Matt N

The park have announced 2 new events: Mardi Gras and Carnival. Mardi Gras takes places in May/June, and Carnival in July/August. These accompany Oktoberfest (September) and Fright Nights (October):
 
 
The descriptions for the new events do sound reasonably similar. And with Oktoberfest too, it is 3 events which sound incredibly similar at heart, just dressed with different colours.
 
It's good to see the park diversify and include more events. But hopefully they are sufficiently different and worthwhile in their own right.

New promotional picture.  Still no re-opening date, "summer 2022" is the official line at the moment.
 

Thinking about this made me realise that most (possibly all) of the screen-heavy dark rides I've done have been interactive (ie shooters). And as I enjoy shooters, I've got positive experiences with dark rides with screens.
 
But at the same time, the ones which are better are the ones where the use of screens is justified and is blended in with real world environments.
 
I certainly think that more traditional dark rides can benefit from screens if done correctly. I would be more cautious to experience a dark ride which is screen, blank, screen, blank. 

Things like mouse au chocolate / ninjago as they are interactive its fine, but I wouldnt like a screens that are for non interactive purposes

Much the same with me really - I quite like screens on dark rides, especially when properly combined with physical sets.
 
I do understand people's issue with screens though. Some rides really do rely too heavily on them, and I do sometimes think they can take away from what a dark ride should be. I haven't been on Skull Island, but it looks almost as disappointing as Fast and Furious, which was an absolute joke.
 
When used subtly though they're great - one ride that impressed me was Revenge of the Mummy - that uses physical sets and fire etc, along with subtle screens that are only used briefly to simulate scarab beetles coming out of the cracks in the wall - brilliant.

That is a sound suggestion that makes a lot of sense… I didn’t think of that.

I haven’t ridden the ride yet, I hope to in March. But perhaps it’s for accessibility reasons and to prevent sensory overloads although a flying cinema probably already does that.

Merlin are just trying to bog down their opponents with paperwork to delay them whilst they build their own 2023-2024 attractions. I don't think they expect their attempt at this to be successful however considering the government has taken an interest in it.
 
Matt N's link above is the same as this: https://riderater.co.uk/9543/merlin-calls-for-withdrawal-of-london-resort-plans/

From an engineering perspective it is likely to be mandated that the structure survives 25 years. Where the pieces of track are deemed replaceable. Non replaceable parts will be designed for atleast 50.
 
Fatigue issues in steel start occuring at 2x10^6 load cycles which rollercoasters will start hitting around 25-30 years old. So if we assume 240 operating days a year at 8 hours. In that time lets assume perfect capacity for nemesis of 37.5 dispatches an hour. It would result in a lifespan of 27.7 years. 
 
Time to hit 2,000,000 cycles.
Colossus - 24y
Nemesis Inferno -29y
Stealth - 19y
Saw - 21y*
 
You can design for more cycles. The eurocodes permit allowances up to 5x10^6 but it requires the stresses in the steel to be low. Saw can probably get away with that hence it not being 8 years. I cant be bothered to work out allowable cycle ranges so for saw I assumed the maximum and the other coasters the minimum. 
 
Basically Thorpe park would have an expensive few years coming up if you couldn't extend lifespan in other ways. It would just come down to is it worth extending. Unfortunately for Colossus I think the answer is no. 

As if by magic, we have an update, posted by "Theme park Nation" on Facebook. 
 
So Inversion is set to open this summer. The park are on a skeletal engineering crew, but their winter maintenance schedule is edging to completion, and the train could be put onto the track next week.
 
What this means is anyone's guess, as painting and commissioning are still big things which need to be done.

The planning application has finally been approved and work can now go ahead!
 
https://chessingtonbuzz.com/news/project-amazon-gets-the-go-ahead/

To me it depends on use and if they are combined well with physical sets
 
A dark ride like Pirates over at Shanghai disney looks a masterclass in the correct use of screens as they blend well with the sets. The same can be applied to the potter dark rides at Universal.
 
On the flip side, rides like Skull Island which is 95 percent screens with an amazing Kong animatronic I find very lazy. I wouldn't want dark rides going down this route.
 
Hope that explains my stance on them!!

Personally, I wouldn't be at all surprised if we see Colossus go before the end of the 2020s, and I'll be stunned if it's not the first of the big thrill coasters to go. It's not an especially popular ride (among enthusiasts, at very least, and none of my family especially like it), it's lost its original USP even within the UK, it takes up a not insignificant amount of land within a park that will soon be tight on space for new rides, and correct me if I'm wrong here, but isn't subsidence causing issues with the ride's footers?
 
However, I would counter that by saying that I don't think coasters necessarily have a set lifespan. For every ride getting removed at 30 years old, there's a similarly specced ride still hanging in there for decades afterwards, and I don't think that a ride hitting a certain age is necessarily an indicator that "[x ride] is due for removal or retracking". I think it's more nuanced than that, personally.

With the recent news of Nemesis being re-tracked after almost 30 years of service, it's got me thinking about the fate of Thorpe Park's ageing coasters.
 
If we take Nemesis' life-span as a guide, and apply it to Thorpe's coasters, it means they might need major work doing sooner rather than later.
Colossus - 8 years from now Nemesis Inferno - 9 years from now Stealth - 12 years from now Saw - 15 years from now (supposedly, although I think it'll need doing far sooner)  
I'd imagine that Colossus and Saw might need retiring/re-tracking earlier than Nemesis.
 
The reason I bring this up is that this could leave Thorpe in a bit of a pickle..
They had an unusual few years where they invested heavily in new coasters and rides almost back to back, which was great at the time, but it does mean they are all ageing together.
 
Could this mean that Thorpe will soon enter a difficult period where some of their major rides need to be either removed or overhauled? And what would this mean financially, could it affect investment in new attractions again?
 
I might be completely wrong to assume this, but thought it was worth a discussion!

On a slightly different note, here's an excellent visual from Jack SIlkstone showing just how Project Exodus looks in context within the Thorpe skyline:
 
 
It really dwarfs Saw in particular here!
 

Here's the official news: https://www.efteling.com/nl/blog/nieuws/20220124-nieuw-hotel-en-vernieuwd-themagebied-in-2024
 
So we'll get a new attraction opening in 2024, with a throughput of 1250pph, as well as some sort of 'theme world', which makes me think this investment might see more than just the attraction. No news on what the attraction is yet, and I'm still a little hesitant to refer to it as a ride just yet. The park will spend 25 million euros on this new investment (for comparison, Symbolica was 35 million)
 
The park will also open a new hotel in 2024, next to the main entrance, so that it will overlook Aquanura (the water show) and the Fairytale Forest. It will have 7 floors, 143 rooms, 2 restaurants and a spa, and represents a 50 million euro investment. For comparison, the most recent hotel offering (Loonsche Land) cost 30 million euros, and the previous (Bosrijk village) cost 52 million euros, but both of those have pretty substantial outdoor bits too, which seems less like with this hotel.

Almost full track replacement, with only the original lift hill, station and brake run track to be retained

Makes sense for this to be a complete rebuild. A lot of parks do this for older attractions and Nemesis hasn't lost any of its popularity over the years.

Interestingly, Alton Towers have today submitted a planning application "seeking to confirm the lawfulness of maintenance works to the "Nemesis" ride, an existing roller coaster at Alton Towers Resort", according to TowersTimes:
https://www.facebook.com/towerstimes/posts/10159970979863185
Could this be for, or at least relating to, the heavily rumoured Nemesis retrack? And if it is, could it be for the ride's upcoming 30th anniversary in 2024, perhaps?

Whilst Phantasialand has some outstanding attractions and areas (Taron, Chiapas and likely Fly/Rookburgh) I simply cannot place it above Europa Park. The park is tiny, always feels congested and just doesn't have enough to do as a resort. I'd say this park is fairly overhyped by many enthusiasts. Don't get me wrong it is great still and I'd continue to visit every few years, but if I had a choice of where to go out of Phantasialand and Europa, I'd pick Europa. 
 
Europa Park is a complete resort and has such a variety of things to do and whilst the Coasters may not be as good as the likes of Taron they are still incredibly good fun with the likes of Wodan, Silver Star, Blue Fire etc. The fact you can find something new in every corner and can just feel relaxed walking around or hopping on a transport ride (or 3)for hours on end makes it far superior. Then there's the other aspects of the resort from the incredible Rulantica, hotels to explore and Silver Lake Saloon 

Phantasialand
 
Yes it has less rides and a smaller park, but as I have said before.....
 
Taron and Mamba are better than ANY Europa coaster, Chiapas and River Quest are better than ANY Europa water ride and I always think Maus is better than most the dark rides at Europa.
 
Quality over quantity. Europa has some good coasters but doesnt have any that stand out to the point of making me wanna rush back. I was booking flights straight back to Phantasia after Taron. No Europa coaster has that effect on me. I would also appreciate its dark ride collection so much more was it not full to the brim of Disney knock offs.
 
Both are top parks, for me however it goes to Phantasia.

Nash is rougher than Smiler but they're both generally rough coasters.
 
Both for very different reasons. Nash is down to being butchered and Smiler is bad design.
 
Nash was never "smooth" but it never tried to assault you either. Then Kumbak did their usual ruination.

I guess I haven't worked it particularly well. But here's the thing, I've had two rides on Grand National and they were not at all 'rough'. From my experience, I genuinely cannot see why people would call it rough, for example. Perhaps I was just lucky.
 
Could say something similar for my first ride on Goudrix. It was great, if a little intense. But nowhere near as rough or uncomfortable as people described. So again, from my experience, I genuinely could not see where the hate comes from. 
That was until my second ride, where I had a complete opposite experience.
 
I can only go off my experiences. Me saying "I don't get the hate" for a ride isn't to invalidate the experiences of others. Obviously people do hate it and have their reasons, and some ride it incredibly rough. Fair enough. But simply, my (limited) experience doesn't help me understand why people do hate it as much as they do.

Out of interest, have we heard anything new about the new coaster as of late? Is it testing or anything yet?
 
I find it really interesting how much it's flown under the radar given its significance; yes, it's a Colossus clone, but it's the tallest coaster built in the UK since Swarm 10 years ago, as well as the biggest ride at Flamingo Land (I think?), so it's pretty significant for the UK coaster scene in that regard!
 
On a side note, Flamingo Land is going to have a pretty epic coaster collection by the time this opens... they're going to be joint with Towers & Blackpool for most coasters in the UK according to RCDB, and they're going to have 5 thrill coasters! That's nothing to be sniffed at, in my view... it must surely put them in contention for having one of the strongest coaster lineups in Britain, possibly even one of the strongest in Europe?

Kind of why I find topics like this funny. In one breathe you say Grand National, not rough, can't understand why anyone would see it as rough and then the next breath, Smiler is unridable. 
 
I think the complete opposite.
 
Roughness is such a personal thing and I wouldn't personally say I couldn't understand why some would find a ride rough when quite clearly, some people do.