James Allgood Posted January 10, 2015 Report Share Posted January 10, 2015 Just a heads up next Sunday I shall be going for a walk around so should have some construction updates soon Olistjj and Gggggggg 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveJ Posted January 10, 2015 Report Share Posted January 10, 2015 So how do you feel about Hex? Tower of Terror? Indiana Jones? Forbidden Journey?Hex's cinema room isn't the best start to a dark ride is it? Most guests get quite awkward in the cinema because standing in a dark empty room watching a strangely camp creepy video (although of course its fun to watch for its daftness) is not that engaging. The cinema room is the best they could do to deliver the plot-heavy theme within the limitations of the Towers. Even then, the video they show now was drafted in to replace the original "live video link" concept with the Professor character that was dropped after the first season. Some walkthroughs/madhouses use animatronic shows and other more spectacular ways to create tension before the finale. Hex's rather humble series of videos are forgettable in comparison, but this always seems to get overlooked by enthusiasts because "it's Hex". Tower of Terror and Indiana Jones certainly do not rely on videos on TVs to set up the story. Indiana Jones has one of the most amazing immersive queues ever, the TVs are almost superfluous. Just walking in sets you in the atmosphere and the story. And Forbidden Journey pulls so many effects and tricks to amaze guests in its odyssey of a queue, that it's not even comparable to the likes of Sub Terra and its forgettable TV screens in an empty room. It costs very little to commission some company to create graphics and shoot for a video preshow, compared to the cost of designing sets, effects and other theatrical ways to deliver a story. That's really the main reason so many video preshows exist in UK theme parks. It's alright for some rides but soon every new ride is going to begin with watching TV. It's a boring formula which will become so predictable for the average guest very soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted January 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2015 Hex's cinema room isn't the best start to a dark ride is it? Is the cinema room the start of the dark ride though? Or is it just a clever way to make you not feel like you're queueing, whilst you are in fact queueing for the dark ride? I guess you could argue it's the start of the "dark ride experience", but then, you could equally argue the experience starts as soon as you step foot inside the building. I personally much prefer Hex's preshow experiences to that of The Haunting at Drayton (using that as a comparison since it's the only other Madhouse I've done). They both use a similar idea I guess, but Hex's is so much more dramatic, as well as much simpler and effective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted January 10, 2015 Report Share Posted January 10, 2015 Villa Volta's first pre show is standing in a room with Dutch being spoken over the speakers... THAT'S a terrible example of a dark ride pre show... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted January 10, 2015 Report Share Posted January 10, 2015 I like Hex's preshow when I haven't been on it for ages, but I think I would go on it more if it didn't have it. The Haunting at Drayton does have some interesting effects\illusions, bur "Doctor X" is comical! Whiteknuckle 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Posted January 12, 2015 Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 (edited) I was browsing TowersTimes and they said the total height of the building the ride can use is 18metres which they assume that there will be some kind of thrilling element inside. They also said it rules out automatic guided vehicles and lasers. IMO, I don't think it makes sense to build a laser ride because we have one at Chessie and one at Alton. I'd love to see a Mummy/Gringotts (smaller scale) or a Spiderman/Transformers, just something amazing that could compete with Paramount. I'm sceptical it would be any of the 2 types of rides because someone mentioned that the Mummy's height is 30m, whereas we have 18m. Also, some guy on SouthParks said that the ride is supposed to come out in 2018, I don't know if that's true. Edited January 12, 2015 by Will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Project LC Posted January 12, 2015 Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 The 18m is true as the highest point of the building is 15m and the pit is 3m. AGV's don't do height changes very well and why would they get a laser ride with 2 near by. They also don't cost £12+m. It will be some sort of track based ride which suits first thrills while telling a story at the same time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted January 12, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 I was browsing TowersTimes and they said the total height of the building the ride can use is 18metres which they assume that there will be some kind of thrilling element inside. They also said it rules out automatic guided vehicles and lasers. Also, some guy on SouthParks said that the ride is supposed to come out in 2018, I don't know if that's true. Having a quick skim read of TTF and the guy who said about the 18m seems to be mistaken. The maximum building height is around 10m. A relatively large pit is being made too, but that only goes 3m deep. So the absolute largest total height is 13m. Even then, it will be less, because of course you can't go right to the very top. Even then, the plans seem to suggest to me that the pit is more likely to be used for mechanisms and such, as opposed to the actual ride itself. Who knows though! I don't think the height necessarily suggests anything about the ride experience either. It's quite easy to make a laser ride / slow guided tracked vehicle ride go two floors, for example! As for the 2018, I think that bit of the conversation related to the opening of the main hotel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Project LC Posted January 12, 2015 Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 Its not a laser ride. Why would merlin spend £12-25million on a laser ride when you have 2 within an hour of the park. Also I (that person your referring to is me btw) did get a tad confused on the building height. Got 2 rides mixed up which is why I said 18m. However AVG's struggle a lot with changes in height as they are generally heavy and slow moving. They are able to go up and down inclines but it does have consequences. Now ive refreshed myself with the plans that building could contain anything with any sort of theme. I will agree on one thing though, it looks very hunger games like at the moment. And yes the 2018 was about the hotel and the MTDP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted January 12, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 Its not a laser ride. Why would merlin spend £12-25million on a laser ride when you have 2 within an hour of the park. Also I (that person your referring to is me btw) did get a tad confused on the building height. Got 2 rides mixed up which is why I said 18m. However AVG's struggle a lot with changes in height as they are generally heavy and slow moving. They are able to go up and down inclines but it does have consequences. Now ive refreshed myself with the plans that building could contain anything with any sort of theme. I will agree on one thing though, it looks very hunger games like at the moment. And yes the 2018 was about the hotel and the MTDP. I don't think anything can be ruled out. Just because other parks have a laser shooting ride, doesn't mean Thorpe can't have one! There's nothing necessarily bad about them either, but normally they are lazily done and detract from the experience as a whole. I would agree that if Thorpe were to invest a ton of money into this that a laser ride would be low down by choices though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerfuffle Posted January 12, 2015 Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 I don't think anything can be ruled out. Just because other parks have a laser shooting ride, doesn't mean Thorpe can't have one! There's nothing necessarily bad about them either, but normally they are lazily done and detract from the experience as a whole. I would agree that if Thorpe were to invest a ton of money into this that a laser ride would be low down by choices though! Also, It might not be a haunted house! *glares meaningfully at Duel* Didn't John Wardley mention the fact that Duel as an interactive shooter takes away the feeling of being threatened? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted January 12, 2015 Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 Transformers quite happily uses two floors... But I would hazard a guess that a 10m tall building won't be able to produce a two floor dark ride... Also there are some fantastic laser/interactive attractions throughout the world, including Men in Black and Huntik... Whilst I don't expect it to be interactive, it's not worth ruling it out because of two retrofitted ones, as dedicated ones tend to be better (even Laser Raiders is good at that)... pognoi 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanAbnormal Posted January 12, 2015 Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 Any ideas when the park will start marketing this or when we'll hear anything about the theme or storyline? I still have a strong suspicion that this will be another Lionsgate collaboration and be a Hunger Games ride. Cal, Altitude, Olistjj and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stretchy Posted January 13, 2015 Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 How would you make a Hunger Games ride though? And more importantly how would you make it re-ridable? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deleted Users Posted January 13, 2015 Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 Well only 1 person from each vehicle would be able to reride so... ste193, DanAbnormal, Matt 236 and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pluk Posted January 13, 2015 Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 How would you make a Hunger Games ride though? And more importantly how would you make it re-ridable? It doesn't matter if you can or do make it any good, the IP and marketing will make it a success? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPJames Posted January 14, 2015 Report Share Posted January 14, 2015 It doesn't matter if you can or do make it any good, the IP and marketing will make it a success?Unfortunately this is the way thorpe thinks and generally results in poor attractions...*Cough* Angry Birds Land *Cough* Kerfuffle 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerfuffle Posted January 14, 2015 Report Share Posted January 14, 2015 Unfortunately this is the way thorpe thinks and generally results in poor attractions... *Cough* Angry Birds Land *Cough* ...and SAW. We really could've come off a lot better with the original idea for the theme of the ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt 236 Posted January 14, 2015 Report Share Posted January 14, 2015 ...and SAW. We really could've come off a lot better with the original idea for the theme of the ride. Or perhaps every ride built at Thorpe since Merlin's ownership except the Swarm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanAbnormal Posted January 16, 2015 Report Share Posted January 16, 2015 I tweeted Thorpe Park yesterday and asked if we'll hear anything about the 2016 attraction soon, and their response was 'You will have to keep your eyes peeled'. I'm probably reading into that far too much, but with Doctor Who being one of the rumoured themes for the ride the first thing that came to mind was the Blink episode with the weeping angels. I assume that this attraction was planned as a counter-attack to the Paramount Park which will include BBC themed attractions, so it strikes me as odd that Thorpe would go with a BBC IP for this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamminGamer Posted January 16, 2015 Report Share Posted January 16, 2015 I think that might be a base of taking clues from something that they didn't intend considering that that's an extremely common phrase.... too much speculation and not enough confirmation on the parks part! (Though I would love a Doctor Who dark ride I don't think that's what we'll be seeing.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanAbnormal Posted January 17, 2015 Report Share Posted January 17, 2015 Yeah I was most likely reading into something that wasn't intended but Doctor Who came to mind after all the rumours that it could be the theme for this. The plans still scream Hunger Games to me and I personally think that would suit the park more than Doctor Who, but both themes would undoubtedly be very popular. I wish Merlin weren't so secretive but hopefully we'll hear something soon... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamminGamer Posted January 18, 2015 Report Share Posted January 18, 2015 I'm hoping for some kind of hint/clue to be around the area of the dark ride for when the park opens or at least at some point during the 2015 season, like they did for The Swarm with the characters and cordoned off area. Regardless I'm sure some more concrete information will be had soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Allgood Posted January 18, 2015 Report Share Posted January 18, 2015 On route to the park should have some updates soon Olistjj, JamminGamer, Matt 236 and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenC Posted January 18, 2015 Report Share Posted January 18, 2015 I'm sure some more concrete information will be had soon! I'd also like information on steel, wood and foliage, as well as concrete. ... JoshC., JamminGamer, Matt 236 and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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