Project WC16 - New for 2016

[Deleted Users]

Who's that made by? Why have you made the link to TP2015? Would a bag drop be necessary with that type of vehicle? It doesn't look like a TADRIS?(joke)

Off topic times - since when? I'm sure they were still displaying two separate queue times quite near the end of the season? If this is true then good, it's about time!

 

 

Vehicles for Six Flags' new dark rides.

[mah boi]

I was looking around the net as a relief for boredom, and I came across this company (www.simworx.co.uk). They make indoor attractions with motion being a key factor, with Thorpe being one of their customers with the Angry Birds 4D show. There is one product of theirs which interests me, one that is called Viper 360. It doesn't have it listed on their website yet, but it is mentioned in an attractions magazine advertisement. Maybe 2016 will debut this product.

[Whatever]

Just a thought. I take it Mockingjay pt.2 will come out in 2015, so the ride could potentially be a Hunger Games ride, as the whole franchise will have come out by then. Plus if it is a laser ride, they could always make the guns look like bows and arrows (and be shooting at tributes?). Please let this be.

[Project LC]

The ip will be dead come to the ride opening. A hunger games ride would not be good. An IP which isn't dead would be nice, something from the BBC perhaps which has been around for 51 years. 

[Kerfuffle]

...or preferably something that's not an IP at all.

[Mitchada04]

The Hunger Games IP won't die. Harry Potter was over when they built it at Universal but look at the success of that! Just because the film series ends does not make it a dead IP. The fact Lionsgate are talking about a Hunger Games theme park and stuff they know it's a huge IP that won't just die because the film series has ended.

Isn't Shrek long dead but Merlin are making a whole bunch of midways out of that. Because Shrek is globally known (like Hunger Games) and just a massive success and won't die out; like Harry Potter won't and with the right marketing and planning of its future neither will Hunger Games.

[Ricky]

Just come to mind, does anyone remember when they did a Hunger Games event at TP last year or whenever it was?

[TPJames]

Hunger games will be going strong for a long time after 2016, just like Harry Potter is still very popular. I see it as potential option for the park considering lionsgate already has a good partnership with the park at the moment. The rumour of saw's IP ending would also die away as it would be likely to get a renewal with the new contract.

I saw Mockingjay part 1 today and I thought it was a very very good film. The series will certainly be talked about and watched and read again and again for a few years after part 2 comes out. I see it a very strong option for the park and a massive crowd puller considering the parks film technique has been going very well lately. Of course I don't want the park to be filled with IPs, however I see it as a very strong option for the park seeing as the hunger games is such a popular franchise.

[JoshC.]

Just come to mind, does anyone remember when they did a Hunger Games event at TP last year or whenever it was?

 

Surprisingly, that was all the way back in Easter 2012, when Hunger Games first hit cinemas!  Doesn't feel that long ago mind.

 

Given what John Wardley said about IPs and dark rides in the BLNT video below, I'd be very surprised if we don't see an IP for this.  Yes, it's a shame, but I can see why they'd want to minimise risk on such a large investment...

 

[SteveJ]

I did ask John shortly after that question if he knew anything about the 2016 dark ride and he said hadn't heard of it. Interesting, it can't have been in the pipeline for so long then.

 

Yes, I'm quite sure this will be an IP based ride, which is unfortunate in many ways but sort of inevitable in getting dark rides back off the ground. Grumble.

[Merry-go-girl]

On the bright side, an IP based ride will avoid the fate of being taken over and weakly re-branded with an IP. 

[J.S217]

Or a Middle Earth Dark ride?

[Benin]

If Universal can't afford the rights to LotR then Thorpe won't be anywhere near that...

 

Dunno why there's this obsession with the minimising of risk on family aimed attractions, you'd think after Smiler's branding success they'd feel confident in their ability to take things further and continue the trend of unique and creative branding...

 

Indeed, surely an alternative method is to save the money on aquiring the rights on an IP and invest that into the ride to make it better... Given Merlin's addiction to budget cuts to attractions and parks themselves, you'd think that spending millions on an IP would take away from the amount of money available to the ride itself...

 

That a dark ride is considered an actual risk for the park shows how far behind the rest of the world the UK industry is...

[Morgan]

Its a risk due to its marketability. For example if Thorpe were to advertise an original dark ride with a time travelling alien theme, it would have nowhere near the impact that advertising a new Doctor Who ride would. Those two words give it instant appeal factor and will have thousands of kids pestering there parents to go to Thorpe Park.

I think comparing the themeing for The Smiler is a little redundant as it is for a coaster, yes they did a great job with the story, but would it transfer to an effective dark ride which requires an immersive storyline. It would probably do a decent job, but a dark ride based on a mysterious organisation trying to make you 'happy' wouldn't draw anywhere near the amount of visitors as the world's first 14 looping coaster.

There is also merchandising to consider. The potential revenue stream of a ride based on an IP is vastly greater than an original story.

There aren't that many original story dark rides being developed these days anywhere in the world. Cedar Fair are probably one of the only ones producing high end(ish) non-IP dark rides with there Trio-Tech rides (Wonder Mountain Guardian & Voyage to the Iron Reef), Disney don't base any of there dark rides off original material anymore (I don't think there's been any since Countdown to Extinction in 1998), and Universal have never done it, so it's not surprising that the UK has shifted to an IP influenced outlook.

Personally, if they put something similar to the new Justice League rides being installed into Six Flags I'd be happy, you could argue that shooting dark rides are a bit past it now, but if they had an immersive story which gave you a reason to be blasting instead of just shooting lights to increase your score it would create a great experience. The MiB ride at Universal is a vastly superior experience compared to most shooter rides, because you feel like you are in the action and are actually battling not just shooting.

[Fin The Human]

Maybe its an in-park midway attraction, like Thorpe Dungeouns....

[Deleted Users]

^I can't think of non-IP Western Disney dark ride since Superstar Limo. That ride may be why. I guess you could count Soarin'? In the East there has been Mystic Manor and DisneySEA Tower. Journey to the Centre of the Earth and 20,000 Leagues aren't standard IPs as well. 

[J.S217]

do you think it will be Oceaneering

[Kerfuffle]

I had an idea a few minutes ago for an appropriate IP theme for this dark ride...but please excuse the fact that I've talked about this game on the forums FAR too often now!

 

For a dark ride, I think the Portal franchise would be PERFECT. Yes it would now be considered as a dead IP (considering Portal 2 came out in 2011), but what riders would see is a "whole new game". For instance, it could be a follow-up to Portal 2's co-op campaign, and will involve not only GLaDOS, but also Atlas and Peabody (The two testing robots in co-op mode) and possibly Wheatley somehow making a surprise entrance, therefore he possibly may have orbited too close to the Earth while in space and crash lands into the Aperture Laboratories facility!

 

However, the only exception of characters in the ride will be Chell (the player's character in single-player mode), as obviously by the end of Portal 2, GLaDOS would've granted her freedom, so why bother return to the facility?

 

But despite my efforts to come up with a ride experience with this theme, I highly doubt this'll be the end result, judging by the concept art!

[Mark9]

^I can't think of non-IP Western Disney dark ride since Superstar Limo. That ride may be why. I guess you could count Soarin'? In the East there has been Mystic Manor and DisneySEA Tower. Journey to the Centre of the Earth and 20,000 Leagues aren't standard IPs as well. 

 

So in other words, we should all be looking at Asia if we want a dark ride without an IP shackled to it, necessary or not. Suits me, anyone wanna come Tokyo and Hong Kong

[Jordanluke2009]

Has Thorpe park moved to china. Vengeance is in storage somewhere at thorpe

[Dodge2002]

Going back to the bag drop, Isn't the reason they've moved to drops instead of revolving station lockers to increase throughput? They can't start their dispatch checks until everyone is seated, which is inevitably delayed by the mess of people getting off and getting on trying to scramble for their stuff. I'm not saying Merlin's bag drops work, but I can 100% see why they opt for them over in-station storage.

[Project LC]

Most dark rides dont need either. Normally you can just take your bags on, so the problem is that they have gone out of their way to install a bag room, to hire extra staff for what at the moment seems like no reason.

[JamminGamer]

You can't say that they've gone out of their way to install a bag room when you have absolutely no idea what kind of a ride this will be except that it will take place indoors, the fact is they may need a bag drop because of one of the ride elements. Regardless of whether it needs one or not you can't just assume that they've put it in for no reason. Surely they themselves would be reluctant to allocate more staff to doing a job like this unless it was necessary to do so considering that if they didn't need a bag drop they could certainly use more staff in other areas.

 

Either way, it's far too early and too little is known to make assumptions at this point regarding many aspects of the ride, just need to wait and see with this one and seeing as it's a dark ride it's probably going to be a long wait......

[Pete_A]

I am not saying that this is what we will be getting, but it just so happens that this would fit into building 1 if they dug down a little.

 

http://domeride.com

 

It also just so happens that the first installation will be in 2016 in China.

 

I honestly don't think we will be getting this, but if we were this could explain why there is a bag drop, but doesn't explain building two. 

[pluk]

so the problem is that they have gone out of their way to install a bag room, to hire extra staff for what at the moment seems like no reason.

 

What? Yes I'm sure they may have just forgotten they don't need a bag room. What on earth are you talking about? 

 

 

I am not saying that this is what we will be getting, but it just so happens that this would fit into building 1 if they dug down a little.

 

http://domeride.com

 

I honestly don't think we will be getting this, but if we were this could explain why there is a bag drop, but doesn't explain building two. 

 

That's an interesting concept. I'm not sure it would fit though, that ball of screens would have to be pretty massive! I don't think they are going to / can excavate what would be required underneath.