MattL28

I thought this too, I don’t necessarily think that the closing of the group was a budget cut itself. I think the closing of the group was the first sign of things not going the way it was meant to go this year. There was no real reason to close it and the group was a very Thorpe thing and it was good to have the openness. To me, it closing was a sign of things going back to their old ways

I think a good indication of cuts is if slammer doesn’t get removed this year and sparkle project doesn’t happen again. Both require investment and both were said to happen this coming closed season. So if it’s changed, it will be a good indicator

From a ride rather article and Bloomberg : Here

It would be quite surprising if the cost cutting was due to the performance of 2024 investments. A company that big to respond that quickly. However, it does seem that way and the future of the parks are more interesting than ever. Will it mean it’s another 10 years for a new coaster? It’s clear the parks are reducing costs, Chessington is abandoned. Scott was clear he was moving investment away.

There was an initial excitement at all the Merlin parks to do these all year around events. Fully cram the calendar with events, at one point. You could never go to any of the Merlin parks without having an event on. Then they realised it was too much then this year cut all the events. Simply the events are a lot of effort for no pull. I can confidently say that it did not bring in more guests by putting the events on. Especially at Thorpe, quite often there are minimal crowds for any of the shows. It’s due to the target audience though, put on a stunt show and people would watch. I’m not sure how to feel really, Thorpe hyped it up as their biggest season ever and it has come through by having Hyperia but in someways it’s been cut back after cutback. Either go all out with these events or don’t bother at all. I miss the event variants of the island soundtrack. The new Thorpe soundtrack isn’t memorable or iconic