2017 - New Junior Rides?

[Coaster]

4 hours ago, Josh3103 said:

I'm not hyped but I'm happy that Thorpe are paying atteantion to this area

It's a quick fix, but doesn't change the fact that the area has been completely neglected with a disused train station and tracks still visible, Loggers Leap decaying behind a fence, the surroundings all look tired and it's completely void of the atmosphere it used to have.

 

I think this highlights how Thorpe have lost their sense of direction, a few years back they didn't want families there and family rides were removed, now they're having to install these rides (and let's be honest, this is not what a park on Thorpe's scale should be installing) because they've neglected the family market for so long it has damaged the park's ride lineup.

[Josh3103]

I remember coming when was young and the area had an excellent atmosphere but now it just looks abandoned Loggers ( the best ride at the park ) falling apart behind a fence, rocky possibly being removed for rockin tug and a SBNO railway Thorpe really need to give this area some proper attention and not just new rides, maybe a whole area retheme perhaps?

[MattyMoo]

I've just a had a thought - maybe they'll stick a small Sealife centre exhibit in there (just throw in a few goldfish/Dory's/those things that clean your fingernails) and then it'll match the rides and you could call it "Sea Town"

[Charlesberg]

Even though these additions aren't necessarily great, I'm actually more excited for these than I was for DBGT.

 

I think that if the new flat rides were installed effectively, it could significantly increase the variety at Thorpe Park and at least give some more to the young ones.

[MattyMoo]

5 hours ago, Benin said:

 moulding

 

That's themeing.

[CharlieN]

26 minutes ago, MattyMoo said:

I've just a had a thought - maybe they'll stick a small Sealife centre exhibit in there (just throw in a few goldfish/Dory's/those things that clean your fingernails) and then it'll match the rides and you could call it "Sea Town"

 

I can genuinely see them doing that - relocate Flying Fish and you've got a cohesive family section!

 

I just think something needs to be done to The Old Town as it's a right poo hole at the moment.

[L7123456]

10 hours ago, Josh3103 said:

Maybe they will remove rocky and put it there

 

They can't do that! The Rocky Express is amazing!

[RobF]

Tbh I think the rocking tug would be suited in amity in someway .

 

Whilst the small drop tower would be more suitable to angry birds land 

 

if they do end up in old town they will be so out of place

[saffy]

50 minutes ago, RobF said:

Tbh I think the rocking tug would be suited in amity in someway .

 

Whilst the small drop tower would be more suitable to angry birds land 

 

if they do end up in old town they will be so out of place

maybe behind depth charge haha, bumping barnacles would only suit the amity area too

[CallumSyxr]

Thats what I totally was thinking I thought that water themed kiddie drop tower would fit perfect in the spot behind Tidal Wave Station and

Flying Fish Entrance and replace those lockers and put new lockers around the park and I thought the rock nd tug would fit behind Depth charge

as saffy and RobF said it would only fit the Amity beach and even if they rethemed canada creek they would have two water themed areas it just

wouldnt make sense at all.

[CallumSyxr]

On 08/12/2016 at 6:53 PM, Martin.C said:

These attractions that have been shipped from Weymouth Sea Life for use at Thorpe Park is a strange one to me. It's almost as if Thorpe Park have finally admitted that alienating your 3-7 year old audience from the park after Octopus Gardens were removed in 2010 was a mistake and are trying once again to attract them. But is it too late and would it be enough to persuade some families to visit Thorpe over Chessington I wonder?

 

One can hope the park will be working on getting Loggers Leap back open in addition to this, but it will never happen. The cheaper route is obviously the better route in the park's eyes, but I am intrigued to know what is happening to Canada Creek right now as that area seriously needed updating.

 

 

Anything in the park is better than DBGT, so that's not a huge feat!

I think that they will move the 2 new rides to Amity beach as it would not fit in Old Town and why would they have 2 water themed areas so I do not believe that they will retheme Old Town to a water based themed area. The location of the water themed kiddie drop tower would fit perfect in the spot behind Tidal Wave Station and

Flying Fish Entrance and replace those lockers and put new lockers around the park and I thought the rock nd tug would fit behind Depth charge

as  it would only fit the Amity beach and even if they rethemed canada creek they would have two water themed areas it just

wouldnt make sense at all so I believe they have came over from Weymouth and they have had no where to store it so they have just placed it in Old town as (it is getting redeveloped), but thats just my opinion what will happen for next year.

 

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[saffy]

On ‎08‎/‎12‎/‎2016 at 8:11 PM, Adam P said:

Whilst this may be the case they are staying, its worth remembering the rides in Weymouth are maintained by Thorpe. It may be the case its just easier to work on them there than send engineers on a huge round trip daily for a month or so.

they won't be returning to sealife, sealife have removed all their rides for good

[JoshuaA]

This is such a odd addition..

It definitely fills a hole in the lineup, but just slotting in non themed re-used flats feels cheap and tacky.

[JoshC.]

Working on the assumption that these rides are going to be installed at Thorpe, I think they're a...nice addition?

 

Regardless of how hard Thorpe tried to push away the family market, it simply did not work.  Families still came to visit, including families with young children.  It's difficult for Thorpe in some sense - they were almost saying "DON'T COME TO THORPE PARK IF YOU HAVE YOUNG CHILDREN", yet people didn't listen.  I guess that was one of the reasons why they had to revert back to actively advertising to families; they were coming anyway.  Things like ABL and IAC have at least helped expand the offering a bit more, even if it's not what the park should be doing to become a park suitable for all the family.

 

These rides add a bit more for younger children to do.  And I mean *younger* children - don't forget that kids as young as 2 are 0.9m tall and able to ride such rides.  And there's enough 2 year olds visiting the park (if you don't believe me, keep an eye out on your next visit, you will see a lot more toddlers than you expect!) to warrant some form of rides which could appeal to them.  The trouble with the current 0.9m line up is that they are all rides which are either too high, too fast or too rough for many parents to want to take their young children on them.  A RockNTug and Jumping Frog are rides which are proven to have more ridership from younger visitors, whilst not being too popular; see the equivalents at Chessington, Towers, etc.

 

On 09/12/2016 at 10:45 AM, StevenVig said:

This is a pathetic move, I have no words. Simply and utterly shocking

On 09/12/2016 at 0:41 PM, Coaster Jamie said:

and let's be honest, this is not what a park on Thorpe's scale should be installing

 

I've seen these sorts of comments on a lot of forums, and it always confuses me.  People say the park needs more family rides, more children rides, etc, but when they're added in, people say that's not the sort of stuff they should be adding?  I just don't get what people want - what sort of small family rides should a park on Thorpe's scale be adding so that it is not labelled as pathetic, shocking or what?

 

NB:  If people are talking about the theming of the rides, please read below.

 

On 09/12/2016 at 0:41 PM, Coaster Jamie said:

I think this highlights how Thorpe have lost their sense of direction, a few years back they didn't want families there and family rides were removed, now they're having to install these rides (and let's be honest, this is not what a park on Thorpe's scale should be installing) because they've neglected the family market for so long it has damaged the park's ride lineup.

 

I agree Thorpe's sense of direction can be seen as confusing, as can their general 'brand'.  Hopefully this is something that can be worked on over the next year or two.

 

However, I think many over-exaggerate the removal of so many family rides.  In the last 10 years, they've removed MHFS, CRC, CCR, Octopus Gardens without like-for-like replacements (ie - no attractions of a similar target market replaced them eventually, hence why I'm not including Time Voyagers).  And maybe Loggers Leap, but let's take Thorpe's word for it for the moment.  Of those rides, how many of them were "family" rides, in the sense of rides that all the family could enjoy?  At a push, you could say CRC and CCR.   People talking of the removal of the OG rides as a loss is ridiculous in my opinion; they were rides which arguably would have been out of place at Legoland.  So keeping them at Thorpe would surely be daft.

 

These rides are ones which are able to produce a slight thrill for adults, whilst still being very entertaining for young children.  And I think we can agree that whatever Thorpe's direction, brand, market, is, it is something where they want people to have a 'thrill', and not sit idly by, and that reflects in all of their attractions.  And there's nothing wrong with that I guess, even if it's not the norm.

 

 

On 09/12/2016 at 1:32 PM, Josh3103 said:

give this area some proper attention and not just new rides, maybe a whole area retheme perhaps?

 

I always feel like people are bashing their head against a brick wall with a retheme of the area - they've already put some focus on turning Canada Creek into Old Town, and that should develop in the future.  So, in effect, a retheme has already happened, and I can't see one happening again any time soon.

 

 

I think the big thing for these rides is whether they're themed to fit within the surrounding area.  Again, assuming they're going in the Old Town area, if they're left as they are and just plonked down, that really puts a negative side to these rides - they will look totally out of place, feel really cheap and tacky, and justify a lot of hatred towards them, unfortunately.  If, however, they are (re)themed, and there's some attempt to make them look part of the surrounding area, then it can make them feel a lot more complete, and belong in the area.  And it would then create a nice little area which younger families can enjoy, and inject some real energy into that part of the park.  

 

Of course, this is still far from an ideal scenario.  I'm sure we'd all love the area to have an open Loggers Leap, or a large-scale attraction replacing it, along with new rides which are highly themed and feel natural in the area.  We all know the park are crying out for a major family attraction, be that a coaster with a 1.2m height restriction to appeals to all, or a log flume on the scale of Chiapas or something.  But the ideal situation isn't always what we get...far from it sometimes.  But regardless of any of that, I do think that if the park are serious about becoming a place that welcomes families, these sorts of attractions would be needed sooner or later.

 

 

Now of course we play the waiting game to see if these are actually staying at Thorpe, and if they are, where they're going, if they're being themed, etc. etc.

 

[Mattgwise]

Would the rides fit on the small patch of grass next to Depth Charge, maybe they will go there? 

[Coaster]

3 hours ago, BaronC. said:

I've seen these sorts of comments on a lot of forums, and it always confuses me.  People say the park needs more family rides, more children rides, etc, but when they're added in, people say that's not the sort of stuff they should be adding?  I just don't get what people want - what sort of small family rides should a park on Thorpe's scale be adding so that it is not labelled as pathetic, shocking or what?

 

However, I think many over-exaggerate the removal of so many family rides.  In the last 10 years, they've removed MHFS, CRC, CCR, Octopus Gardens without like-for-like replacements (ie - no attractions of a similar target market replaced them eventually, hence why I'm not including Time Voyagers).  And maybe Loggers Leap, but let's take Thorpe's word for it for the moment.  Of those rides, how many of them were "family" rides, in the sense of rides that all the family could enjoy?  At a push, you could say CRC and CCR.   People talking of the removal of the OG rides as a loss is ridiculous in my opinion; they were rides which arguably would have been out of place at Legoland.  So keeping them at Thorpe would surely be daft.

 

I always feel like people are bashing their head against a brick wall with a retheme of the area - they've already put some focus on turning Canada Creek into Old Town, and that should develop in the future.  So, in effect, a retheme has already happened, and I can't see one happening again any time soon.

 

It's not the target market for these rides that's being ridiculed, it's the quality; they're not permanent theme park rides, and they've essentially been thrown in on a shoestring budget because the park hasn't got enough for families.  Introducing two cheap, temporary rides whilst Loggers continues to fester and installing nothing in the way of permanent additions is going to cause (justified IMO) criticism.

 

Moving on to their lack of direction, I think that anyone could have told them that pushing families away wasn't going to work, theme parks are supposed to appeal to and entertain everyone in concept and Thorpe was built originally as a family park.

 

Octopus Gardens could have been redeveloped (and by that I don't mean a Loggers style fence around it) with new rides instead of Storm Surge.

 

Regards the family ride lineup and exaggeration of rides being removed, the park already had a very limited lineup of rides that appeal to families, so the removals and closures there have been make the situation far worse as there is now a serious lack of quality family rides.

 

Canada Creek has hardly been rethemed aside from the name change, unless they're going for "abandoned theme park."

[Mitchada04]

Actually to begin with the Thrill Capital thing worked. Park numbers were on the up massively. The issue wasn't getting people in. The issue was teenagers don't spend money. They were mostly local teens who would spend almost nothing on a visit. It's your families that spend money on meals, merchandise etc. Six flags had the same issue. Thorpe's focus on thrills started in like 2001 so for 11 seasons they went strong with that. 

 

The rocking tug you can't say isn't a permanent theme park ride. Every other Merlin park in England has one. We don't know if they're going to be rethemed yet or not so we shouldn't assume. They've literally just been delivered, you'd install the ride first then do it up. Considering they're free rides I'd like to think they'll have some money to make them fit in.

 

[Coaster]

They focused on thrills for a long time, but I don't remember them actively pushing away families until around 2012ish?

 

By not permanent I mean it appears to be a ride that can just be set up, much like a fair ride.  Unless I'm wrong, aren't Griffin's Galleon, Heave Ho and Longboat Invader much larger models of the ride?

[Matt 236]

18 minutes ago, Coaster Jamie said:

They focused on thrills for a long time, but I don't remember them actively pushing away families until around 2012ish?

 

By not permanent I mean it appears to be a ride that can just be set up, much like a fair ride.  Unless I'm wrong, aren't Griffin's Galleon, Heave Ho and Longboat Invader much larger models of the ride?

I'd say as early as 2001 the park were shifting towards thrills but there was still some family market around, hence Eclipse.

 

2009/2010 was when things started really to go full thrill. Hence the branding, push for thrill rides and further removal of family attractions such as Octopus Gardens, Fungle Safari, CCR and Time Voyagers.

 

It was around 2012/2013 time that the park probably realised the all thrill image wasn't working (perhaps as a result of the market not spending and supposed failure of the Swarm, which was actually down to s General bad uk year). 

 

The park now cater for all ages now that I'm aware, hence the additions of ABL and IAC (supposedly).

[Benin]

2001 was just the park trying to balance out because they had nothing remotely thrill ride at the time, like Quantum and Eclipse can actually been termed as family attractions anyway, especially when added with Inferno... It was the right steps for the park at that time as they were actually starting to cater for an audience who weren't visiting...

 

Unfortunately for reasons unknown (Chessie?) the trend didn't stop and we're in a situation today... But it seems that Merlin cannot simply add a family style attraction for some reason... Thirteen is too dark for those on the limit to enjoy, and Derren Brown is an awful misstep to what should be (a dark ride) a massive family attraction... The only family stuff is apparently IAC and Angry Birds Land? Some strange decision making has led to these issues, and the marketing choices especially are part of this...

[Josh3103]

13 hours ago, Mattgwise said:

Would the rides fit on the small patch of grass next to Depth Charge, maybe they will go there? 

Thats a possibility but I think rockin tug is going to unfortunately replace rocky and I dont really know where they will put the jumping frog

[Marc]

6 hours ago, Coaster Jamie said:

They focused on thrills for a long time, but I don't remember them actively pushing away families until around 2012ish?

 

By not permanent I mean it appears to be a ride that can just be set up, much like a fair ride.  Unless I'm wrong, aren't Griffin's Galleon, Heave Ho and Longboat Invader much larger models of the ride?

 

So can Samurai, Zodiac, Detonator but all serve a good purpose respectively!

[JoshC.]

 

19 hours ago, Coaster Jamie said:

It's not the target market for these rides that's being ridiculed, it's the quality; they're not permanent theme park rides, and they've essentially been thrown in on a shoestring budget because the park hasn't got enough for families.  Introducing two cheap, temporary rides whilst Loggers continues to fester and installing nothing in the way of permanent additions is going to cause (justified IMO) criticism.

9 hours ago, Coaster Jamie said:

By not permanent I mean it appears to be a ride that can just be set up, much like a fair ride.  Unless I'm wrong, aren't Griffin's Galleon, Heave Ho and Longboat Invader much larger models of the ride?

 

As has been said by others, there's plenty of rides at theme parks which can be said to not be 'permanent theme park rides', and are in effect fair rides.  Samurai, Detonator, Zodiac, Teacups, Vortex... are all rides which could essentially be fair rides, or variations thereof.  And for the Rockin' Tug, made by Zamperla, it is offered as a park model, and seems to be all of the same size.

 

I still don't get this criticism though.  As I said, if Thorpe want to really go into the 'family' market, I really think at some point they are going to need low-key family / kid rides to the line up.  What sort of rides could they add which are to be "expected" of a permanent theme park of Thorpe's quality?  Honest question, which I'd love answers to, as I can't really think of any...

 

If the criticism is because of how they are looking at the moment, then that just seems pointless, since the rides haven't been installed, themed, styled, etc etc.  If they're installed how they look in the Old Town area, then I agree that critique is justified; at this stage, it isn't though.

 

19 hours ago, Coaster Jamie said:

Octopus Gardens could have been redeveloped (and by that I don't mean a Loggers style fence around it) with new rides instead of Storm Surge.

 

I always hear this line from several people; people saying that either OG could have stayed, or something else other than Storm Surge could have replaced it.  Yet I never see anyone give any suggestions of what the replacement could have been.  So again, I'm curious what people think should have gone there.  It's like people saying Thorpe need new flat rides - all well and good saying it, but what could they install that would actually add to the line up.

 

19 hours ago, Coaster Jamie said:

Canada Creek has hardly been rethemed aside from the name change, unless they're going for "abandoned theme park."

 

I agree that at this stage it hasn't been rethemed.  But my point is that Thorpe have actively decided to market the area as Old Town, and it just makes no sense to me for them to actively give an area a new name and vague theme if they're going to completely change it in a year or two.  If they were going to do that, surely just keep the Canada Creek name and leave it as it is till the retheme?  The direction they're going is Old Town, so it just feels silly for people to cling onto blind faith of it being 'rethemed'.

 

9 hours ago, Coaster Jamie said:

They focused on thrills for a long time, but I don't remember them actively pushing away families until around 2012ish?

 

I'd say that they started to focus purely on the thrill market from around 2009/2010.  2010 was when the horrid fat heads came about, along with the 'subtle' innuendos (anyone remember the KFC shark being advertised as 'THORPE PARK'S BIG NEW ERECTION' on Facebook), to the in-your-face stuff (hardcore roller coaster porn video on YouTube...).  Dark, dark times.

 

5 hours ago, Josh3103 said:

Thats a possibility but I think rockin tug is going to unfortunately replace rocky and I dont really know where they will put the jumping frog

 

I'd be surprised if Rocky left; Closed Season pictures from TPM and TPG make it out like standard closed season work is going on with the ride, which obviously wouldn't be happening if the ride was being removed.  

[Coaster]

2 hours ago, BaronC. said:

As has been said by others, there's plenty of rides at theme parks which can be said to not be 'permanent theme park rides', and are in effect fair rides.  Samurai, Detonator, Zodiac, Teacups, Vortex... are all rides which could essentially be fair rides, or variations thereof.  And for the Rockin' Tug, made by Zamperla, it is offered as a park model, and seems to be all of the same size.

 

I still don't get this criticism though.  As I said, if Thorpe want to really go into the 'family' market, I really think at some point they are going to need low-key family / kid rides to the line up.  What sort of rides could they add which are to be "expected" of a permanent theme park of Thorpe's quality?  Honest question, which I'd love answers to, as I can't really think of any...

 

If the criticism is because of how they are looking at the moment, then that just seems pointless, since the rides haven't been installed, themed, styled, etc etc.  If they're installed how they look in the Old Town area, then I agree that critique is justified; at this stage, it isn't though.

 

I always hear this line from several people; people saying that either OG could have stayed, or something else other than Storm Surge could have replaced it.  Yet I never see anyone give any suggestions of what the replacement could have been.  So again, I'm curious what people think should have gone there.  It's like people saying Thorpe need new flat rides - all well and good saying it, but what could they install that would actually add to the line up.

The one at Chessington is manufactured by Zierer according to Wikipedia, so is a different ride.

 

Things like Sea Storm, Rainforest Rescue, the sort of rides you see in Thomas Land or Nickelodeon Land.  If the rides at Thorpe are given a complete overhaul to bring them up to theme park standards, I'll happily take what I've said back, but I think it's unlikely that much will happen beyond installing the rides.

 

Octopus Gardens could have been developed on the basis of remove a ride and replace, then repeat.  They could install a few rides for more adventurous families, such as one of the ones mentioned above.

 

Regarding Zodiac, Samurai and Detonator, they're not really of theme park standard IMO, but Detonator does its job well - Samurai used to when it ran properly!

[Matt 236]

I think my biggest concern isn't so much the rides they've got here for area (assuming they are here to stay), but it's more the case if they theme them into the area.

 

If the rides are painted and styled and carefully implemented, then the additions of these two despite their random circumstances are perfectly acceptable.

 

However, if they are just slap banged on whatever empty space is free in there current states and look rather temporary, then they are not really acceptable.

 

Thorpe does have other travelling based rides, however there has at least been some effort to implement them into their existing zones when they were installed regardless of how good/bad they are as rides.