Thorpe Park Resort

[Islander]

[quote=""Sam""][quote=""haydn!""]How do we know the themeing isn't going to be as good? Has the thing been built already? No? Didn't think so. [/quote]
Because we've seen planning applications, this is what planning applications are for. They must, by law, detail all significant aspects of a development. *sigh*[/quote]
I'm guessing you saw a different planning application to the rest of us, then? The application we saw made most of us drop out collective jaws in awe of what is planned.

Of course, there's every chance the finished product will fail to deliver what the plans promise, but if for a moment we assume they're a 100% perfect representation of what is to come, as you seem to want to do, then we're in for a treat...

[AstroDan]

Better not go to Thorpe then if there is such a major problem! I am not putting up with bad breath!


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[fredward]

Plus the ride system, isn't something you can imagine, if you look at the car design, and the position of the seats, excisting wingriders (with the exception of raptor ofcourse!) Have the seating in a different position. The seating on this is further down, so your heartline is inline with the track.

This should create quite the experience alongside the apocalyptic theming.

And what the first drop is gonna be amazing yet the rest of the ride is too short?

You must think oblivions absoloute trash then!

[Dylan]

[quote=""Sam""]The ride is not such a vastly new concept that I have no idea how it will ride (like the first time I went on X2), as I've been on a wingrider before and I've been on dozens of B&Ms before.[/quote]

I seriously hope this doesn't ride anywhere near as badly as X! Urgh.

[Benzin]

[quote=""Dylan""]I seriously hope this doesn't ride anywhere near as badly as X! Urgh.[/quote]

I doubt it'll be anything like X, mainly because this won't be spinning around and have crap restraints...


It might be short, but some of the best rides are short, Oblivion is the best Dive Machine around because it's short... The others are too long and rather outstay the welcome and just become rides that happen to have a vertical drop (or two) and aren't as iconic or well thought out...

In regards to planning applications, let's not just assume it will all be built just because it's on there... Remember that grandstand next to Stealth? Oh yeah, it didn't get built did it? So I can see where Sam is coming from on that point...

But I do agree that completely disregarding the ride as terrible based on plans alone is rather daft... Pictures and videos can NEVER tell the full story of how good a ride is, no matter how 'experienced' a person is with rides...

[Jared]

Right, I'll just step on in here and give my opinion.

I've done Raptor at Gardaland and I have to say, it's a brilliant coaster. It's smooth, has some force, airtime and it works really well. It's gracious and not very aggressive, but it doesn't need to be, because of the theming.

Now, I was with the guys at Coaster Force when we all went to Italy, and I have to say, I somewhat agree. What makes Raptor a great coaster is the theming. The way the ride interacts with it's surrounding is what takes it from being an average, smooth B&M to being an epic coaster. Never have I been on a ride where I've actually flinched to dodge surrounding theming elements. The "Raptor Catcher", buildings, towers and tree's that the ride flies through are phenomenal. They really add so much to the ride and that's something we all said when we got off of it for the first time.

"Thorpe Park have got a lot to live up to with theming, or LC12 is going to suck". That's pretty much the gist of our opinions, and it's backed up by the rest of us who went.

To give an example, here's a couple of pictures that I took when we were there that sort of show just how the theming elements are incorporated into the experience.

[spoiler:3pydu1an]

The supports actually make you feel like you're going to collide. They feel so much closer to you. Especially in the front seat.



The tower, a lot closer than the supports and really does catch you off guard as you fly around the corner and through it.



The support actually makes you pull your legs up. It's crazy!



The tree of death, this works because of the speed of the roll. It's slow and makes your perception warped as you go though it. It's weird.[/spoiler:3pydu1an]

The ride works well because the theming works with the track layout to add an extra element to the ride. Gardaland didn't exactly have a blank canvas to work with like Thorpe do, but they've done an exceptional job. Thorpe have certainly got a lot to live up to.

Just my two pence.

[Dormiens-Dave]

This ride really will be interesting to ride next year, not only will it be great to get a new coaster style in the UK it will be great to see if Merlin can really show some potential in the UK coaster stakes.

As for the ride itself i don't think being short will make this ride bad, i just wish a park would build something with more length so that we get some more meaty coasters. Thorpe park is uniquely placed in the Merlin portfolio to do this so just wish they would.

The only part of the ride that to me disappoints is the finale, it looks a bit bland, but its hard to factor in the extra dimension the wing rider concept will add so i will hold judgement until i ride it.

Finally there seems to be fewer near misses on The Swarm than on Raptor so i do wonder how that will affect the ride experience, it might be that adding the height to the ride takes away the true positives of such a concept such as the leg choppers, but again i remain open minded as we just dont have enough comparisons to make to judge so early.

Either way i think this will likely become Thorpes best rollercoaster to date, the trouble is that not really to hard to do as i dont rate any of their coasters that highly.

[AdrenalineAlex]

I think Thorpe has far superior theming to Raptor in my opinion which is in the plans. People are easy to judge it before it has even been put into place, travelling in a completely different perspective will already alter the riding experience in comparison to other types of coaster making it more exciting. Travelling through the elements at 60mph(ish) surrounded by the scenery (if they stick with the plans) I believe will make the ride that intense combined with (although less than Raptor's amount of) headchoppers will make it a better ride experience in comparison. Yes, the ride is short and I think the last part of the ride is slightly disappointing, however, if Thorpe sticks to their plans and plan to live up to how high they've set the bar with their adverts/promo, I think we could be looking at a VERY good coaster.

[Nightfall]

I actually think The Swarm has more close encounters than Raptor if they stick to the plans.

Firstly there's the plane. As far as I know the first half of Raptor is fairly uneventful so the planes a good start.

The supports on the Zero-G Roll could offer another encounter, can't tell yet obviously.

The inclined loop should be great on the inside seat.

Then there are the Helicopter blades.

Finally the train goes over the station building. It's themed to offer a similar effect to the tower on Raptor. And this support is in the plans so no loss there.



The downside is one side get's a lot more close encounters. However the other side looks more intense.

And I haven’t even mentioned the supposed return of the Fireballs

[Pennywise]

So, who saw Thorpe's slightly better PR stunt on BBC Breakfast just before 9am this morning?

For those who didn't, it was Thrill Laboratory (again) testing the effects of screaming on coasters and other rides, the 2 rides tested were SAW and Storm Surge ( :P ). Their results showed that screaming raises your heart rate by 10-18%.

But basically it was just a good PR stunt. :P

Edit - Link here!

[Chaz]

Yeah, wasn't the best science experiment of the year but was interesting(ish).


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.346321,-0.474471

[Jared]

[quote=""AdrenalineAlex""]I think Thorpe has far superior theming to Raptor in my opinion which is in the plans. [/quote]

I'm going to have to dis-agree with you on that one. The theming on Raptor is flawless. Not a single issue as far as I could tell, where as with Thorpe, the theming in the plans seems very sporadic. Where there is theming it looks good, but the area as a whole looks quite weak.

[quote=""AdrenalineAlex""]Travelling through the elements at 60mph(ish) surrounded by the scenery (if they stick with the plans) I believe will make the ride that intense combined with (although less than Raptor's amount of) headchoppers will make it a better ride experience in comparison.[/quote]

You're saying that "The Swarm" will be a better ride with less "close calls" than Raptor, which has more? That makes no sense because this type of ride heavily relies on these theming elements to make the ride more thrilling. With less of them, it's not going to have quite the same effect. I've done Raptor, and I believe that Thorpe really have their work cut out for them. It's got a lot to live up to.

[quote=""AdrenalineAlex""]Yes, the ride is short and I think the last part of the ride is slightly disappointing, however, if Thorpe sticks to their plans and plan to live up to how high they've set the bar with their adverts/promo, I think we could be looking at a VERY good coaster.[/quote]

In all fairness, advertising and promo art work has nothing to do with final appearances. Just look at the plans for Th13teen's entrance, Saw's internal queue line and Storm Surge's buildings. It will not be like it's show in the promo work, which is there purely to build up interest in the ride.

As for the ending being disappointing, you're sort of contradicting yourself there. You say that you don't agree with people saying the theming will be poor before you've seen it, and yet, you're saying the ending of the ride will be poor, when you've not ridden it. If Raptor is anything to go by, the ending should be pretty fun.

[fredward]

The last inversion on Swarm, looks as if it has more "collisions" than any of rapters, your going through a destroyed building, with bits of timber stuck out the create the same effect as the tree and the tower of Raptor, along with that weird support which works as a head/leg chopper.


In my honest opinion I prefer Swarms theming to Raptors, but I've only seen both rides on paper. I have never been to Gardaland, and before anyone says that makes my opinion mute, I would say it makes it a little better because I have the same blank slate of an opinion on both rides (if that makes sense! :P )

I'm optimistic with this ride. And to be honest there's no reason for an argument at what's better Raptor or Swarm, since they are quite the distance away from each other! :P

[RustyRider]

I think it'll be a fantastic addition to the uk, and I don't care if it isn't intense, it'll still be an amazing experience and one of only 2 in Europe.

And sam, judging a ride 6/10 before vertical construction has even started is just ludicrous!

[BigAl]

Would it not be better to wait for Thorpe's to get built and for people to ride it before we start saying which Wing Rider it better? People who ride both will be in the position to give us a definitive answer but at this stage we don't really know. From what we've seen so far Thorpe's ride looks like it's going to be really good but Raptor looks amazing too and it's definitely set the standard! I'd love to go on both but I'll probably only get chance to go on the one at Thorpe so for Raptor I'll just have to sit and watch a high quality pov on Youtube and pretend I'm on it :P

[ReZourceman]

[quote=""fredward""]makes my opinion mute[/quote]

(**moot) :arrow:

[fredward]

Shhhhhhhhh! I shall blame a combination of my own incompetence and google chromes spell-checker! :P

[Jared]

[quote=""BigAl""]Would it not be better to wait for Thorpe's to get built and for people to ride it before we start saying which Wing Rider it better?[/quote]

We're enthusiasts... This is what we do.

[Adam]

[quote=""Jared""][quote=""BigAl""]Would it not be better to wait for Thorpe's to get built and for people to ride it before we start saying which Wing Rider it better?[/quote]

We're enthusiasts... This is what we do.[/quote]
Exactly. ^

If we did that for everything we wouldn't have anything to talk about!!

[Cariba]

Here's the thing though, this relies very heavily on it's big set pieces, if you take even only a few away and suddenly there's just a good but short rollercoaster on a muddy island with some lakes.
On the subject of the near miss elements there's 3 on the inline twist here, same as Raptor, the tower at the start, the funky support and then the queue line entrance, if only for one side.

From what I can see though I think the right-hand side will provide a better ride :