Cal

So thoughts and notes from yesterday, which was a "VIP preview" for the season, where the park was open 10-3.
 
-We're light on changes. A couple of tweaks to F&B is really all that is "new"
 
-Repaints for part of Colossus and Depth Charge look nice. The small side of the Beach looks nice, also repainted, but it highlights the grime of the large side.
 
-Hyperia grass is nice. Could be extended more. They've added benches to the plaza which isn't a bad idea, but they're atop the wings on the ground, which irks me a bit.
 
-Many new pieces of merchandise, which are the usual high quality we've come to expect 
 
-Hyperia had issues yesterday, in large part due to the cold. Hopefully better today. Stealth had an issue during testing and didn't open.
 
-The park usually stumbles during first day or two of opening, and yesterday wasn't any different, with the cold affecting weather, and reliability being a bit on the weak side, but it did improve. I've been to significantly worse first days. 
 
-There's a few other bits and pieces around the park. Solar panels atop Ghost Train (but you only see them if you look for them on other rides). Walking Dead has had creative tweaks to the post-ride section. Some speakers seem to have been fixed. Tweak to end of day of audio.
 
If 2024 was Thorpe's year of improvement, 2025 is their year of stability. That's not a bad thing. But after a couple of years of multiple changes, it will have a different 'new season' vibe to it. 
 
The kicker for the park this year will be the quality and reach of marketing. That will be what makes or breaks them this year, with little to shout about in the way of new things 

Sounds like Hyperia has had its fair share of issues today. 
 
Credit where credits due though, they seem pretty on it maintenance wise this year. Can’t remember the last season all rides have opened at the start. Still 2 weeks till main season starts too. 
 
Saying that I have no idea how many trains the coasters were on. Still good to see though none the less. 

Not fussed about Rumba being closed till May, its crap anyway.
 
If cuts need to be made then I'd rather this than cutting staff elsewhere, less capacity on coasters or cutting opening hours.
 
 
It would be nice, but realistically the only coaster they can add it to would be Stealth. There was plans to do this but it would've required them to do some work to the queues to implement, and they were worried it would impact throughput. They don't currently assign rows on Stealth and it works fairly well, so I doubt that will change. 
 
It would work well on some of the flats too, Rush and Vortex would be nice. I don't see why these couldn't operate the same way that Samurais do using the same queue as the Fasttrack queue. Vortex used to have one and it worked well. 

Passholder day has been announced for Sunday 16th March.
 
Park is open 11am - 7pm which is nice, interesting as don’t think I’ve ever seen them open after 10am.
 
Would love to see some more of this, opening later and staying open later. 11am - 10pm would be great for fright nights. 

The last time I can recall the park opening after 10am was for Fright Nites 2003, when they did 11am-11pm. Still, a long time ago!
 
In any case, it's been a long time since the park did a passholder day, so it's lovely to see them do one again. The thing with these sort of days (ie ones at the start of season) is that the money they don't earn from standard entrance tickets is sort of recouped by the fact passholders tend to spend more than average on their first visit of the year due to new merchandise. Plus, it helps bring value to the annual pass (despite it already being great value) and added satisfaction. So it is win win.
 
A 7pm close giving the opportunity for a dusk ride or two is a lovely bonus too, and it's good to see the park continuing their experiment of offering later closing times. Hopefully that can continue. 
 
I also agree about Fright Nights: it would be interesting to see the park explore 11am-10pm at the very least. I don't know how realistic it is to happen, since one of the things that ties the park's hands is the number of under 18s working at the park. Equally, the park simply seem to have veered away from running rides till 10pm: they don't even do it for buy outs or their VIP/Press events. But it would be interesting to see.

Passholder day has been announced for Sunday 16th March.
 
Park is open 11am - 7pm which is nice, interesting as don’t think I’ve ever seen them open after 10am.
 
Would love to see some more of this, opening later and staying open later. 11am - 10pm would be great for fright nights. 

Is anyone feeling particularly positive about the upcoming season? 
 
 

Cables removed; the process has begun

We have a variety of threads for parks all around the world. But it's perhaps hard to track things. And there's also plenty of parks which we don't have threads for. 
 
BUT. Loads of parks around the world are getting new major rides for 2025. So let's try something new, and track them all in one thread.
 
So this will be the life and soul of any non-UK ride getting built. Some bigger / more popular parks / rides might get their own thread / attention, but this is for a bit of everything...
 
So here's a few to get us started...
 
Walibi Holland are getting YoY, a pair of duelling RMC single rail raptors...

The green track is an "extreme" ride featuring 6 inversions, whilst the blue is a "family" ride with no inversions.
 
Walibi Belgium are getting a triple-launched Gerstlauer family coaster...
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DD_9x7_oMeq/

 
Weiner Prater are getting Weiner Looping, a Mack BigDipper coaster...
https://rcdb.com/21673.htm
 
Fantasiana, in Austria, are getting Helios, a Mack Stryker coaster...
https://rcdb.com/19395.htm
 
Kings Dominion, in Virginia, USA, are getting Rapterra, a launched B&M Wing Rider...
 
Six Flags Great America, Illinois, USA, will open Wrath of Rakshasa, a B&M Dive Coaster with a 96 degree drop
 
Merlin will also open Legoland Shanghai later this year, which will include Big LEGO Coaster, a family B&M Invert. It will also go around the world's biggest minifigure...

 
Another thing, which I'll create a thread for later, is Six Flags Qiddiya, set to open later this year in Saudi Arabia. It will have 9 coasters, including Iron Rattler, a 200ft Vekoma tilt coaster and Spitfire, an Intamin triple launch coaster with a 240ft tall inverted top hat.
 
Oh, and Falcon's Flight, the Intamin coaster which will be partially built on a cliff. It will be the tallest, fastest and longer coaster in the world. It will have a max elevation change of 640ft, including a 525ft tall free standing airtime hill, a max speed of around 155mph (beating Formula Rossa's 149mph), and a length of 13,943ft (beating Steel Dragon 2000's 8,133ft). 
 



 
Track is complete and testing is set to take place in the next couple of months apparently.
 
 
Feel free to add any updates / discuss here!
 

It seems that the logo has been added to somewhat.
 
This has made an appearance on a lot of the social media posts and marketing emails over the past couple of weeks.
 

 
I have to say I’m not sure this is a step in the right direction. I know the logo has been controversial, but this busy new animated park skyline element sat on top of the existing logo doesn’t fit in with the new sleek and minimal branding.  It feels a bit like an addition that’s been made as an afterthought, by someone other than the original designers of the branding.
 
I think it’s a bit of a shame that the brand overall is already becoming muddy after just one year, and it’s being strayed from quite a lot, even with something as important as the logo.
 
Aside from that, I’m not sure what on earth they were thinking by having this as their app icon instead of the “Thorpe” text that was there before
 

 
This really bears no resemblance to the park or the brand at all. Nowhere in the branding is this standalone T referred to at all, and it isn’t an icon that’s used anywhere to symbolise Thorpe Park.
 
imagine a brand like British Airways having this as their app icon… Ridiculous.

If it’s iconic enough, like Virgin’s red V or easyJet’s lowercase orange e for example, that’s great - but BA’s B, and certainly Thorpe’s T, aren’t.
 
Again, I think the idea behind the new TP brand design has been lost a little. 
I know it was controversial, but this can’t be what the designers had in mind at all. We now seem to have quite a messy crossover between the sleek and colourful branding, and efforts made by others since it was designed.
 
I think the logo text was deliberately simple, and was always supposed to be either intertwined with the squiggly bits as shown in the reveal videos, or overlayed directly on to bold images as shown on the sample posters.
 

 

 

 

 
 

I've just come across this document which does confirm this area will be accessible before the park opens.
 
'The proposed new seating and gathering area will provide a location for visitors to dwell when they arrive in the morning prior to the rides opening, and after they have passed through the ticket kiosks and security/bag check. This will assist in reducing queues and improve guest experience.'
 
 
It also states that the stage will host up to 18 shows/events over the season in addition to the entertainment already provided. So sounds like they're planning additional events over summer maybe? I know they used to hold some concert type events (back in 2015/16 maybe) unsure how successful they were? 
 
'In addition, it is proposed that the stage will host up to 18 shows/events over the season for bands where the music will be louder and more like a concert format (capacity of 2,000 guests). These events will take place through the year. To protect residential amenity, noise levels will be reduced at 11pm to the pre-agreed park levels.'
 
'The only new activities will comprise up to a maximum of 18 days per annum where events can take place up to 95dBA within the audience area. These events will be carefully managed and will end at 11:00pm.'

I've just come across this document which does confirm this area will be accessible before the park opens.
 
'The proposed new seating and gathering area will provide a location for visitors to dwell when they arrive in the morning prior to the rides opening, and after they have passed through the ticket kiosks and security/bag check. This will assist in reducing queues and improve guest experience.'
 
 
It also states that the stage will host up to 18 shows/events over the season in addition to the entertainment already provided. So sounds like they're planning additional events over summer maybe? I know they used to hold some concert type events (back in 2015/16 maybe) unsure how successful they were? 
 
'In addition, it is proposed that the stage will host up to 18 shows/events over the season for bands where the music will be louder and more like a concert format (capacity of 2,000 guests). These events will take place through the year. To protect residential amenity, noise levels will be reduced at 11pm to the pre-agreed park levels.'
 
'The only new activities will comprise up to a maximum of 18 days per annum where events can take place up to 95dBA within the audience area. These events will be carefully managed and will end at 11:00pm.'

I've just come across this document which does confirm this area will be accessible before the park opens.
 
'The proposed new seating and gathering area will provide a location for visitors to dwell when they arrive in the morning prior to the rides opening, and after they have passed through the ticket kiosks and security/bag check. This will assist in reducing queues and improve guest experience.'
 
 
It also states that the stage will host up to 18 shows/events over the season in addition to the entertainment already provided. So sounds like they're planning additional events over summer maybe? I know they used to hold some concert type events (back in 2015/16 maybe) unsure how successful they were? 
 
'In addition, it is proposed that the stage will host up to 18 shows/events over the season for bands where the music will be louder and more like a concert format (capacity of 2,000 guests). These events will take place through the year. To protect residential amenity, noise levels will be reduced at 11pm to the pre-agreed park levels.'
 
'The only new activities will comprise up to a maximum of 18 days per annum where events can take place up to 95dBA within the audience area. These events will be carefully managed and will end at 11:00pm.'

@Cal that's an incredible bargain, however I'm a fake fan and am MAP-less!

Have you got a merlin pass/thorpe pass? 
 
If you book a date either side of a closed date in September for 2 people its currently £65 and include unlimited all day fasttrack including on Hyperia. Crazy value seeing as Hyperia 1 shots are currently £20.
 
https://www.thorpepark.com/short-breaks/offers-packages/merlin-holiday-club/

One of the over-riding conditions related to the Thorpe Hotel proposal - which has been in place since the park first looked into it almost 20 years ago(!!) - was that they wouldn't have more than 250 hotel rooms on site. 
 
I wonder if them looking into a smaller hotel means they're looking at keeping the Shark Cabins (which currently has 90 rooms, but permission for up to 184)? So that way they can have a budget option and a more expensive option. 
 
 
Also, having looked into the planning application a bit more - the current main hotel application is still valid and can be used for development.

Suppose I should update some of my top 10 stuff, following that Cali trip. 
 

Coasters:
1/ Steel Vengeance 
2/ Veloci-coaster
3/ Zadra 
4/ Toutatis 
5/ Mako
6/ X2
7/ Hyperion
8/ Voltron
9/ Hyperia
10/ Nemesis Reborn 
 

Dark rides:
1/ Tower of Terror WDW
2/ Rise Of The Resistance 
3/ Indiana Jones- Disneyland 
4/ Guardians Mission Breakout
5/ Pirates In Batavia 
6/ Pirates Of The Caribbean Disney Cali 
7/ Forbidden Journey 
8/ Phantom Manor 
9/ Runaway Railway 
10/ Symbolica 
 

Theme parks 
1/ Europa Park 
2/ Universal Orlando 
3/ Cedar Point 
4/ Disneyland Resort 
5/ Phantasialand 
6/ Disney World 
7/ Energylandia 
8/ Six Flags Magic Mountain 
9/ Parc Asterix 
10/ Disneyland Paris 
 
TLDR, Wonder Woman was my 300th coaster.

I think I'm done for the year to be honest. 
First off the new rides of 2024 list. This won't include Nemesis Reborn cos.. well it isn't all new. Coaster enthusiasm is complicated.
 
1. Voltron. An incredible ride, fully kicks your arse, full of ejector time and a sheer masterclass of ride design.
2. Taiga. A true bucket list ride and it delivered on every level. By far my favourite Intamin, this is just absolute excellence.
3. Fury 325. I really enjoyed Fury 325. I see why people call it their favourite B&M because it is an excellent ride. So so fast.
4. Afterburn. A very under-rated inverter. It's a very European style B&M with no MCBR and very intense.
5. Thunderhead. I loved this ride so much. It was honestly such a surprise to me because it's full of air-time, long and twisty and so re-ridable. I could have ridden all day
6. Hyperia. This probably wouldn't be so high if it wasn't for it being in the UK to be honest. It really lacks that final something that the very best rollercoasters have. I find it more and more frustrating the more I ride. 
7. Copperhead Strike. I was a little surprised at how much I enjoyed Copperhead to be honest. It has some bizarre pacing but it is a lot of fun. 
8. Aerieforce One. The joy of this ride is that it's very easy to ride. Literally no one visits this park so you can get a quick ten rides in an hour and then be on your way. It's a great RMC and surprisingly high on my list.
9. Goliath (Six Flags over Georgia). Fantasic B&M. Has a lot of ejector air time and a really vicious ending that I LOVED.  Its worth a visit to over Georgia for this ride alone.
10. La Fianna Force. I'd heard how great this ride was and.. it is. It's so well paced and jam packed with intensity. The restraints are so freeing and un-restricting. You'll love it like I did.
 
And finally.. the top ten of 2024. 
 
1. Steel Vengeance (first ridden 2018). Yes.. the top ride for 2023 remains my favourite. We had several rides back in July and it more then lived up to my memory. We had some incredible rides with people we met in the queue for this during our night rides. They were so much fun. American theme parks just sort of.. encourage talking. This happened a lot. 
2. Nemesis Reborn. (first ridden in 2024 or 2004 depending on your point of view). Nemesis has slipped to number two for the simple reason that Vengeance is just better. Nemesis Reborn still lives up to the original. I think it's astounding that it's just picked up where the original left off. I don't feel the roughness, I just sit there and enjoy a masterpiece of rollercoaster design. No other Inverter is so loved and respected. I saw this described as a legacy coaster. And it really is.
3. Ride to Happiness. (first ridden in 2022). This felt like Mack really giving it their all. Well it did at the time. This is a spectacular ride which rides differently every single time. I'm looking forward to going back and riding again.
4. Voltron (first ridden in 2024). I think Voltron is outstanding. It's already my top ride from the new for 2024. But it really is incredible and confirms to me that Mack are at the forefront of rollercoaster design. Any park that buys a Mack deserves to be noticed and rides like Voltron are why.
5. Taiga. (first ridden in 2024). Following up from before, I love Taiga. it's my favourite Intamin because it has an outstanding layout that constantly surprises. I love diving up and down the hillside, the ejector air time, the beautiful blue track winding around itself. Linnamaki is so easy to get to so I shall be back..
6. Toutatis (first ridden in 2023). Another excellent Intamin slipping only slightly. I find Toutatis so unbelievably rerideable and so much fun. Pack Asterix run it superbly which really helps. A must do.
7. Fury 325. (First ridden in 2024). What I really appreciated about Fury was the operations. Cedar Fair can be a hit and miss with their operations. Fury was the ride that did operations right with an engaged and efficient ride crew that went out of their way to fill every seat and keep the queue moving. 
8. Baron 1898. (First ridden in 2017). This of course isn't the best B&M dive machine ever with its chill heights and short layout. but the theme just sells to me every single time. Their dedication to still doing the train ticket loading is amazing because other parks would have ditched that years ago.  It always delivers as well, with the ride being slightlier punchier every time I go.
9. Wildcats Revenge (First ridden in 2023). A fantastic RMC that went surprisingly under the radar when it was being constructed but has sometime how opened to be a full on favourite.
10. Blue Fire (First ridden in 2010). This ride somehow still stands up. Its still smooth, its still run more efficiently then any other rollercoaster I've ever ridden. It's not as impressive to me as it once was but that's purely because Mack are at a whole different level. But without Blue Fire, we wouldn't have Voltron, Copperhead or Ride to Happiness.
 
 
See ya in 2025
 

There had been a fair amount of discourse about the "Final Beach Party" poster that appeared by DeadBeat...
 

 
With the date being today, last day for season, and time being advertised as "8.25pm". There were some people expecting something to happen on the Beach at that time.
 
There was a small gathering of people by the Beach at this time, but actors from the Creature Campus dance show told people the party had relocated to Stealth. At 8.30pm, the final Creature Campus show of the season played out as normal, no additions.
 
Now, with work currently happening to dig up the Beach, it seems like something is happening there. And the aim of the poster is to tell us the Beach is going, with the time of "8.25pm" being a nod to "20.25", ie it being replaced for the 2025 season.
 
Seems like it didn't gather enough steam to become an issue. But this is perhaps a cautionary tale for Thorpe to try to not be too clever with their Easter eggs...
 
Also, does again seem to suggest we're seeing a Beach replacement in 2025. Again, with no indication of plans submitted, no tease beyond what we've got, and the location we have, I expect we're not in for a new ride. Flattening out the area and turning into a space for the stage, with permanent seating, would be a good option in my books.

Looks good. I'd assume it isn't just a copy and paste job as there would have been some thought about publishing it.
 
I don't think these tend to get finalised until later in the year / early 2025, so we could see some tweaks yet, as well as additions / later closing times like we did this year.
 
But yeah, stable opening times is a win at the moment. Hopefully they can experiment with some later closings over summer, but even if they stay as is, I'm happy with what we've got.

I know its early but thought it would be good to keep conversation of 2025 separate. 
 
Opening hours for the 2025 have been released already.
 
https://www.thorpepark.com/plan-your-visit/before-you-visit/opening-times/
 
- Season will start on Friday 28th March and end on Sunday 2nd November.
- Continuation of 5pm closes for off peak weekdays, 6pm for holidays and every weekend.
- Couple of closed Wednesdays during April and May but they were very quiet this year.
- 7pm closes throughout the summer holidays and every Saturday from mid June. 
- September has a couple of closed Wednesdays. 
- Park will be closed in October except for Fright Night dates + Thurs 2nd which will likely be press night. Fright nights has the exact same amount of nights and structure to 2024.
 
Overall, they're pretty good and very similar to this years apart from some extra closed days, which were all very quiet this year. Its good to see they haven't been cut with the uncertainty around merlin at the moment. Of course they are subject to change but I've never seen Thorpe reduce their opening hours once published.
 
I would love to see the return of some 9pm closes in summer and 10pm for Fright Nights, or even trial a later opening and closing time for Fright Nights so we have more time in the dark. 

I know its early but thought it would be good to keep conversation of 2025 separate. 
 
Opening hours for the 2025 have been released already.
 
https://www.thorpepark.com/plan-your-visit/before-you-visit/opening-times/
 
- Season will start on Friday 28th March and end on Sunday 2nd November.
- Continuation of 5pm closes for off peak weekdays, 6pm for holidays and every weekend.
- Couple of closed Wednesdays during April and May but they were very quiet this year.
- 7pm closes throughout the summer holidays and every Saturday from mid June. 
- September has a couple of closed Wednesdays. 
- Park will be closed in October except for Fright Night dates + Thurs 2nd which will likely be press night. Fright nights has the exact same amount of nights and structure to 2024.
 
Overall, they're pretty good and very similar to this years apart from some extra closed days, which were all very quiet this year. Its good to see they haven't been cut with the uncertainty around merlin at the moment. Of course they are subject to change but I've never seen Thorpe reduce their opening hours once published.
 
I would love to see the return of some 9pm closes in summer and 10pm for Fright Nights, or even trial a later opening and closing time for Fright Nights so we have more time in the dark. 

I know its early but thought it would be good to keep conversation of 2025 separate. 
 
Opening hours for the 2025 have been released already.
 
https://www.thorpepark.com/plan-your-visit/before-you-visit/opening-times/
 
- Season will start on Friday 28th March and end on Sunday 2nd November.
- Continuation of 5pm closes for off peak weekdays, 6pm for holidays and every weekend.
- Couple of closed Wednesdays during April and May but they were very quiet this year.
- 7pm closes throughout the summer holidays and every Saturday from mid June. 
- September has a couple of closed Wednesdays. 
- Park will be closed in October except for Fright Night dates + Thurs 2nd which will likely be press night. Fright nights has the exact same amount of nights and structure to 2024.
 
Overall, they're pretty good and very similar to this years apart from some extra closed days, which were all very quiet this year. Its good to see they haven't been cut with the uncertainty around merlin at the moment. Of course they are subject to change but I've never seen Thorpe reduce their opening hours once published.
 
I would love to see the return of some 9pm closes in summer and 10pm for Fright Nights, or even trial a later opening and closing time for Fright Nights so we have more time in the dark. 

Looks like the park have decided to open Ghost train at 12 instead of 3 on these busy days too which is good, and very much needed.

Looks like the park have decided to open Ghost train at 12 instead of 3 on these busy days too which is good, and very much needed.