Inferno

I loved reading this Josh! Cheers for posting. I knew they had a launched coaster planned but I hadn't seen the layout like this. I'm glad we ended up with Colossus. I wonder what TP would look like today if the launch had been built instead? Certainly Stealth wouldn't have been built. I'd love to see that admissions graph extended all the way to to this year.

I think we should wait and see what they come up with before writing these mazes off tbh... We have all been asking for this for years, now they've finally given us what we want and we're picking holes in it before it's even been built. Unfortunately that's the price we're going to have to pay for such an amazing event. The key is to go on the Fridays, or The Passholder Preview.

This is actually quite sad. It almost feels like he was not allowed to finish what he set out to do. I am guessing he doesn't quite see eye to eye with Nick Varney, and did anyone else get the feeling he was not 100% satisfied with the Smiler?

This is actually a really interesting discussion, and I am shocked at the amount of pro-Fastrackers out there! I'm an avid hater of Fastrack and think it severely impacts most people's experience for the benefit of a few. You can quote as many figgures as you like, and blame whoever you like for miscalculating the numbers, but none of this matters because it DOES make queues longer a lot of the time for the majority of guests... Much much longer on some days, therefore, as a system it does not work. ^ Couldn't agree more with this. I would be interested to see them run a 2 week trial during busy summer period where Fastrack is completely stopped, just to see how it pans out in reality... I can pretty much guarantee the queues will be more bearable, and guest satisfaction will go up (on the whole). True, that won't turn Thorpe in to a queue-less theme park, but that is an unachievable target so is sort of invalid. Unfortunately Fastrack will continue as long as there is dolla to be made. So we might as well just suck it up.

I see what you mean, but the woods at the back of Logger's is probably the most secluded place at Thorpe Park, especially right at the far end. I think it will be quiet enough really once you get away from Saw. My concern with this is the huge train-load of people who the actors will all be trying to scare at once. You feel much safer in a group, so I think this will be a bigger issue than the noise and light. I guess we'll just have to see what they've got planned.

Agree with pluk - they're all better in the dark! The whole park looks brilliant all lit up. The Swarm is probably my favourite because of the LEDs on the train, and the fire is spectacular. Swarm does lack any decent lighting though which makes Colossus and Inferno amazing at night. For me the most disappointing ride in the dark surprisingly is Saw. Horrible white floodlights in the plaza & queue, and absolutely no ambient lighting at all.

Another possible location for a maze could be the Hospitality Area out behind Depth Charge. I am absolutely loving everything I am hearing about FN!

I reckon Dominic might have nailed it. A new twist on Se7en?? Only instead of the 7 deadly sins, we'll see 7 Lionsgate movies through the years, ending with "You're Next" as a finale. That could be pretty amazing tbh. Maybe each one could be a mini show, just like how they operate Dungeons?? I would rather see individual mazes for each, but I'm struggling to think where they could fit them all in! Thorpe is only tiny! Nobody has mentioned the 4D Cinema yet actually, could something go in there maybe?

^ If they continue to over-sell the amount of priority slots, then the problem remains. The Fastrack problem could be resolved in it's existing format by simply cutting the amount sold on peak days. Hopefully this not just an elaborate way of hiding the Fastrack nightmare.

^ 100% this. Thorpe's entrance has never really been 'beautiful' as such - not like Alton Towers and (to an extent) Chessington. It's always been a bit rough around the edges. But there used to be an odd magic atmosphere around there, I think the old theme music helped. Also I think there was a lot of nostalgia involved as well tbh. You're right about the nightclub entrance thing - nobody wants to be there, they want to get past it as soon as possible and forget all about it! Yeah it serves its purpose, but is's shoddy. I hope they do a good job of the entrance soon. Bring back that atmosphere they had a couple of years ago. You just couldn't beat the entrance music at the start of the day, and the end of day theme at the end </3 I still love the single bridge in and out though <3

^^ You say that James, but lighting (+ a bit of smoke) might be the best way to tackle that problem... Imagine this in the trees in Colossus' queue..... This would barely be visible in the day, so wouldn't effect the non-FN weekdays. Photo from http://www.halloweenhorrornights.com/orlando

You're next is Lionsgate's new film coming this Haloween! Looks pretty good! Check out that font too... Same lacerations as we saw on the new FN logo?

Yep. My eyes are now f***ed.

Thanks TP for replying to these If this works as well as hoped then fair play. It could be amazing on busy days. Bit of a while elephant on quiet days though maybe? Hopefully it will only be used on peak days This is very interesting! Can't wait to hear more about this...

I would certainly hope so, because if you have to pay per ride the whole concept of a theme park falls down. It's interesting to see on the reservenride website that you have to choose the "service level" whenever you book a slot - there's only one option (free one) available at the moment, but I imagine they will eventually offer another option at a price if you want an immediate or sooner slot. Maybe that new paid slot option would replace the current Fastrack system?? __________________ __EDIT____________ Also, just had a look on there.... Today's timeslots have apparently all sold out and you are unable to reserve... So does this mean nobody else is allowed to join the queue for the Swarm for the rest of the day? The park doesn't close for another 2 hours. Maybe they've finished the trial for today and it's back to normal?

I've been thinking about this quite a bit, and I'm getting less confident that they will get it to work... I'm thrilled they've realised queues are an issue, but I can't see this being the way forward. A few issues I can see... If people can't 'wait' in a queueline any more, where exactly are people expected to wait? In the restaurants and around the paths? These are too overcrowded as they are on busy days! They will be condensing the crowds in to a very small area where there isn't a lot of space left for extra people. What happens if there are too few people ready and waiting to ride? Do trains go around with empty seats? Guests are going to have to be very organised to make the most out of their day... They can't just wander around and say "ooh, lets go on that one now!" People aren't going to stick to their ride times... It's just not going to happen. This will result in queues forming at certain times, and few people at other times. What happens in the event of a breakdown? Does everyone just turn up to the ride and wait at the entrance?? (dare I say, in a queue?!) This system would be PERFECT if it was a free replacement of Fastrack (same as Disney, and Merlin's old system), but I think removing the queue entirely is far too risky... The park is not designed to handle this at all. People expect to queue at a theme park. Queueing is not the problem here - overselling of Fastrack is! If the queues were good in the first place, then this new system wouldn't be needed. Sorry to be pessimistic, but that's my opinion. Thorpe might prove me wrong, but I doubt it.

I really have no idea. It's somebody (or a group of people) who take over Thorpe's Twitter account during MoS Nights as far as I can work out.

Seems like a great idea. Risky as hell, but a very good idea. The whole concept of this is going to take a lot of getting used to, especially for first-timers. I wonder what will happen to the queue lines if some of the rides ever go queue-less? I imagine the rides on this system will have a queue of about 10 minutes at the station to make sure there's maximum throughput?? I can't help but think this wouldn't be necessary if they had just run their queues correctly in the first place though...

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.