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WTF Merlin?

It's representative of an aesthetic led amusement park rather than a true theme park. Thorpe Park isn't really what I'd call a true theme park, I'd compare it to European amusement parks like Liseberg, which are more stylized but do also encompass a few themed attractions. To call Thorpe a true theme park, it would have to have an overarching themed identity, much like Disneyland, Toverland and Europa Park have... a singular story driven identity.
 
I feel like it was heading in that direction back in the early 00's with an overarching 'wet' theme. Lost City (Atlantis), Octopus Garden, Amity Cove, Nemesis Inferno's volcanic island etc. Not everything fit that, but mostly it did.
 
Tonkso said:
I feel like it was heading in that direction back in the early 00's with an overarching 'wet' theme. Lost City (Atlantis), Octopus Garden, Amity Cove, Nemesis Inferno's volcanic island etc. Not everything fit that, but mostly it did.
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The logo that fit that was even worst though

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I agree with all the "it's better for merch" and "it's a better design to spread as a brand" chat. It is a much more modern and versatile logo.

But dear god do I find it soulless.

Toverlands logo as seen above is a similar font only design but the whimsical flourishes R and the N as well as the overall look evoke a fantasy feel. Yes Toverland has a more cohesive theme but the logo itself doesn't reference that in and of itself

To me it almost says this is a place to get away from the world, a world of fantasy. Which is what any theme park should be (and yes I say thorpe park is a theme park, it has themes, not cohesive themes but themes none the less)

To me this new Thorpe Park logo evokes "Express Train" or "New App", it's the sort of thing I'd expect to see on the side of a bus that's going to get me from London to Berlin in 4 hours perhaps. It doesn't scream fun, fantasy, thrills, wonder or any of the things I associate with a theme park.

I get the feeling this is one of those let be cool and appeal to the teenagers with a ultra modern cool logo things. But it simply has no soul.
 
The trouble is - the park itself is still very much going to look like the old logo.

Painting half of Colossus and "re-themeing" Angry Birds Land to New Orleans (but it's still going to be Angry Birds colours because we had a few tins of the paint left!) isn't going to fix the parks tired image. All this "we care about renewing the park, inclusivity this and diversity that" all feels extremely performative and a little bit pretentious... when they really are just being the same old Thorpe Park with these "improvements".

The new logo would suit an understated, well groomed and lowkey amusement park. That's not Thorpe Park 😂
 
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I really don't like the logo. Primarily because it is just two standard fonts in Canva. It's basic and lazy.

The new logo really has not gone down well on socials.
 
Of course a bland and only consisting of nothing but a free font logo is working better on merch but goddamn that thing's hideous! 😂😂 I can only imagine the agency that proposed it working 20 minutes to gain a 100k for that bland **** and the Merlin folks going all "omg that's so lazy it's beautiful and modern"
 
roomraider said:
To me it almost says this is a place to get away from the world, a world of fantasy. Which is what any theme park should be (and yes I say thorpe park is a theme park, it has themes, not cohesive themes but themes none the less)
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A lot of amusement parks have very loose and stylistic 'themed' aesthetics, but that doesn't make them true theme parks. True theme park themes are actually story themes. A theme park has one primary goal, and that is to tell a story wherever you are in the park. Thorpe Park does not do that, only on a handful of attractions, but a real theme park aims to do just that all over the park. Theme parks are another storytelling medium, pioneered by filmmakers like Walt Disney and individuals he hand picked from Walt Disney Studios.

The book 'One Little Spark' from the late Imagineer Marty Sklar explains what a legitimate theme park is.

In regards to the logo, I like how versatile it is for merchandise and graphics across the park.
 
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This year Alton Towers are trying to get permission for 4 days of Fireworks which will hope to run 7th Nov - 10th Nov also scarefest will run through until the 3rd November
 
This is an absolutely radical change, my 2 year old will have to wait until she's about 5 to ride it now. Roughly speaking:
0.9m ~ 2.5 years
1.1m ~ 5 years
1.3m ~ 8.5 years

Source for my guesstimates:

Average Child Height | Onaverage.co.uk

Does your child have an average height? Find out here at OnAverage.co.uk!
www.onaverage.co.uk www.onaverage.co.uk
 
That will presumably see the same change applied to Flying Fish and Scorpion Express - which... kinda messes life up for the target market.

I don't envy the staff having to listen to "WTF? He/she rode it LAST year and he/she has GROWN since then!"
 
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