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Small News From The Theme Park Industry

Factual correction here!
Trespass is not a serious offence, it is not even a crime, full stop.
Unless you can prove that they had criminal intent, which they clearly didn't, they were just acting idiots, not causing damage or stealing, or stopping others going about legal activity...all you can do is get an expensive civil order to stop their actions being repeated.
We should not give these idiots the publicity they crave by posting the video elsewhere.
Alton Towers have absolutely crap security.
 
Yeah trespass like that is a civil matter.

I'm no expert on this stuff, but as I understand it, the on-site security can ask them to leave and use reasonable force if they refuse.

However, in some respects it may be better to just keep an eye on trespassers and make sure they don't damage anything. A security guard interaction would make their video way more likely to go "viral".
 
Gonna defend @TPoseOnTantrum a bit here. I totally get that trespassing doesn’t seem to be a big deal in the UK. That’s not too surprising. In the US though, it is a considerably more serious matter. It’s only a misdemeanor offense, but it can still land you in jail.
 
Jamesss said:
Yeah trespass like that is a civil matter.

I'm no expert on this stuff, but as I understand it, the on-site security can ask them to leave and use reasonable force if they refuse.

However, in some respects it may be better to just keep an eye on trespassers and make sure they don't damage anything. A security guard interaction would make their video way more likely to go "viral".
Click to expand...
Reasonable force can only be used if a crime is actually being committed, and as trespass is not an actual crime in the uk, then "reasonable force" cannot be used.
 
On another note, it would appear as though Derren Brown’s Ghost Train may have reached the end of the line after 6 years of operation, as all references to it have been removed from the Thorpe Park app:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1611738042691194880
I’m quite surprised that DBGT has met its end this early, if it is going, but I guess the signs were there at the end of 2022, what with the construction work happening in the shop and the limited quantity of merchandise left.

If the rumoured £30m budget is true, surely that would make it one of the most expensive theme park attractions ever per operating season? Given that it operated for 6 seasons, that would peg its final cost at £5m per season…
 
Matt N said:
I’m quite surprised that DBGT has met its end this early, if it is going, but I guess the signs were there at the end of 2022, what with the construction work happening in the shop and the limited quantity of merchandise left.

If the rumoured £30m budget is true, surely that would make it one of the most expensive theme park attractions ever per operating season? Given that it operated for 6 seasons, that would peg its final cost at £5m per season…
Click to expand...
"What a great loss" said no-one.

Devastating to think they could have actually done something not-**** with that much money.
 
I'm going to Thorpe in April so I was kinda hoping to check out DBGT out of morbid curiosity. Oh well.
 
rob666 said:
Factual correction here!
Trespass is not a serious offence, it is not even a crime, full stop.
Unless you can prove that they had criminal intent, which they clearly didn't, they were just acting idiots, not causing damage or stealing, or stopping others going about legal activity...all you can do is get an expensive civil order to stop their actions being repeated.
We should not give these idiots the publicity they crave by posting the video elsewhere.
Alton Towers have absolutely crap security.
Click to expand...

These idiots caused damage to Kumali in the form of a broken sensor, wiring pulled out the control panel and a bent chain guide at the top of the lift. The video only shows Richard Cranium starting to climb up onto the chain guide though.

rob666 said:
Reasonable force can only be used if a crime is actually being committed, and as trespass is not an actual crime in the uk, then "reasonable force" cannot be used.
Click to expand...

Tresspass would only become a crime if security asks the idiots to leave and they refuse, turning it into aggravated tresspass. At that point the police can get involved.
 
The police may be called, but security can use no force, unless an actual crime has been committed.
Refusing to leave, in itself, is not a crime, and in the video being discussed, they weren't even asked to leave, so no crime whatsover occurred, as the young idiots are well aware.
 
RE: Derren Brown’s Ghost Train.

As I understand it, the contract with Derren was up. There's obviously been tons of rumours of that Derren wasn't happy with the end result, though the level of truth there is unknown. I do think it's telling that he very rarely advertised it beyond the initial build up and opening, though.

As for it being removed from the app. That's not something which just happens; there almost definitely was intent to do that. It's still listed on the main website, for now, though. So who knows.

Now here's the thing with the attraction. It's very easy to remove all references to Derren. Re-do the pre show, remove Derren's voice from the VR, and a different video in the finale. Rename it "The Ghost Train" (or create a character for the pre show and call it "Professor MadMan's Ghost Train"), and Bob's your uncle.

The bigger issue with the attraction is the state of it. The VR headsets were in awful condition towards the end of last season. The VR itself is many years old. The physical ride stuff is not reliable, and requires a lot of manhours to open and operate. A simple Derren scrub won't change that.

If they wanted to, they could change the experience and turn it into a more Dungeons-esque experience. At it's best, the operations were inspired by Dungeons' operations. Have actor-led storylines on the trains. Create a strong narrative. There's possibilities to have screens in place of the "windows" on the trains (indeed, I believe that was the original before VR came into the conversation). So they could go with that too. Again, if they wanted.
To do it right, it would cost a pretty penny. And it still doesn't solve the issue that the ride hardware is unreliable, a general pain and - bluntly put - overly complicated for something that isn't very good. But it's an option.

Of course, they could just leave it SBNO. The space could be used at Fright Nights. They could in a couple of years use the space for an entirely different dark ride, since the park need one. It's simply a case of how much money Thorpe can spend on it, and when, especially since they've got an expensive coaster coming next year.

One final thing: I see £30m regularly touted as the investment cost for Ghost Train. I'm under the impression that the total investment (ie for everything, including the new stuff in 2017) was closer to £20m; I've heard anywhere between £17-23m. Obviously still a huge sum which could have gotten a big coaster or similar, but not as extreme as seems to be considered.
 
JoshC. said:
As for it being removed from the app. That's not something which just happens; there almost definitely was intent to do that. It's still listed on the main website, for now, though. So who knows.
Click to expand...
To be fair, the main Alton Towers website doesn't mention that Nemesis will be down for the year, either (it's only mentioned in the help pages). Merlin seems slow with updating these.
 
Last edited:
Matt N said:
On another note, it would appear as though Derren Brown’s Ghost Train may have reached the end of the line after 6 years of operation, as all references to it have been removed from the Thorpe Park app:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1611738042691194880
I’m quite surprised that DBGT has met its end this early, if it is going, but I guess the signs were there at the end of 2022, what with the construction work happening in the shop and the limited quantity of merchandise left.

If the rumoured £30m budget is true, surely that would make it one of the most expensive theme park attractions ever per operating season? Given that it operated for 6 seasons, that would peg its final cost at £5m per season…
Click to expand...
1673550276906.png

Fear not, the UK's dark ride of all time is here to stay!
 
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