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The sorry state of X:\ No Way Out

cp23

cp23

Mega Poster
What on earth has happened to this ride? Over the years it just seems to have been left to rot, and now, in what seems like the final nail in the ride's coffin, it's permanently run with the lights on.

Now, I've never been a huge fan of this ride (always found it a little bit of a let down), but when I first went on it back in the day I actually rather enjoyed it, and I just find it so sad that it's been neglected and left to decay the way it has.

What do people think is going to happen to it? Will we see it restored to its former 'glory'? Might it be given an extensive overhaul/revamp? Or is it destined to limp on in its current sorry state for another few years before finally getting removed?

Also, Wikipedia states: "The original roller coaster had many sections of theming, but over the past few years, these have mainly been removed, or are simply not functioning."

I haven't been on it for a while, but what theming has been removed/no longer works? I know there used to be fake lifts that took you down into the heart of the pyramid (sadly never got to experience these working), I know the queue line used to be much longer and I remember mist/water/air/sound effects during the ride itself (do these still work?). I also remember the misters outside the pyramid that haven't worked for yonks. What else is there that no longer works/has disappeared?

I would be sad to see this ride go, but it's even sadder seeing it treated the way Thorpe are currently treating it.
 
I couldn’t agree more.
Back in the day X:\ NWO used to be quite good and dare I say it…… even quite thrilling in a way. Also, it was always a good “starter coaster” if you were with anyone who was a bit nervous to try out the bigger rides/coasters in the park.

But what has happened to it?
They got rid of the on-ride camera
They’ve added in a ton of brake runs
The theming has gone to ****
And now the lights are on!

This used to be such a unique coaster but it’s just awful now. Every time it starts to gain the slightest bit of speed, it will brake suddenly. I doubt Thorpe Park will bother revamping it, though they really should. X:\ NWO has a lot of potential and TP could easily re-theme it and make it amazing. I don’t know why they’re not doing this? Surely they would want the money and publicity?

I think they’ll probably just leave it to rot for a couple more years and then remove it completely. I can’t say I’d miss it though, it’s just not a good coaster anymore unfortunately.
 
It's things like this that really make me hate Merlin/Thorpe (not sure who's to blame). When you go somewhere like Europa Park or Efteling (both cheaper to get into than Thorpe I might add) you see a theme park owned and run by people who obviously care about theme parks, who strive to provide the most magical experience possible. When I go to Thorpe, however, I see a shambles of a park run by people who couldn't really give a toss about the state of its rides, as long as they know people will keep coming back. And that makes me sad :-( What I love about Europa and Efteling is that often their rides improve with age - new theming gets added etc, whereas Thorpe's just decay (theming gets removed, effects get turned off, the rides start to look tatty etc.). I read that when Vogel Rok opened park visitors complained that they couldn't see the link between the back story of the ride and the ride itself, so the park remedied this by adding more theming and a laser show to make the link clearer. Can you imagine Thorpe ever doing this!? You'd be lucky if the ride even had a back story at Thorpe! If Thorpe had been in Efteling's position they probably would have just removed any trace of the back story whatsoever so visitors didn't even know there was one - problem solved, Thorpe style!

I'd love it so much if Thorpe put a new dark coaster in there - it probably wouldn't even need to be that big an investment, given that the Black Hole wasn't much more than a travelling ride in a tent, with some minimal (but admittedly quite effective) theming. Something in the UK as good as Vogel Rok or Eurosat would make me jump for joy. However, this is Thorpe so I'm not getting my hopes up.
 
I have been on X:/NWO and I enjoyed it both times (once in the dark once with lights on) the drops have a great swooping feel to them amplified by the fact you're going backwards. I think a huge revamp and retracking would be great but retheming? No.
 
I have been on X:/NWO and I enjoyed it both times (once in the dark once with lights on) the drops have a great swooping feel to them amplified by the fact you're going backwards. I think a huge revamp and retracking would be great but retheming? No.
 
My point was that the ride has been left to rot, and that what theming there was initially has been gradually removed over the years.
 
Nothing to apologise for ;-) Wasn't having a go or anything. Just saying that it's not necessarily a retheme I want, just it would be nice to see the ride looked after a bit better.
 
I went on this today and really enjoyed it. It is operating in complete darkness. I have never been on it before, though.
 
They did sort of redo some of the effects a few years ago. They put new lighting in the queue and put the lights on the lift hill. There was also some audio as you went round which made the stops and the way it rolls forwards and stops and jerks etc make sense. They also had those dummies on one of the MCBR that lit up when you stopped next to them.
All this made the ride a bit more interesting but sadly all these effects only lasted about 6 months before they didn't work again.
It shows though that it's only a few small things they need to add to make it better. I'd love to see the lifts into the station working again as half the people don't even recognise they're there when they walk through them.
 
Tom Green said:
Worth it in my view but I love coasters in the dark.
Click to expand...

Slight problem.... It's not in the dark anymore :--D

I really do love it with the lights on. Maybe it's because I'm biased towards anything at Thorpe, maybe its because I'm an enthusiast, but I just love being able to see everything that I havent been able to for the last 10 or so years!

However, from the general public's point of view, it's probably more a pile of rubbish than it was before, which is a shame.

I agree with what Ollie has said... little effects really would make the ride a whole lot better. Though I think the retheme a few years ago was really poor (Minus the lights on the lift hill, I love em)
 
Tom Green said:
Worth it in my view but I love coasters in the dark.
Click to expand...
I guess it depends on how queues are elsewhere on park.

I think the thing for me is that while X was never Spiderman or Droomvlucht, it was more than a coaster in the dark. The effects weren't particularly special or massively interesting but they added to it.

What was a fairly average dark ride is now pretty poor, in comparison. I don't think it's fair to compare. If I went through Valhalla with all the effects switched off I'd be pretty annoyed.
 
I don't mind X, but I think that if it was in a smaller park I'd feel a bit gutted because it would mean more, but it's almost considered as Thorpe's burden.

The main problem is Thorpe's audience nowadays. Back in the day, it would've been alright. Now, though, you have people going on Saw, Colossus, Inferno and Stealth and see this indoor ride with a 1.4m height restriction, what's stopping the expectation being near the big 4? No matter how many effects you add, the coaster will be crap compared to those four, yet they attract the same audience. Evidently, the ride is always destined to fail.

The only exception would be if they added loads of scary elements to the ride. With Saw a little down the pathway, this is never going to happen.

If it was 1.2m, or at a push 1.3m, it would be great. A thrilling family ride would be perfect, and that it was Thorpe needs. But as long as it has a bizzare 1.4m height restriction, it's going to be considered a dissapointment.
 
SAW_gameover said:
Slight problem.... It's not in the dark anymore :--D
Click to expand...

I don't know how recently it was re-introduced as I have never been before, but I assure you, yesterday it was running in complete darkness. The queue was also entirely inside the building (I have read it was kept outside and people were let in). No effects of any kind that I have read about were in operation apart from the red and blue lights in the queue line.
 
Tom Green said:
SAW_gameover said:
Slight problem.... It's not in the dark anymore :--D
Click to expand...

I don't know how recently it was re-introduced as I have never been before, but I assure you, yesterday it was running in complete darkness. The queue was also entirely inside the building (I have read it was kept outside and people were let in). No effects of any kind that I have read about were in operation apart from the red and blue lights in the queue line.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Seems they're running it in the dark again!
 
Cp23 you are 100% right since rides like Colossus, stealth and Nemesis Inferno came they seem to have forgoten about X no way out.

They are all great rides and the lights should be turned off in xnwo for good.
 
^It's no way near as good wiout the lights because you can see for yourself that the ride is in a bad state yourself.

Xnwo had the potential to be a great family ride like space mountain...shame.

Does anyone know that it's had a name change? One of the letters/symbols on that say the rides name on the outside of the building has fallen off (I think it was the /)!
 
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