Thorpe Park 2023

[Han30]

7 hours ago, MattyMoo said:

Double post soz - this person is having a Meet and greet at Thorpe. I literally have no idea who she is, and I'm pretty up to speed with the famous instatubers, tikytokers and Snapchaps. Any idea team?

It’s late and I’m waiting for my meds to kick in so I had a gander - I don’t use tik tok or Snapchat and had no idea who she is.  Apparently she’s a 15 year old YouTuber/Tik tok thingy thing - loads of followers, don’t know why - seems you can get famous from not doing a whole lot these days.   Wow I sound like a miserable old cow 🤣

[Benin]

That their April Fools joke didn't have the shop called "Lost Soles" REALLY bugs me.

[ML27]

Been at Thorpe today, a few thoughts. 
 

They’ve seemed to have painted most of the air gates and depth charge has had a really decent repaint on the whole structure. They haven’t missed much on it, which is rare for Merlin.

 

Swarms refresh is alright seems a bit cheap as the paint seems to be wearing away and it’s annoyed me people have already put their Snapchat names on it 😂. The station still looks gritty and the theme is a poor excuse for how grotty it is

 

They’ve also mysteriously gone round most of the queue lines and painted the top of them and nothing else. Does look good ngl.

 

The audio situation is what it is, audio levels all over the place and inconsistent tracks unless you’re in lost city and it’s alright.
 

Ride availability and merchandise is brilliant. Not much down time and the quality of merch is great. Pizza pasta was actually decent this time.

 

[tactic]

Pizza pasta has always been reasonably good in my opinnion. I've never not like the buffet cause you know, the more food the merrier and I've always found that the quality of the food isn't awful (I'd take it over something like KFC every day), but then it's also not great either . The only issue is, even with the MAP discount, it is getting rather expensive nowdays, and I don't really feel like spending £17.50 (£14 with discount) on just lunch, when I could bring my own food in for absolutly nothing. To be honest, that's where I've got to on all theme park food at this point, it's all just starting to become a too expensive for food that reasonable at best. I know that Thorpe can't help having to up their prices due to the state of the economy at the moment, but I feel like they have taken it a step too far.

 

Also don't get me started on the refill cup now being £9 to reactivate. At £5 it was a perfect, at £7 I was a bit more concerned about the pricing but would bring my cup occasionally, but now at £9 I fell like it's not worth it at all.

[StevenVig]

It's not Thorpe increasing the prices, it's Aramark. 

[tactic]

That does make sense, I always thought thrope were in control of their prices but it would be logical that the comany who does the food choses. 

 

Do thorpe get any say over how much they would want an item to be sold for or is it all completely up to Aramark with no input from the park at all?

[Glitch]

3 hours ago, tactic said:

Pizza pasta has always been reasonably good in my opinnion. I've never not like the buffet cause you know, the more food the merrier and I've always found that the quality of the food isn't awful (I'd take it over something like KFC every day), but then it's also not great either . The only issue is, even with the MAP discount, it is getting rather expensive nowdays, and I don't really feel like spending £17.50 (£14 with discount) on just lunch, when I could bring my own food in for absolutly nothing. To be honest, that's where I've got to on all theme park food at this point, it's all just starting to become a too expensive for food that reasonable at best. I know that Thorpe can't help having to up their prices due to the state of the economy at the moment, but I feel like they have taken it a step too far.

 

Also don't get me started on the refill cup now being £9 to reactivate. At £5 it was a perfect, at £7 I was a bit more concerned about the pricing but would bring my cup occasionally, but now at £9 I fell like it's not worth it at all.

 

I find Aramark being an odd scapegoat for enthusiast this year because they have a contract with UK government services.

Just a lot of moaning when we all know theme park food should be seen as a treat rather than an essential item every weekend you visit. 

On the cost for freestyle, I don't see people complaining about the $20 fee for the cups in America, so £9 still seems fine for a treat and an unlimeted one at that.

Especially when at FiveGuys a cup is £3.40 and can't be refilled. 

 

Luckily Merlin allow you to also bring lunch, so nothing stopping you bringing a Greggs or meal deal from Tesco, overall food costs are rising and themepark food should be seen as a treat.

 

Merlin outsourced food as its really expensive to run and hard to get right, so why not put the contract up to an outside bidder and get guaranteed money to build the secrete weapon. 

[JoshC.]

49 minutes ago, Glitch said:

I find Aramark being an odd scapegoat for enthusiast this year because they have a contract with UK government services.

 

 

The thing is, there has been an obvious drop in quality and notable increase in price since Aramark came on board.

 

Food portions sizes have decreased. The food is simply not as good, with choices in individual restaurants / food outlets being reduced too. The price of food in relation to minimum wage, for example, is notably higher. Thorpe is hit particularly harder by this after they made a conscious effort to reduce the cost of food in 2021.

 

Food at a theme park should be seen as a treat, yes. And it will be expensive. But let's not pretend it's reasonable.

[Mattgwise]

1 hour ago, Glitch said:

On the cost for freestyle, I don't see people complaining about the $20 fee for the cups in America, so £9 still seems fine for a treat and an unlimeted one at that.

Especially when at FiveGuys a cup is £3.40 and can't be refilled. 

It is unlimited refills in Five Guys even says it on the menu. 😛

 

However I agree £9 isn't bad at all. Also at Thorpe (only there for some reason) with an AP discount it's £7. The sugar free bottled drinks are £2.75 each so 3 to 4 drinks and you have moneys worth. Plus the cost for the additional flavours you can't get bottled makes it a good deal.

 

And yup there is always the option of bringing own food and drink as Glitch mentioned so nobody is forced to pay it and it isn't needed every visit. 

[ML27]

I must admit, I paid £14 for pizza pasta after coming to conclusion that most other meals with discount will be around £10 mark. Paying £4 more for unlimited food and drink to fill you up as much as you like is worth it as means that I won’t buy a snack.

 

I think the biggest issue for me is the last call cafe. I didn’t have breakfast, I know there are outside options, but on my particular route, there isn’t. It was £4.95 to get a bacon roll plus £3 for a cold drink. I was paying £8 pre discount for just something to fill me up for 2 hours until lunch. £8 is a cost of lunch, so adding in breakfast isn’t viable. The cafe is a nice idea if you just want a hot drink or snack but only if your treating yourself after having a packed lunch and saving costs that way.

 

Feel like as passholders, you have to take a pinch of salt in how much you buy food at the parks. However something like freestyle, I just wish was cheaper. It’s £2.30 per drink, which could add up during the day. Unless I’m spending a full day at the park reactivating doesn’t seem worth it to me. Just wish there was a cheaper option.

[Benin]

Judging by the pictures on the Chessie Burger Kitchen that Aramark are charging what they charge for what looks to be god-awful food is fairly fine to criticise. 

 

Especially looking at the reduced menus and lower quality in foodstuffs whilst the prices increase. To say they're a scapegoat because of also having a prison contract is naive at best.

 

Most of the American park food is tonnes better than the UK equivalent in my experiences. Even with the basic options or chains involved. Not everyone can be Dollywood but there's plenty of examples out there that show that theme park food can be good quality. But captive audiences mean less effort I suppose is the current viewpoint. 

 

Sadly it falls in line with current food issues in the wider world. Because these companies only care about the bottom line and shareholders.

[Mark9]

19 hours ago, Glitch said:

 

I find Aramark being an odd scapegoat for enthusiast this year because they have a contract with UK government services.

Just a lot of moaning when we all know theme park food should be seen as a treat rather than an essential item every weekend you visit. 

On the cost for freestyle, I don't see people complaining about the $20 fee for the cups in America, so £9 still seems fine for a treat and an unlimeted one at that.

Especially when at FiveGuys a cup is £3.40 and can't be refilled. 

 

Luckily Merlin allow you to also bring lunch, so nothing stopping you bringing a Greggs or meal deal from Tesco, overall food costs are rising and themepark food should be seen as a treat.

 

Merlin outsourced food as its really expensive to run and hard to get right, so why not put the contract up to an outside bidder and get guaranteed money to build the secrete weapon. 

 

Why are you excusing awful quality and excessive price rises?

 

[tactic]

What are everyones opinnions on all the giverways thorpe seem to be doing at the moment. I've seen two in the space of 3 days, the Inferno one posted everywhere and the one with creams cafe which isn't on twitter but on instagram instead. I know the park are wanting to boost ingagement on their content, but I feel the giveways, however nice of a gesture it seems, is just a way to get more people to look at their posts with the having to tag the 3 friends to be entered.

 

I'd like to hear others opinnions on this as to me it seems a bit odd for a massive entity like Thorpe to be picking winners out of a comments section on an instagram post.

[ML27]

It’s very Thorpe, they partner with the most teenage brands for stuff like competitions. They gotta do what they gotta do.

[StevenVig]

On 4/3/2023 at 2:55 PM, Glitch said:

Especially when at FiveGuys a cup is £3.40 and can't be refilled. 

 

It definitely can be, as you can see from this photo

 

[Glitch]

Clearly that's how locked in my order is at Five guys just a burger and a hotdog for me, no fries or drink but thanks for pointing out, I will fact check in future to prevent mistakes from happening again... 

[ML27]

 

Credit: https://twitter.com/jaystocky/status/1646897515633967104?s=46&t=giLifVSV764gPC36mCwmHw

 

The 2023 swarm refresh has now been reverted back to 2022s appearance. Good to see the clientele being consistent each season!

 

[Han30]

Call me harsh but I think anyone caught doing this should be swiftly kicked out - it shows zero respect and makes the place look awful. 
 

[tactic]

No I totally agree, I mean in theory it is vandalism so they should definitely get kicked out. However, it would be very difficult for the park to monitor and that’s how people keep getting away with it and that’s why I think it’s never going to change.

[ML27]

There’s a guy today, surveying or mapping out the whole of the saw alive path from tacotaria to the saw plaza. 
 

Assuming this is for a plan for a FN maze or zone. It could possibly be for a ride, but assuming it’s the former

 

[tactic]

It will probably be a scare zone in my opinion, cause I don't really see the space for a maze there (unless it has a very linear design). Maybe they are just evaluating the area so they can see how much space they have to work with for the crows due to their now being more space as the saw alive queue is gone.

 

A new ride would be great, but I think that is too ambitious with ghost train and exodus both being big adittions this season and next season. Also due to the fact that the Colossus retrack will be taking place near that area over the next few seasons, it might be difficult to install a new ride on that path while that is going on.

 

The most likly thing I see the park building in that area is a new food and beverages unit to compliment the seating area, just like a small kiosk that sells snacks and stuff.

[ML27]

They’ve removed the graffiti on the op cabin now as it could be wiped off. The rest obviously will need a paint during midweek closures

[StevenVig]

23 hours ago, ML27 said:

They’ve removed the graffiti on the op cabin now as it could be wiped off. The rest obviously will need a paint during midweek closures

 

It won't be done for another 11 years now, lets be honest

[ML27]

The more graffiti in the queue will mean more people will get the idea to do it. I’m hopeful. However they should have just gone for the plastic fencing.

[tactic]

Plastic fencing would have led to the same thing though. People will still bring markers and draw/engrave stuff into the queue lines regardless what material it is made of or what colour it is. I don't really see any way the park can stop it either as it is all down to people having the decency to not graffiti which is never going to happen. If the park try and inplement a harsh sanction (kicked out of the park) for anyone doing it and actually enforce the rule the graffitti may slightly decrease, but like queue jumping I think it's a thing we will always see due to the park just not having the resources to stop people.