Sparkle Project 2025

[Jax]

What could we see done to Thorpe over the 2024 close season? Leave your answers down below!

 

Mod edit - Moved to The Future

[JoshC.]

Moved this thread to The Future. We've got a few different threads going now for things related to the 2025 season, with our General 2025 Season thread, the Amity Beach work thread and now this. Happy to keep them separate for now though.

 

---

 

As for Sparkle 2025, I think it's worth tempering expectations a bit, in the sense that nothing has been officially confirmed. Whilst the park did say they hoped / intended for the Sparkle Project to continue on in future years, it was never confirmed. And with the Thorpe Park Passholder Group closed, we've no way of finding out what the next step is.

 

The park did say they intended to remove Slammer this winter, so that's something to keep an eye out for.

 

Colossus obviously sits half repainted, so it will be interesting to see if the other half gets done.

 

Things like Inferno and Rumba could definitely benefit from some attention. Even Swarm could too.

 

As I say, I think it's worth tempering expectations, not just because we've got no confirmation that Sparkle 2025 is happening, but also because of murmurings of cuts. At present, that's just rumours, but I think there's never smoke without a bit of fire at least. And naturally, bits of TLC will be the first thing to get cut.

 

Of course, whatever happens with the Beach could be considered part of a Sparkle project in itself, but I think that's worth treating as separate for now.

[Inferno]

It feels a bit like Merlin isn’t awash with money at the moment judging by all the cuts recently, but Thorpe seem to be doing well and appears to have avoided a lot of it… fingers crossed.

 

I’d at least expect to see Hyperia’s area and queue finished - it was never finished before it opened, I assume because they just ran out of time.  I think really it would be very surprising if this wasn’t done given the amount of money spent on the ride - they just need to finish up!

 

I’d also like to think Colossus will be finished as it’s sort of mid way through isn’t it. They also said they weren’t happy with its yellow entrance sign so perhaps that’s still on the cards?

 

I really want poor Inferno to get some love.  But realistically I doubt very much there will be much of a sparkle project at all this year - I do hope I am wrong though because it was a really positive thing this year.

 

I can’t see Slammer going any time soon either…… as much as it sucks to see it SBNO, if the company is struggling financially I can’t see why they would spend money removing it for no gain other than a tidy up. Could be very wrong though of course!

 

my money is on 

- Beach thing

- Hyperia being finished off

- Colossus repaint being finished 

- Maybe some small bits here and there like some more shade in queues etc.

- Fin’s Infinite Vibe & Grill Kitchen getting a new name

 

 

 

 

[Parm Pap]

hungry cuts, we want to spend it but they can't let us, hungry cuts, I feel the budget between us and towers

[owenstreet7]

My bets will be on:

1. The beach redevelopment whether that's a 2025 or 2026 thing. UK Equivalent of Chiapas I'm hoping but wishful thinking 😅

2. Hyperia landscaping

3. Finishing off the work on Colossus

4. Focus on Zodiac, Quantum, Inferno and possibly Rumba Rapids for sparkle touch. 

5. Overhaul Stealth and Swarm's Batching system

6. Finishing touches on Swarm and Saw

7. Reinstating the baggage hold for Stealth or finding a better way for bag storage.

8. Bringing in Single Rider queues for a few more rides - the ones that are most likely and need one would be Vortex, Rush, Storm Surge, Stealth, Swarm and possibly Tidal Wave. Colossus would be fantastic if they made changes to the queue which I think could be workable however Inferno would be impractical to do without significant work.

9. Finishing touches around the park at the parts of the park that didn't get work last year and parts where work is needed.

10. Potentially taking down Slammer.

 

Edited November 5 by owenstreet7
Added one part that I missed out - Slammer

[Cal]

I would imagine Hyperias area will definitely see some work. Even non enthusiast friends who I've been with throughout the year have commented on how unfinished the area looks. It'll be interesting to see what they do with the splashdown too, although not too bothered if they do anything with that. 

 

I'd like to see Colossus finished and Slammer finally removed this year. I thought they'd tie the Slammer removal in with a new flat but that is looking very unlikely for next year now.

 

Inferno could definitely do with some love but I guess that depends if budgets allow.

 

Rumba needs attention but I'd rather them just not bother and get rid of it in the future. Its by far my least favorite rapids, and it must cost a fortune to run nowadays being so staff intensive. I'd rather the area and money be used for something in the future instead. 

 

 

38 minutes ago, owenstreet7 said:

5. Overhaul Stealth and Swarm's Batching system

7. Reinstating the baggage hold for Stealth or finding a better way for bag storage.

 

What do you think needs amending for Stealths and Swarms batching system out of interest? 

I don't think we'll ever see Stealths baggage hold return. Bags are still removed prior to boarding so I can't see it impacting throughput too much. Not significant enough for 2 extra staff daily anyway. 

 

Would be nice if they opened Swarms on peak days only similar to what towers do with Smiler and Thirteen, as it does seem to significantly impact throughput. 

[MattyMoo]

Do you reckon they'll bother to finish all the coaster boarding videos for those flash new TV screens they had installed for 2024?

 

Splashdown on Hyperia - it'll be cleaned up and never turned back on (similar to the Tidal flame effect).

 

Their number 1 priority has to be, and surely will be, finishing off the Hyperia plaza. More landscaping and plants, and edge fencing to stop it being a queue jumpers paradise (and also prevent aforementioned plants being trodden all over)

 

As @Inferno said - a rename of Vibes is well overdue. Just don't know what to believe anymore.

 

[owenstreet7]

18 hours ago, Cal said:

What do you think needs amending for Stealths and Swarms batching system out of interest? 

I don't think we'll ever see Stealths baggage hold return. Bags are still removed prior to boarding so I can't see it impacting throughput too much. Not significant enough for 2 extra staff daily anyway. 

 

Would be nice if they opened Swarms on peak days only similar to what towers do with Smiler and Thirteen, as it does seem to significantly impact throughput. 

For Stealth, the main challenge is that there's long queues at the air gates before boarding. This can mean that once you put your bags aside, there's at least 2/3 dispatches before you ride. It also opens up the opportunity for bags being taken by accident or on purpose due to it being an open rack. I think having the bag storage back will ease that issue and having batching so only one or two cars worth of people will be at batching at once to reduce the chance of this happening. Another option could be using free lockers like on Voltron, Arthur or FLY. Having the front row queue use the unused stairs to the left could be helpful to aid with that process.

 

I think this would enable an Single Rider Queue (SRQ) to be added to Stealth easily.

 

For Swarm, I think having batching happen in a similar way to Mandrill Mayhem where people are assigned a row and go to the row will speed up throughputs and enables a SRQ to be added. Mandrill has RAP and R&R in one queue and the same could happen for Swarm so the other can be used for an SRQ.

 

I find that currently the free for all batching means that there's quite a few empty seats on each train with groups holding the queue until there's a seat free for their group and going into the row behind a single rider. I think these issues are ones that can be resolved by an SRQ.

[Cal]

4 hours ago, owenstreet7 said:

For Stealth, the main challenge is that there's long queues at the air gates before boarding. This can mean that once you put your bags aside, there's at least 2/3 dispatches before you ride. It also opens up the opportunity for bags being taken by accident or on purpose due to it being an open rack. I think having the bag storage back will ease that issue and having batching so only one or two cars worth of people will be at batching at once to reduce the chance of this happening. Another option could be using free lockers like on Voltron, Arthur or FLY. Having the front row queue use the unused stairs to the left could be helpful to aid with that process.

 

I think this would enable an Single Rider Queue (SRQ) to be added to Stealth easily.

 

For Swarm, I think having batching happen in a similar way to Mandrill Mayhem where people are assigned a row and go to the row will speed up throughputs and enables a SRQ to be added. Mandrill has RAP and R&R in one queue and the same could happen for Swarm so the other can be used for an SRQ.

 

I find that currently the free for all batching means that there's quite a few empty seats on each train with groups holding the queue until there's a seat free for their group and going into the row behind a single rider. I think these issues are ones that can be resolved by an SRQ.

 

Valid point about bags on Stealth with them flooding the airgates. Only the park will know how many thefts etc are reported though so if they don't see it as a problem then there will be no need to change things there end. I still don't think the baggage hold will come back though its just a unnecessary cost.

 

It would be great to have a SRQ on Stealth but I can see why they don't at the moment as they don't allocate rows. Its quite common for empty seats and does slow down throughput, but with Stealth regularly being the best coaster on park throughput wise they probably don't want to change it. 

 

To be honest I don't think staff would be able to keep up allocating rows as well as dealing with the fast track and RAP queues, so if they were to batch rows I think it would require 2 staff at the merge. 

 

 

Although it would be nice to have a SRQ on Swarm I don't ever see them changing the batching. The current way they batch works, theres rarely empty seats. Also as it wasn't designed with that in mind I don't think they really have the space to incorporate that. Its also another staff cost, which again I don't see them justifying to fill up a few empty seats.

 

[owenstreet7]

1 hour ago, Cal said:

 

Valid point about bags on Stealth with them flooding the airgates. Only the park will know how many thefts etc are reported though so if they don't see it as a problem then there will be no need to change things there end. I still don't think the baggage hold will come back though its just a unnecessary cost.

 

It would be great to have a SRQ on Stealth but I can see why they don't at the moment as they don't allocate rows. Its quite common for empty seats and does slow down throughput, but with Stealth regularly being the best coaster on park throughput wise they probably don't want to change it. 

 

To be honest I don't think staff would be able to keep up allocating rows as well as dealing with the fast track and RAP queues, so if they were to batch rows I think it would require 2 staff at the merge. 

 

 

Although it would be nice to have a SRQ on Swarm I don't ever see them changing the batching. The current way they batch works, theres rarely empty seats. Also as it wasn't designed with that in mind I don't think they really have the space to incorporate that. Its also another staff cost, which again I don't see them justifying to fill up a few empty seats.

 

Stealth, that's a great point - I think it might've been the intention of Thorpe Park to introduce batching as they mentioned planning to introduce single rider to Stealth. 

 

I'm not so sure I agree about Swarm on whether the free batching actually works very well - throughout the season, I regularly see 2-4 seats empty on each side on a train so I definitely think there is a benefit to batching and a single rider queue using one of Fast Track/RAP and the other is a merged Fast Track/RAP like with Mandrill Mayhem.

 

I think it would have to be similar to Mandrill Mayhem if they were to do batching so one train's worth of people is at the airgates and another is in the batching area which would be organised in a similar way to Mandrill. It would be so much more organised and potentially speed up throughputs slightly if done correctly. Mandrill's throughput seems to be coping well (compared to Vampire and Fury) with it's set up now they've dropped virtual queue and have installed taller airgates.

 

I think Swarm could learn a few tricks from Mandrill.

[Parm Pap]

listen here, if you don't give us a budget soon, there's going to be a disaster. we are headed for complete catastrophe, listen to that

[Jax]

Wondering if they'll fix Stealth's launch audio next year as it's really been bugging me it being off-sync 

[Matt 236]

We’ll be lucky if we get any new signs at this rate, given the rumoured cutbacks from Merlin.

 

The only thing sparkling currently is Scott O’neils new suit.

[MattyMoo]

At what point in closed season is it safe to assume Colossus is going to stay half painted for 2025, so it will look even more out of place when the other half is (maybe) painted for 2026?

[MattL28]

I don’t get what target Merlin are expecting the parks to perform and therefore give them money to invest.

 

They spent a load last season to improve the parks but of course, it doesn’t provide any direct return of their investment and probably are having buyers regret. 
 

I think most people could have seen no investment including Hyperia would majorly increase visitor numbers. So honestly confused as to why they spent all this money and then say they have no money.

 

Fortunately, it looks like project sparkle is happening again with the slammer removal and the beach project. Both improve the look of the park (slammer less so because they are leaving the area as is) 

 

It might be too early to tell if the repaint is continuing, not sure if it’s a spring job? 

[Inferno]

To be honest I don’t think “project sparkle” and the like realistically is an investment as such - really it’s just routine maintenance that should be taking place during closed season regardless.

 

Things like the Colossus repaint for example - that was very badly overdue. While I know that upkeep like this costs money, it is important.  Most businesses try to keep their assets in good order, and rollercoasters are no different.

Spreading maintenance over years also prevents problems coming up all at once, which is what’s happening at Alton towers.

 

Thorpe does seem to be bucking the trend a little bit, and has been getting a good amount of upkeep in recent years - even things like the toilets etc are in great order and have all been recently refurbished. That’s not something that can be said for other Merlin parks.

I really hope they can continue as they have been.

[Benin]

Cos Merlin panic when there's a bit of a "bad" season. Ignoring the external factors that directly effect park attendance, such as constant rain over the year, or a massive international event taking place nearby.

 

Hyperia's later opening and unreliability won't have helped either. 

[Matt 236]

I think it would be a disappointing move if Merlin force Thorpe to drastically cut/scrap the sparkle project, because some of the things we saw this year were not only welcoming but much needed. 
 

Entering an attraction with new and repainted areas makes it feel much more appealing and welcoming, not to mention encourages people to spend more in the shops and cafes, overall increasing overheads per guest. 

 

There is still lots the park need to do in order to bring the rest of the park upto standard besides repainting the other half of Colossus. Repaint/refurbish Inferno, sort out Rumba and bits and bobs around Swarm too, to mention a few. Let’s not talk about the entrance. 
 

Merlin’s problem is they are financial cheapskates, giving as little as possible to mot their fleet of cars and only fixing the mandatory problems. Metaphorically speaking. Whereas most other parks see those additional faults as higher priority usually. The parks are limited with the tools provided.