GetEchoes

Surely its good that Merlin are trying out new technologies?? Yeah its a gamble and maybe it didn't pay off, but is that such a bad thing? The parks would be stale and boring if they didnt take a risk here and there.

Unfortunately things happen, and when people have paid money - not matter what the reason - people will complain even if its not their fault. Sure the media team can deal with it, it is their job after all ?

Thorpe's marketing team are bad. They seem to be in all directions with no consistency. This year was billed as the Year of the Walking dead. So far there has been a ride retheme and Zombie Hunt. There was some marketing campaign that was abandoned (did anyone ever work out where Chloe is or do we just not even bother mentioning that anymore??) and now the Thorpe website just displays Love Island stuff. Infact there is no mention of the so called Year of the Walking Dead on the homepage anymore, just in the Events section. Colors have been changed from the mustard kinda colour to Blue to fit in with the love island stuff. Where is the consistency? You are either having major conflicting events going on (horror vs reality tv) which will put some people off, thinking its scarier than it really is by the Year of the Walking Dead stuff, or everyone is going to think that the place is going to be full of the cast of TOWIE. Come on Thorpe, marketing isn't difficult! Have a plan and stick to it rather than changing mid year. So far I feel that it has been a let down. Feel that Fright nights might be ruined as some of the mazes (infant the so called Extreme version is not even on fright nights) have been available throughout summer rather than saved up for the fright night dates. Thats my opinion - I know some will disagree!

The worlds first log flume with a creepy theme... Sounds like Merlin ?

Would actually be really funny if loggers randomly opened next month ?

Where are these engineering drawings? Ironically there has been a consolation on the Swanscombe peninsular recently, there are some road change proposal to ease traffic congestion in the area. The info book said that this doesnt take into account the park, and any changes for the park will be done independently - so that means local residents can enjoy the work being started by highway agency and if the park goes ahead changes to the newly modified road for the park. Years and years of roadworks!

Didnt suggest getting rid of the perk, or even the pre-season days, infact I said that these make sense to me. I dont understand the logic of closing down a ride to only pass holders when the park is open to the public and its already been launched and plastered all over the TV. Pre-seasons days, Fright night previews, pre-opening days of new rides and things like the eXpo are good. Its getting people into the park by saying "were open til 10pm" then if people buy tickets they find out that they can only get on the new ride they have seen on TV if they upgrade to a annual pass.... Thats what I'm trying to say. I dont believe that removing any benefits helps anyone but running TV adverts and having extended opening times to isolate some of your paying customers doesnt seem good business sense to me.

Advertising, Viral Marketing, whatever it would be called.... Still trying to drum up hype for.... another maze??..... or escape room type thingy??....

I agree. Although will say that advertising something like this so far in advance seems a little pointless. By the time its announced it will be hard to care that much, especially if it is saw alive which is only really open for a month

I love how long a conversation about lights on a stick lasted on here.... ?

Figaro Bros is the company who have made a few of the mazes, judging by the website I think Thorpe have used them for a few... https://www.figaro-bros.com They are a design company who probably assemble the fright night mazes. Big top had "Figaro Bros Presents" which I believe was also used as the name of the owners of the big top circus?? - apologies if that has been already mentioned but couldn't see anything. As for the companies house, it doesn't surprise me that there is a second company they own - which given the name sounds like a Escape Room company. I cant see that being anything todo with Thorpe, but probably a similar company to the Figaro construction company. Many small business owners are usually a director of several companies. Rides/attractions generally dont have their own company name in Companies house.... as they are a brand not a entity that makes profit - the park does and just trademarks the name...

I think the marketing for the "Year of the Walking Dead" isn't the best, and I cant see how this can help being people to the park. Having it advertised as a "Year Of..." seems generous. Its not. Its a Fright Night/Summer Holiday of The Walking Dead. Yes the ride is there but if you close it for exclusive use, the normal ticket buyer (which lets face it, they want to get people to buy a day ticket and upgrade with the Pay for a day, come back all year thingy) gets absolutely no walking dead until certain times of the year. Even if the ride is open, there is 1 walking dead thing. I wouldn't call that a year celebration, more of a New for 2018 and some seasonal specials - Which I recon would of made more impact if they announced late in the year than they did. Nothing else on the island is walking dead themed all year round, only the ride (when its open) which I feel is a shame and a lost marketing opportunity for the park and it wouldn't surprise me if people were put off upgrading as they went thinking there will be more walking dead than in reality. Out of interest, is anyone with a pass actually bothered about exclusive ride time? The idea of the pre-season day I get, maybe opening mid-week for pass holders only (on a non-scheduled day), stuff like the eXpo event for pass holders makes sense, but closing a ride that anyone with a pass could ride at any time just for pass holders seems a little bit pointless.... I am a pass holder and not overly fussed about the events. I pay for year-round access and happy with that to be honest.

Surely 1.2m is just for the restraints, anyone smaller would slip out of the restraints on the ride. I dont understand why its accepted that 1.2m means its a family ride or suitable for children? Its just for the safety systems? Thirteen is also considered a Thrill ride not a family ride on the website. Wether its suitable for kids is surely more the theme than how tall they are. Its up to the parents if they think that the theming/storyline is too disturbing for the children surely? If you walk up to a ominous looking ride with a giant sculpture of a mans head on fire, with the music that they use (and when they are out) the actors and think - well my 8 year old is tall enough I'm sure this is fine as clearly they are old enough based on their hight (which varies between people as well) - and then shocked that they are frightened by the pre-show then there is no helping you really. Same with thirteen, it doesnt look all upbeat and family friendly - and thats just the logo.

Just out of interest - What specifically says it is for kids? The theme and marketing has been all about worship, the statue I wouldn't say is kid friendly that much as its a giant head on fire. Is it the height restriction? I wouldn't say that the height makes it kid friendly as you can have a more mature ride have a low heigh restriction just for safety.... Not sure if Alton has said that this is designed for kids - but to me I wouldn't take young kids on it as its a face on fire and a load of people worshiping a random god let alone anything else (specially when standing in the queue for that long and fielding questions about worship and sacrifice!) Also just checked and it is put under the Thrill section of altontowers.com not family...

Not saying they do a good job and they are perfect but Merlin and Thorpe are a different company than Europa who operate in a different tax system than in the UK including a totally different currency. We don’t know budgets from Merlin on the parks, what the overheads are, financials and pressure from the economy. We don’t know what the problem is with loggers or how much it will cost to fix, and if that’s even doable with budgets from the park or Merlin. Merli is a a group of a number of parks and attractions, second largest in the world I believe. If UK profits have been hit over a number of years then that will affect all parks dont get me wrong. Thorpe ops are generally bad. Feel like the park isn’t run well by any means but there could be reasons for stuff like this. People are too quick to compare a UK park (in UK, with our weather and our cost of living, labour and external companies) to other counties which I don’t feel is a fair comparison. Ultimatley their business is is a tourist attractions. If Merlin wasn’t trying to do their best then the company would fold - and I know for sure that’s not what anyone at Merlin wants. So there has to be some logic to their decisions even if we don’t understand them

Personally would rather the parks focused on the operations and uptime of rides rather than a bit of wood. Fact it’s still in the Park implies it will most probably be put back on. Might of been a time constraint coupled with extreme weather at park opening which delayed the maintenance and ops took over priority. As as nice as it is to look up and see some wood would rather get on the ride myself

To be fair we don’t know the reason for removing the beams. It could be that the wood needed to be re-treated to stop it rotting and with the weather it wasn’t done in time so removed as a safety thing. You have to bear In mind everything costs the park. Why would you remove it if you didn’t need to. Look st the old Canada creek railroad. The barriers are still in place. It’s never going to be used but it costs too much to remove them from the ground. Sometimes everyone is a little quick to judge and say Merlin or Thorpe are bad, ruining everything. Maybe there are operational reasons for stuff like this. Business isn’t so simple and why would you do something if you didn’t need to.

Couldn't agree more with that! They have been all over the place, but then so has the theme park market. Family was the way to go for so long (hence Cbeebies Land, Angry Birds, Legoland, etc...) think it might be going back to wanting more thrills these days and the Walking Dead etc has proven a win for the park, so it makes sense to once again change direction and provide for the people your getting through your doors. Just good business to change with the marketplace. I do agree Angry Birds is random, although probably took a Long IP so have to have it in some form for a while...

An Island like no Other is just a tag line. I cant remember the last time I saw any marketing for the park that was for families. Maybe it does scream families, but I dont read it or ever seen it like that. If I was planning for a day out with younger kids, Thorpe wouldn't even make it on the list of parks, even though its my closest park. Legoland or Chessington would be the ones. Could criticise Chessingon and Legoland for having nothing for the older/teenage market in the same way of Thorpe removing more family friendly coasters.

Theres a lot of people mentioning the whole family coaster into a horror experience which seems to be swaying the reviews of the ride. The coasters might of been a family coaster, but its not anymore. A family coaster is one that has family friendly theming and doesnt throw you about too much. Its no longer a family coaster, it would make no sense to put TWD Ride on a coaster like nemesis inferno - it wouldn't make sense. The coaster fits what they have done, and now its as a story. Not some coaster in the semi-dark with barely audible music. If you want family coasters, then I think its best placed to go to Chessington. Not all parks have to cater for all audiences. When looking at the ticketing Thorpe have clearly seen their core market is the teen-age market, so this makes total sense from a business point of view. A Thrill coaster wouldn't work - the theming wouldn't work and it would just be a bit of walking dead theming in the queue and then a coaster bolted on. At least they tried to theme it, put in a coherent story for the coaster being the transit system around the park. I say well done to Thorpe in trying to refresh the rides. TWD clearly works for them or they wouldn't of done it.

What development doesnt get mixed reviews? From what I have seen it looks well themed. If you didn't like X then you wont like it as there are no ride changes anyway. As usual, be a try it for yourself and make a decision I recon

I have a general problem with parks using theme park bloggers/vloggers to advertise rides. They are never going to say anything negative, as they feel important being invited to ride the ride/get exclusive shots and info. Will never give a honest opinion even when just generally uploading content incase they dont get invited back next time around so you loose that honest opinion part of their content

I’m not moaning. The only thing we knew about the ride was the photos we saw. Most of which doesn’t even look like it is anything like the experience. Would of preferred nothing to implying it’s going to have more elements than it is. I’m very much going to make my mind up when I ride. The marketing for the ride has been poor. The woman who disappeared and with the viral stuff they tried to do we literally only learnt about the safe zone which was said way back at close of last season.

That was a bit misleading. The while walking dead ride hype has massively died. I know that wicker man has taken the spotlight and this is just a re-theme but think the marketing could of been much better. Actually think releasing the images of the actual coaster being ridden ruined it. Would of been better knowing nothing of what it looked like inside the pyramid.

I have to admit, Thorpe's Marking is generally quite bad. What ever happened to that woman who went missing? didn't they try and start a hashtag? Thats just been forgotten about. The phone number that was on the sign had nothing todo with anything - Just said what we already knew - and who is Dylan (think that was the name). Viral marketing works, but it needs to be done right and Thorpe cant seem to do that, which is a shame