Inferno

According to Theme Park Guide, Merlin have outsourced the food and beverage operations (in all of their UK parks and hotels) to Aramark. This is one of the companies who do the food for schools, hospitals and prisons. There are some cheap jokes to be made here because of the industries they're in, but actually I've always had good experiences with hospital food, and the food at my school at least wasn't bad! (no idea if it was Aramark though) It looks like F&B staff at the Merlin parks and hotels will be employed by Aramark from March, similar to how HB Leisure run the games etc on Merlin property. I think this is potentially good news. The food offerings at Merlin parks have been declining for a few years. Alton Towers' food options are beyond ridiculous, especially around Halloween/fireworks season, there simply aren't enough restaurants and the food they serve even in the 'higher-end' places is terrible. Thorpe and Chessington's food isn't quite as bad, but I hear Legoland's is DIRE and extortionately expensive. I think it's a bit of a shame that Merlin can't run their F&B like they used to. The food in their hotels was quite good until not too long ago, and the likes of Woodcutters and PizzaPasta weren't bad for theme park outlets. It's gone severely downhill since those days though. I wonder what, if anything, will change? And will Thorpe continue to run the KFC and Burger King franchises, as I assume they are Merlin employees working at the franchise brand? Time will tell.

I'm off to New York in a couple of months, and we're just looking in to things to do. The Coney Island Cyclone has always been on the 'must do' list for me, but I must admit I've felt a little disappointed this week when I looked Luna Park up. I've had a look at @Coaster's Blog and it sounds worth the visit, but other reviews I've read have been than enthusiastic! Anyone had any experience with this park? Is it worth going? Is it worth the journey from central Manhattan? Any tips, etc?

Much the same with me really - I quite like screens on dark rides, especially when properly combined with physical sets. I do understand people's issue with screens though. Some rides really do rely too heavily on them, and I do sometimes think they can take away from what a dark ride should be. I haven't been on Skull Island, but it looks almost as disappointing as Fast and Furious, which was an absolute joke. When used subtly though they're great - one ride that impressed me was Revenge of the Mummy - that uses physical sets and fire etc, along with subtle screens that are only used briefly to simulate scarab beetles coming out of the cracks in the wall - brilliant.

Angry Birds 4D Experience (5) Black Mirror Labyrinth (5) Colossus (5) Depth Charge (5) Derren Brown’s Ghost Train (4) Detonator: Bomb's Away (5) Flying Fish (5) King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems (5) Lumber Jump (5) Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride (5) Nemesis Inferno (6) Quantum (5) Rocky Express (5) Rumba Rapids (5) Rush (5) Samurai (5) Saw - The Ride (5) Stealth (5) Storm in a Teacup (5) Storm Surge (5) The Swarm (5) Tidal Wave (5) Timber Tug Boat (5) Vortex (5) Zodiac (5) Nemesis Inferno + Derren Brown’s Ghost Train -

Loggers Leap?

Surely this just simply isn’t going to happen.. right? As Benin has pointed out, this has been going on for years and the entire thing has literally just been vague fantasy drawings and blue-sky concept art, with occasional “news” of some ‘rich folk’ talking business and apparently chucking money around… It’s all rubbish. I’ll happily buy a London Resort souvenir hat on opening day and eat it if this opens as anything near resembling what they are talking about, but I just can’t see this ever getting anywhere.

Amity Beach (2) Angry Birds 4D Experience (5) Black Mirror Labyrinth (5) Colossus (4) Depth Charge (5) Derren Brown’s Ghost Train (5) Detonator: Bomb's Away (5) Flying Fish (5) King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems (5) Lumber Jump (5) Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride (5) Nemesis Inferno (7) Quantum (6) Rocky Express (6) Rumba Rapids (5) Rush (5) Samurai (6) Saw - The Ride (5) Stealth (5) Storm in a Teacup (5) Storm Surge (5) The Swarm (5) Tidal Wave (5) Timber Tug Boat (5) Vortex (5) Zodiac (5) Nemesis Inferno + Derren Browns Stupid Ghost Train -

I can’t help but think this ride is going to do more harm than good. The queues are going to be horrifying on anything but quiet days.

Seriously though that's really positive that they're planning on opening it this Summer.

It's interesting isn't it. There can't be too many parks in the world who will have the dilemma of most of their rides becoming 'old' around the same time. I hadn't even thought to mention the ageing flat rides. Good point. I'd be very interested to find out how much it would cost to re-track a coaster vs demolish and build something new, and I suppose in reality this is what decides it. If it's 20% more expensive to get rid and build new, surely there isn't a lot of point in re-building any of Thorpe's coasters when their time comes, when they can build and market something totally new? As for Colossus - yeah, it was Thorpe's first biggie, and it's certainly still a good ride, especially if they re-tracked and had new trains to solve the horrible issues in the station.. But is that money well spent when they could build something new? I'm not so sure. To put it in to perspective, picture the hoards of 17 / 18 / 19 year olds driving to the park this year - Colossus was open and running before they were born.. It could now be seen by a lot of Thorpe's audience as 'pretty old' - scary but true! It also doesn't seem to have the wow factor / legendary status that Nemesis does, which is also a factor I suppose.

With the recent news of Nemesis being re-tracked after almost 30 years of service, it's got me thinking about the fate of Thorpe Park's ageing coasters. If we take Nemesis' life-span as a guide, and apply it to Thorpe's coasters, it means they might need major work doing sooner rather than later. Colossus - 8 years from now Nemesis Inferno - 9 years from now Stealth - 12 years from now Saw - 15 years from now (supposedly, although I think it'll need doing far sooner) I'd imagine that Colossus and Saw might need retiring/re-tracking earlier than Nemesis. The reason I bring this up is that this could leave Thorpe in a bit of a pickle.. They had an unusual few years where they invested heavily in new coasters and rides almost back to back, which was great at the time, but it does mean they are all ageing together. Could this mean that Thorpe will soon enter a difficult period where some of their major rides need to be either removed or overhauled? And what would this mean financially, could it affect investment in new attractions again? I might be completely wrong to assume this, but thought it was worth a discussion!

Fingers crossed they don’t use the new style vest restraints if this is a rebuild

Wow. It looks incredible. The consultation period is over now isn’t it? I assume it won’t be too long now until we see the actual plans.

I was just thinking about this coaster the other day - it's interesting isn't it, you'd think the majority of the expense has been spent already considering it's all built.. Maybe naively I'd have thought it's almost just a case of opening it now and wait for the crowds to show up, but I guess it's more complicated than that. Perhaps it's not actually been fully paid for yet considering Covid wiped them out? Or maybe they're waiting until they can be as sure as they can that they'll open it during a season when as many people can attend as possible, with low risk of having to shut or reduce capacity? It does seem a massive shame that they've clearly spent quite a lot of money to but it and get it built, and it's just sat there with no sign of life.

True - it could be. They seem to have issues with the foundations don’t they apparently? Theres also a clone opening soon (supposedly at least), so it won’t even be unique to the UK. on the other hand though there’s space available elsewhere for new rides in the future.

Haha love it! The ride experience is then just a literal train crash in the station before even reaching the lift hill, but it all being deemed ok due to it being “better this way”. Also the shop at the end will have no staff and be empty due to supply chain issues. And don’t forget - at 11:00, 14:00 and 16:00 daily there will also be a fight in the loggers lake with some french fisherman 🤷‍♂️

Come on Thorpe. A double-down tribute to Loggers. Please 🙏

@JoshC. I knew this thread had your name written all over it, and you didn’t disappoint! I love all these theme park Easter eggs - keep them coming people 😂

Ugh. I've tried so hard 😆

Thorpe is full of hidden secrets and Easter eggs, and the internet is full of videos and websites listing them (this is one of the better ones). I used to consider myself a bit of an expert on Thorpe Park - I knew every little detail, in ever corner of the island, but my attendance dropped a little in recent years and now I'm not sure I'm quite the nerd I once was! I learned of a few new ones from that article! I thought It'd be interesting to hear if you know of any little-known hidden details (Easter eggs) at Thorpe Park? My favourite one is probably the high water line on the KFC building from the tidal wave!

This is such an interesting thread. Totally agree with the points raised here about lack of direction, poor marketing and lack of investment. I think, to an extent, Saw the ride happened to Thorpe Park. When Saw opened, the park was buzzing. The park was PACKED all year, and the new coaster seemed to have an almost legendary reputation across the country. Similar to the Smiler, I remember frequently seeing people wandering around, even down here in the west-country, wearing Saw the Ride lanyards, bags and tshirts. Thorpe and Saw seemed to come up in conversation, and the adverts were all over the TV and online. You couldn't miss it. Riding on the wave of 10 years of huge investment, Thorpe Park was almost entirely brand new, with a seemingly ever-growing selection of rides. With the draw of the new rides, along with the incredible value of 2for1 day tickets and cheap annual passes, Thorpe had truly hit the jackpot by building Saw. They were untouchable. They could do no wrong. "Build it and they will come" seemed to be the winning formula, and who could argue? It worked! Then The Swarm opened, and even though it was a very good and well received ride, for reasons I still don't understand Merlin declared it a failure. I'm not sure they knew what to do - everything they'd done up until this point had been a huge success. Had the bubble burst? It started to unravel.. I feel like since Saw, there's been this attitude that if it has a sticker on it with some bought-in brand, it will succeed - it's bound to, right? I mean, it worked with Saw! And to be fair, Lionsgate Fright Nights started very well, we had some very unique mazes, with huge crowds loving them. Then the bubble really did burst. The woefully embarrassing Angry Birds land arrived, the desperately poor I'm a Celeb maze opened, the optimistic and well-meaning Walking Dead rebranding came and went without much fanfare, and the dreadful Derren Brown's Ghost Train pulled in to the park about as gracefully as a delayed Southern Trains service. Then came the maze that absolutely nobody wanted, Black Mirror, I mean who actually wants this stuff? Time after time, it feels like the park have been desperately trying to replicate Saw on a budget, by sticking branded labels on things to try to sell them (especially with Walking Dead), but it just isn't working. What makes matters worse though, in the pursuit of the Saw the Ride holy grail, the rest of the park has been forgotten about and left to rot. Literally. I hope Exodus can buck the trend, and remind the powers that be that people ultimately want a great day out on some exciting rides that will stand the test of time, not a list of brands and TV shows from 5 years ago to take a selfie in front of. I'm hopeful that Exodus marks a definitive end to the nonsense, and the park can flourish again on their own merit.

Really though.. Does anyone have any predictions for 2022? I suppose there won't be much changing at all considering Exodus is around the corner, and of course nothing has been announced or hinted at. I'd assume it'll be another year heavily focussing on events? I did see on Instagram recently they put out a 'would you prefer' poll, with 2 styles of circus branding for a new Carnival event. (Probably should have taken a screenshot) #BIGTOP2K22 I'm beginning to wonder if it'll even open in March now due to Covid - there's so much unknown isn't there!

Yes I definitely think it is. Since moving out of my parents' house around 10 years ago I haven't had a TV licence at all, and I don't think I've watched any live TV since. The idea of scheduling my evening around a TV show coming on to the telly at a certain time is a mad thought to me. We've all become so used to everything being on demand! For me the only thing I miss about traditional TV is watching the F1 live. Other than that, I'm not all that bothered.

I sincerely hope it’s not Doctor bloody Who.. or any IP for that matter. Thorpe have been kidding themselves since 2009, trying a thousand different IPs which just haven’t worked out. I hope they drop the IP fad now. Apart from Saw, It hasn’t worked. Original themes are so much better! Good news to hear there has been mention of Slammer and surrounding buildings being sorted.

I suppose it could be a launch 🤔 Although that could make the already fast layout even faster. who knows at this stage I guess God I hope the first drop isn’t trimmed 😐 That’s a good point about the western style Burger King and toilets - I really hope those are either rethemed or replaced. Old Town BK isn’t really a nice place is it. A new restaurant would be much better now, it’s very small and cramped and a bit 90s. I was originally hoping this project was going to include the development of that entire corner of the park rather than just “a ride stuck on the side of it”. I’d like to see Slammer removed, all the western buildings gone, and have the ride properly surrounded by a nice new area, with a decent shop and maybe a new restaurant. Here’s hoping that still happens. It would be a shame to have such a big ride and not finish it off. Come on Thorpe - please do it well and don’t half arse it like you have with basically everything else for the last 9 years.