Improving Thorpe Park

[Mark9]

I think Thorpe really need to properly make clear that it is an amusement park rather than a theme park. This is the problem when it decides to go away from being a theme park to not caring, as of course the rides still all have a theme.

Thing is, they do all this we are not a theme park stuff and then add things like Swarm which is relying on theming and story to sell the attraction. Maybe its a Valhalla thing all over again.

[Fred]

"Nah mate, whack another flat in. Result. £££"Says Merlin.

Merlin obviously has not noticed Fungle Safari

[holtjammy16]

Umm well obvs they are gonna remove the safari and station so they can put a hyper coaster across the back of the park.

[alexander]

I remember my issue now, it'll probably never happen as they'll have no where to put it BUT MORE SINGLE RIDER QUEUE LINES

[Benin]

Ahhhhhh the days of whoring Inferno, how I miss them.Then again, it was an absolute arse when people would just join the SRQ when they got off, same for every other ride. I sense that unless it will have a dedicated entrance/queue built with it, they won't be coming back. Especially as that'll require people at the park to attempt to count up to 1.

[Mark9]

I remember my issue now, it'll probably never happen as they'll have no where to put it BUT MORE SINGLE RIDER QUEUE LINES

The only ride I've seen Single rider work well on is Testrack and that is because of the three across seating. Take for example Thirteen at Alton, every time I've been on it the single ride queue is double the waiting time of the main queue. People think they are being incredibly clever, skipping the queue to ride by themselves. What they don't seem to grasp is if all four members of the party do it, the waiting time in that queue jumps. Add four or five groups doing it and the queue is ridiculous. Thorpe sees the same thing on Stealth and it certainly happened a lot on Colossus, Inferno and Fury when they had SRQ's.

[trippy]

Retheme or do something with Rumba Rapids... it looks so bad.

[alexander]

The only ride I've seen Single rider work well on is Testrack and that is because of the three across seating. Take for example Thirteen at Alton, every time I've been on it the single ride queue is double the waiting time of the main queue. People think they are being incredibly clever, skipping the queue to ride by themselves. What they don't seem to grasp is if all four members of the party do it, the waiting time in that queue jumps. Add four or five groups doing it and the queue is ridiculous. Thorpe sees the same thing on Stealth and it certainly happened a lot on Colossus, Inferno and Fury when they had SRQ's.

When I went on is it Revenge or Return of the Mummy? In Universal the main queue was 2 hours, my family of 4 went into the SRQ and all got on the same train within 30 minutes, maybe I've just been lucky But whenever I've had to queue for Stealth SRQ it was quicker as well. Samurai desperately needs one, the loading times are ridiculous and I asked one of the ride operators that considering there was a few spare single rider seats if they weren't being used if I could and they said I had to queue the whole way. Because they choose what they sit a lot of the time the seats don't get filled because they want to sit with their friends and then leaves like 2/4 seats unoccupied extending waiting times.

Retheme or do something with Rumba Rapids... it looks so bad.

I'm not really sure what's going on with rumba but I think it needs some TLC and more opportunities to get wet, everytime I've been on it I've come off bone dry.

[Marc]

In the last week of the season stealth single rider queue was being trailed as a disabled queue, so don't be surprised if that's gone next season too

[Graw]

I really hope that after The Swarm (assuming they have no new ride plans) that they spend a year or so just looking round the park and notching up some general theming. I'd love to see some improvments to rides like X and I really want the "areas" or "lands" theming to look so much more obvious and nicer. Maybe a new ride could be put in for The Swarms land assuming that it will have it's own on the island, but only a small attraction. The theming better pull its socks up as well, to be honest.. Its out of order at the moment. Thorpe is no longer a so called "theme" park, its just thrill ride after thrill ride after thrill ride. There's no imagination there....But if its keeping the chav's happy, Merlin are getting money so that means their happy, right?Looks like my dreams are shattered.

[TraX]

Thorpe Park have said themselves that they are a 'thrill island' and not a 'theme park'. Although some areas still exist, they aren't going in that direction. The areas have also long gone from the gate map too. I'm afraid that your dreams are already shattered!

[Graw]

I know I already thought they were going that way, but now I know the truth... it hurts :PIt is really a shame as the park and areas themselves have a lot of potential but like I said, Merlin like their money, and if thats whats giving them it, thats the way Thorpes gonna stay.The world is a sad place

[alexander]

I'm going to miss the themes

[jjh123horry]

Id personally love the themes to come, adds to the feeling of the rides for starters, pulls you more into the story line, like with amity cove, saw island and what they'll no doubt be doing for swarm island. But also for the fact that at the moment a lot of the rides are themed for specific areas, they are based on mystic rainforests or carribean islands etc etc. Thorpe or perhapes Merlin need to grasp this and run with it. I know it is more of a thrill park, with all the 'big' rides, but none the less to make the riders feel more empowered by the backstory, it will make them feel like the ride itself is 'legit or how you would feel if it was real'.....Right themes out of the way, the rest of the park.

• Paint job (Colossus, Nemesis, etc)
• New elements / FX (Tidal Wave, Rumba Rapids, Loggers Leap, Stealth (themeing), Nemesis)
• Improve Experience (Saw Alive and Ride, Rumba Rapids, General Park)
• More Actors - EVERYWHERE!!!, more pig men (saw island), wood choppers (canada creek), tiki men / women (calypso quay), racers (stealth), victims (tidal / swarm)
• I'll be elaborating on those later, might take me a while

[Bubbles1]

for me, it would have to be:

• repaint Colossus
• themed lands
• rapids to get a refurb so that you get wet
• saw queue covered with a canopy or something

[TraX]

Just out of interest, why do you feel that the Saw queue line needs to be covered more than any of the other large queue line areas?

[Bubbles1]

because where as Colossus is largely surrounded by plants, which blocks out the sun, and nemesis never seems to bad. stealth has the tall hedge which helpsalso, have you queued on a really sunny day? it seems like the hottest place in the park IMO

[jom222]

On Rumba Rapids I always end up getting wet, I don't know if I am just unlucky!They have a lot of water coming of the roof of the tunnel and the sprinklers always get me wet when I go past them.

[pluk]

Other than general cleaning and upkeep around the park, which to be fair I thought improved quite a lot through last season but remains an issue in places, I think:-Time bandits needs replacing. With anything. It is beyond awful and just an embarrassment to the park. As zero has been done to theme it into the old pirates building zero can be done to replace it, just change the film and the timings and it's done. If little old Drayton can change their one every year I'm sure it is not beyond Thorpe, In fact, it would cost nothing to put the old pirates banner up, or they could import spongebob from other Merlin parks, or take up Happy Feet which was dumped by Drayton but has a new film out this year so could feel 'fresh', or try the (admittedly not very good) haunted lighthouse which would kind of fit the area (well, a lot more than some space nonsense anyway). -A proper working solution needs to be found to Storm Surges issue of having more water in the boats than out of it. I don't know or care what that solution is.- cover the holes in the loggers tunnel, ruins the first drop as it is.-Fungle needs shielding off or replacing with something useful. Same sadly goes for CCR. I think it looks awful having closed dilapidated attractions sitting there for all to see, looks like the place is preparing to close down rather than being the surging success story(?) it actually is.-The pay per use lockers piss me off so I don't use them. How about pay per day with a code based system (like IOA) instead so it didn't cost me two quid to take a couple of photos (one to get it out, one to put it back). I'm sure they'd actually make more money by not ripping people off as more people would use them.I'm sure there are many others, but that is from the top of my head.

[Marc]

-The pay per use lockers piss me off so I don't use them. How about pay per day with a code based system (like IOA) instead so it didn't cost me two quid to take a couple of photos (one to get it out, one to put it back). I'm sure they'd actually make more money by not ripping people off as more people would use them.

New lockers are in the dome like the ones at alton towers which are electronic allowing you to hire a locker for the day and letting you go back to I throughout the day, hopefully these will be installed across the park.

[Benin]

A so called "thrill park" to have a Spongebob or Happt Feet 4D Cinema show?Just get rid of the cinema... Even replacing it with nothing could potentially be better... Sure they could even potentially squeeze some form of ride in there (albeit small)...

[Fred]

Small ride? The cinema is a massive site, bigger than towers' new attraction footprint for this year anyway

[pluk]

A so called "thrill park" to have a Spongebob or Happt Feet 4D Cinema show?Just get rid of the cinema... Even replacing it with nothing could potentially be better... Sure they could even potentially squeeze some form of ride in there (albeit small)...

And what is thrill about Time Bandits? The alternatives make as much sense as what is there now. I love thrill rides, I love sitting down for a bit and watching a dumb but entertaining cartoon. The two aren't mutually exclusive.Agreed replacing it with nothing could be the best option. In fact, what's the chances 'our' 4D seats are in the back of a lorry heading up the M1 now to become Ice Age? I wouldn't be surprised at all.

[jjh123horry]

Id personally love the themes to come, adds to the feeling of the rides for starters, pulls you more into the story line, like with amity cove, saw island and what they'll no doubt be doing for swarm island. But also for the fact that at the moment a lot of the rides are themed for specific areas, they are based on mystic rainforests or carribean islands etc etc. Thorpe or perhapes Merlin need to grasp this and run with it. I know it is more of a thrill park, with all the 'big' rides, but none the less to make the riders feel more empowered by the backstory, it will make them feel like the ride itself is 'legit or how you would feel if it was real'.....Right themes out of the way, the rest of the park.

• Paint job (Colossus, Nemesis, etc)
• New elements / FX (Tidal Wave, Rumba Rapids, Loggers Leap, Stealth (themeing), Nemesis)
• Improve Experience (Saw Alive and Ride, Rumba Rapids, General Park)
• More Actors - EVERYWHERE!!!, more pig men (saw island), wood choppers (canada creek), tiki men / women (calypso quay), racers (stealth), victims (tidal / swarm)
• I'll be elaborating on those later, might take me a while

Sorry it took so long to elaborate...been so busy.

• Paint job basically explains it self. The rides are starting to look aged and one main reason is because the paint has rubbed away on the track. Quick lick of paint makes a look a little 'newer'.

• Tidal wave needs its old elements back, the water tower and the big fire ball would be great visuals, and I'm sure they would be able to re-route the systems so then they can be run again. With the rapids, they need to put some effects in that will actually get us wet. For the past 2/3 years I havent got wet once on this ride. Stealth I think could have a little more themeing, maybe the queue could be covered with a form of tent, and have some mechanics equipment around, maybe a car or something. Give you the feel your acutally at a race track your in the cars prep area. Nemesis also needs to get the themeing finished. The fact that as the car comes into the station you are greeted by a metal box really isnt emerseing the public into the 'calypso area' just covering it up with some rocks or follage or something just to blend it in.

• Improving the experience in saw alive and the ride is one of the really simple things. Thorpe Park have called Saw Alive 'the World’s most extreme live action horror maze' (that was extracted from the saw alive part of the thorpe park website). Now if its really that extreme surely everyone who comes out should be scared s**tless. Most of the time I, with various people, have gone into the maze, a lot of us have come out maybe laughing a little, but if I'm honest it is very boring. The actors in there are useless, they dont follow the whole saw story, when Ive been in the actors are almost trying to act like they are going to kill you, which if you have been or are in these traps, you be trying to get help from people, not kill them. Also, to much smoke in a lot of the rooms, you cant see anything. The music a lot of the time is either to loud or doesnt fit to the area of the maze, AND the whole take your photo with billy the doll at the beginning just ruins it. I think if they were doing it more as a police scene taking photos it might work a bit better, but the way they have got it, it just draws you away from the story before youve even got in.
• With the ride, perhapes are some screaming inside the building, make it feel like there are others in there too. Make the 'security cameras' outside move side to side, up and down, etc. make it feel like someone is trying to follow you. Improve the music and sound system. The music cuts out, or speakers dont work, or it just doesnt work in certain parts. Also if actors are going to be put in, dont put 6 in the same area, it gets crowded and it just doesnt look right.
• Rumba rapids needs a good lick of paint, sorting out of music and better effects as already stated. We want to go on a water ride and come off wet, thats the whole point and unforunately this ride really doesnt do it.
• The park in general needs to have a better beat. either go for theme music for each area OR the top 40 hits. It gets a bit annoying and confusing if your in the lost city area, theme music starts playing, cuts out and the top 40 starts up. Needs to get sorted. Also try to add a bit more themeing to areas, make us feel like we have been dropped into another world. It is done brilliantly in amity cove, so why not the rest of the park?
• I know I didnt list it, but perhapes adding a couple of effects to loggers leap wouldnt be a bad idea. Maybe a couple of water effects here and there, a couple of anamatronics or something...just a thought.

• Having more actors area would be brilliant. Maybe some police men (american uniform) on saw island or pig men or victims just walking around the island. Wood choppers in canada creek, make it feel like your in logging country. Around stealth you could have a couple of racers or commentators walking around. Tidal wave could have some soaking wet victims hanging around telling you to run or something. Possibly some spanish army men (from hundreds of years ago) in calypso quay. Give the whole spainyards attacking mexico feeling. Lost city, you could have people from all different periods of time, people who travelled there and couldnt leave because their boats or aircraft got destroyed or something. Of course loads of victims on swarm island, les coogan hanging around, maybe some infected people. Make the actors fit into the areas. It would look great.

Sorry its so long, but I really think these improvements could make the park really great.

[Bubbles1]

or even easier than that is to have the ride staff in costume. it gets done in many theme parks worldwide, not just disney parks, so why not at merlin ones?