SteveJ

They  already have automated fire doors between scenes (or at least Hocus Pocus did and it would be part of regulations for this to as well) so it would actually be pretty simple to have gates or something along those lines. The reason is probably cost.

I think it would be awkward but would at least make the format work, ideally they should have ditched the stop and watch format altogether and just have a jolly good walkaround

This is interesting, I know its creative designer Andy mentioned in a video that it was always intended to be automatic with timed scenes, but that they were running it manually for a run-in period  to "get the timings right".

But when I did it in Spring, it seemed like the staff member was vital because how else would people know how long to spend in each scene? It was still all laid out like a walkthrough so it encouraged you to just walk straight through. The staff member leading you around lasted a lot longer than Merlin planned for so it seems like even they realised this, until there came a point they had to cut the cost.

This whole attraction is pants. I cant imagine why it was designed this way, with too much focus on stopping to tell a story than actually occupying guests' interest. Either arrogance from MMM or forced on them by the IP owner (another reason to not rely on IPs). Otherwise, it could have been really nice.

So Broom has seen some changes recently, and arguably for the worse..
 
Instead of having a staff member guide you around the attraction, stopping at each scene and getting children to interact, you now walk around by yourself. At the start, you're encouraged to wait in each scene for it to play, but of course no one does wait. 
 
What this now means is you have an awkward walkthrough with lots of dimly lit corridors lit only by 'twinkling stars' with the occasional scene which you never get timed right. All sense of everything is lost. Even Hocus Pocus in its state last year was better, because at least there was theming throughout and stuff to interact with that made sense.
 
As previously mentioned, I didn't like the how it was originally set out, being staff-led, etc., but that's how it was designed to run. Not running it like that makes it even worse.
 
Question remains whether this was a budget thing (you now only need 2 staff to run it rather than like 4-5), or an experience/throughput thing (the queue moves quicker now for example). Either way, not good.
 
Chessington have a real dud on their hands.

They're doing one count better than Chessington then, which still hasnt got a new coaster after 15 years! I may discover whether it's abysmal or not but I  feel more inclined to go visit parks like that than most UK parks at the moment. All down to value for money.
 
It was a bumper year for the park, but then why have all their other IP attempts at Thorpe since been such big flops? The entire park was in a different situation. They're now feeling the pinch after years of too much focus on short fads instead of long term redevelopment and improvement.

On the subject of IPs. Merlin have just tried to suggest in their interim results that its Legoland performances have been disappointing because the Lego Movie 2 didnt bring in the extra guests expected. But they'll still build more and more Lego Movie attractions anyway, becoming even more reliant on the performance of other media rather than build the quality of their own parks.

IP popularity can be used to boost parks in the short term but overusing it like Merlin do will just come back to bite you.

They're doing one count better than Chessington then, which still hasnt got a new coaster after 15 years! I may discover whether it's abysmal or not but I  feel more inclined to go visit parks like that than most UK parks at the moment. All down to value for money.
 
It was a bumper year for the park, but then why have all their other IP attempts at Thorpe since been such big flops? The entire park was in a different situation. They're now feeling the pinch after years of too much focus on short fads instead of long term redevelopment and improvement.

On the subject of IPs. Merlin have just tried to suggest in their interim results that its Legoland performances have been disappointing because the Lego Movie 2 didnt bring in the extra guests expected. But they'll still build more and more Lego Movie attractions anyway, becoming even more reliant on the performance of other media rather than build the quality of their own parks.

IP popularity can be used to boost parks in the short term but overusing it like Merlin do will just come back to bite you.

They're doing one count better than Chessington then, which still hasnt got a new coaster after 15 years! I may discover whether it's abysmal or not but I  feel more inclined to go visit parks like that than most UK parks at the moment. All down to value for money.
 
It was a bumper year for the park, but then why have all their other IP attempts at Thorpe since been such big flops? The entire park was in a different situation. They're now feeling the pinch after years of too much focus on short fads instead of long term redevelopment and improvement.

On the subject of IPs. Merlin have just tried to suggest in their interim results that its Legoland performances have been disappointing because the Lego Movie 2 didnt bring in the extra guests expected. But they'll still build more and more Lego Movie attractions anyway, becoming even more reliant on the performance of other media rather than build the quality of their own parks.

IP popularity can be used to boost parks in the short term but overusing it like Merlin do will just come back to bite you.

When this is what we ended up with, you think back to all the rubbish that was spoken about DBGT on its launch. So many enthusiasts coming out telling everyone it was near enough better than Universal, the best attraction "the UK" had ever produced, "that I couldnt help but clap when it finished". I even had some enthusiast friends who were scorned for not having done it yet as if it was a duty to go see it the moment it opened, as if Thorpe Park was a charity and you had an obligation to support the greatest ride ever made. Honestly...

All this was said about the original version too. I wouldnt be surprised if all those people were just getting free tickets from Thorpe to say whatever the park wanted.

When this is what we ended up with, you think back to all the rubbish that was spoken about DBGT on its launch. So many enthusiasts coming out telling everyone it was near enough better than Universal, the best attraction "the UK" had ever produced, "that I couldnt help but clap when it finished". I even had some enthusiast friends who were scorned for not having done it yet as if it was a duty to go see it the moment it opened, as if Thorpe Park was a charity and you had an obligation to support the greatest ride ever made. Honestly...

All this was said about the original version too. I wouldnt be surprised if all those people were just getting free tickets from Thorpe to say whatever the park wanted.

When this is what we ended up with, you think back to all the rubbish that was spoken about DBGT on its launch. So many enthusiasts coming out telling everyone it was near enough better than Universal, the best attraction "the UK" had ever produced, "that I couldnt help but clap when it finished". I even had some enthusiast friends who were scorned for not having done it yet as if it was a duty to go see it the moment it opened, as if Thorpe Park was a charity and you had an obligation to support the greatest ride ever made. Honestly...

All this was said about the original version too. I wouldnt be surprised if all those people were just getting free tickets from Thorpe to say whatever the park wanted.

When this is what we ended up with, you think back to all the rubbish that was spoken about DBGT on its launch. So many enthusiasts coming out telling everyone it was near enough better than Universal, the best attraction "the UK" had ever produced, "that I couldnt help but clap when it finished". I even had some enthusiast friends who were scorned for not having done it yet as if it was a duty to go see it the moment it opened, as if Thorpe Park was a charity and you had an obligation to support the greatest ride ever made. Honestly...

All this was said about the original version too. I wouldnt be surprised if all those people were just getting free tickets from Thorpe to say whatever the park wanted.

Another classic from Face-Fok ltd!!

Fantastic! And the park looks so wonderful.

I've been on DBGT at least 3 or 4 times now at various points in its life. Of course there is some novelty the first time. 
 
One time, we all got on the first train, to find only one headset on the whole carriage was working. They then led us out some random exit through what looked like a store room with random stuff piled up, to then have to join the fastpass queue (?). Honestly the organisation was tragic. Oh and of course we had to watch the pre show again... yay.
 
Another time we had the shop scare which was fun and unexpected for me, and when I went again with different friends I was looking forward to them jumping. Unfortunately, no actor! This was early on in halloween season but it was a weekend in fright nights... so its pretty poor.
 
Honestly I don't know what the future holds for this 'ride'. maybe changing the middle section and the VRs, or an entirely new story line, but its one of those that nobody who's done it before will be excited to come back to the park for it. 

We finally have footage of the Black Forest Chateau organist. He pretty much looks like a human version of the one in the Vampire's station.

Ingenius. Why didn't they think to hire you to make the ride?

Ingenius. Why didn't they think to hire you to make the ride?

It looked like a video shot on a £10 budget by some ride staff over winter. It was there for only a couple months in 2007. There was no 'virus' seen in the video, just some random clips with voiceover

Put it this way, I'm kicking the park for only responding to what people want when it gets them easy money. Any other park reaching 40, even small ones, would at least do something and make an event of it, bring people in. This is surely the main thing people want when they ask for 40th celebreations. But as expected, it was all cancelled bar the merch.

Other than that, it is funny how people will spend money to buy a logo for something they never knew or did, although I udnerstand people like to collect this stuff. Nostalgia sells. I might as well go buy a t shirt for a 1981 post punk US tour that I wasnt born for just because I like the record.
 

He did indeed visit the park last week, for all of one hour. Somehow I don't think he likes the place, the funding the park gets from Merlin sure shows it!

He did indeed visit the park last week, for all of one hour. Somehow I don't think he likes the place, the funding the park gets from Merlin sure shows it!

Took my little brother (4 years old) through Broom today. And he didn't really like it.
 
He wasn't a fan of the forced interaction: a stranger trying to encourage him to go forward and interact with stuff just didn't work. He's not shy or anything either; just being a small dark space made him not want to interact. The effects were decent and got a good reaction, but it makes it a passive experience.
 
So yeah, someone who's bang in the target market for this didn't like it. My personal opinion means little in that sense, but I was even less keen: it's an experience which is too focused on young children, the scenes are very cramped and awkwardly paced and it just doesn't seem like something which the whole family can enjoy. 
 
Particularly a shame given the theming and effects are good.

Do you mean to suggest Thorpe Park made a loss by not meeting that visitor target? I dont know how well they did that year but I'm sure the additional annual cost of operating The Swarm was relatively small

Parks make most their profit from in-park expenditure on food and retail rather than tickets. Thorpe built new coasters in quick succession in the 2000s to increase the capacity of the park and increase the draw, to bring numbers way up, but eventually you reach a plateau.

I think Merlin found that they'd already reached that point when Swarm didn't reach much higher. However it probably wouldn't have meant the Swarm was not financially viable, it just meant it didn't increase attendance to the heights they (ambitiously) wanted.

I would argue they spent too much focus on endless big new rides without thinking about the park on the whole. It wasnt sustainable and you end up with today's poor value for money putting off returning guests. They have actually increased park attendance without increasing the space much, ending up with overcrowding and long queues.

Well here's a story, I actually enjoyed Walking Dead! But I don't think it will be successful (and apparently hasnt been). The reason is, entertainment has once again been sidelined in favour of marketing formula. The formula is broken. "Every ride must have a world first or an IP" is broken.

The ride before this had a wider appeal and attracted an age group much more fitting for the experience. X No Way Out was never designed to be a super scary ride and it never could be. It had a scary edge because of the weirdness and darkness, but it was more than that and could be enjoyed by older kids and young teenagers.

By making it themed to a violent horror show, it puts off people who don't like it. Those who do like it will be disappointed, because it's just a dressed up family coaster with some corridors. And those who've never seen the show may be put off by the promise of "actors touching you" and 'extreme' horror (which doesnt really exist). So who are you left with? Who is this ride for?

Once again the IP formula shoots the park in the foot. Add to that how poorly designed the entrance and surrounding area is means nobody can find it. So nobody's going in! The ugly barbed wire opposite the sorry remains of Octopus Garden and a big cartoon sign saying "Poop deck" is just the most hilarious thing Ive ever seen. Possibly worse than Legoland's Haunted House as worst Merlin entrance ever.

The preshow is total garbage. But after that, the simple fact that something happens during the ride now (like was always intended to) suddenly makes this a fun ride. X was calling out for this for about 20 years! It's insane that it took this long. We now have animations and moments during the stopping points, which creates a memorable ride. The sound design is fantastic too!

But again this appeals better to a younger audience than Walking Dead fans. The effects are mostly good and very well timed (although a couple are pretty hokey and I dont like the TVs). This would have worked really well as a family haunted ride, but people expecting extreme horro will just laugh.

I enjoyed it, but it should have been done properly. Shouldnt have been IP, should have happened 20 years ago and should have used the preshow rooms instead of just endless corridors. Then it could have been a family staple for Thorpe Park, rather than another Merlin 5 year failure.

Do you mean to suggest Thorpe Park made a loss by not meeting that visitor target? I dont know how well they did that year but I'm sure the additional annual cost of operating The Swarm was relatively small

Parks make most their profit from in-park expenditure on food and retail rather than tickets. Thorpe built new coasters in quick succession in the 2000s to increase the capacity of the park and increase the draw, to bring numbers way up, but eventually you reach a plateau.

I think Merlin found that they'd already reached that point when Swarm didn't reach much higher. However it probably wouldn't have meant the Swarm was not financially viable, it just meant it didn't increase attendance to the heights they (ambitiously) wanted.

I would argue they spent too much focus on endless big new rides without thinking about the park on the whole. It wasnt sustainable and you end up with today's poor value for money putting off returning guests. They have actually increased park attendance without increasing the space much, ending up with overcrowding and long queues.

Well here's a story, I actually enjoyed Walking Dead! But I don't think it will be successful (and apparently hasnt been). The reason is, entertainment has once again been sidelined in favour of marketing formula. The formula is broken. "Every ride must have a world first or an IP" is broken.

The ride before this had a wider appeal and attracted an age group much more fitting for the experience. X No Way Out was never designed to be a super scary ride and it never could be. It had a scary edge because of the weirdness and darkness, but it was more than that and could be enjoyed by older kids and young teenagers.

By making it themed to a violent horror show, it puts off people who don't like it. Those who do like it will be disappointed, because it's just a dressed up family coaster with some corridors. And those who've never seen the show may be put off by the promise of "actors touching you" and 'extreme' horror (which doesnt really exist). So who are you left with? Who is this ride for?

Once again the IP formula shoots the park in the foot. Add to that how poorly designed the entrance and surrounding area is means nobody can find it. So nobody's going in! The ugly barbed wire opposite the sorry remains of Octopus Garden and a big cartoon sign saying "Poop deck" is just the most hilarious thing Ive ever seen. Possibly worse than Legoland's Haunted House as worst Merlin entrance ever.

The preshow is total garbage. But after that, the simple fact that something happens during the ride now (like was always intended to) suddenly makes this a fun ride. X was calling out for this for about 20 years! It's insane that it took this long. We now have animations and moments during the stopping points, which creates a memorable ride. The sound design is fantastic too!

But again this appeals better to a younger audience than Walking Dead fans. The effects are mostly good and very well timed (although a couple are pretty hokey and I dont like the TVs). This would have worked really well as a family haunted ride, but people expecting extreme horro will just laugh.

I enjoyed it, but it should have been done properly. Shouldnt have been IP, should have happened 20 years ago and should have used the preshow rooms instead of just endless corridors. Then it could have been a family staple for Thorpe Park, rather than another Merlin 5 year failure.