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I whole heartedly agree with Jack F, if this is the ride, then it is extremely bloody lazy. still taking it with a slight pinch of salt, as you would imagine that this being out there for 48 hours would have been discussed a lot more, not just on here. It is pretty spot on to what I have always been saying though. Air didn't need a VR upgrade, they have just ruined a coaster by doing that, you ride a rollercoaster to ride a rollercoaster, not stare at a phone screen. "this is not a VR experience" - I'm sorry, but if you are on the ride wearing a VR headset ..... It's a VR experience. If this is the ride, I don't see many members of the GP actually going nuts over something called a Ghost Train, With or Without Derren Brown. P.S - VR is not "taking the Theme park world by storm" - it has been implemented on a couple of coasters and will fizzle out within 2 years.

I hope it isn't, because as I said over on Towers street, I don't go to a theme park to look at a phone screen in a helmet.

That artice was posted on Friday. If this is what the ride actually is, then in a round about fashion ...... I was right all along. You will not board the hanging train. It will be for decoration. You will board a dum .... dum .......... DDDUUUUUUUUM! IMMERSIVE F!"£$%G TUNNEL WEARING A F!"£$%G HEADSET! so it will be a variant of the immersive tunnel. - Fudge *Fingers crossed this is not real, how did we miss it for 48 hours?*

Ripper street covered the famous whitechapel Train crash a couple years back. I think the crash was around 1884 and was on a bridge. Victorian Era, Clearly something to do with a steam train, the project is codenamed whitechapel, just can't work out where Automatons fit into the train crash. Purely speculating and we may find out more tomorrow, but it points that way for a theme ...... plus automatons. - Immersive tunnel anyone? - lol

That is the main benefit of working from home my friend, this laptop IS my office, and my wife is my secretary, I highly recommend both. I doubt they will announce much, I think it will be just a name and theme.

Have you kids not wondered what would happen if you refused to hand your property over to the teacher? They would hand you a detention ..... maybe, then all you do is not turn up for it. imprisoning a child against their will is illegal, these punishments actually mean nothing at all, they can't make you do it. If you want to look at the announcement on Monday at 9am .... I say go for it, what in all reality is going to happen? If a teacher told my son that he was not allowed to do something, and I didn't see a problem with it, as long as it isn't illegal of course, I would be going down that school and giving them a good talking to. - I know that other parents may not agree with me, but what the hell is the harm in doing something that is causing no person any bother? There is no "punishment" school can actually force you to do, and if they exclude you because you refused to be imprisoned against your will, well then they are just ruining your education, and can be held accountable for that. Like Derren Brown himself would say - It is all a matter of perception. - Monday 9am, I will be online, and if you are a fan and want to be as well, then I say why the hell not?

Nothing about that Dynamic Attractions announcement in 2012 makes me think that this is the ride they were describing. Derren said he was approached by Thorpe in 2012 sure, but surely the ride system needed could only be decided on once a concept was fully realised. Plus we are now technically in the 4th year since that announcement, and it say to be delivered in 2 years. Whilst I want this to be a Dynamic Attractions ride, and the IAAPA booth does make us think that it is wholly possible, I am still staying very wary on the whole thing. Still Cautiously optimistic.

Perhaps the second generation has been designed to fit into smaller, tighter spaces. Can they really market it as the world's first second generation robot arm ride though!? Once again, I hope this is what is going into Thorpe, but I am really not holding my breath.

If this is what Thorpe Park are building, then humble pie I shall happily eat! I see people's point though, is the building big enough for this? though I suppose they could employ the same thing they do on transformers, and use one large screen for 4 different scenes, a quarter each. I am reservedly optimistic for the first time, but that Dynamic Attractions booth does look very similar, but could be a red herring.

he is going to try to make somebody believe that they have pushed somebody off a roof or something. I don't think any analysis in comparison to this ride is justified in any sense.

Derren is in no way in charge. Sure he has been paid to come up with the concept, and to add his name to the ride, but Merlin do not have to go with his design. I hope they make things exactly as he wants them, but I still have this niggling feeling that corners will be cut, it is Merlin's Money and down to them to execute the build, operation and maintainance of this ride. If this ride is to succeed, it needs to be brilliant, remember, (If it is not simply a Lex Luthor style land scam) there will be a paramount resort opening up not very far away, and with a 2Billion budget, it is going to kill Merlin in the South East. Merlin need Quality rides that get people talking, let's hope this is the start of that.

I would also like to know how we find the clue?

it saddens me that anybody not fortunate enough to ride Valhalla, has Hex as the bench mark for a UK dark ride. Hex, or as I like to call it "pre show : the ride" is good when you finally get to the madhouse, but once you have experienced it, you never get that same sense of wonder again. I hope this ride has serious re-rideability, something any decent dark ride MUST have.

When Universal announced Kong, it made me want to get my Family on a plane and go to Orlando. I also want to experience Gringott's and the newest offerings over at Disney. Dark Rides can be absolutely revolutionary, look at what Spider-Man did, to this day, in my opinion the best ride on the planet. I totally agree in that me saying most people in the GP have not experienced a decent dark ride is in no way patronising at all. Going to Orlando, or to Disneyland Paris is, in reality, really bloody expensive. The Idea that we are going to get a Dark Ride that is not a blinking light shoot fest is actually exciting, it makes me want to go to Thorpe this year, more than a few times if the ride is something special. This could be the one that moves Merlin into what I would call a world class contender, this is clearly the ride that they are hoping can move them away from just developing coasters, and who knows, maybe SW8 will be a dark ride, Charlie is rumoured to be closing it's doors for good, an SW just has to be a world class ride, not just a coaster. If Paramount is not just a land scam, and actually materialises, Merlin are going to have to wake up and start offering world class variety experiences, or they will find that all of their South of London parks, see a large (and permanent) loss in business, to the £2Billion resort proposed just up the road. I am sure that this is on their minds right now, and part of the reason we are seeing a dark ride pushed.

Look, people who say they are just interested in Coaster's have likely never experienced a decent story driven dark ride in their lives. Dark rides are not a coaster, and really can not be compared to a coaster, but when done right, Dark rides can be bloody spectacular. A perfect blend of storytelling, effects, excitement and thrill is what makes a dark ride decent, if they pull this off it will be something special. What they need to avoid are shooters, simply because Merlin can not do shooter's well, and they also need to avoid something that moves extremely slow. Dark rides need that something special in order to work, Valhalla is the only dark ride in the U.K that I consider to be decent, and decent it is! I hope it isn't a jazzed up immersive tunnel, I know I have gone on about it a lot, but the shape of the ride area concerns me a lot. "please Merlin, prove me wrong and make this something I want to ride again and again."

I think once it is aged, it is going to look at least half decent, if not spectacular. I am excited that they are attempting to give us what they set out to give us in way of the look. I was really looking forward to The Smiler's station and theming, on paper it looked fantastic, ....... then we got ...... that. you will get a sense of whitechapel and Vaudeville Theatre in the upcoming new series of Celebrity Big Brother (interesting choice of theme) If the Big Brother House can look good as a victorian theatre, then I am sure this can look even better, this is actually giving me some faith in this ride.

I Expect we will get some kind of "Christmas Present" Clue in the next few days. God I hate closed season. Really looking forward to this new ride now, even if it is a pile of crap, at least it is going to be something different and hopefully unique.

I whole heartedly agree the man knows how to put on a T.V Show and a live Stage show incredibally well. Ask yourselves this though, does that guarantee us to be getting a good ride here? There is a huge difference in the two and designing a ride is, in my opinion, so much more complicated than a T.V Show. This Experience is 13 minutes long, which amazes me in the first place, but that must include pre show and possibly boarding as well. 13 Minutes is a short period of time in which to blow us away, I know it sounds like a lot, but Derren loves to build up to a large pay off, create the atmosphere, set the scene, This has to be a ride we want to experience again and again. I really am going into this thing expecting the worst, but actively hoping for the best, so that I am not let down. I am not doing this because I have no faith in Derren, I have moderate faith in him because he is, as others have also pointed out, an excellent showman. I have no faith in Merlin, and the fact that they seem to like to cut corners massively in theming their U.K parks, it is sad but true. Every corner they can cut, they will, it almost feels like that they know they own the Theme Park Industry here, and we can get what we are given and lump it. The only way Merlin will up their game here in the U.K is if a large competitor enters the game, which is why I have my fingers crossed that the So called "Paramount Park" will actually materialise and is not just a large land scam. Sorry to be a naysayer, but you have to be realistic, if we want to go to a Theme Park here in the U.K , especially here in the south, it is likely going to be Thorpe, Chessington or LEGOLAND, because that is all we really have here. If it had been Doctor who I would have been just as worried, because no matter how good the concept looks, no matter what the person in charge of design does, they have to trust Merlin to build it, and build it right, and right now they simply don't have to, they have no competition except with themselves. in the north there is a little more competition but they don't have the financial clout that Merlin do, so advertising is not as prominent. This ride will get HEAVY promotion all over the Country. It doesn't have to be good, because they have the clout of Derren Brown to promote this thing, which already taps into a large fanbase and then we have the Enthusiast community, and we are all pretty stoked at the notion of a dark ride finally being built. This Ride has already guaranteed itself to be a success, which is great, but I hope the ride is great. If people at Merlin actually read these boards I would say this to them, Thank you for finally giving us something that is not a mediocre coaster, but please do the ride, the story and the man who has designed it justice, and treat it and us with the utmost respect, we spend a lot of money to visit your parks, and the experiences should reflect that. I am so sorry to have gone off into a rant, but to me, a dark ride is something so much more special and entertaining than a coaster will ever be, a great ride is well themed, exciting, thrilling, well paced with a great story. I am looking forward to hopefully experiencing something amazing in this new ride, a completely original concept which will challenge the senses. oh and Happy Christmas everyone.

In my local council all you need to do is fill out a form and pay a fee in order to be a licensed Tattoo Artist. This is a lot more risky than hypnosis. But yes it won't happen on this ride, and no Derren himself does not believe it works at all, he knows it's all bulls*#t. All hypnotists know it is, this is why subjects for his "Experiments" are carefully selected, you can only be "hypnotized" if you believe in it yourself, it is all in the power suggestion, in the way that he predicted say, what toy was going to be selected in Hamleys, he started them on the upper floor, and had things like giant giraffe patterns placed on the wall, and the word in places, he will also speak in such a way and at such a speed that he would have likely slipped in the words, go and get a stuffed giraffe. but once again, no this ride will not employ hypnosis. At all.

Though I admire that they have managed to keep so much under wraps, it is not the mere fact that they have done so that I admire, merely the fact that leaks have not happened. I actually find it ridiculous, why not just take the approach of telling us what we are going to get, so that we can make up our mind as to whether or not we wish to actually spend money to go ride this thing. I feel like they really don't have any idea how to market what they have, so they are going down the "it's a secret" approach.

even with warnings in abundance, people have undiscovered mental health conditions. Traumatic events can trigger those conditions. There are too many variables, the only "psycholical elements" this ride will employ will be visual. The sort of blink and you'll miss it idea, something is there one second, you double take and it is not there anymore. That will be it. There will be no attempt to hypnotize the riders, it just will not happen. Derren Brown is a self confessed fraud, a showman, he believes in hypnosis about as much as I believe that god exists.

Derren failed to stick the nation to their chair's. Well he at least failed to stick me and the people I was with at the time to our seats. Though as already said on here, the man freely admits that you have to be suggestable in order to be hypnotized. Mass Hypnosis is not going to happen on this ride. The legal implications would be far too great, what if somebody with a mental illness is hypnotized into seeing something truly terrifying. Then the process of bringing that person back to reality does not work, and that person goes and tops themselves. That would not just be the end of Thorpe Park, but of Merlin. I just want a nice paced dark ride, with a good blend of physical sets and 3D screens, and I want it to be fun and Thrilling. End of.

well that just seemed to be a cartoon zombie santa clause. He had the hat, the beard, who isn't scared of a mall santa? Especially a zombie mall santa. Even if it isn't Santa, this close to Christmas and looking that much like a zombie santa seems a bit coincidental. These clues are here to keep us guessing and discussing, I doubt they have much to do with the ride at all.

Still extremely impressed with the level of secrecy, and the drip feeding of what is essentially, no information at all. But this does not mean that it is going to be a good attraction, maybe the reason for this approach is simply that they can't work out a tangeble way to directly market the thing. Obviously we see statements lie "Game Changer" and "the best thing ever" and we think "yeah, yeah Merlin, and Thi3teen gave us all Heart Attacks. I am still unfortunately banking on this being not much more than an actor led experience and some form of immersive Tunnel Attraction, I am still hoping to be pleasantly surprised and proved wrong. Go into this thing with the approach, "Expect the worst, Hope for the best" That way when you experience it you will either have your expectations met, or be very pleasantly surprised, either way the only way is up. Some people will nay say that opinion and say "oh you are damming this ride before you have even been on it". In fact quite the opposite, I want nothing more than for this to be a good ride. I have to be realistic though, this is Merlin, they gave us a repurposed Cyprus Gardens slide and just stuck it in the middle of a theme park, They gave us the rubber duck version of Bubble Works. I have no confidence in their ability to produce a decent dark ride, especially when the standard that I have personally ridden is the where the bar is set. Here in the UK, the best dark ride in my opinion is undoubtedly Valhalla, and even in September, Blackpool Pleasure beach, an independently owned park I might add, try to keep as many of the effects running as is possible. Hopefully Merlin have done their research, the design team have been out and studied the best dark rides created by competitors in Universal and Disney and know where to be aiming for. What I am worrying about is this, The only competition in the UK for a REALLY good Dark Ride is the aforementioned Valhalla, international competition is rarely taken into any kind of consideration because Merlin have international parks. Somebody else on here mentioned, if over a Thousand people are working on this thing, then that plus Derren's name is where a good chunk of the budget has gone, leaving not a lot of money for anything else, let's say each one of those people get's £20,000 for their work on the ride because it has been longer than a year. Put that into perspective a minute - £20,000 times 1000 = £20million!!! I am not saying this money has definitely been spent on people alone, but if a thousand people have really put a lot of work into this thing then that figure, or maybe even more is very possible. That is before any ride tech, theming etc. Food for Thought.

Hmmmmm, I smell a classic Merlin delay ....