Thorpe Park- How crap is it?

[MackMan]

27/03/2022
The day is Mothers Day in the UK, most normal people would celebrate it with their mothers. I left a bottle of pinot in the fridge with a note, with my two favourite idiots, we ventured to Cherstey, to discover Merlin's least favourite asset.

So, Thorpe Park. Once hailed as the park that actually rivalled Alton Towers in its ride lineup, is not the same park as it was in 2012-2013. Well, essentially it is, just with no real development besides a 'land' themed to a outdated app, a large mess in a building next to Nemesis, and..

The day started off well, with a ride on Swarm- a fun B&M wing, it seemed the area had a few new bits of theming here and there. The ride was running two trains despite no queue, me and my friends perhaps were a little disturbed that the park were doing that? Were they feeling okay?

We then made our way to my personal favourite, the modest but fun B&M invert- Nemesis Inferno, a ride that used to get overlooked a lot, but it seems recently people have started appreciating it. Its a small, compact, but intense Invert that always delivers intense but smooth rides. It was riding good as always, the ride always manages to impress me, it has aged like fine wine. Also the operations on this were disturbingly good. I was actually very impressed the operations were so good on here! Thorpe Park is not known for its operations so fair play to Thorpe for running two trains and firing out the trains quickly!

Thorpe Park certainly has good coasters, they lack a true show stealer. Inferno in the back row is brilliant, but it still really is a lower tier invert even if it is very fun. Stealth is a very fun
Intamin launch with a brilliant launch, but again, fun, not a 'Smiler' neither is it a 'Nemesis'.

Saw and Colossus round up the big 5, and both kind of strike the same chord with me. Saw has a brilliant layout, a brilliant first half, and good airtime. It just happens to be VERY rough. The Smiler is a lot more forgiving, and that ride itself has some violent moments. Saw in its second half can be very brutal, though it is a very forceful ride. It always seems to give me headache in some form..
Colossus is a similar story, it has a fun layout, but the first half batters you, and the trains that manage to make a 5'7 10 stone male (myself) feel cramped and squeezed in, god help anyone larger.


MY DERREN BROWN'S GHOST TRAIN RANT:
I have savaged this attraction before, and after like two years of not going on it, i thought it was worth a try. First off, i would like to point out the throughput. Mothers day was very quiet as expected, all the main coasters had minimal queues, or no queue at all in some ride's cases. The Ghost Train has time slots, but we queued 30 minutes for this.. I would not be surprised if this thing had a throughput of like 400 or less a hour, its seriously pathetic and honestly no wonder this thing gets such bad queues in the peak season. It was probably a queue of like 50-60 people as well..

Once on the ride, they've added a second preshow with an actor, and it was like okay. i guess it made the wait for the train sequence less boring. Not particularly gripping tbf.
The train sequence is the bulk of the ride and still manages to bore me, the actual vr itself was outdated in 2016, and even moreso in 2022..
The Ghost Train is literally just sitting in a room themed to a train carriage with a VR headset on, with some mild simulator effects. Its not ground breaking, and VR was more of a passing phase than anything worth basing an entire large scale attraction on. The mid section and finale remain somewhat fun, that is mostly due to ACTUAL THEMING and effects being used. Instead of dragging through the chore which is the VR sections on this thing.

The sad thing is, this attraction came in a time when the park wanted to focus itself more on being a little inclusive to the family market. No longer was the marketing "thrills lol YOLO".
We got Angry Birds, whatever they did in 2015, and.. They added a dark ride that alienates anyone that isn't into horror, or is under 12, or under 1.4 metres tall. Take Hex, a very eerie attraction, but with a very low height requirement. Sure its a creepy ride, but families can enjoy it. Hex also eats people, Hex also cost way less than the Ghost Train.
Why did Thorpe decide to build a ride their new market couldn't even bloody ride? Why being inclusive to families when you're actively building rides that market you want to attract cannot experience..

THE WALKING DEAD:
This attraction was running well when i rode it- about 4 scare actors in the exit, effects mostly working. Its a fun experience, like DBGT though it feels like its excluding a big audience it could of appealed to.. A indoor family vekoma coaster could be an much needed family coaster but instead it sits as mostly unpopular (this thing apparently according to staff had no queue whatsoever throughout the day). It is a shame, i do admit i enjoyed it, but X was a lot funner in my opinion, and it catered to a wider audience.

MY PROBLEM WITH THORPE:
Thorpe had plenty of families in the park on my visit, it seems they are expanding out now to that market, there lies one problem.
What is their family offerings? They have a good selection of flat rides i guess? Nothing mind blowing, they have teacups, dodgems.
But after that, 3 water rides? 2 Being low throughput, and even then. What if its raining? Storm Surge isn't in fun in the rain, neither is rumba rapids nor is depth charge. Flying Fish is the only family friendly coaster now. They had the chance to have a indoor family coaster (The Walking Dead now), or a dark ride that may of appealed to families in some way (DBGT), or a family inclusive walkthrough (Black Mirror), but all three alienate anyone under 12 which leaves the families with fu** all to do, even worse 2 of those have completely tactless IP's armed to make them even more pathetic. Okay brutal rant over.

THE POSITIVES:
Operations and staff were good on my visit, things were on two trains. and had fast dispatches. The park also is due to recieve a big new coaster soon, so the future is a bit less gloomy. But Thorpe, i do love the park, but i do believe it is truly troubled, and the park down the road is lowkey better? I think to fix the park, they need to change The Walking Dead, DBGT, Black Mirror, sort out some of the rough looking older areas, and really focus on adding attractions that have mass appeals, not stuff that will become completely forgotten about a year or two later..

PS: Thorpe has a redeeming feature i guess- best flat rides in a UK merlin park! Detonator is my favourite drop tower!

 

[Melons]

I don't think I've ever experienced a day at Thorpe Park where they haven't operated on two trains. When I lived much closer to the park I'd go every weekend for half a day and it got boring pretty quick.
I think Merlin really have just misjudged who they wanna market the park to? They've been marketing it as the most thrilling park in the country whilst adding anything but thrilling rides for the past decade, trying to make it more exclusive to families I suppose. I just can't understand why with Chessington and Legoland being in fairly close proximity which are much better family experiences. Maybe they want Thorpe Park to be what Alton Towers is but have just failed miserably, but I guess this is what we get when the park has next to no competition.

 

[Will]

Take Hex, a very eerie attraction, but with a very low height requirement. Sure its a creepy ride, but families can enjoy it. Hex also eats people, Hex also cost way less than the Ghost Train.
Why did Thorpe decide to build a ride their new market couldn't even bloody ride? Why being inclusive to families when you're actively building rides that market you want to attract cannot experience..

This is a trifle unfair - the value of the currency changed a lot between 2000 and 2016 (as, I suspect did ride prices) - but more to the point, aside from the actual ride hardware and some theming in the pre-ride areas, Alton didn't have all that much to do for Hex, as they had a PERFECT setting at their disposal. The same can't be said for Thorpe - they don't have the landscape that Alton have to play with, so I think any attempt at something on these lines would have fallen VERY flat, particularly among those who'd ridden both.

That's not to say I don't agree with a lot of what you're saying - to my mind, the best course of action would be to have Legoland target at their under 8s, Thorpe for 12 and up, with Chessington perfectly bridging the gap in between, but still with enough to please younger guests, as well as the zoo. I'm sure there's been plenty of market research and logic behind it, but (especially with Chessington's rumoured new addition) these divisions are becoming increasingly blurred of late. I agree with the above poster though - both parks have a fair way to go if they want to have 'something for everyone' in the same way that Alton Towers has managed effortlessly for the last three decades or so.
As a single 34 year old male though - I tend to head for Chessie if I'm down there. I like zoos, the park looks a lot nicer than it did 8 years or so back (when Thorpe was getting most attention) and it's just generally more relaxed.

 

[Serena]

Okay, I'll bite

Families with young children who go to Thorpe Park simply don't do their research. It's not the parks fault if they have a disappointing day. It's like going to a vegan restaurant and moaning there's no meat options.

If you look at their marketing, Thorpe don't bill themselves as a family park. It's almost always groups of young adults / teens in their photos. That's their target demographic, clearly.

When talking about "what is there to do for families" at Thorpe - I also think we forget that many older kids love thrills. When I worked there last year, the majority of the best feedback was from 10 - 13 yr olds loving the big coasters. Again, families who do their research and bring thrillseeking kids over 1.4m in height will likely have a fantastic time.

So when we ask: what is there for families to do - the question is too broad. What type of families? Families with 4yr olds? 8yr olds? 11yr olds?

The southern UK Merlin park trajectory for families is clearly intended to be Legoland then Chessington then Thorpe. Thorpe isn't a massive cater-for-all place like Alton Towers, in the same way that Chessington and Legoland aren't there to cater for thrillseekers.

We don't criticise Chessington for having no thrilling rides. So why do we criticise Thorpe for having a small selection of tame rides? Parks that are only 30 miles apart are supposed to be different from each other and have contrasting ride offerings.

It's a bit like critising a horror movie for being too scary. Thrills are the purpose of Thorpe, that's why they're building the UKs tallest coaster. And families with thrillseeking 1.4m kids will LOVE it. As will the majority of their teenage / young adult / groups of mates clientele too. Celebrate it for it's purpose.

But yes, DBGT is awful.

 

[Will]

^
Have you thought about a job at marketing, Serena? Seriously, you've almost got me waving a 'Yay Thorpe' banner around

You're quite right - it's not my favourite place by any stretch of the imagination, but in terms of what they do, they've got it down to a fine art

Perhaps the answer is to go back to the advertising style I liked back in 2005 with the cute little dragon saying 'Too scared? There's always Chessington!' I'm wise to it now, but at 16-17, the 'thrill capital of the country' was always right at the top of my visit list, I was obsessed with Thorpe until I actually visited

Shame about Rocky Express though.

 

[Rob Coasters]

I wasn't allowed to go to Thorpe until I could 'prove' myself that I had the guts for big scary rollercoasters and hit the 1.4 mark. After nabbing some big boys at Parc Asterix and some whirls around Millennium Roller Coaster I was finally deemed ready for Thorpe, and this was all the way back in 2015. Knocked out exactly four rides that day - Storm Surge, Depth Charge, Colossus, and Zodiac. Then fastracked everything else in 2016.

 

[Matt N]

Okay, I'll bite

Families with young children who go to Thorpe Park simply don't do their research. It's not the parks fault if they have a disappointing day. It's like going to a vegan restaurant and moaning there's no meat options.

If you look at their marketing, Thorpe don't bill themselves as a family park. It's almost always groups of young adults / teens in their photos. That's their target demographic, clearly.

When talking about "what is there to do for families" at Thorpe - I also think we forget that many older kids love thrills. When I worked there last year, the majority of the best feedback was from 10 - 13 yr olds loving the big coasters. Again, families who do their research and bring thrillseeking kids over 1.4m in height will likely have a fantastic time.

So when we ask: what is there for families to do - the question is too broad. What type of families? Families with 4yr olds? 8yr olds? 11yr olds?

The southern UK Merlin park trajectory for families is clearly intended to be Legoland then Chessington then Thorpe. Thorpe isn't a massive cater-for-all place like Alton Towers, in the same way that Chessington and Legoland aren't there to cater for thrillseekers.

We don't criticise Chessington for having no thrilling rides. So why do we criticise Thorpe for having a small selection of tame rides? Parks that are only 30 miles apart are supposed to be different from each other and have contrasting ride offerings.

It's a bit like critising a horror movie for being too scary. Thrills are the purpose of Thorpe, that's why they're building the UKs tallest coaster. And families with thrillseeking 1.4m kids will LOVE it. As will the majority of their teenage / young adult / groups of mates clientele too. Celebrate it for it's purpose.

But yes, DBGT is awful.

I do agree with you to an extent, but in fairness, the market that Thorpe aims to attract doesn’t visit parks as much as families do, and when they do, they don’t tend to spend as much money (many young adults are likely MAP holders who go in for free, take a packed lunch, don’t buy merchandise etc., while young families are more likely to have lots of money and spend lots of money in the park), so it could be argued that Thorpe might have more success if they had more for families to do.

I know it seems unfair that family theme parks with no thrilling rides can thrive fine, but thrill parks with limited family rides can’t, but the family/children’s market has a lot more power over the theme park industry and far more of a contribution to a park’s financial success than the thrill seeker market does simply due to their increased spending ability.

 

[Will]

^
And Matt is right as well, which leaves Thorpe with two choices - either work on a more diverse offering or effectively be subsidised by the more successful attractions (which in truth, is what I suspect mostly happens)

There's also the risk that an 'uninformed' family visiting Thorpe and having a poor experience is less likely to visit another attraction, even though they'd almost certainly have a better time there.

 

[Matt N]

In fairness, though; I don’t disagree with @Serena, and I think it is an interesting question to ask, as I’ve heard the same thing about Thorpe numerous times and always been slightly perplexed as to why the same question isn’t asked in reverse about solely family/child focused parks.

That might be a nice topic starter, actually…

 

[Serena]

I'm curious, when people say Thorpe Park is struggling / in trouble / not thriving - what is this based on?

While visitor numbers have not reached the peak they hit in 2014, the park still ranks in the top 20 most visited parks in Europe and has a higher visitor attendance than Chessington.

 

[Nicky Borrill]

Seemed busy enough to me the other day, especially for a mid week day, I'd almost bet my own money that they're more profitable midweek at the moment than Towers, but we'll never be privvy to that information.

I would also counter Matt's argument, in that it's families who are generally on a tighter budget, older teens and especially young professional adults, tend to have a lot more 'expendable' income. You don't see groups of 21 year olds with flasks full of hotdogs, or picnics, do you? You see them at the fast food joints and bars. Also, those who tend to visit less often, are usually the ones paying per visit, whereas families look to the Merlin pass as a way of giving their family x amount of 'days out' per year within a set budget. Sorry Matt, but from my experience as a passholder, and a member of several passholder clubs / groups, I think you've got this wrong. OF course, I can't prove it, and could well be wrong myself.

 

[Jared]

I'm curious, when people say Thorpe Park is struggling / in trouble / not thriving - what is this based on?

While visitor numbers have not reached the peak they hit in 2014, the park still ranks in the top 20 most visited parks in Europe and has a higher visitor attendance than Chessington.

^ That’s technically not true. In 2019 Chessington over took Thorpe Park for visitor numbers according to Merlin’s own data. We don’t have anything post 2019 as Merlin haven’t released the numbers.

In terms of how I feel Thorpe Park is struggling - I mean, upkeep is a start. The place feels tired and dated. The toilets are usually filthy and the place just doesn’t seem to be on top of the small things. The fact that it took them until this year to fix the lift for Nemesis Inferno - something which I knew to be broken in 2010 is laughable.

The park just feels like it’s lost. A string of strange investments that doesn’t really seem to have a target market and then a general lack of upkeep has been the key to what puts me off going. That and honestly, a lot of the clientele. They can’t handle their guests. When you have to put up a sign at the entrance that says no drugs or alcohol - surely that’s a sign the park has a problem?

 

[Matt N]

I would also counter Matt's argument, in that it's families who are generally on a tighter budget, older teens and especially young professional adults, tend to have a lot more 'expendable' income. You don't see groups of 21 year olds with flasks full of hotdogs, or picnics, do you? You see them at the fast food joints and bars. Also, those who tend to visit less often, are usually the ones paying per visit, whereas families look to the Merlin pass as a way of giving their family x amount of 'days out' per year within a set budget. Sorry Matt, but from my experience as a passholder, and a member of several passholder clubs / groups, I think you've got this wrong. OF course, I can't prove it, and could well be wrong myself.

I’ll admit that that was more me attempting to justify why people might feel that way as opposed to with that being something that I myself believed per se. And I of course can’t confirm that, but I did think it seemed logical, as many young adults aren’t especially well off, and “pester power” is quite rampant in families (I’m thinking of things like the child begging the parents to go and begging the parents to have a specific food item or piece of merchandise).

That’s not something I know for a fact, however; all I ever hear on TowersStreet when I try and justify Thorpe being a thrill park is that “families are where the money is, not enthusiasts”. It would also explain why the UK now has fairly few parks pursuing the thrill seeker market compared to a few years ago, and why most smaller parks in the UK now almost entirely shun thrill seekers. Although TS is quite anti-Thorpe in general, in fairness…

I'm curious, when people say Thorpe Park is struggling / in trouble / not thriving - what is this based on?

While visitor numbers have not reached the peak they hit in 2014, the park still ranks in the top 20 most visited parks in Europe and has a higher visitor attendance than Chessington.

I’ve heard rumblings from those “in the know” that Thorpe is the least profitable RTP in Merlin and generally considered a bit of a financial millstone for the company. Mind you, I’m more going off of what other people are telling me here as opposed to anything concrete.

 

[Nicky Borrill]

I’ll admit that that was more me attempting to justify why people might feel that way as opposed to with that being something that I myself believed per se. And I of course can’t confirm that, but I did think it seemed logical, as many young adults aren’t especially well off, and “pester power” is quite rampant in families (I’m thinking of things like the child begging the parents to go and begging the parents to have a specific food item or piece of merchandise).

That’s not something I know for a fact, however; all I ever hear on TowersStreet when I try and justify Thorpe being a thrill park is that “families are where the money is, not enthusiasts”. It would also explain why the UK now has fairly few parks pursuing the thrill seeker market compared to a few years ago, and why most smaller parks in the UK now almost entirely shun thrill seekers. Although TS is quite anti-Thorpe in general, in fairness…

I’ve heard rumblings from those “in the know” that Thorpe is the least profitable RTP in Merlin and generally considered a bit of a financial millstone for the company. Mind you, I’m more going off of what other people are telling me here as opposed to anything concrete.

Well that is true, no money in enthusiasts.

But enthusiasts aren’t necessarily Thorpe’s target market.

Young, working, singles and couples, with no dependants, who may even live with their parents, and for who, every penny they earn (more or less) is expendable… They’re not necessarily enthusiasts.

Then there are families with older kids, who will want to go to the thrill capital.

And also local teens who have an allowance, and want to meet with their mates at the local park.

I could be talking nonsense here, but they’re the type of people who I’ve always seen as Thorpe’s target market. And I think it’s plenty broad enough.

 

[Matt N]

Interestingly, I just asked both of my parents, two fairly impartial people theme park-wise, whether they think families or the thrill seeking young adult audience is likely to spend more money on a theme park visit.

My mum said that it depended on what part of the “thrill seeker” market you focused on, with 18-21 year olds not being likely to have as much while the older, employed end would likely have quite a bit, but she generally thought that families would be more budget-conscious than thrill seekers when visiting a park.

My dad firmly said thrillseekers and reeled off a list of reasons very similar to the ones that @Nicky Borrill said, as well as some others (for instance, he pointed out that it’s often thrill seeking young adults doing things like playing sideshow games to impress peers or partners, and buying in-park food and drink). His exact words when I said about the belief that families had more disposable income were “Rubbish; kids are expensive, so families will have a far tighter budget to work off of”.

Both of them also firmly agreed with the stance @Serena presents of feeling that Thorpe doesn’t need to appeal to young families as it’s not their market, with my dad saying that the enthusiast wishes for family rides were just “enthusiasts having overly high expectations”.

 

[MackMan]

Okay, I'll bite

Families with young children who go to Thorpe Park simply don't do their research. It's not the parks fault if they have a disappointing day. It's like going to a vegan restaurant and moaning there's no meat options.

If you look at their marketing, Thorpe don't bill themselves as a family park. It's almost always groups of young adults / teens in their photos. That's their target demographic, clearly.

When talking about "what is there to do for families" at Thorpe - I also think we forget that many older kids love thrills. When I worked there last year, the majority of the best feedback was from 10 - 13 yr olds loving the big coasters. Again, families who do their research and bring thrillseeking kids over 1.4m in height will likely have a fantastic time.

So when we ask: what is there for families to do - the question is too broad. What type of families? Families with 4yr olds? 8yr olds? 11yr olds?

The southern UK Merlin park trajectory for families is clearly intended to be Legoland then Chessington then Thorpe. Thorpe isn't a massive cater-for-all place like Alton Towers, in the same way that Chessington and Legoland aren't there to cater for thrillseekers.

We don't criticise Chessington for having no thrilling rides. So why do we criticise Thorpe for having a small selection of tame rides? Parks that are only 30 miles apart are supposed to be different from each other and have contrasting ride offerings.

It's a bit like critising a horror movie for being too scary. Thrills are the purpose of Thorpe, that's why they're building the UKs tallest coaster. And families with thrillseeking 1.4m kids will LOVE it. As will the majority of their teenage / young adult / groups of mates clientele too. Celebrate it for it's purpose.

But yes, DBGT is awful.

I think the main problem for me is the park over the past 10 years really didn't seem to know what their demographic was?
2012 and prior, Thorpe was aimed at teens. A thrillseekers paradise. That was its role in the chain, it was the scarier option.

2013 came along, and it seemed like they wanted to try to work towards being a little more inclusive. I think this came from the demographic of teens not really spending much money in the park itself, which made the park want to broaden itself, X was the first step of this. 2014 brought Angry Birds, a mini family area, honestly not the best IP or theming but probably the best thing they have done in the past 10 years or so.
2015 saw I'm a Celebrity, another family investment, this was clear the park was steering the ship in a different direction by this point. Which was not a bad thing, having some more broader appealed attractions is never a bad thing.

Then they u-turned in 2016/2017, I'm a celebrity rotted away, X got zombi-fied, they built a dark ride that is strangely too scary for kids to enjoy and not scary enough to scare the audience it wants to scare.
The park has been heavily lacking direction and much of its identity, it feels as if sometimes the park struggles to know who they want to attract anymore? I sure as hell don't know. They have a bunch of entertainers at the moment i think for young children. Which is cool, but again who the hell is this park trying to attract?

I'm curious, when people say Thorpe Park is struggling / in trouble / not thriving - what is this based on?

While visitor numbers have not reached the peak they hit in 2014, the park still ranks in the top 20 most visited parks in Europe and has a higher visitor attendance than Chessington.

I think this boils down to the current state of the park, the morale, the recent investments, the atmosphere. Chessington IMO was pretty shaky going into the 2010's, the punch bag of the chain. But has been invested in quite well and been looked after quite well since(its a small park so obviously nothing revolutionary). The park has refreshed a lot of its old areas, replaced old stuff with new stuff. It feels alive, some of it feels and is new. Half the park has seen some form of refurb in the past 5 years. Compare that to Thorpe, which, has an almost complete opposite feel?

Thorpe on the other hand, has really aging areas and feels nearly neglected in comparison. I do believe the market to which Chessington sits on really helps- the family market, they tend to spend more than teenagers, they tend to book those overnight short breaks, they tend to pay for that ropes course you build. This is forever the reason the park i think has been treated a lot better, despite figures on people alone.

 

[Dar]

Me and the husb-oaf were there the day after mother's Day, for the first time since the swarm opened and had a pretty crap day too. It wasn't overly busy, but operations meant stuff had bigger queues than they should. For example, why does it take nearly 5 minutes to check restraints and dispatch Rush? And that's not including the faff of getting people off and on.

I don't know if the youth of today are harder of hearing than us oldies, but the music was absolutely BLASTING out all round the park. So loud that you couldn't hear your conversation without shouting. However, come half 2-3 o'clock when the school trips left, the music was much quieter.

And to add on to what Jared said, the place just looks old. We hadn't visited since 2013 and it looked exactly the same, apart from derrek acorah's spirit locomotive (a whole can of "what's the point?" that others have ripped to bits for me) and the signage for black mirror and the walking dead. The coasters look dull and lifeless, you can hear colossus from the car park, saw still has that jolt, the swarm has turned a fetching shade of grey. You just have to wonder when Thorpe Loving Care is gonna happen!

 

[SilverArrow]

I quite like a day at Thorpe. It always gives me nostalgia for when I used to visit as a teenager. I like the setting with the lake and some of the themed areas. I also like their flat selection and a decent amount of their coasters and flats are rerideable.

My two main issues with the park are 1) that they haven't had a new coaster since 2012 (but thankfully that will hopefully change soon) and 2) that there's a lack of chilled rides to do after lunch or if you just want to hang out/it rains. I think there are a few parks that suffer from similar issues that don't get so much hate though.

Yes, it's had a weird trajectory and needs some new stuff but I personally don't think it deserves the intense level of hate many enthusiasts give it. They even repainted that ugly wall that I moaned about on here so I'll give them that.

 

[Will]

ent investments, the atmosphere. Chessington IMO was pretty shaky going into the 2010's, the punch bag of the chain. But has been invested in quite well and been looked after quite well since(its a small park so obviously nothing revolutionary). The park has refreshed a lot of its old areas, replaced old stuff with new stuff. It feels alive, some of it feels and is new. Half the park has seen some form of refurb in the past 5 years. Compare that to Thorpe, which, has an almost complete opposite feel?

This is a fair point - last year I visited Chessie and Thorpe for the first time since 2014/5 respectively.

Chessie was unrecognisable, cleaned and updated to the point that I'd almost forgotten my way around - but aside from a few new shipping containers with some degree of theming, Thorpe was largely unchanged. Zombified is perhaps a fair word.

 

[Serena]

I don't know if the youth of today are harder of hearing than us oldies, but the music was absolutely BLASTING out all round the park.

Ah, see, I love how loud the music is at Thorpe now! Gives a huge sense of energy to the park. I'd much rather music blaring than the eerie silence of Tripsdrill But I can appreciate that not everyone appreciates such volume!