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Thorpe Park | Hyperia | Mack Hyper Coaster | 2024

Psycoshark said:
The more I think about it the more I believe an RMC is a strong possibility. Thorpe shut loggers a long time ago and RMC were very busy at this time with new rides. Thorpe were probably told they would have to go on an RMC waiting list until 2023/2024.
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While I wouldn’t rule out a Thorpe RMC by any means, as it’s certainly a possibility, I think it’s unlikely that they would have had a 2024 project planned since 2015; surely many of the parks opening RMCs within the last couple of years wouldn’t have had them planned back in 2015, thus meaning that the waiting list would not have extended all the way back to 2024?

Of course, this could be conjecture on my part, but from what I can tell, I don’t think wanting to build a new coaster was the reason they initially shut Loggers. Apparently, they did initially want to refurbish it for 2017, but DBGT’s rework stole the budget for that, so it couldn’t happen.

I also heard something about the conveyor belts on all of Merlin’s Mack log flumes needing ARBs installed on them or something like that following the Smiler incident, to hold logs at the top of lift hills/drops if needed (in the event of a stoppage in the course, for instance, so that boats could not keep coming down drops and collide with the boat in front). I’m unsure whether that was the exact part needed, but I definitely remember this anecdote being something to do with some new part needing to be installed to be able to stop boats on the lift hills for safety reasons. And for whatever reason, Tiger Rock at Chessington was the only Merlin log flume where installing this was deemed as being worth the money (perhaps because the 2018 refurb was in the pipeline?). The rumour said that this was considered for Loggers when they still wanted to refurbish the ride, but was scrapped when DBGT’s 2017 rework was hastily drawn up. The Flume at Alton Towers was deemed as too old for this to be worth the money, hence why it was removed and replaced with Wicker Man.

Also, didn’t the MTDP state that Thorpe originally wanted to use the island next to Swarm?

As I say, this could be conjecture on my part. If they have been planning a project since 2015, then I’ll happily admit I was wrong. But I don’t personally think it seems like the most likely story, for the reasons I posted above.
 
^It doesn't surprise me that Swarm Island was considered to be where the next project would be, but I believe that's before Old Town turned into a dump, with the closure of Loggers Leap, Slammer, etc. So I imagine the priority will be to restore that entire area of the park (I personally believe this will be just more than a singular coaster installation), and then use the Swarm Island for the next big addition after that, whenever that may be.
 
CrashCoaster said:
^It doesn't surprise me that Swarm Island was considered to be where the next project would be, but I believe that's before Old Town turned into a dump, with the closure of Loggers Leap, Slammer, etc. So I imagine the priority will be to restore that entire area of the park (I personally believe this will be just more than a singular coaster installation), and then use the Swarm Island for the next big addition after that, whenever that may be.
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I certainly agree that I think Old Town will be where the next project happens, but I’m unsure whether that would have been the intention when Loggers initially closed all the way back in 2015.
 
Matt N said:
I certainly agree that I think Old Town will be where the next project happens, but I’m unsure whether that would have been the intention when Loggers initially closed all the way back in 2015.
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Possibly not but I don't think it really matters? The next development will be where the park sees fit currently, not 6 years ago. Plans do change of course. And if I'm honest, I'd much rather see Old Town get refurbished first despite how much I hate not being able to walk under Stealth's launch to get to Swarm.
 
CrashCoaster said:
Possibly not but I don't think it really matters? The next development will be where the park sees fit currently, not 6 years ago. Plans do change of course. And if I'm honest, I'd much rather see Old Town get refurbished first despite how much I hate not being able to walk under Stealth's launch to get to Swarm.
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As I said, I completely agree with you, and I wasn’t trying to say that it mattered that they deviated from the MTDP. I too think that Old Town is in greater need of refurbishment than Swarm Island is in need of connecting up.

I was more referencing the post that @Psycoshark made, which suggested that whatever this new project is had been planned ever since Loggers initially closed back in 2015, and had merely been delayed such a long time due to RMC’s waiting list being so long. I’m personally skeptical that a 2024 project would have been planned that far in advance, and I’m also skeptical that the RMC waiting list would ever have been nearly 10 years.
 
Matt N said:
As I said, I completely agree with you, and I wasn’t trying to say that it mattered that they deviated from the MTDP. I too think that Old Town is in greater need of refurbishment than Swarm Island is in need of connecting up.
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I can only see this connection happening if a new coaster is built on Swarm Island, simply because it makes no sense to have one pathway to access two coasters, it seems like an essential to me. I imagine Merlin were considering ideas for a new coaster around 2015, but plans would've halted after the failure of DBGT, but I agree with you that I highly doubt a 2024 coaster would be in the works for nearly 10 years. I would guess plans would've started for this around 2017-2019 or so, around the time Wicker Man was coming about (I know Thorpe and Towers are separate parks but the timing kind of works out, I doubt they started planning a coaster in the middle of a pandemic, seems a little late anyway).
 
I know this might sound weird, but the direction that Merlin are going in is to create new and slightly unique rides, for example; Chessington's Shuttle Wing Coaster, Gardaland's new style of dark ride and more. But, I think that they will take a more traditional approach to this project, which i have only 2 ideas of what they could add:
  • B&M Dive Coaster ; easy way to market - possibly could go for steepest beating Dr D's Cliffhanger
  • GCI Woodie Hybrid ; something they have proved is popular and can be marketed well - could they add an inversion? Will it be the first to use the Infinity Flyers?
To be honest i think both coasters will come to the park in the future, the Dive Coaster i think will go next to the Swarm and the GCI which i think is coming next in 2024 will go on the former site of both Old Town and Logger's Leap.

Plus, i really hope Merlin don't cheap out on it, and as we know the past investments have been a train wreck (no pun intented) and i think that the only way they can re-invest the money spent is to spend some more but market it well to get more customer's to ride it.
 
I’ll admit I would be more than happy to see another UK GCI, and it certainly seems like a fair bet to make (I certainly see it as very plausible), but my only concern is; could Wicker Man’s reliability and issues in the first few years possibly have discoloured Merlin’s relationship with GCI?

Wicker Man certainly had a fairly rocky first year, and given that the issues continued to an extent until 2020, culminating in the ride having what was rumoured to be a 7-figure sum spent on it over the 2020/21 off-season, could this mean that Merlin has declared another GCI to be more trouble than it’s worth?

I certainly think a GCI is a very plausible possibility, though, particularly if WM’s initial reliability is overlooked. My personal guess (or at very least, my hope based on what I think would work well) is that this will be a B&M hyper, but I do think there are many plausible options, and a GCI, as well as an RMC, are certainly towards the top of that list, for my money!
 
Intamin Forever said:
I know this might sound weird, but the direction that Merlin are going in is to create new and slightly unique rides, for example; Chessington's Shuttle Wing Coaster, Gardaland's new style of dark ride and more. But, I think that they will take a more traditional approach to this project, which i have only 2 ideas of what they could add:
  • B&M Dive Coaster ; easy way to market - possibly could go for steepest beating Dr D's Cliffhanger
  • GCI Woodie Hybrid ; something they have proved is popular and can be marketed well - could they add an inversion? Will it be the first to use the Infinity Flyers?
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Would seem a little silly to build a dive coaster (especially with a beyond vertical drop) when you have Saw sat right there. It would bring nothing new to the table.
The more I think about it, if their 2024 addition were just "we're going to clean the whole place up and slap a little paint on everything", I wouldn't be mad. But obviously that's not going to happen so I think my money is on a GCI currently, if anything at all. But would love to be proved incorrect and see something a little spicier.
 
If anything I'd like the Thorpe coaster to have absolutely no inversions not even one. While the coasters are good 4/5 of them rely pretty heavily inversions due to the nature of their ride type (Saw does have very good pops of air, but the point still stands). So building another coaster that has to rely on them to be good (dive) is just backwards progress.

If they build a woodie I wouldn't want to see an inversion on it, just big intense turns and thousands of airtime hills. Basically the stuff that makes non-inverting coasters good. If they build an Intamin mega? Go crazy with a non-inverting loop, high speed low-to-the-ground banked turns, outerbanks and wave turns. If they build a B&M hyper, graceful and super fun floater hills with the occasional speed hill and a death helix at alarming speed into the MCBR.

Don't get me wrong, I love my inversions. But Thorpe has so many of them, it would be nice to see a change in pace.
 
I've just been having a look at Thorpe on Google Earth, and from what I can ascertain, they have a phenomenally huge area to play with here!

Even if they used Loggers' area alone, that spans around 17,000 square metres, and if they incorporate the little area with Rocky Express, Timber Tug Boat and Lumber Jump, that goes up to a little under 19,000 square metres! Heck, if we go the whole hog and extend the plot up towards Slammer and the Burger King (so basically the whole of Old Town barring Saw and Samurai), it goes up to around 20-21,000 square metres!

For some perspective; even if only Loggers' plot is used, this would be the largest coaster plot at Thorpe Park by a considerable margin! Of the current big 5, the approximate areas of each (in square metres) are as follows:
  • Swarm: Approx. 10,000
  • Colossus: Approx 8,000
  • Stealth: Approx. 7,000
  • Saw: Approx. 6,000
  • Inferno: Approx. 6,000
That raises some exciting possibilities, don't you think? And that's excluding the fact that they could go over the lake, or around the back of the park...
 
I know this is never gonna happen but the more I think about Thorpe the more I lust over them getting something like this:-


Genuinely looks like one of the best woodie designs in the world, but this statement can be applied to a lot of the Chinese GG's. But just imagine a duelling GG woodie in Old Town... 😍
 
From what I've heard, the next coaster will most likely be a B&M; take that with a grain of salt, however, as TP themselves are apparently yet to hear from the big guns at Merlin's corporate offices about upcoming budgets, project ideas etc. This is all just speculation, but even still, I personally doubt it'd be a woodie. Sorry, woodie & hybrid fans.
 
Could Merlin be willing to work with GCI again and this time do the first full steel GCI? https://greatcoasters.com/steel-track it would be more realistic and a safer bet for Merlin over RMC due to the working relationship and success of Wickerman?

"Europes first 'True Hybrid Coaster"

Its pretty safe to say that they are well in the planning and design stages of a new ride with a manufacture chosen if we are looking at a 23/24 project.
 
Carrot Sticks said:
From what I've heard, the next coaster will most likely be a B&M; take that with a grain of salt, however, as TP themselves are apparently yet to hear from the big guns at Merlin's corporate offices about upcoming budgets, project ideas etc.
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I mean, if the park are having land clearing done on property, I'd imagine they know the exact reason behind it?
 
Swat said:
Could Merlin be willing to work with GCI again and this time do the first full steel GCI? https://greatcoasters.com/steel-track it would be more realistic and a safer bet for Merlin over RMC due to the working relationship and success of Wickerman?

"Europes first 'True Hybrid Coaster"

Its pretty safe to say that they are well in the planning and design stages of a new ride with a manufacture chosen if we are looking at a 23/24 project.
Click to expand...
if thorpe plan to get a woodie/hybrid i can't imagine any reason after 12 years since the last coaster it's not going to be the biggest in the park tbh

they can pretty much build as high as they want, they got stealth built by getting a more simple structure for the top hat and painting it white so I'd kind of be surprised if they didn't take advantage of the iron gwazi/zadra lift hill structure to get away with another 200ft+ coaster with only 2 support structures impacting the skyline the same as they got granted in 2005

fingers crossed :oops:
 
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