Inferno

Not convinced they've given up on the Thrill Capital thing completely... They can still be a Thrill Capital, just without holding a middle finger up to families and anybody outside the age of 14-16.

BUT WE NEED TO KNOW NOW! New logo looks good! I honestly think I'm more excited about this year's Fright Nights than I was about the Swarm and the Smiler...

Ferrari. Cinema or Bowling?

They seem to come earlier every year.

Brilliant news! Well done Thorpe! So excited for the rest to be revealed. I've got a feeling this year's FN are going to be amazing.

I think the double queue system could work if they made it work... The trouble is, as much as I hate to say it, the staff usually seem more interested in chatting amongst themselves, and just let the queues sort themselves out. The second the staff member lets their eye off the ball it becomes a free-for-all! You're never going to get staff to be on the ball 100% of the time, so the system needs to be made foolproof. They should definitely have split the station like they usually do with front row. And Pluk, really?! Paid-for lockers at ride entrances is not something I'd like to see in the UK at all. Baggage drops are usually brilliant, but with Swarm they've really managed to screw it up.

The only issue with that is that the bags would be completely out in the open for people to nick. On Colossus and Inferno they only open one cage at a time, meaning the bags available to take belong those who are on the train in the station. If you are on the ride, your bag is behind bars and can't be easily taken. The whole Swarm situation is madness though, because having a baggage counter should make things easier! I hope they give it a complete overhaul next season because they can't go on like this.

To be fair, they never really say they aim to be better than Disney... Just bigger.

It's not right is it! Feels very strange to have no music. Such a shame as it actually created a lot of atmosphere (terrible american accents aside). I think Saw is fantastically themed! ok the outdoor queue is tedious if you're waiting a long time, but the indoor queue, stairwells, station area, exit and plaza are brilliant! The biggest shame of all is that they no longer let anyone wait in the indoor queue any more, meaning we miss the props and videos, and are not allowed to stand in (arguably) the best themed stretch of queueline in the UK! Ridiculous!

I actually think Merlin are pretty damn good tbh. We all love to hate them but you would struggle to find another theme park operator which invests so much in to new attractions so regularly - look at how Thorpe has been transformed over the past 10 years - imagine what it would be like today if RMC still owned it - small investments, low profit margins... I'd assume it wouldn't be at the standard it's at today. You could argue that there is too much focus on new attractions and not enough on the existing ones, but it is very easy for us to sit around and whine about things like that. They are still better than any of their UK competitors by a mile, and if we didn't like what Merlin were doing then we wouldn't be members of the official fansite of a Merlin attraction! The rate that Merlin are expanding across the world shows how brilliant they are. Thorpe Park and Alton Towers are just a tiny part of Merlin's empire. Yeah they make some stupid decisions, but every company does! They still manage to land on their feet most of the time, plus it gives us something to b*tch about!

Love the look of this! The inline twist should be amazing. I am not a fan of the restraints at all though... I am fairly skinny, and in normal B&M restraints tend to 'float' around in the space between the seat and the restraint (especially if you leave it a bit loose ). The shame with these vest style restraints is that you are pinned to the back of the seat all the time, so you loose most of the 'floating' sensation when you get a bit of airtime B&M's normal restraints are brilliant - why do they need replacing with these new ones? The vests seem "a bit too safe" in my opinion.

Thanks for posting these pics Josh! I vaguely remember riding Wicked Witches Haunt when I was a child with my Dad (mum & little sis waited outside!) and being absolutely petrified the whole way round! I must have been about 6 or 7 I think. The thing I remember most about it was the suspense in the station. If you look here you can see how it is today - even where the buildings suddenly get "chopped off" where the old building used to be.

Cut out Norfolk and the Isle of Sh*te from the bottom section and you're not far wrong

It makes a lot more sense to keep all the ERT rides in one area. I agree though that there should be more than one big coaster. They managed to open 2 major coasters at a time before, so there's no reason Air shouldn't be on the list.

ScareTour yesterday posted something rather interesting on Facebook.... Thorpe Park seems to fit the bill perfectly. TP's take on HHN anyone?

A popped bolt is one thing, but a gap in the track is a different story tbh. The 2 track pieces obviously don't naturally sit together - the bolt is constantly under a massive amount of stress in order to force the track in to a position that it doesn't want to be in! Surely a single bolt shouldn't be responsible for forcing those 2 pieces of track together... Maybe they'll have to re-align some more of the track?

Please, for the love of all that is holy, let Thorpe refurb Colossus and give her these trains.

I love it! Looks like it's now all about selling the park as a great day out with family and friends. MUCH BETTER!

or Extreme Terror Rides (btw this Youtube channel has loads of these programmes if you're interested )

I think I saw that a while back! Building the Biggest I think it was called. You should definitely be able to get Quest on Freeview. Channel 38. If you can't then just re-scan for channels

This is now a sensible price! Nice one Thorpe They seem to have changed the website though, and removed the music on the beach and something else (I can't remember what it was). Maybe they're going to cut prices but also cut some of the content from the event, and maybe up the number of tickets available? This is definitely a massive step in the right direction though

I always hoped that they would open in the dark more often, Thorpe is fantastic at night! But this very typical Merlin approach is not what I had in mind... £16 for Standard Annual Passholders? Are you joking? I assume Premium Annual Passholders will get in to this for free though under the "no exclusions" feature, as advertised in Merlin's marketing? http://www.merlinannualpass.co.uk/new-passes/at-a-glance.aspx