Inferno

Watching it go around, it does look like it's going to be cut short at the end. It also seems much shorter than I seem to have imagined it being 😬 And that's with it going slowly! Still - what a ride. Very exciting to see it going around for the first time! The first element is taken at a good speed even this early in the testing, and the hangtime looks wild towards the end.

Hyperia has just dispatched from the station for the first time, within the last minute, and is currently at the bottom of the lift waiting to ascend. Live stream here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwCOiaDEU9c

Hmm.. hopefully it’s going to be ok. They got the first train in and on the track within a couple of days so hopefully it’ll be the same for the second! the timing does feel tight on this doesn’t it 😬

I agree with the comments about the queue. It’s a massive shame we have cattle pens in literal cages again. Considering the ride is literally built on a lake surrounded by woods, it’s a shame some of that wasn’t used for the queue. I hope it’s got a great throughput so it’s not such an issue being stood in the cages. In a few years at least they’ll hopefully bypass the worst of the cattle pens, like they do with Swarm now, since it won’t get a full queue often.

How weird… these are pretty major rides to have unavailable.

You don’t need fastrack for UK theme parks though, and the absence of it from this pass will only help the queues move faster, including the Fastrack queue.

It does feel a bit like Chessington is a bit behind compared to the other Merlin parks. They still seem to be stuck in the money-grabbing Varney era, when Thorpe and Towers have had a big leadership change and a new way of thinking. Keeping Rattlesnake closed on peak days is dreadful and feels a lot like what Merlin were doing across the board when they were scrounging for savings for the shareholders. Embarrassing and unprofessional. At least Mandril has had its air gates changed to allow the station to actually be used now. Does Chessington struggle to retain engineers or something? They seem to have constant problems with availability and reliability, more so than anywhere else.

I quite like it. You can still tell what it is. Just like a lot of the other apps out there, it doesn’t need to have the whole logo or the name or the app.

Any thoughts from anyone who has been at Thorpe these past couple of days? The pics I’ve seen look great. Definitely a massive improvement. The area leading up to Hyperia looks very good from what I’ve seen. The entrance on the other hand really doesn’t look great - hopefully this is on the cards for the next year or so.

I haven’t been yet - going next month - but everything I’ve seen looks incredible. I love a good dispatch sequence and this one looks fab. The whole station interior looks extremely good!! A lot better than the old one with the dreadful audio. The eye is pretty cool. Can anyone confirm what it actually does? I've seen that it closes (Nemesis sleeps) when a train is not going round, ‘looks’ to the right when a train leaves the station to watch it going up the lift, and “shakes” and roars when it goes over the station - but does it also follow the train around the track or do anything else? I’m fascinated with it to be honest - think it’s great what they’ve done with it and it really does set the bar high for future projects

This all sounds very promising. Finally some investment in some general upkeep! I’m hoping that when Universal opens, Merlin’s parks will have no choice but to keep on top of all this every season, and there will be no need to spend millions in one go to fix years of rot and decay. Still, this sounds great! Looking forward to seeing what’s new!

Ugh. That TPG article said they’re going to be fixing it - there’s still time, here’s hoping. I'm assuming they’re doing away with those faded billboards either side as well?

Great news! So excited to ride this. I guess the next milestone will be trains, which I assume won’t be long now, closely followed by testing

I wonder if you’ll still be able to see the splashdown? if not, it makes you wonder what’s the point of that, since splashdowns really are better for onlookers than for riders.

1.3 minimum height is a great step forwards. all sounding great!

https://themeparkguide.co.uk/news-page/Thorpe-Park-A-Look-Behind-Closed-Doors-One-Month-Till-Opening-2024 a great article on Theme Park Guide here about the many changes Some good news for the entrance, although not the major overhaul it needs, it’s all being repainted and the terrible screen is finally being repaired. interesting to read that all of the relatively new “surf” theming in the dome is now gone and will be replaced by the newly branded stuff. I feel like that all only just arrived! A LOT going on, everywhere by the looks of it. Looking forward to seeing it all when it opens

The memorial is done really well over in the garden and it’s a much better place for it now Loggers is gone. It’s good they’ve kept that up for all these years. Jack Silkstone’s latest video shows a little room in the back corner of the loading platform. Any ideas what this could be for?

Come on now, is it as bad as all that? The work they’re doing across the park has been very good so far, especially at Stealth and Colossus. Even if Detonator isn’t going to be like the concept art, it’s an improvement on Angry Birds, is only one part of a new area, and it isn’t even finished yet. I do have to say though it baffles me that everything Merlin do goes right down to the wire - you’d think they’d be at the “finishing touches” stage ok everything now wouldn’t you considering how close opening day is.

Wow they really are doing amazing things this year aren’t they. Really well done. Looking forward to seeing Thorpe all shiny and new!

The golden part of the lift hill is now in place! It looks like that’s it now for gold track pieces, only some white pieces to go now. Looking forward to seeing it at its full height. It’s already looking enormous from the M3. Any guesses at an opening date? I’m going to take a punt at early May.

Amazing how quickly 3 years goes isn’t it. It was a nice little maze the first year, but it has definitely run its course I think. A good spot for a FN maze available again now!

Only if they do ride access pass 💅

Looks Incredible There doesn’t seem to be a huge number of rides in the park, but what’s there looks like it could be absolutely amazing. Great to see a duelling coaster returning too! Universal are really putting the pressure on Disney now aren’t they. Can you imagine in a few years time we get a similar trailer for the UK’s universal? A park like this will really shake things up here.

I suppose they could SAW a bit off (while nodding at it of course out of respect) and hang it up somewhere in Exodus’ queue as a nod to the past. Then everyone could nod to it while queueing. The rest could go in to a new “throwback” scare maze - called Scrambled Easter Eggs - with the rest of the thrown out old stuff from the past. It’s not junk if it’s an Easter egg. Rocky Express could go in there too, along with three of those bags that went over your head in The Passing, and one of the old toilet seats from the dome toilets.

🤦‍♂️