted again at us to proceed up the stairs flashing his light all across the room. At this point I thought ‘okay, now that’s over, we won’t see him again. Right?’
 
Errrrm no...
 
As we walked up to the vault doors, he then followed us and started talking loudly again saying “You enjoying the tour so far?” with more humorous lines added in such as “We don’t have vault manuals” when there was a delay boarding.
 
Finally, we took our seats and this was the cream of the crop for me. He once again started shouting loudly at everyone telling them to take our seats (talking over the pre-recorded message inside the vault) and once the bars lowered, he stood near the entrance doors shining the torch in his face, and then gave us all a menacing look saying “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the vault, enjoy!” and then walked out with an evil laugh just before the ride began, with the whole room laughing too... and then the rest follows through until the end of the experience. I was just sitting there thinking “the heck?!” the whole time.
 
Now, don’t get me wrong, I am perfectly fine with actors having a bit of fun with guests and injecting humour into the mix, as in a lot of cases, it works pretty well - The Dungeons being a good example. But Hex is not meant to be humorous, loud or obnoxious one bit and this change has completely devalued the ride experience in my view.
 
Gone is the quiet, eerie atmosphere inside; gone is the feeling of isolation as you explore the ruins; gone is the feeling of tension; gone (for now) is the ride I love. Instead, we now have a spare actor left behind from Sub Terra/Ghost Train who has learnt how to combine his shouting skills with the accent of an Alton Towers Dungeon performer, who then proceeds to overlay that in three different scenes, eliminating any atmosphere the ride used to have.
 
Nothing against the actor personally, I just feel this is a very bad move by the park and hope the change is gone as soon as possible.

Some short snippets of the new Big One soundtrack, sounds great and has that trance/club style feel to it, from the short part heard I like. Much better than IMAsnore!
 
 
 

Thinking back to my first time on it, I made sure to go in with an open mind. I had no idea what to expect, the park had done a good job of keeping it all secret and ambiguous, but once we sat on the train things started to go very quickly downhill. I couldnt believe this was actually the ride, with a complete absence of any mystery, suspense (or Derren Brown). Just the same old 'Merlin horror attraction' tropes that reminded me of Saw Alive or the Dungeons, or Sub Terra.

When we got to the scene, I was feeling more excited, the set got large and it felt like we were in for a big moment. But it turned out to be more lame shouty acting and an underwhelming effect. Could have been great, but wasnt timed/lit right, and there wasnt much more to it—I mean we all knew there was gonna be a train crash as soon as it started. Is that really all they could think of?

And then, it was straight back to the VR boredom of the first half. Suddenly it was all over and everyone awkwardly, silently (no spontaneous applause as had been said!) shuffled to the exit.

I wondered if I'd done the same ride as everyone who was raving about it. Was I just being cynical? Id gone in ready to be surprised and would have really enjoyed a good, new dark ride. Very strange experience, that's my personal memory of it all anyway.

Hex is a great attraction, I love it. It's a brilliant exhibition of the ruins, it gets it just right and leaves a great impression. But it's really very basic, some props in the Towers ruins with a tried-and-tested ride type as a finale. I'm not wanting to downplay Hex, it's perfect, but I find it a bit overblown whenever fans say it's one of the best themed attractions in the continent.

Definitely the best themed madhouse. I think its atmosphere is the best thing about it (because of the Towers). But there are way more detailed, creative, well crafted, entertaining (whichever way you want to cut it) dark rides out there on their own merits. Not necessarily bigger or more flash.

I think enthusiasts put it on such a high pedestal because most great dark rides in Europe are for families. Hex has a more serious tone because of its incredible real life setting and enthusiasts like this. I first did Hex when I was young and I thought it was great, it was much better when it was newer too (some of the subtleties lost in recent years). But that's mostly owed to the incredible Towers I feel. It's a shame to overlook the incredible craft and creativity that's gone into better dark rides out there at parks like Efteling for example.

By the way, dont let me rain on your parade @ChessingtonSam , since you've just done it first time. It really is great. I'm more talking about the pedestal it gets put on by many enthusiasts in the UK.

Wot. The doors on the other side are meant to be shut. That's very funny, how could you not realise you were meant to sit down haha