Matt A
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Posts posted by Matt A
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5 minutes ago, Marc said:
Bouncezilla hasn’t replaced any ride, it’s taken up a space what would otherwise be empty. Whilst I can see why some don’t like it the feedback has been incredibly positive - only have to scroll through Facebook posts about it!
My thoughts exactly, while Thorpe needs new support rides, this still looks like a fun experience and hasn't detracted from anything that was there already. It's an additional thing to do on a day out to Thorpe, and something that would cost near to £20 to do on it's own if it wasn't at Thorpe.
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So I'm considering coming to this meet but I've realised not owning a car makes it a bit difficult. Would I be able to get a lift with anyone to and from the park each day? (I'm happy to split fuel costs)
On a less important note, would anyone be driving from London and be willing to give me a lift there and back? (Will split fuel costs again). No worries if anyone can't as I can always get the train to Derby.
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40 minutes ago, 08newmanb said:
When I went there, on March 29th, it ran on 3 laps, but unexpectedly, it ran for another lap, after slowing down! The staff really are experts at goofing off! XD
Scorpion Express is an unusual ride as the operator controls the speed of the train all the time rather than choosing a number of laps and so if they don't slow the ride down enough on re-entry to the station they have to send it round again!
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17 minutes ago, Mattgwise said:
Certainly not this year, just recently. I literally only a month ago had an awful ride consisting of 6 min dispatches, half the effects broken, sound off in places and a broken ceiling (which later fell down)
Should have said recently rather than this year! Seems to be a consistent theme that the effects only get fixed a few months into the season.
10 minutes ago, Ivsetti said:So EpicSmatty, which press event you got your eye on this year?
Ah if only such a great company like Merlin would invite me to a press event, they take such great care of all their parks I could only wonder how amazing their press events are and how I could express how 'sick' they are to the world.
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Tomb Blaster has all of its effects working well this year, boulder is working, even the werewolf that was broken all of last year is fixed, and some lighting improvements have been made in the station. Audio on the other hand, not so good, still poor looping happening in some sections and the trommel had no audio at all. On the flip-side some areas are perfectly synced up and at a good volume.
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Was good to hear the audio improvements on Vampire the other day! Sounds much better both indoors and outdoors. It seems like there has been a bit of work on the station and the queue line too, with all the lights working inside, looks like they're all LED now so should hopefully last a while. Torches have new flickering lights in them, and tunnel has new light fixtures with the same bulbs too (which fit quite well). Outdoors a bit of old theming has returned, graves etc. Obviously all this is a far cry from what it once was but it's still an improvement!
Finished it off with a rare overshoot of the breaks in the trims, so the front seats got a bit of a bashing!
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https://blooloop.com/news/merlin-entertainments-senior-management-changes-fiona-eastwood/
Merlin is having a bit of a senior management change-up, noteable:
"Fiona Eastwood will move from her role as Managing Director, Resort Theme Parks to become Managing Director of Midway."
"Ian Crabbe, currently Divisional Director, Alton Towers Resort, will assume responsibility for Resort Theme Parks. With over 20 years’ experience at Merlin, Ian has recently overseen the management of both Alton Towers and Thorpe Park."
A new role of Resort Development Director is being created too.
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What great news! ITV's IPs have worked so well at theme parks over the years, can't wait to see what they do next!
In all seriousness though, I do wonder what IPs they have beyond I'm a Celeb which could work in a theme park, a few things come to mind but they don't really compare to the BBC or Aardman's offerings.
Edit: missed this line: "but the focus of the deal is understood to be the Thunderbirds Are Go series, which returned to TV in 2015."
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2 hours ago, Wumbamillio said:
Someone pointed out to me it's possible the reason it tries to 'tell the story' in a way that just doesnt suit the running of the attraction could be that this is what the IP holder stipulated, rather than Merlin. Another big issue with having attractions based on IPs, dictating things that aren't realistic for an attraciton
You might be onto something with that one, Julia Donaldson (or whoever represents her for these sorts of things) was so picky with The Gruffalo that they even threatened to pull the license because the staff weren't wearing the themed uniform at one point.
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4 hours ago, Marc said:
Yeah that’s always been one of the differences between an “annual” pass and a “season” one since they were introduced I believe.
It definitely was there at the start, used it on two separate days with mine since the start of the season. Although having checked on the 'wayback machine', it was never actually advertised as a perk.
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2 hours ago, Wumbamillio said:
That's funny, I remember yyeeeearrrs ago when you could hear that from the top and it echoed all around the park. "3... 2... Juan"
Nice they fixed that after so long.And it does once again! Can hear that countdown everywhere now, really confused me at first, thought they'd turned the speakers right up at the base but then saw the ones on top.
1 hour ago, Mark9 said:It sounds like INFERNO has not really had any cleaning attention this year as you're not the first person who has spoken about all the chewing gum.
Meant to write Inferno, not sure why I put Nemesis only! I did see some gum removal equipment being moved around elsewhere on park so maybe they're working on it? Fingers crossed.
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11 minutes ago, Wumbamillio said:
Id also say that anyone who buys the parks off Merlin (if the resort theme parks are sold as people want them to, even me in the past) would probably only end up the same situation as Merlin. I'd much rather Merlin changed their attitude, change the way the parks are run and how theyre developed, how they market the parks' futures, than for Merlin to sell them off.
Or at least sell off their RTP division is a new company or something, than flog the parks to highest bidders. Look at what happened when Pearson sold Tussauds, it changed hands few more times, saw underwhelming investment and decine, and ended up with Merlin.I agree with you on that one, I feel Merlin needs some sort of incentive to invest more in their parks but I'm not sure what would cause that. I personally don't feel like the other UK theme parks can compete with Merlin's offerings in the near future, maybe distant future if they had large investments, but they're just not on the same scale as say, Alton Towers is. The London Resort park would be a big competitor if it's ever actually built, but until then, who knows?
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Visited Thorpe twice lately, with TPM on Saturday and went again on this very rainy day, thought I'd post some thoughts from the two days and some observations for those who are intrested.
Saturday
- Much busier than expected but helped by most rides having good operations (one or two rides less so but nothing horrendous)
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Music seemed a mixed bag, much clearer and louder in some places (bridge, upstairs Dome, Saw area (around the shop) and Colossus area)
- But some areas were far too quiet or had problems (Swarm and downstairs Dome too quiet, Nemesis cutting out)
- Coke Freestyle looked to be a very good addition, much better than previous refill cups, although it did have a few teething problems
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Had my personal best ever run-though of DBGT, only one or two very minor issues but overall a near perfect run-through
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Detail on DBGT:
Spoiler
VR worked flawlessly apart from two minor tracking problems that resolved quickly. Staff acting was brilliant, people were genuinely convinced there was an emergency in the middle section at first. Middle section had actors in and I'm a fan of this version, makes far more sense to actually walk through the tunnels. Quite a long sequence of trying to open the door, staff did a good job of covering up a delay if it was one. Excuses for holding people in the shop are quite funny too.
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Detail on DBGT:
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Nemesis
- New lights had gotten stuck on the white stage and did not change on dispatch
- Bose bass cannons in the ceiling were working (first time I've ever heard them, sounded great!)
- Station floor desperately needed to be cleaned of gum
- Rumba Rapids must have had some changes as half our boat got soaked!
Tuesday
- Very quiet and rainy day, most queues on 5 mins
- Nemesis' lighting changes had been solved, changes to red on dispatch again, audio cut outs also appear to have been resolved
- No smoke to be seen anywhere on Colossus, either broken or turned off I'm guessing. Old music still playing too!
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DBGT:
Spoiler
No actors today and staff acting in the middle section wasn't quite as good. Much shorter as nothing much happened in the middle section, just a bit of audio and then you're on to the 2nd VR section. 2nd section was also shorter, didn't show the "I want to get off" person. No delays or technical issues though.
- Got soaked on Rumba again
- New speakers on top of Detonator are a big improvement, can actually hear the countdown on the ride now
Overall two great visits, would be nice to see some more TLC around the park and for the quiet audio to be sorted out in some areas. Really felt on Saturday that the park needed another major ride there, not sure if I've just been too many times though!
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Anyone who hopes for Merlin to go bankrupt (which isn't going to happen anytime in the distant future) seems to be missing the fact that whoever would buy up their assets would need to be a company of similar size or larger, and so would likely function in a similar way. It wouldn't suddenly mean that all the parks would see masses of investment, the new company would likely behave in a similar manner to Merlin.
People also forget that Merlin's theme parks are not loss-makers, they may make less money than the mid-ways but are not losing money. I would speculate too that they are a strong reason for people to purchase MAPs.
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I'll be coming! Need to hear that original Vampire soundtrack and finally try out The Gruffalo.
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3 hours ago, Mattgwise said:
Really? Our boat found it to be far more enjoyable and a couple got a soaking. I'm sure some of the pipes have been moved as well as there seemed to be one or two different rapid sections. As well as that the wave machine seemed slightly more aggressive as well. The paint work around the ride though, that's another story.
Can confirm, got wet. The rapids definitely seemed more intense than previous years.
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More details released on the Coke Freestyle machines: https://www.thorpepark.com/blog/2019-season-opening-part-one-coke-freestyle
Prices are as follows for the cup and unlimited use of the machines all day:
1 vessel - £10
2 vessels - £18
3 vessels - £24If you reuse the cup another day the price is reduced to £6
Personally I feel like it's quite pricey (although if the annual/season pass discount applies then it's a bit better). The discount of £4 for reusing the cup is very good though, most substantial discount I've seen for anything like this.
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So TheJackSilkstone got shown around Thorpe Park early and showed some of the changes happening at Thorpe Park:
For those not wanting to watch the video, I noted the following:
- New projector in the Dome with some new signage (modernisation of the Dome happening in phases)
- New speakers on the entrance bridge
- Tidal Wave's exit bridge has been replaced, the other bridge for spectators has been removed
- Oasis branding replaced Dr Pepper at Tidal Wave
- Stealth's supports have been painted
- Sticky Sisters is being changed into a hot dog type restaurant
- I'm A Celeb branding has been removed, area will be covered up until opening of Jungle Escape
- Colossus has had the area around its supports filled in with concrete, some supports have been painted
- Bouncezilla is going in the area outside Crusts
- 'Old School' merch will be available for the 40th birthday with the old logo on
- GameFX will have a range of consoles with new games and a retro area, will also be a tournament as an 'introduction to e-sports'
- Coke Freestyle is being rolled out across the entire park with refillable drink quenchers available for them
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That picture is deceptive, the deal is actually only for hotel bookings, not for day tickets
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Season pass sale is on until the end of March, now £49 and a season digipass is included. Seems like great value to me!
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BounceZilla
in General Discussion
Posted
That wouldn't even cover the cost of one ride operator/host for the day when you factor in that 20% of the £55 is VAT