Mysta Ghoul

Everyone I know says Bouncezilla is usually deserted and forgotten is a bit of a joke with the state the park is in. I believe a mix of both, I'm sure it's a fun summer event as far as they go in UK parks.

But I can't believe people genuinly "can't wait to go back" to do a bouncy castle. Does this mean they're attending all the summer fairs where bouncy castle courses pop up, or is it just because of the Thorpe hype again?

See here's the thing with hype. We all get to rides at different ages, different levels of coaster counts and different likes and dislikes. I personally think Expedition Ge Force is garbage but I see I'm the minority and don't declare the thing over-hyped anymore. It's just not my thing. This works in other ways too, I enjoy Goudurix but the coaster community thinks it's one of the worst rollercoasters ever built. 
 
Over the years, coaster fans seem to imply that they are the enlightened ones when they don't enjoy a ride as much as others do. I see it with Nemesis all the time. I'd love it if we could just accept that we don't like a ride as much as others do and keep the overhyped word to a minimum as hype is a very subjective term. We won't though because it's also a very emotive word.

Europa was still a great park and much better (in terms of value for money) even before Blue Fire opened, and Merlin have made many more mistakes on big projects than taking a risk on just one coaster, so I dont really buy that. All successes come with taking risk anyway, and Europa have an excellent track record of taking those risks and making successes.

But I totally agree Europa has built their success over a long period of time. I think theyre a real beacon of the value in developing your park long term and making a success of it at every step. While Merlin are a clear example of how parks can be squandered by constant short term time and cost decisions.

I'm really pleased with the news although it certainly doesnt automatically mean any big change or improvement.

I'd love to see a ride about Victor the Virus, who is valiantly victorious versus vicious vacuous villains.
 
They could call it V:\ No Vay Out

Europa was still a great park and much better (in terms of value for money) even before Blue Fire opened, and Merlin have made many more mistakes on big projects than taking a risk on just one coaster, so I dont really buy that. All successes come with taking risk anyway, and Europa have an excellent track record of taking those risks and making successes.

But I totally agree Europa has built their success over a long period of time. I think theyre a real beacon of the value in developing your park long term and making a success of it at every step. While Merlin are a clear example of how parks can be squandered by constant short term time and cost decisions.

I'm really pleased with the news although it certainly doesnt automatically mean any big change or improvement.

Europa was still a great park and much better (in terms of value for money) even before Blue Fire opened, and Merlin have made many more mistakes on big projects than taking a risk on just one coaster, so I dont really buy that. All successes come with taking risk anyway, and Europa have an excellent track record of taking those risks and making successes.

But I totally agree Europa has built their success over a long period of time. I think theyre a real beacon of the value in developing your park long term and making a success of it at every step. While Merlin are a clear example of how parks can be squandered by constant short term time and cost decisions.

I'm really pleased with the news although it certainly doesnt automatically mean any big change or improvement.

I think taking it at face value - 'offer accepted for Merlin to be bought' or similar - is perhaps misleading. As others have said, it is a case of existing shareholders buying more shares so they have the majority stake. Arguably the biggest and most important outcome of this is that Merlin are going back to being a private company rather than a public company. Of course the biggest problem with being a public company is that you have to answer to people who simply want profit: in their eyes, if something won't make profit, why should money be spent on it? A private company will have a more sensible outlook.
 
Kirkby have said they've no plans to sell anything within Merlin and that there won't be substantial changes. It'll likely just be a different decision making process towards how to spend money. It'll be interesting to see if there's any changes to the hierarchy, be that by adding an extra layer (hopefully not..), a reshuffle/change of the top layer, or what. 
 
Not that this should need saying, but this obviously doesn't mean a switch is going to flicked and we're going to see huge investments every year at every park. However, I'd expect that if there's a different outlook and different decision making process, there might be more opportunities for money to be invested..

Oh, so they weren't doing away with it to improve guest behaviour and/or to make things better for staff, it was purely a way for them to make more money selling individual park VIP passes for the same price.
 
That's the last time I give Merlin the benefit of the doubt...

They were fixed two seasons ago, but then broke again (or weren't swithched on). Last season i saw only the sink work on one visit and nothing on the rest. Was just nice to see them all working. The house sets certainly do look worn which is a shame. At least the park are trying to touch little things up and repair things.

I think they were fixed couple years back, maybe not, but they're lots of fun. The toilet is pretty busted now though and has a plastic seat sort of stuck on top (used to be a themed toilet like from the 50s) with a perspex cover to stop people, err..!

I think the radio on the shelf in the first 'house' used to speak too?
The house sets looking pretty worn out these days sadly. It was a brilliant themed area when looked after, the best in park!

Noticing more and more changes recently with music at the park - Detonator platform now plays the queue line music when the rides announcements aren’t playing. Tidal Wave station finally has WWTP back playing in there (it’s been years!)
 
Speakers at the entrance where the security queue is are also much louder now which was much needed!

This on paper could very well be the best Scarefest yet. The welcoming to me was the only bit of deadwood in the line up last year so to see that gone is a big plus. I am quite delighted to see the return of Terror of the Towers with a refreshed story line. I loved Terror of the Towers but it did desperately need a change from the “What Lies Within” story as that long overstayed it’s welcome. I wonder if Thorpe Park will now bring back a certain much loved horror maze after a years absence.......
 
 Altonville mine tour and Sub Species are both brilliant horror mazes (the latter being the best in the country in my book) and I actually found Project 42 to be pretty good too for a maze with limited space to work with. 
 
All in all a pretty solid looking line up.

And just like that, the line up:
 
https://www.altontowers.com/activities/events/scarefest/thrilling-frights/#mazes
-Sub Species, Skin Snatchers and Project 42 all return, and are part of the 3 maze combo ticket.
-The Attic: Terror of the Towers is new, with an £8 charge (much like Welcoming, which has gone)
 
https://www.altontowers.com/activities/events/scarefest/family-fun/
-House of Monsters is NOT returning
-New family attraction Darkest Depths: located in Mutiny Bay (possibly where Welcoming was?)

Yeah, that's nice and all, but it's like cutting your toenails when you need a leg amputation.
 
Good to do, put pointless in the big picture.

You can if you spend a bit more money on labour to set up events. At the other end of the scale, how long does it take for Winter Wonderland to set up? Although I understand it is a complex job to dismantle all the mazes and set up again.

I think they just believe not enough people go in the Towers for the maze setup to require a tighter schedule and bigger budget. They might be right, so maybe a better solution would be to keep as much of the Towers clear as possible and just build mazes in the basement. Then build in the upper floors only in the run up to Scarefest

They don't have to ask permission from the landowners, that's nonsense. It's Thorpe Park who usually have to ask Merlin HQ for budget and development approval, anything bigger Merlin HQ dictate the projects themselves (and design/deliver them with MMM) with consultation from the park. This is literally irrelevant to Bouncezilla.

Thorpe Park arent 'testing' anything new here, theme parks have been doing summer events for decades. It's an important part of the season cycle, it's just that Thorpe Park havnt been doing much in recent years.
 
Let's all just get our feet back on the ground. What are you basing this on? How would you even measure "worldwide theme park culture"? Do guests think to themselves "No I dont want a new ride, that's so 2002, I was a bouncy castle!" One doesnt replace the other.

The reason Thorpe park installed a lot of coasters in the early 2000s was to expand the park. After the buyout, it had to go from an independent family park into a big player for Tussauds, and that meant growing the market and doubling attendance. 3 big coasters in quick succession was their way of doing that and it worked, it changed the park.

Afterwards, it became a matter of sustaining attendance. Merlin's formula was a steel coaster every 3 years and go for IPs, horror and an 'Inbetweeners' type audience. Merlin realised it wasnt working, but spent years faffing around not giving the park the budget and cleanup it really needed. DBGT was meant to solve the park's problems but it was a spectacular misfire.

I agree that adding coasters every year is not necessary or sustainable, BUT you're talking an over-simplified version of events and pulling logic out of thin air.

Whichever way you cut it, the park's development these last 10 years has been managed very poorly. Its clearly put the park in an identity crisis and that's the bigger issue.

A master of his craft, who, in a word, has probably touched all of our lives.

They don't have to ask permission from the landowners, that's nonsense. It's Thorpe Park who usually have to ask Merlin HQ for budget and development approval, anything bigger Merlin HQ dictate the projects themselves (and design/deliver them with MMM) with consultation from the park. This is literally irrelevant to Bouncezilla.

Thorpe Park arent 'testing' anything new here, theme parks have been doing summer events for decades. It's an important part of the season cycle, it's just that Thorpe Park havnt been doing much in recent years.
 
Let's all just get our feet back on the ground. What are you basing this on? How would you even measure "worldwide theme park culture"? Do guests think to themselves "No I dont want a new ride, that's so 2002, I was a bouncy castle!" One doesnt replace the other.

The reason Thorpe park installed a lot of coasters in the early 2000s was to expand the park. After the buyout, it had to go from an independent family park into a big player for Tussauds, and that meant growing the market and doubling attendance. 3 big coasters in quick succession was their way of doing that and it worked, it changed the park.

Afterwards, it became a matter of sustaining attendance. Merlin's formula was a steel coaster every 3 years and go for IPs, horror and an 'Inbetweeners' type audience. Merlin realised it wasnt working, but spent years faffing around not giving the park the budget and cleanup it really needed. DBGT was meant to solve the park's problems but it was a spectacular misfire.

I agree that adding coasters every year is not necessary or sustainable, BUT you're talking an over-simplified version of events and pulling logic out of thin air.

Whichever way you cut it, the park's development these last 10 years has been managed very poorly. Its clearly put the park in an identity crisis and that's the bigger issue.

They don't have to ask permission from the landowners, that's nonsense. It's Thorpe Park who usually have to ask Merlin HQ for budget and development approval, anything bigger Merlin HQ dictate the projects themselves (and design/deliver them with MMM) with consultation from the park. This is literally irrelevant to Bouncezilla.

Thorpe Park arent 'testing' anything new here, theme parks have been doing summer events for decades. It's an important part of the season cycle, it's just that Thorpe Park havnt been doing much in recent years.
 
Let's all just get our feet back on the ground. What are you basing this on? How would you even measure "worldwide theme park culture"? Do guests think to themselves "No I dont want a new ride, that's so 2002, I was a bouncy castle!" One doesnt replace the other.

The reason Thorpe park installed a lot of coasters in the early 2000s was to expand the park. After the buyout, it had to go from an independent family park into a big player for Tussauds, and that meant growing the market and doubling attendance. 3 big coasters in quick succession was their way of doing that and it worked, it changed the park.

Afterwards, it became a matter of sustaining attendance. Merlin's formula was a steel coaster every 3 years and go for IPs, horror and an 'Inbetweeners' type audience. Merlin realised it wasnt working, but spent years faffing around not giving the park the budget and cleanup it really needed. DBGT was meant to solve the park's problems but it was a spectacular misfire.

I agree that adding coasters every year is not necessary or sustainable, BUT you're talking an over-simplified version of events and pulling logic out of thin air.

Whichever way you cut it, the park's development these last 10 years has been managed very poorly. Its clearly put the park in an identity crisis and that's the bigger issue.

The soundtrack was just a naff mix of old pop tracks (who still listens to Gangnam Style in 2019?) with an annoying 'BOUNCEZILLA' jingle mashed in.

The event is pretty typical for a low budget Merlin event, it's just a bit of trashy summer fun and that's fine.

But for some strange reason (going off his rush to post about it online) Thorpe brought back Nick Hutson to do the soundtrack and even got John Burton from MMM involved. Seriously, they paid an ego-stroking podcaster/YouTuber just to do what 'Now That's What I Call Music 20546' does every year and for some reason MMM needed to be involved in a bouncy castle??

Do they not have their own events team anymore?
Couldn't they hire a real DJ on location, ya know, like a real event would?

The soundtrack was just a naff mix of old pop tracks (who still listens to Gangnam Style in 2019?) with an annoying 'BOUNCEZILLA' jingle mashed in.

The event is pretty typical for a low budget Merlin event, it's just a bit of trashy summer fun and that's fine.

But for some strange reason (going off his rush to post about it online) Thorpe brought back Nick Hutson to do the soundtrack and even got John Burton from MMM involved. Seriously, they paid an ego-stroking podcaster/YouTuber just to do what 'Now That's What I Call Music 20546' does every year and for some reason MMM needed to be involved in a bouncy castle??

Do they not have their own events team anymore?
Couldn't they hire a real DJ on location, ya know, like a real event would?

The soundtrack was just a naff mix of old pop tracks (who still listens to Gangnam Style in 2019?) with an annoying 'BOUNCEZILLA' jingle mashed in.

The event is pretty typical for a low budget Merlin event, it's just a bit of trashy summer fun and that's fine.

But for some strange reason (going off his rush to post about it online) Thorpe brought back Nick Hutson to do the soundtrack and even got John Burton from MMM involved. Seriously, they paid an ego-stroking podcaster/YouTuber just to do what 'Now That's What I Call Music 20546' does every year and for some reason MMM needed to be involved in a bouncy castle??

Do they not have their own events team anymore?
Couldn't they hire a real DJ on location, ya know, like a real event would?

The soundtrack was just a naff mix of old pop tracks (who still listens to Gangnam Style in 2019?) with an annoying 'BOUNCEZILLA' jingle mashed in.

The event is pretty typical for a low budget Merlin event, it's just a bit of trashy summer fun and that's fine.

But for some strange reason (going off his rush to post about it online) Thorpe brought back Nick Hutson to do the soundtrack and even got John Burton from MMM involved. Seriously, they paid an ego-stroking podcaster/YouTuber just to do what 'Now That's What I Call Music 20546' does every year and for some reason MMM needed to be involved in a bouncy castle??

Do they not have their own events team anymore?
Couldn't they hire a real DJ on location, ya know, like a real event would?

Not as good as "Touch Your Blaster" tbh...
 
 
"Some Zombies have arms" <3

This will be forever amazing. ( By the way ew TPW   ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aejq7kKW9qk