Inferno

True. Reclaiming land from a lake is probably even more expensive though I’d imagine, and they’ve got an entire island already reclaimed just sitting there. By that logic I agree it would seem odd if they decided to “delete” X:/NWO’s building (+slammer) for a new ride, but it would be a great place for one in the long term wouldn’t it, and would really change the park, rather than just “slapping a new ride on the side of it”, which supposedly didn’t work financially in Swarm’s case. This is a long shot, but perhaps management are thinking of investing in a major multi-year change / rejuvenation in the existing park by finally replacing X, Slammer, Loggers, potentially even Storm surge and Derren too, then in the future expanding the “new Thorpe Park” by building something out on to the reclaimed island behind Stealth? It might sound far-fetched, but this is the company building multiple entire Legoland parks from scratch. They can afford these sorts of investments if they want to. With the London Resort threat apparently looming, this would make a statement. 🤷‍♂️ Doubtful I know. It’s fun to speculate though isn’t it. I bet it all just turns out to be another f****** walk-through thing.

It’s difficult though isn’t it. I bet a lot of people wanted a “throwback” show of some sort, because it sounds fantastic - and that’s exactly what they’ve done. The thing is, a lot of Thorpe’s audience were toddlers (or not even born) when FN started, and I’d like to bet that most people at the park on a given night have only visited FN once or twice, maybe even never before. (I’m pretty sure even Mr Silkstone himself has said he only started going to FN in the last few years, and didn’t get to do Asylum) A lot of guests simply don’t care about the details either - for example I drag Mrs Inferno to all sorts of scare events, and she enjoys them but I don’t think she could name many past mazes or place the theme tunes tbh. Most people aren’t all that bothered, they just want to enjoy it for what it is at the time. I think this sort of show was really only going to appeal to a few hardcore fans, and mean nothing at all to everyone else. I love that Thorpe have put it on to be honest, and from what I’ve seen online it looks like a great effort. Given a “throwback light show” brief, I couldn’t have done any better! I’d have probably added a big screen and had a defined ending of some sort, but really I think they have done a good job, especially if they (I assume) had a tight budget and short timeframe. If it’s not well received, it was worth a go. They tried something. Looking forward to seeing it in person this week

Yeah the Perfect Day is an odd one isn’t it. I remember hearing it a few times at FN that year because it was the theme song for that terrible film, but it doesn’t stand out to me as iconic at all, especially as there were only a few roaming actors. I would have said Asylum’s “other” theme tune was more iconic than that to be honest. Or maybe Studio 13’s queue music (although hardly a banger for the show, granted!) The one that stuck in my mind as “THE” Fright Nights song was always this one from My Bloody Valentine. (Skip to 1:25 🥲) It’s all subjective though isn’t it 😊 I guess it depends what you hear when you’re at the park, what you were doing at the time it played, and what sticks in your memory! I’ve had a huge wave of nostalgia listening to those just now! I miss the “old days” (not that it was that long ago!)

I’m going next week so really looking forward to seeing it in person. From the videos I’ve seen online though, it seems like a good show - something different at Thorpe. It’s a bit unusual isn’t it? I think it’s the ending for me that makes it odd, and the lack of crowd. I always think Thorpe struggle with shows. Apart from their fireworks years ago, their shows are always a bit ‘out there’ and nearly always poorly attended. I have a lot of memories of the Sun Scream shows, like the bike stunt show in the arena and the various live music things they’ve done in the past, they all have very small audiences for some reason, and always seem a bit of an after thought compared to the rides and mazes. even recently, Big Top Showtime barely had a crowd ever. Shame isn’t it.

Hope you're having a good day there today Kelly! Let us know how you got on with this.

Has anyone heard anything about Legacy?

😲 Wow - I think you might be on to something Josh! Coaster I think I agree with you about TWD though. The X:\NWO text on that poster is making me think it’s maybe something to do with X too, especially as it’s in a pyramid. 🤷‍♂️ Thats pretty Egypty already I guess? The Walking Dead as a brand is pretty dead in the water now isn’t it. Seems strange if they’d spent all the money theming X to that, only to pull it out a few years later, but I guess the same can be said for scare mazes to some extent, and they’re sometimes only up for a matter of weeks before being scrapped. 2022 is only a few months away, but they could pull off another X retheme over winter if they really wanted to. If it is X:\Pyramidz - Can we have Revenge of the Mummy scale theming please! 🙏 (ever the optimist) As for Old Town - it’s got to be the site for a big 2023 coaster hasn’t it. It must be!

I’m kind of just realising that FN’s 10th anniversary (& Exp10’s opening year) being 10 years ago, which means that half of FN’s history has taken place since then….. I realise that is is obvious, but wow I’m getting so old! 😳 Exp10 opening feels so recent to me. I completely agree with all that’s been said about looking back at the past mazes fondly - I don’t think perhaps the likes of Asylum would be quite as well received today as it was at the time. Really Asylum was little more than a chain-link strobe maze with a lit-up sign out the front and a great theme tune. But wow was it scary. I seem to remember scare mazes making me (and everyone else queueing) genuinely nervous. They, especially Asylum, seemed to have a legendary reputation which I think just added to it. I think as well the hands-on-shoulders thing, and the bizarre group photo (with all the random strangers in your run through) and briefing on the ‘stage’ in front of the queue before going through the iconic blue door added to it too - it felt like such an event! I think we expect a lot more from a scare maze these days, unlike a few years ago when really we didn’t expect much more than simply to be scared. Now we seem to expect a full story to be told and for it to be well themed throughout - the bar has been raised massively, and quite rightly so since they now charge for a runthrough. I think that’s why Experiment 10 and Cabin In The Woods (and the towers mazes) impressed so much at the time, because it added so much more to what most people were used to seeing from a maze, including the likes of Tulley’s at the time. I think expectations are just extremely different now. Mazes have stories and are generally really well themed. Big Top was a little different for me because it almost felt like a slight step back to how mazes used to be - it was more simple in what it was trying to do. Even the beloved Big Top though was a far cry from how mazes used to be a few years before. The way the BT’s soundtrack evolved throughout the maze, and the work that went in to the set designs, it was nothing like the old mazes at all - it was so much more, and clearly had a much bigger budget. I don’t think there’s any going back to how it was, not without people calling it lazy. I think scare mazes are having a bit of an identity crisis at the moment. Most mazes aren’t built simply to be “scary” anymore - they’re really more of a scenic theatrical experience aren’t they? (I’m not complaining about that - just kind of rambling/realising) A good point was made earlier about the “10th birthday” being celebrated by a plastic cake being wheeled about on a trolley and a maze with “10” written on it - and that was great back then! Now everyone expects a lot more. ———— Tl;dr - I think the unwritten ‘definition of a scare maze’ has changed too much for Asylum and co to be as well received as they used to be. People expect more now. (sorry for my rambling post 🙄) Thanks for coming to my ted talk.

Oooohhhhh - Very interesting! I wonder if these are the scenes in a new cinema style maze? Could they even be doing a series of 'tributes' to mazes from the past? That would help stop unfair direct comparisons to the originals. Beyond the chair - Something to do with the dentist chair in Containment maybe? Nightmare on Staines Street - Asylum vibes? Vulcan Voodoo - Vulcan Peak tribute? (why..) Ship Happens - The Curse tribute? Or Saw Alive throwback (as it was on a boat)? Hell Cell - Hellgate / exp10 combo? Or could it be referring to the prison in the walking dead? Seven Dolls - Got to be something to do with Se7en? Bozo's Playzone - The big top showtime type thing? Breakout at Brainsbury's - (love this) Maybe a supermarket zombie breakout themed maze? Very different!

Platform is a surprise - for some reason I thought last year was its last? I’d love to see a Studio 13 style throwback maze in the jungle building, packed with references to some of the best mazes from the past. A return of the Big Top would go down very well too I think! intrigued to see if they do anything special for the 20th, but I’m not holding my breath 🙄

Surely they need something with far more capacity than this (likely) single-train coaster is going to offer? Queues at Chessington can be unbearable with few high-throughput rides to offer any relief.

I wish they'd use the amazing "nee naw" IMAScore music that's sampled in this:

That's really, really interesting. Quite surprising to see that all 4 parks were all only up about a million(ish) visitors p/a in 2019 compared to their opening years. That's mad. Nearly all of the last 7 Thorpe "investments" are hilariously bad when you compare them to the last 7 of all the other parks. It's quite telling that they consider some of those to be "investments" when compared to the others. Bouncezilla is listed as an 'investment' for example, while no mention of the other inflatables & small things elsewhere 🙄

That's extremely disappointing that a couple of days in, it's already in this state. I hope not, but I fear Black Mirror might suffer the same fate before long. It seems that the most consistent UK attractions are the ones that don't rely on anything 'special' happening - the coasters for example: As long as the trains continue to run round the track, the experience is much the same. as soon as effects start coming in to play though, it's unfortunately all down hill from opening day.

Completely agree about the headsets. Extra cleaning or not, surely this is still a silly risk to take at the moment, pressing at the same sweaty plastic box against hundreds of people's faces every day? Ew. I'm just trying to imagine 'riding' DBGT without headsets... Surely it's literally pointless 😆 It's bad enough with them. An app sounds like a good idea. I guess it would rely on everyone's device somehow playing the video at the same time, which could be a challenge given the lack of signal on busy days. If they turned the queue in to a tech support troubleshooting session prior to riding it could work! I really just can't see the point of opening it again to be honest. This would have been a good opportunity/excuse to quietly close it down without too much fanfare. Unless maybe I'm wrong.. Do people actually enjoy it?

What's always baffled me about the entrance is how long it can often take to get inside the park. Alton Towers can get you through the turnstiles in minutes. Yes, the Monorail does drip-feed guests in a controlled manner, but even the queue for the monorail at the other end is nearly always much faster than queueing to get in at Thorpe. AT can process far more people, far more quickly. I kind of agree with Marc, for me the issue isn't with the buildings or how it looks (although yeah, wouldn't complain if they did something different..) It's more about how dreadful the first impressions often are. The big logo sign is pretty cool imo, and the screen is quite good. It's the queues and temporary "f*** it that will do for now" nature of everything that's the problem. Is it just a case of more throughput needed maybe (somehow)?

Well my first thought is "ugh please no", but considering Zodiac and Detonator were basically funfair rides, they fit in nicely.. I guess they could keep them (or similar) and try to make them fit in?

That could be cool - do we have any reason to think this may be something 'special'? It looks like a jetty to me.

This hasn't aged well, has it. Both of these things seemed better before 😐

Wow, same here for DBGT. I thought Covid would be a good cover story for closing it down for a second season, conveniantly phasing it out without drawing too much attention to the closure. Surely Ghost Train isn't bringing in any money, especially considering the number of staff it takes to run it, plus the additional cost of actors for Black Mirror? Does anyone even think of DBGT when they think of Thorpe, really? Good news Black Mirror is finally opening.

Good point, considering they can't have anything big, there's a fair amount there these days isn't there. They have a good few indoor attractions as well now. Hopefully that trend continues. I'd like to see a decent indoor family coaster in the future, something with good capacity to get through the queues. Considering Legoland is (shockingly) the UK's busiest theme park, do you think they'd look to extend their season through the winter in the future, even with a reduced lineup focusing on indoor stuff?

My first thought is that it's quite embarrassing that the UK's "number one theme park" has to hire in a load of fairground rides to keep themselves going. I really hope this screams to Merlin how bad things have got over the past few years. Saying that though, this is better than nothing isn't it, and I can understand they will want to sell as many tickets as possible this year to get the most from the season after last year. Also weren't Detonator and Zodiac temporary fairground rides that stuck around? 🤔

Good to see the tidal wave refurb going on, and even better to see the entrance plaza getting a bit of work done. The last few years they’ve been doing a fair amount of small improvements haven’t they - looks like the same this year too.

Hey guys, I don't know about you, but I am fed up of seeing all the negativity out there about Thorpe Park. Sure, it's far from perfect, but this is the Thorpe fan site - If you're reading this forum, you must love the place to some extent? So why not share why?! Let's bring back some of the glassy eyed excitement we all used to feel when using these forums Please let us all know what are your 3 favourite things about Thorpe Park. Why do you love the place? I'll start. My favourite things about Thorpe are The atmosphere. I don't know what it is about Thorpe, but it has a certain atmosphere that you don't get anywhere else. I can't put my finger on it, it's just "that Thorpe feeling" you get as you walk over the bridge in to the park - it's the same today for me as it was when I was a kid back in the early 2000's! I think it's that it doesn't take its self too seriously, and it's certainly rough around the edges, but it's just got a chilled, fun vibe. It's quite a unique atmosphere in my opinion. The park has stayed humble as well which I like - it's not pretending to be more than it is. Fright Nights. It's not the best horror event out there anymore, and yes some of the recent attractions have been a bit lack lustre, but Fright Nights is almost its own 'thing', and is a must-do at Halloween. The familiarity and "at home" feeling. A lot of people say walking in to Disney is like coming home. Now, I wouldn't say that about Thorpe, but it certainly has that kind of vibe for me. I think it's because it's always been my "home park", and I sort of grew up with it over the years. It's by far my most visited park, so feels like "my place" if you know what I mean? I bet there are a lot of people that feel that way

It's a great shame that there's rarely ever any real 'news' anymore isn't it. I do miss the excitement of a new Thorpe coaster, like the 2011 buildup to the Swarm (seriously how is that 9 years ago now...) - there was such a buzz watching it go up throughout the year. When Thorpe get a new coaster it's going to be so well covered by Jack & co, especially these days with Monk's Walk offering such a good view and drones being easily available. The fanbase for this sort of stuff is definitely there too judging by the views! People love a coaster construction site! Will be interesting to see where the next big thing ends up. The island by Swarm is crying out for attention, after spending the money on reclaiming it they must be wanting to make use of it? On the other hand though making use of "the woods" around Canada Creek would be really nice, and could bring guests in to a bit of nice natural woodland scenery, which Thorpe doesn't have a lot of being an island.