Matt N

I hope you're ready for adventure, globetrotters, because the 3rd country of Worlds of Globala awaits, and it's our first country outside of Europe! So without further ado, may I give you all a very warm welcome to Morocco: Now, this area has almost an adventure-type vibe to it, with a focus on landscaping and buildings like the other areas, however I also used quite a few items from the Adventure pack as well as quite a bit of rockwork in Morocco. In terms of rides, the area contains 4 rides in total, as well as the 2nd station of the park's Globetrotter monorail system. So, without further ado, the area rides are as follows: Black Mamba, an Intamin LSM Launch Coaster with 2 launches, one to 60mph and the other to 80mph. The ride stands at 203ft tall, reaches a maximum speed of 80mph on that second launch and has 5,932ft of track, as well a top hat (the point where it hits that maximum 203ft height), and 3 inversions; a vertical loop and 2 zero-g stalls. I was inspired by Taron at Phantasialand in terms of the style of ride I wanted to go for (so in that sense, I've drawn inspiration from 2 Phantasialand rides in one, what with the name!), although I also drew inspiration from Taiga at Linnanmaki in a few places as well, namely the top hat and drawn out zero-g stalls. I must admit I think I may have made the final 2 or 3 elements a touch too intense: I did also film a POV and some cinematic shots: https://youtu.be/Dzg4jTTi170 https://youtu.be/zB-ijW7MHm0 Moroccan Queen River Expedition, a rapids ride themed around a river rafting expedition through the Moroccan desert. The ride contains a few animatronics, various water effects and a drop of around 30ft: I also filmed a POV: https://youtu.be/4mfEIST07hQ Serpent's Sky School, a Zamperla Air Race themed around an explorer teaching you how to fly a plane: Casablanca Flyers, a kiddie balloon ride themed as a relaxing hot air balloon flight over Morocco: That just about covers it in terms of rides, but as with every area, I've included some more relaxing areas, as well as a restaurant serving Moroccan food named The Marakesh. I also took the usual aerial view of the area: As well as a video overview: https://youtu.be/a_JJ-33A3DQ So, I hope you all like Morocco! The next country will be dropping imminently, and this time, we're headed across the pond...

Greetings once again, globetrotters! Our global expedition together has bought us to the second country of Worlds of Globala, so without further ado, I would like to welcome you all to Spain: Now, this area has many Mediterranean-style buildings of different colours; buildings are far more heavily used in Spain than in Britain. However, the onus on landscaping also remains, with some areas having a bit of a jungle-type feel to them! In terms of rides, Spain has 6 rides on offer, including the park's first 2 roller coasters. The rides in Spain are as follows: La Corrida (Spanish for "The Run" or "The Bullrun"), a GCI wooden coaster. In terms of stats, the ride is 121ft tall, reaches a maximum speed of 52mph and has 3,670ft of track, with various banked turns, drops and moments of airtime throughout. I did base the layout off of Wodan at Europa Park in a sense, in terms of how it starts off with a high element and then stays low-to-the-ground for the rest of the ride. In terms of theme, the ride is themed as though you have been invited to experience a classic Spanish bullrun and have the opportunity to ride on a bull, and I've put various triggered effects and buildings throughout the ride area: Also, have a POV and some cinematic shots that I filmed of the ride: https://youtu.be/qrXquIQWMe0 https://youtu.be/eRFqYIqzLjk El Torito (Spanish for "The Little Bull" or "Bull Junior". Well, something along those lines, anyway.), a smaller GCI wooden coaster targeted towards the younger families. This coaster is 42ft tall, reaches speeds of 35mph and has 1,152ft of track, and it interacts heavily with La Corrida. In terms of theme, it's very similar to that of La Corrida, but obviously aimed at younger guests. I must apologise for the photos of El Torito, as I must admit that it's quite a hard ride to photograph: Again, I filmed a POV and some cinematic shots: https://youtu.be/9SOd8n9mMD0 https://youtu.be/054eS_EGnxM The Spanish Armada, a pirate ship. As the name implies, this ride is themed around the Spanish Armada, and it gave me a good opportunity to use some of the Pirate theming in the game. In the shot below, you can also see El Restaurante Soleado, the area's main restaurant: Costa del Sol Splash Tours, a small log flume. This ride is around 21ft high, and has one drop. It's themed as though you're taking a relaxing boat tour of the Spanish coastline, but in typical theme park fashion, something goes wrong! Things start to look fishy when you see smoke, fire and a wrecked tour boat in front of you, and you later discover that there are sharks living in the water. The sharks then appear and briefly attack, but you are taken to safety in the nick of time: I also filmed a POV: https://youtu.be/55uGB7VVyW4 Sombrero Salsa, a Polyp-style ride. As the name implies, this attraction is themed to the classic Spanish Salsa dance: Flippin' Flamenco, an Intamin Tourbillon themed to another classic Spanish dance, the Flamenco. In this shot, you can also see that I included another secluded alleyway with some facilities in it like I did in Britain; I aimed to include some more relaxing areas as well as places with loads of rides: That just about covers it in terms of rides, but I did also capture an aerial view of the entire area: As well as a video overview: https://youtu.be/PIvLOb-_WPo So, I hope you guys like Spain! The next country on our global expedition will be dropping shortly, and this time, we're venturing outside Europe...

Right then, globetrotters; the first country of Worlds of Globala awaits! And it's one that many on this forum are particularly familiar with; welcome, one and all, to Great Britain: Now, I went for a castle-style architecture with this area, with some Victorian-style buildings as well. In terms of rides, there are 4 in this area, and they are as follows: Royal Tea Party, a teacups ride. This is Britain; there had to be something to do with tea in there somewhere! This is themed as though you're attending a typical British garden party, with lots of landscaping and various types of biscuits and sweets assorted around the queue: Britannia Tours, a car ride. This ride is supposed to be themed as though you are taking a taxi tour past various London landmarks; I'm not sure how accurate they are, but the various theming pieces on the ride are supposed to be the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, The Houses of Parliament and the London Eye (the waterwheel was the closest small theming item I could find to a ferris wheel!). Each theming item also triggers some effects as you drive past: Here's a POV of Britannia Tours: https://youtu.be/cXrj3vWSZXs The next ride is The Rack, a double inverter-style attraction. This is themed as a Medieval torture device: The final ride in the area, and what I'd probably say is the main attraction, is The Tales of Arthuria, a dark water ride similar in style to Pirates of the Caribbean at the Disney parks. Now I must confess that dark rides are not my strong suit in Planet Coaster, so I'm not sure how good this ride is in comparison to other dark rides you've seen, but I did add theming & triggered effects until ride scenery was listed as "Very High" and queue scenery as "100%", so it's clearly good in the game's eyes. The ride has various effects and Medieval theming pieces throughout, and it does also feature a drop, which I think is about 20ft high from memory, but don't quote me on that. Have a few pictures of the building exterior and queue: Here's the Tales of Arthuria POV: https://youtu.be/3QzUrcwiAq8 So, those are the rides in the British area! However, it's not only rides on offer; here's a picture of two of the buildings I installed. Now I must confess; unlike the rest of the area, which I built myself, these are blueprints from Frontier that I thought would fit nicely. The left building holds a Sugary Emporium outlet and the right building holds Britannia Bites, the area's main restaurant: I should point out that one thing I aimed to do in each country was to have it serve that country's native cuisine, so for example, Britannia Bites serves British food. I thought that this would add to the authenticity of the park's theming somewhat. One thing I also wanted to do was to have some more secluded areas in each country, so here's a little alleyway I built that just has a few facilities in it: Finally, have an aerial view of the entire area, as well as a video overview I filmed: https://youtu.be/NIXDv1PAUY8 So that's the first country in our global adventure here at Worlds of Globala! I hope you like my take on Great Britain, and keep your eyes peeled for the next country, which is coming shortly...

Welcome, globetrotters, to the start of our global expedition together! Before setting off on building countries, I started with the most logical starting point for any theme park; the entrance! So, without further ado, may I welcome you all to the park entrance area; Explorer's Plaza: Here's a little close-up view of the entrance to the park: Now, the large structure you see looming over the entrance area is Hotel Globala. I was inspired somewhat by Disneyland Paris in having a hotel above the entrance, but the building itself is actually more inspired by the Alton Towers Hotel. This is actually a functioning hotel, with 94 rooms in total (79 standard, 15 luxury). Standard rooms are currently £30 and luxury rooms are currently £60; people don't seem to be complaining, so I assume that's an OK price, especially considering the hotel has quite a high prestige rating and many perks. The seating areas you see outside and on the roof of the building are unfortunately not accessible to guests; they are just for show. I should probably move on to the attractions now, then! In terms of rides in this area, there is: Explorer's Flight, a Waveswinger with water jets; these were somewhat inspired by the likes of Monkey Swinger at Chessington and Phantasialand's waveswinger: Global Revolution, a carousel: The initial station for Globetrotter, a monorail ride that runs around the entire park and has stations in Morocco, the USA and Japan, as well as right here in Explorer's Plaza. This is held inside the large structure you see at the end of the street. The initial boarding point for Globala Lake Cruises, a boat ride that takes guests across the park's large central lake to the USA and offers views of the different countries: I did also take a photo of what the area looks like from guest level, looking up towards the end of the street: There aren't really that many rides in this area, but it's more intended to ease you into the park, with various different restaurants and facilities. I intentionally built the buildings in the area quite high so as to hide the rest of the park, so there's a lovely (in my opinion) grand reveal once you exit the main street portion of the area: I did also capture a video to show off the area (I apologise in advance, as it's perhaps the most abysmal in-game capture footage I've ever seen, but I hope it shows off the area OK): https://youtu.be/U3S6z3821a8 So, I hope you all enjoyed this little snapshot of the first area of Worlds of Globala! The first country on our global adventure is coming shortly...

Hi all. Sorry if this isn't deserving of its own topic, but as well as being a fan of real-life theme parks, I am also an avid Planet Coaster fan. I've been playing the game since 2017, and while I am often unable to dedicate as much time to it as I'd like, I've built a lot in the game over the years, and I'd like to think I've improved a fair amount as a builder over that time. The park I wanted to show you in this thread is one that I actually finished quite a few months back now, having started it in April 2020 as a lockdown pet project; I finally finished it in August 2021. However, it's easily the park I'm most proud of that I've built in the game, and even though TowersStreet and CoasterForce saw this park as it was being built, I wanted to run some of my work past a fresh set of eyes here on Thorpe Park Mania to see what you guys thought! So to give you a little context before I start showing off the park itself; this park is named Worlds of Globala, and it is a World's Fair-style theme park with 8 different countries on offer; Great Britain, Spain, Morocco, USA, China, Japan, Mexico and Germany. In terms of ride count for the park, it ended up at a total of 46, which includes 11 rollercoasters, 5 dark rides and 4 water rides. I'll show off the areas in the order in which I built them; I started with Explorer's Plaza, the entrance area, the first country I built was Great Britain, and I finished with Germany. I'd like to think that I progressed a fair amount between the start and end of this park, but I'll let you guys be the judge of that! OK then, that's the backstory of this park over and done with; I'll make a separate post in here showing off each area individually, with an explanation of each ride along with some pictures (as well as video in the case of tracked rides), as well as a video overview of the general area. I do apologise in advance for the FPS of some of the videos; apart from the final park overviews I did at the very end, all of the videos were filmed on my old laptop, which did struggle to cope with the park once it got bigger! I really hope you guys like what I created, and watch this space for some posts showing off each area! P.S. Sorry in advance for numerous successive posts as well as a bit of a content dump.

I had a thought; I’m not sure if you guys would agree, but even if this coaster doesn’t end up being a hyper, I reckon the Thorpe hyper is now becoming almost as notorious (for lack of a better word) as a hypothetical ride concept as the Towers woodie was prior to Wicker Man’s construction, so given that Thorpe can technically build higher than Stealth (after some research, they are apparently outside Heathrow’s inner surface), I reckon it will happen eventually, even if not 2024! Given enthusiasts wore Merlin down enough to build a wooden coaster, which they literally said even only a few years prior that they would never do due to them being unmarketable, I’d suggest that a hyper would take far less convincing! My personal thought is that this new coaster could very well be a hyper (my personal prediction prior to the consultation is B&M Hyper that will steal the UK height record), but even if it’s not, I think we will see one eventually…

I don’t know about you guys, but I honestly reckon we could learn a fair amount about Thorpe’s coaster from this consultation. For instance, I’d expect that we’ll at very least discover a broad description of the ride that limits the scope of our guesses down to a much greater degree than it was previously; to use Chessington’s initial consultation in May as an example (given both are Merlin properties, I’d imagine that Merlin would want to keep procedures fairly consistent), the initial consultation they did revealed most of the key info. For instance: It was revealed then that it would be a “family thrill” shuttle coaster with a potential inversion and a 1.4m height restriction. The basic ride layout was also confirmed, as well as a rough idea of scale. The big theming structure and the land with the 2 additional filler rides was also confirmed at the initial consultation. I even remember the winged seating being thrown around by people who’d been to the consultation back then, although I’m unsure if winged seating was expressly confirmed at the initial consultation. The only things the full planning application for Project Amazon a few months later really confirmed that we didn’t already know were the finer statistics (e.g. exact height, track length), the finer details of the land, and that B&M was officially confirmed as the manufacturer (although B&M had been thrown around as a very strong rumour ever since the initial consultation). So from this consultation, I’d imagine we should expect: A broad description of what the ride is and what it does. A manufacturer may or may not be confirmed, but I’d imagine we may be able to take a fair stab based on what the park says about the ride. In terms of what I mean here; if the ride were a hyper coaster, for instance, the park would probably say that they were building a tall out and back coaster with lots of large airtime hills. A basic overview of the layout. Even though they probably won’t delve too much into specifics, they’ll probably show the footprint the ride will take up, the basic layout and the essence of what it does, the rough scale they expect (we expect the ride to be around [x]ft tall with [x] high points). With the site being picked, I’d also imagine that Thorpe may specify what’s being removed in terms of rides, infrastructure, trees etc. We may also get some hint at the theme, such as any theming structures being included. Chessington’s consultation revealed the basic jungle style theme, as well as the big theming structure. Of course, this is all conjecture on my part, but I’d personally say there’s a fair chance that we’ll get these sorts of things (or at least, something similar) revealed on the 10th based on what Chessington’s consultation for Project Amazon was like. Isn’t all this very exciting, though? I’m certainly optimistic that this could be something to really look forward to!

Wow, exciting stuff! So much to think about! Firstly, I’d be very, very surprised if this is a prank. It looks pretty official, and most pranks probably wouldn’t go quite this elaborate; printing out loads of flyers to send to locals and making a website that is a spitting image of Thorpe’s current one would be a huge amount of effort for a simple prank conjured up by a local prankster! This isn’t like that Project Zer0 thing that loads of people (myself included) thought could be teasing a new coaster a few years back, where it was just some cryptic YouTube videos, a random website not affiliated to Thorpe at all and a load of 0s randomly appearing around Thorpe; this looks pretty official, and I think telling residents to look at a consultation website on 10th December if there was nothing to show would lead to some harsh consequences for the perpetrator… Secondly, I think the choice to go for a full-blown consultation is very interesting on Thorpe’s part, and this is a very premature start to planning compared to usual if Thorpe’s next coaster does come in 2024 as rumoured. Could Thorpe possibly be trying to get the locals on side early so that they can build something that might have a tougher time getting through planning… like a hyper, perhaps? I’m certainly optimistic that this could be something to get really excited about myself; my personal bet is a B&M Hyper Coaster, but regardless, I think it’ll be very exciting!

I wouldn't rule out a Vampire retrack; both Colossos at Heide Park and Shaman at Gardaland had like-for-like retracks funded by Merlin, and given that Nemesis is rumoured to be receiving the same treatment within the next few years, I certainly wouldn't put it past Merlin to greenlight this for Vampire, especially given that they can't replace it with anything of equivalent size. Admittedly, Vampire may be a little more challenging given that Arrow no longer exist, but given that Shaman was retracked by CSM (a Dutch steel fabrication company) as opposed to Vekoma, as well as the fact that Vekoma and S&S (both common servicers of Arrow coasters, particularly S&S) build very similar models, I think Merlin would be up for the challenge!

This is an interesting question, but Big One dwarfed the rest of BPB in a similar fashion (if not to a greater extent, given that their next tallest coaster in 1994 was only around 60-70ft tall) when it first opened, and that never caused any issues for the rest of the park's rides. So I guess it raises the question of; why couldn't Thorpe make a hyper work in a similar way to BPB? I actually think that a huge coaster like that would work well. It would give further gravitas to the inevitable "UK's tallest coaster" marketing campaign, and reinforce the record, as well as the ride's status as a park icon, in the eyes of the average visitor. Not to mention that it would grab people's attention immediately without too much heavy lifting, which is surely what Thorpe needs at this point in time?

From what I can tell, Chessington is stuck between a rock and a hard place with Vampire. The ride is aging, and parts are likely getting harder to find, but Kingston Borough Council have also forbidden them from replacing it with anything of equivalent size, so unlike many other parks with Arrow suspended coasters, they can’t just rip it out and bung a new family coaster onto the site. If/when it goes, they really are stuck in regard to replacing it. Personally, I think the ride will either have been refurbished or removed by the end of the decade. As much as it is iconic, it’s also getting on a bit now, and the new coaster in 2023 may well set the wheels in motion for making Vampire a less integral part of Chessington. It’s a tough situation for them to be in…

I’m not sure whether this is necessarily true; if a hyper above 235ft in height (I know RCDB says Big One is 213ft, but the park claims 235ft, so it would probably be best to aim for that figure) were to be built, it would become the UK’s tallest roller coaster, and possibly fastest as well dependent on how high it was built; a hyper with a drop of above about 230ft or so would likely exceed Stealth’s 80mph. A hyper of this size would also be in with a fair shot at claiming the UK length record (it’s technically now held by the Big One at 5,497ft, as the Ultimate is SBNO). Even though a ride like this wouldn’t have a world’s first per se, I think that “the tallest & fastest coaster in the UK”, or even “the tallest, fastest and longest coaster in the UK” if they fancied beating the Big One’s length record, would be incredibly marketable and would make a big splash within the UK industry; look at the likes of Smiler, Big One, the Ultimate, even Thorpe’s own Colossus, Stealth and Saw. These rides all had either national or worldwide records at the time of opening, and they were all incredibly popular. Rightly or wrongly, I think records sell in Britain, and based on the likes of Smiler (no real world’s first besides the record), I’d argue that a UK record breaker would be a pretty compelling sell to Merlin. In terms of whether the lack of inversions would make it seem tame; the likes of Big One and Stealth have certainly coped fine in terms of public opinion and reputation even without inversions, so I’m confident that a Thorpe hyper would be the same, personally. A hyper may not have a gimmick in the traditional Merlin sense, but I think it would be equally as marketable!

Thanks @Mark9! To be completely honest, I hadn’t known that either prior to reading the Thorpe book; I’ll admit that I am surprised that such a big and exciting cancelled ride hadn’t been widely known about prior to the book’s release! One does have to wonder what the ride would have been like… as much as I do like Swarm, I would have absolutely loved a hyper!

Sorry to double post, but before anyone asks, I thought I should clarify why the 2012 hyper was canned, for anyone who hasn’t read Making Thorpe Park, as I think it does provide a promising outlook for whether one could be built now. According to the book, the reason for the ride’s cancellation was not what you might expect; the reason for Swarm being built in 2012 as opposed to a hyper was actually because Merlin HQ was adamant that the Wing Coaster design had to be used due to them having acquired multiple Wing Coasters from B&M when they brokered the deal for Raptor at Gardaland. As such, in spite of neither Wardley nor B&M wanting to build a Wing Coaster on the site, Merlin HQ forced a Wing Coaster upon Thorpe due to them having one going spare. The thing I should note here is that the commonly cited obstacles of cost and planning constraints clearly weren’t seen as a problem for Merlin at the time. Therefore, there’s nothing that would necessarily stop Merlin green lighting a hyper for Thorpe now.

Couldn’t they just aim the high points of the ride away from Staines and towards the back corner of the park? If they did that, surely that might overcome some of the problems? I’ve often heard it said that Thorpe could run a hyper around the back of the park from Old Town/the Logger’s Leap site, with the main body of the ride itself running along the service road around the back of the park. For what it’s worth, John Wardley even said that a hyper would be doable within Thorpe’s planning restrictions. In terms of where Wardley said this, it was a comment made within Making Thorpe Park regarding a B&M Hyper that Wardley and B&M had strategised for a 2012 coaster instead of The Swarm. The source was cited as an interview with John Wardley himself conducted as part of the research for the book (the source is cited as “Interview with John Wardley, 20 July 2020” in the book’s bibliography). Here’s the exact comment; the relevant part is in bold: “When [B&M] was approached to suggest ideas for the first of the new development islands, they were strongly against using the new Wing model. The flat piece of land didn’t really play to the strengths of the concept, and Wardley felt that a different B&M option should be used instead. His preference was a Hyper Coaster, a tall ride that offers high speeds and massive airtime. Having good knowledge of local planning restrictions, he was confident that permission would be agreed and it would be the perfect complement to the four major rollercoasters already in operation at Thorpe Park.” For context, this would have been a few years after Stealth, perhaps around 2009-2010. Thorpe’s height ceiling is 500ft, apparently, with structures over 200ft needing to apply to the CAA for approval (due to Heathrow being close by). While I’ll admit that a 500ft coaster seems like a long shot in terms of approval, I don’t see them struggling too much with a hyper in the 200-250ft range, personally. As much as Stealth may have required special permission at the time, I’d argue that it may well have set a precedent for the minimum height that Thorpe would be allowed to build a coaster to; if a coaster of Stealth’s size or a little bit taller encountered issues, then the park could quite feasibly say “We’ve operated Stealth at 205ft for 15 years with no issues” to defend themselves and make a case for the approval of a hyper coaster.

Hi guys. Since Tussauds' purchase of Thorpe Park in 1998, Chessington & Thorpe Park, two of the UK's largest theme parks, have operated under the same corporate umbrella (Tussauds from 1998 through to 2007, Merlin since 2007) within very little distance of each other; both parks serve the London area, and they are only a very short drive away from each other. Tussauds' initial reasoning for purchasing Thorpe Park was in order to eliminate Chessington's closest competition within the South (Thorpe was a family park to the same, if not a greater, extent than Chessington at the time, and as John Wardley put it, Tussauds' mentality was one of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em"). While acquiring Thorpe did clear this particular roadblock for Tussauds in the short term, I believe it created them a rather different dilemma to grapple with in the long term; both Tussauds and Merlin seem to have had real trouble getting the two parks to coexist happily alongside one another. Now given that both have operated alongside one another within Tussauds/Merlin for 23 years, that might seem like an odd thing to say. But what I mean is; whenever one park in the duo succeeds from a business perspective, it seems to have the unwanted side effect of sending the other into a downward spiral. For evidence of what I mean, let me cite the UK Merlin park attendance graph shown during the Project Amazon consultation: (For reference, Chessington is the blue line and Thorpe Park is the red line; if you want a clearer image of this graph, here's a link to another thread on TowersStreet: https://towersstreet.com/talk/threads/uk-merlin-park-guest-figures-through-the-years.5778/) If we take a look at this graph between 1998 and the present day (well, 2020), I think it unveils some extremely interesting trends, and implies that a rather odd dynamic is at play among Merlin's southern RTPs. For instance, the first period where Thorpe's attendance really skyrockets on the chart is 2001/2002... which is exactly where Chessington's attendance starts to sharply decline. By the Merlin buyout in 2007, both parks had gone in vastly opposite directions attendance-wise, with Chessington having dropped right down to 1 million flat (from a solid 1.5-2 million prior to this period and very close to 2 million in the late 90s) and Thorpe having skyrocketed to nearly 2 million (from slightly below 1 million prior to this period). However, the tables began to turn in the late 2000s and early 2010s. Chessington's attendance began to steadily rise again during this period... while Thorpe's substantial growth began to level off and eventually turn back to decline. By 2019, Chessington was on an upward trajectory and had offset the losses of the 2000s entirely, reaching an attendance level of slightly above 1.5 million; this is roughly on par with 2000, the year prior to this cycle starting. Thorpe, on the other hand, was on a downward trajectory and had offset the bulk of what they gained during the 2000s; 2019 attendance was 1.5 million or a touch below, which is around on par with 2002, one of the very first years of the cycle. Chessington actually overtook Thorpe Park again in 2019, for the first time since the cycle began in 2001/2002. I don't know about you, but I personally think that this shows that a vicious cycle is at play within Merlin's two London area Resort Theme Parks; whenever one park prospers, it seems to be at the expense of the other. While Thorpe initially prospered in the 2000s, Chessington really struggled. While Chessington prospered in the 2010s, Thorpe really struggled. The two parks seem to cannibalise each other's attendance to an extent, and I can't think of any other situation in the world quite like it (in the sphere of theme parks, at least). So my question to you today is; can you think of any ways that Merlin could make this duo of parks coexist happily, and kick the cycle of attendance cannibalisation to the curb? Are there any other similarly situated groups of parks that have made it work? Why did this cycle begin in the first place? I'll admit I'm struggling to think of things myself, so I'd be really intrigued to hear some of your thoughts.

It looks as though Paultons Park received an inadvertent publicity boost the other day when Boris Johnson praised his recent visit to the park in a speech to British business leaders: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59373237 Let’s hope that this translates to some additional ticket sales for Paultons! If nothing else, it will certainly make the park quite an infamous place within political circles…

I definitely think that would be a good fit at some stage, and I do reckon that might happen at some point, but I’m unsure if it would be the right fit for Thorpe at this stage, personally. Despite Swarm and DBGT’s failures, they know that thrills have worked in the past (and I should add that both Swarm and DBGT had extenuating circumstances working against them that contributed substantially to said failures, particularly Swarm), so for an investment like this, which really needs to rejuvenate the park after a dry spell, why not go for something that they know has a fair chance of working?

I’ll admit I’m a little unsure what to think about Icon getting spinning cars, personally. On one hand, it’ll certainly be a unique feature for the ride to boast, and will hopefully give it that marketability that it perhaps lacked in its initial years. Time Traveler and Ride to Happiness have also received rave reviews, so hopefully this could boost the ride’s middling reputation among enthusiasts. (Although Time Traveler and RTH use slightly different tech) On the other hand, I personally absolutely love Icon as is, and I think the back row is my favourite row. I’m also not overly keen on spinning coasters, so I’ll admit that I would be quite sad to see my favourite seats go in favour of spinning seats. I’m not really the target audience for this, though, and the park shouldn’t care what I, a statistically insignificant enthusiast who hasn’t visited since 2019, thinks or whether I like spinning coasters or not; I hope it’s a success for them, even if it’s not an idea I’m necessarily sold on from a personal point of view.

Sorry to bump this thread, but I just wanted to ask; is it me, or has Wicker Man been riding a little better in 2021? From my experiences, the ride has felt a little bit faster than in previous years, and it has also been packing quite a few pops of surprisingly excellent airtime where there was previously none! Does anyone else agree with me, or am I just perceiving things? I’ve always really liked Wicker Man since first riding it on opening weekend in 2018 and having my expectations exceeded by a considerable margin (given that the forums were very pessimistic about how Wicker Man would ride and I had no prior GCI experience to compare with, I had pretty low expectations, but I was absolutely blown away!), but over the last year or so, it’s strongly grown on me! Since an excellent couple of rides in July 2020, I’ve been absolutely loving it, and it seems to have gone up by another level again for me in 2021! I just love the fast pace of it, as well as the fun turns, great pops of airtime and the relative smoothness and comfort compared to other wooden coasters! Overall, I do absolutely love it, and it really is a coaster I rank highly! I apologise if this is controversial, but as someone who rates fun and rerideable coasters highly over the out and out intense, I personally have it as my comfortable favourite at Alton Towers, and it’s only narrowly beaten by Icon within the UK for me! For me to rank a ride highly, it has to pack enough thrill for me to get a real kick out of riding, but it can’t be so intense or rough that it causes nausea or hurts me, and I personally think that even though I wouldn’t traditionally call myself a wooden coaster person, Wicker Man satisfies that brief for me more than the vast majority of coasters I’ve ridden! It’s certainly made me look forward to hopefully riding Wodan next year, anyway, as most seem to think it beats Wicker Man by a considerable margin…

Thanks for the info, but with regard to the bolded, what makes you think this will be a Mack, out of interest? I’m not saying you’re wrong by any stretch, as I certainly think it’s plausible, but it does seem like an interesting contrast to the other strong rumours I’ve heard. Many online, including some who I know are well connected within Merlin, seem to think that this will be a B&M Hyper Coaster, and I do think it’s a plausible conclusion; based on Chessington’s 2023 coaster and the family B&Ms planned for numerous Chinese Legolands, I think it can be inferred that Merlin is at very least in strong cahoots with B&M at the moment, and they may well have had some form of discount on numerous rides. As such, I could see Merlin wanting to utilise this for as many rides as they possibly can within the chain, which would make a B&M Hyper quite a good possibility for Thorpe, in my opinion. Merlin also has quite a strong history with B&M; of all the Merlin-built coasters listed “Extreme” on RCDB, all bar 2 of them were built by B&M, and the other 2 (Saw & Smiler) were built by Gerstlauer, who I don’t see Merlin going back to after the Smiler incident. For clarity, Thirteen, Wicker Man and Mammut are listed as “Thrill” on RCDB, but even if we look at all of the coasters Merlin has built in RTPs since the initial purchase of Gardaland in 2006, 5/13 of them were constructed by B&M, and that percentage grows substantially if you include the upcoming coaster at Chessington and exclude kiddie & family coasters. For one manufacturer, that’s a big percentage, and I do personally think it shows that Merlin has a rock solid relationship with B&M. Mack, on the other hand, haven’t done an awful lot for Merlin besides some clones for Legoland parks, and I did hear a rumour that Mack are not too fond of Merlin as a client based on past treatment, and would not be keen to enter into a bespoke, large-scale project with the company, although do take that with a pinch of salt. Besides, I think one would be a fantastic fit for Thorpe, and would satisfy many criteria that the management themselves previously cited as being required for any major investment. At an enthusiast event a few years ago, the park management themselves said that after the failures of DBGT, they wanted the next major investment to be marketable, reliable and to have high capacity. I don’t know if you’d agree, but I personally think a B&M Hyper would fulfil all of these criteria (“tallest coaster in the UK” would certainly be a good USP for marketing, and B&Ms are typically both reliable and high capacity), and I also think that it would provide a really rerideable coaster that’s just pure fun, which I personally feel is something that Thorpe presently lacks. So in essence; my personal money is on a B&M Hyper Coaster here, and I also think that it will break the UK height record. Regardless of what replaces Logger’s Leap, though, whether it’s a B&M or a Mack as you suggest, I certainly think it’ll be an exciting ride!

Hi there! I’ll probably be a familiar face if you’re a frequent reader of TowersStreet or CoasterForce, but for those of you who don’t know me; I’m Matt, I’m 18 years old and I’m a theme park enthusiast from the Forest of Dean! In terms of my own history with Thorpe; my first visit was back in 2014, when I was 11, and I’ll admit that even though I didn’t visit Thorpe at least once every year as a child in the same way that I did Alton Towers (the bulk of my Thorpe experiences have certainly been quite recent, unlike Towers where I have a plethora of childhood memories), I have grown a real soft spot for the park over all my visits since then, and I always enjoy a day there! My favourite Thorpe ride is The Swarm, but I’ll admit that Nemesis Inferno has really grown on me in recent years and comes a very close 2nd these days; it’s a smashing coaster, in my opinion! In terms of other theme parks and rides; my current coaster count is 79, my current favourite roller coaster is Mako at SeaWorld Orlando (I last rode it in August 2016, but my goodness do I remember the airtime being brilliant!), and my favourite theme park is Universal’s Islands of Adventure (the theming and general sense of immersion is just spell-binding, in my opinion, and the rides are excellent too; it really is the full package!)! So, that’s a brief introduction to me, for those of you who don’t already know me! I apologise if that’s a little more than you wanted to know (I’m not the best at concise writing…), but that’s some stuff I thought you might find interesting!