coaster38

Maze tickets released for the passholder event. All the maze titles say "Outdoor maze experience" - I did wonder if Trailers would have an outdoor section but clearly this is not correct unless they're planning to remove Creek Freak's roof as a covid precaution or something. "Take your seat" - are we getting something Hayride-like, but down the service road? 🤣 pan widget

Whatever FN 20 ends up being like, at least we're getting good teaser videos now! At last these have some decent production quality which is consistent with a major theme park..

Hmm, tweets about "volts"...now "spark"... My tinfoil hat is going on, it's all related to one big Fright Nights *thing*

Anyone have the Ghost Train one of these?

To anyone who has managed to get timed tickets for BML or DBGT, is this bit of the website correct? Has anyone headed into the ticket centre before the gates open and booked a slot successfully? 🤔

TWD it is then! Looks like a fun day 😅 Surely the app is having a hiccup

Supposedly Thorpe have altered a few parts of Mr. Brown's creation this year, including a "new" storyline ... Unfortunately I'm stuck at work today so can't go down there to have a look, but has anyone else managed to get a timed ticket today? It seemed, on a quiet Monday as well, they ran out of them by midday, so I can only assume this is now a solo experience? 🤣

They were pretty old, I would bet that some were still from the Tussaud's days. Because of this, a lot of them were either dead or dying quickly (e.g. areas such as Colossus with lots of rattling, broken speaker cones). Yes Bose speakers do last a long time generally, and have done well at thorpe. They are more consumer level than they are "pro audio" though. RCF are heavy duty. Saying that though, a lot of them were newer and still okay, such as Saw and Swarm's areas. So that leads me to think that they got a deal on bulk buying from RCF and decided to do the whole place in one go. It gives them a more consistent audio setup and it's better than having the new speakers waiting around until the existing systems die, which could cause problems mid-season. As of this season it's only the new RCF speakers and some Electro-Voice EVID 3.2/4.2/6.2 models across the park now AFAIK. They began to rollout EVID speakers to many areas (e.g. they were fitted to newer areas such as Ghost Train from opening day, and were later added to areas such as the entrance bridge and Rumba Rapids) but they seem to have changed their minds, used up remaining EVID stock and bulk ordered from RCF for going forward with audio upgrades as of last year.

This may be due to the speakers used for the triggers being removed - there used to be what looked like a couple of Bose 402s stacked on top of each other sat under the plane wing which played the sound effect when triggered by the train passing. These were removed over winter prior to (what we got of) the 2020 season. At the same time the new top of the fencing was added and a tall black pole type thing appeared near the wing, never been sure what that is, possibly a sensor to detect if there are people in the ride area who shouldn't be? Looks like we won't get the audio triggers back until either that audio is worked into the rest of the system, I.e. two of the pole mounted RCF speakers nearest the plane wing are programmed to play the sound effect by linking with the track sensor somehow, OR the triggered speakers are put back, likely with new RCF models. I'm not sure about the tower trigger as I was never really sure where it played from.

Have the Bose cannons been replaced with these? Noticed new speakers in there last season but the cannons were still in place. I agree aside from Swarm's extended queue where the audio was either extremely quiet or didn't work at all last season, maybe there was an issue and they decided to replace the whole lot to bring it in line with the rest of the park? Or could have just been that it's zoned and someone had messed with the levels. As Marc said, Swarm is currently very quiet so they must still be making adjustments. There'd be no point investing in all that new equipment for it to not be used properly. They must have got a bargain from RCF as they've bought literally hundreds of speakers from them over the past 2 seasons. They sound a lot better than the mix of models and brands that were across the park before. Having decent audio during normal operation is enough of a reason really, but I wonder if part of the reason for this huge rolling overhaul is to ensure that there is enough capability with parkwide audio for events/corporate buyouts. Most areas now have RCF line array style speakers which are capable of both background audio and nightclub level volume and everything in-between. If a company wants loud music played park wide when they are renting the whole place out for a client/celebrity/launch event (think Boohoo Man event type of thing from pre-covid days) it's a bit embarrassing to let them find out that half the audio zones don't work properly or at all.

And it actually sounds good! Nice to see little things like this getting attention. It had one the other day, but it was a new version which just sounds like someone reading off a script. Not very thematic. As far as I know Colossus has never had any subs for the bass, the 2 Bose speakers have just been swapped out with what are, ultimately, superior RCF speakers, so I would think they are completely capable of giving much more bass, the settings probably just need tweaking. For example, the bass has massively improved in Inferno's station since reopening, but I don't think it's the Bose cannons in the ceiling as they seem to be off, they must have just upped the bass in whatever software they use which is pumping the music through the new system in there. Stealth's queue and station now have a ridiculous number of speakers, and they're all large, heavy-duty RCF models. If they wanted it to that whole area could seriously rock. If they cut down on the radio host segments and adverts a bit (seeing as the WWTP Radio truck is gone, so those bits don't make much sense anymore) and focused on the music it could be great.

The huge overhaul of the audio systems across the park seems to be continuing. Many new speakers that had been fitted over closed season have been connected and are working (for instance on the balcony overlooking the park when you come out of the dome, and there is now audio again on the climb up the volcano on Inferno, don't remember those speakers working for years prior). Volume levels seem to be different in many areas every time I visit, showing they're experimenting a little to find the best levels in various places. For example the audio around Stealth's plaza and queue is so quiet at the moment it's pretty much inaudible, but Angry Birds Land and Storm Surge have had their annoying soundtracks cranked up. Many areas (e.g. the entrance plaza, Colossus & Lost City, Swarm Island, Inferno & Jungle) that used to sound pretty meh now sound amazing.

There's air con somewhere inside, as it was the large condenser unit mounted on the side of the building that was running, they can only run to an AC system and don't really serve other purposes as they just pump and cool refrigerant. Possibly just inside the ops rooms and back areas but still it shows activity indoors. I don't expect it to open this year either but at least it shows there is work ongoing to get it open.

Noticed yesterday when queuing for Colossus that the air con for TWD building was running, and there was a sign placed on the emergency exit door near Colossus's station regarding COVID-19 safety - normal style as found around the rest of the park saying "no entry". So there must be something happening inside, probably just engineers routine testing/maintenance but hopefully the park has found a way to get it open at some point soon.

I would have said the same a few weeks ago but Alton Towers have recently confirmed their attraction line up for Scarefest, and it seems that they will be operating their (probably somewhat adapted) indoor mazes. Fittingly, their new maze for this year will be outdoors. I would imagine masks will be required throughout the attractions in line with COVID guidance and perhaps we'll see actors behind perspex screens. I'm surprised that skin snatchers is returning, as it's pretty claustrophobic..

Has the WWTP Radio truck from the plaza failed it's MOT? Where on earth has it been...?

I was on park yesterday for the first time this season and had a pretty good day. Social disancing IMO was handled really well, and props to all the staff who were awesome, working so hard to keep the rides clean and the queues moving as best they could. Although there have been none of the larger scale refurbishments that the park has needed for a while, many areas look somewhat refreshed and cleaner than usual. I actually quite like the refresh of the dome, and the entrance plaza and bridge look much brighter and more welcoming. The car park improvements will really help when the park eventually gets busy, too. It's disappointing to see Slammer hasn't been removed though. The space could really be used for a queue/plaza area for Black Mirror. MAJOR work has been done on audio across the park. Thorpe seem to have bought RCF's entire stock of outdoor speakers 😂 Really not exaggerating here, almost every speaker has been replaced across most areas of the park, with only those that were already relatively new and working being left in place such as Swarm Island and DBGT. Audio has been introduced to areas where there was previously none, too. It's clearly an ongoing project, as there were a few new speakers that have been mounted but not wired in yet, and the volume levels in some areas are lower than they should be, with announcements from ride staff being way too loud. Hopefully now they can measure ambient noise with guests in the park, they can fine tune the levels that aren't where they need to be. RCF isn't a brand I've noticed being used in a UK park before. It's good to see they've bought some really high quality equipment which will hopefully last for many years to come. They've clearly invested a LOT of money here as audio has been due an overhaul for a long time, and the speakers that were setup yesterday and at the correct volumes sounded awesome.

I wonder what the entrance to Labyrinth will consist of. Knowing Thorpe they'll just tear the Living Nightmare sign off or paste Black Mirror over the top of it, but it would be nice to have a proper theming piece or two. Otherwise there's the risk it won't even be seen by most guests.

thorpe-park-resort-map-2020.pdf

A couple of bits of new info regarding 2020 events have been added to the website - "Brand new for 2020 live show", which could either be with the event from 4th April-31st May or lasting further into the season. Potentially a nice added extra if it's of a decent quality. "Island food festival" 18th July-6th September, and roaming actors present in the park. With Alton Towers also having announced a food-related event with Oktoberfest, could this be Merlin testing the waters in terms of demand for these kind of events? A kind of tiny, budget Epcot Food and Wine? 🤣

A new website - looks like they still have work to do on it in places, but it seems to be an improvement. Interestingly, the Fright Nights page seems to have been updated, advertising two new live-action experiences for 2020. Hopefully with Living Nightmare's departure we are in for another indoor maze of the same quality as Creek Freak.

With the success of the Galactica re-theme at Alton Towers I don't think some sort of futuristic theme for a coaster is unrealistic for Thorpe in the future, it opens up a lot of scope for some really cool theming/effects/soundtracks and is an exciting yet family-friendly theme that gets away from the doom, gloom and apocalypse of a lot of other rides at the park. If they decide to go with something other than a woodie whenever they next get some serious investment, it could work very well. As you said, a new coaster is unfortunately not something I can see in the near future, but this is an interesting idea.

All of the other *many* issues with the park aside, I have a lot more hope for this season than I did at this point last year. Maybe it's just because the branding looks more exciting, but they have some new stuff going on that will probably genuinely interest plenty of people. If they can throw in another indoor Fright Nights maze of the same quality/intensity as Creek Freak now Living Nightmare is gone (assuming they would use an existing space to save money, perhaps this could be in Jungle Escape's building now it will have been through two seasons, or on the Saw Alive boat) and do Labyrinth well, I'll be pretty happy with 2020. It's likely we'll see some further improvements to the dome which are much needed, and hopefully a bit of TLC to other areas of the park though this remains to be seen on opening day. Cautious optimism is how I would sum up today...