February 6, 20187 yr comment_255724 Also worth remembering Thorpe's most successful period was the Saw period... I like how they are adding extras to the Summer event too, whilst Summer Nights were fun - I can see why they were not possible to sustain long term, hopefully this helps and adds more pull to people staying late so we can see more of this in the future!
February 6, 20187 yr comment_255725 24 minutes ago, streetmagix said: The new kiddies rides were dumped there because Merlin owned them and they needed to put them somewhere. Chessington is tight on space, they wouldn't fit in Legoland and Alton Towers has Cbeebies land so really it was Thorpe, storing them or selling them for £7.50. Not forgetting that Alton, Legoland & Chessington already have those exact rides so Thorpe was ideal and made it more “family”
February 6, 20187 yr comment_255729 I'd rather they focused on infrastructure and guest experience than short term investments such as this.
February 6, 20187 yr comment_255730 I'm pretty sure Living Nightmare Extreme will be them actually finishing the maze in the first place and not expecting the actors to have to do what they can with an incomplete experience, due to poorly designed and sourced props, conflicting requirements from management and no finale. If this is the case that will be great, but a lot of the fright night cast will not be returning.
February 6, 20187 yr comment_255731 35 minutes ago, Coaster said: I'd rather they focused on infrastructure and guest experience than short term investments such as this. Infrastructure and improved customer experience doesn’t get them (positive) headlines unlike these gimmicks they keep rolling out each year. Wonder why no Merlin boffin has run with “UK’s first theme park fully dedicated to TWD” it’s gotta be round the corner somewhere ?
February 6, 20187 yr comment_255732 Might get them better KPI scores that they don't have to skew positive though... And reduce the amount of Ctrl+c; Ctrl+v responses on social media/Trip Advisor...
February 6, 20187 yr comment_255733 Get ready for "Ride on a wave of light and sound to the Safe Zone whilst you try and escape the zombies of the Walking Dead"
February 6, 20187 yr comment_255734 6 minutes ago, Benin said: Might get them better KPI scores that they don't have to skew positive though... And reduce the amount of Ctrl+c; Ctrl+v responses on social media/Trip Advisor... completely agree. And the worst part is improving the experience wouldn’t actually cost that much but because it’s not a headline grabber it’s not important to the management. If Merlin were really all about the customer experience they’d have tablets fitted in high traffic areas like every queue line, they’d have more feedback in one day than they currently do all year!
February 6, 20187 yr comment_255739 2 hours ago, MattyMoo said: Get ready for "Ride on a wave of light and sound to the Safe Zone whilst you try and escape the zombies of the Walking Dead" I'd be down with that if it means we can finally hear the music on the ride
February 6, 20187 yr comment_255741 So here's my expectations for the Safe Zone: I expect it to be almost the same as X apart from the pre-show. They might have some actors in the ride area for press release. Basically over-exargerate expectations and mis-sell the attraction to the press as usual. Then the actors will go because Thorpe can't afford to keep running live attractions like their last "Permanent" attraction, Saw Alive. Anything more than this would be nice. Just set your expectations low or you'll probably be disappointed.
February 6, 20187 yr comment_255742 I’d be surprised if they had actors in the ride area - not sure H&S would allow that. Im sure X will probably turn out looking quite good inside if Living Nightmare is anything to go by.
February 6, 20187 yr comment_255744 5 hours ago, SYNAW said: I'm pretty sure Living Nightmare Extreme will be them actually finishing the maze in the first place and not expecting the actors to have to do what they can with an incomplete experience, due to poorly designed and sourced props, conflicting requirements from management and no finale. If this is the case that will be great, but a lot of the fright night cast will not be returning. The extreme sounds more like they are going to be using actors that are able to scare people. As a maze, be it finished or not, won't make someone scare.
February 6, 20187 yr comment_255746 my guess is living nightmare extreme won't be an actual extreme FIA type thing, but will probably just be an improved and maybe scarier/more intense version of the maze. after all, they want it to get the crowds in - the majority of people would much rather a scary, intense yet normal maze rather than being thrown about in handcuffs and have fake ****e thrown all over them for 10 minutes
February 6, 20187 yr comment_255747 I’m pretty sure Merlin’s last business statement classed Thorpe Park as aimed towards young adults, if this is the case then the marketing seems to make sense. Thorpe did seem to go down a path of appealing to all ages around 2013 time, however given attendance levels are still lower, perhaps they are again focusing more towards the thrills. Whilst Lego and Chessington are short distances away, younger families have (and will) continue to visit, so hopefully they won’t isolate them completely if this is the case. The irony that one of Thorpe’s best attendance years was when Storm Surge opened.
February 6, 20187 yr comment_255750 3 hours ago, Stuntman707 said: They might have some actors in the ride area for press release. 3 hours ago, Marc said: I’d be surprised if they had actors in the ride area - not sure H&S would allow that. More likely to be animatronics if it's got a high enough budget, though it's more likely to just be a waxwork with a strobe light sat in front of it
February 6, 20187 yr comment_255752 I just want the fab lighting & audio to stay, sod the Walking Dead...
February 6, 20187 yr comment_255754 Now I've had a proper look at what this all is, I don't particularly want to see a theme park become "AMC Park" with this Walking Dead IP for an entire season. It just screams "cheap" and "unimaginative" more than anything else. But if the public want it, let it happen. My concern more than anything is won't this move devalue the Fright Nights product? I now don't see any reason to bother going this year other than for Big Top.
February 6, 20187 yr comment_255755 48 minutes ago, Marhelorpe said: My concern more than anything is won't this move devalue the Fright Nights product? I now don't see any reason to bother going this year other than for Big Top. Yeah true, it does take away value from Fright Nights. You could argue that Fright Nights is still popular as the park often reaches capacity. Therefore they want to maximise the extra sales with the late opening hours and Walking Dead IP. However it may well have an impact on Fright Nights if people who would have usually gone visited earlier. That and there being much better events during October like Shocktober Fest they may decide to go to instead since they have already done Thorpe. Leaving out TWD, you're essentially left with only 3 mazes (2 if you count Saw Alive opening outside FN), while shocktober has a massive 9 this year!
February 7, 20187 yr comment_255758 13 hours ago, Timber Creek said: I’m pretty sure Merlin’s last business statement classed Thorpe Park as aimed towards young adults, if this is the case then the marketing seems to make sense. The target audience with the least disposable income. Nice work.
February 7, 20187 yr comment_255766 Brilliant investment. This certainly will be relevant and a long-term investment that will really totally shape the park's future. its nice too see more abandoned and drab themes in the park, because who needs fun in a theme park eh?
February 9, 20187 yr comment_255792 On 2/7/2018 at 10:11 AM, Mark9 said: The target audience with the least disposable income. Nice work. You say that, but I'm pretty sure there's more people in my old school with Merlin/Thorpe annual passes than not.
February 9, 20187 yr comment_255794 11 minutes ago, ChessingtonSam said: You say that, but I'm pretty sure there's more people in my old school with Merlin/Thorpe annual passes than not. Yeah but who got them their passes? What do they purchase on a standard trip to the park? Etc.
February 9, 20187 yr comment_255795 3 minutes ago, Benin said: Yeah but who got them their passes? What do they purchase on a standard trip to the park? Etc. Oh yeah I know, that was my point.
February 9, 20187 yr comment_255797 2 hours ago, ChessingtonSam said: Oh yeah I know, that was my point. What point? Just because I had an annual pass at 14/15, who do you think actually spent the money on it?
February 9, 20187 yr comment_255799 In all fairness 2009 and 2011 have been their best attendance levels of recent years (despite the love-hate reactions with what opened then). The last few years have unfortunately seen a dip in attendance which hasn’t really reached the levels of Pre-2012 yet. I think the issues of that 2012 were purely down to Olympics and bad weather though despite the perceiving that Swarm was a failure. It wasn’t and usually gets one of the higher satisfaction ratings. The Park ideally need a marketing image which focuses on the thrilling elements but does not overlook it for families either. I for one would like to also see a consistently between dark and upbeat themes.
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