April 5, 20232 yr comment_301372 Still saying spring 2023 hahahaha I wonder when they are gonna give us an opening date and how far in advance. I’d quite like to see an update
April 5, 20232 yr comment_301374 When there's actual news to share. Rule 1 of theme parks. Don't jump into ride areas. Rule 2. Don't give out time frames because people will hold you to them and get angry if its wrong.
April 5, 20232 yr Author comment_301375 12 minutes ago, Benin said: When there's actual news to share. Rule 1 of theme parks. Don't jump into ride areas. Rule 2. Don't give out time frames because people will hold you to them and get angry if its wrong. Rule 3 - don't not give out time frames because people will get angry that they don't have something to hold you to
April 11, 20232 yr comment_301470 Interesting a creative (might have been one of the lead creatives) for Ghost train has left Merlin Magic Making today. Mid project? Hopefully there aren’t delays or changes in creative direction, however I highly doubt that. Just thought it was some interesting imfo
April 11, 20232 yr Author comment_301471 3 minutes ago, ML27 said: Interesting a creative (might have been one of the lead creatives) for Ghost train has left Merlin Magic Making today. Mid project? Hopefully there aren’t delays or changes in creative direction, however I highly doubt that. Just thought it was some interesting imfo Let’s just hope it’s been a long time coming for them and not in protest because of how the project is going (although again, highly doubt this would be the reason as there’s likely many MMM projects in the works currently)
April 11, 20232 yr comment_301475 The creative actually left at the end of March, to further pursue her own creative company and projects. Whilst it's not ideal, there will have been a detailed and competent handover process which will have minimal, if any, effect on the final ride.
April 11, 20232 yr comment_301481 Are we resorting to stalking LinkedIn pages now? 1 person leaving shouldn't affect a project. Unless currently John Burton since he's the main head, but even then these projects are a joint effort and require a team of people.
April 11, 20232 yr comment_301482 No stalking involved actually, so I suggest you think before you comment. It came up on my Instagram timeline. P.S John Burton isn’t lead of every project.
April 12, 20232 yr comment_301524 I'm sure it's all fine - people leave jobs all the time, and projects are completed by teams of people. One person leaving shouldn't affect anything.
April 12, 20232 yr comment_301526 I just thought it was a thing to note, considering they played a big part in project. Just something to add to the discussion
April 12, 20232 yr Author comment_301527 Either way, I can't wait for this attraction to open. Whether it's amazing, good, mediocre or absolutely dreadful - I'm sure we can all agree that having another indoors attraction to either shield from the rain or something else on the park to eat up some queues, it will do wonders for the park.
April 12, 20232 yr comment_301528 I feel a point worth noting is that Jack SLKSTN in his latest video makes a point of looking up on his phone when spring ends when talking about the GST TRN - with that in mind, I'm sticking with my June prediction - end of May bank holiday weekend at a push.
April 12, 20232 yr Author comment_301529 Just now, MattyMoo said: I feel a point worth noting is that Jack SLKSTN in his latest video makes a point of looking up on his phone when spring ends when talking about the GST TRN - with that in mind, I'm sticking with my June prediction - end of May bank holiday weekend at a push. I reckon you're bang on the money with that one. Might have to start calling you Theme Park Fanatic at this rate!
April 12, 20232 yr comment_301530 Other than that point, I do feel the silence is deafening at the moment regarding it... they haven't even moved the old ride info sign away from behind the "Coming soon" fence.
April 12, 20232 yr comment_301532 I was in the Last Call Cafe last Friday and audio was testing inside the attraction. Could hear it coming out of the exit doors where you come out of the fake shop. It sounded very mechanical
April 12, 20232 yr Author comment_301533 1 hour ago, ML27 said: I was in the Last Call Cafe last Friday and audio was testing inside the attraction. Could hear it coming out of the exit doors where you come out of the fake shop. It sounded very mechanical Exciting! Hopefully that means they’ve built everything (or most of it) and are trialing it with the audio now 🤔 Probably not, but a man can wish!
April 13, 20232 yr comment_301537 Good to know they are getting somewhere with ghost train, hopefully it is finished soon. The only worry I have is that they don't seem to have been working on it for very long, making me think that not much would have changed and the attraction won't be amazing. But then I suppose towers turned duel around in a short space of time and from what everyone has been saying about that I suppose something great can be done in such a short time period.
April 13, 20232 yr Author comment_301538 Just now, tactic said: Good to know they are getting somewhere with ghost train, hopefully it is finished soon. The only worry I have is that they don't seem to have been working on it for very long, making me think that not much would have changed and the attraction won't be amazing. But then I suppose towers turned duel around in a short space of time and from what everyone has been saying about that I suppose something great can be done in such a short time period. Providing that they have been working on this for over a year like they've been saying, hopefully it's just been a case of stripping everything out and installing everything without having to think too hard about it, as I'd imagine most of it had already been figured out long in advance. The Duel/TCaAM refurbishment does give me tremendous hope. I've not experienced it (yet) and I'm staying away from spoilers as much as I can as I want to experience it first hand, but the general consensus is that it's very good - which really does fill me with hope! Don't let me down, Merlin! For the first time in a long time, you've got my full support.
April 13, 20232 yr comment_301542 Oh yeah, I forgot that the park said the ride had been in the works for over a year, I was thinking that the project had only been in the works about for about 4 months. But even so, with them getting rid of the vr and other parts of the ride, major changes are going to have to be made to make it interesting. I do genuinly believe that the ride system may have to be changed in some way to accomodate the fact that there is no vr, which is what worries me a little as there hasn't really been enough time for major changes to be made. Maybe I'm just being pessimistic about Thorpe though, they have been a lot better recently (we'll ignore Colossus for the minute) so they may have been able to pull off some major changes or have managed to make something increadable with the infastructure they already had.
April 13, 20232 yr comment_301543 Just to manage expectations, John Burton is not involved with Ghost Train at all. So do not expect it to be the same standard as TCaAM 👀
April 13, 20232 yr Author comment_301544 1 minute ago, StevenVig said: Just to manage expectations, John Burton is not involved with Ghost Train at all. So do not expect it to be the same standard as TCaAM 👀 Is this confirmed? I’ve not heard this, but also I’m pretty sure he’s spoken about/teased ghost train when it was first announced? Unless I’m remembering incorrectly…
April 13, 20232 yr comment_301545 This is one of those projects which isn’t managed by him. I’ve seen it somewhere also he’s normally quite vocal in what attraction is his and isn’t. Also to be working on this along with other new attraction sis quite a challenge. Can’t be working on two ghost trains surely otherwise they will be all of a similar vein.
April 13, 20232 yr comment_301546 1 hour ago, StevenVig said: Just to manage expectations, John Burton is not involved with Ghost Train at all. So do not expect it to be the same standard as TCaAM 👀 Don't get me wrong, many of the projects John Burton has worked on have been great. But it's silly to have any kind of thought process that: 'John Burton = good Not John Burton = not good' Ghost Train and Alton Manor are only loosely comparably anyway, so even if he was involved, it wouldn't necessarily mean we should expect the same standard.
April 13, 20232 yr comment_301547 Plenty of talented creative people at Merlin who are often hamstrung by decisions made by money men, let’s not forget that John Burton was the lead on TWD (Poor guy) Best to wait and see if Ghost Train is any good instead of passing judgement based on who is and isn’t working on it.
April 13, 20232 yr Author comment_301552 Would be very, very interesting to find out the budget for this refurb! I'd imagine after the millions they pumped into it only 7 years ago it's probably not going to be too much... which I hope doesn't hinder the quality of the finished product.
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.