Thorpe Park - Derren Brown's Ghost Train

[jamesc]

Revenge of the Mummy type ride like at Universal Studios, would be a great dark ride.

[Capt.Barnacles]

The more I think about this the more I'm starting to think this will be an SFX coaster similar to the attraction Ferrari World is receiving. The manufacturers of the SFX models stated at the IAAPA Expo last year that besides Ferrari World they had another unspecified customer. Could this be Thorpe?

[NemesisRider]

Do we have any dimensions for any sections of the SFX coaster yet? If it is one we can guess rough dimensions from the existent ones.

[lewis97]

*Possible Spoilers*

Merlin have filed two intriguing trademarks recently; 'Chronicles of London' was filed on the 23rd March and 'Automatons' was filed only a few days ago, on the 8th April. They have similar classifications to The Smiler's trademark, which would suggest that they are looking to use the names for attractions and merchandise.

Now there is obviously the suspicion that one of these will be the name of Thorpe's 2016 attraction, and with the codename of Project Whitechapel, 'Chronicles of London' could be seen to fit. Whereas 'Automatons' has a few extra classifications and is a name which could lend itself well to some sort of ride vehicle. However, Merlin have stated that there is new midway brand/attraction in the pipeline, so it is possible that either of these may be the name for that. It has also been established that Merlin have purchased the .co.uk and .com domains for 'chroniclesoflondon', which could be to set up a minisite for the 2016 attraction or a website for the midway attraction. Of course there's also the possibility that these names will be for attractions we aren't aware of yet, so we'll just have to wait and see...

At the moment this only add to the speculation, but neither of these trademarks seem to allude to an IP so we may be seeing an original concept next year. You'll be able to find details of the trademark applications on the 3rd page here.

[Alex]

Great find Lewis!

[alicheesy]

I'm thinking creepy Victorian robot things

[Jack]

This is very exciting as what has been pointed out so far could mean literally anything from the speculated jack the ripper theme to something totally new and different.

[Chaz]

Steampunk-style? Please

[Altontowersbarlow]

Steampunk-style? Please

I think this is an extremely plausible idea. Although everything is currently built upon layers of speculation, I do believe it is becoming easier to decipher the rough theme of Thorpe Parks' 2016 Attraction. The design of the show-building suggests a Victorian London theme and this ties in effectively with "The Chronicles Of London" title. The exterior of the building is also strangely simplistic, which suggests to me the building will act as an abandoned area that conceals some sort of special phenomena which will create the Sci-Fi aspect of the ride. I feel that the other filed name will be used as the ride vehicle names and guests will travel aboard the "Automatons" that will lead them to an alternate paradox housed within the London warehouse. Undoubtedly there will be a deeper storyline however I feel the rough theme will be as described above.

[Aidan Lowe]

I'm thinking creepy Victorian robot things

Like the Automaton from Hugo but gonna kill us all

[alicheesy]

I'm thinking creepy Victorian robot things

Like the Automaton from Hugo but gonna kill us all

Yeah, like that :lol

[MakoMania]

When do people think Thorpe will give us more info like launch a minisite etc?

[Altontowersbarlow]

When do people think Thorpe will give us more info like launch a minisite etc?

Nobody can know for definite but I would personally expect a mini-site to appear in the near-future, possibly towards the middle of this season.

[MakoMania]

Don't know if this is at all related but there is a book called autamaton perfume. merlin made a trademark for autamaton and thorpe released a picture of a perfume bottle not so long ago. Also correct me if I'm wrong but didn't autamatons feature in Dr who.

[nickhutson]

The more I think about this the more I'm starting to think this will be an SFX coaster similar to the attraction Ferrari World is receiving. The manufacturers of the SFX models stated at the IAAPA Expo last year that besides Ferrari World they had another unspecified customer. Could this be Thorpe?

It is going to be an SFX Coaster.

We were told at IAPPA by the boss that they had a European client building a huge dark ride... who else is building a huge dark ride in Europe?

[JammyBand]

The more I think about this the more I'm starting to think this will be an SFX coaster similar to the attraction Ferrari World is receiving. The manufacturers of the SFX models stated at the IAAPA Expo last year that besides Ferrari World they had another unspecified customer. Could this be Thorpe?

It is going to be an SFX Coaster.

We were told at IAPPA by the boss that they had a European client building a huge dark ride... who else is building a huge dark ride in Europe?

If this is indeed the case, we would we looking at a potential world-class attraction here. The possibilities would be endless with an SFX coaster. It would be very suitable ride type for the 'Chronicles Of London' idea (if that is indeed the theme of the new ride), and with a budget as high as they reportedly have for the attraction we can expect something very good indeed. Obviously, there's still a long way to go yet and we could be on completely the wrong lines.

[Aidan Lowe]

Well from Dynamic Attractions website you can pretty much see its suited to go inside the building Thorpe have planned to build. The only question is will the theme / narration / story be any decent.

Note: Ferrari world has only purchased 2 features to go with their installation of the SFX coaster from DA whereas the guy at IAAPA has said they are working with other customers who purchased the whole 4 so technically this will be a worlds first SFX coaster with every element they sell on offer incorporated into the attraction.

[Hazard]

Wow all this sounds so amazing. At first I was thinking that something indoors wouldn't be something that good but then the price is really high for what it could be but all these SFX rumours could make this something really special (not that I know much about it, but looks pretty unique).

In a nutshell what does this actually do? Show different visuals to keep the ride fresh (like a motion master) but with the rollercoaster actually on a track?

[Aidan Lowe]

It's going to be like your Transformers / Harry Potter Gringotts dark rides with all the visuals and action except it involves the train more.

The SFX coaster has some unique elements which all involve the track being separated rather than a solid ride circuit, it'll have a freefall section (still relatively new but Th13teen has it), Tilt and drop where you'll roll up to a section of track, it can tilt downwards / upwards and go backwards, it'll have a gyro table where the train will be static on a piece of engineering that can rotate and tilt in practically any direction and finally it'll have a side slide where the train will stop, tilt and drop sideways.

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Basically with the right storytelling and visuals it can be quite a magnificent experience, a ride like this would suit fantasy based story more.

[Danny]

The SFX coaster can also include launches :sus:

I've said SFX for a while now, but even if it was, it won't have all the elements the SFX has to offer.