Thorpe Park Resort

[Justin]

Personally, I am not a fan of the Walking Dead brand, although, credit must be given to Thorpe Park for trying something a little different!

I do wonder how this will appeal to families, if indeed this is now their target market?

[JC13]

Will we see anything about the X retheme? I heard it was supposed to be announced today, but I’m not sure

[Bert]

Yeah they're probably announcing the X retheme today, It'll possibly be announced later on in the day. 

X - Rave in Piece...

[Dan]

Thorpe Park have confirmed what was reported last night with the following post on their Facebook page.

An invasion of Walkers descended upon the Island during FRIGHT NIGHTS and we thought the battle against the dead was won…we were wrong.

This season, the apocalypse is nigh at THORPE PARK Resort with a deadly calendar of unmissable events.

Join the crusade with BRAND NEW experiences such as Zombie Hunt in the summer and Apocalypse Weekend challenges in May & June.

We’ll meet you at the Safe Zone...

#YearOfTWD

The “Headliner to be Announced” is presumably the retheme of X, which I expect will be confirmed on 5th March as the “#WheresChloe?” video contained "Safe Zone, X, 05/03/2018, 09:00" as a hidden message.

[lewis97]

There are also some more details of what each event involves on Thorpe's website:

LIVING NIGHTMARE EXTREME
MAY HALF TERM
Battle your way through an onslaught of ferocious Walkers in our most intense and terrifying The Walking Dead experience to date.

APOCALYPSE WEEKENDS
SELECT WEEKENDS IN MAY AND JUNE
Grab your map and brace yourselves as you join the campaign to rid the Island of its zombie infestation and protect the Safe Zone at all costs.

Execute your assignment, annihilate the dead and receive an exclusive Apocalypse Weekends pin badge, PLUS a free ticket to return to the park!

SUMMER LATES
EVERY THURSDAY, FRIDAY & SATURDAY IN SUMMER
Bask in the holiday heat with us every Thursday, Friday and Saturday of summer for a series of vibrant events, including live music, beach parties and riding into the sunset!

ZOMBIE HUNT
SIX WEEKS OF SUMMER
A hoard of zombies has invaded the woodland on the outskirts of THORPE PARK Resort – and we need your help to hunt them down before we have an epidemic on our hands! Grab your weapons and join the cause as you head into the woods in this extreme battle for survival.

[Muppet738]

Just found this abit more of highlight into the actors for the event.

[youtube]y-tGKkSpYuk[/youtube]

[Bert]

I've been thinking about Project 2020 and wondered if they will utilise an IP for Project 2020 and if so what IP will they use(Assuming they are going for the teen market) maybe we'll see another SAW like situation with a ride themed to another horror based IP. But what IP's would they go for? It? Alien? 

And what type of ride they'll go for is another question. I reckon again it'll like SAW with a big gimmick with ride hardware which is popular at the time. So assuming they do that I wonder what ride system they'll go for. 

And what about the locations? Entrance site? Land behind The Swarm? Loggers Leap site? And if it uses the Loggers Leap site will it interact with Loggers Leap and it be refurbished or will Loggers Leap be removed? 

Honestly I don't mean to keep bumping this thread but something about the speculation for this fasinates me, even if the ride does not appeal to me when it opens. 

[Ladyofthelake]

Whilst The Walking Dead may not be to everyone's taste, it is good to see Thorpe staging so many events throughout the entire year, including the very welcome return of the summer late night openings!

It will be interesting to see how well these events do, and which will carry an additional charge. Whilst I do expect some to be upcharges, what wil make or break them will be just how much they are to do.

I am quite excited for it personally - looks like I could be making a few trips to Thorpe this year

[Dan]

Having never watched The Walking Dead, I cant say I’m overly hyped by Thorpe’s plans for this season.

I’m looking forward to seeing the retheme of X, and I hope to make one of the Summer Nights dates, but that’s pretty much it.

I also can’t get my head around why they are only opening Living Nightmare for May Half Term, yet SAW Alive is going to be open for the 6 weeks summer holiday? Given it’s “The Year of The Walking Dead”, wouldn’t it make sense for the Walking Dead maze to be open for longer?

[Morgan]

I'm not a fan of The Walking Dead and the choice to have it "take over" the park, but these extra events are certainly a step in the right direction. Most Merlin parks usually only do a FHT and Halloween event, so it's nice to see that Thorpe are finally branching out from fright nights. Hopefully other parks shall follow suit!
It'll be interesting to see how living nightmare will be made "extreme" however...
Also to note is that in the promo video, the front of X is missing.

[Bert]

Apperently the intial teaser for YotWD had binary code on it and at the bottom had the numbers '053018' which could be hinting at a 5th of March announcement for the headline attraction, The X retheme.

[Dan]

Apperently the intial teaser for YotWD had binary code on it and at the bottom had the numbers '053018' which could be hinting at a 5th of March announcement for the headline attraction, The X retheme.

You’re right, I posted this on the previous page:

The “Headliner to be Announced” is presumably the retheme of X, which I expect will be confirmed on 5th March as the “#WheresChloe?” video contained "Safe Zone, X, 05/03/2018, 09:00" as a hidden message.

[Ben-]

If they were to use an IP, I think they would use The Walking Dead, as they have the licence for the mazes and there was speculation on a ride being themed to it.
I highly doubt they will give Project 2020 an IP, but if they do, I hope it isn’t The Walking Dead as I hate it.

On another note, do you think it could be another one of them partner coasters, like Nemesis Inferno? I don’t want them to as I hated the general public for calling Nemesis Inferno just Nemesis, as if there wasn't another superior one.

But what do you think?

Ben.

[Dan]

If they were to use an IP, I think they would use The Walking Dead, as they have the licence for the mazes and there was speculation on a ride being themed to it.

X is the ride being rethemed to The Walking Dead.

Given Thorpe have used an IP for their 3 most recent installations (Angry Birds Land, I’m A Celebrity and DBGT) it is a trend they could continue, but I hope they go for something original or we could soon have a park overrun with a mish-mash of IP’s.

[Justin]

It would be nice but personally I think they will continue with the IP trend and bring in big names/brands to draw the crowds.

The island theme is nice and it would be good to see this built upon more, with a summer vibe!

[lewis97]

Generally, I think the purpose of using an IP can be summarised as providing an attraction, that on its own merit doesn't offer a compelling enough proposition that's also marketable, with a hook that will (hopefully) draw in the crowds. To use the examples Dan referenced above: Angry Birds Land and I'm a Celebrity are both pretty standard attractions, which would probably have come across as quite lame if they didn't have the respective IP and had to be marketed as such, and although DBGT offers a much more bespoke experience, it would have been much harder to convey the sort of thing it involved without the Derren Brown association. I suppose you can also consider X's TWD retheme - without the IP (which has also enabled the broader Year of TWD offering), a retheme would have likely been a waste of resources from a commercial standpoint.

Where as, when it comes to installing a high-thrill rollercoaster, it tends to be much easier to market the ride experience for what it fundamentally is. Of course a complementary theme also helps to increase its marketability, but the theme being that of an IP won't necessarily make a significant difference. I think it's for this reason that none of Merlin's major rollercoasters, with the obvious exception of Saw, have utilised an external IP.

Therefore, I do think it's more likely we'll see something original for Project 2020, although of course that's not a certainty. Ultimately, it will depend on how impressive the ride experience is that they can come up with.

[streetmagix]

I agree with @lewis97, I find it unlikely it'll have an IP attached to it. 

It would create so much extra work for Merlin Making Magic too, placing extra design constraints on an already large and complicated project. When it takes months and dozens of design alterations to tweak the colour and design of Stormtroopers in Battlefront 2 the negatives start to outweigh the positives. Whilst Lionsgate would be protective over the SAW franchise  I see them allowing MMM a lot of freedom to design something fun and interesting that's not directly related to the films or is considered strictly cannon. Very few other franchises offer the same freedom. It was a real one off. With DBGT it's obviously a pet project by Derren Brown and he would probably be a lot closer to a creative consultant/ writer than most other 'brands'.

I firmly believe the reason why the Jimmy Fallon ride at Universal is so poor is because it was design by a very large, multi company committee. With the exception of The Wizard of Oz it's almost always going to end badly. 

Anyway.

If they can get near/match THE SWARM in regards to theming then I think they are onto a winner. Hopefully when the park reopens we may see some preliminary work taking place which should give us an idea of where it'll be located and maybe the ride type.  No doubt that MMM have a fairly firm idea of what they want, they may even have a preferred manufacture in place. I wonder if we'll see a Mack, Intamin, RMC, GCI or a B&M van turn up sooner of later. 

[Justin]

As posted on TTSP Instagram:

Theme Park Vlogger, Jack Silkstone, has posted a cryptic message from 'Dylan' on Twitter advising readers to meet in the safe zone.

What does this mean for the 'Island Like No Other'?

#walkingdead #thorpepark #resort #themepark #merlin #surrey #family #fun #ride #rollercoaster #games #thrill #dayout #southparks

Update: Thorpe Park has now acknowledged the sign on their website...

Islanders,

Once again we have some very strange things happening around the resort with the appearance of some mysterious graffiti on a road sign nearby. Captured initially on Instagram and then shared on Twitter, we need your help to get to the bottom of what’s going on.

There are a few questions that we would like answered:
- Who is the mysterious Dylan?
- Where is the Safe Zone?
- Where is Dylan now?

We may have underestimated the extent of the infestation on the Island and the crusade against the dead could be about to step up a gear. If you have ANY information then please come forward and let us know.

Stay alert, survival is paramount!

James
Official THORPE PARK Resort Blogger

[ThemeCrafter264]

It's literally you being told to go to the safe zone and then voice mail. Nothing too important in there.

[Dungeon-X-Smile]

The voicemail is what throws me off, why would you be able to leave a message? That doesn't make any sense to me...

Also, what do people think of the events that are part of the Year of the Walking Dead? 



Personally, I'm really excited. The events look as if they've had a lot of thought and effort put into expanding the experience of Thorpe park past the rides. The one I'm most excited for at the moment is the Zombie Hunt, but apocalypse weekends sound rather promising too.