Cal Posted May 22, 2014 Report Share Posted May 22, 2014 I've just realised its 2 days away from opening, really 1 full day and has anything happened to detonator yet? ... And open tomorrow = 0 days for re-theme. MattyMoo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olistjj Posted May 22, 2014 Report Share Posted May 22, 2014 I wonder if they've decided not to re-theme it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal Posted May 22, 2014 Report Share Posted May 22, 2014 I wonder if they've decided not to re-theme it? You can see that they that they have room to put new signage for the ride so the name is still going to be changed. I'm pretty sure they will also have new audio and announcements but obviously they haven't confirmed this. I suppose they might of not planned to do anything for Detonator anyway, they might of just thought they needed to close of the area for the angry birds land works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted May 22, 2014 Report Share Posted May 22, 2014 Things like that building just lazily painted over in green highlight how low-key this investment is. They had potential to do anything with that! Make it look like birds have slammed into the wall where the cracks are, (have a slingshot near it then birds in the wall maybe?) yet they've chosen to leave it like that, which IMO looks very poor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kinnaird Posted May 22, 2014 Report Share Posted May 22, 2014 I cant wait now for the open I want to know what they are doing I think they wil have redone all the audio and hopefully it conveys the usual rovolio music theme Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
th13teen Posted May 22, 2014 Report Share Posted May 22, 2014 Its concerning looking at the size of queue they have built! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kinnaird Posted May 22, 2014 Report Share Posted May 22, 2014 what has it been increased? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pognoi Posted May 22, 2014 Report Share Posted May 22, 2014 To be honest the only real significant interest for me is the new structures that have been made. Detonator is probably my least favourite ride, I find the drop gut wrenching in an un-enjoyable manner, and only ride it if I am in a really good mood or have an incentive. To be honest, dodgems/bumper cars are all the same. Sure its fine and swell thorpe now has one, but I've been on others before. A 4D cinema is a 4D cinema. The video will probably be a mix up of some scenes from the angry birds cartoon series. I've watched all of them as I find them interesting and a good time waster to watch. Even if it isn't, there's only so far you can go with birds being flung at pigs that want to steal eggs. The signage, however, I find interesting. People will destroy me for what I previously just said, but I think it's always interesting seeing a 2-D thing coming out to 3-D. I'll enjoy drooling at the sign, asking myself how the artists can make things which we're so used to being on screens looks similar, but we're able to touch, get panorama's and see the shades and such. Sometimes this doesn't work, but from what I've seen so far, the modelers have done a great job on redisigning commonly found objects and characters in the game to be appropriate for a still life action scene. If you tl;dr, this is basically a pointless ramble about how much I love signs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted May 23, 2014 Report Share Posted May 23, 2014 Costumed character alert! From Thorpe's Twitter account. JamminGamer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pognoi Posted May 23, 2014 Report Share Posted May 23, 2014 Uh oh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitchada04 Posted May 23, 2014 Report Share Posted May 23, 2014 Could be worse. Kerfuffle and JamminGamer 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerfuffle Posted May 23, 2014 Report Share Posted May 23, 2014 Hmmm, no arm-holes? What if they trip over something? JamminGamer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deleted Users Posted May 23, 2014 Report Share Posted May 23, 2014 If they don't have roaming actors dressed as the birds for Fright Nights, they will have missed a trick. Yes Thorpe. Ryan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liam T Posted May 23, 2014 Report Share Posted May 23, 2014 One day before opening and I have to say... this is the most appalling investment I have ever seen at a Merlin park, it's almost insulting that one of Europe's leading theme parks has installed... this. It's tacky, it's bare, it has poor placement and the 'new' attractions are nothing to scream and shout about. To think, people are paying in the range of £30 for this... Welcome to Thorpe Park. New for 2014 - insulting our guest by giving them an outdated I.P plastered onto attractions they've already ridden at places alot cheaper. Cornflakes 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted May 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 23, 2014 Both of them pictures were actually taken at least a week before opening... Altitude and Cal 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flipper Posted May 23, 2014 Report Share Posted May 23, 2014 And without being on the park hearing people talking about the dodgems and angry birds, and the popularity of fore-mentioned character today on park - you really have no idea. Even I've underestimated this one. Roll on tomorrow! Doc 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
planenut Posted May 24, 2014 Report Share Posted May 24, 2014 Gosh, there's going to be some damp birdies today! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.S217 Posted May 24, 2014 Report Share Posted May 24, 2014 It looks great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted May 24, 2014 Report Share Posted May 24, 2014 A small selection of photos from TPM's Facebook... Also, a photo from Thorpe's Twitter, which shows Thorpe Divisional Director seemingly doing a small opening ceremony... All in all, it looks good in my opinion. Yes, this isn't a thematic masterpiece that we'd see in the likes of Phantasialand, Disney, etc., but it looks and had a bit of humour to it. I bet younger kids will lap it up too, which is obviously the key point of the area. Can't wait to go down next month and try it all out. So, a promising attraction which I think shows that, with bigger budgets and bigger projects, we'll see grander things to come soon (and if there's a small ceremony for ABL, fingers crossed for bigger opening ceremonies with the big attractions, ey?)... Kerfuffle 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spider Posted May 24, 2014 Report Share Posted May 24, 2014 Hahahahaha those photos make it look shockingly bad! Just look at that picture of the Dodgems entrance and midway game, it's hideously rubbish! The UK park industry really sucks at the moment doesn't it? Cornflakes 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornflakes Posted May 24, 2014 Report Share Posted May 24, 2014 The entrances to the rides look dreadful. The Dodgems look dreadful. The overuse of stickers looks dreadful. This area looks dreadful. A cheap and tacky attraction thrown onto the park in a desperate attempt to claw back the family market. Awful. HermanTheGerman and Coaster 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerfuffle Posted May 24, 2014 Report Share Posted May 24, 2014 Well, to be fair, it's better than a pointless pirate theme with an empty, lifeless 4D cinema building! This is ALL a matter of opinion, but I think it looks great for a family-friendly area themed around one of the most popular and most purchased games on the App Store/Google Play etc. As I said, this is just my opinion, so NO ONE, especially you Cornflakes, get mad at me for liking on something you don't like the look of! I AM a proud Angry Birds/Bad Piggies player after all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coaster_monkey Posted May 24, 2014 Report Share Posted May 24, 2014 All in all, it looks good in my opinion. Yes, this isn't a thematic masterpiece that we'd see in the likes of Phantasialand, Disney, etc., Heh. That's funny because Merlin sure like to think they are on par with Disney. It looks bad but I'm not going to bother with it too much - there's nothing in that small area that will appeal to me so I can avoid it, ignore it and focus on the rest of the dump park. Still, I'm amazed to the level of imagination and taste people have thinking this is 'nice' - 'nice' is too much of a compliment. Since when do we praise half arsed work? Lazy. I really believe that on a shoe string budget you can do a LOT more, but money in the pockets is the only concern for Merlin and Thorpe Park. I won't go on, I'll get swamped with 'well they didn't build it for YOU! Nuuuhh!' & 'Y U COMPLAIN?' - if people like lazy unimaginative work then hey... good for you! I'll just go sit by Tidal Wave and cry for what could have been. Cornflakes 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
planenut Posted May 24, 2014 Report Share Posted May 24, 2014 Everybody's entitled to an opinion, even if that's the only opinion in that vein. At least there is somewhere else for when it rains. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted May 24, 2014 Report Share Posted May 24, 2014 Heh. That's funny because Merlin sure like to think they are on par with Disney. Do they? Where? The only time I've ever seen them compare themselves to Disney is when they say that they are "The second largest theme park operator in the world". So it's not even a direct comparison, they're literally just stating a fact about visitor numbers, and then people will think to themselves 'It's popular, so it must be good'. It's just words really. 'nice' is too much of a compliment. Since when do we praise half arsed work? Lazy. I really believe that on a shoe string budget you can do a LOT more, but money in the pockets is the only concern for Merlin and Thorpe Park. I won't go on, I'll get swamped with 'well they didn't build it for YOU! Nuuuhh!' & 'Y U COMPLAIN?' - if people like lazy unimaginative work then hey... good for you! I'll just go sit by Tidal Wave and cry for what could have been. I still don't quite get the claims that this is "lazy", "unimaginative" or "dreadful" being made by people in general. As in, people's opinions are that's it's lazy, but they're not saying why... Maybe the choice of theme is lazy, and a quick appeal to families, but I wouldn't say the final product comes across as lazy. The metal plates on the walls are simple, and maybe they could have been positioned to look a bit more realistic, but I guess it's a game and cartoon - things aren't meant to be totally realistic. You've got to let there be a bit of make believe and stuff. I'm not a big fan of the signs, more could have been done there in my opinion (and, when you compare it to a lot of the other signs on park, they don't feel as good), which is a shame. Be interesting to see (well, hear) what the audio's like in an area - it can make or break it really! The budget is an interesting one, but I wouldn't say that Thorpe's only concern is the profit. That's a Merlin thing. Thorpe really want to focus on customer satisfaction this year, and no doubt there'll be some smaller changes along the season (for the entire park, not just this land) to reflect this. I'm not going to go with the old 'Well, it's not for you' or 'What would you have done?' comebacks either; those points have been argued to death enough times already! Whilst this isn't the peak of originality, the pinnacle of theming and a bit of an easy way to appeal to families, I don't think there's anything wrong with the area, and I wouldn't exactly call it lazy. AJ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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