Thorpe Park | Derren Brown's Ghost Train | VR Attraction

[nadroJ]

Re: Thorpe Park construction?

I'm all for dark rides, just not at Thorpe. I understand they're moving away from the thrill market and more towards families again but I think they have a MASSIVE undertaking on their hands. They spent ears basically making the park impenetrable to families and now all of a sudden they want them back again? The current clientele at Thorpe give the park a reputation that precedes them; dark ride or no dark ride I think they'll be hard pressed to bring families to Thorpe in that area over LegoLand or Chessington.

With regards to the IP I've said it over and over again. I wouldn't be surprised if it's Doctor Who considering the relationship Merlin have built with the BBC, but for me it's a much more delicate process than choosing a popular brand to build a ride around. Picture the weed smoking chavs that go to Thorpe currently getting excited about something like Dr. Who. Difficult isn't it?

 

[Dar]

Re: Thorpe Park construction?

Why would they build their Paramount killer 4 years before Paramount is due to open? I don't know what to believe!

 

[Ready_23]

Re: Thorpe Park construction?

Totally agree that the IP will be Doctor Who, BBC would only agree to them using the IP if the ride was spectacular as it's one of their flagship brands. I would also imagine the park has the potential to makea decent amount from merchandise as it has quite a following!

 

[Nemesis Inferno]

Re: Thorpe Park construction?

Funny, I thought Merlin didn't think Paramount Park wasn't a threat to them...

Panic buttons pressed then...

 

[Ready_23]

Re: Thorpe Park construction?

Well they won't say it publicly but the investments over the next few years should give an indication how they feel.

 

[STC]

Re: Thorpe Park construction?

Merlin are really going to go all out on this ride as they are worried about the paramount park taking aware the share they have in the market. The budget for this ride is upwards of £30m, not sure on the exact figure though.

Just shot-in-the-dark conjecture. Why would one of Britain's biggest parks be worried about a vaguely-proposed future park that probably won't even be built? And if it is, it'll open with a fifth of the ride hardware that Thorpe has today, nevermind when it opens (it'll mostly be gastrocinematicconfertainment balls).

The "upwards of £30m" figure is ridiculous, and I suspect completely made up. The Smiler, the most major ride in Britain since Oblivion, cost £18m. The Swarm cost £20m, and was widely seen as a failure for the park. For any veteran Merlin-watchers, the idea of them spending over £30m on a single new ride at Thorpe is laughable.

 

[owentaylor121]

Re: Thorpe Park construction?

^In what way was the smiler the most major ride in ride in Britain since Oblivion? Surely Colossus, Stealth, Saw, The Swarm, Thi3teen, Air and Inferno are all major rides for Britian.

 

[Screaming Coasters]

Re: Thorpe Park construction?

^To be fair The Swarm is constantly pulling the biggest queues, then Saw.

It really isn't..

Swarm was about 65 minutes wait during the day yesterday and went down to 20 minutes from about 6pm. Saw was about 130 minutes during the day and 80 minutes for most of the evening. Heck, even Colossus was 100 minutes all day.

Swarm by many is considered a flop, and the delays on all their investments appears to be a reflection of this.

 

[owentaylor121]

Re: Thorpe Park construction?

I was also at the park yesterday, The Swarm has amazing capacity, this is why the queue is a lot shorter than Colossus, you have to remember with Saw the theme fits perfectly with fright nights, people go to fright nights for a horror event, a ride themed to horror films is perfect for this event, I heard nothing but complaints from people getting off Saw of how they just wasted an hour to get bashed around, in The Swarm queue I heard a lot of people saying how good it was, some running round for rerides even with a 40minute queue. The Swarm gets 28 people a train, Colossus gets 20, that's why the queue for Colossus is longer.

 

[Ready_23]

Re: Thorpe Park construction?

Merlin are really going to go all out on this ride as they are worried about the paramount park taking aware the share they have in the market. The budget for this ride is upwards of £30m, not sure on the exact figure though.

Just shot-in-the-dark conjecture. Why would one of Britain's biggest parks be worried about a vaguely-proposed future park that probably won't even be built? And if it is, it'll open with a fifth of the ride hardware that Thorpe has today, nevermind when it opens (it'll mostly be gastrocinematicconfertainment balls).

The "upwards of £30m" figure is ridiculous, and I suspect completely made up. The Smiler, the most major ride in Britain since Oblivion, cost £18m. The Swarm cost £20m, and was widely seen as a failure for the park. For any veteran Merlin-watchers, the idea of them spending over £30m on a single new ride at Thorpe is laughable.

No the 30m figure isnt made up, it was what was relayed to me. The hardware in the ride is what will make it expensive.

 

[STC]

Re: Thorpe Park construction?

Merlin are really going to go all out on this ride as they are worried about the paramount park taking aware the share they have in the market. The budget for this ride is upwards of £30m, not sure on the exact figure though.

Just shot-in-the-dark conjecture. Why would one of Britain's biggest parks be worried about a vaguely-proposed future park that probably won't even be built? And if it is, it'll open with a fifth of the ride hardware that Thorpe has today, nevermind when it opens (it'll mostly be gastrocinematicconfertainment balls).

The "upwards of £30m" figure is ridiculous, and I suspect completely made up. The Smiler, the most major ride in Britain since Oblivion, cost £18m. The Swarm cost £20m, and was widely seen as a failure for the park. For any veteran Merlin-watchers, the idea of them spending over £30m on a single new ride at Thorpe is laughable.

No the 30m figure isnt made up, it was what was relayed to me.

Oh, well that's all the evidence I need, case closed.

 

[Ready_23]

Re: Thorpe Park construction?

 

[Ethan]

Re: Thorpe Park construction?

^ No, you don't say where you heard everything so nobody believes a word you say.

 

[Ben]

Re: Thorpe Park construction?

Smiler cost less than half £18mil for the ride itself, it was just over £6mil

#trustme

 

[Screaming Coasters]

Re: Thorpe Park construction?

I was also at the park yesterday, The Swarm has amazing capacity, this is why the queue is a lot shorter than Colossus,

Not to be an ass, but Colossus can do 1300 an hour whereas Swarm can do 1200. Correct me if I'm wrong, Saw can do 1200 an hour as well.

you have to remember with Saw the theme fits perfectly with fright nights, people go to fright nights for a horror event, a ride themed to horror films is perfect for this event,

Swarm is technically a horror theme, so by that, it should have been just as popular.

I heard nothing but complaints from people getting off Saw of how they just wasted an hour to get bashed around, in The Swarm queue I heard a lot of people saying how good it was, some running round for rerides even with a 40minute queue.

Thats such a throwaway statement to make..

The Swarm gets 28 people a train, Colossus gets 20, that's why the queue for Colossus is longer.

As much as seats can affect the performance of a rides capacity, in this instance, it doesn't. Colossus is a far easier ride to load than Swarm. Guests come in one side and leave the other, whereas on Swarm, its a free-for-all mess.. You can dispatch a Colossus train far quicker than a Swarm train (I've timed it many time), and I bet Swarm hasn't even come anywhere close to its theoretical hourly throughput.

 

[owentaylor121]

Re: Thorpe Park construction?

The Swarm was getting trains out very quickly yesterday, Colossus on the other hand... The train is really hard to get out of slowing the dispatch down, then the baggage area in the station is a free for all slowing it down too, something The Swarm doesn't have. The Swarm is a free for all getting to your seat and leaving the ride but Colossus is the same with its bags. It look me considably longer the get in and out of Colossus than it did for The Swarm.

 

[Screaming Coasters]

Re: Thorpe Park construction?

The Swarm was getting trains out very quickly yesterday, Colossus on the other hand... The train is really hard to get out of slowing the dispatch down, then the baggage area in the station is a free for all slowing it down too, something The Swarm doesn't have. The Swarm is a free for all getting to your seat and leaving the ride but Colossus is the same with its bags. It look me considably longer the get in and out of Colossus than it did for The Swarm.

Colossus was super quick dispatching yesterday I found, Swarm was the same it had always been.
Interesting differences of experience..

The bag thing isn't so much of an issue. At least staff on Colossus can get to work with faff happening, on The Swarm, you can't move until everybody is seated and cleared of the station. Its tight.

We probably won't agree on anything here :lol:

 

[Jared]

Re: Thorpe Park construction?

Not to be an ass, but Colossus can do 1300 an hour whereas Swarm can do 1200. Correct me if I'm wrong, Saw can do 1200 an hour as well.

Theoretical capacity below:

Colossus: 1000 pph
Saw the Ride: 950 pph
Swarm: 1200 pph
Stealth: 1200 pph
Nemesis Inferno: 1150 pph

Those are relatively accurate based on some sums I just did, but I can't put those here as I'm using my phone.

 

[Mysterious Sue]

Re: Thorpe Park construction?

I have two main problems with this. One. 30k isn't that much for a dark ride these days. Transformers Singapore for example was US100M in 2011 (£62M) or double this proposed budget.

Second. It's Thorpe's maintenance issues. Dark rides need constant attention, upkeep and money. If they can't be bothered to paint Colossus every few years how on earth will a dark ride not end up a big pile of crap after 3 or 4 years.

If it's real, I don't like this idea at all. Stick to what they're good at. Statement coasters that draw in the crowds. Stealth, Colossus, Saw, people come from miles to ride those. A hyper is what they need next IMO.

 

[Darren B]

Re: Thorpe Park construction?

I have two main problems with this. One. 30k isn't that much for a dark ride these days. Transformers Singapore for example was US100M in 2011 (£62M) or double this proposed budget.

Second. It's Thorpe's maintenance issues. Dark rides need constant attention, upkeep and money. If they can't be bothered to paint Colossus every few years how on earth will a dark ride not end up a big pile of crap after 3 or 4 years.

If it's real, I don't like this idea at all. Stick to what they're good at. Statement coasters that draw in the crowds. Stealth, Colossus, Saw, people come from miles to ride those. A hyper is what they need next IMO.

Finally someone who speaks sense.

Thorpe just need to keep building coasters; the bigger the better. That's how they'll keep their numbers up. If they want to keep people coming back they need to build something outstanding like they did with Stealth (The attendance went through the roof and stayed there once Stealth was built).

I also agree with Jordan, CWOA and AT are much better suited to a top notch dark ride.