GCI Wood @ Thorpe Park

[Martyn B]

Dont know if people already know about this or not, but there were plans for a GCI Woodie at Thorpe Park, but apparently the plans were shelved in favour of Saw.

http://www.ukrides.info/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3467

Ditched for Eurofighter? Talk about rubbing it in....

 

[Pokemaniac]

Wow. A surprise, to say the least. When I saw the topic title, I thought "Here we go again..." and expected a post along the lines of "do u think a gci wuld be gud at THORPE PARK coz a friend asked me that and i think it was a gud idea plz reply" (didn't see the author at first).

At least, shows that somebody, sometime, at least considered a new woodie for the UK. It would have been a brilliant addition, but in the end Saw was seen as the better alternative. Sadly.
This could have been the beginning of a new wood era in the UK. Instead you got the biggest Eurofighter in the world at the time, a "world's first horror movie tie-in rollercoaster" (woo!), and a chav magnet of epic proportions.

Now well. This will be a nice piece of trivia to put on the same shelf as the Heide Park Teracoaster and the Southend Swine.

 

[Colossus]

Awww. This makes me sad. That would have been awesome, even if it weren't it would have been better then SAW, and yeah could have revitalized woodies over here.

Saw <//3

 

[ciallkennett]

Oh well. If anything, at least this shows that they have been talking to GCI so probably have maintained contact, or are at least on good speaking terms. The Thorpe-needs-a-woodie people will like that.

I personally think wood would not fit in at Thorpe...but that's for another day.

Some nice pics in their topic of the thrills workshop

 

[spicy]

So they cancelled what looks like potentially one of the best UK coasters ever built for one of the worst coaster types ever created?

Well played Thorpe.

 

[Ollie]

Cool find. Although I assume we could still see it in later years once they get more land from filling in the water round the park.
Looks a bit crammed in in that photo and would look better at the back of the park rather than as you see the Thorpe skyline as you drive into the park.

 

[Kebab]

Looking at the plans, it doesn't like it does much for a woodie anyway, there's way too many curves and turns and very little (if any) airtime hills. Saw: The Ride wasn't bad at first, to be honest at the time it was a nice surprise, but was quickly forgotten.

We could've had an uninspired boring wooden coaster, or a decentish Euro-Fighter? :?

 

[Robbie]

Oh well. If anything, at least this shows that they have been talking to GCI so probably have maintained contact, or are at least on good speaking terms.

I dunno. If your lovely project (that you probably spent ages on) got canned in favour of something you consider inferior... would you still be on good speaking terms or just move on to dealing with someone who actually cares?

 

[nealbie]

Ah, I'm assuming this is the scrapped one because of all the "reclaimed land" bollocks.

And Kebab, Troy doesn't have much (if at all) in the way of conventional airtime hills either, but it still provides it in droves.

 

[Gavin]

^^ I was always under the impression that it was perfectly normal for coaster designers to put forward / be asked for designs that never come to fruition? There are probably hundreds of designs out there that we never get to hear about.

Even if that's not the case, there's no way that GCI would turn down building a multi-million pound ride at one of the UK's most popular, high-profile parks just because they were a bit put out years ago when a design didn't go ahead.

 

[SaiyanHajime]

^^ I was always under the impression that it was perfectly normal for coaster designers to put forward / be asked for designs that never come to fruition? There are probably hundreds of designs out there that we never get to hear about.

Yup.



I think this is interesting, but no surprise. I bet, in terms of hardware, it was about the same as Saw cost wise. I wouldn't trust Thorpe to look after wood, I think I'm glad we got Saw. As an local enthusiast it would have been nice to have another coaster that is just kinda there and fun, much like Inferno, but I'd doubt the quality of this wood shown on the plans.

Still... That area of the park for a wood? Nice. Theme wise, concept wise, that would have been really nice.

I personally think if it was going to be any of the Merlin parks got wood, it would be Thorpe. I wouldn't rule it out just because it's been rejected in the past, either. I really want them to do it because I'm fascinated to know if the public's reaction would be what they thought. I was talking to a non coastery friend yesterday about wooden coasters and he voiced that they sound outdated - both in terms of fun and safety. The parks concerns are legit, but I don't know if people's opinions would shift/matter once it opened? I think they could easily market it to utilise the dangerous and old connotations.

 

[Ian]

Why has nobody mentioned that it was probably scrapped so they could build it where the Canada Creek Railway once stood?

Ok, so Saw is an awful coaster compared to Inferno and Stealth but it does pull in the punters and it's quite well themed. Would have preferred this woodie though.

 

[SaiyanHajime]

Why has nobody mentioned that it was probably scrapped so they could build it where the Canada Creek Railway once stood?

There's been logic flying of an out and back for that site since time began, but once they closed it I was like... Hang on maybe... Maybe this'll actually happen?

Though many people tell me that it's not wide enough. If you look on the MTDP the edge of the park is shockingly close.

This plan was probably never even scrapped, it probably was just one of many proposals for what Saw became, but I doubt further it was scrapped because they suddenly came up with the idea for an out and back for the railway site. There's no way they wouldn't have considered the site ages ago given enthusiasts have been eyeing it up for so long. I bet this is the coaster that banged the nail in the head with regard to the market research TowersTimes reported where Merlin decided that a woodie just wasn't right for the UK market.

 

[spicy]

All this "woodie won't be right for the UK market" is just so annoying.

So wooden rollercoasters are popular throughout the whole world but in the UK the majority doesn't like them? I fail to see how this could be true.

Besides Stampida seems to be incredibly popular amongst the British that visit PA and that happens to be one of the most brutal woodies about.

 

[caffeine_demon]

Looking at the plans, it doesn't like it does much for a woodie anyway, there's way too many curves and turns and very little (if any) airtime hills. Saw: The Ride wasn't bad at first, to be honest at the time it was a nice surprise, but was quickly forgotten.

We could've had an uninspired boring wooden coaster, or a decentish Euro-Fighter? :?

Uninspired and boring?? how did you work that one out??

 

[SaiyanHajime]

All this "woodie won't be right for the UK market" is just so annoying.

So wooden rollercoasters are popular throughout the whole world but in the UK the majority doesn't like them? I fail to see how this could be true.

Besides Stampida seems to be incredibly popular amongst the British that visit PA and that happens to be one of the most brutal woodies about.

Wow, about Stampida... Really? That actually makes me really happy to hear.

A non-coastery friend pointed out to me yesterday that the US fascination with wood might be that the country has more of a relationship with wood than we do, full stop. There's a huge logging industry, wooden furnishings and houses are still very much in fashion, etc. It's not seen as outdated there. Maybe that impacts their view?

Europe actually has fewer woods than the UK by percentage. The US doesn't actually have a lot more. I worked it out when I wrote an article on the matter... *goon* http://www.themeparkgeekly.com/10/3-rea ... -in-years/

 

[Robbie]

Why has nobody mentioned that it was probably scrapped so they could build it where the Canada Creek Railway once stood?

There's been logic flying of an out and back for that site since time began, but once they closed it I was like... Hang on maybe... Maybe this'll actually happen?

Though many people tell me that it's not wide enough. If you look on the MTDP the edge of the park is shockingly close.

This plan was probably never even scrapped, it probably was just one of many proposals for what Saw became, but I doubt further it was scrapped because they suddenly came up with the idea for an out and back for the railway site. There's no way they wouldn't have considered the site ages ago given enthusiasts have been eyeing it up for so long. I bet this is the coaster that banged the nail in the head with regard to the market research TowersTimes reported where Merlin decided that a woodie just wasn't right for the UK market.

Danzibarr in The Swarm thread says he was told it was scrapped because "Tussauds were more about quality attractions and that when it switched to Merlin they had more of a "Let's get rides in quickly" attitude" - so, apparently nothing about the site or being a wooden coaster.

 

[SaiyanHajime]

I read what he said, but that isn't the end of the story.

Tussauds would have put one in years ago if that was the be all and end all. It's well known how hard Alton tried. There could be a 100 pros and cons for any ride, it's weighing up the important ones.

In the Sub-Terra thread, there's a lot of talk about the "switch to Merlin" and Benin brought up that the downfall began with the switch to DIC, when it was still Tussauds (Rita, Stealth, Spinball, Dragon's Fury). Go check that thread cuz there's some interesting discussion going on.

If anything, Merlin's emphasis now is more likely to bring a wooden coaster to fruition. Think about it. There was a rumour years ago of a B&M flyer for that site, if true, why did they ditch that idea for wood? A B&M is a more quality attraction, surely? Wooden coasters are cheap to build, like Gerstlaurer. A "lets get rides in quickly" attitude isn't how I'd describe Saw, which has a higher level of theming than most of the coasters Tussauds built.

That quote is the opinion of one person at Thorpe. It's a legitimate, valid opinion, but it's not really much different to any of ours. Who knows, the guy might be an enthusiast or fond of wooden coasters.

 

[Coasterfreck]

I think a B&M flyer for Thorpe will never happen, especially as Alton has Air which did have a lot of problems in it's early years.
However I really hope Merlin consider to look back at these plans and use them for the 2015 coaster.
Anyway the plans are amazing and I think it would of been amazing and much better than Saw especailly with the Fly-by station element.

 

[TP Rich]

Strange really, whenever I think about the 2018 coaster (assuming there will be one, we can hope), I always, without fail, imagine it as a woodie. I've just got a good feeling that we'll be getting on within the next few years. Just got to hope, I suppose.