Portvls

Staying over at Thorpe tomorrow & Monday and based on how operations are sounding currently I do not have high expectations.. 🙈 anyone at the park today? It looks like it's been absolute chaos.

Only something small but upon going to book a visit at the end of the month, I've just noticed that the Vibes restaurant format has now changed to an all you can eat buffet dinner? I can only hope this will be better than the previous offerings...

I thought Jungle Escape wouldn't be returning??

Unfortunately not, just wishful thinking with a hint of sarcasm!

If this is done right I think it could be a very good attraction. I won't hold my breath though.. Also, nice to see that Slammer has been removed to make the queue line more immersive! 👌

Oh goody! 😐

I'd take an announcement for a new bench at this point...

Thank you for the peace of mind 👌

So obviously Rameses Revenge is going from Chessington, and my girlfriend and I were wondering what the chances are of it being refurbished and installed at Thorpe instead.. Not something we'd like to happen personally, and it probably won't, but I get the feeling it isn't impossible. What do you lot think?

I was thinking that when we were watching it! Always had a soft spot for the soundtrack too. Unfortunately it wasn’t just the usual shaking and rattling. It isn’t a noise I’ve heard it make before, put it that way!

Got a quick shot of it testing today. Still looks a week or so away from opening I think, and it was making a horrible rattling sound when sent on it’s full cycle ?

So me and my other half have just got back from a 4 day trip - one day at Chessington and three at Thorpe. Very mixed trip which I’ll summarise in bullet points. - Operations at Thorpe were (for the most part) very, very good. Two trains on all the major coasters (and TWD) every day and rapid dispatches. Chessington really needs work in that area though! - Our ride on DBGT wasn’t bad, pretty much all of the effects were working well and it had hardly any downtime whilst we were on park. Only reason we went on though is because we had an hour of fast track for it included with the hotel stay, otherwise we wouldn’t have bothered. It’s bad that, for a ride that was supposed to be so re-rideable, we see pretty much absolutely no reason to go back on anymore. It needs to go. - BounceZilla is a complete and utter monstrosity and we thought it looked mortifying for all involved. I’d imagine it’s probably quite fun, yes, but this should not be at Thorpe Park imo. - Jungle Escape has flopped harder than anyone could have expected. We didn’t see anyone queuing or going in, or even glancing at it, whilst at the park. Considered giving it a go, but didn’t think it was worth the £10pp upcharge for what seems to more or less be IAC in sheep’s clothing. - Went in GameFX for 45 mins or so when it was raining yesterday and was moderately impressed. Good variety of consoles and games, and plenty of them to go around. The VR experience also looked good fun. It was pretty quiet though, on a busy day when it was pouring down outside. Evidence that maybe people don’t want to go to a theme park and play video games? ? - TWD:TR has improved since last year imo. Not sure why or how, but I enjoyed it a lot more this year. Much better experience with live actors than without for me personally as well. - Quantum still looks a week or two away from finally opening this year to me. We watched it being worked on and it was tested a few times (that we saw), but it isn’t making a great sound when sent on it’s full cycle ? - Best ride on Vortex that I’ve ever had, it’s running so well this year. - Old Town looks as sorry as ever. I’m not going to even bring up SBNO rides as everyone already knows the situation! - I’ve always had a soft spot for Thorpe Shark, however after this visit I think the park desperately needs a proper hotel. We stayed in a tiny Travelodge room after Chessington and it felt so, so, so spacious compared to the shipping containers. - I’ve not been to Chessington before but I think I preferred it to Thorpe, which I didn’t think would happen considering the target markets (not that anyone, including Merlin, knows what Thorpe’s really is). Better theming, better atmosphere, better maintenance. However Thorpe definitely wins on the operations front. - Impressed with the 40th anniversary merch on offer. They should be doing more to commemorate it than selling new stuff though. - We left 2 hours early today due to the queue times. Our fault for (mistakenly) booking during half term but there you go! Apologies for the long post! Just some thoughts on what will probably be my only visit this year. My second to worst visit that I’ve ever had unfortunately.

That doesn’t sound very Merlin-ish at all!

Any updates on the poor thing? Is it still in bits or in a better state? Going at the end of this month and hoping to have it open.. Probably not gonna happen but hey ??‍♂️

You know what, it looks really well done. Impressive line-up of games and consoles in my opinion, and the interior is well designed and lit. It’s basically a gamer’s paradise. However, I would consider myself a pretty avid gamer and it does not interest me one bit. If I’m going to Thorpe Park I’m going because of the rides and the atmosphere, not to play videogames. I just find the whole thing a bit of an odd idea personally.

I actually thought it was a decent idea at first.. Not one I’d personally be that interested in, but it’s something different? But £27 a ticket? And £35 if you want a seat provided for you? Come on...

I thought as much!

So you know the funky new graphic Thorpe have designed for the 2019 season? Some eagle eyed person on Facebook has pointed out that Swarm is pictured on it with the back two rows reversed. An old photo perhaps? Or the return of Brave It Backwards? ?

What if Rumba has been left as returning in 2019 for a reason? What if they’re retheming it to a jungle set up? What if they’re actually doing something that is needed in the park? Hmm ?

Noticed earlier that Vortex has now been removed from the queue times info in the Thorpe Park app. If that’s anything to go by, it’s definitely looking like a long term closure still.

We spent Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Thorpe staying at the Shark Hotel for my birthday. Had a brilliant time. Queues were fairly short, even on the Saturday. Operations a little hit and miss but on the whole not too bad. Got stuck on DBGT and Inferno however. Swarm running beautifully and Inferno running well (until Saturday when it seemed to be broken down for longer than it was open). Had our first and last ride on TWD:TR. Really not impressed. Much preferred X unfortunately. Little annoyed with Thorpe for announcing the 10-10 yesterday at fairly short notice as we had already booked transport home and couldn’t stay ? due to problems with the hotel we received free fastracks yesterday but didn’t have time to use them all so wandered around giving them away to people. Felt like Willy Wonka ? Overall a really good three days but the need for a major new investment is more apparent than ever IMO - as well as a general revamp.

I hope this is well done. If so, it has a lot of potential theming wise, but you cannot escape the fact that X had a tame layout. This is advertised as a thrill ride but it is a family coaster. Personally I would much rather have seen X remain as it was and instead have a new flat installed to fill the space of Slammer. This is a short term investment that won’t have much impact on the park at all.. And how much life does TWD franchise still have in it anyway?

Completely agree with you. This sort of marketing will only reach a small amount of people who will actually take the time to follow it. It feels a little bit wasted.

Anyone tried calling this number? Clues being revealed on Chloe’s Instagram stories.. Nice touch by Thorpe to create some decent publicity with this kind of thing for whatever it is they’re doing to X.