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JoshuaA

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Everything posted by JoshuaA

  1. Wildfire and Outlaw were around the 10 million mark. I assume the topper track is a tad cheaper than IBox. Wildfire cost 110 million Sek which is about half of what Helix cost! Wildfire isn’t a small coaster by any means earns either.. 18-20 is pushing it even with inflation and Merlin. I think with free spins they make a good supporting coaster. They also fit into spaces that other coasters can’t squeeze into. A bit like a skyrocket 2 or a impulse, not the best rides but it’s fun, cheap, and compact. With simworx I don’t think they could of done anything to deliver what Merlin wanted for the Ghost Train. Also not forgetting that every Tom idiot and Harry manufactured that mess. I think no company or nobody on this entire planet could of delivered the ghost train without changing the current idea of the attraction. The VR just doesn’t work, it didn’t fail because of Simworx, it failed because it was a bad idea to begin with.
  2. Yeah, the one with the Gerstlauer trains.... 10 Million probably sounds more like a accurate price but that is still way cheaper than most coasters. Especially on the scale of New Texas Giant. Sure it was a conversation, though conversations aren't much cheaper than ground up RMC's anyway.. RMCing a coaster literally just re-uses parts of the layout and parts of the supports.. Outlaw Run (groundup RMC woodie) cost 10 million too.. (according to RCDB)..
  3. I was talking more about coasters.. The Ghost Train is a complete cocktail of an attraction, isn't there like 10 companies involved in the ride? Its needlessly complicated and expensive. Nobody could deliver that attraction, it failed before it was built.. RMC are still cheaper than Intamin, B&M, and major Mack coasters. They are rising in price but Six Flags were very smart by building those things left and right while they were cheap. What I am saying is Merlin should perhaps pull a Six Flags and try and install coasters that are cheap but good (freespins!). Working with more obscure manufacturers sometimes could lend to cheaper coasters and might even lend for some cheap deals. I feel like Merlin are a little too reliant on Intamin and B&M.. Freespins tho. Cheap, no problems with them.. Easy to install, fun rides IMO. S&S have had their issues but their freespin model has had no issues and would be something very easy for Merlin to start cloning for peanuts. Is it though? New Texas Giant cost 5.5 million dollars and is considering one of the best coasters in Texas. Or look at Chance's GT-X model, Lightning Run is considered by many to be a top 30 coaster, this coaster model costs 7 million. I think sometimes its about getting the right manufacturer at the right time, if you pin down a company while they are still very young (Six Flags to RMC) then sometimes you can get amazing coasters for 1/3 the price of most big coaster additions.
  4. JoshuaA

    Wicker Man

    Wickerman in the back row is just plain amazing. I really hope Merlin decide to build more GCI's
  5. There is a difference between being innovative and being plain stupid. If the park worked with some of the smaller and cheaper manufacturers such as Chance, S&S, RMC, they could get great rides for peanuts. What Thorpe and Merlin have been doing recently isn't innovative or interesting, its a waste of money.
  6. I honestly think Merlin need to think outside the box for future investments if they are going to become reluctant with money. Look at Six Flags, they put their faith and 5.5 million dollars on a company with no coasters to their name in the middle of Idaho, for 5.5 million dollars they got New Texas Giant. Six Flags might be cheap but they are smart, if Six Flags ran Thorpe it would be a lot better than it currently is. Six Flags don't spend much money but when they do its spent fairly wisely. If Merlin want to draw in the figures for peanuts they should considering adding rides like freespins, RMC'S, and skyline's crap. If they did adopt the Six Flags business model it would be more more effective IMO. Six flags are in many ways tacky and uncalled for, but they do install good rides at the end of the day and I think Merlin recently have been more focused on 'experiences' than actual rides (DBGT, IAC, Sub Terra)..
  7. If done right this could be a great attraction. The space looks pretty ideal for a maze so its all down to the delivery with this one.. Hopefully Thorpe stick the landing, Fright Nights really need a another good maze after last year..
  8. Most of what the posts above me say are completely correct, but here's my two cents. Lack of image: Thorpe Park don't really have a clear audience now. At least back in 2012 they had a image and demographic, in 2019 the park have huge indentity problems and the new adverts and tagline just scream soul-less. Chessington and Alton are not perfect but any means but they have a clear brand and a clear target market which they both do well, Thorpe is the vanilla ice cream of branding at Merlin. IP's that make no sense: Gruffalo and Room On The Broom make somewhat sense. IAC, Angry Birds, and TWD literally felt just Thorpe picked their IP from a hat. Do we need a half arsed area themed to Angry Birds? HELL NO. IAC was another example of Thorpe slapping on a short IP for a short lived attraction that shouldn't exist in the first place. Poor small, medium, and large investments: For small investments we got IAC and a bunch of reused unthemed little flat rides which were placed pretty blindly.. For medium investments we got Angry Birds and the best family ride re-themed to something scary, for large we got DBGT- one of the biggest fails in Merlin history. 13 million spent on something that probably won't make it past ten years of operation. Neglected parts of the park: Colossus's new concrete look, Swarm's wood in the station, Inferno's queueline, Old Town in general, Slammer.. The park feels so neglected, Thorpe right now feels like the unwanted redhead child of Merlin.. I think what Mark said was very true in that Chessington was in a similar position for a while, things can change. Though I feel like Thorpe really has a dug itself a hole and its going to take some hefty investments and clean up to recover what is the current mess of the park. I think replacing Loggers and Slammer with new attractions would be a good first step, that area is crying for a refurb, its needed a refurb for like 4 years now..
  9. JoshuaA

    2019 Season

    Don't forget his soul too..
  10. They could of got a Wildfire clone for that money.. If this cost 20 million then they should of just bought something ground up lol
  11. I wouldn't say Hex is the best dark ride ever built but I think its the perfect antithesis to something like Derren Brown. When broken down Hex is a very simple attraction, though it is highly effective and highly immersive (more so than the Ghost Train could ever be).. Hex is so eerie I sometimes find the attraction scarier than some mazes, its crazy how the right location matched with simple effects and theming can create such a tense atmosphere..
  12. I would agree but I think there is so many countries that are against gay rights that I honestly couldn't boycott every single country that doesn't have proper rights. If it was just a few countries I would do the same but considering so many countries have this stance I'd be hard pressed to rule every single one out. Poland compared to the middle east is bloody mild anyway. It isn't right obviously but honestly as a gay man I wouldn't boycott somewhere like Poland. I would however be very reluctant on going to somewhere where gay activity is completely ILLEGAL like Dubai.
  13. This easily could be a top tier RMC, when this does open I'm certainly going to Energylandia as soon as I possibly can!
  14. Honestly if Cloud Cuckoo gets any attention I'll be happy. It really needs some sort of addition after Toadstools and Charlie.. Even if its a IP I guess its better than letting the area rot.
  15. Yeah I read your blog and we definitely have very different opinions, well except for Goliath. I do have to give credit to Raging Bull for being different, its layout is certainly interesting and the park doesn't really have the space for a out and back layout anyway so I understand why they went for that layout, I have heard though the ride is the best in the very back so if I went back I would try and experience it in the very back row. If I'm being honest Superman really for me was all about the pretzel loop, that element alone made me like it better than Air. Its a shame about the powercut, I guess Maxx Force gives you more than enough reason to go back! Great America seems to second favourite child with Six Flags right now too, I wouldn't be surprised if we got another coaster in the next 4 years or so!
  16. I mean the dome. The arena is long gone anyway. Darren Brown? Where is that in the park? I thought the arena was replaced with Derren Brown lol?
  17. I honestly think the new maze will go in Loggers Station and the new show will just be Showtime in the arena (dome). That would be the obvious choice I think.
  18. Agreed. If the attraction used physical sets and scares that weren't just through a VR lens then that would radically make this thing more fun. I think what makes this thing so un reridable is that all the scares in the VR section are always gonna be the same thing, if you have rode this ride then you know exactly whats gonna happen and when its going to happen, ruining any tension or fear to be had. Scare mazes are lucky in a sense with actors being variables. Actors tend to make every run through different and interesting, something that the Ghost Train lacks IMO.
  19. Well at least you get to see Derren's sexy face in the pre-show, that is the single reason why I re-ride this thing.
  20. I think my problem with the Ghost Train is that the VR's sections would be completely dull if it wasn't for some staff members grabbing your legs.. It feels kinda cheap, they spent so much money on building a complex dark ride and all that technology is completely not put to any use.. The live section and the finale are probably the best parts and those sections probably cost peanuts compared to the VR sections. I honestly see this ride going in the Sub Terra direction, but this will be even worse considering it didn't cost a few pennies to build..
  21. I had a run through of DBGT the other day and honestly I wasn't a fan. The VR reliant aspect of the attraction just doesn't do it for me and I found both VR sequences to be kinda boring, and the middle section was just kinda eh with 1 actor and a bunch of kinda oddly placed strobes. The finale as always is brilliant but, eh. This thing also seemed to get a low throughput, the queue moved slower than TWD.. I honestly don't know why the park just built a madhouse, would of been better as a ride, better throughput, cheaper, and they could of made it heavily themed and scary if they wanted.
  22. I think this theme could really lend to something truly unique like Chop Shop or Twisted, something that just isn't like anything else at the park. I think that really is needed when Tulleys have so many mazes. I hope they interject some humour into this new addition as I feel like Tulleys do humor really damn well. I have to admit I'm super excited for Tulleys this year, I just adore this place.
  23. Scaretour posted this on their facebook and instagram pages: So I'm pretty sure thats what the cage was about a few years ago. Very exciting indeed!
  24. JoshuaA

    2019 Season

    So I visited Thorpe for the second time this season last Friday and I gotta admit that I was kinda disappointed with how the park was running. The Swarm had a very short queue (the queue was only in the station) and somehow I waited 30 minutes for what is basically a walk on. Slow guests and very sluggish staff really contributed to this, it was a shambles of operations. On the upside Stealth and Saw had good ops but Swarm need working on.. I also found that rides were going down like flies. There was always a major coaster+a supporting ride down at all times, I know breakdowns happen but it felt excessive and it makes me question if they actually maintain things properly.. I didn't go in Bouncezilla but I walked past it multiple times and holy hell this thing wouldn't look out of place on the Blackpool Seafront.. I've seen more classier bouncy castles at my local fair, most of those don't even touch the sheer ugliness which is Bouncezilla. It has to been seen to be believed, I thought it looked pretty ugly from photos, in person it is actually worse than Storm Surge with the loud audio being even more annoying. I enjoyed The Walking Dead the other day, all the effects were working and overall I understand why people like it, it is actually kinda fun. My only worry about this ride is that it had no queue for the whole day, and towards the end of the day it was a complete ghost town which makes me think it has a low popularity considering the throughput isn't good to start with. I do like this ride but I do see it becoming Nemesis Sub Terra 2.0. Overall Thorpe kinda was what it was to me in March, heavily flawed but it has a few fun rides. Inferno in particular was running great and in the back row that ride is worth a trip alone, if only everything else was good..
  25. I honestly kinda like how the park has kinda strayed away from its 'roots'. I feel like at least the park is taking direction unlike Thorpe, they are making changes to the park and some of those additions are pretty good (Tiger Rock and Gruffalo).. What have we lost though? The only ride I would say was much of a loss or handled poorly was Safari Skyway, which honestly became a little redundant after Zufari anyway. Peeking Heights was replaced with the new tiger enclosure which honestly is more exciting than Peeking Heights anyway. Hocus Pocus, Dragons Falls, and Bubbleworks aren't really losses considering they are for most parts just re-themes. Black Buccaneer is also bad but honestly I think all Merlin parks are guilty of treating flat rides poorly. Alton Towers had toadstools, submission, enterprise recently, Thorpe Park opened Quantum 3/4 into a season, closed Slammer and hasn't bothered to even remove it a few years later..
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