2019 Season

[JoshC.]

In fairness, they don't usually include it unless it's open. See 2017 map for example:

 

 

Whilst we're talking about maps, a throwback to my favourite Thorpe style, used from 2002-2007...

 

 

Ahh, they were the days  

[Matt A]

So TheJackSilkstone got shown around Thorpe Park early and showed some of the changes happening at Thorpe Park:

 

 

For those not wanting to watch the video, I noted the following:

• New projector in the Dome with some new signage (modernisation of the Dome happening in phases)
• New speakers on the entrance bridge
• Tidal Wave's exit bridge has been replaced, the other bridge for spectators has been removed
• Oasis branding replaced Dr Pepper at Tidal Wave
• Stealth's supports have been painted
• Sticky Sisters is being changed into a hot dog type restaurant
• I'm A Celeb branding has been removed, area will be covered up until opening of Jungle Escape
• Colossus has had the area around its supports filled in with concrete, some supports have been painted
• Bouncezilla is going in the area outside Crusts
• 'Old School' merch will be available for the 40th birthday with the old logo on
• GameFX will have a range of consoles with new games and a retro area, will also be a tournament as an 'introduction to e-sports'
• Coke Freestyle is being rolled out across the entire park with refillable drink quenchers available for them

[Mattgwise]

Good summary Matt,

 

Such a shame the shortcut bridge has gone. I hope they don't leave the fences white, it doesn't go. Also the Colossus area looks vile filled in, so also hope something happens there.

 

Liking the new screen, looking forward to the old school merch and nice to see the focus on food and beverage rolling out across the resort.

 

[JoshuaA]

Congrats to Thorpe for making the Colossus area look like the Margate seafront.. (Minus the sea..)

At least the run down pits  used to blend into the area a little, they could of least done something more than just throw a bunch of concrete at it, looks horrendous.

 

[JoshC.]

The Coke Freestyle thing is an excellent idea; believe the technology has been rolled out in some Florida parks and works well.

 

Dome looked very bare without the theming. But (as with most things that happen over winter), it's best to judge a week or so into park opening to see how the park will really feel.

 

GameFX still sounds incredibly meh. Hopefully Tidal's new fences get painted. Disappointed that the bridge has gone.

[LK_]

Coke Freestyle was one of the best things when I visited america in the cedar fair chain parks, so much choice honestly, though I assume here it'll be scaled down a bit 

[Mattgwise]

7 hours ago, LK_ said:

Coke Freestyle was one of the best things when I visited america in the cedar fair chain parks, so much choice honestly, though I assume here it'll be scaled down a bit 

Yes, when you include the fact that for normal full sugar coca cola, there are no longer any of the flavours apart from the original since the sugar tax! A pain! 

[Mark9]

Sick.

 

 

[MattyMoo]

3 hours ago, Mark9 said:

Sick.

 

 

My sentiments exactly bruv ?

[Matt 236]

Best thing to happen at the park since I can remember!

[Jack95]

In the latest video Thorpe Park have shared on their social media platforms it appears to show the Swarm ‘brave it backwards’ three times throughout the duration. 

 

Could this his be a final teaser or just generic stock footage? Guess we will find out tomorrow. 

[Marc]

2 minutes ago, Jack95 said:

In the latest video Thorpe Park have shared on their social media platforms it appears to show the Swarm ‘brave it backwards’ three times throughout the duration. 

 

Could this his be a final teaser or just generic stock footage? Guess we will find out tomorrow. 

Nope - this is just the video which was shown on the big screen at the start of the day ?

[JoshC.]

24 minutes ago, Jack95 said:

In the latest video Thorpe Park have shared on their social media platforms it appears to show the Swarm ‘brave it backwards’ three times throughout the duration. 

 

Could this his be a final teaser or just generic stock footage? Guess we will find out tomorrow. 

The video also shows I'm a Celebrity in it haha

[jessica2]

The dome looks so dull and bare without the Atlantis theming... strange choice! I know it’s being done in stages but I liked the lost city/underwater theme personally

[JoshC.]

Agree, looks a little soulless and bland. Hopefully they've got more planned before the park fully opens, and the next stage of refurb is worth it!

[Coaster]

Today was very good.  All the coasters were running multiple trains, the park was quiet and whilst there were some breakdowns/rides closed, for a preview day it seemed very well organised and everything that was open ran like clockwork.  Also it was great that Stealth opened!

 

I mean sure, I still don't like a lot of what Thorpe is doing, but it's fantastic that they were able to have every coaster open and running more than one train on the first day of being open to guests, and that they limited numbers rather than over-filling the park.  Much better than opening to 10,000 people when you're nowhere near ready.

 

I'm really not a fan of some of the cosmetic changes, the dome looks soulless now compared to how it looked before, the removal of Tidal's bridge is a shame as is Colossus' concrete (though I appreciate the reasons for this).

 

Only real annoyance from an operations perspective was that Derren Brown's Ghost Train had closed with the shop shutters down by 4:40.

[Marhelorpe]

I concur with Coaster above, today really was brilliant! For a preview day, I gotta give credit to the park here as I was honestly surprised by how well things were being run and the availability of the attractions for guests, especially when Stealth unexpectedly opened in the early afternoon. I'd go as far as to say this has been one of the best preview events the park has held yet. 

All coasters minus WD were running full capacity, including Colossus on two trains and Tidal Wave on two boats which is something rarely seen these days! The staff running the coasters were on fire too with frequent and fast dispatch times. No messing around or delays this visit anywhere across any ride. Staff were friendly and cooperative when DBGT broke down and all of them seem enthused, which is a promising start to the season.

 

Probably the most surprising thing for me was walking into a park where every minute between 10am - 5pm, the coasters did not remove any trains on their circuits due to small queues later in the day, which has become a terrible habit of this park lately. Instead, by 4pm, I was riding a train on Colossus with only 6 guests and loads of empty ones. Same for Inferno too. This is what I like to see!

 

As for the changes and things I noticed across the park, there are some questionable cosmetic changes made inside the dome I really don't think highly of, especially given it's just black walls everywhere now and PVC posters in front of the store instead of a glass display window as an example. It looks so incredibly dull in there without the old theming anymore and no massive widescreen projector will ever excuse the decision to do this. Also, there were some areas of the park which clearly weren't looked over properly during the winter, as the LED lighting rigs from Fright Nights are still standing next to Tidal Wave, Loggers Leap and IAC. Why are they still standing? It looks really lazy.

 

Colossus in-person looks awful with the land filled in under the vertical loop. They could have at least turfed the ground with some grass or plants couldn't they? Least the original audio was back on it today which was great to hear! It honestly suits the coaster so much better than the IMAscore version.

 

Swarm's station was also quite bad, as whilst they painted the steel supports after removing all the cladding surrounding them, they didn't paint the footers right down to the ground and as a result, bare silver metal is still visible near the floor on all the supports. It looks really bad and like a botch job.

 

But most of all, my biggest concern about what I saw from today was a seriously worrying lack of upkeep with their audio and SFX, because it was incredibly inconsistent in some areas and many effects have not been fixed since the end of last season. This is something I have noticed Chessington and Alton Towers are also suffering from currently so it's not unique just to Thorpe.

 

Here is a long list of every little observation I made from today for each ride. Used spoiler tags to keep this post from getting too long:

 

 

Entrance/Dome:
- New Evid speakers on bridge above your heads.
- The Dome toilets have PVC prints inside the cubicles which look alright, though are very pixelated.
- The audio inside the Dome is loud and punchy with loads of bass. Really like it currently as this!

Nemesis Inferno:

- No mist in the tunnel all day.
- Queue speakers kept on cutting out with jungle SFX playing over the whole time.
- The station has even more bass than before.
- Candle lights all working again.
- The red dispatch lights do not work anymore. No change in colour when the floor lowers.
- Brakes on the final run sound really unhealthy.
- Trains have been cleaned and have some shine again.
- Track is NOT jet-washed or clean. It's still really grimy and rust is visible on the track supports.
- Chewing gum still visible all across Inferno's volcano.
- Dispatch times on Inferno were very quick.

Audio:

- Lost City was playing the shorter version of the IMAscore soundtrack.
- Shorter version of the Jungle IMAscore soundtrack also playing.
- Aaaaaand finally the park entrance too was playing the shorter 15 minute version of the IMAscore soundtrack.
- Shark Hotel and the Dome have their audio tracks swapped over.

Saw - The Ride:

- Staff allocate you rows now.
- All the effects inside Saw are broken still minus the air jets.
- Billy the puppet now has two models inside the station and the indoor queue next to the rack contraption.
- The pre-show with billy is broken. His mouth barely moves anymore, so it looks like he has broken jaw.
- The right side of Saw's station is definitely brighter with orange bulbs instead of red ones.
- Plaza audio is much louder now.
- The wall of barrels into the ride's shop is finally gone!

Rush:

- Both swings going at an equal height and 100 degree angle once again!
- Shorter setting however.
- Queue speakers are still dead silent.

Walking Dead - The Ride:

- Baggage hold painted finally.
- The orange smoke effect is non-existent.
- The 3rd brake run has been enhanced with prison bars across the screens with walkers on them.

Derren Brown's 'Future for theme parks':

- New merchandise.
- The on-ride photo TVs are gone in the shop.
- The levitating trains have lost their levitation in the shop.
- Queue audio cutting out intermittently.
- Outside backwards clock still stuck at 4:30pm.
- Fake grass on the depot building has turned a blue colour.

Vortex:

- The claw has been repainted and looks shiny again.
- The supports have been cleaned down well.
- Floor still showing signs of wear.
- The staff offload each of the 8 sides one at a time.

Colossus:

- Queue audio also intermittently cutting out.
- Static noise occurs when a manual announcement is made.
- Audio leakage on lift hill still.
- TV screens all still broken.
- Smoke machines in the station and lift hill.
- Some new seating, thought not all are.
- Only the transfer track has been repainted fully blue on Colossus..................?!

Tidal Wave:

- Queue speakers are working again.
- The bridge outline in the pool is still visible. Looks really out-of-place.
- Dr Pepper sponsorship still visible on the turnaround section between the lift hill and drop.
- Queue water effects all still broken.

Stealth:

- Station is nice and loud audio-wise.
- One of the green light bulbs for the launch is still broken.
- Blue repainted track supports look bizarre honestly.
- Still no launch smoke effect.

The Swarm:

- None of Swarm's visual plaza effects working except for the mist from the airplane's turbine.
- No fire or water effects.
- Helicopter blades not spinning.
- No audio from the fire truck.
- No audio screech sound effect from the tower.
- Red LED lights on trains not working.
- New Evid speakers in Swarm's station sound awful quality-wise compared to the old Bose ones.
- Loads of speaker wiring present.

[JoshC.]

Glad to see people who went had a nice day, but I'll be the cautious one and throw some points out there...

 

-Sounds like the day was quieter than they expected.

-2 train operation on a weekend is(/should be) standard procedure. Fairly certain it has been the case on most other preview days (except when a second train physically hasn't been ready from winter maintenance)

-Be interesting to see the longevity of extra actors in the TWD, DBGT and around the park.

 

It's a positive start, and good to get things off on the right foot for the most part (I heard of some issues with limited food and drink choices which is a bit poor, but heyho). But it will certainly be interesting to see how they cope with a day where they get the numbers they expect, and when the novelty of the park being open again has worn down.

[Jack95]

One of the biggest differences which made yesterday much better than previous visits was how friendly the staff were! Thorpe seemed to be pushing customer service yesterday, every member of staff was super friendly and chatty which  made the day so much better as well as the overall atmosphere of the park!

 

I hope this is continued throughout the season!

[profburp]

Sounds like an amazing opening preview day! I am really looking forward to visiting on Friday for the firstborn official day of the season. I ageee some of the changes are not ones I like the sound of, however if the throughputs can be improved but not always removing trains during the operating day then great. Roll on Friday!

[Zappomatic]

It was a shame to see that despite all of the park's winter maintenance videos, there was still plenty of old litter and gum around the park from last season (or even older). The indoor part of Saw's queueline was full of dust bunnies and pigeon poo, and Nemesis Inferno's volcano was a disgrace! Could they really not find the time to get someone onto that with a scraper during the closed season?

[PJ.]

Any changes to DBGT this season please?


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[Robw]

Hi guys I’m probably posting this in the wrong place if I do I’m sorry. But we are a new YouTube channel and we would love to have ur support here’s our channel please take a look and subscribe if u like

 

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JNHysQ-Lz8A

 

[Matt A]

More details released on the Coke Freestyle machines: https://www.thorpepark.com/blog/2019-season-opening-part-one-coke-freestyle

 

Prices are as follows for the cup and unlimited use of the machines all day:

1 vessel - £10
2 vessels - £18
3 vessels - £24

 

If you reuse the cup another day the price is reduced to £6

 

Personally I feel like it's quite pricey (although if the annual/season pass discount applies then it's a bit better). The discount of £4 for reusing the cup is very good though, most substantial discount I've seen for anything like this.

[JoshC.]

Last year, a refill capsule (which just had Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Sprite, Fanta and Oasis I believe) cost £8. £2 extra for all the different flavour combinations isn't bad I guess. In that sense it's pretty reasonable and in line with similar all-you-can-drink offerings (probably cheaper than it is in America actually?)

 

It does sound pricey when you first hear it though, so I fear it may put people off. But I hope it does work out for them as something like this is a really neat idea.