Not a coaster? Think I've worked it out.

The ride experience will comprise of you going around the building on the cherry picker in pitch black darkness

On a serious note, let's not write this off as being an immersive experience as this ride could still be, when we find out the ride's theme and the exterior is covered up.

The UK has still done some immersive rides recently such as Thirteen, The Swarm & to a lesser extent Smiler & Wallace & Gromit. Let's not forget the Dungeons (New London & Blackpool ones) and Shrek's Adventure either. Zufari & Sub Terra would be there too if they'd hadn't been rushed and half cooked.

From memory, it states in the plans it's not a coaster, somewhere in the report regarding the disruption construction is likely to cause it says it'll be less because there's not tonnes of heavy noisy coaster track being delivered. Or something.

Little overview from TPM facebook

 

 

 

 

We don't know the budget. But Thorpe are due a large ride, on the plans it states how this is basically their large ride in place of the postponed 2015 coaster. Marketing has begun this early. It's not going to be small.

The building thing doesn't show anything really about the standard of project. Forbidden Journey has a massive bit of its show building unthemed as you enter the queue and from JP it's just a white shed. At least it's the same colour as X so fits in, shrubbery is being planted which will help and there will be a large themed section. It's not cheap to theme a large building entirely, that's why many show buildings are tucked away.

 

MERLIN CONSTRUCTION BINGO! (comparisons to sheds being visible on bigger budget rides)

 

 

Let's be honest, no amount of shubbery or tree will make the final pic pluk posted look any better... It's this level of mediocrity which is bringing the UK industry down...

 

Let's be honest, no amount of shubbery or tree will make the final pic pluk posted look any better... It's this level of mediocrity which is bringing the UK industry down...

 

At least it's painted the same colour as X   

That's hilarious. Imagine if Bubbleworks, Tomb Blaster or Haunted House had been built with that level of disregard for aesthetics. It's like they couldn't give a toss. 

Yes it wouldn't be ideal if the show building just gets left looking like a shed.

 

However....if that means that the ride inside will be of a better quality and more immersive when you get inside then so be it!

That's hilarious. Imagine if Bubbleworks, Tomb Blaster or Haunted House had been built with that level of disregard for aesthetics. It's like they couldn't give a toss. 

 

If you could get us a picture of one of them ride building around 2 hours after the building was constructed id love to compare

If you could get us a picture of one of them ride building around 2 hours after the building was constructed id love to compare

 

Josh C linked to the artwork on the previous page of the kind of thing we should be expecting. 

I still think its far far to early to judge, with the exception of Storm Surge Thorpe generally do care what the park looks like and I've no doubt when this is complete it wont look as awful as the construction pics make it out to be.

 

We will see in march I guess! 

On a serious note, let's not write this off as being an immersive experience as this ride could still be, when we find out the ride's theme and the exterior is covered up.

The UK has still done some immersive rides recently such as Thirteen, The Swarm & to a lesser extent Smiler & Wallace & Gromit.

 

Are they really immersive though, at all? I don't think this will be a completely immersive experience either.

I still think its far far to early to judge, with the exception of Storm Surge Thorpe generally do care what the park looks like

How about Colossus?

Angry birds land?

Rumba rapids?

Nemesis inferno's volcano?

Cattlepen queuelines with no theming?

The Shark(shipping container) hotel?

These are only a few of the examples where Thorpe Park have either plonked down rides or a particular area without caring in the slightest what they look like or where an originally good looking ride is falling to pieces as it hasn't been maintained.

So unfortunately, yes, the evidence does support the fact that this building is going to be a complete eyesore.

I'm still in hope however that this could be an enjoyable and interesting experience on the inside however.

There is no room, even when the building is constructed fully, for a decent sized immersive dark ride.

When you say game changer, like Varney has, when it comes to dark rides, you think Spider-Man, Forbidden Journey, Escape From Gringotts, in a way ratatouille.

ALL of these rides are situated within show buildings significantly bigger than what we are seeing here, because a truly thrilling, immersive dark ride needs space.

In comparison to decent immersive, thrilling dark rides of note, this is really quite small.

The show building is ugly as sin, and the plans don't show it changing, and before hoping for a well themed second half, just remember what happened to the smiler and it's station.

ALL of these rides are situated within show buildings significantly bigger than what we are seeing here, because a truly thrilling, immersive dark ride needs space.

 

 

Yep. Spiderman show building is nearly three times the size of this, at over 6000 square meters, and that uses two floors within that! That gives a 5 minute ride time, to have anything similar in here the ride would last less than 2 minutes if it went along at a similar pace!

 

Expectations managed.

 

EDIT: Actually, I think I've got that wrong, isn't Spiderman on one floor? If this attraction had the larger two thirds of the building utilising a ride system across two floors the actual ride length could be not too dissimilar. Hmmm.

Spiderman is indeed over 1 floor.

Transformers is over 2, but to give that type of ride, the building would need to be a lot higher to accomodate the massive screens.

if we somehow see this type of ride system installed I will literally camp outside the gates to ride it.

We will not see it, as even 30 million is too cheap, if that really is the figure.

Spidermans floor space rounds to a similar size as this buildings... people seem to already forget that this isn't even a 3rd of the building.you could fit a decent ride in it still.

This building has absolutely nowhere near the floorspace or height of spiderman.

There is no room in this building for that type of ride system unless it is a 2 minute experience as previously stated.

Still hedging my bets on immersive tunnel variant.

^OMG! Open your mind a bit. We get that you think its going to be an immersive tunnel, but that doesn't mean you can push everyone else' ideas aside. Like everyone keeps saying, only the minority of the building is up at the moment and the space (I think) is going to be huge! Its getting quite boring reading through this thread when people don't acknowledge others suggestions and stay closed minded...

 

 

I have been thinking... 

 

The immersive tunnel section that we can see currently has no curve to the front of the screen which I think is weird. I thought an immersive tunnel had a curved front as well otherwise the effect is ruined. What if they were to construct a roller coaster (obviously very small) inside the immersive tunnel where projection mapping is used throughout which could be what messes with your mind, etc. They could even construct a bigger version of the structure we can currently see for the main building where the ride system will be and it could actually create a very cool effect if done correctly. 

 

I am probably wrong but just wanted to come up with other ideas instead of everyone slamming every aspect of this ride and not even suggesting what else could be there.

So happy they've matched the ride to Thorpe's true star, X:///:

The ride inside could still be a wonderful experience (I know absolutely nothing about it) and Thorpe Park as an attraction may 'care' about delivering an immersive experience.

But really there's no point to defend this when there's clearly no effort made. Try asking for a budget to pay for a redesign of the surrounding paths or to create a seemless facade and the budgeters would probably just laugh

Sadly that's just the way theme parks in the UK work now so there's not much else they could have done.

Just to note: dark rise show buildings Always look like this before the facade goes up. However as others have pointed out, the plans show this IS the finished exterior for that whole end of the building.

Apologies if this has been posted before, but google images has updated their thorpe park aerial photos and you can see the rough outline of the ride building. 

 

I really do want this to be a mind blowing dark ride that is heavily themed and thrilling.

Then I remember that we live in the UK and that just not get built here, it is sad because dark rides are actually much better than coasters when done RIGHT.

This being the final look of this portion of the building, as the plans clearly show, already means that this ride is not done right.

A full immersive experience can only be achieved if every aspect from the approach up to the ride and queue line are fully themed, the experience starts long before you board any ride vehicle.

The rest of the building has potential, if the plans are stuck to, but if the smiler and its station and missing theming elements are anything to go by, the whole building my end up looking like a giant shed.

I really hope that they have something great going in here.

It does look like they're going to have a lot of space to play with but I'm not expecting anything spectacular, just something to divert some of the queue from X. I'm expecting some element to be a "world's first" even if it's a rubbish first.

Thorpe have to keep to their submitted plans a lot more than Towers. If it wasn't for the large building and top height of Smiler Towers wouldn't have even needed to submit any plans. The textures used and theming in the plans will have just been whatever they had to be submitted. Was never a dead cert that's how it would look. Thorpe though have to pretty much match how their approved plans look due to their planning constraints. If it does end up being entirely unthemed the council can revoke permission or something and Thorpe have a good link with Runnymede so won't mess it up. The tin shed might not look so bad when it is entirely finished, it looks awful at the moment because there's nothing else to look at, it's surrounded by construction and ugly black walls. Once wholly completed it might not look AS ugly, yes it will still be a red tin at that point. 

 

Also, you don't need huge 8 metre high screens to create a great dark ride. Many dark ride building of great quality can be small in height and space. Let's say this is a new style of dark ride experience in some way? I'd be happy for Merlin to look at new technology that could be used in the industry instead of going with what's already made around the world. If all companies did was build what they know is good, we'd never see anything that is new. Plus those Oceaneering rides like Spidey are always ridiculous in price.