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Thorpe Park | Hyperia | Mack Hyper Coaster | 2024

They need something full of airtime, decent length, a hyper or something with multiple launches. A coaster that's just a good ride. What they'll get is a short lacklustre coaster revolving around some giant themeing centrepiece based on an IP which is already a few years out of date. We all know it. B&M Dive Machine themed to Tiger King incoming!
 
I would also like to see a Hyper at Thorpe, but I'm not sure if I trust Merlin to fork out the mountain of cash necessary for a coaster that size. Not sure how much land and air space is available either. Also, given Merlin's history of "inflating" a ride's thrill level through themeing, would they even see such a big coaster as necessary? I mean, why build a Hyper if you can achieve the same effect by dressing up a family coaster?

That being said, a big-ish coaster is not only a marketable hit with viral potential, but also a staple attraction that can help draw people to the park for decades. There is an inherent value to big rides you can't get from the cheaper substitutes, and at some point even Merlin would see the need for such a long-term investment (especially when the time to retire an existing coaster nears). I don't know if I'd trust them to pay for a full-size, record-breaking Hyper, but I wonder how a Mega-lite or something to that effect would be received? Something in the 30-50 meter height range, a kilometer or so long, full of airtime and good times all around.

It wouldn't be the biggest or fastest coaster in the UK, but it would be the biggest and fastest coaster built in the UK for a very long time. The UK hasn't seen a coaster taller than 40 meters, or one going faster than 100 km/h, since Stealth in 2006. Swarm doesn't miss these benchmarks by much, but Icon and Smiler, which are the other two biggest coasters built last decade, are quite far behind. Anything bigger than Swarm would comfortably be the UK's biggest coaster in 15 years, and it would also be one of the biggest coasters in the country overall, even without breaking any European records. Even something like Piraten would be the tallest and fastest UK coaster built in a decade. With some airtimey goodness it would probably be well received, and it wouldn't even need a goofy IP to be exciting to the general public.

It's almost to the point where I'd say they wouldn't need to scale all the way up to a Hyper, if something smaller can do the same job for a substantially lower cost.
 
Whether a hyper or not, I personally think that what Thorpe currently lacks, and what I would like to see from their next coaster, is something really fun and rerideable as opposed to solely intense, with perhaps more of a focus on negative g's/floaty sensations than positive g's. Of the "big 3" UK thrill parks, I'd say that Thorpe lacks this compared to Alton and Blackpool; as someone who values fun and rerideability in a coaster over pure intensity, I'd say that Blackpool has Icon and Alton has Wicker Man to fill this void, whereas Thorpe doesn't really have anything of this ilk for me. This is also why Thorpe is the only one of the big 3 to lack a 10/10 coaster for me (Blackpool has Icon and Alton has Wicker Man, which are my #2 and #3 respectively as well as my top 2 UK coasters), but that's besides the point.

I used to say that Swarm filled this void, but I increasingly don't think it does. The big inversions don't feel as floaty as they used to (I remember these used to have some really good hangtime, but it just kind of whips you straight through them these days), the restraints are a bit of a niggle, it's less smooth than it used to be (particularly on the outer seats, although I still wouldn't call it especially rough by any means) and that low g-laden turn over the water is increasingly an element I'm not a huge fan of. Don't get me wrong, I still really like Swarm, it's still in my top 10 (albeit only #8 these days), and I still think it's a cracking coaster (the sensation of speed is epic, that first drop is awesome, and the superb negative g's in that last inline twist still get me every time!), but I don't think it quite fills that void of "intensely rerideable" for me like Icon & Wicker Man do anymore.

Using my memories from Mako 5 years ago, I do think a B&M Hyper Coaster would fill this void of being intensely fun and rerideable, as well as being a more floaty, airtime-focused coaster, extremely well, hence why I'm so keen for one to come to Thorpe!
 
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All the talk of the ride that makes sense such as a B and M hyper, RMC or GCI woodie reminds me how shocked I was with the new coaster pick for Chessington as it seems to fit no reasoning with their target audience, existing lineup and Swarm being down the road so I'm not entirely convinced we end up seeing something that makes as much sense being built. I'm personally hoping for a Intamin with lots of airtime of a large GCI woodie but with what I previously said I wouldn't be shocked if it's something nobody predicts.
 
All the talk of the ride that makes sense such as a B and M hyper, RMC or GCI woodie reminds me how shocked I was with the new coaster pick for Chessington as it seems to fit no reasoning with their target audience, existing lineup and Swarm being down the road so I'm not entirely convinced we end up seeing something that makes as much sense being built. I'm personally hoping for a Intamin with lots of airtime of a large GCI woodie but with what I previously said I wouldn't be shocked if it's something nobody predicts.
I wouldn’t have thought they’d (Merlin) be buying another B&M in the UK, until the chessington announcement… Now I lean towards them even more… Multibuy?
 
Interesting, very interesting... Thorpe clearly wants to draw attention to the tree clearance, which I don’t think they’d be doing if it was just routine land maintenance…
 
I wouldn’t have thought they’d (Merlin) be buying another B&M in the UK, until the chessington announcement… Now I lean towards them even more… Multibuy?
Merlin did apparently pull a multi buy / bought in bulk with/from B&M. If accumulated concept art and blueprints are to go by, they've contracted 6 smaller-scale B&Ms for their future projects. The one of the highest interest would go to Chessington, and the other five are spread out as either a junior invert or junior launched wing coaster between the three upcoming Chinese Legoland parks in Sichuan, Shenzhen, and Shanghai (the latter won't be receiving a wing). As far as I know Thorpe isn't included here, although thats not confirmed anywhere.
 
Merlin did apparently pull a multi buy / bought in bulk with/from B&M. If accumulated concept art and blueprints are to go by, they've contracted 6 smaller-scale B&Ms for their future projects. The one of the highest interest would go to Chessington, and the other five are spread out as either a junior invert or junior launched wing coaster between the three upcoming Chinese Legoland parks in Sichuan, Shenzhen, and Shanghai (the latter won't be receiving a wing). As far as I know Thorpe isn't included here, although thats not confirmed anywhere.
Perhaps each Legoland park would be considered one project for B&M, as it's technically only one installation... that would revise the count to 4. Which based on Merlin's last B&M multi-buy deal in the early 2010s (2 for Garda, 2 for Heide, 1 for Thorpe) would leave 1 installation left over, if that's anything to go by...

I would also suggest that Merlin might be able to get more rides out of a deal comprising mostly of smaller coasters, as surely the smaller rides cost far less?

If nothing else, this supposed new deal with Merlin certainly allays the concerns about B&M struggling for business any time soon!
 
Perhaps each Legoland park would be considered one project for B&M, as it's technically only one installation... that would revise the count to 4. Which based on Merlin's last B&M multi-buy deal in the early 2010s (2 for Garda, 2 for Heide, 1 for Thorpe) would leave 1 installation left over, if that's anything to go by...

I would also suggest that Merlin might be able to get more rides out of a deal comprising mostly of smaller coasters, as surely the smaller rides cost far less?

If nothing else, this supposed new deal with Merlin certainly allays the concerns about B&M struggling for business any time soon!
Merlin did apparently pull a multi buy / bought in bulk with/from B&M. If accumulated concept art and blueprints are to go by, they've contracted 6 smaller-scale B&Ms for their future projects. The one of the highest interest would go to Chessington, and the other five are spread out as either a junior invert or junior launched wing coaster between the three upcoming Chinese Legoland parks in Sichuan, Shenzhen, and Shanghai (the latter won't be receiving a wing). As far as I know Thorpe isn't included here, although thats not confirmed anywhere.

Junior Wing or Invert confirmed for Thorpe then!!! 🙈🙈🙈

😂😂😂
 
Out of interest, is it known whether the tree clearance is clearly visible from within P15 without trying too hard to look for it, or were those views possible because TPM was purposefully looking?
 
If this poster is genuinely related to a new attraction, then maybe after Fright Nights when "tours are cancelled"; the park may begin with more marketing/teasing?

As to me, this could be the beginning of some marketing strategy?
That was my thought; could we see official teasing begin in a more targeted way come the closed season?
 
Honestly, I don't know what to say.

Is this 100% a real Easter Egg at the park?
Why would the park make such a blatantly obvious hint?
Surely this is far too revealing this early on?
Surely the park can't get a RMC opened by March considering we've seen zero plans submitted to Runnymede?

With all this tree cutting and "area under development"; it all just seems too good to be true. It does feel like everything's falling into place bit by bit, but to me this throws the whole idea of a new coaster completely off; it's too on the nose.

I'm calling fake on this one, potentially a massive wind up by the park. But please prove me wrong!
I think everything else points fingers towards something big - but to me the RMC part looks like a pretty funny wind-up. I believe there was a US park (I think Kings Island) where there was some sort of RMC Easter egg a year or two before Orion was announced.

...or perhaps Ready Mixed Concrete is taking the island back in 2022? Saw's being sold off to Lightwater Valley lads.
 
That’s actually pretty funny tbf.

Someone’s probably trawling forums and twitter looking for the reaction right now
 
What if it's not 2022, but RMC #22, as in it's the 22nd RMC to be built/ordered? How many have been built so far? About 20 innit? 🤔

My only concern with an RMC is that it wouldn't be very big. If it already has the unique selling point of being the UK''s first hybrid coaster or Europe's first single rail coaster or whatever (yes yes I know, The Ultimate and a couple of others are technically hybrid coasters too, but you know what I mean), then why would Merlin need to spend extra money on pursuing any size records? Why build a Zadra when a Twisted Cyclone could be marketed as the same thing?
Sure, Twisted Cyclone might be a solid ride and something similar at Thorpe would be more than welcome, but being some sort of 'UK first' gives them the perfect excuse not to go big.
Of course, size isn't everything, but it's definitely something, and that's a fact that just seems to have been forgotten about in the UK for almost 3 decades now. Not since the Big One way back in '94 has a UK park gone all out in the pusuit of hugeness. That's why I, and by the looks of it literally everyone else, think a modern hypercoaster, from any manufacturer really, would be an instant hit with goons and GP alike.

Edit: there have been 24 RMC's built to date, so it's not that. 😐
 
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