Thorpe Park Resort

[Islander]

[quote=""Blaze""]Why am I willingly allowing an alien to pick me up?[/quote]
You're not - have you seen the Raptor advert?

[quote=""Blaze""]Why is the alien running along a track?[/quote]
Lawl. Blaze, you've really got to 'suspend your disbelief' when it comes to rides and themes. It's not running along a track, the track isn't there


[quote=""Blaze""]If it's supposed to be a surprise and an accident that it drops, then it fails because the ride continues on a track and drops hundreds of times a day.[/quote]
Every ride cycle is mutually exclusive of each other. You don't ride with knowledge of previous cycles, or of future cycles (you suspend your disbelief ), and so it is a surprise/accident that it drops.

You're taking themes far, far too literally (and that's coming from an extremely literal thinker!) - for 99% of themes in this world to work (and that goes for rides/films/TV shows/anything), you need to relax your common sense a little, think less literally, and let your imagination run a little. Sure, there's the odd gem like Nemesis that seems to work on a more literal level, but IMO that doesn't necessarily place it above other coasters, and (more to the point) it's the exception, not the rule.

[Blaze]

But why do you come back? I'm sure if an alien grabbed you it wouldn't put you down gently a minute and a half later.

Why does that end of the world guy look like Milton whats-his-name from several episodes of MTW. :P

[Nightfall]

In truth nearly no theme park ride can be a truly literal experience. To have a theme, beyond that which already exists, there must be some amount of imagination. Even Nemesis relies on you believing the monster exists for the theme to hold itself together.

The few exceptions are the Towers because it's themed to its own history and rides like Air where the ride's experience (in this case flight) is the theme itself. Or at least it would be if they hadn’t run out of budget.


However I do get what Blaze is saying and he’s given me some great ideas for RCT :P
A theme that asks you to believe one lie in order to make sense is much more effective than believing many. For example most themes don't explain why you spend so long queuing before being picked up by the monster. Rides like Nemesis do because the beast has been tamed and you're riding it as a roller coaster.

In the case of The Swarm we're being asked to believe the train is an alien, the track doesn’t actually exist and you've spent hours waiting for a ride on the creature, despite the fact you don't want it to pick you up. This makes it a weaker theme but only if you are taking the theme literally. As I said above taking any theme literally will eventually cause it to fall apart.

If anyone’s interested in this subject I highly recommend reading this article over at Roller Coaster Philosophy, as well as his review of Nemesis where he writes a good paragraph on the subject.
Link

[Islander]

[quote=""Blaze""]But why do you come back? I'm sure if an alien grabbed you it wouldn't put you down gently a minute and a half later. [/quote]
AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!

:P

Blaze, dear, suspend your disbelief - you don't come back, that bit doesn't happen

[DiogoJ42]

](*,)
If you don't want themed rides, go to Blackpool. Seriously. Chill out.

[Blaze]

But I doooooo!111!1!1! I just bought the ORP and went on Stealth, the alien deffinately put me back! :P

[fredward]

Blaze, just shut up! :P

atleast your living up to your sig! :P

[DiogoJ42]

Using the "I came back" argument voids pretty much every theme ever created for a coaster.

[Sam]

I'm just gonna say right now, I think The Swarm will be a crap coaster. Stop getting excited about it, we all know it's going to be another average festival of disapointment. Look at these plans posted by CF's "the king", remind yourself of the layout:



So absurdly short it's laughable, and without half the near-miss theming Raptor has. I was expecting this to come roughly in the middle of Thorpe's coaster line up, now I'm expecting even Inferno to beat it. Heck, if it's as crap as it looks above, even Colossus could beat it...

[DiogoJ42]

Having a bad day, Sam?

Surely by now we all know that short does not mean bad? The only bad thing that plan shows is that the queue will be another Rita / Th13teen cattlepen

[Blaze]

I do want themed rides. But surely having a backstory that makes sense to go with the theme isn't too much to ask?

Anyway, yes, it's short, but so what? Plenty of great rides are short. Raptor isn't much longer that this. It's got hight and an interesting layout. Just because there's no near misses doesn't mean it's going to be bad. It's a tall, four inversion, unique B&M wingrider. Therefore it should be a very good ride.

[Rollercoaster5000]

Short but sweet should be the word to describe it. I don't think that is a good enough reason to dislike The Swarm, you have to remember that for a ride in the UK (and at a tiny park like thorpe) it is pretty big. Most coasters don't need to be long to be amazing rides, Oblivion and Nemesis for example. You have to remember that what we are getting is a new model from B&M and a ride with a unique theme and layout (that first drop looks immense) Also, it is not often that a ride in the UK breaks the 100ft mark so that is also an achievement.

Thorpe are actually trying to put the effort into an attraction this time round so I think you should really be grateful that we are getting a ride of this scale! It has been a while since the UK has seen a well themed ride, with the big features like the crashed plane this will no doubt be an amazing ride (if the plane isn't cut out, thorpe are predictable).

[Dylan]

[quote=""Sam""]
So absurdly short it's laughable [/quote]

How absurdly short is it compared to, let's say, the absurdly short Nemesis?

[fredward]

We have had the plans for a long time Sam... I'm pretty sure everyone of us who is getting excited about it also has seen the plans...

You may think it's a bad layout, a lot of us don't, in fact your the first one to appear to hate it.

and it's obviously a lot shorter then Oblivion and Stealth...

Sorry if i'm appearing a bit mean but your post is appearing rather flamey...

[Dylan]

[quote=""Sam""] and without half the near-miss theming Raptor has.[/quote]

Can you also clarify exactly what near-miss theming this ride will actually feature. Apart from the crashed plane and the inline twist through a narrow section of building that we really have no proper detail for?
Just curious. I know Raptor has a tree, some kind of mister thing and a tower, which I make three near miss sections.

[AdrenalineAlex]

[quote=""D4n""]

Visitors to a leading theme park have been complaining about the bad breath of fellow passengers as they scream their way through the rides.

Thorpe Park in Surrey has now decided to offer a mouthwash to customers after receiving an increasing number of complaints, especially as temperatures have risen in recent weeks.

Garlic and cigarettes are the most common odours causing the biggest stink.

Mike Vallis, divisional director at Thorpe Park, said: "Perhaps as rides have got more extreme over the years, people are screaming harder and as a result some are spreading their offensive oral odours amongst other riders.

"Complaints have hit an all-time high and it was decided that action needed to be taken. We obviously want to make the experience of our rides as enjoyable as possible for everyone and with the new mouthwash station there are no excuses for anyone to have unfortunate smelling breath."

[url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/break ... 32018.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;]http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/break ... 32018.html[/url]


BO and now bad breath? Sucks to be a TP visitor. :P[/quote]
LOLOL? are you serious. This sounds beyond ridiculous.

[Dormiens-Dave]

I agree with Sam thats its disappointingly short, that doesn't mean it will be crap because obviously Nemesis and co are all short. I just think there is space and the height potential to have a substantial rollercoaster in that space. As for near misses, we don't yet fully know how the theming will interact with the ride so we will have to wait and see.

This doesn't mean i think the coaster will be bad, infact i'm very much looking forward to it. Just feels like a missed opportunity to have a nice lengthy coaster experience in the park.

[Nathan]

To be fair I can smell the problem from up here... a strong stench of desperation mixed with bullshit.

[Islander]

[quote=""fredward""]Sorry if i'm appearing a bit mean but your post is appearing rather flamey...[/quote]
Of course it is, this is Sam :P

Krake at Heide Park is extremely short, shorter than Swarm will be, and it suffers from it. It's still an excellent coaster, though

[Sam]

I don't think it will be crap. I think it will be average and dissapointing.

Nemesis may be short but it's all action, all the time. This is much shorter than Nemmy (in terms of number of elements) and a lot of it seems to be meandering turns, which I wouldn't even count as part of the layout, more what Twin Looper used to do to kill any remaining speed.

It's like if Nemesis was 2/3rds stall turn. Also it's even shorter than I originally thought, when I realised the long straight bit is brake run. I mean, for a "normal coaster" (with a lifthill) unlike Stealth and Oblivion that rely on a focus feature, it's hilariously short. I guarantee on the brake run you'll hear shouts of "was that it...?" every ride. Saw and Stealth and Inferno >>> this.

I feel like one of the few people amid the excitement who correctly predicted SW6 would be crap.