coasterverse

Mist has been very reliable the last two seasons or so and nice to see, but it hadn't worked for the start of this season. However today whilst queueing half way through day it just came on, so was guessing it just wasn't switched on. But nice it's back, makes a difference. 
 
 

This money tastes funny... unexpected journey... this is your stop... who's Railway is it....
Derren Brown's Ghost Train Return Of The Demon: The Rollercoaster (DBGTROTDTR) seems 99% confirmed to me.
 
Poop papp wiff waff.

Yeah I agree about the roaming actors being an odd choice.
The brief seems to have been "VIBES. YEAH, JUST DO VIBES ALL YEAR."
It's good they have them though - and I assume it takes away the recruitment problem when it comes to hiring for events?
 
I very much look forward to vibing with them in a few weeks before soaking up the vibes in the Vibes Bar & Kitchen. Might even treat myself to a vibe on Vibena Rumba Rap-vibes.

It felt like the park found a specific niche for itself. Big, loud and fun. It described itself as Johnny Knoxville if he were a theme park and knew exactly what it wanted to be. 

The park was always busy and was an incredible day out. Even the fright nights was one of the best, debuting the first roaming actor team which were the clowns. Saw was the only IP they had and it was an absolute blast and the mazes were unique to their own original design. 
 
My memories of visiting back then are always positive whereas now it’s hardly the same feeling I get and my passion for visiting has massively gone down. The park doesn’t ever know what it wants to be and most of it looks like it’s being left to die out. 

You know what, I was very pleasantly surprised at passholder preview day today. The walkthrough had me concerned about the state of the park, but other than Old Town (and the pathway that goes alongside SAW: Alive) being closed, there didn't really appear to be any signs of construction anywhere which is what I was a little wary of.
 
Vibes, other than the new name and logo, appeared to be essentially exactly the same as before - albeit from the outside as I have never ventured into there.
 
Detonator was testing but was disappointed that it was closed all day, although I do appreciate the park letting us know ahead of time which rides were going to be closed so it avoided disappointment on the day. I really do like the fact that Thorpe Park finally are starting to be transparent and keeping us all in the loop with stuff like this.
 
All in all, it was a really good day. Good weather, good selection of rides, and after a slight hiccup for an hour or two after opening this morning, operations seemed to be pretty good too - even managed to get three rides on SAW today which is unheard of for a Saturday!
 
High hopes for this season.

Always the case, if anyones seen drone footage/ monks walk updates. Every year, Nov-Jan nothing happens. Even fright nights stuff is left out until January  at least…..
 
if they started the second they closed, they would be finished by now and could undertake other tasks. 
 
always wonder why they just don’t go round painting things over closed season such as queue like fences . Doesn’t need to take long or need a specialist team..

I think it's worth remembering that every year, everything is always last minute. Whether that's the park making the most of every second of closed season, or just poor planning, is debatable. But that's always how it is.
 
Storm Eunice has probably thrown in extra challenges, delayed some things and thrown schedules off. We've seen that with Chessington and Towers already.
 
But even then, it does feel a bit shoddy. Watching through Jack's video and the park's other official videos, it seems as if:
 
-High Striker! is "coming soon"
-The Playground is "coming in the Spring"
-We need to "watch this space" for the toilet refurb in the Lower Dome
PLUS
-Damage to Dodgems taking longer to repair (not the park's fault, I hasten to add, but another thing)
-We *might* have plain white boards around Old Town still
-An unknown surrounding any work in Vibes
 
That's a lot of things being done still when the park is opening for passholders, as well as a buyout day. 
 
I'm sympathetic and understanding surrounding the issues that will have come up from Storm Eunice. But at the same time, it's a poor introductory look for the park from a brutally honest view. 

Yes "last minute" certainly feels the order of the day. Agree that Kieran didn't want to / wasn't allowed to show some bits. Can't see why you can't show the Dodgems roof though in detail, at least it proves what they are saying if you see what I mean, it's not as if it's their fault. Appreciate you could see it a bit in the background but still.
 
I had no idea passholder day is tomorrow. Wow. That's the definition of last minute. The MAP group might make interesting reading!
 
Playground, toilets - ready for "the spring" - why couldn't work on those start in December? It's almost as if they don't know what budget they are getting until the last minute and then panic to do things. 
 
I like those new queue boards though, so that's nice.

This is the thing apologies if off
topic. 
The documentary is excellent, however something doesn’t sit right with me here you shouldn’t be continuing to make fright night construction updates if you’re actively involved in the product / have signed NDAS despite saying it’s all speculation.
 
it’s also a great documentary however I hope they were paid industry rates rather than the mares rates Thorpe would be happy to give out which could lead to toxic relationships further down the line.

Looks like a load of dumped shingle/hardstanding to me, almost certainly for storage, site offices etc.
One would assume the loggers trough that's underneath it next to the CFM/LL station building will be the very last piece of Loggers that'll be removed (and then cut into slices to sell as merch innit).
 
I eagerly await the Peepy Poop guy to say something along the lines of:
 
Exodus has something in STORE, and the ROAD maybe shorter then you think.
Buckwheats or out of luckwheats
Rocky or just rocks
Time will tell.
Who's Ghost Train is it?
(oh hold up went off on a tangent there)
 
 

Forgive me for continually posting random pictures, but here's an overlay of the two plans, which is probably the clearest look at how the development area has been extended:



Now, time for some speculation:
If this for a layout change, I have an idea for what it could be. And I don't expect it to be anything drastic.

Many people noted that the ride takes a lot of speed into the suspected splash zone area, and that that area could be quite trimmed. And even if not, it does have a lot of speed and doesn't do a lot.
I expect that the short layout is, in part, a creative choice. The ride very much looks designed to be big, fast-paced and hard hitting. Rather than creating a long, drawn out experience, it seems to be a "throw everything at you as quickly as possible" experience, designed so that when you hit the brakes, you're left stunned, and begging for more in a good way. You won't feel short changed, but you'll want to go round again.

So a potential adaptation to the layout would be as follows:



Now forgive the crude drawing, but let me explain what this would achieve:

-A straight section post-splashdown, to include one or two powerful airtime hills.
-A new turnaround, which could be dragged out for some sustained forces, or be quirky / different (like the other turnaround)
-Give more space pre-brake run for another airtime hill, rather than the airtime moment post-turnaround as currently suggested.

My particular thought on the final point is that they could create a 'double down' airtime moment which is similar to Loggers Leap's drop. This would be in the exact same position as Loggers drop, and serve as a reminder/Easter egg/reference/whatever you want to call it to the ride (something that Thorpe and John Burton, the likely Creative Lead of the project, love doing).

This would address the concern which a lot of people had about the ride's ending, whilst keeping in line with the (what I expect to be) feel of the ride. May not be everyone's cup of tea or what people want, but it's what I feel would be most likely. Equally, I think this is a sufficient change to improve the ride.

Obviously, this is all speculation. But I don't see anything more significant than this.

Roses are Red
 
Violets are Blue
 
I have limited patience...
 
...for lame cryptic Clues

So the theme so far is Margaret Thatcher closing down a mine whilst the Doctor tries to stop the Slitheen destroying Big Ben and Shrek is looking on bemused whilst Donkey sings Bowies greatest hits.

Ding dong??......the witch is dead??
 
MAGGIE THATCHER THE RIDE!!
 
Its a sequel to Baron 1898 where she shuts down the Barons mine!!

I attended the passholder preview event a couple weeks back and I must admit I was slightly disappointed.
It was my first Fright Nights event so held high expectations, but can't help but feel a little let down.
 
Trailers, as incredibly themed as it was, I felt lackluster in scares. As the scenes themselves were so very small, I found the majority of the scares to be massively predictable and probably didn't jump any more than once or twice. Granted it's a new maze, and is inevitably going to return year on year judging by the amount of investment that clearly went on in there judging by the external and internal scenery, so fingers crossed it's a maze that only gets better with age.
 
I must say, though, I was pleasantly surprised by Creek Freak Massacre and even Platform 15 after seeing it being slated by the majority of people that have visited it over the years 😂
 
Hoping to get at least one more visit in before the end of the season to re-evaluate my thoughts, but ultimately felt like the things that were being hyped up the most this year (Trailers & Legacy, Legacy mostly because it has only just started so I never got the chance to see it) turned out to be quite the disappointment - certainly glad I only paid £5 per maze, I definitely don't think either of the three are worth the £10 price point.

I attended the passholder preview event a couple weeks back and I must admit I was slightly disappointed.
It was my first Fright Nights event so held high expectations, but can't help but feel a little let down.
 
Trailers, as incredibly themed as it was, I felt lackluster in scares. As the scenes themselves were so very small, I found the majority of the scares to be massively predictable and probably didn't jump any more than once or twice. Granted it's a new maze, and is inevitably going to return year on year judging by the amount of investment that clearly went on in there judging by the external and internal scenery, so fingers crossed it's a maze that only gets better with age.
 
I must say, though, I was pleasantly surprised by Creek Freak Massacre and even Platform 15 after seeing it being slated by the majority of people that have visited it over the years 😂
 
Hoping to get at least one more visit in before the end of the season to re-evaluate my thoughts, but ultimately felt like the things that were being hyped up the most this year (Trailers & Legacy, Legacy mostly because it has only just started so I never got the chance to see it) turned out to be quite the disappointment - certainly glad I only paid £5 per maze, I definitely don't think either of the three are worth the £10 price point.

I attended the passholder preview event a couple weeks back and I must admit I was slightly disappointed.
It was my first Fright Nights event so held high expectations, but can't help but feel a little let down.
 
Trailers, as incredibly themed as it was, I felt lackluster in scares. As the scenes themselves were so very small, I found the majority of the scares to be massively predictable and probably didn't jump any more than once or twice. Granted it's a new maze, and is inevitably going to return year on year judging by the amount of investment that clearly went on in there judging by the external and internal scenery, so fingers crossed it's a maze that only gets better with age.
 
I must say, though, I was pleasantly surprised by Creek Freak Massacre and even Platform 15 after seeing it being slated by the majority of people that have visited it over the years 😂
 
Hoping to get at least one more visit in before the end of the season to re-evaluate my thoughts, but ultimately felt like the things that were being hyped up the most this year (Trailers & Legacy, Legacy mostly because it has only just started so I never got the chance to see it) turned out to be quite the disappointment - certainly glad I only paid £5 per maze, I definitely don't think either of the three are worth the £10 price point.

I attended the passholder preview event a couple weeks back and I must admit I was slightly disappointed.
It was my first Fright Nights event so held high expectations, but can't help but feel a little let down.
 
Trailers, as incredibly themed as it was, I felt lackluster in scares. As the scenes themselves were so very small, I found the majority of the scares to be massively predictable and probably didn't jump any more than once or twice. Granted it's a new maze, and is inevitably going to return year on year judging by the amount of investment that clearly went on in there judging by the external and internal scenery, so fingers crossed it's a maze that only gets better with age.
 
I must say, though, I was pleasantly surprised by Creek Freak Massacre and even Platform 15 after seeing it being slated by the majority of people that have visited it over the years 😂
 
Hoping to get at least one more visit in before the end of the season to re-evaluate my thoughts, but ultimately felt like the things that were being hyped up the most this year (Trailers & Legacy, Legacy mostly because it has only just started so I never got the chance to see it) turned out to be quite the disappointment - certainly glad I only paid £5 per maze, I definitely don't think either of the three are worth the £10 price point.