Hethetheth

Regardless of the 2nd to Disney discussion, that is still a weak entrance. Tiny portion of theming and then timber. It's just not good enough, however you feel about Merlin, and I don't think I'm Merlin bashing by saying that. There's no axe to grind, it's just not very good.

You say predictable criticism, I say predictably low quality work warrants an appropriate response. I'm not a sheep who just loves bashing Merlin, but there is a pattern of low quality recently. Rides like Wicker man and Gruffalo have proven they're capable, but there is a general pattern of weird short-sighted and poorly executed actions: Angry Birds Land (tacky and dated IP) I'm a Celebrity (actor led) DBGT (actor led...again and a missed opportunity) Nemesis Sub Terra (liked the ride, but a short sighted investment) Alton Dungeons (actor led.... yet again, and looks dire externally) Closing Loggers Tiger River / letting Dragon Falls fall into disrepair and removing its good theming. Walking Dead (I liked the ride, but why retheme one of your few family rides to a horror franchise?!)

That looks pretty weak. Tiny themed portion of the building and just cover the rest in timber.

Whatever could be said about Thorpe Park itself, that is genuinely a great logo.

The airtime in the back car of Stealth at the top of that top hat might be my favourite sensation in Thorpe Park so I'd not want to lose that. I honestly think that 'solving' Thorpe Park for me wouldn't be a matter of adding loads, but more a matter of maintaining what they DO have and then building on it: Stage 1: Realistic clean-up Clean and paint Nemesis Inferno's track to the more vibrant maroon colour it began with. Repaint Colossus, buy new and more comfortable trains. Clean-up, fix and reopen Loggers Leap. General park wide clean-up. Stage 2: slightly less realistic improvements Retool Derren Brown Ghost Train to remove the Derren Brown IP and change the story to a more cohesive one. Set the entire story in the Victorian era and make it about a haunted train yard. Feature more ghosts in the VR and return the train crash middle albeit with Victorian carriages instead. Add more buildings and theming around the Ghost Train to make the area more immersive. Make Rumba Rapids more fun. It's incredibly dull and I'd love to improve the ride.. somehow. Build a new GCI wooden coaster on the land between Swarm and Stealth, linking the two islands.

It annoys me when enthusiasts complain about cloned rides. Most GP don't travel around different countries and continents to visit obscure theme parks, so most don't even know there are clones of some of these rides. If I ride Blue Fire at Europa Park the physical experience isn't devalued because there's a copy in Russia, Dubai etc. If as an enthusiast you enjoy a ride less because there's a copy in some far off country most guests won't ever visit then that's very sad.

I prefer Stealth but I'm still agreed that Nemesis Inferno is one of the top 2 rides in Thorpe!

Nemesis Inferno (5) Stealth (5) Stealth + Inferno - I love them both and they deserve to be top 2, but for me there's a clear winner.

Nemesis Inferno (6) Stealth (4) Stealth + Inferno -

Nemesis Inferno (7) Stealth (7) The Swarm (1) The Swarm - Stealth +

Detonator: Bomb's Away (1) Nemesis Inferno (6) Stealth (7) The Swarm (6) I love you Detonator, but sorry. Detonator- Inferno+

Detonator: Bomb's Away (5) Nemesis Inferno (6) Rush (5) Samurai (2) Stealth (6) The Swarm (6)  Samurai - The Swarm +

Tidal Wave deserved better than this! Detonator: Bomb's Away (5) Nemesis Inferno (6) Rush (5) Samurai (4) Stealth (5) The Swarm (5) Inferno + Samurai -

Detonator: Bomb's Away (5) Nemesis Inferno (7) Rush (6) Samurai (2) Stealth (7) The Swarm (5)  Tidal Wave (3) Tidal Wave + Samurai -

Detonator: Bomb's Away (5) Nemesis Inferno (6) Rush (5) Samurai (2) Stealth (6) The Swarm (5)  Tidal Wave (6) Tidal wave + Samurai -

Detonator: Bomb's Away (5) Nemesis Inferno (5) Rush (5) Samurai (4) Saw - The Ride (5) Stealth (6) The Swarm (5)  Tidal Wave (5) Inferno + Samurai -

I go out for an evening and suddenly Walking Dead is gone...booooo. Depth Charge (4) Detonator: Bomb's Away (6) Nemesis Inferno (6) Rush (5) Samurai (4) Saw - The Ride (5) Stealth (5) The Swarm (5)  Tidal Wave (5) Detonator + Samurai -

Depth Charge (5) Detonator (5) Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride (5) Nemesis Inferno (5) Rush (5) Samurai (4)  Saw - The Ride (5) Stealth (6) The Swarm (5) The Walking Dead - The Ride (5) Tidal Wave (5) Stealth + Samurai -

Depth Charge (5) Detonator (5) Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride (5) Nemesis Inferno (5) Rush (5) Samurai (5)  Saw - The Ride (5) Stealth (5) Storm in a Teacup (5) The Swarm (5) The Walking Dead - The Ride (5) Tidal Wave (5) Walking Dead + Samurai -

Depth Charge (5) Detonator (5) King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems (2) Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride (7) Nemesis Inferno (8) Rush (4) Samurai (3)  Saw - The Ride (5) Stealth (5) Storm in a Teacup (5) The Swarm (5) The Walking Dead - The Ride (5) Tidal Wave (6) Dodgems +1 Samurai -1

Depth Charge (5) Detonator (5) King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems (3) Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride (7) Nemesis Inferno (6) Rush (4) Samurai (4) Saw - The Ride (5) Stealth (5) Storm in a Teacup (5) The Swarm (5) The Walking Dead - The Ride (5) Tidal Wave (6) Tidal Wave + (boat rides need love too) Samurai - (bleurghhh)

Depth Charge (5) Detonator: Bomb's Away (6) King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems (3) Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride (5) Nemesis Inferno (8) Rocky Express (2) Rush (5) Samurai (5) Saw - The Ride (5) Stealth (6) Storm in a Teacup (5) The Swarm (5) The Walking Dead - The Ride (5) Tidal Wave (5) Stealth +1 Rocky -1

Depth Charge (5) Detonator: Bomb's Away (5) King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems (2) Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride (5) Nemesis Inferno (7) Quantum (1) Rocky Express (7) Rush (7) Samurai (5) Saw - The Ride (5) Stealth (5) Storm in a Teacup (5) The Swarm (5) The Walking Dead - The Ride (6) Tidal Wave (5) Dodgems +1 Quantum -1

Oooh that's cool

Last year I got one day at Alton, one at Efteling whilst on another trip and 3 at Thorpe, which is one of the lowest number of parks I've done in one year for a while. I'm hoping to hop on over to Pleasure Beach for the 1st time for an afternoon whilst I'm in Manchester visiting uni friends, but it depends on what their plans are and if there's time in between. I go to Efteling yearly and aiming to be there for 2 days in March. Parc Asterix is a maybe as I'm waiting on them releasing their opening hours. I'm tempted to Eurostar over there on a weekend if rates are good (it's been 78 quid return on some weekends). May depend on whether I have other plans too! Ideally I've got 3 days of holiday to play with later in the year which I want to either use for Phantasialand, Europa Park (both of which I've done before and were great) or somewhere new like Liseberg or Tivoli.