Saz

Considering that they said other things would be 'changing', I think a X referb is on the cards as well.

Agreed. If anyone is having difficulty accepting the name just think of clowns. They're meant to be happy and funny but many people do find them scary...

http://vimeo.com/56623975 This was just posted on TT. If this is real the marketing people deserve Oscars or something.

Merlin continues with the letter 'S' appearing at the front of their most recent ride names: The Smiler The Swarm Saw the Ride Saw Alive Nemesis: Sub-Terra The Sanctuary

Remember, The Sanctuary is going to open this year at AT and that's going to be in a different area than SW7.

Hmm, I can't see how it would be feasible to reverse the back seats? Surely the train's structure wouldn't allow for it? Oh well.

That's ok, I guess. Even if it was taken down today (which it wasn't) it would take a number of days. In regards to a repaint, even if X is getting a refurb I doubt Merlin would invest in a full paint job of the whole pyramid considering that the ride is likely to be removed entirely within 5-7 years.

I drove down Staines Road yesterday and I can happily confirm that the X pyramid is still very much there.

I'm pretty confident it will relate to Swarm somehow. Thorpe want to ensure their investment in Swarm pays off, so the best thing they can do is add/retheme a ride which will further advertise it.

I suspect that by March 16th the ride will almost be complete. The track will most likely be completed within a couple of weeks so that leaves a good 8/9 weeks for theming/electricals/testing etc. If access to the site is still needed when the park opens, they can easily fence off a path straight to Oblivion/rest of X-Sector.

I read somewhere that a 'turning room' could be something associated with vampires. Perhaps it might host a Bram Stoker/Dracula show.

Detonator (5) Nemesis inferno (5) Rush (4) Stealth (6) The Swarm (5) Stealth + Rush -

Thanks for the list Cookie Dough! The only show I'm unsure about it the one that will be taking place in the room labelled 'The Turning Room'. As we now know that Vengeance won't be making an appearance, I wonder what we will see there...

I wonder if the new dungeons will keep the 'seance' story/show but without the Vengeance attraction? I mean guests could just sit round a large table with flickering lights and such going on.

The proof of the pudding will be whether they can actually transform what is currently a rather sterile looking ex-gallery into a convincing looking dungeon. The concept images look really good in my opinion so fingers crossed! From what I can seen in the plans, the 'Sweeney Todd' experience will first feature Fleet Street, followed by the barber shop and then it will conclude with the addition of the actual pie shop (as seen in the concept image).

Really excited for this. The Guy Fawkes and Henry VIII additions should be great - two significant eras in British history that were missed in the previous dungeon. I hope an indoor coaster is added at some point, similar to at the Amsterdam Dungeon. It's themed around 'the afterlife' so perhaps it could fit in after Extremis (I doubt there will be much space left though). Does anyone have the link to the plans for the new dungeon by any chance? Random thought, but perhaps Vengeance and old Extremis could make their way to Thorpe Park in 2014 as a new ride experience in the 4D theatre....

^Took the words right out of my mouth. I wonder why this didn't require planning permission - I guess it's simply because it isn't visible from outside the park and that it's small enough not to require any prior permission. Does anyone know if there will be smoke coming from top of the ambulence? It would create a nice mysterious atmosphere if it did ala Fright Nights.

Looks amazing. I wonder if there will be some sort of fence around it...

^ Hmm. Well I doubt it's Experiment 10 because that proved to be such a success at Thorpe. Aslyum is not moving for sure. My money is on either Se7en or The Curse.

Here are my ideas in order of probability: 1) Gas/water pipe repair/maintanence 2) New piece of scenery/guest interaction with water effects 3) New food/retail kiosk 4) Early marketing for 2013 ride - once again, workers have unearthed something during a routine dig Should be interesting to see what this amounts to!

Yeah, that was the gimmick the marketing team hoped would sell the ride, but it doesn't have the same ring to it as 'world's first ten looping coaster' or 'world's first horror themed roller coaster'. Don't get me wrong though, Swarm is easily one of the best coasters in the country in my opinion.

Perhaps it's because The Swarm doesn't really have much of a 'gimmick' per se. Colossus - "You go upside down 10 times!" Nemesis Inferno - "Ooo your legs dangle and it's like the one at Alton Towers." Stealth - "Wow it's really tall and fast!" Saw - "It's based round those Saw films." Swarm - "Errm you're like at each side of the track and you go under a plane." This is what worries me for the 2015 coaster - will Merlin think a coaster with no loops but a lot of airtime be marketable enough? Perhaps they should therefore go with that rumoured wooden coaster and stick a zero-g roll in it like the one currently being built over in the US....

^ Is this at Universal Orlando right?

I suppose this was innevitable. I do, however, think that there are ways to save money efficiently. For example, only running the monorail an hour before and after the opening hour and then an hour before and after the closing hour. Another idea would be to open some of the smaller food outlets later on in the day - I doubt many guests buy doughnuts the first second they arrive at the park.

Ahh yes, sorry I was getting confused. What I actually meant was that a pre-show and an after show would obviously boost the overall length of the entire attraction rather than the throughput, meaning that the entire attraction would hold say 75 people at one time, rather than 25 At least this way, guests would feel happier with having a 5 minute overall ride experience rather than simply expericencing a 1-2 minute ride. I mean Sub-Terra would be laughable if it was simply the drop tower on its own - I certainly woudn't queue 30 mins + for it.