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Matt N reacted to Inferno in Alton Towers Scarefest or Thorpe Park Fright Nights; which UK Merlin Halloween event do you prefer?
Completely agree with that @RobF - the newer ones just aren’t the same are they. Some have been good, but I don’t know.. they just aren’t the same! I can’t put it in to words somehow.
I also think Thorpe has been very rough and ready and very inconsistent. Some run throughs are better than others, which used to be fine when the mazes were free, but not now they’re £700 a go or whatever they’re charging this season.
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Matt N reacted to RobF in Alton Towers Scarefest or Thorpe Park Fright Nights; which UK Merlin Halloween event do you prefer?
Tbh I still think Thorpe's top Mazes were the original/earlier years Asylum, hellgate, cabin/ original valentine . I haven't rated the more recent mazes, I have never had a good run on creek freak
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Matt N reacted to Inferno in Alton Towers Scarefest or Thorpe Park Fright Nights; which UK Merlin Halloween event do you prefer?
This is an interesting one this year.
I always think that, generally, Thorpe smash it on paper nearly every year - but Towers ultimately deliver the better event in the end, with more consistent mazes, better crowd control and just generally a “nicer time”.
It’s also far less likely to go to s*** at Towers when it gets busy - as I have said many times, Thorpe just can’t seem to handle a crowd for some reason.
Every year I go to both events, and for almost a decade now I’ve had said Scarefest wins the battle, but it’s been close over the years.
I’d say Fright Nights has been in decline since the era of the walking dead stuff - it just somehow hasn’t been was it once was.
however this year seems to have turned a corner - Survival Games looks like a return to form (a very simple, intense, proper old-school scare maze with no “with a difference” bs).
I hope they can be consistent and reliably keep standards up throughout the event, which they haven’t managed for years.
This year I just can’t be bothered with Scarefest though - only 2 mazes on offer, very expensive, and nothing new that’s worth doing. Their event feels like an afterthought.
I haven’t yet been to FN so I think that will win it for me this year.
Having said that, my FN visit last year was the worst theme park visit I’ve ever had…
Time will tell - but basically I think my tl;dr answer is Scarefest - but probably not this season.
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Matt N reacted to MattyB in The lost future of Wicked Witches Haunt
Yeah I think the development of the park would have been very different to what actually happened. I seem to remember (it was my first season in 2000 at the park so my recollection might be a bit hazy) that Zodiac appeared a couple of weeks after WWH burnt down and was literally plonked down where Vortex currently is. I agree with Matt N that the park may have been a bit more balanced with family and thrill rides rather than what we have got now. Its a shame as one of my first memories of TP was Phantom Fantasia. The day of the fire was pretty crazy!
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Matt N reacted to MattyB in The lost future of Wicked Witches Haunt
Thanks for this! Couldn't remember the name of the book 😀
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Matt N reacted to MattyB in The lost future of Wicked Witches Haunt
I remember reading somewhere that John Wardley was most upset when it burnt down "before he could get his hands on it", so I would like to think that it would have survived with a John Wardley revamp until at least the 2010's. Also Josh you are correct with the RnR clone infrastructure issue. I remember speaking with the development director about why it didn't get built, and that was the reason he gave. He also stated the idea was a quick response to the fire, as they had heard on the grapevine that Disney Paris would be getting RnR (in 2002)
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Matt N reacted to LukeKenno in Rank the Thorpe Park coasters
My Thorpe rankings are..
1. Nemesis Inferno, for me my number one off ride like the theme, the soundtracks both old and new the booming low frequency in the queue and the base in the station that adds to the area and the interlocking corkscrews element path views. On ride I like the speed it carries throughout l, the twist and turns and the rush of blood to the head as you walk down the stairs recovering from the forces.
2. Swarm, A very close number 2 torn between right or left side but my past few visits tend to ride the left rear when possible. Off ride swarm island is in my eyes the best area of the park which says a lot with broken screens graffiti all over the station etc but anyway an area well done and I actually quite like the current mishmash of music the area currently has between the old and new music. On ride great first drop followed by the near miss elements and forces feel a tad too restricted with the vest restraints which is the only reason it’s number 2 as I like a looser restraint.
3. Colossus, I always enjoy the interactiveness you get walking along the paths to this ride. Are the trains terrible YES are the restraints even worse OF COURSE but I enjoy the layout and the length of ride time you get with Colossus plus at the time was quite a big deal for Thorpe. I don’t find it too rough to the point I’m not able to enjoy it.
4. Stealth, Now as much as I appreciate the ride and maybe never experiencing a front row could be a reason why it’s not higher but I value a ride that has a longer ride time and for me it’s a do once if there’s time and no queue, love the launch just personally prefer longer coasters.
5. Walking Dead, I always have fun on this with watching others reactions down the corridors and when they have the Zombies in the canteen, I know this isn’t meant to be a funny theme but with that along side a fun little coaster that’s good enough for me.
6. Saw, Love the theme the area the layout of the ride and wish I could enjoy this thing unfortunately I just don’t enjoy how rough it is no matter if inside or outside front or back row the pain I get after with head, neck and shoulders mean it’s a once a year job for me which is a shame, any tips appreciated I’m only 5,11 and have no problems with Colossus but can’t not manage to look after myself on this one.
7. Flying fish, does what it’s meant to do well great starter coaster for nostalgic reasons always have a ride on this.
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Matt N got a reaction from jessica2 in Hyperia Speculation and Construction Thread
Jack Silkstone has confirmed in his livestream that it’s been unanimously approved by the council!
It still needs to go to the Secretary of State due to the EA’s objections, but this is still a huge step!
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Matt N got a reaction from Inferno in Drayton Manor
Apologies for getting around to this so late, but as some of you might know, I went to visit Drayton Manor last Thursday for a first look at the Vikings area. And I’ve got to say, it’s really nice! Let me break down each element of it individually…
The Area
The area looks really nice. The whole thing has a really nice wooden look to it, and considering that this area of the park was mostly unused land before, I think they’ve tarted it up very well! It all looks very neat, there’s lots of nice little touches around the area, and on the whole, it just looks really nice; good work, Drayton Manor! There have been a lot of comparisons with Tornado Springs at Paultons Park thrown around about this area. Do I think Vikings is as heavily themed and detailed as Tornado Springs? No. But I think it works really well as it is, and arbitrary comparisons with Tornado Springs don’t really do it justice; all of the wooden buildings, the rocks and the landscaping look lovely, and make for a very nice overall effect, and I do quite like the area soundtrack as well! I should also add that I think the new pedestrian entrance, which enters into the area, looks really nice; it’s been finished off very nicely, fits into the Vikings aesthetic surprisingly well, and I also think that it is more centrally located than Drayton’s old one, which works well. All in all, I think the area has been done very well, and works very nicely:
The Rides
During my visit, I was able to ride Thor once, Loki once, and Jormungandr four times. I’ll talk about each one individually in a short paragraph…
Thor
I was a little bit skeptical about riding my first Zamperla Disk’O, as I have quite a low spin tolerance, but I’ve got to say that it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting, and I did quite enjoy it! Riding up the ends was quite fun, and even though the airtime hill in the middle didn’t really give any airtime, it was still a fun element! As I said, the ride was not as nauseating as I’d feared, and the riding position felt less weird on ride than I thought it would, as well! Theming-wise; there’s not loads going on, but the ride looks nice enough, with a nice wooden aesthetic throughout the queue line and the area, some nice shields, and a nice Viking helmet on the ride vehicle as well! Overall, I thought Thor was a fun ride, and nicely themed too:
Loki
I was intrigued to ride Loki, as it’s the UK’s first Zamperla Nebulaz, and a rather unique ride. I’ve got to say, it’s a brilliant visual centrepiece, with all the arms interacting with each other making for a very captivating display! In terms of how it rides; I thought it was… strange. It’s not the most nauseating flat ride I’ve done by any means, but I’m sorry to say that that repeated lurching sensation did make me feel a bit odd, and unlike Thor, I’d argue that this ride is perhaps more intense than it looks. It does look really cool, though, and the fact I’m not generally a flat ride person isn’t something that it can help! It’s quite nicely themed as well, with some nice shields and patterns and a generally nice wooden aesthetic to it:
Jormungandr
Unlike the other two rides, Jormungandr was not new to me; I had done it in its previous incarnation in 2018, and it’s safe to say that 2018 me would have been very surprised that I was riding it in a new Viking-themed form in 2022, as I remember making special effort to ride it in 2018 on the pretence that it was being “removed imminently”. In terms of the ride itself, I’d remembered it being a perfectly fine, if not overly remarkable, powered coaster, and my rides in 2022 very much reinforced this view; I rode it in various different rows, and while it’s no Runaway Mine Train or Alpenexpress, it does its job perfectly well, in my opinion. There are actually some moments where it gains fair speed; those helixes are good fun, as is the s-bend sequence towards the end! The ride does very much blow hot and cold pacing-wise, however, more so than I’d remembered; it feels like it’s nearly going to stall going up some of the inclines, and there’s other bits where it just sort of meanders aimlessly along straight bits of track at a speed that I dare say feels more monorail than coaster. Overall, though, I think it’s a perfectly adequate coaster for what it is; it’s perhaps showing its age a tad, but that doesn’t really matter given its role within the area and Drayton Manor at large. Also, I have got to say that I think they’ve spruced the ride up very well; the new train design is great, I love the way that the track is now framed within the entrance to the Vikings area, and I think they’ve made the queue and station look very nice, with a really nice Viking soundtrack added:
So overall, I think Vikings is a lovely area, and I think it bodes very well for Drayton Manor’s future in themed attractions! The overall finish is very nice, and there are some really nice details; I’d thoroughly recommend a visit!
In terms of my visit to Drayton Manor as a whole; it was only my second ever visit to the park, with my first being in 2018, and it was an absolute stonker of a day, with 30 rides being completed in 6 hours on park! That’s a new personal best for me ride count-wise; the park was dead, with nothing on more than a 1 or 2 cycle wait all day!
I did do a longer trip report of my whole day, but in terms of some key pointers from the day:
Apocalypse is a great ride, but very much gives off the impression that it’s limping to the finish line. Only one sit-down tower was operating; the other 4 looked completely broken, and as though they hadn’t operated in some time. It is a really great tower, though; I’ve never quite gotten the hype for it, but it does still provide an awesome gut punch, and it will certainly be missed! Adventure Cove, the other recent area, also looks lovely, with some very vibrant colours throughout and a nice soundtrack that feels almost like WWTP Radio from Amity Cove at Thorpe Park! I was somewhat disappointed with Adventure Cove River Rapids, however; I came off it absolutely bone dry, and while I accept that I could have ridden it on an off-day, the opportunities for wetness were minimal. It was drier than both Congo River Rapids and Rumba Rapids, by my reckoning, which surprised me. It is a nice relaxing ride to sit down on, though, and it looks very nice, so I probably shouldn’t be so harsh! The Haunting is very impressive! The story is very well told, and the attraction has a surprisingly dark, foreboding tone throughout; as someone who is quite easily scared, I was legitimately somewhat unnerved by it! Shockwave seems to have gotten a fair bit rougher, with some nasty ear bashing present in quite a few sections; I had a sore ear for a good few days after my visit. I maintain that I don’t find the standup riding position that bad, however, and that zero-g roll is a truly epic inversion! Stormforce 10’s backwards drop is a real soaker! The initial drop and the final drop aren’t too bad, but the backwards drop got me fairly drenched! I have no idea why that second drop is such a soaker compared to the other two… If you want to read my more in-depth trip report, here’s the link:
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Matt N reacted to JoshC. in Hyperia Speculation and Construction Thread
This is obviously great news. As I understand it, what this now means is:
-Construction still cannot take place until the Secretary of State has made their decision
-Thorpe directly requested the decision go to the Secretary of State, owing to the EA dragging their heels and being uncooperative
-Whatever the Secretary of State rules will be pretty much final. The EA could appeal, but as I understand it, that would be unsuccessful
-The decision from the Secretary of State seems like it could take up to 22 weeks to be reached. Including time for Christmas breaks, we're looking at mid-March 2023 at the potential latest for a decision. That assumes no delays or other things I don't know about. Obviously it could be significantly quicker though.
Now here's the thing. If construction was due to start next month, and gets delayed until say March/April 2023, how significant will that be? Will we see the ride open summer 2024? Or even later in the year? Or do the park pull the executive decision and wait till 2025 to open it?
Good news, and I reckon it means Exodus is coming for definite. But when is the big question.
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Matt N got a reaction from JoshC. in Hyperia Speculation and Construction Thread
Jack Silkstone has confirmed in his livestream that it’s been unanimously approved by the council!
It still needs to go to the Secretary of State due to the EA’s objections, but this is still a huge step!
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Matt N reacted to ML27 in Hyperia Speculation and Construction Thread
But EA objections STILL remain, leading this planning permission to be referred to the Secretary of State, so it can actually be approved.
The amount of misinformation is unreal.
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Matt N reacted to ML27 in Hyperia Speculation and Construction Thread
Checked that first random planning application, that didn’t change after they moved onto thorpe park.
Waiting for Jack Silkstones stream, Twitter is a mess now.
People saying it’s been approved, running wild and saying “imagine if we see work start”
wait until it has to be referred to government.
I can’t imagine it’s been rejected, but a lot of fake news on Twitter
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Matt N got a reaction from Trooper Looper in The Curse at Alton Manor - NEW for 2023
Hello again @Trooper Looper; welcome over here to TPM!
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Matt N reacted to Mark9 in Cedar Point
So far nearly all of the launch track, the station and offload and half of the break run have been removed.
Rumours abound that the track is being converted to take LSM which seems pretty obvious to me. Still weird to see such an iconic and important coaster in bits.
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Matt N reacted to Inferno in UK Merlin park attendance through the years
Really interesting - thank you for posting this!
The very obvious and self-inflicted rise and fall of Thorpe Park, and the reputation damage following the Smiler crash are the standouts for me.
Its also mad how erratic Alton Towers’ attendance has been over the years compared to the others.
I echo what’s been said above - this is evidence that the public want to come and see new coasters and rides - NOT walkthroughs and stupid gimmicks. Semi-regular ride additions appear to increase attendance according to this graph.
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Matt N got a reaction from Inferno in UK Merlin park attendance through the years
One thing I would say is that I don't think thrills necessarily only appeal to teens and young adults. Thorpe may have a big selection of thrill rides and quite a heavy focus on the thrill market, but I don't think that's necessarily the architect of the park's recent struggles. A look at my data suggests that the extremely thrill-focused 2000s were very successful indeed, and the park actually rode that wave of success right up until 2011; they experienced sustained growth for the best part of 10 years under a thrill heavy strategy. Park attendance grew by 133.3% in the decade between 2000 and 2010, and the park's growth trajectory was a near perfect upward curve for this entire time.
I don't think thrills and teens necessarily go hand in hand perfectly. Appealing to the teenage and young adult market doesn't necessarily mean appealing to thrillseekers and vice versa; the thrill market encapsulates a surprisingly wide range of people. It includes people like older families and adults as well as teenagers and young adults. Appealing to the teenage/young adult market can also be done in ways aside from building thrill rides.
I'd wager that Thorpe's issue is one of recent investments and target market rather than ride lineup, in two senses.
The first sense is that the park in recent years (under Merlin) has tried to go for too much of a niche part of the thrill market, in my opinion. The bulk of the park's additions within the last decade have not been traditional thrill rides, such as coasters and thrill flats; the only investment that would fit either descriptor is Swarm, which only narrowly makes it into the last decade having been built 10 years ago in 2012. Many of the park's recent attempts at thrill have not been "traditional" thrill rides with wide appeal; the bulk of Thorpe's recent thrill investments have been very "edgy", scare based, horror themed attractions with quite niche appeal. In my view, something like DBGT is aimed at a very specific, niche corner of the thrill market and will have far less universal appeal than something like a roller coaster. Ditto with the likes of Walking Dead; the IP is undeniably popular, but an attraction in the style of TWD:TR will appeal to a much smaller subset of thrillseekers (only teens and young adults, really). These investments undeniably appeal to the teen and young adult market very well, but attractions like these don't really open themselves up to the other (arguably more lucrative) corners of the thrill market, such as older families and adults.
The second, and arguably more important sense in my view, is that the park seems to have struggled to target towards anyone in recent years. From Swarm onwards, and particularly strongly in the years following DBGT, the park has given off the impression that it has been somewhat paralysed by indecision about who its target market actually is. It seems to have been a fun family park one minute, but a hardcore horror park the next minute, and then a fresh-faced thrill park focused on coasters the next minute after that. The park arguably hasn't made an overly committal move towards appealing in any particular direction since DBGT back in 2016, and any attempts at appealing to one particular market have not been very sustained. In 2014 and 2015, the park went pretty family-based... before going hardcore horror in 2016 and 2017. The park rethemed X to appeal to families in 2013... before retheming it to appeal to hardcore horror fans, arguably reversing the effects of their prior move and then some, in 2018. The park started 2018 off by saying it was "The Year of the Walking Dead" and appealing to hardcore horror fans... before changing tack mid season and going for a more light hearted vibe with all the Love Island stuff to appeal primarily to teens and young adults. 2019 and 2020 were then relatively family-based... but the park went back to horror with Black Mirror in 2021. I get that it is difficult for Thorpe to pick a target market (I'm terribly indecisive myself...), I get that the park has had many different managers with different ideas in recent years, and I do understand that a public business with shareholders will likely find it difficult to have an overly long term view, but my view is that Thorpe would be a fair amount more successful if they took one particular path, properly ran with it, and made some properly decisive moves towards cementing the park as a destination for that particular target market. I think Exodus could well solve this issue (a 230ft hyper is certainly a pretty decisive move towards appealing to the wide subset of the thrill market who like roller coasters), but it does appear that recently, particular paths taken by the park haven't really been given enough time to succeed before the park moves on, and the moves towards these paths haven't been overly committal. The park in recent years has seemed somewhat "on the fence" about who its target demographic actually is, and quite uncommitted towards any particular path. I feel that if the park were to take one path and properly commit to it, they would be a fair bit more successful.
Those are just my thoughts, though. I could be very wrong.
I apologise, as I know I probably shouldn't question their decision making given that they have the KPIs and charts and things to back up their decisions and I don't. I also know that I'm being a massive hypocrite talking about indecision seeing as I'm pretty indecisive myself... so I should probably stop there seeing as hypocrisy is not a hill I wish to die on. I fully understand how difficult it can be to make a decision and stick to it sometimes.
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Matt N got a reaction from Inferno in UK Merlin park attendance through the years
Note: I intend to keep editing this post as time goes on and more years are released.
Hi guys. During the coaster consultations in 2021, Merlin released an attendance graph showing all their parks' attendance figures since the early 1980s. I had some time on my hands yesterday evening and decided to try and extrapolate some slightly more precise guest figures for each park from this graph to try and determine the precise(ish) attendance trajectory of each UK Merlin park from the earliest year listed here (1984 for Alton Towers and Chessington, 1983 for Thorpe Park, 1987 for Windsor Safari Park and 1997 for Legoland Windsor).
For some idea, this is the original graph I was working with: https://www.cwoa-consultation.com/proposals?lightbox=dataItem-komw1163
To make things easier for myself, I divided each million on the graph into 8 rows (thus leaving ~125,000 guests per row, as my rather crude MS Paint annotation indicates):
As such, I then decided to extrapolate a precise(ish) figure from the graph by looking at what row each park's figure fell within. All of these figures are rounded to the nearest 31,250; I know that sounds oddly specific, but it's 1/32 of a million, and a quarter of one of these rows, so it's the most precise figure that remains easy to determine by eye. It also keeps the margin of error to only 1 or 2 percent in most cases.
The precise(ish) trajectories that I managed to extrapolate for each park, including percentage increases and decreases for each year, were as follows:
Alton Towers - opened 1980, first year on graph 1984
1984: 1,843,750 (first year, #1/3 on graph) 1985: 1,812,500 (-1.7%, #1/3 on graph) 1986: 2,250,000 (+24.1%, #1/3 on graph) 1987: 2,312,500 (+2.8%, #1/4 on graph) 1988: 2,875,000 (+24.3%, #1/4 on graph) 1989: 2,437,500 (-15.2%, #1/4 on graph) 1990: 1,937,500 (-20.5%, #1/4 on graph) 1991: 1,843,750 (-3.6%, #1/4 on graph) 1992: 2,625,000 (+42.4%, #1/4 on graph) 1993: 2,843,750 (+8.3%, #1/4 on graph) 1994: 3,312,500 (+16.5%, #1/3 on graph) 1995: 2,843,750 (-14.2%, #1/3 on graph) 1996: 2,875,000 (+1.1%, #1/3 on graph) 1997: 2,875,000 (0.0%, #1/4 on graph) 1998: 2,875,000 (0.0%, #1/4 on graph) 1999: 2,593,750 (-9.8%, #1/4 on graph) 2000: 2,437,500 (-6.0%, #1/4 on graph) 2001: 2,187,500 (-10.3%, #1/4 on graph) 2002: 2,656,250 (+21.4%, #1/4 on graph) 2003: 2,562,500 (-4.7%, #1/4 on graph) 2004: 2,086,750 (-18.6%, #1/4 on graph) 2005: 2,187,500 (+4.8%, #1/4 on graph) 2006: 2,218,750 (+1.4%, #1/4 on graph) 2007: 2,250,000 (+1.4%, #1/4 on graph) 2008: 2,593,750 (+15.3%, #1/4 on graph) 2009: 2,656,250 (+2.4%, #1/4 on graph) 2010: 3,062,500 (+14.0%, #1/4 on graph) 2011: 2,687,500 (-12.2%, #1/4 on graph) 2012: 2,406,250 (-10.5%, #1/4 on graph) 2013: 2,593,750 (+7.8%, #1/4 on graph) 2014: 2,312,500 (-10.8%, joint #2/4 on graph) 2015: 1,968,750 (-14.9%, #2/4 on graph) 2016: 1,750,000 (-9.7%, #2/4 on graph) 2017: 1,875,000 (+7.1%, #2/4 on graph) 2018: 2,187,500 (+16.7%, #1/4 on graph) 2019: 2,500,000 (+14.3%, #1/4 on graph) 2020: 968,750 (-61.3%, #1/4 on graph) 2021: 2,343,750 (+141.9%, #1/4 on graph) All-Time Peak: 3,312,500 (1994)
All-Time Low (excluding 2020): 1,750,000 (2016)
Peak Within Merlin Era (2008 and later): 3,062,500 (2010)
Low Within Merlin Era (2008 and later, excluding 2020 and 2021): 1,750,000 (2016)
Chessington/Chessington Zoo - opened 1931, first year on graph 1984, first year as CWOA 1987
1984: 625,000 (first year, #3/3 on graph) 1985: 562,500 (-10.0%, #3/3 on graph) 1986: 500,000 (-11.1%, #3/3 on graph) 1987: 875,000 (+75.0%, #3/4 on graph) 1988: 1,187,500 (+35.7%, joint #3/4 on graph) 1989: 1,250,000 (+5.3%, #3/4 on graph) 1990: 1,062,500 (-15.0%, joint #3/4 on graph) 1991: 1,437,500 (+35.3%, #2/4 on graph) 1992: 1,218,750 (-15.2%, #2/4 on graph) 1993: 1,531,250 (+25.6%, #2/4 on graph) 1994: 1,687,500 (+10.2%, #2/3 on graph) 1995: 1,875,000 (+11.1%, #2/3 on graph) 1996: 1,812,500 (-3.3%, #2/3 on graph) 1997: 1,843,750 (+1.7%, #2/4 on graph) 1998: 1,843,750 (0.0%, #2/4 on graph) 1999: 1,656,250 (-10.2%, #2/4 on graph) 2000: 1,562,500 (-5.7%, #3/4 on graph) 2001: 1,531,250 (-2.0%, joint #3/4 on graph) 2002: 1,281,250 (-16.3%, #4/4 on graph) 2003: 1,312,500 (+2.4%, #4/4 on graph) 2004: 1,218,750 (-7.1%, #4/4 on graph) 2005: 1,093,750 (-10.3%, #4/4 on graph) 2006: 1,031,250 (-5.7%, #4/4 on graph) 2007: 968,750 (-6.1%, #4/4 on graph) 2008: 1,250,000 (+29.0%, #4/4 on graph) 2009: 1,343,750 (+7.5%, #4/4 on graph) 2010: 1,437,500 (+7.0%, #4/4 on graph) 2011: 1,500,000 (+4.3%, #4/4 on graph) 2012: 1,406,250 (-6.2%, #4/4 on graph) 2013: 1,531,250 (+8.9%, #4/4 on graph) 2014: 1,562,500 (+2.0%, #4/4 on graph) 2015: 1,437,500 (-8.0%, #4/4 on graph) 2016: 1,437,500 (0.0%, #4/4 on graph) 2017: 1,500,000 (+4.3%, #4/4 on graph) 2018: 1,593,750 (+6.3%, joint #4/4 on graph) 2019: 1,656,250 (+3.9%, #3/4 on graph) 2020: 500,000 (-69.8%, #4/4 on graph) 2021: 1,281,250 (+156.3%, #3/4 on graph) 2022: 1,468,750 (+14.6%, N/A) All-Time Peak: 1,875,000 (1995)
All-Time Low (excluding 2020 and 2021, including pre-CWOA years): 500,000 (1986)
All-Time Low (excluding 2020 and 2021 and pre-CWOA years): 875,000 (1987)
Peak Within Merlin Era (2008 and later): 1,687,500 (2019)
Low Within Merlin Era (2008 and later, excluding 2020 and 2021): 1,281,250 (2008)
Legoland Windsor/Windsor Safari Park - opened 1970, first year on graph 1987, first year as Legoland Windsor 1996
1987: 812,500 (first year, #4/4 on graph) 1988: 875,000 (+7.7%, #4/4 on graph) 1989: 968,750 (+10.7%, #4/4 on graph) 1990: 1,062,500 (+9.7%, joint #3/4 on graph) 1991: 1,031,250 (-2.9%, #3/4 on graph) 1992: 968,750 (-6.1%, #4/4 on graph) 1993: 937,500 (-3.2%, #4/4 on graph) 1994: N/A (-100.0%, N/A on graph) 1995: N/A (0.0%, N/A on graph) 1996: N/A (0.0%, N/A on graph) 1997: 1,468,750 (first year as LLW, #3/4 on graph) 1998: 1,312,500 (-10.6%, #3/4 on graph) 1999: 1,500,000 (+14.3%, #3/4 on graph) 2000: 1,687,500 (+12.5%, #2/4 on graph) 2001: 1,531,250 (-9.3%, joint #3/4 on graph) 2002: 1,593,750 (+4.1%, #2/4 on graph) 2003: 1,437,500 (-9.8%, #3/4 on graph) 2004: 1,437,500 (0.0%, #3/4 on graph) 2005: 1,500,000 (+4.3%, #3/4 on graph) 2006: 1,625,000 (+8.3%, #3/4 on graph) 2007: 1,500,000 (-7.8%, #3/4 on graph) 2008: 1,875,000 (+25.0%, #2/4 on graph) 2009: 1,906,250 (+1.7%, #3/4 on graph) 2010: 1,906,250 (0.0%, #3/4 on graph) 2011: 1,906,250 (0.0%, #3/4 on graph) 2012: 2,031,250 (+6.6%, #2/4 on graph) 2013: 2,312,500 (+13.8%, #2/4 on graph) 2014: 2,312,500 (0.0%, joint #2/4 on graph) 2015: 2,343,750 (+1.4%, #1/4 on graph) 2016: 2,187,500 (-6.6%, #1/4 on graph) 2017: 2,312,500 (+5.7%, #1/4 on graph) 2018: 2,125,000 (-8.1%, #2/4 on graph) 2019: 2,062,500 (-2.9%, #2/4 on graph) 2020: 687,500 (-66.7%, #2/4 on graph) 2021: 1,562,500 (+122.7%, #2/4 on graph) All-Time Peak: 2,343,750 (2015)
All-Time Low (excluding 2020 and 2021, including pre-LLW years): 812,500 (1987)
All-Time Low (excluding 2020, 2021 and pre-LLW years): 1,312,500 (1998)
Peak Within Merlin Era (2006 and later): 2,343,750 (2015)
Low Within Merlin Era (2006 and later, excluding 2020 and 2021): 1,500,000 (2007)
Thorpe Park - opened 1979, first year on graph 1983
1983: 843,750 (first year, #1/1 on graph) 1984: 1,031,250 (+22.2%, #2/3 on graph) 1985: 1,093,750 (+6.1%, #2/3 on graph) 1986: 1,093,750 (0.0%, #2/3 on graph) 1987: 1,093,750 (0.0%, #2/4 on graph) 1988: 1,187,500 (+8.6%, joint #3/4 on graph) 1989: 1,343,750 (+13.2%, #2/4 on graph) 1990: 1,000,000 (-25.6%, #4/4 on graph) 1991: 968,750 (-3.1%, #4/4 on graph) 1992: 1,093,750 (+12.9%, #3/4 on graph) 1993: 1,281,250 (+17.1%, #3/4 on graph) 1994: 1,218,750 (-4.9%, #3/3 on graph) 1995: 1,125,000 (-7.7%, #3/3 on graph) 1996: 1,187,500 (+5.6%, #3/3 on graph) 1997: 968,750 (-18.4%, #4/4 on graph) 1998: 875,000 (-9.7%, #4/4 on graph) 1999: 906,250 (+3.6%, #4/4 on graph) 2000: 937,500 (+3.4%, #4/4 on graph) 2001: 1,187,500 (+26.7%, #4/4 on graph) 2002: 1,437,500 (+21.1%, #3/4 on graph) 2003: 1,531,250 (+6.5%, #2/4 on graph) 2004: 1,468,750 (-4.1%, #2/4 on graph) 2005: 1,562,500 (+6.4%, #2/4 on graph) 2006: 1,812,500 (+16.0%, #2/4 on graph) 2007: 1,843,750 (+1.7%, #2/4 on graph) 2008: 1,843,750 (0.0%, #3/4 on graph) 2009: 2,125,000 (+15.3%, #2/4 on graph) 2010: 2,187,500 (+2.9%, #2/4 on graph) 2011: 2,125,000 (-2.9%, #2/4 on graph) 2012: 1,843,750 (-13.2%, #3/4 on graph) 2013: 1,786,250 (-3.1%, #3/4 on graph) 2014: 1,843,750 (+3.2%, #3/4 on graph) 2015: 1,531,250 (-17.0%, #3/4 on graph) 2016: 1,625,000 (+6.1%, #3/4 on graph) 2017: 1,562,500 (-3.9%, #3/4 on graph) 2018: 1,593,750 (+2.0%, joint #4/4 on graph) 2019: 1,500,000 (-5.9%, #4/4 on graph) 2020: 562,500 (-62.5%, #3/4 on graph) 2021: 1,218,750 (+116.7%, #4/4 on graph) All-Time Peak: 2,187,500 (2010)
All-Time Low (excluding 2020 and 2021): 843,750 (1983)
Peak Within Merlin Era (2008 and later): 2,187,500 (2010)
Low Within Merlin Era (2008 and later, excluding 2020 and 2021): 1,500,000 (2019)
To sum up each park's trajectory:
Alton Towers may have been top dog for the bulk of the years since 1984, but it has also had the most volatile guest figures. It has had peaks as high as 3.3 million in 1994, but also troughs of only slightly above 2 million in the mid-2000s or even slightly below in the early 1990s and mid-2010s, with a nadir of 1.75 million being reached in 2016. At that point, it was well away from #1 and almost rubbing shoulder to shoulder with #3 park Thorpe. Interestingly, its peak was early, in 1994, and only 2010 has ever come close to that since. Merlin have attained fair growth at Alton Towers; between 2007 and 2019, attendance grew by 11.1%. Chessington started off fairly well, attaining steady growth from 1987 up until 1994, where it stayed at its peak until about 1997. However, attendance dropped through the floor from 1998 onwards, hitting a low of under 1 million in 2007, so it's fair to say that Chessington's trajectory has been far from uniform, although things improved notably under Merlin. Interestingly, Chessington is the park that has thrived most under Merlin, with attendance having grown by 74.1% between 2007 and 2019. Nonetheless, the high water mark was hit quite early on at Chessington, with that near 2 million peak guest figure being all the way back in 1995, and no year post-1997 has yet come close to it. Legoland Windsor has had the most consistent growth trajectory of all the parks. With its low back near opening in 1998, its peak in 2015 and no particularly catastrophic attendance drops (COVID aside), it's grown fairly consistently over the years. It's also a park that has thrived pretty well under Merlin; between 2005 and 2019, attendance grew by 37.5%. Thorpe Park has had a bit of a roller coaster of a growth trajectory. The 80s and 90s were a little bit choppy at Thorpe Park, with peaks of close to 1.5 million and lows of under 1 million. The park really hit its stride from 2001 onwards, maintaining a near perfect growth trajectory right up to the park's 2.2 million peak in 2010. However, things have been a bit of a struggle since then, with guest figures having almost consistently declined since 2011 right back to a low of 1.5 million in 2019. The park has comparatively struggled under Merlin, with attendance having fallen by 18.6% between 2007 and 2019. I hope you find this interesting! If you don't agree with something I've done or notice any errors, however, don't be afraid to flag them to me.
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Matt N reacted to Benin in The Curse at Alton Manor - NEW for 2023
My thought is that a lot of the scenery will be old and with low upkeep so lots will be heading to the local tip.
They'll likely need a bigger skip.
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Matt N reacted to Theme Park Fanatic in The Curse at Alton Manor - NEW for 2023
@Matt N I suspect the Mad Professors Lab/Zombie scene is being ripped out. This scene was made purely for Duel.
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Matt N reacted to Cal in Alton Towers General Discussion
Was at Towers over the weekend for the first time this year and my first time doing Towers Oktoberfest so thought I'd write up some thoughts.
The only negatives over the weekend was the Rectrosquad and X Sector so I'll get the negatives out the way first.
I'm a big fan of flats and liked the idea at first but can't help but feel they all look so out of place at Towers. As much as I enjoyed Spinjam and it was my favourite out of the flats, it looks really out of place at towers. The waltzer looks dreadful and the only one that looks alright is Funk N Fly. Hearing the music and funfair jingles played at towers just doesn't seem right.
They all seem fairly popular so would love to see them invest in some permanent flats which Alton are desperately crying out for.
X Sector was an absolute mess. The whole area of the 2 coasters look dirty and need a proper clean up.
There was a period of around 2 hours on Saturday when Oblivion and Smiler were down. So obviously without Enterprise, the only open attraction was a temporary fairground ride. Did make me laugh.
Both coasters were running reduced capacity. Smiler ranged from running 2-3 trains over the weekend and Oblivion had 2 seats permanently closed on every shuttle and only running 1 station.
Its a shame as I normally love getting a few re rides on Oblivion, its capable of being one of the highest throughput rides on the park and its being run awfully. I know it can't be helped sometimes but having the coasters on reduced capacity completely defeats the purpose of the extra flats they have in.
Would love to see them give the area a decent clean up, 1 or 2 permanent flats and sort out the capacity on the coasters.
The Smiler was running pretty rough. It was nice having the Single rider open for this and it worked really well, would love to see them open a few more of these up on the rides it works well on. It was also nice to see the bagdrop open, glad they've seen sense there as it makes a huge difference to throughput and always has one of the biggest queues on park.
Had plenty of rides on Nemesis which will probably be my last in its current form unless I get there on its last day. By far my favourite UK coaster, I can't help but think its a shame its closing as it still runs so well but I'm all for them investing in its future! I love how they effortlessly run Nemesis so well, it never stacks and the queue moves so quick.
Wickerman, Galactica, Thirteen were also all running really well and the trains were flying out with no stacking. No bag drop open on Thirteen but were still sending the trains out quick.
Oktoberfest was great, much prefer it to Thorpes. Entertainment carries on for an hour after park close, the lawns had a great atmosphere and was busy till 8pm on the Saturday. No cringey German accents, a proper band, everyone enjoying themselves and having a laugh.
Will probably not bother with Towers next year with Nemesis closed, its always my main reason for going but looking forward to seeing what they have done with it in 2024. Hopefully the flat ride situation will be sorted out by then too.
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Matt N reacted to Cal in Rank the Thorpe Park coasters
For me its:
1) Stealth - Never used to be my favourite Thorpe coaster but loved it more and more in recent years. Easily the most re rideable on park and is just as enjoyable every time.
2) Inferno - I often overlook Inferno as I compare it to Nemesis. It gets better and better every year, Its always one of my favourite coasters at the park to ride in the dark it absolutely flies round in the evenings at Fright nights.
3) Colossus - I have a soft spot for Colossus. In my teenage years it was always my favourite coaster at the park. Always loved its soundtrack and the way the area and queue interacts with the ride. Its a good layout and although its a little rough, I really don't find it as rough as others say.
4) Swarm - Surprisingly for most, this was always my least favourite out of the 5 in its early years, I found it forceless and the layout too short. As times gone on I've liked it more and more. Its super re rideable and its got much more forceful over the years, love the helix by the helicopter.
I find the vest restraints incredibly uncomfortable, not sure about anyone else but have found them to be even tighter in recent years and when I hit the breakrun I can't wait to get out of my seat. This massively hinders the overall enjoyment for me.
5) SAW - To be honest I've never been the biggest fan of Saw. Find it rougher and more uncomfortable than Colossus which is the main reason I'd rank it lower. I do love its theme though and there are few good elements I enjoy. Although its my least favourite out of the 5 I still tend to ride it on most of my visits if it doesn't have much of a queue.
6) Walking dead - Preferred what they did with X and will never understand why they changed it to this after the reasons they rethemed to X. Its once again a 1.4m restriction on a non thrilling ride.
7) Fish - Good for what it is.
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Matt N got a reaction from coasterverse in Derren Brown's Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon
It's an awkward one, and I'm not really sure what they can do.
I think the ride clearly hasn't been a rip-roaring success (or at very least, a rip-roaring success to the degree that the park were hoping for), seeing as it's still on entry via timed tickets as far as I know (correct me if I'm wrong there...), which would indicate that it isn't the most popular ride. It also doesn't appear to be seen as a headline attraction in the same way as the likes of the coasters, from what I can tell, which isn't too good given its age and the money that was spent on it (£30m, supposedly).
The problem is, though; I think it was too expensive for them to just leave or do anything overly drastic to it. To abandon a £30m ride (the most expensive ever built in the UK) after only 6 years in operation would be a huge loss of money. So I'm not really sure they can do anything to it without losing a huge amount of money.
In an ideal world, I would get rid of it and put a new family thrill dark ride in there that has wider appeal. Perhaps an Oceaneering system, like Jumanji at Gardaland, would work well?
Personally, I feel that its appeal was too niche for such a major headline attraction. I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with parks building horror dark rides, and I admire Thorpe's nerve for doing DBGT in the first place, but I think there is a reason why not too many horror dark rides with scare maze-type elements akin to DBGT exist, and the ones that do exist are mostly lower budget support attractions within their respective parks rather than bank-breaking headliners like DBGT. That reason is that the appeal of that type of attraction (horror, with scare actors and many scare maze type elements) is quite limited in the sphere of the wider theme park visiting populace, and there's only so much reward you can get from horror fans, hence it's not usually worth spending tons on that type of attraction. I'm a young adult who likes a good thrill; I would consider myself a thrillseeker who isn't scared by much hardware-wise, so I'm right in the park's target market. However... I have not done DBGT because horror attractions are not my thing at all (I know this makes me sound like a coward, but I'm not keen on forced participation, and I have a slight phobia of costumed characters/scare actors... I haven't done TWD:TR since it was rethemed for the same reason), and I know that I'm not alone in feeling this. Something like DBGT will naturally be a lot more polarising than something like a roller coaster or a more traditional dark ride, and I think that's part of why it hasn't been a greater success.
Ultimately, I think that it was a huge, huge gamble. It was a pretty admirable gamble; it had a really admirable degree of ambition behind it, and its uniqueness is in many ways quite stunning, but it was a gamble that ultimately backfired quite spectacularly. Overall, I think the ride was almost a bit too ambitious in many ways, with the experimental technology seemingly being quite problematic, and its appeal was arguably too limited for a ride of its scale.
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Matt N reacted to coasterverse in Rank the Thorpe Park coasters
Funny you should mention that because I made a video on this at the beginning of the year:
I explained it more in depth in the video but I'll vaguely recap here. My personal rankings are:
7. Flying Fish: Great for a kids ride or for someone who's never ridden a coaster before and wanting to dip their toes in the water... but obviously every other coaster at the park is more thrilling and enjoyable imo so couldn't really place it anywhere higher than last.
6. Colossus: As far as I'm concerned, the worst big coaster at the park. For its age the theming and whatnot is very impressive, but the coaster is incredibly uncomfortable, the restraints are awful and for anyone even slightly above average height will be pushed for legroom.
5. Nemesis Inferno: Granted, Inferno is the better Nemesis of the two. And quite honestly, I do find it enjoyable. However, as someone that sometimes seriously struggles with motion sickness - Inferno has always just sent me over the edge. As a result I'm not able to ride it very often at all, so can't really place it any higher than this either.
4. The Walking Dead: The Ride: I really do like TWD. The pre-show and... post-show? is incredible (by Thorpe's standards). Yeah I get that the actual coaster portion is just your bogstandard Vekoma family coaster, but even the portion where the train 'stalls' and needs restarting just adds to the exhilaration for me. The theming inside of the actual ride portion could use some updating as the zombies just look like your generic fun-fair ghost train style props... but if they ever implemented some actual animatronics to this ride (and proper lighting so you can actually see things rather than 2 second flashes of light) I think it could be insane.
3. The Swarm: The Swarm is incredible. Extremely smooth, the theming is incredible... there really is a lot to love about this coaster. But personally I just find it gets a bit tame and boring in the second half. It's all amazing right up until the helix around the helicopter, and then it totally peters out in speed and intensity.
2. SAW: The Ride: Deciding upon these next two coasters was a real battle. I love everything about SAW. It's got a great queueline, the use of the Billy pre-show is great, some of those tight elements in the layout are insane - it genuinely does feel like a deathtrap (but in a good sense, as that's exactly what the ride is supposed to simulate). Granted it can be incredibly painful and you need to act on the side of caution not to re-ride in too quick succession to avoid a brain hemorrhage, but that's all part of the experience baby! Oh, and I absolutely LOVE that the trim brakes near the end of the layout aren't functional, genuinely.
1. Stealth: Stealth is my baby, man. What it lacks in theming it absolutely makes up for in speed. Stealth takes my breath away every single time I ride and I still get anxiety when I sit down and wait for dispatch. Also... those views you get at the top of the top hat are incredible!