Inferno

To be honest, given how poorly nearly all of the other UK parks are doing right now, a year of stability sounds like exactly the right aim for Thorpe. Hyperia’s near stall and ongoing downtime however is getting worrying now that we are heading in to season 2. It doesn’t seem like it’s going to be a reliable workhorse does it… I really hope that they can get to grips with it. Surely they can’t keep going on like this every time it gets a bit chilly… The solar panels on Ghost Train are slightly interesting in that they’d only be installed on a structure that they intend to keep for a decent amount of time. I guess the building is here to stay, even after the ride is gone (which probably won’t be too long let’s face it).

Toxicator re-opened a while ago apparently, so hopefully things aren't too bad. There must be some defeated people working at Towers to be honest. It seems that a lot of effort is being put in to things, despite the budget cuts and redundancies, but they're constantly plagued by bad luck and the mess left for them to fix by previous 'leadership'. To be fair they are passengers when it comes to things like the sewage leak... Nobody could have foreseen that. What awful timing though. Also opening days can often suffer a little from slow operations because of new staff etc. It's worrying... but I'm still hopeful that things will still improve at AT this season. The staff will become more at ease with operations within a few weeks, and things like Hex and Skyride will re-open shortly which will help in general.

Oh dear, that doesn’t seem very promising at all does it. Fingers crossed it’s not going to have another year of terrible reliability and multiple stalls 😬 I had hoped last year’s endless problems were down to it being so late and needing to just be open, with things being sorted during the closed season…

To be fair Thorpe looked probably better than ever last season in a lot of places, the operations were very good in general, and they have got a (still) brand new coaster. It rarely gets much better than this, <1 year after opening a new coaster of Hyperia's scale. I do agree though that it's a bit ridiculous that the new area has been left unfinished for all this time (and possibly in to this season). The stage area and splashdown debacle do seem to reveal some questionable choices during the planning. Given how difficult it is to run a theme park in the UK at the moment I'd say things are looking pretty good at Thorpe. All rides are still open and running well, which is more than can be said for most of the other UK parks, and the park is looking very fresh in a lot of places following the re-painting and rebranding from last year.

Fantastic - it’s almost looking… Dare I say… finished! Still some work to do but hopefully it’s on the way. This could have been filmed a while ago

No they went bust. It’s amazing how many of these overpriced “instagram” donut places there are. Especially given how many of them are/were struggling 🤷‍♂️ What happened to a good old bag of those little oily hot donuts that the parks make themselves! Although they’re nearly as expensive these days aren’t they 🙄

Would Hex realistically need winter maintenance though? It operated for literally, what, 2 weeks? After a full refurb. Maybe something’s gone wrong. Or they’re struggling with recruiting?

Interesting to look at it in detail isn’t it! (I love this sort of stuff on this forum!) Honestly I think they’re doing really well and trying very hard to make a difference using what they’ve got. They seem to be trying to bring this stuff in because it’s seen as a positive thing by lot of people, and it’s something they can do with their very limited budget. I think it’s the same with Rumba etc. clearly they’ve got a low budget, but they’re making the best of it and prioritising keeping the main rides running well all year. It’s a lot better than having coasters on one train on quieter days, or opening some of them later in the day everyday. I can’t imagine running a theme park is an easy task at the moment - I’m trying to see things differently this year if I can.

That’s really good! Although I agree a bit odd for Toxicator. Skyride, Congo and Hex will open in April. I can understand Congo to be honest given the costs involved. Rapids are becoming seasonal now really aren’t they and I think that’s it. Shame about Skyride, but I suppose if it’s running over that can’t be helped - communication about the opening is a good step as well. Hex however - wtf is going on? It only opened for 25 minutes all season last year, so what on earth could be the issue now?

I really think Rumba’s days are numbered to be honest… It’s not even that good either is it… I really think it will be gone before too long. Of course I don’t want to see it close, but I’d much rather the budget be used elsewhere, and eventually the space used for better things, especially considering there’s also a huge amount of space on the island behind it.

Does anyone know if there’s been any mention of why Kingda Ka closed? It’s not like it was in need of repair, it was operating well on its last day. I assume just reliability and cost to run and maintain? 🤷‍♂️

Realistically does anyone think there’s a chance it could be bought and reopened? I expect that’s the end of the road for it now. As beautiful as the location is, it’s not ideal for a theme park - it’s just too remote from most of the population. I also think Aspro have squeezed everything out of the place like a tube of toothpaste, and I imagine many of the rides need maintenance etc… not to mention the investment needed to bring in new things to draw people in. I worry for a few of the other smaller parks in the UK - but on that point, if we do lose a couple more, I expect any potential buyers would be more interested in those than poor Oakwood.

That’s a good point Josh - it’s not a lot of investment. Sadly I think that’s true of many of the Aspro attractions. I was at one of their aquariums last week and thought it seemed incredibly run down, clearly hadn’t had any money spent on it for many years. What a shame though about Oakwood. Not so long ago I’d have thought Merlin would be interested in buying it and push some accommodation, but now I’m not sure. My heart goes out to the staff. What a time to find this out, just before opening really. Awful. It feels to me like the publics expectations of a theme park has changed. It seems that, aside from family parks, the appeal of a small regional park is fading away. The idea of a smaller day out now is less attractive, whereas the likes of Disneyland Paris etc are thriving. I think a lot of people would rather save up and go on a bigger trip, rather than have lots of smaller days out like we all used to. It’s certainly true of me at least. Interesting times.

I think that given how much of the park will be closed now, there needs to be visible construction taking place on both sites asap. If Wild Asia is left in situ with everything closed for several months, it’s shameless cost cutting. If it’s actively being worked on however, I think people will see the positives in that there is a lot of work happening to improve.

The sign for Zufari featured in a social media video today from Chessington while they spoke of ride upgrades etc. Perhaps there has been some work?

Chessington have put out a social media video to address the development coming soon, and part of that video was about the fact Wild Asia will be closed this season.

It’s not great is it… However Merlin strikes me as the sort of place that employs just about enough people to keep the wheels turning on a day to day basis… it could be the staff are simply saying “no more” if they physically don’t have the time or budget to deal with this sort of thing. I get the impression that this sort of stuff relies on good will to get it sorted - with the redundancies and general shocking management at Merlin of late, good will is probably in short supply. If I put myself in their shoes for a moment - think about how Hyperia was handed over from the project team - it was shambolic. Late, unreliable, and a huge burden in its first year, not to mention the fact that the area was completely unfinished. It looked to me like a bit of a ‘dump and run’. I would be very annoyed if I was in operations and expected to take it on, on top of running the rest of the park. It seemed a battle to just get and keep Hyperia running each day, so this poorly thought-out and unreliable water effect that only worked for five minutes could be the cherry on top I suppose. Either way - what a load of rubbish…

A shame to see the Hyperia’s area is still a mess, even now. Yes it’s better with the turf, but really fences are needed all the way around the plaza… and there are still swathes of dirt shrouding the queue on the video there. Interesting to hear that they’re deciding on the future of the splashdown shortly. Progress is progress though I suppose. Overall though the park looks good! Pleased to see Colossus all painted (well mostly!) Thorpe seem to be a long way ahead of the other Merlin parks when it comes to presentation and upkeep at the moment.

Have they left the queue in place? I can’t tell. It leaves a surprisingly big space actually now that it’s cleared. Such a shame that this central location hasn’t been used for anything for so long, especially with Hyperia next door.

That’s exactly what towers needs though to be fair. More of that.

Toxicator is looking good. Fountains also present! Also confirmed to be opening on opening day too. This will no doubt be a very welcome return of a flat ride. Skyride has also been shown on video by the park recently to have a lot of the gondolas on the layout, and testing. No mention of an opening date for that yet, but hopefully it’s also going to be working on opening day. Either way it’s encouraging to see movement there finally. In other news apparently Blade has been removed and the pit now sits empty. Again a positive bit of news there in some ways, to see that it’s been removed and not left in situ. I wonder if any work has happened on the Monorail after spending all last season on much reduced capacity? I feel quite apprehensive for Towers going in to their new season with all the budget cuts still unfolding. Hopefully this is a better year for the park despite the cuts, and the reliability improves. I think they stand a good chance of turning things around this year. Nemesis is still fresh, they have the new topspin, new Cebebies ride, Skyride and Hex will be running again. I know some events have been dropped, but if they can consistently keep the rides running throughout the year and finish with a strong Scarefest and fireworks, hopefully it should be better. I know there’s more to improve, but by simply having the rides open again I’m hopeful that this will at least be the baseline that can be built upon, as they didn’t even have many of the rides open last year…

I’m wondering if Thorpe are avoiding some of the cutbacks to be honest as they’re a very small team compared to Towers etc. And perhaps they have been more profitable than other parks recently so are being left alone a little more? 🤷‍♂️

That’s interesting - is this a Merlin report? Fair points about the impact of brexit and the VAT scheme - but really I think (unless of course the international tourism that the London midway attractions for example lap up has taken a really really crippling hit) it would be a bit of a cheek to suggest that either of these could be more of a factor than the fact that they are simply charging too much now for too little. Merlin themselves have said that the “in park spending per guest” that that used to rely extremely heavily on has dried up. They’ve shot themselves in the foot with this by totally out pricing themselves and wildly over-estimating their worth. Even if guests do spend in the food outlets for example on their visit, many will be (quite literally) left with a bad taste in their mouth and think twice about buying food from them again in the future. Not to mention the fact that many returning guests, especially to most of the parks, will experience a reduced offering compared with previous years. I’m not suggesting that dropping prices and sacking Aramark will fix everything - but I do think they have got a bit big for their boots. Merlin are charging more than Disney for food in many places, Disney being a true destination that people save for and are ready to spend money at. Merlin’s parks are not, and never have been, proper ‘destinations’ like that, and I think things like their restaurants (as one example) should be at least ‘good’, so that people actually want to go and spend their money in there after already paying or tickets etc. I also strongly suspect that tourism has changed - I don’t think the likes of Madame Tussaud’s or Shrek’s Adventure have the same appeal now as they perhaps used to - they have become slightly tacky. Perhaps social media etc has changed people’s views on city travel? The queues outside them all don’t seem anywhere near what they where when I was a kid

😂 Dear oh dear. It’s all a bit bleak isn’t it. The fat cats across Merlin have been ringing the company out like a sponge for years, to the point that there’s now no sponge left - just tatters left on the ground by the top execs and CEOs who have since left for other roles, for huge salaries no doubt. I do feel for all the staff involved in the redundancies; and those who will remain. I’ve worked for a couple of big companies now who have had mass redundancies like this, which I have luckily survived down to pure luck, and on both occasions the remaining staff have been so downtrodden and overworked that really it was a case of “last one out turn off the lights”. Merlin declined in to a dreadful company a few years ago. I sincerely hope it can be turned around, and the existing established parks will be shown a bit more respect, rather than continue to be seen as cash cows that should be squeezed to distraction to extract every last penny. The problem they’ve got of course, is that so many of their assets need massive investment just to simply tread water… One thing I am feeling positive about however is Universal. It’s about time we heard some good news.

I would hope that this sort of thing would still go ahead. I can’t imagine it’s going to be expensive. Hopefully someone high up at Merlin knows that entertainments are on and off like a light switch across the company. One year it’s “entertainments” galore, and the next they’re cut completely - and repeat. This space will work well when entertainments are back in a couple of years 🙄