Inferno

There is apparently a poster inside Trailers with an image of Ghost Train, with the wording “Ghost Train - The last train” underneath. I assume this means it will close at the end of the season. Time will tell I suppose. Photo from Theme Park Guide’s live blog - https://live.themeparkguide.co.uk/?live=FN25

This is a perfect summary of my thoughts as well. It’s quite an interesting subject really, because now that they’ve chosen to go down this new route of highly themed walkthroughs and dance shows etc I imagine it would be difficult to change course. The Asylum, Experiment 10 and Cabin in the Woods are examples of excellent Thorpe mazes in my opinion at least - but I imagine they would be poorly received if they “came back” exactly as they were, even if they were still “free” (or included in the event ticket price as I prefer to say!). I think now people have grown used to what a Thorpe scare maze “is”, and something like Asylum would probably now be seen as lazy, as it had next to no theming and just 2 stock songs playing in the queue, even though it could be an extremely intense experience. I also wonder if these sort of “more basic” attractions won’t be able to compete now adays due to the need for things to look good for social media etc, especially with Universal a few years away, Thorpe need to have impressive looking attractions I suppose so they can directly compete with HHN. I expect however, the real reason is that they need to justify the prices they’re charging for a run through, so it needs to look like it’s worth paying for, more so than the need for it to be scary. As you say Cal, times have changed I suppose.

Unfortunately I agree with the above posts - other than the night rides, I just can’t get excited for FN anymore, and the teaser trailer does nothing for me at all. These new style trailers they’ve been doing over the past few years are so vague, and rarely bear any resemblance to the event what so ever. FN is massively successful, so it would be wrong to suggest that the event has lost its way. I suppose it’s more accurate to say that its new format with highly themed walkthroughs and more passive scares (at sky high prices) just doesn’t appeal to my tastes. If this new scare zone is going to be similar to Swarm Invasion however then I’m not sure it’s just me that it won’t appeal to… it was genuinely crap, and honestly was barely recognisable as a scare zone. I have to say as well, the relentless flow of throwback scenes is tedious. Clearly the past has been very much left in the past by this new direction - it’s best to leave the old stuff behind and move on since realistically FN isn’t about out and out scares anymore. I miss the genuine scare opportunities that the mazes used to offer the actors, and as mentioned above I too really miss the ride overlays, even if it is just a bit of nice dispatch music. I miss the simplicity of it all - not long ago the mazes were designed to be scary, and elsewhere in the park efforts were made to level the experience up with different music and simple smoke machines etc. Although to be fair the lighting across the park is very good now isn’t it. Having said that, I’m very aware that the event hasn’t even started yet this year, so who knows, perhaps some of this has been considered and addressed. I look forward to hearing about it! I hope it’s a successful year for Thorpe this FN, and I’m pleased to see that so many people do seem to love this new style of scare event. I’m sure it will be well received.

Anyone know anything about what's happening with Zodiac? It's been closed since early June, with not a lot seemingly happening with it... Could Zodiac be going the same way as Enterprise? She's incredibly old now and frankly has had a very long life! There hasn't really been any news on it at all. If they do fix Zodiac, I hope they peel off the old branding off the top of each gondola.

Someone walked past me the other day in a cloud of vape smoke that bizarrely smelled just like a Merlin urinal. The smell of bubblegum just isn't the same for me since Merlin use it in their bogs!

To be fair, I have to wonder, is it that dire? Please don't get me wrong, there have been layoffs etc, which is truly awful for everyone affected (and everyone left behind tbh). The parks definitely aren't what they once were either, with reduced offerings, poor food, expensive admission and merch, and all round just shabbiness. Clearly things are not in a good way at Merlin, especially compared with the last decade or so. However.. The parks are still busy. Yes, attendance seems to be down, but it's not like it's completely dried up, and it's definitely not like they haven't invested in anything for years, as is happening elsewhere. Merlin are actually still investing. They are building numerous rides and lands, right now, in UK parks. Alton are getting new things for Scarefest, neglected rides have been re-opened, and they have had a new flat this year. We've just had the country's tallest and fastest coaster open at Thorpe. That's massive investment. Of course there are serious issues... but there are also good things happening, and the parks do seem to be thriving. They are also now not beholden to shareholders, and the idiotic execs that ran the company in to the ground have now all abandoned ship. The relentless pursuit of profit at any cost has finally come to an end - this can only be a good thing. What I'm trying to say is - it doesn't feel like Oakwood for example, which was all but abandoned towards the end. The Merlin parks do seem to be busy, and although I know this is contentious, they are receiving investment, all be it not on the scale it once was. I am hoping they continue investing, and guests continue to come through the gates, and hopefully soon they can turn things around.

Not a bad shout that Josh! Agreed, a retheme of twdtr would be a cost effective way to bring something new to Thorpe wouldn't it. I'd have thought we would have seen some marketing by now though? Unfortunately I think next year might be another quiet one (although we're still riding the wave from Hyperia's opening so not complaining!) Perhaps end of next season we’ll start seeing ads for something new. An X rethrme or perhaps a new flat ride since Zodiac seems to have died. I wonder if there are any plans at the moment for the next big ride. Or if it’s too soon

Interesting! I agree with the above comments about dark rides. Ghost Train robbed us of the dark ride we were supposed to have. I hope they do have another go at one at some point because I think the park really would benefit from one. As for the immediate future though, I agree, this has got to be the end of the line for it now hasn't it? Merlin have £0, and Ghost Train must cost a fortune to run in staff costs compared to other rides. It simply can't be worth the money to keep it going every day. I am sad that we never got the groundbreaking dark ride that it was supposed to be, but realistically it was a swing and a miss right from day one, and never really hit the mark, even after the re-theme. An ambitious but expensive miss-step, followed by a good attempt at a re-theme given what was available, and the bizarre investment in the adjoining cafe and shop later on after it was a proven flop - it's just never really worked, and must have been a huge drain on resources and money right from the start, despite the best efforts of the amazing cast. If it is closing, I honestly don't think many would even notice next season... Such a shame.

It’s quite a sad situation really. Caused, in my opinion at least, by the previous leadership and their unsustainable obsession with only investing in something if it would guarantee a direct and immediate return. Now across the business there are many expensive things to pay for, at the worst possible time given how many UK parks are struggling. What a rubbish time for everyone working at Merlin. I really hope they can turn it around soon for everyone’s sake.

Those prices are outrageous. But then I suppose prices for everything are outrageous now, so 🤷‍♂️

How have the queue times been at Chessington? Perhaps the demand isn't really there this season? (I have no idea) Attendance feels like it's lower in general at Towers and Thorpe this year. Don't know about Lego and Chessington.

Got to be Thorpe for me these days - they have had quite the turnaround over the last few years.

It's a very interesting one that's been touched on before in other topics. Apart from the excellent Wickerman, they've spent vast amounts of money over the last several years replacing the Haunted House, Hex, Sub Terra, Nemesis, Skyride and Ripsaw with... The Haunted House, Hex, Sub Terra, Nemesis, Skyride and Ripsaw... Yes they're all updated and in a couple of cases very different, but they're all essentially the same thing at the end of the day, and it's difficult to argue with that. Someone who last visited Alton Towers in 2014, over a decade ago, would realistically not see a lot of difference in terms of ride offering if they visited again tomorrow. In fact, there are fewer rides on offer. Don't get me wrong - I think its a very good thing that Skyride was saved, I think Curse is a vast improvement on Duel, and Nemesis' renewal and tart-up was a good thing to secure its future, but I agree with what you've said above. Realistically, to most people at least, none of it is truly new. It's neatly all been (granted, expensive) maintenance to existing attractions to keep them running... And the trouble is, they're not finished yet either. Galactica is crying out for a refurbishment and retime... so could that be yet another (all be it badly needed) large investment that needs doing instead of something truly new? It wouldn't surprise me, as it will probably be deemed worth investing in rather than scrapping. I think the truth is that Merlin has run nearly everything in to the ground, with little thought for the future. Although we all rode the wave of Merlin's success a decade ago, with new things coming in fairly regularly, their short-term thinking and obsession with only ever investing in a 'sure moneymaker' to satisfy the shareholders one year at a time has landed Towers here. The money that should have been spent on refurbishments and maintenance over the years was instead given to the top execs and the shareholders, and now everything's timed out at the same time, and is hoovering up all the money that would otherwise be available to invest in to new attractions etc. I'm very sad about the situation Alton Towers has been put in to by such poor leadership in the past. Clearly there is a lot of money being spent at Towers on getting things back on track. The recent renovations have mostly been excellent. But with more expensive fix-ups surely to come, and ongoing problems with reliability and aging rides elsewhere (Rita, Galactica, etc), they're not out of the woods yet. I hope there will be news soon on something truly new and exciting coming to Towers. They just can't keep replacing or re-theming everything for ever - even Disney have accepted that!

Those posters - my guess, now that the new stuff doesn’t seem to fit, is that there’s a new room in Trailers based on X:\NWO - one poster clearly says X, and the other resembles one of those manakins there used to be on the old X:\NWO brake runs.

It could be as simple as spending existing budget with the future in mind. They clearly had some form of budget set aside for the “sparkle project”, which (to some extent at least) was for the purpose of improving and polishing the existing park in general. What better way to achieve that than to tidy up old and defunct things, which at the same time will reduce the cost of a project later on as the clearance step will be partially done. Seems like quite a sensible decision to me as it has the future in mind.