Inferno

They’re going to have a busy closed season this year aren’t they! Seems like good news, long overdue - Angry Birds was a (bizarre) throwback even when this land was originally announced. Mad to think that Angry Birds launched in 2009, meaning many of the 17 year olds visiting the park today were still in nappies when their parents downloaded the app on their phone…

That twist is going to be incredible. I saw the support structure from the motorway yesterday and oh my it is ENORMOUS compared to everything else. This ride really is going to dominate when it's finished. Really excited for next year.

Love this.

Interesting and exciting times! could we even be seeing a new entrance area? Or I guess we’d have seen plans by now wouldn’t we? I really like the current logo, it’s so recognisable and will be weird to see a new one for Thorpe, but I'm interested to see what’s new and I think it’s good that they’re turning the page and startng afresh - the park badly needs its identity sorting out. The comment on the grave stone about “stepping in to the light” is interesting - could that be referring to an end to the dreary “everything is ruined” ride themes going forward, and a lighter more positive feeling? also I’m here for the new theme for the Fins Vibes 360 kitchen or whatever it is.

I’m assuming not a lot. It doesn’t seem to have much of a “theme” as such does it. hopefully it’ll have a good bit of dispatch audio / lighting though. I’m liking that some of this is still unknown!

Thorpe 100% - but what a year it will be, followed by Alton Towers new Horizon the following season as well.

That’s great they’re doing another season I'm surprised there’s no Tron?

I completely agree. Also the “find your fearless” tagline - yes it’s a bit odd, but at the end of the day it’s just a tagline on a ride in a theme park, it’s not that deep, and in any case it’s not going to ever cross the mind of 99.9% of riders, the same as “Colossus - it never leaves you” or “Galactica - Journey Beyond”. I’ve been very critical of Thorpe over the last few years (because it’s been crap tbh), and it’s very easy to look at anything they do now with scepticism - but I think everyone agrees this ride is something special.

I really like it! And it’s nice to not have a fairly upbeat theme(?) as well (I assume). Love love love the music.

Omg you have soo much influence, I need to buy your M0083 merch. It’ll be good to see some track going up at fright nights. Do we think we’ll see a name revealed at all during FN?

Very true - I guess it's just an ideal waterproof space that can be easily moved anywhere.

I was puzzled by the bus too. I wonder if they can drive it out of there still? Maybe it’s just parked out of the way for now? Who knows

Great news!! I wonder if they'll improve anything else with the trains while they're at it?

That’s good they’re still doing that - I haven’t heard the countdowns for years! Throughputs are such a hit and miss thing I guess, Mark’s right, one operator might be more hot on it than others, and on a quiet day it really doesn’t matter if things are a little slower.

Interesting to hear Saw never runs on 8 trains? Any ideas why that is? I agree about Inferno too. Maybe this is too cynical but I have thought could it be because it was too efficient? Inferno’s queue used to be quite fast moving, perhaps making the mighty Fastrack less appealing…. now adays the ride ops seem to do a lot of walking about and phoning each other in the station. No idea why it takes so long now to get a train out. One thing I have noticed since the Smiler crash however is that they no longer rush and put pressure on guests to hurry, on any of the rides. I seem to remember it being a bit of a mad dash previously to get out of the air gates and in to your seat! Now it’s a bit of an amble. Years ago now I remember inferno in particular, they would sometimes count down until dispatch during the summer, which really did put the pressure on people to hurry up! I suppose that would be inappropriate now adays I’m glad you had a good day Matt and it was quiet! As for busier days - All I can say is thank god Stealth and Swarm can still get through people - I think that side of the park is the place to be next year while not waiting for exodus!

Weird how everyone seems to have their own gameplan! I don’t really have a running order as such, but a few things I generally follow… - usually try to do Inferno first, as it’s always quiet I’m the morning (and usually open) - Always leave Swarm until the afternoon. - Leave the flats until I’ve done at least a couple of coasters, because queues are never as long. It’ll be interesting to see how Exodus changes everyone’s running order - I imagine Inferno, Stealth and Swarm will be dead in the mornings from next year, and Exodus / Saw / Colossus will be packed.

It’s always a bit like this with coasters isn’t it. I remember visiting Thorpe while the Swarm was going up and seeing the single piece of track in place at the bottom of the drop, then a week later on my next visit nearly the entire coaster was up (at least to my memory anyway). It seems that track and supports is “the quick bit” on these builds! Looking forward to seeing it go up

Interesting to hear about Disney - I have to say I’ve been put off massively thanks to all the money grab changes recently

Ah great thank you - see you at the pre-video live stream. I hadn’t realised Oktoberfest was anything to do with skiing to be honest! All of this had completely passed me by

Brean always strikes me as an odd place! Have a great time at Thorpe and Chessington next week!

This really is getting there now isn’t it. Still can’t quite believe Thorpe are getting a new coaster tbh Really looking forward to seeing how massive this is “in real life”. I did my usual peek at Stealth on the M3-M25 junction yesterday and it occurred to me just how visible the new one would be from there, let alone from inside the park. Going back to the name trademark business - that was a great find @coasterverse! Hyperia is an odd one, but with names I always think it’s difficult at first. I remember the smiler was questioned a lot, but it’s the perfect name for it isn’t it- it just is the smiler. If it does turn out to be the name, it will settle in and become as fitting as any other.

I thought the same about the hours that went in to those teasers. Especially as they had basically nothing to do with the actual event itself in the end. I suspect this was a case of being “all in” as it was a huge opportunity for them, and held the potential to open them up to the rest of Merlin and the industry as a whole. A bit of an investment in self marketing I think - but everyone wins, they produced some great content to showcase what they can do, and TP got some high quality teasers (all be it a little off piste). Well done to all of them. Although I’m not too keen on the YouTuber marketing stuff, I think they produce some great content for the park.

It is weird hearing it elsewhere. Years ago I heard Rush’s music on a tv show (can’t remember what it was) You must be right Matt, a lot of it is Stock music isn’t it.

I think that was a great way to reveal it! The cheeky wink and even a sip from an RMC cup! It’s got to be an RMC. Hopefully a sign of things to come further down the line

3 reasons for me. Firstly, although yes it isn’t as bad as Fastrack, it still takes away from others experience. in this case it takes away from the ERT experience for those who were entitled to it already. Secondly it’s yet another thing that aims to solely improve things for those who can splash the most cash. On a busy day, some customers will be able to buy as much fastrack and ERT as they like, where the majority will have to suffer because of that, having already actually spent a lot of money on admission - more than ever in fact. Thirdly it’s just the fact that theme parks aren’t like they used to be in this respect. I know this is just the way of the world now, and it certainly isn’t just Merlin (Disney are even worse now adays), but you used to be able to get in to a park for £20 and ride basically everything with no need for fastrack. You could buy things like that, but you certainly didn’t have to, and if you did you could get them for much less than they’re sold for now. Now it’s become so expensive to visit, and if you go on a busy day it can often be very unpleasant because of all these poorly implemented money-grabs. I just don’t like it. Perks, mazes, fastrack, parking, you name it…. Over the years, more things are being put behind paywalls all the time, and they get more and more expensive, but is the product getting better, or are they just pointing at things around the park and saying “actually we’ll get em to pay extra for that too”?