HermanTheGerman

Yes, that's it really. It's quite strange to think that such a punky ride ever existed, in the now so safe, and business driven industry. Imagine Marianne and the gang sitting round a boardroom table coming up with such a ride; it just wouldn't happen. I suppose that's the saddest part of the modern theme park world. Everyone's afraid, nobody is willing to push the boat out. It's all very boring. Damn it, you've made me think.

Anyway, well done. I've enjoyed the episodes.

Yes, that's it really. It's quite strange to think that such a punky ride ever existed, in the now so safe, and business driven industry. Imagine Marianne and the gang sitting round a boardroom table coming up with such a ride; it just wouldn't happen. I suppose that's the saddest part of the modern theme park world. Everyone's afraid, nobody is willing to push the boat out. It's all very boring. Damn it, you've made me think.

Anyway, well done. I've enjoyed the episodes.

The irony here is that by blindly supporting an attraction because "everything in it is new", you end up the more typical fanboy...
 
There's difference between cynicism and balanced analysis you know...

Both Thirteen and The Smiler’s throughputs have tumbled though since they lost their bag rooms 
 
Stealth is the ride that would be least affected by this loss though, given that bags would still be given in before going to the boarding gates (unlike at Thirteen, The Smiler, Colossus etc. where you have to climb over the train) so dispatch times shouldn’t be affected. The placement of it is still awful though and will cause bottlenecks for sure. 

This fails to make my belief thick.
 
The "I heard from some guy who knows another guy whose dog walker is husband of someone who overheard someone from Merlin say that this was happening" school of rumours isn't exactly overwhelmingly belief thickening.

Please all hold a moments silence for all staff, especially guest services, for the Thorpe & Towers MAP exclusive days
 
A whole park full of lanyard flashing, pop badge laden, entitled guests, lovely stuff. 
 
Wonder if the RAP queues will be bigger than the main ones... 🤔

You're confusing marketing and promotion. The promotion was good, as you said in the first paragraph. The overall marketing of the attraction (e.g. its brand, who it was aimed at vs the nature of the experience) was what killed it.
 
The ride was positioned by marketing as a high-intensity thrill ride comparable to Saw, when in reality its super floaty and hella boring and probably the 'tamest' of the big 5. It should've had a lighter-tone theme and been pushed as a less intimidating ride, something to introduce new riders to the bigger thrills of the other coasters, giving it the approachability it warrants. This would've been especially useful as the park seems to lack from an outside perspective an 'in-between' coaster. More thrilling than X and Fish, but not as intense as Saw, Inferno and Stealth. 

You're confusing marketing and promotion. The promotion was good, as you said in the first paragraph. The overall marketing of the attraction (e.g. its brand, who it was aimed at vs the nature of the experience) was what killed it.
 
The ride was positioned by marketing as a high-intensity thrill ride comparable to Saw, when in reality its super floaty and hella boring and probably the 'tamest' of the big 5. It should've had a lighter-tone theme and been pushed as a less intimidating ride, something to introduce new riders to the bigger thrills of the other coasters, giving it the approachability it warrants. This would've been especially useful as the park seems to lack from an outside perspective an 'in-between' coaster. More thrilling than X and Fish, but not as intense as Saw, Inferno and Stealth. 

You're confusing marketing and promotion. The promotion was good, as you said in the first paragraph. The overall marketing of the attraction (e.g. its brand, who it was aimed at vs the nature of the experience) was what killed it.
 
The ride was positioned by marketing as a high-intensity thrill ride comparable to Saw, when in reality its super floaty and hella boring and probably the 'tamest' of the big 5. It should've had a lighter-tone theme and been pushed as a less intimidating ride, something to introduce new riders to the bigger thrills of the other coasters, giving it the approachability it warrants. This would've been especially useful as the park seems to lack from an outside perspective an 'in-between' coaster. More thrilling than X and Fish, but not as intense as Saw, Inferno and Stealth. 

You're confusing marketing and promotion. The promotion was good, as you said in the first paragraph. The overall marketing of the attraction (e.g. its brand, who it was aimed at vs the nature of the experience) was what killed it.
 
The ride was positioned by marketing as a high-intensity thrill ride comparable to Saw, when in reality its super floaty and hella boring and probably the 'tamest' of the big 5. It should've had a lighter-tone theme and been pushed as a less intimidating ride, something to introduce new riders to the bigger thrills of the other coasters, giving it the approachability it warrants. This would've been especially useful as the park seems to lack from an outside perspective an 'in-between' coaster. More thrilling than X and Fish, but not as intense as Saw, Inferno and Stealth. 

I'm not too sure that there's much competition for "best UK dark ride" these days. Especially when the usual winner is currently closed.

Looks cute compared to how it was the past couple years.
 
But lets not pretend this isnt tacky and in a different vein to the original
 

They took over 12 years ago though...
 
It’s good to finally see work being done though

Hmm I really beg to differ though, I think it had lost all entertainment value by then and doubt any of the public would remember it much. An empty warehouse with an organ setpiece at the end and some B&Q floodlights. You may as well have had the station outside.

When a day ticket to Phantasialand costs almost the same as Chessington, is there really any excuse for how poor Vampire got? Imagine if Wicker Man ended up like that in the future (and Vampire's preshow was originally better than Wicker Man's too) and people just shrugged. Is that really what guests shell out for at a Merlin park?

Also, we have so much more opportunity available now than Chessington did in 1990, it's strange that something 30 years ago has not been improved on. But I suppose it's a credit to how good the original music and station were for the time.

I mean, they fixed something that was broken. I wouldn't have said that was "phenomenal" but whatever. Definitely nice to see him moving again that's for sure. 
 
Good on the team that got him fixed, but let's be honest, the money to get that done should've been given long ago.

I didn't say they couldn't?
 
I just said people need to stop treating this like its amazing or a great restoration. It needed work and I'm pleased it happened (which I said in my post originally). I was simply pointing out how this definitely isn't anything "phenomenal" as a previous post had said, or that this wasn't a tackier version of Vampire as you were arguing.
 
I'm pleased the animatronic is fixed. It looks better than last year. It's different to the original look.

Looks cute compared to how it was the past couple years.
 
But lets not pretend this isnt tacky and in a different vein to the original
 

You know that nobody is suggesting only the original team from 1990 are allowed to do it, the original station we mean.

But putting that aside, the revamp is good, if not as nearly good as it's been originally. It's very DJ, but if youre gonna do that you may as well go all the way with the music as well. The improvements are limited to just the organ area, well that's as much as we're gonna get I guess. The fixed animatronic is the best part, good on them.

Remember stuff like this is normal in most theme parks, where it would have never gotten into the state it was in these last few years anyway. But enthusiasts are always hungry for some "changes" to get excited about after closed season!

Err this article is a mess.
 
Colossus has never (and could never) run with three trains as it suggests.

Err this article is a mess.
 
Colossus has never (and could never) run with three trains as it suggests.

Park Pixie slowly infiltrating Thorpe Park’s social media page with another ISLAND MEET VLOG giving us an update on the “rumoured” 2020 RMC?
 
#BackOnTheIsland

Yeah this has been happening for years; hell I remember not doing seatbelts up on empty seats on Vampire when working on it...
 
Closed season really gets to some people I guess... This is something that happens worldwide...

The seatbelts serve 2 main purposes:
 
Purpose 1 - In case of an evacuation, it gives greater control to staff. 'Please don't undo your safety belt', etc.
Purpose 2 - A visual check for guests to know they're secure.
 
As time has gone on, Purpose 2 has become more redundant as guests generally know they're safe. But 20-odd years ago, seeing a seat belt was a big thing.
 
Purpose 1 only truly matters when there's people sat in the seat. Plenty of parks around the world don't bother doing seat belts on empty seats. And within Merlin, it's a ride-by-ride thing. This is not an example of H&S standard slipping.
The only thing that's extremely shocking here is the amount of time you must have dedicated to try and find another crazy thing at Thorpe to complain about.

The park doesn't wonder that. They think they are on the international stage when in actual fact they are a local regional theme park. And that's pretty irrelevant to the rules they choose to enforce.

I think proper work to make the park more presentable would be nice. If they’re not getting anything new for the next few years, at least they can take some proper steps toward improving what already stands. Hence the next few points are just suggestions on which bits need cleaning up the most. 
 
- The area around Amity Cove and Tidal Wave is a big ol’ mess right now, and could do with cleaning up. So many games and garish temporary buildings blocking the view. You basically have to go round the back of the coke freestyle thing to even find the entrance to TW. 
 
- Remove ABL. Obviously don’t remove the rides. But the theme of the area as it stands is a big ‘wtf’ moment for every guests no doubt. And I feel the park would benefit no end by cleaning up and getting rid of this garish area. Theme it back to Amity Cove. 
 
- Removal of Saw Alive building. Just imagine if you were a first-time guest and saw that dilapidated, literally abandoned shed suck to the side of the park in plain view as you were coming in. It looks awful and needs to go. 
 
- Continue the painting work done begun on Stealth and Rumba Rapids. 
 
- Complete overhaul of the food offering at Fins. This should be the park’s proper restaurant. Not whatever tf it is right now.