Kerfuffle

Have you ridden the ride yet? Could you refrain these thoughts until after riding?

DLP has the best Magic Kingdom #truthbombs

Hey guys - hope it’s ok to start a new topic here as there was no where else I could find to put this.
 
Many of you will have met @Roodie at various meets over the past 17 months.  His first meet was Fright Nights 2016 and the day I first met him.  Since then I’ve got to know and spend time with this wonderful member of TPM - the reason I’m posting this is because sadly Adam (Roodie) has recently been diagnosed with incurable cancer and has spent the past 5 weeks in hospital.
 
Adam has 2 young sons (ages just 6 and 4) and is desperate to spend the time that he has making memories with them while at the same time raising money for MacMillan.
His illness has forced him to quit work and so financially he is currently unavailable to do much in the way of taking his boys out (and while he recovers from surgery to his spine).
 
His niece today set up a just giving page and it would mean a massive amount if you guys could take a look, share, or make a small donation (every penny counts).
 
Thanks so much for reading this post xx
 
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/hannah-tutt?utm_id=1&utm_term=Ab9bDrkdE

This is just my personal view but usually an immersive story can be there when multiple rides within a themed area basically tell the same story but from different perspectives. While I agree with preshows a lot, this can also be indicated through various references to the other attractions associated with the theme.
 
Now this is all pretty hard to put into words I know, so I'll just point out that one of the best examples of an entire themed area telling one story is DLP's version of Frontierland. They literally took the Haunted Mansion and deliberately redesigned it with a Western theme purely for the purpose of storytelling. As a result, Big Thunder Mountain, Phantom Manor and the rest of the area all form together into one massive ghost story of the Ravenswood family and the rise and fall of Thunder Mesa - Big Thunder Mountain acting as the source of the wealth gained and Phantom Manor of course being the home of the mine's founder - Henry Ravenswood. I mean for god's sake, not many people know of the secret tunnel the miners used to remove gold from Big Thunder for themselves, knowing Henry Ravenswood was taking most of it. The entrance to this "tunnel" is apparently located in the gift shop. And wasn't one of the purposes of the BTM revamp so that it fits in with Phantom Manor a bit more? I haven't been to DLP since 2004 so I wouldn't know if Henry, being the owner of Big Thunder Mining Co, is mentioned somewhere on the ride, namely in the queueline. Even Phantom Manor has the obvious touches like Big Thunder Mountain looming over in one of the scenes, as well as some hidden ones such as, from what I've heard, a small portrait of Henry Ravenswood himself. It's the little hints Disney either hide away in a dark corner or even have right in front of your face that can really bring a story to life.
 
So the question is, why can't Merlin do this? Or indeed when have they done this, even on a smaller scale?
 
Well to answer this, let's just refer back to some past attractions. If we're only talking UK rides, Scorpion Express is probably the only Merlin development that has "story" written before you in big bold letters from the moment you enter the queue...in a real way. Given that the queue is littered with proclamations which CLEARLY narrate past events of Scorpion Valley right before you, as well as the Governor also telling the same story through a mock radio station, the story here is easy to understand and, through a kid's point of view, probably turns a simple mine train coaster into some kind of adventure. However, the missed opportunity here is one that lies only around the corner. While Rattlesnake doesn't exactly have a story (because let's face it, it takes 5 seconds to get the slightest image of the silver mine being abandoned due to the threat of a venomous snake in the tunnels), since Scorpion Express' opening, it's had a little potential for expansion. It's difficult to explain and put into action, but it's nothing more than a gut feeling that SE and Rattlesnake could become connected if the work was put ever in.
 
Also while many others have been thinking the exact same thing for the past 7 years, I'll just say The Swarm could've easily been designed to fit in with Amity Cove. Tidal Wave's audio DOES include some nutter warning of the invasion of an alien race. Well considering Lez Cougan was also portrayed as a nutter, the buildup would've been similar, however with a completely different outcome. The Forbs anyone?
 
Anyway, staying on the topic of Wicker Man, while we're obviously not 101% aware of the story it's going to tell, whether it has one or not, just out of opinion it's obvious the ride could've easily had a loose Pirate theme, ultimately giving much deeper meaning to Mutiny Bay as an area. References could've included something along the lines of a hostile mob of pirates arriving at the Bay in a torrent of cannonfire (*cough* Battle Galleons *cough*), various other past events transpire...and then the coaster would expand the story even further by moving onto present and future events of the story. Saying that, the theme for Wicker Man is still very interesting at the end of the day, I have nothing against it, and I am anticipating on how Towers are going to pull this off.

In the last three months I've got engaged and got a promotion at work. Life is somehow amazing right now. 

Problem is we've seen it time and again with Merlin's attempts of theming/experience attractions, and I speak as someone who likes Sub Terra... There's always that ONE mis-step made that stops them from being that high quality they do strive to be... I've still not bothered with DBGT, but that it itself has been high evidence of the difference between theory and practical in terms of experience attractions...
 
Given rides a story for the sake of having a story does not work, bigger parks than Merlin have buggered that one up enough times... And tbh I don't think being to the level of Baron 1898's pre-show is actually that far beyond MMM; given that it is just well designed projection mapping, but the devil is in the details... Would Merlin add a little hatch that opens up when the ghosts appear, or have the physical scenery move when they fly off? As I say there's always that one step they miss that prevents them from going from good to great...

Quoting this so we can bathe in Steven's wrongness in a little over 3 weeks' time.

Famous last words

Observing all the moaners in this thread like

I’ve often felt like this in my younger years - giving all I could within friendships etc only to be treated like crud and people just walking away.   It used to upset me a lot but now I just think screw it.  People can be sh!t holes but don’t let that stop who you are as a person - don’t change for anyone

My my my, you guys, you made me swim back with your comments! Okay. So. Things to consider, some has been touched upon.
 
New director of Thorpe in the last year or two, so that brings a new opinion, view and strategy of the direction they want the park to go into.
 
Comparing this to DBGT is a bit stupid to be frank. Okay it’s opening year wasn’t great, and then, the creative team seemed to change slightly (I'm not speaking any names in my posts) and suddenly the experience was significantly improved. It’s the same team behind this, and to be honest from a theming and concept side, following on from DBGTROTD and Living Nightmare I think this could be a pretty well thought out and produced project, despite the IP/horror/height restriction change.
 
Someone touched upon Old Town kids rides and Slammer. Firstly, the Old Town rides were in Weymouth Sealife. Why put them into storage if they can be put into an area. Without them that corner of Thorpe would be Rocky on its own. And Slammer, well it’s still standing. It might not be set to run again, but we don’t know what’s happening there; let’s be honest.
 
Someone touched on budgets. Yep. Bang on. Merlin’s had a tough year in the UK and yes, as many know anyway, LEGOLAND parks and midways are where the money is. Hence why they’ve not bought or opened any theme parks without a brand. Even the rumours of SeaWorld/Busch have an element of brand identity within their sale. The company has spent a lot of time growing Heide Park and Gardaland to push them in their local rankings; and has invested as needed into the UK parks as they’ve gone along (Thirteen, Smiler, Wicker Man, Swarm, DBGT...) unfortunately there’s gonna be a cross of budgets. Thorpe is doing satisfactory for the company so much like CWOA and LEGOLAND the money is invested at present at Towers to try and regain footfall.
 
And finally, bearing in mind people know full well where I stand on TWD (even the mazes) TWD did unfortunately do amazingly well last Fright Nights. And whilst people look at this year as ‘X Retheme’ to the general public it’s the year of TWDTR, SAW: Alive, Late Nights etc. It may be a small investment but my god, they’ve been clever. To a paying customer there is basically the Fright Nights appeal (to a degree) for most of the year with the 10pm closes and scare mazes.
 
I think don’t knock it until you try it. And even then just be patient. There’s a lot more behind the scenes than ANYBODY could truly understand I’m sure that swings these decisions; and have trust in each individual that they want the best for the park the same we do. And for the love of god just try and be polite. Positive criticisms and all that; as these teams work damn behind the scenes I bet to bring things like this to reality; it’s not REALLY fair for people to rip it to shreds before they’ve even physically seen the entrance, let alone ridden it.
 
Flipper, out.
 
PS Flying Fish is a family ride. Could suit a non-rider parent, a disabled adult, a young child. You can’t tarnish it as a ‘baby ride’ when actually it can cater to many more than you may initially think.

Can I illustrate a rant in one picture? Because this sums up my life with a few people at the mo and it just baffles me how people can think this is fair...

Observing all the moaners in this thread like

Observing all the moaners in this thread like

Observing all the moaners in this thread like

Observing all the moaners in this thread like

Sneak peek at testing - fire and smoke effects - looking good!

So there’s a 1.4m height restriction once again on a coaster which succeeded these last several years for welcoming those just 1m onto, along with a minimum age restriction that’s higher than Saw: The Ride?
 
I have one word for this and I frankly don’t care how nicely themed it might be when it opens:
 
FAIL

This whole thing is the biggest joke since Storm Surge and DBGT Year 1

"It’s 15 out of ten on the scare scale.”
(John Burton, Thorpe Park)
 
Look forward to having a t-shirt with that printed on it in time for Ministry of Sound meet-up 

After all that effort in reducing the height restriction too
 
The short termism thing for parks is never good...

Converts one of their few family rides (and a great ride in it's own right) into an age gated scare-a-thon.
 
What a mess...

Ahh yes, abandoned prison: the ride. Or TWDLNESZ for short (The walking dead living nightmare extreme safe zone.) 

I wonder if they're going to announce a X re-theme?
Just a wild theory of mine...