GetEchoes

When you get to watch Terror Tomb and the RMC being built on the roof open next year you'll disagree.

I think it's way too early to say either way whether something like this will happen.
 
1. We still need a vaccine. Yes, there's been great developments announced this week, but there's still a long way to go.
2. When a vaccine is made available, it will (or, at very least, should) be made available to older generations, NHS staff, etc first. The overlap between people who have been given access to the vaccine and people who want to go to the park at March will be small.
3. If you're requiring guests to be vaccinated, staff should be too. And then you encounter the same issue as above.
 
I can definitely see it happening for some events at some point in the future. I think start of season 2021 is too early for the parks to implement that. We could see similar ideas about having to show you've tested negative in the last 48hrs of your visit, for example, if regular testing with quick results (like happening in Manchester at the moment) becomes more of the norm. But then you're relying on the country's testing systems, which has been shown to not be as robust as it needs to be.
 
With the situation changing so much and developments moving rapidly, I don't think we can really say what the 2021 season will look like in terms of Covid-regulations until February at the earliest. There's just way too many variables at this point.

I'm not sure it does show a failure on thorpes part? Thorpe Park's security procedure (the parts which we see anyway) is IMO probably the most stringent out of all the Merlin theme parks already and will no doubt evolve again after this incident. I agree that I haven't had to walk through a scanner at thorpe other than on some special events, but the same can be said for any entertainment venue I've visited in the UK over the past couple of years.
 
The bag search was bought in after a number of terrorist incidents. I agree if they want to search every guest to a higher standard it will take investment in more equipment and infrastructure, and that 2 hour queues to get in are not a long term solution, but to say the park don't have proper security measures is a ridiculous statement.  
 
I don't agree Thorpe Park is not a safe environment, "Behaviours" you mention can and do happen in all sorts of places, when you manage thousands of people a day your bound to have trouble at some points, Fright Nights are typically busier and therefore your probably more likely to have someone out to cause trouble. And as far as I know this is the first instance of knife crime at TP - how would a "properly secure entrance" stop someone picking a fight in the park? 
 
Holding Merlin or Thorpe accountable for the knife crime problem in the UK is abit OTT - Thorpe Park's checks were always simply Bag Checks - The park no doubt work with local police forces to plan and execute things such as security / bag searches etc.
 
To enter the park you need to have a ticket scanned at a turnstile or manually by staff, they of course know how many people are in the park at any given time, as far as i know there are no "legal limits" for Covid 19 - they simply have to ensure social distancing measures are in place which they are, park capacity is significantly reduced from normal.

If a ride is no longer supported by the manufacturer and cannot get parts then it cannot operate. All that would mean is the ride stays in situ SBNO surely? 
 
Sometimes we just need to let go 
 

 

Dont really see what purpose this would serve. Rameses has been on last legs for so long, most of the time its closed with scaffolding. If it was preserved surely it would just mean that the park couldnt move it, it would use up the area its in and we wouldnt be able to ride it. As it gets older, it would get more and more unreliable with parts being impossible to source. 
 
I liked Rameses and it is the only thrill ride at the park and its a shame to loose it, but its done its time. It hardly ever goes, if it does it often gets stuck and the ride cycle is so short its hardly worth it.

Dont really see what purpose this would serve. Rameses has been on last legs for so long, most of the time its closed with scaffolding. If it was preserved surely it would just mean that the park couldnt move it, it would use up the area its in and we wouldnt be able to ride it. As it gets older, it would get more and more unreliable with parts being impossible to source. 
 
I liked Rameses and it is the only thrill ride at the park and its a shame to loose it, but its done its time. It hardly ever goes, if it does it often gets stuck and the ride cycle is so short its hardly worth it.

Dont really hold up that much hope. The Creek Freak Massacre looks like it might be good, but to be fair the rest of the announcements were a dud - as usual with Thorpe Marketing. These so called Fears, one is from last year and one is a Challenge of the coasters everyone does all the time for a wristband. I do think Quality over quantity of mazes is better, but nothing compelling for a go this year unfortunately. 
 
I'm really hoping they pull it back, but I cant see it in all honesty. 

Halloween event fans be like:

TBF, given last year’s travesty at Fright Nights, I can see why. Let’s hope they do a better event this year.

Same operators, just the holding company of Merlin will be different. I assume that the same management and day to day operations will be the same. From the press release they are keeping it as a seperate company, same HQ and not distributing or changing assets of merlin. 
 
Fingers crossed this helps with investment in the parks, if the parent company wants to invest more then there arent shareholders to block it based on profit. There is a full document on Merlins website about the plans. https://www.merlinentertainments.biz/recommended-offer/
 
The document also says that the two companies (Blackrock and Kirkbi) were there before public listing: 
 
"KIRKBI and Blackstone jointly controlled Merlin in the 8 years prior to the 2013 public listing, during which time Merlin became the second largest location based entertainment business globally, and the partner of choice for the world's leading brands to deliver immersive experiences to guests."
 
So fingers crossed we go back to the investment days! 

Well Said. Merlin is a business, as much as there are die-hard enthusiasts you need mass market appeal to make the park turn a profit. All of the annual passes in the world wont really generate profit when you look at the running costs of the staff, electric etc... so they need mass appeal and to offer something different. 
 
SBNO rides are probably there for a reason - it would cost to disassemble, remove and store - so why spend the cost unless you are going to put something there - probably why Slammer is still in place. Got to look at the cost of activities of the park and the time it takes and if its worth doing from a financial point of view. 
 
I think that GameFX probably cost Thorpe almost nothing, as it was in partnership with HYPD - so they probably paid most of the cost of the event. BounceZilla would have been relatively cheap, but is a good experience over summer - yes its not a coaster but not everyone wants coaster after coaster (Amity Beach shows this, its often packed during the hight of summer and some people go there just for that with the family) so BounceZilla will bring in more people who don't just want Thrill ride after thrill ride or those with families. 
 
I admit it would be good to get a new coaster - which no doubt will happen eventually - ultimately don't like BounceZilla, GameFX and the like - then just don't go on it! Its not removing anything from the park they are empty sites/events venues which are not usually used during main season anyway. 

I think this is ultimately the point at the bottom of it all. Although people would happily argue that it breaks the Lost City emersion, it isn't taking a ride or attraction away to be there. Slammer and Loggers were already gone and who knows, this could be an experiment or future investments to see what works with the GP outside of expensive hardware - which some people seem to forget that Merlin don't OWN the land and so have to first seek permission from the owners to install. Yes, something big and shiny will be coming along soon - the Loggers / Slammer site can't stay as it is forever; nor can the island behind Swarm. But, just throwing new rides and coasters at the park doesn't work in 2019 - it did back in the early 2000s because that was the worldwide theme park culture back then, but not now. It's no longer about parks being ride / coaster count heavy, it's becoming more about park-wide experiences. Ask yourself - outside the community, was Steel Vengeance or Valravn a success for Cedar Point - did it engage visitors and increase their numbers massively? The 2018 TEA report would suggest not, whereas Gardaland added Peppa Pig and increased their visitors by around 10% (the exact figure escapes me) - it's nothing new or shiny. It's a well done retheme with a successful IP.
 
And let's be honest, the park this year is operating on a much higher level than previous years. It seems to be slicker, more care put into appearance (look at the park last weekend for the birthday - the only effect not working on any ride were the skimmers on Swarm) and actually more professional. All of this seems to go unnoticed by any-one quick to criticise. They literally can't win.

Jeez guys, this is one echo chamber full of negativity - talk about "love us, hate Merlin" sometimes.
 
So, no. Bouncezilla isn't a multi-million pound rollercoaster or flat ride. No it isn't an immersive dark ride. No it isn't long term. It is as every bit garish, loud and obnoxious as it suggests. It actually does what it does well and although the location isn't perfect, it's something different to do in the park (along with GameFX and the Lunar cinema too). At the moment, there are lots of rides and games stalls, but very few attractions or experiences. So, it's nice that Thorpe are exploring the possibility of things outside of rides. It's just a shame that some people interpret this as cheap, low effort and poorly thought out. Ultimately, this seems to be popular with the public and I guess that matters more to Thorpe than some die-hard forum keyboard warriors out to criticise every aspect of the park and Merlin. People seem too willing to pick them apart for every tiny detail not to their taste, but seem to be unwilling to recognise when they do well or congratulate them for at least trying something new.
 
Given that DBGT and The Swarm didn't generate the ROI they had hoped for, allowing Thorpe to explore other aspects of their park and guest profile is actually wise. But of course, Thorpe could build an RMC to rival Steel Vengeance or a Hyper that would challenge Hyperion and they would still rubbish it "because it is Thorpe".

Think its just been updated..... Someones having a bad day lol 

Okay so at the end of the announcement we had today, at the end it says “do not adjust your set” and I google searched the quote and it came up with a 1968 children’s tv show.. and in the announcement u see a tv and there is a tv looking exactly the same from the show saying “do not adjust your set”.... please just be a coincidence.. or an Easter egg.. 
 
I swear to god if a childrens tv show from the year NO ONE WAS BORN turns into a full fledge horror maze then were all doomed. 
 
Oh look! A scary black and white monster from the 1960’s is coming after us! Aghhh I’m so scareeeedd -sarcasm if you didn’t already catch on-

Love how rumour is always reported as fact here.... Personally I dont care anymore anyway 

Love how rumour is always reported as fact here.... Personally I dont care anymore anyway 

Again not my point... I said that Figaro did the Construction - its them they might not want to use for some reason, that was my point. 
 
Forget it - pretend I didnt say anything....

Spell checkers don't come for free lads. Oh wait.

I must admit I do find the theories funny. I love how much stock people take from the staff. I do think it’s a bit like Chinese whispers amongst staff. I also find it incredibly hard to believe that the management of the park tell seasonal staff all of the latest information. 
 
As for the Studio 13 stuff, it might come back, but how often do you ever see a maze come back thats been totally canned?? The props are used in zombie hunt but is that not as zombie hunt was low budget and somewhere there is a bit warehouse of the old props they decided to use?? 
 
How about we all just enjoy the summer and see what the park announces??? 

Do any of you guys have ANYTHING positive to say about fright nights this year?   
The park haven’t even announced anything for fright nights other than the walking dead will be involved in it. Let’s wait til they announce stuff, then we can start loving or hating them for it. For now though, go read or book, or go cycling, or skydive! 

I can’t see X no way out ever returning to be honest.
 
There have been multiple rumours over the years that X would leave the park, I beleve it very almost happened 3/4 years ago. It wouldn’t surprise me if The Walking Dead is the last version of X no way out that we see!

The idiocy and ignorance of some of the comments on this thread is unbearable???‍♂️

Is that like where people leave their rubbish on tables and say 'well it's their job to clean up after me' as if thats an excuse to be an unreasonable, ignorant idiot. 

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!

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!