planenut

Nice write up, again, thanks. Good pictures.
 

Forums have unfortunately died away a bit. The rise of social media is a big part of that. And then with Discords, Slacks, Twitches and whatever else (I feel like an old man talking about that as I have no clue on these things properly), it just adds. The idea of signing up for one specific website to discuss one specific topic is just foreign now.
 
Thorpe-specific as well, it's no coincidence that here at TPM the forums dropped off during a time when investment in the park was at rock bottom. We went from coasters every 3 years, and new attractions yearly, to bouncy castles and mazes being the 'big new things'.
 
And yeah, theme park enthusiasm has changed dramatically. 10 years ago, it focused a lot on "trying" to find out whatever you could, but deep down knowing you would just get the odd glimpse here and there. You might hear from / know someone who legitimately knows something, and you got a kick out of knowing it. But it was all a lot more 'wait and see'.
 
Now, influencer culture more broadly means people have quite literally been able to turn their hobbies into a career of sorts. It's their job to find out the information, be that camping out for days on end, working alongside the parks or what have you. It feels a lot more stifled. 
 
This point really resonated with me @Inferno
We're currently experiencing a double-edged sword of information. Getting 'behind the curtain' is so much easier now, be that through press nights, VIP BTSs, park open-ness, etc. But sometimes a bit of ignorance can be bliss too, or that more scattergun approach feels more natural. Seeing behind the curtain is very controlled, parks will naturally sweep the dirt under the rug before they do that (literally, in some cases). There was something much more exciting about just catching glimpses here and there in a more uncontrolled way.
 
At the same time, just reading your Face it Alone review from Studio 13, it made me go "Damn, I wish we had a POV of it. I would love to remember how it looked during that middle third which is such a blur". Even if we know that a press night POV would be over-egged, it would still be good to see (okay, there wasn't a 'press night' in the way we're used to describing that for FN14, but you know what I mean). We're really in a golden age of being able to document and archive stuff, which I think is positive.
 
 
Going back to a more TPM-focus now, I've literally spent more than half my life as a member on this forum. I've made life-long friendships here. At one point, I house-shared with a couple of people I met through TPM. Whilst that's stuff that could happen on Twitter / Discord / Whatever, it just felt much more natural here. I always feel like these days I could contribute more to the forums, but as Benin says, growing up means forums slowly subside in the priority list.
 
With TPM, we keep the socials active. The forums and the website have suffered. The main website in particular; backend-wise, it's ancient, and those problems have crept into the look of the website (you can't actually read any news article at the moment, lol whoops). We're looking at fixing that over summer though...
We intend to keep the forums running. We're probably long removed from the days of running meets. But we never ran paid-for meets/events (even when we got ERTs, BTSs, etc), and don't intend to go down that way.
TPM is just a couple of people who like Thorpe and like sharing that enthusiasm with others, through both sharing updates and discussing things. Don't want to make it a career or anything. We've never gone down the Youtube/vlogging route, simply because we don't want to talk in front of a camera. We're not changing who we are, even if that means we're becoming a bit of relic to enthusiasm of yesteryear.
 
 
Anyway, that was very tangential to this and rambling and hijacking of the topic at hand. The whole theme park enthusiasm has changed, some of it for the better, some for the worse. I guess the good thing is you can still make of it what you want. It's just a shame it's harder to keep it 'as it was', if you will, when the rest of it has changed around you.

As I intimated, my other main hobby is Aviation and luckily recently I combined a trip to Seattle with Toronto, and as we have discussed, things change; very few aircraft collections/museums now provide guides and likewise with theme parks. I was aware of fellow coaster enthusiasts who used to collect those guide/plans and for them, a major part of our hobby has gone.
 
The comment from these establishments is "it's online".

Well worded and containing reflections of many of our thoughts.
 
Oddly enough, the improvements in technology and availability of the contact, has disintegrated some forums and clubs, with splinter groups becoming cliques no longer open to "all members"; I have seen it with aeroplane clubs as well as coaster clubs, no doubt this applies to many hobbies.
 
We all have a variety of interests and levels of knowledge which, in the older formats, could and would be shared with wider audiences.
 
Enjoy your hobbies.

No problem; it was a great trip from my end, so I’m glad you’ve enjoyed my reports!
 
The flight mostly went fine; we were delayed in leaving by about 30 minutes due to a thunderstorm, but we got back to London Heathrow at about 10:25am this morning problem-free.

There was only one important ride to be experienced on that final day, so I hope that flight went well and all enjoyed it. Thanks for your reports.

Another interesting and well worded report.
If you are looking for a Sunday event to get away from the crowds, I would recommend the Orlando Science Center. 

Wow, they had recently refurbished it too, that is a shame.

Great write up, I always get drawn to Poseidon's Fury, trying to work out how it's done. Enjoy your time as we enjoy your report.

Likewise there, and we had a rule if one wanted the loo, we all went, which meant there was no searching for each other, nor the aggravation of trying to rejoin others already in queues by persuading people that you should be allowed through.

Great write up Matt. My kids have been brought up to "eat in the queue, don't lose ride time" and I am pleased that my grandson is being educated the same way.
 

As Matt said, we are never too old, but our feelings for things change.
I am more than twice your age and love rides and roller coasters but I have often commented on how different people are, both emotionally and physically. Our appreciation and need for things change. Some would never consider using the rides, me? I have never been interested in basketball. If we were all the same, there would be one heck of a queue for the ride we love. The demographics of society affects the type of people attending parks, I.e. The majority of youngsters are not in the type of employment from which there would be difficulty in having time off.  Again for me in the past I worked shifts, so that helped.
 
Don't let your age control whether you ride or not, let your feelings decide that, and whatever you choose, enjoy it.

As Matt said, we are never too old, but our feelings for things change.
I am more than twice your age and love rides and roller coasters but I have often commented on how different people are, both emotionally and physically. Our appreciation and need for things change. Some would never consider using the rides, me? I have never been interested in basketball. If we were all the same, there would be one heck of a queue for the ride we love. The demographics of society affects the type of people attending parks, I.e. The majority of youngsters are not in the type of employment from which there would be difficulty in having time off.  Again for me in the past I worked shifts, so that helped.
 
Don't let your age control whether you ride or not, let your feelings decide that, and whatever you choose, enjoy it.

Gothenburg is a nice city too.  We spent a day going round it and doing general touristy things.  If I'm honest, I'm not that into the whole sightseeing / aimlessly wandering round a city thing, but for those who are into it, Gothenburg is no doubt a good place.  And as has been mentioned plenty of times on here, easy to get to too...

The Ghost Train is definitely worth it, especially as it has it's real ghosts as well, supposedly.

Mainly the cleanliness of the place along with the enthusiasm of the staff. There is a variety of rides for all tastes and if one gets fed up with that, then just a break to walk round the park.
 
I was there with a Coaster Club and due to their exclusive session, and other members having done it enough, I managed Leviathon six times solo before the GP came in. The whole park is a delight.
 
I don't have the knowledge that Ben does, but the park is served by public transport from Toronto.
 
There are several things to do around as well described by Ben, but for the aviation enthusiast there is a great aircraft collection at Hamilton which includes the worlds only other airworthy Lancaster. 

Interesting read about a park I've actually been to, and loved.

Nice write up. Did you not get to try Air Race?
 
Oddly enough, I like G-Force, one has to control the fitting of the restraint to suit.
 
I agree on Maelstrom, great air time.
 
Drunken Barrels, the only ride of this kind that left me dizzy on departure, can really spin them.
 
I do like Drayton Manor as an all round family park; the zoo is managed by Twycross Zoo.

Excellent, thank you very much. I trust that you enjoyed your visit? Great pics, and info..