Glitch

I wonder if this year or next, you will be able to pay a small fortune to get an eater egg of your own within the mazes.

Did they give you a mask to wear over your eyes.

So much positivity on this thread! Be happy for a new coaster. RE the IP, perhaps Jumanji will have a new film coming out in the next few years, apparently the budget is significant so hopefully we will be getting an excellent immersive experience. The rollercoaster looks different and I look forward to trying it. * Pending restraints don't discriminate against tall people.

What do you get if you mix the London Dungeons, Derren Brown's Ghost train and a £70 (average) price per person ticket? Glad you asked.... You get a 2hour, 20 odd scene story rendition of Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds, an excellent story with a premise of these metal alien human killing robot machines, as seen in Woking. As a fan of the story seeing the arena show and music maybe 3 times now, it was refreshing to see the concept transformed into an interactive experience promising VR, simulators and live actors. But why do I compare to the Ghost train and dungeons? Well because many of the scenes were a bit like something I had experienced in the London dungeons before and the attraction relied on using the bulky VR headsets 4 times throughout the attraction including the finale, and as with VR the technology can be very hit and miss. With a £70 pp price tag this isn't your average MAP holder group attraction, I'm sure they would be complaining about the price alone, but that does mean the groups are smaller around 12 say and are generally engaged with the story rather than focusing on what they can complain about to report back to the 1000's of followers on the MAP group. Oh and one last thing before I go into spoiler mode, @Martin Doyle and @Mattgwise would be proud to know that they give you robber style masks to cover around your eye's, for what I can only assume is to block out vision to the unthemed ceilings or perhaps a Covid protocol for VR. If you do go let me know your thoughts, ok in spoiler mode... (I still don't know how to add spoilers so sorry) THINGS I LIKED: A really well themed bar greeted you on what looks to be an office block building in the heart of the city of London (Ledinhall Street) The artillery man scene was excellent as a peppers ghost effect somehow transformed a live actor into a ball of fire. Excellent use of mini planetarium style cinemas to project a scene in 360. Props, we used a telescope with projections to look at the planets and see the red mist come in. A slide Isolation booths + VR, now this really did up the scare factor, you started in isolated booths, pretending to be a confessional in a church, the alien then comes and sets fire to the church and starts to probe people, heighten by the litter picker effect of staff prodding you and the scream's around making you know what is coming... I really think Thorpe could do something like this to make DBGT a better attraction. Engaged cast, really passionate about their roles. THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE SO MUCH: Some scenes were carbon copies of what you would get at the Dungeons for example sitting around a table in the pitch black etc... they could of been a bit more creative. An over reliance on VR including the finale which was a balloon ride / motion simulator, by this point I was getting a bit sick of faffing around with a headset and would of preferred a live action finale. Ended within obligatory green screen photo, that will be another £25 please.... Price, not worth £70+ So overall is was a bit of an upmarket London dungeons with new technology, hopefully Merlin will go, test it and incorporate it into their concepts or even do one better and buy the place, hopefully making it a bit more affordable. Tickets and images are available here: https://thewaroftheworldsimmersive.com/ Overall: 7/10

Lets be honest that doesn't really matter. 1) If your double vaxxed, and still have Covid, the pass will let you in no test needed. 2) They are easy to just screenshot and share. - So no vax required,. 3) Nowhere I have been yet scans the QR code and thats been about * events so far.

That's the thing, of course its good and a convenience, however I can't imagine the take-up to be worth the time of the people there. Would the resource be better used elsewhere? It's a nice thing but I can just imagine staff sitting around doing nothing all day.

Seems to be becoming a regular occurrence at theme parks. Didn't Drayton Manor flood recently?

Probably good, tbh all the Mazes bar the hayride, clown, prison, chainsaw and mask one, the rest all just blend into one.

the legroom looks beautiful, hopefully this see's the end of those Spinball type torture devices.

I wonder if this was planned before or after everyone complaining about the plain wall?

Have TPM considered asking for an easter egg on every new item or attraction placed in the park yet? Its a trend I don't mind for nostalgia or people who have worked on designing the project but really when are we going to stop placing Youtubers names across these things.....

I'd like to see the return of tent based mazes this year, however with Covid I don't see that happening.

I personally would get Merlin to either sell Thorpe, which won't happen or reinvent the theme park into a Netflix exclusive IP attractions. IP's work to make money in merch sales etc, perhaps to the enthusiasts hatred, but I'm just wondering when Netflix will truly get into the Themepark space to compete with Disney or Universal, seems like the next step for them. With a solid budget I'm sure something cool could happen to reinvent Thorpe. Although this will never happen, I'm just dreaming.

Not a fan of the new Swarm audio, would just prefer an extended loop of the Swarm song.

Sorted it....

TBH I saw the London resort as being prime real estate for a Merlin Midway hub, if they wanted to expand on their central London offerings.

Yeah, this is sad if true, all I can say is lets hope London resort take a trip to chessington.

Ah yes, the classic I went in peak time, when the UK is in a domestic days out boom, however still expected the park to be empty. All days this season will be busy as there is demand all year long for domestic activities, so perhaps try mid week instead next time. Personally I like to get to the parks early so I don't have to deal with the security lines, going to the back of the park I'm then able to knock 4 rides out in the first hour or so. The rest of the day, I like to take in the atmosphere and go with the flow. Rides breakdown, its always is going to happen, and upselling of Fastrack needs to unfortunatly be aggressive due to to the abused RAP product and accompanying carer pass which I'm sure costs the park a pretty penny in lost admissions sales each year. On another note: Upselling of Fastrack was intense. Staff obviously tasked with hard-selling Fastrack. At the start of the day, staff were repeatedly mentioning they were expecting 90min+ queues. Where you not expecting this? A peak day at TP will warrant long lines.

Sounds familiar, I guess two roller coasters is cheaper than 1

That's a really good way of thinking, perhaps X themed to Black mirror would of been an excellent attraction. Although I do hate X due to the size of the cards and 2 per train rules.

If anyone is looking to get into the industry this may be worthwhile. IP Executive @ Merlin. Salary is quite low however it doesn't mention any qualifications so it may be good if you want to get your foot in the door at Merlin other than working as a ride op. https://merlin.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/4/home/requisition/8617?c=merlin

Can't wait for all the positive reviews tomorrow glowing for the glorified mirror maze at the worry for getting pushed off the press event for the 2025 RMC press event.

I'm putting my money on some new wacky RMC concept.

The consultation team probably hated having enthusiasts in the room trying to get the first scoop of ride manufacturer etc when the goal is to get local residents onside. Just like the fixation on will there be an RMC in the London Resort consultations. I think we also have to remember that the teams at MMM and Chessington arn't stupid, I would expect something new and something they can market. If Croc drop is anything to go by on a flat ride, I'm sure that they have something cool in their back pocket. Lets just wait for July before criticizing that they are building a ride with 0 capacity.

Who know's what Merlin may or may not have up there sleeve's, but I'm sure we can expect a UK or World's first in some gimmick or another. Capacity doesn't really bother as I wouldn't go on a peak day, however I don't think Merlin are stupid. This looks from the planning, to be a BIG and COSTLY investment, so I'm sure all elements will be taken into consideration and perhaps even some new technology built. I look forward to following the project and look another Wickerman style structure by the looks of things.