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Possible new ride/rollercoaster coming to Thorpe Park in 2019

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Why are we speculating about what the possible new ride for Thorpe is in 2020 when i'm pretty sure Thorpe don't know what it is either? Just saying, I don't think 2020 is going to happen. More like 2021 or even later. Merlin seem so disinterested with Thorpe at the moment.
 
silenthillXD said:
Why are we speculating about what the possible new ride for Thorpe is in 2020 when i'm pretty sure Thorpe don't know what it is either? Just saying, I don't think 2020 is going to happen. More like 2021 or even later. Merlin seem so disinterested with Thorpe at the moment.
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I don't think that it's a lack of interest, it seems more like a lack of effort. Thorpe have recently(ish) sacked their divisional director and I believe their marketing manager has had the sack too if my source for that was correct. Thorpe Park aren't doing too well and I just wish they'd sell it on before they run it into the ground completely. Annoyingly I can't imagine they'll ever sell it because I doubt they'd want it in the hands of a competitor.
 
It is what it is I guess. Kind of a mess of badly themed lands with no cohesion or immersion.

Shame really had so much potential and was exciting when Tussauds bought it and added Colossus and Inferno back in 02/03. Really felt like it could become something special.

Just feels like a huge glorified fun fair these days. Needs a complete overhaul like Disney are doing in Paris with the studios.. Which has even less chance of happening than London resort.
 
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Just found this on Instagram. Take it with a grain of salt, but it still could be some indication for a new coaster.
 

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That comes from the Mid Term Development Plan (MTDP) which was submitted to the council in 2010.

Basically, Thorpe used to submit a MTDP outlining their vague plans to the council. It would give rough locations to rides, coasters and their heights. The council would then approve those plans, so when the park put in planning permission for new attractions, the process was much quicker. It was beneficial for both sides.

The 2010 MTDP outlined two coasters - one of a max height of 40m, one of a max height of 50m. These were vaguely planned for 2012 and 2015. The 40m one is of course Swarm. After Swarm, the park and Merlin changed plans pretty dramatically (4 year major investment cycle for example), and eventually decided to go for a non-coaster (Derren Brown's Ghost Train) for 2016.

Island A is the island behind Swarm and Stealth. It's long been earmarked for a development. However, the 2010 MTDP is of course very old; most of the plans were drawn up in 2009 and only foresaw the park vaguely up to 2016. So they basically mean nothing now, so nothing to read into.


The obvious question now is where is the most recent MTDP from 2016 onwards. At the moment, there isn't one. Thorpe put in an application back in 2017 which basically asked for them to not have to put planning applications in for basically everything that wasn't a coaster. That was met with reservations from the council and concerns from some locals, and a decision still hasn't been reached either way. I don't expect them to get approval for that though, for many reasons.

Tl;dr - that quote comes from a 10 year old document and means nothing now. Don't read into it.
 
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Perhaps I'm wishful thinking, but I think they will get a new coaster in 2021. I know for fact they won't be getting one next year, but if Loggers leap is being removed now and they have been planning for a new ride, it will likely take 2 years from knocking Loggers Leap down to open the new coaster, as it was for Wicker Man.
 
^Oh my days - how many puns in the opening paragraph alone?
You guys kill me! :D

Kinda sad about the removal, I did rather like Loggers Leap. When the one at Alton went to sh*t with all that Imperial Leather nonsense - the bathtubs and rubber ducks and stuff (yuk), I loved the fact that Loggers Leap was still a proper log flume. You know... with logs.
Anyways, the good news is that Thorpe Park (much like Alton Towers when they closed their flume) wouldn't waste the time and effort actually removing it until they were ready to do something with the land it sits on, which means, hopefully, that the next coaster project, whatever that may be, is at least underway.
 
So strange they seem to have opted to redevelop the Loggers area when there's the huge piece of land available next to Swarm that they recently spent a fortune creating..
 
Yeah, hate to disappoint you, but there’s no “redevelopment” going on there. They’re just getting rid of the ride and leaving the area blank, like they have done for years.
 
Don't expect anything to change in that area. The park have been forced to make an announcement because so many people keep pestering them about it on social media.

The park found out too late in 2015 that it needed significant work so they couldn't budget it. They closed it quietly, hoping it wouldn't cause many issues, whilst they decided to see if they could budget it in. Time went on, the money needed to reopen it increased, and any avenues they explored proved ultimately fruitless.

I feel like if communication about the closure had been better from the offset, this wouldn't sting quite so much. But the fact this announcement literally feels like it could have been written 3 years ago (bar the mentions to this year being the park's 40th anniversary in extended releases) makes it feel worse.

The park won't touch the ride until they decide to redevelop the area. And there's clearly no short-term plan for that, based off the park's responses on social media responses. It'll stay exactly as it has for the past 3 years.
 
Meh, predictable. Was kind of expecting a teaser for something new as they had waited so long to announce it-i.e. they were waiting for new plans before announcing it's closure, so a bit disappointed to see nothing is mentioned. Also think we should have heard this 3 years ago, but then I guess if you want to close it quietly and no-one is giving you a budget for a new ride/refurb then it may be best to ignore it for as long as you can, but then again is waiting that long for new rides after closing old ones a good strategy anyway?

Either way, predictable but a bit of a shame, had a nice double down drop and was a good break from thrill rides/after lunch ride that was always good banter with groups of friends.
 
I must admit that this removal rather saddens me; I always found Loggers Leap a fun, underrated water ride! Although if its replacement is a B&M hyper or RMC, I'm not going to complain!
 
JoshC. said:
The park found out too late in 2015 that it needed significant work so they couldn't budget it. They closed it quietly, hoping it wouldn't cause many issues, whilst they decided to see if they could budget it in. Time went on, the money needed to reopen it increased, and any avenues they explored proved ultimately fruitless.
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Sounds about right.

What worries me though, Merlin can't even budget to fix a log flume and would rather just leave it to rot? Sub terra and Twirling Toadstool also just hit the official chopping block after a prolonged closure which I guess is due to funding..

How long until we lose a biggie? Major UK coasters like Nemesis, Oblivion etc. aren't getting any younger.. Wouldn't surprise me if Vampire at CWoA is one major repair away from the scrap heap.
 
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