Still think the area is a bonus - less people going through to Stealth, unless I get drawn to the dodgems.

As to lap bars, the straps were just a "nod to Health and Safety" and in reality, this should retain younger persons more securely.

No.

And another small irk: I don't understand why Thorpe's graff-theming is never spelt correctly. First we had "War has 3volved," and now we have "Eggz". What. The fact I can even compare two separate instances of graffiti used as theming at the same damn place is testament to how poor every new investment is becoming.

My guess would be it's an attempt to make it quirky and slightly different.

Firstly, it's 'War has Evolved'. Evolved, not 3volved. It is an E turned 180 degrees. You can see from other letters used in the graffiti that they are capable of drawing curves. So it was a '3', it would be drawn like one. It's quite like it's an upside down E and not a 3. Sorry to be pedantic, but it's one of those really annoying niggles that just grates me a little bit

Anyways, that I can imagine is done to make things stand out a bit more. With Swarm, and specifically the billboard, there's a lot to take in. By seeing a single letter not in the right direction, it draws you to it a bit more. It adds a very small amount of quirkiness to it. It was certainly the first detail I noticed on the billboard when I saw it for the first time in real life, and it made me smile.

The Angry Birds graffiti is different, due to it being less subtle. Just going to throw this out there - maybe it was a Rovio decision. Maybe they said they wanted the pigs to have scrawled graffiti and make it seem like they can't spell? Maybe it's a way of wanting to hate the pigs more, because they are just so annoying. Maybe it is just s style thing because Thorpe have found out younger children like this sort of thing? I dunno, but there's plenty of valid reasons Thorpe could have done this. I'm not a fan of it, but - to go for the old cliché - there'll be method in the madness.

I do think a comparison between this and Swarm's graffiti isn't really valid, and to say how this "is testament to how poor every new investment is becoming" is just, in my opinion, not fair.

To be fair what one person loves another hates, thorpe will never be able to please everyone unfortunately.

Am looking forward to Saturday I think this is the sort of area the parks crying out for and will IMO fill a big gap in their market.

Regarding the cinema, I believe it's made by SimWorks now who made the 4D cinema at Paultons Park; so keeping the internal cinema relatively themeless will make sense as if the Paultons 4Ds are anything to go by a lot of lighting is used throughout the films they run, and theming would just reflect the light in weird ways (much better to have plain dark walls).

Also the stage was always there, and it works well to keep people away from the screen because those cinema screens are not 'cheep cheap'

Here's an interesting question: Who loves the pigs for their hilarious behaviour?...

...I DO for a fact!

I have to admit, that one thing that has niggled me during the whole development of this land is that the people generally gave the park a thumbs down as soon as this project was announced and some have now started to see it as a good thing, now that the project is starting to come together. It's just a shame the park have to prove themselves to get acceptance of it rather than it being the other way round.

We've been spoilt at this park for our age group for a good few years and when an idea comes about that is not generally to our cup of tea it does feel like the daggers come out.

For me I find it fantastic what they are doing. They have dodgems, which is popular with all age groups and they have also brought the theatre back into use, which is a welcome re-addition as it's an attraction you can use to have a breather and another indoor attraction of which the park offers a very limited offering.

The IP I also believe was a very good choice, the old target market know about it as it was a very popular app once upon a time, however it uses characters which are not seen as too childish to be able to enjoy it. Eg. They have not been ruled out of the new additions from a park that has been concentrating on them for so long. However the more important thing is it will certainly bring in the families and the young kids. I know some people have said that why did they buy into this IP as it is clearly coming to an end....If you a teen/ young adult maybe - I agree with you

but

when out at the shops or at the beach or at other attractions, there are loads of young kids who have Angry bird t-shirts. I have seen a number walking around clutching onto their angry bird cuddly toy. Also at the arcades there are lots of angry birds cheap toys that the young kids lap up. With a film on the horizon and talks of a TV series afterwards, this IP has a lot of potential for a few years to come and commend Thorpe for doing their research for an IP that is got a lot of upcoming projects on the horizon which funnily enough are mainly away from the computer games. Yes to the old target market the IP is old hat but to the new market they are trying to target, Angry Birds will be lapping up the very young kids for years to come on a franchise that is expanding it's horizon.

It is a bit of an outdated IP now... To be fair if they did this a few years ago but it would have been even better, and I would have loved to see angry birds take over nemesis inferno, rumba rapids and storm in the teacup as well! But considering it being an ageing IP now it's probably sort of a short term investment which will easily get the return in the younger family market, so no need to think it's a waste of money if it's only going to be there for say 5 years.

It is a bit of an outdated IP now... To be fair if they did this a few years ago but it would have been even better, and I would have loved to see angry birds take over nemesis inferno, rumba rapids and storm in the teacup as well! But considering it being an ageing IP now it's probably sort of a short term investment which will easily get the return in the younger family market, so no need to think it's a waste of money if it's only going to be there for say 5 years.

See you say its outdated but as Peaj said theres a planned movie/TV Series in the pipeline, its hard to tell what potential this IP has - I'm sure the same arguments were said about Saw when that was built and its done well for them so I dont see why Angry Birds cant too.

I said bit... As the brand is never going to be as popular as it was back a few years ago. It's a fact we got to face, although will be interesting to see how popular the planned film and TV series will be and how well it carries the brand.

Thorpe Park have announced on facebook that Angry Birds 4D, The Dodgems, Stealth, Nemesis Inferno and Teacups will all be open between 18:00 for 20:00 this Saturday for annual pass holders.

Pretty decent of them!

I noticed how the Graffiti on the wall represents the bad piggies grid.

Marc hit the nail on the head. Everyone said SAW was a dead brand when the IP came in and yet it still enticed a fair crowd of people in that year; and it's still a popular ride where you can often hear people talk about it for the SAW brand (usually referring to Billy as Jigsaw and making me want to shout at them) alongside talking about the actual drop (it's usually those two they talk about).

Maybe the buzz of Angry Birds has died off a bit, but (and I'll be honest here) unlike SAW it's a much wider IP which more people are aware of in more vivid detail. For example, my mother wouldn't know what a Billy Puppet is, and she wouldn't want to; but she'd know how to throw birds in catapults. *shrugs*

So I do think that the debate of a dead IP is unfair here. I don't think an IP truly dies in theme parks. I mean places like Knotts Berry have Snoopy; Six Flags have Loony Tunes - these are quite dated, and yet still incredibly popular. And besides, Angry Birds theme parks if anything, are starting to be overdone, with a few around the world; and the obvious Angry Birds Activity Park at Lightwater Valley

Question really, is Angry Birds as timeless as the likes of Peanuts, Looney Tunes and Thomas the Tank Engine?

Because those 3 examples are pretty much several generation worth of childhoods (Peanuts is ridiculously popular in America), whilst they all appear in theme parks, the real question is why are they? Thomas Lands are only quite recent developments in this industry, and the other two IPs are big stuff in America, so their lifespan and knowledge isn't solely linked into them having presence in parks (Cedar Fair parks all have Snoopy areas, and even so, Mall of America removed all the Snoopy theming for Nickelodeon stuff)...

Thomas films are being churned out on a regular basis (quite scarily) too...

Looks good, the theming looks alright too.

Looks good, the theming looks alright too.

Is she there Permanently?

Yeah her fingers and feet have been nailed in.

So I do think that the debate of a dead IP is unfair here. I don't think an IP truly dies in theme parks.

*Cough* Beanoland *Cough*

My guess would be it's an attempt to make it quirky and slightly different.

Firstly, it's 'War has Evolved'. Evolved, not 3volved. It is an E turned 180 degrees. You can see from other letters used in the graffiti that they are capable of drawing curves. So it was a '3', it would be drawn like one. It's quite like it's an upside down E and not a 3.

Well obviously

You guys may wanna keep an eye on my YouTube channel, as I'm going to Thorpe on Monday so I'll be getting some god damm footage with my god damm camera!

*Cough* Beanoland *Cough*

I can't comment on Beanoland because I never went to Chessington when it existed

Did that really die though?

I mean, like I've already said; SAW might be dead, but the ride is still popular as much for it's SAW tie in as it is for it's actual experience.

So to call any IP a dead IP would be a little unfair; I think if you're creating IP areas as long as it's kept fresh and updated with time, such as Thomas land adding rides, Nickelodeon Land bringing in new events and characters - any IP land can live longer than anyone expects.

I think this'll simply fall down to seeing how busy things like Detonator get once Angry Birds opens; and seeing how it all generally gets before we can judge if it will succeed or not.

Sophie All criticism of Angry Birds Land thus far is now null and void.

I can't comment on Beanoland because I never went to Chessington when it existed

Did that really die though?

Well, the Beano comic itself has got considerably WORSE over the years, so I think it may have met its demise ages ago tbh

The dodgems have started to have theming added to the structure and vinyls to the cars (they make a surprisingly large difference unlike the plain ones). There are speakers all over the area so I guess we'll be getting sounds of the game or something. The entrance to both the dodgems and 4D cinema are almost done. The dodgems cattle pen is almost done. And Detonator is still open so I've no idea what's going on there.