Benin Posted December 31, 2012 Report Share Posted December 31, 2012 The max height thing is because of Heathrow... It's just the way really, as I'm sure Thorpe had to do some real pushing for Stealth's construction to push over the 200ft barrier... Certainly it would need to have a big flashing light on top (like Big One at Blackpool) if it were tall, just for safety purposes at night and fog and what-not... Depends a lot on the planning people though, and Thorpe's desires... But not to rule out an Intamin MegaCoaster (Expedition GeForce is 170ft) or B&M Mega (Apollo's Chariot is also 170ft), mean that height issues are really a major thing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deleted Users Posted December 31, 2012 Report Share Posted December 31, 2012 I want something which is smooth, fun, reliable, non-inverting and has a decent length. Not keen for Intamin because even their airtime stuff have restraint problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Posted December 31, 2012 Report Share Posted December 31, 2012 Can we just have Blue Fire please. tomglazed, Dan9, Mark9 and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deleted Users Posted December 31, 2012 Report Share Posted December 31, 2012 Too true. I'd like to see ideas of what people think a £12M (including marketing) dark ride (which would mean no coaster until probably 2018 so would have be pretty amazing) would amount to. That's the predicted research cost for the top end dark rides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Posted December 31, 2012 Report Share Posted December 31, 2012 Imagine Transformers/Spiderman 4D in Thorpe Park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pluk Posted December 31, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2012 Too true. I'd like to see ideas of what people think a £12M (including marketing) dark ride (which would mean no coaster until probably 2018 so would have be pretty amazing) would amount to. That's the predicted research cost for the top end dark rides. But what if someone has done that R+D for you? I wonder how open to offers some of the existing owners of these sorts of rides would be to allowing a clone on the other side of the world where it won't effect their business? The most likely being BGWs Darkastle. That may come at a more realistic budget when all the film and programming exists already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan9 Posted December 31, 2012 Report Share Posted December 31, 2012 Can we just have Blue Fire please. Haha, this whole topic was just making me think 'Wooden coaster?... WODAN.' Anyway I agree with Mark, a wooden coaster, B&M hyper or anything by Mack please. ...so basically, Europa Park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deleted Users Posted December 31, 2012 Report Share Posted December 31, 2012 Sorry to knock you down but it's to prove a point. Those types of rides in particular have a predicted cost of $100M+. The research cost in comparison is chump change. Then you have the licensing cost which considering that both Universal and Busch are at least part owned by the same Group and also know how highly all 3 versions are rated, they are not going part easily with the designs. This is the company that has bought some sort of exclusivity deal for the Forbidden Journey system. Overall I'm not sure it's possible to create a dark ride interesting enough for Thorpe's target audience rather than a coaster with the budget it would be given. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pluk Posted December 31, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2012 I know what you are saying, and you are almost certainly right to say we will not get anything like this for a long long time due to the cost, but it is the D in R+D that am thinking about also. The perfected animations already exist, that will have been a huge part of the initial overall cost and can simply be copied. The ride vehicle design and transit system will have also been something very hard to get right, but they have. Any mistakes along the way have been worked out and it would now be as 'simple' as reproducing what has already been done. Darkastle itself isn't a recognised IP as far as I know so should be achievable with the consent of the right people, in the same sort of way Pirates 4D turned up all over. It would still be a huge cost, I'd think it could be done for around double our usual investment levels, but if one of the parks did it they would be putting themselves in a league of their own in the UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPJames Posted December 31, 2012 Report Share Posted December 31, 2012 Well going back to blue fire, I would love to see stealth extended, but saying that, the park don't have any major coasters without inversions and they need that so it isn't really an option: What I would like to see: A nice ride like shambhala or expedition g force with lots of airtime and hills. Also I would love stealth extended in the same year so it would become a better blue fire! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomglazed Posted December 31, 2012 Report Share Posted December 31, 2012 Am I the only one who feels that trusting Thorpe Park with a decent dark ride is like giving a a toddler an ice figure? The thing is more than likely to fall to pieces before we know it. I'd really want to be proved wrong if they did get one but you can guarantee that there will be some elements which will work for the first season only to never be seen again; until a few years down the line when they do a spruce up and add some new stuff and have the potential to market it as an "improved experience". gabbygrace 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Posted December 31, 2012 Report Share Posted December 31, 2012 Well going back to blue fire, I would love to see stealth extended, but saying that, the park don't have any major coasters without inversions and they need that so it isn't really an option:What I would like to see: A nice ride like shambhala or expedition g force with lots of airtime and hills. Also I would love stealth extended in the same year so it would become a better blue fire! I can't think of a single time a theme park has extended a roller coaster, let alone a UK park, so I'm just going to say now that it is totally not going to happen. Stealth and Blue Fire are fairly incomparable. They're one similarity is that they have a launch system and even that is different and for different purpose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deleted Users Posted December 31, 2012 Report Share Posted December 31, 2012 I know what you are saying, and you are almost certainly right to say we will not get anything like this for a long long time due to the cost, but it is the D in R+D that am thinking about also. The perfected animations already exist, that will have been a huge part of the initial overall cost and can simply be copied. The ride vehicle design and transit system will have also been something very hard to get right, but they have. Any mistakes along the way have been worked out and it would now be as 'simple' as reproducing what has already been done. Darkastle itself isn't a recognised IP as far as I know so should be achievable with the consent of the right people, in the same sort of way Pirates 4D turned up all over. It would still be a huge cost, I'd think it could be done for around double our usual investment levels, but if one of the parks did it they would be putting themselves in a league of their own in the UK. Sure the ride type will have been refined but USH opened Transformers this year which is the 5th ride of this type and the 2nd Tranformers ride. It still has the $100M tag floating around. Anyway all this falls apart when the current Thorpe can't run water effects, let alone a fireball properly. In the future, who knows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted December 31, 2012 Report Share Posted December 31, 2012 Well going back to blue fire, I would love to see stealth extended, but saying that, the park don't have any major coasters without inversions and they need that so it isn't really an option:What I would like to see: A nice ride like shambhala or expedition g force with lots of airtime and hills. Also I would love stealth extended in the same year so it would become a better blue fire! Stealth isn't a major coaster? Need airtime, and wood... Simple (but none of this gimmicky inverting steel/wood crap)... The odds on Thorpe getting a decent dark ride are so low, there is no way either the park could use the same video as one that exists already, just due to the sheer copyright costs and whether such a thing would occur (happens with 4D Cinemas, but they're crap anyways)... Extending Stealth won't happen... There is no need or call for it really, whilst rides being redone has happened (Steel Phantom to Phantom's Revenge) it is extremely rare and unlikely... As an aside, Blue Fire's launch is a much more efficient system, yet another reason why Intamin rides are rubbish... Mark9, Mitchada04 and Luke_A 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBobJones Posted January 1, 2013 Report Share Posted January 1, 2013 On a Visit to the Winter Wonderland today, I'm thinking the Wild Maus XXL would be a great addition to Thorpe, it doesn't take up too much space either Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ Posted January 1, 2013 Report Share Posted January 1, 2013 For me even though the next coaster I would want a woody followed by an intense flyer - I don't know why but in the back of my mind from a year or 2 ago I thought I heard possibilities of a bobsled coaster around the front of the dome in the middle of this decade. When I heard that I was shocked as it's not something that strikes out at you as an obvious choice - Something I thought I'd throw out there.... p.s. even though I do like a bobsleigh, I'd be sitting on the fence if Thorpe got one... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Topsyturvy15 Posted January 1, 2013 Report Share Posted January 1, 2013 From reading the previous post I was left wondering could you get a racing bobsled? Could make an interesting attracation if possible!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Posted January 1, 2013 Report Share Posted January 1, 2013 From my experience of bobsleds they have a fairly low throughput and underwhelming ride experience, that wouldn't be my first choice but the racing element is interesting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smidget Posted January 2, 2013 Report Share Posted January 2, 2013 There have been rumours that XNWO shall be changed to go forwards rather than backwards, making it a less intense ride. If this were to happen it would suggest that Thorpe are changing their target audience and considering families again as the height restriction can be reduced from 1.4m (shorter height restriction on XNWO means more people can ride it, giving younger children more ride options when they come to the park). Say this were true, there would be nothing stopping Thorpe bringing in more family-oriented attractions and leaving the big thrills for a while. As BigBobJones mentioned a few pages back, Thorpe have got themselves into a sticky situation in that many are now expecting bigger and better, which is not always possible with planning restrictions, cost, etc. Personally I don't mind what Thorpe give us next as long as it's not tacky and/or badly thought out. BigBobJones 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Posted January 2, 2013 Report Share Posted January 2, 2013 <blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="Smidget" data-cid="146878" data-time="1357144345"><p> Personally I don't mind what Thorpe give us next as long as it's not tacky and/or badly thought out. </p></blockquote> This. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sphinxy Posted January 2, 2013 Report Share Posted January 2, 2013 In terms of the next big coaster what I would love to see is a B&M hyper coaster or a Intamin Woodie. With the hyper though a B&M would have to go over 150ft at least, and digging a hole for such a ride would be way too expensive. Maybe they would go for an intamin hyper as it doesnt use so much room? A woodie would be easier to create a good ride experience with less hight but wasn't there an issue with the ground being too unstable for a woodie? Unless they have sorted that with the hybrid models or steel supports/wooden track. Aside from those two I'd love to see one of the gerstauler or mack launched rides...think Maverick at CP, that could work well at Thorpe. But overal what they lack for me is an airtime machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC! Posted January 2, 2013 Report Share Posted January 2, 2013 Aside from those two I'd love to see one of the gerstauler or mack launched rides...think Maverick at CP, that could work well at Thorpe. Why would they build that when they have Stealth which is a LAUNCHED coaster. That would be abit stupid but with the B&M and the woodie that would be better, with the unstable ground for the woodie, that was on the SAW: the ride site, it could be fine in other parts of the park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smidget Posted January 2, 2013 Report Share Posted January 2, 2013 Just because a park has one launched coaster doesn't mean it cannot have another... With Stealth it's all about the launch. Another launch coaster wouldn't have to focus on the launch so much (think Rock 'n' Rollercoaster, Maverick, etc). Granted it's unlikely Thorpe will have another one due to the size of the park, but the possibility is still there, no matter how minuscule. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Topsyturvy15 Posted January 2, 2013 Report Share Posted January 2, 2013 Launched and looping for me!!! XNWO forward and in the light sounds interesting, always found it a little too intense Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Posted January 2, 2013 Report Share Posted January 2, 2013 I think it needs a vekoma corkscrew. Cornflakes, Coaster, BigBobJones and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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