Thorpe Park Resort - The Future

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Dom
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lewis97 wrote:
Dom wrote:The speculator in me is thinking Rumba Rapids related straight away given the background image of the page
I did have a similar thought, although the Rumba Rapids page now has a line saying it "will return in 2019".
It could be its being rethemed/rebranded with the addition of more theming and the change in boats is also making me think it will all be implemented as a whole thing
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Bert
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Didn’t Thorpe say at some TTSP event they planned on taking a year off to improve rides like Rumba?
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Wagstaff04
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Swarm Chris wrote:But they spent literally pounds on making a couple of the rafts have the new gates on them. Surely they won't can all that investment? :lol
Well, last year they gave a certain family coaster new lighting and music, sooooooo... 
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Bert
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Ladyofthelake
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I'm afraid that doesn't mean anything in terms of developments at Thorpe. It is simply an advert for The Purge TV series which is on Amazon Prime (other streaming services are available). When I was at The Resort on Friday morning that advert was playing in a cycle with adverts for the new Johnny English film, Firebox.com and Tesco.
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Justin
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I do believe we will see something happen to Collossus. It could be that we don't see anything new next year, instead, investment banked till 2020 with two new attractions for that year, one being a retheme and one being the new coaster! Who knows?
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Joel Allen
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I do hope Colossus stays! All it needs is new trains and a repaint :(
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Joel Allen wrote:I do hope Colossus stays! All it needs is new trains and a repaint :(
And a new station! :P
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Joel Allen
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Eh. Dunno why but I like the station.
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The air gates are ridiculously over sensitive, which causes them to trigger an e-stop at the slightest touch when closing. Otherwise, yep the station is fine! :)
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JSMarsden
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Joel Allen wrote:Eh. Dunno why but I like the station.
Station is nice but could do with being bigger?
The operations are extremely slow even on 2 trains which i think is primarily having to wait quite a while for people to get their bags and drop off their bags. (People pushing and shoving past each other as they're trying to go in opposite directions in the station). There are probably other reasons for the poor operations but thats the major one that i saw at the weekend.
I love sitting on the break run for the extra 30-40 seconds whilst they finish loading the train in the station (whilst getting cramp due to the awful trains)  :roll:
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Wildboy
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It's a shame, I haven't had reason to visit Thorpe Park for years and it's my local park. On the plus side it's pushed me to travel to other parks and discover new places. I do hope they add something new soon. They are losing my money to Europe.
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Ben-
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Gimme a new attraction for 2019 please.
Can we just replace Rumba Rapids already! I hate that ride, even more than Nemesis Inferno. It just lacks excitement for me, which in some cases is good, but you barely get wet. Mabye just add some cannons or a water fall, maybe change the theming and the old queue. I think that will be beneficial for everyone, mabye if they marketed it differently with a different name?

Did I just explain what a heavy refurbish is? :lol Oh well, what do you think?
In case I don't see ya good afternoon, good evening, and good night, ha ha

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Justin
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Rumba did begin to have some TLC but that seems to have stopped? It would be nice to see more of a story/theme applied to the area, like they were doing when they added a few things to related it to Inferno.
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Wagstaff04
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Don’t know how anyone didn’t notice, but Rumba Rapids has been removed from the THORPE PARK app. 
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Swarm Chris

The app is as it was for Fright Nights, where the Rapids isn't an attraction. :)
Swarm Chris

There's a reasonable amount of language scattered around the Thorpe websites talking about events.
In 2019, get stuck in to tons of exciting events as THORPE PARK Resort celebrates a year of fun, laughter and thrills! Experience The Walking Dead: The Ride at THORPE PARK Resort and find the sanctuary of the Safe Zone. Those who ride, survive!
Source: Thorpe Park Breaks
A THORPE PARK season pass grants you access to one of the UK’s top attractions with over 30 rides, attractions and live events. Take advantage of the situation and get yourself down as many times as you can!
Source: Thorpe Park Blog

My feeling is that 2019's 'major' additions will be increased events. With extremely cheap season passes being pushed everywhere, events are an easy way of having something different each time people come back. Bonus points if the events encourage guests to spend more.

Which makes me wonder what sort of events Thorpe, and really the other Merlin parks too could do?

This year's summer IP based events at Thorpe and Chessington were pretty dire in my view. They no-doubt cost Merlin to license, then were irrelevant at best and divisive at worst to guests, and did little to add to the experience for what to me felt like the majority of guests. Even Ministry of Sound appeared to not do so well this year, with seemingly lower attendance and free tickets being handed out all over the place. I'd be interested to see whether any of these resulted in increased sales at all.

For me an event like Food and Wine at Epcot is the near perfect theme park event. It's reasonably simple to operate with food carts dotted around serving tasty things you wouldn't normally severe; provides an enjoyable and social experience; and encourages people to spend a bit more with less friction than an entrance or booking fee. If you have enough variety, people may even come back multiple times to experience it all.

Would that particular event work at Thorpe? Probably not, but maybe at Alton or Chessington. But there must be similar styles of event that draw interest, are inclusive and add to the overall experience.

For me, this year seemed like a learning experience for the park in terms of events. Starting with Apocalypse Weekends, they managed to get a site wide change of ambience, but the guest interaction side was pretty limited to a very simple and slightly boring treasure hunt. Zombie Hunt had the guest interaction, it just needed a little more polishing to increase the repeat visits aspect - more targets were definitely needed. By Fright Nights they had a huge amount of things to do (even if some of those things weren't particularly exciting), with a mix of mazes and live entertainment.

If it's events we're getting, then I hope they continue to improve from the lessons learnt this year. This is something Thorpe could get working really well, and I hope they can increase guest interaction, improving the reasons to return, and even some more premium aspects if the quality is there (tasty food options please).
Swarm Chris

It's looking like Sticky Sisters may no longer be operating at Thorpe Park. Neither the Thorpe Park or Sticky Sisters websites list the unit being there anymore. It didn't seem to get the best reception at the park, but I'm surprised if it has gone after a single season, with the refit they had to do to the kitchens.

If it is gone, does it increase the chance of this area being used for hosting an attraction? Or will they add another restaurant here?
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Justin
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I still believe it will be used as part of a future development. The Slammer is wasted space, along with Old Town in general. If developed Saw and Samurai are, hopefully, far enough away from any area developments.

It never looked busy and I do believe it was a bit of a filler!
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nicky.borrill
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It was over priced, poor value and generally not very nice. We did try it, twice, wasn't impressed. 
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