I really think Thorpe should build a big GCI wooden coaster full of airtime as we don't have many modern woodies in the UK and it would serve as a good entry level thrill coaster with it not having inversions.
I agree, I would love to see a big woodie at Thorpe Park. We don't have many in the UK (apart from at Blackpool), but the ones we have like Megafobia and Wickerman are really popular.
Wood coasters are a hard sell to parks who don't already have one, they then need to hire a new team of carpenters. They take a lot of hours to run up in the morning to open, but I guess if Alton can open wicker man there is a chance that Thorpe gets one too.
@@coaster_shark inline roll through the supports of the big one and a wing over drop through the top hat of icon would be so good would be better than swarm? Possible if the layout is good!
Yeah, they could probably get away with a lack of theming just with the sheer number of near misses. Swarm would be a tough coaster to beat though, and I'm not sure I would want to go up against it!
Towers really needs one world-class, special and unique coaster to bring the magic back. The reason why Towers is so successful is because they were doing just that in the 90s and early 00s. Everything new combined their idiosyncratic in-house creativity with a world-class experience. Golden age Towers was way better than any Universal or Disney park, which is in my eyes all feel like soulless US propaganda camps churned out with corporate precision. I think the park is heading back in the right direction, but this addition would cement it. Personally, I'd love Dark Forest to be updated to expand on the story of Hex. Something sombre with a touch of camp is Towers at its best. A story-led Mack Stryker or Intamin Multi-Launch with unique elements that interacts with the terrain would be perfect. I'd love something that explores the history of the witch and plays with riders' perceptions of good and evil (something the park does well with its best rides). Whatever it is, I hope towers forgo novelty for the sake of a good quality coaster.
I don't think we'll ever see as much innovation as we did in the golden age, but you can still be creative with existing hardware... I've always loved the idea of a multi launch in the dark forest. You could build the station as a church to go with 13s crypt, and have a bunch more wraiths and gravestones and the like to up the spooky atmosphere. I've always imagined one could dive in or out of one of those graves with the doors and a grim reaper stood over it, and that would look really iconic
Thorpe needs a ground up hyper hybrid on the spare island basically zandras naughty big sister, and then rip out the two dull waterslides and the beach that gets in the way and pop a huge vertical launch intermin in. If I was government I’d subsidise that substantially. It would push universal to step up the game and draw in more tourists from around the world.
Oh and Blackpool do need an RMC conversion, but it's not a woodie. The Big one is absolutely prime for it, it'd a terrible ride on a massive support structure, and as building the footers is such a large part of a new coasters cost (even more so in Blackpool with the unstable land) a big one conversion would be by far the cheapest way to get a big landmark attraction. If they really wanted they could make it 10M taller and get the record back too and it would prob cost 15-20M. Blackpool really does need something more extreme it's quite sad, there's just a large amount of great but no amazing, same with Alton. I'd lap enso all day if it wasn't an up charge so an extreme spinner would be incredible but not enough of an advertising draw. Imagine if they just bought an extreme spinner train for icon and added those magnetic induction rotation bursts on the launches, now that would be insane
I've never thought of RMCing a steel coaster, but that's a really good idea! Oh the upcharge on enso is daylight robbery isn't it. I would spend all day on it if it were cheaper or just the whole train!
@@coaster_shark I mean I see no reason I box track can’t be out on steel supports especially since the lift supports of the big one are like wooden supports anyway
I think the UK needs more experience rides. Sub-Terra and Hex for example, rides that really immerse you and have multiple parts to them. Rollercoasters are amazing but they are so expensive that they aren't built very often. As long as it has good theming and is exciting, really anything can work!
Alton Towers just needs what they already have planning permission for - an indoor rollercoaster to cater for the UK weather. Sounds like Project Horizon might be delayed by a couple of years but hopefully it does go ahead. My guess is that it will be something family-thrill, hopefully with a high throughput. An Intamin multi-dimension coaster would be a good shout. I feel like logflumes are a bit dated and have poor capacity which is not what Alton Towers needs. Unliess they are going to go all out with it like the new Lion King ride announced at Disneyland Paris but I doubt Merlin would be willing to invest anywhere near that amount.
Hahaha fair enough, it would be nice to see that actually get built! You say that, but they went all out with Nemesis Reborn... I reckon we could at least get something semi-decent, maybe not Disney level but good enough
Yeah it is a bit of a long shot, but I'm allowed to dream ;) a decent woodie would fit in there quite good too though, especially after Wicker Man was so well received - I would definitely get hyped for another
Im a Plopsaland anual pass holder and i think that the ride to happines is a curse for the park. Yes i do love the ride, but now it has brought those annoying thrill seekers to a fairly great family park. Stil love your videos tho.
Thorpe shouldnt bother with an intermediate coaster: thats what Chessington is for. They were looking at a B&M hyper for a reason, a capacity machine and offers a different experience to antthing in the park. Flamingoland will never be able to afford an extreme spinner, i think an RMC or Intamin single rail would put them on the map. Alton Towers need a standout ride à la Hyperia. A no-expenses-spared Xtreme Spinner on the Rita plot would be perfect, and sell Rita to Zamperla. Blackpool need to convert Big One, which is my third-worst ranked coaster and such a waste of potential. Give it the phantoms revenge treatment, or bulldoze the lot and get a vekoma lile you suggested!
I agree Thorpe shouldn't get an intermediate coaster, but there's definitely still a gap they can fill in between what Chessington offers and the rest of their line-up. It doesn't need to be family friendly as such, just maybe not quite so intimidating. I always thought the single rails were a bit of a gimmick to be honest... They do look to be good rides, but the fact that they're single rail doesn't sell it any more to me. That would be incredible! Zamperla would definitely be happy to snap up Rita as well. Ahh The Big One is a bit tricky, because its so iconic I don't think Blackpool would get rid of it. You're right that its a waste though, and there are so many things that could have been done to make it better instead of the like for like retrack we got.
I think Thorpe could have: A vekoma family invert on the beach A longer powered coaster replacing flying fish Vekoma mega replacing rapids B&M surf replacing storm surge, ghost train and twd Mack extreme spinner on island behind swarm But that’s a whole conversation lol
I definitely agree that they need to do something with the beach, but I would argue it should be a bit more visually striking than a family invert - it needs to look really exciting as the first thing you see out of the dome. Although flying fish is iconic, it would be nice to see something longer. A Mack extreme spinner would be the dream, and the others all sound nice, but I'm not so keen on removing all the other rides to make them. Storm surge especially is still really popular on hot days, and the others all make nice filler attractions
I wouldn’t want to see walking dead go just for a surf coaster. It just wouldn’t really work. Putting it over the water would be much better and would fit to the theme a lot better as well
I think the UK needs more good dark rides - both family ones lipe they have at Disney, and scarier themed ones. Alton Towers has - in my opinion - 4 fantastic dark rides in Hex, Curse, Sub-Tera and Gangster Granny, and Blackpool has some good ones in River Caves, Valhalla, Wallce and Gromit's Thrill-O-Matic and Alice in Wonderland. But those are the only two parks with any decent offering of dark rides. Thay always seemed odd to me, as with our climate, a park full of dark rides would be great for the inevitable rain. I would love to see all the parks bring in a good variety of dark rides.
We definitely do, I think Fantasy Island has some pretty good ones too though. Yeah it's a surprise we don't have more indoor attractions, even if they're not technically dark rides
For me, UK’s lineup in terms of purely rollercoasters is just very weak. The only coasters I’d visit for are Hyperia and Nemesis, but that’s just not enough motivation. I don’t think Nemesis will be that different from the countless inverts I’ve already done anyway. I know thoosies are not the target audience, but what the UK lacks (as is always the case with Merlin parks) is airtime. It needs 2 more large scale coasters that are airtime forcused to make the trip worth it.
You know what, I agree. There are a lot of good coasters, but just not many great ones. I guess Nemesis is a little different from most in the setting, but it's still comparable to others like Black Mamba, and as you said, it's still rides like any invert. Yeah, we definitely lack airtime. It's ridiculous that the best airtime moment at Towers might be on a coaster with 14 loops... we deserve better!
@@coaster_shark Over time I've just kind of stopped caring about the "good" coasters. It's an unpopular opinion, but I'd rather have a park have 1 incredible coaster than 5 "good" coasters. It's why I dislike Merlin so much cause they have so many forgettable B&Ms and cheap filler coasters like Rita (which is literally the exact same layout as Desert Race, a ride I've already done). However, it's not like they care. They attract massive crowds regardless because of how densely populated the UK is and because of the lack of competition.
I get where you're coming from, sometimes a single standout coaster can make your day more than a lot of OK rides. But yes, OK coasters are enough to keep most people happy, so that's all Merlin needs to do really isn't it...
I reckon galactica has still got a few years left in it yet, and although not the most intense, it's definitely still a good addition to their lineup. I'm just hoping they have water effects on their new top spin (if it is that) in Forbidden Valley...
Hahaha nahhhh, they've got the island behind The Swarm, and I've been saying for ages they should get rid of the waterslides and the beach and put something cool there
Hahahaha I was going for a codebullet type vibe tbh, haven't really though about getting a greenscreen and recording... I was planning on spending any money I do make on going to European parks, but I think it'll be a while until I can fund that from this alone
@@coaster_shark it's best to stick with whatever is the least friction for you, I have a habit of wanting to do too much and then end up not doing it at all
Very interesting !! Here’s my take on the matter: Thorpe park: Gravity Groupe family woodie or a Mack extreme spinner Flamingo land: Intamin hyper (if they could get the money) or a RMC I-box Alton Towers: Intamin blitz or a Mack water coaster Blackpool: B&M dive or RMC raptor
Could you imagine the scenes if Flamingo Land took the UK height record?? I think a water coaster could be a really good fit for Towers though, and it would be different enough from The Flume to not get compared backwards too much
Expect something realistic please, and whatever you do, do not get too carried away speculating and overhype a rumoured attraction that probably isn't going to materialise
I would definitely say we should watch paultons and drayton manor both parks seem to adding great new rides at the moment, the new drayton manor coaster i think will suprise people and paultons has got a dark ride and some kind of family thrill or thill coaster lined up for the next few years. I can also see both of these parks with a single rail coaster, think an intamin one could work at paultons!
Oh yeah, both of these parks have really promising futures! I'm not sure they'll ever fully enter the thrill market, and I think they'll stay as family parks instead, but that doesn't detract from how good of a job they're doing at the moment
i honestly think towers deffo needs a new flume ride to replace the old flume, although to be honest, if they did this i would want something similar to the shower heads to come back too, towers is lacking water rides with one of them soaking you on the first ride and the other can only get you a little bit, a flume would be a good middle ground. if i were able to choose any place in the park to put one, i would choose dark forest for two reasons, one, the area is also lacking rides compared to some other areas like forbidden valley which is soon to get a 5th ride and two, if they kept the boats as logs, they could theme them to cursed boats as if they are made from the cursed trees in the dark forest which could make some pretty cool show elements if there were indoor sections. also, for thorpe, i think they should add a smaller thrill ride that doesn't look too intimidating, for example, nemesis at towers didn't look too intimidating at the time due to the fact it hugs the ground making it look shorter than it is, if thorpe did this, they could make good theming pieces and it would allow for a less intimidating ride for thrill seekers to start with. and at the moment, i think chessington should replace vampires trains agaian to something similar to pterasaur at paultons trains but with the swinging gimmick still intact that way it would be more comfortable for riders and i think they should do something with the old monorail or at least the station, maybe make a smaller monorail that goes around adventure point similar to the pedal monorail at the guliver's parks? and I also think that flamingo land should start adding more theming to some of their existing rides to make them seem more than car park coasters (especially sik and mumbo jumbo) this is probably the longest comment i have ever left and to be honest i could probably make it even longer if i were to talk about some of the other parks like blackpool and paultons, let me know if you want my opinions on these two parks as well and ill be happy to share, thanks so much for reading and if you have read this far, please let me know what you think :)
Hahaha I do miss the shower heads on a hot day tbf! Cursed logs is a cool idea, and it definitely fits in with the usual twisted towers themes ;) I would like to see some lighter themes but I can't think of anything that would be better than that! That's a good point, they could get a multi launch that focuses on speed and transitions without looking too crazy, maybe something like Taron? Vampire is a hard one because it's such a classic, but is also just a bit mid now, but I agree they should keep the swinging if doing a refurb. As much as i love good theming, I think I'm fine with Flamingo Land having car park coasters, just because it means the budget can go on making them bigger rather than theming them. I'm not sure they have the budget to do both things well...
fair enough, about flamingo land, i hadn't thought about that in particular and to be honest, it wasnt a major want seeing as i still haven't been able to visit yet, maybe kumali will top infusion when i go? also, i just had a thought to do with the cursed log thing literally 15 mins ago, since the original flume was built, there have been more innovations with log flumes like turntables and backwards sections like valhalla and stormforce, completely forgot about those :)
Oooo it's been a while since I've been on either so I'm not sure which one I would choose! That's true, and it is crazy what log flumes can do now (have you seen Intamin's launched model?). There's no denying that rides like Valhalla are incredible, but part of me loves how simple the classics were.
It is good that the two parks are so distinct, but I think you could still have something more intense than mandrill but not as bad as Thorpe's other stuff
Hahaha it is just a bit irrelevant, isn't it. I think the theme is just a bit too hard-core for it to fit in as a tamer ride and forces it to live in the same space as the big 6
@@coaster_shark If they could retheme twd to something not quite as hardcore they'd be onto a winner. Perhaps bring back the idea of Thorpe Junction if it's an original theme, but the thing is what sort of a story would it be if you did that. I'd till wonder if something like Doctor Who would fit in the pyramid or if it'll be too disjointed, thus why I'm now thinking about more ideas to do with Thorpe Junction.
Yeah I always thought it was alright as X:\ No Way Out to be honest. You could say that removing TWD would remove a lot of its appeal, but its not like it generates large queues anyway though. It's been a walk on every time I've been
On your point about a family coaster for Thorpe I feel like a big bear mountain style layout but possible over the lake and some of the park paths would be really nice maybe have it as a sprawling layout around the dome?!?!? Probably very delulu but idk just an idea
That would look really good, but I'm not sure how much they could get away with building over the lake... I always thought that they needed a coaster that looked good right as you walked in though - Amity Beach doesn't quite do it for me
@@coaster_shark yea it would be a pain to get the permits to do a coaster on the lake and yes amity beach needs to have a ride in place of it to wow people as they come in like a zero g stall right over their head but back to the family thrill coaster imagine a banked dive under the entrance bridge and a velociraptor style spaghetti bowl over the or around the dome would be so cool to watch the people might not even leave the bridge area lol thanks for reading all the comments I’ve been dropping on your videos btw !
