Colossus

[Benin]

A PLC upgrade won't make the trains actually comfortable though.

[JoshC.]

looks very nice

 

 

[Mark9]

I saw a few comments asking why Thorpe are bothering when no one likes Colossus.

 

I like Colossus and bringing it up to standard is only a good thing. Interesting how the money flows on nearby rollercoasters when a new investment is about to happen. It happened to Oblivion, it happened to Dragons Fury and now Colossus.

 

If only this kind of care was more consistent and frequent. 

[ML27]

It’s mental to me, a few years ago that this would have been massive for closed season and a Colossus repaint was always a rumour.

 

Now it’s here and happening, it’s not even the biggest news and I’m like ‘alright it’s happening 🤷‍♂️’

[Benin]

That should be the standard response to a ride getting repainted. It shouldn't be treated like a big investment, should just be done on the regular.

[MattyMoo]

Credit where credit is due, Merlin are throwing a lot of cash at Thorpe this closed season. Hopefully this is the start of a turn around for the park...

[Inferno]

It certainly does feel like it doesn't it.  A bit of a fresh start.

 

The bright blue looks absolutely amazing.  Will make a huge difference.  Thorpe will look very different next year!

[JoshC.]

Repainting is going well...

 

 

Side note: slightly annoying that part of one of the supports on the cobra roll has been painted blue

[tactic]

Does this mean that all of Colossus is not getting retracked then? 

 

I know this has probably been asked before (maybe even by me, I’m quite forgetful!) but seems counter productive to paint the track and then have it replaced with new track like a year or two later.

[JohnnyRocket]

They’ve said they’re not repainting sections that are being retracked. I believe that includes the vertical loop. They might not get everything re-painted that is *not* being retracked as they said there’s a short time window to get it done, so anything not painted won’t necessarily be getting replaced. Hopefully they’ll manage to get it all done though!

[tactic]

So we’re not getting the whole of Colossus retracked? I was always under the assumption that over the next few closed seasons everything would be done. Makes sense with the painting now though, thanks!

[JoshC.]

The Sparkle Project is giving Colossus' entrance some new stuff:

 

 

Interestingly, the park have said that there will be "No blue on the entrance, but it will have the stained glass effect" (Passholder Group)

[JohnnyRocket]

Interesting! I always liked Colossus's entrance, was more impressive than Inferno's, Swarm's & Saw's. Can never say no to extra theming though!

[Benin]

It's somewhat frustrating that a lot of the good work done by these projects end up being primary colour painting over everything.

 

The additions are nice, but why is the entire structure yellow?

[JoshC.]

1 hour ago, Benin said:

It's somewhat frustrating that a lot of the good work done by these projects end up being primary colour painting over everything.

 

The additions are nice, but why is the entire structure yellow?

 

Agreed.

 

Looking at some of the stuff they've done at Stealth, it shows they are the ability and wherewithal to do detailing. But even then, they've gone for a lot of blocked primary colours there too.

 

The brightness and freshness is great, but it would be even better if they just added that extra bit of depth to it.

 

From what we've seen of the Colossus shop, the new paint job looks brighter, and has a bit of detailing with the celestial extras. But it's just doesn't have that interesting depth that the old version had. It just seems a bit Legoland-y.

[Benin]

Same thing with Walliams World & Big Easy Boulevard. Amongst other repainting projects.

 

Guess it's just easier rather than bother getting detailing painters.

[Cal]

Every time I see an old video of Thorpe, it makes me realize how different Colossus looks now. It really does look the best its done in years. 

 

On another note, does anyone know what happened with the re-track project? I would assume its been cancelled after that segment not fitting and not seeing any track get replaced since.

If the park were doing bits of re-tracking, surely at some point soon parts of the track will come to the end of there life and need replacing? 

[Inferno]

I agree it really is looking good isn’t it.  It helps that all the trees have really had chance to grow around it, and make it feel ‘lost’ as it’s supposed to.

 

What amazes me is it’s been running for 23 years….

The footage from when it was new looks ancient doesn’t it. 
 

For some reason in my head everything at Thorpe is quite “new” compared to other parks - but it just isn’t.

 

A very large portion of the park guests on a given day weren’t even born when it opened… 

 

It’s doing well considering its age I think.

 

Was there ever really a project to retrack it? I thought it was just that one section that needed replacing?

I think that section did end up getting replaced after the initial problems where the layout was left incomplete for a few weeks 2yrs ago or whenever it was.

[Cal]

9 hours ago, Inferno said:

I agree it really is looking good isn’t it.  It helps that all the trees have really had chance to grow around it, and make it feel ‘lost’ as it’s supposed to.

 

What amazes me is it’s been running for 23 years….

The footage from when it was new looks ancient doesn’t it. 
 

For some reason in my head everything at Thorpe is quite “new” compared to other parks - but it just isn’t.

 

A very large portion of the park guests on a given day weren’t even born when it opened… 

 

It’s doing well considering its age I think.

 

 

Yeah agreed. 

 

The whole park in general is looking pretty fresh and definitely the best since I've started visiting around 2010. Colossus and Stealth in particular look the best they've looked since I've started visiting. Vortex is nearly 24 years old but looks and runs like a brand new flat... 

 

9 hours ago, Inferno said:

Was there ever really a project to retrack it? I thought it was just that one section that needed replacing?

I think that section did end up getting replaced after the initial problems where the layout was left incomplete for a few weeks 2yrs ago or whenever it was.

 

They confirmed on the passholder group that the re-tracking was a multi year project and large sections of track would be replaced. I remember them saying that track that needs replacing won't be repainted, but since then no track has been replaced and the whole layout has nearly been painted? 

 

As far as I'm aware, in 2023 they just repainted the original bit of track and put that back on rather than get a replacement from Taziker, so that section that didn't fit was never actually replaced.

[Inferno]

That's interesting - The need to re-track it wouldn't suddenly go away...

 

I wonder if it's a case of re-tracking would give it another 20ish years of life, and not re-tracking would leave it with 6ish or something... Perhaps a decision was made to go with the shorter lifespan and instead of investing millions in retracking, invest in replacing it in a few years?

 

Factors like Universal came in to play during that time as well didn't it... Perhaps a decision was made to focus on creating 'new' and bigger experiences going forward in order to compete with a new and bigger park.  Realistically, is Colossus going to keep punters coming through the gates for another 2 decades as much as a brand new, higher throughput (and probably better) coaster would? Probably not!

 

There was also recent experience with Nemesis Reborn's re-track - could feedback about "no new rides for ages" have been listened to?  I can definitely see why parks would want to replace old with new, instead of spending many millions to keep the existing aging rides running past their initial lifespan. (not that I'd want to see Nemesis go of course)

 

Who knows.

[Mark9]

It's a curious thing with Colossus actually. Unlike Vampire and Nemesis which I couldn't imagine their respective parks being without, Colossus is majorly overshadowed by pretty much every rollercoaster they've built since. I actually quite like it but there's no denying that guests aren't the biggest fans of it.  It could be easily replaced by a more modern, multi looper and not be as rough. 

 

With that being said, I find it rather harmless and does its thing rather well. The first half in particular is so well paced and I personally find it really enjoyable. 

[JoshC.]

Yeah, track replacing seems to have been pushed aside for now. Whether it was the issues with the previous new piece of track, a shift in strategy or something else that is the reason for that, we'll never know.

 

I'm not a fan of Colossus - I can tolerate it on the front row (which is the only place I've ridden it in the last 8 or 9 years, and even then, I can count the number of rides I've had on it on one hand). But it does still seem to attract a reasonable crowd and runs reliably enough for now.

 

But yes, it doesn't quite have the draw of a Nemesis or a Vampire. On the other hand, the park still have plenty of other development spots before they'd have to consider ripping rides out, so Colossus may hang on for a good while yet.

 

My biggest concern with losing Colossus would be that we would no doubt lose the fun pathway that goes through the ride. Merlin just don't build rides which interact with walkways these days, and I'd be surprised if a potential Colossus replacement has anything beyond a straight pathway running alongside the ride, as opposed to a nice hill or similar.