Every Easter Egg on Thorpe’s Graffiti Machines!

It’s fair to say that over the years, Thorpe have experimented with lots of different styles and brands. And that is no different this year. Very recently, the park has added the following overlay to some of their Claw Machine games:

A look at the new overlays

It’s certainly striking. And whilst the graffiti style doesn’t quite fit in anywhere on park in particular, I quite like the idea. I’d maybe prefer it a bit more if they just used logos / visuals from rides, as opposed to some with the graffiti-style text, it’s still a pretty cool look.

The real neat thing with this is that there’s nods to loads of different things here, past and present. Thorpe very much like to include Easter Eggs in pretty much everything they do, and these wraps have enough Easter Eggs to open a chocolate shop. And that’s what I want to focus on here – highlighting every single Easter Egg / reference littered throughout this. Because there are a lot…at least 43 of them!

A look at the first 17 references

1. Rangers. The park’s mascots from 1989-2005.
2. Dylan. The project name for Saw – The Ride; Project Dylan.
3. Original Stealth logo.
4. Original X:\No Way Out logo (1996-2012).
5. Litterlout. The antagonist of the Thorpe Park Rangers show from the 1990s.
6. ‘The End is Coming’. Posters flyposted across the park in 2011 to tease The Swarm.
7. Buckwheats. The name of the family featured in the Creek Freak Fright Night attractions (2019-present).
8. Thrill Capital. Reference to the slogan the park used from circa. 2008-2013, The Nation’s Thrill Capital.
9. Space Station Zero. The original, enclosed, incarnation of Flying Fish. Housed in the main arcade from 1983-1989.
10. Like No Other. Reference to the slogan the park used from 2014, An Island Like No Other.
11. Mr Rabbit. The original Thorpe Ranger and mascot from the park, who first appeared in the mid-1980s.
12. Stealth face, used during the original advertising for the ride (see below).
13. High School Sucks. Reference to the Amity High Fright Nights scare zone (2018-present).
14. Exp10. Reference to Experiment 10, a Fright Nights maze opened for the 10^th anniversary of Fright Nights (2011-2012).
15. The Howling at Lycanthorpe High logo.
16. The Swarm logo / symbol.
17. Wicked Witch. Reference to Wicked Witches Haunt, ghost train-style dark ride which stood roughly where Detonator is now, and previously called Phantom Fantasia. Destroyed in the Thorpe Park Fire in 2000 (1984-2000).

A look at the ‘Stealth faces’, which were prevalent in early advertising.

The next nine.

18. SLK STN. Reference to Jack Silkstone’s merchandise line.
19. Old Thorpe Park logo. Variants used from 1979-1998.
20. X logo (2013-2017).
21. Thorpe Farm. The Farm was open from 1982-2006.
22. Vulcan Peak. Fright Nights attraction in 2018.
23. Calypso. Project name for Nemesis Inferno; Project Calypso. Also, Calypso Quay was the name of the area of the ride and surroundings from 2003, now The Jungle.
24. ‘Europe’s HIGHEST Water Ride…’. Advertising image from Tidal Wave, used in 1999.
25. Chez Nous. A restaurant in the 1990s, situated where Sombrero’s Street Food is now.
26. Mountbatten. The park was opened by Lord Louis Mountbatten, 24^th May 1979. The Dome was originally named Mountbatten Pavilion as a result.

Another eight!

27. Spooks. At a guess, a reference to many of the spooky attractions the park have had over the years!
28. Harley. Another mascot for the park, also known as Cool Cat. He first appeared circa 1995.
29. Odyssey. Project name of Colossus; Project Odyssey.
30. BounceZilla. Bouncy castle for the park’s 40^th anniversary (2019).
31. The East Coast’s Finest. Reference to a ‘Trout Farm’ in the early 1980s: Guests could bait a live trout out of a pond, and have it gutted and BBQ-ed in front of them! Took place in Model World, roughly where Stealth is now.
32. AH. Another reference to Amity High.
33. Amity Police. Original sign which would have appeared in the Amity Cove area when Tidal Wave opened (2000).
34. Maple Leaf. Canada Creek area logo (1989-early 2010s).

You lure it, we’ll cure it! Certainly not something we’d see as much these days!

The final nine.

35. ‘The Big, Enormous…’. Slogan used in the 1990s (first in 1992); The Big, Enormous, Giant, Humongous, Great Thorpe Park.
36. Loggers Leap logo (1989-2015).
37. Fright Nights logo (2009-2012).
38. Fright Nights logo (circa. 2007-2008).
39. Edge logo. Original name and logo for Stealth.
40. Cape Calypso. A (proposed?) coffee shop for the Calypso Quay area, circa. early 2000s.
41. Dare Devil Drivers logo. Dodgems attraction located roughly where Zodiac is now (1998-2000).

Edge was the original name for Stealth, with a change of name only happening a couple of months before opening!

This does leave two mysterious ones though:

42. Freddie.
43. Exodus.

I genuinely have no clue what these could be referencing! Answers on a postcard please!

Freddie anyone?

And Exodus?

Have I missed any, or are there any more that I have missed? What’s your favourite reference that they’ve managed to sneak in here? Let me know!

With thanks to Memories of Thorpe Park and Thorpe Park Mania for the help in identifying all these references – lots of extra info about some of the older Easter Eggs!

My Love-Hate Relationship with Flat Rides

Flat rides. Filler rides. Round rides. Whatever you call them, they’re an important part of a theme park line up. A park filled with an over-focus on roller coasters runs the risk of feeling repetitive or samey, and can burnout guests. It’s important to have a variety of rides to help break up the day, and alleviate some pressure off the headline rides.

So yeah, flat rides are great for a park. But as I’ve gotten older, my tolerance for many flat rides has really gone down. I used to love rides that spin, flip and who-knows-what-else you. But now, a slightly fast set of teacups, or a small pirate ship, are enough to turn my stomach round. In fact, there’s plenty of rides now where a bench is much more appealing than the ride itself.

Without further ado, here’s some of my loves, and woes, when it comes to flat rides…

Love: Drop Towers
Drop towers are a bit of a Marmite ride – you really either do love them or hate them. I get why plenty of people hate the nerve-wrecking feeling of being dragged up a tower, only to be held high before plummeting back down. But I absolutely love them.

The views you get. The sense of danger. The simple freefall nature of the experience. It all comes together to create something which I’d say borders on a ‘must ride’ attraction whenever I see one.

Detonator at Thorpe Park is easily one of my favourite drop towers

Hate: Spinning Swings
As said, a set of teacups or a pirate ship is enough to make me feel squeezy these days. Join both those rides together and you get the “spinning swing” ride type: Gyroswings, KMG Afterburners, etc. One ride I just can’t imagine myself ever going on again.

It’s funny, because they rarely spin that fast, but combine that with the swinging and it feels much faster. Then the direction changes from the swinging thrown in with that just makes me feel awful.

I used to love Vortex, but now…

Love: Theming / Style Opportunities
Many flat rides are quite minimalistic in their design. They’ll usually have small structures, and everything serves a purpose. So for some parks, this serves as a perfect opportunity to get creative!

These varies from going absolutely all out (see: Talocan at Phantasialand, which visually incredible), to a quirky style with some nearby theming (like Miølnyr at Festyland), to even something basic like a themed building (like Kingi at Linnanmäki). All of these add an extra layer to the experience, and make everything much more enjoyable.

Miølynr at Festyland, in Normandy, France, is beautifully presented

Of course, not every park chooses to do this, and instead just leaves a simple-coloured ride in situ. Or sometimes the work done doesn’t quite hit the spot. But when it is done right, it’s great in my opinion.

Hate: The Repetition
This is a layered point actually, as there’s a few ways I hate the repetition.

Some flat rides are in many ways ‘one and done’. For example, once you’ve done one Screamin’ Swing, you’ve done them all I’d say. Sure, they come in different sizes and have different locations, but they’re all pretty much the same experience. It’s the same for many others too, especially smaller ones. Obviously that come be offset slightly with location and theme/style, but it does make it does take some enjoyment away. That’s especially true if you ever do multi-park trips, or multiple parks in quick succession.

But this is also a double-edged sword. Some flat rides can run on different settings. Some of these may increase (or decrease) the ride time, or make the ride more (or less) intense. If you’ve experienced one ride which was on a good setting, it sets a high bar. And if another ride of that type is on a worse setting, it feels somewhat less enjoyable. This isn’t a flat ride exclusive problem, it can happen with any similar rides, but it’s definitely extenuated when rides are basically clones and capable of running the same, awesome setting.

Drachenflug, at Belantis, takes you up a tower, spins you for a few minutes, brings you down again. Boring and repetitive, no?

The third point here is that many flat rides have cycles which are repetitive in nature. And that’s basically by design, of course. They’re static rides which don’t have a track, so they will be limited by what they can do. But there’s only so often one can be moved in the same direction before it becomes repetitive, and almost tiresome. It means flat rides very much need to have a sweet spot with their cycles, and that can be very hard to find.

Love-Hate: Uniqueness
Like most people I’m sure, I’m a sucker for anything unique. Obviously it’s not the sole thing I look for in a ride, but if something is unique/rare or if I’ve simply never seen anything like it before, it intrigues me. And for better or worse, it tempts me to ride.

So basically, I might be the type of guy who feels sick on a teacups. But if I see some crazy weird spinning thing that I’ve never seen before, there’s going to be a voice in my head saying “Go on, do it…”, despite everything instinct in me going “You’ll hate this”. Usually the little voice wins: for example, Dragon Riders at Legendia. It was a ride which I think appears in fairgrounds, but I’d never seen before. The spinning motions were crazy, as was the ride cycle. I’ll admit that I loved it, and I’m glad I did it, but oh did I regret it for many hours after…

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A photo of Dragon Riders, and my post-ride pale face and dazed expression (which I had for a few hours after)!
To see a short clip of the ride in action, see my Instagram post about it!

So I might be becoming a boring old geezer who hates crazy contraptions that spin and swing you any which way, and find myself enjoying benches, but I still think flat rides are fab. I’d love to see a sort of flat ride resurgence, especially in the UK, with some new, funky and fun experiences for everyone to enjoy (and some nearby seating areas too..!)

5 Rides which Deserve a bit More Attention

Over the past couple of years, there’s some rides I’ve done which are a ton of fun, but don’t really seem to get the attention they deserve. Mostly for reasons that they’re in parks that aren’t high up people’s lists, or there’s better rides at those parks. So I figured I’d just throw a little list out there.

This isn’t going to be a list of “under-hyped” rides; I’m not necessarily saying any of these are top-tier rides which everyone should ride. Rather, these are rides which are solid fun, but whenever I’ve mentioned them to people in the past, I get a people of a confused look as if to say, “Huh, what’s that?”. So without further ado, let’s cast a bit of limelight on them…

5. Gaz Express, Parc Bagatelle 

Situated about an hour from Calais, Bagatelle’s ease to get to doesn’t compensate for the fact the park is can be summed up with the one word review of ‘okay’. However, Gaz Express is a shining beacon of light.

Manufactured by the not-that-well-known French company Soquet in 1987, Gaz Express is a really fun family-thrill coaster which is situated largely over water. It’s not particularly high or fast, but features a couple of nice pops of airtime, some nice helices, whilst also diving in and out of buildings. And you get to go round twice too! To top it off, there’s loads of water features around the ride, as well as a really cool fire effect, making it a really nice-looking ride for spectators too.

To be fair, I probably could have put in any of Soquet’s ‘larger’ rides here too. They’re all surprisingly fun (watch this space for a post appreciating my favourite French manufacturer soon!)

Image from Bagatelle’s website

4. Discovery Club, Avonturenpark Hellendoorn

I make it no secret that I look shooting dark rides, and this one is really quirky. Sitting in outward-facing circular cars, the idea is that you’re basically exploring a house with loads of spooky stuff that could come alive. It’s a classic storyline which works, and with a fun soundtrack and sound effects, good theming and the unpredictable, and sometimes wild, spinning of the cars, it makes for a great experience.

The fact that this is tucked in the corner of the park, and you have no clue about what’s inside really adds to the feels of it too!

Hellendoorn itself is a decent park, a little under-rated in my opinion, but this 22 year old Mack dark ride is probably the crowning jewel of the park! And being in The Netherlands, they do seem to get overshadowed by the big parks like Efteling, Walibi and Toverland, and even the large visitor numbers that make their way to Duinrell. Hopefully it gets its time grab people’s attention soon!

Tucked away in the corner, the beautiful façade hides many secrets that await in the Discovery Club

3. Kyöpelinvuoren Hotelli, Linnanmäki

I had to look up the name of this, and copy it to make sure it’s spelt correctly. Even then, some people may not be sure what this is, or those who have visited might not recognise the name. But it is the park’s ghost train, which opened in 2013.

And frankly, it has no right being as good as it is. For a city park like Linnanmäki which doesn’t really *do* theming, it stands out really well. And inside, it’s just immaculately themed and styled – it’s creepy from the word go.

The ride itself is pretty fantastic. Good length, no dead spots, lots of turns and plenty of surprises and special effects. It just hits the nail on the head at every point. Along with the likes of the nearby Taiga, this shows that when the park sets itself a target, they hit it perfectly.

2. Popcorn Revenge, Walibi Belgium

Popcorn Revenge is genuinely brilliant; it is up there as one of my favourite dark rides. Earlier I said this list wasn’t necessarily going to be about top-tier rides; Popcorn Revenge is perhaps the exception here. For those who don’t know, this is a trackless, screen-based shooting dark ride, which takes around a movie theatre where pieces of popcorn have come alive and have taken over the film. You have to shoot the popcorn with different flavoured sauce guns to take back control. The ride is non-linear and where you go depends on what car you get in. 

The scenes on the screens are brilliant. The real theming is great as well. This all just comes together for an absolutely brilliant ride experience.

I truly hope I’m not over-stating this and setting anyone who has yet to ride it up for a disappointing, but this is genuinely one of my favourite rides and it’s a damn shame it’s not talked about more frankly.

1. K2, Karls Erlebnis-Dorf Elstal

Karls is, primarily, a strawberry farm business. However, they have branched out over the years to have permanent farmer markets, which have also integrated Family Entertainment Centre / ‘amusement park’ style sections. The one in Elstal, just outside Berlin, is perhaps the most developed, and by far the crowning jewel is K2.

K2 is an abc tube coaster, featuring wooden cars. The ride is themed to potato farming, and features an underground dark ride section where you see potatoes being grown, amongst other surprises. The ride then goes up 80ft high – which feels a lot higher when you only have a seatbelt as your restraint in a wooden cart! – before going round twists, turns and mini airtime hills. The ride is killed a bit by a MCBR, but is still great fun, and a real surprise. 

The quality of the theming is amazing too, and wouldn’t look out of place at the likes of Phantasialand (indeed, the queue is of a similar style and standard to Maus au Chocolat). Just in general, this ride ticks every single box and it’s an absolute joy and treasure to experience. If you ever head to Berlin and want a quick theme park-like fix, this really is the place to go (certainly I enjoyed it more than the nearby ‘proper’ parks!).

K2, as viewed from the air (image from park’s website)

Are there rides which you think have flown under people’s radar? Or something which you think just doesn’t get as much praise as it should? I’d love to know!

4 Theme Park Eateries that Tickled my Tastebuds (and 2 That Didn’t)

If my waistline says anything, it’s that I love a good bit of food. Theme park food is a bit of a mixed bag sometimes, with a big ‘grab and go’ philosophy about it. And that makes perfect sense too, of course – it minimizes the time you’re not riding rides. But it’s still nice to have options about, especially as there’s only so many times I can stand the sight of a beige banquet of chicken nuggets and chips.

Whether it’s at a park I’ve visited before, or if I’m able to enjoy a non-rushed day, I really enjoy the chance to be able to be able to sit down and relax whilst eating some good food. And for the most part, I’ve had great experiences wherever I’ve eaten. Of course, there’s been some exceptions, but I’m struggling to think of anywhere at a park I’ve eaten which I’d call ‘bad’!

So without further ado, here’s 3 of my favourite theme park restaurants, and 2 food places which aren’t for me…

Love: Rutmor’s Taverne, Phantasialand
My absolute favourite theme park food place. Really heart good with lots of German classics is already a winner for me. Couple that in with the theming and atmosphere inside the quaint (if perhaps slightly small) restaurant, with glimpses of Taron and the wider world of Klugheim through the windows, and it’s just incredible.

It’s slightly on the expensive side, but it is SO worth it.  I recommend the Schweinehaxenfleisch mit Malz- Hopfenkruste (pork knuckle with malt and hops crust), and Apfelkuchen (apple pie) for dessert!

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The Schweinehaxenfleisch and Apfelkuchen

Not for me: Moya Formuła Restaurant, Energylandia
On paper, this sounds great. A sort of ‘all-in-one’ place, with lots of different food options, along with a nice racing theming to compliment the nearby Vekoma launch roller coaster Formuła. But it just wasn’t for me.

I went to the Italian section and ordered a pizza and some sort of choux pastry dessert. It was reasonably priced, but the food just wasn’t that tasty, and the atmosphere of the restaurant was a bit bland. Maybe I went in expecting a bit more than I should have? Who knows. It’s a good idea in practice and seems to be popular, but just not for me.

Love: Oberża Lecha, Legendia
I had to check the name of this, so I’ll just start off with saying: this is the restaurant by the Lech roller coaster (clue is in the name!).

This is (what I always call) a ‘canteen style’ restaurant, in that you grab a tray, and walk around various pieces of food and ask one of the various staff members around to pick out what you want. The first thing which got me was the choice: there was a huge variety of food available! And, being in Poland, it was comparatively cheaper to anything we would have in England.

More importantly, the quality of the food was incredible. Again, really hearty and tasty, and very filling. Maybe not what everyone wants at a theme park, but it really did tickle my tastebuds. And to round it all off, the restaurant had outdoors seating which overlooked the park’s lake, as well as the incredible Lech coaster. Great food and views is always a winner in my books!

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Views of Lech, and of the bustling canteen-style service (oh, pre-Covid days, how you are missed…)

Not for me: Delhi’cious, Walibi Belgium
I should first start by saying: I love the punny name of this place. Top tier eatery name.

Based in the recently opened Karma World at Walibi Belgium, unsurprisingly this serves food with a hint of Indian inspiration. I guess, again, expectations played a part here, but the choice was a bit uninspired (it was more sandwiches / paninis with European versions of Indian food). The seating area looked great, and also overlooked the park’s lake, but seemed devoid of any atmosphere.

A great place if you want a light lunch whilst also enjoying a breather in your day, but not what I thought it would be.

Love: Flaming Feather, Toverland
Flaming Feather sits towards the back end of Toverland’s Avalon area, which itself is a picturesque masterpiece. And in some way its location is a shame, as Flaming Feather encapsulates everything that’s great about the area, but it’s easy to miss.

A quaint indoor restaurant that oozes atmosphere from every crevice, it has a feeling of wonder and magic, whilst also being oddly familiar. A bit like stepping into a fairytale in some ways. And then of course, there’s the food. If we’re being honest, it’s little more than fancy pub grub. But that’s fine because: 1) It’s good fancy pub grub. 2) It works with that odd sense of familiarity the restaurant has.

The comforting atmosphere really suits Toverland in general too. And on top of that, their desserts were top quality too!

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Apple pie with cream, ice cream AND vanilla custard…plus a real fireplace. I’m in heaven!

There’s plenty of other eateries I could have included here (to talk positively about!). And even with the ones I’m not a fan of, there’s not really much wrong with the food itself, just not what I was expecting. Maybe one day I’ll write about some of my favourite theme park sweet treats (I have a sweet tooth in case you couldn’t tell!).

What’s your favourite place to eat at a theme park? Or is there somewhere you want to try but haven’t got round to yet? Let me know!

Has Theme Park Music Become Bigger Than Itself?

Recently, Paulton Parks released large parts of audio for their new Tornado Springs area. Anyone can stream the 45 minutes or so of music through things like Spotify and listen to the IMA Score audio that’s been specially made for the new land. A part of me was intrigued to hear it, but then I stopped myself and thought…why do I want to listen to it?

Let’s backtrack a bit first though. Music and audio are an important part of the overall theme park experience. If nothing is being played, it is extremely noticeable and feels almost awkward. Even if you just have pop songs playing, it adds a sense of atmosphere, perhaps akin to the old-fashioned ‘seaside fun fair’ feeling that people sometimes think back to.

The Tornado Springs soundtrack on Spotify

But of course, plenty of rides have specifically designed scores and audio elements to accompany them. Be that through music played in queues, stations, on ride or just in the nearby/surrounding areas, it’s very much there now. And a lot of that music goes hand in hand with the setting and atmosphere the ride was designed to take place. Nemesis at Alton Towers has its slightly sci-fi, eerie adventure score that plays through. The audio played around Colossus at Thorpe Park has a sense of grandness to it, making you feel like you are stepping into a lost city.

When audio is done right, it can really make an impact. It doesn’t have to be catchy (like The Smiler’s music). It doesn’t have to be in your face (like Speed of Sound at Walibi Holland). It doesn’t have to be an epic masterpiece. As long as it works within context of the area, it can be impactful. And that can cause a surge of emotions, of course. Hearing that music can bring back memories of your first ride, for example. Or just in general re-create your positives experience that you (should) experience at a theme park.

I remember close to 15 years ago; it was difficult to be able to listen to theme park music outside of theme parks. Some guy might have stood next to a speaker for an hour and uploaded a dodgy, crackled recorded to YouTube. Some fansites might have got their hands on a couple of shorter copies. But in any case, having access to theme park music away from the setting was more of a fun quirk, rather than being something that someone would actively choose to listen to.

But now, everything is very different. There are more people composing theme park audio. There are more companies composing the audio. There are endless YouTube accounts dedicated solely to theme park audio. Within seconds, you can be listening to the soundtrack to your favourite ride, or to a ride at a park you’ve never been to. If you step back and think about it, it’s a little bit…crazy.

A short excerpt of The Smiler soundtrack has almost 1.3 million views on YouTube to date!

With this ability, it leads to the chance for theme park music’s impact to be watered down. Instead of listening to audio in situ, through speakers which could be costing hundreds or thousands of pounds, you listen to it through headphones, or out of a car speaker, or whatever. So it’s unlikely to really be of the same quality. But then there’s the more important point: you lose the context.

No longer can you accompany Nemesis’ score with this eerie unease of discovering a monster in a bit. Smiler’s catchy repetitiveness isn’t the same without the Ministry of Joy’s latest contraption towering nearby. Chiapas’ upbeat melodies have…something missing. And sure, listening to the music of your favourite ride might trigger the happy memories of it. But can you reach a point whereby you listen to it too much, and it loses its core focus of accompanying a physical ride?

I’m completely guilty for this by the way. For example, I love the Chiapas soundtrack, and have listened to it many times. The same for plenty of other rides. But then, with the announcement of Tornado Springs’ audio being released before the area has even opened, all these thoughts flooded into my head. In particular, why do I want to listen to theme park music?

I guess the simple answer there is ‘because I enjoy it’. And that’s no doubt the answer for many others too. But theme park music as a whole has become a lot bigger, with people craving to hear soundtracks for rides before / just as they’re opening. The quality of the music is almost as important as the ride itself these days. And maybe that’s a good thing, with it adding another dimension to creating better rides.

Or maybe it’s become too big a thing? Maybe there’s too much focus on an attraction having good music. Maybe people are diverting their attention from everything else and wanting good music. Wanting something they can then take away from the park, and enjoy again and again in their own way. A little connection to the park at all times. But then, why bother with anything else? If a park can create a good ride, but then only have a short soundtrack that they don’t release, will people be as interested by it compared to an averaged ride with a long, released soundtrack? I don’t know.

But where we live in a world where social media makes it much easier to create cult followings for rides, and with it being much easier to listen to theme park music, it seems almost inevitable that rides with well-received soundtracks could become some of the most popular rides out there. And part of me wonders if that’s a step too far.

Geeky Analysis of My Coaster Rankings

Last year, I found myself bored during one of the many Covid lockdowns. This led me to creating a somewhat complete ranking of all the coasters I’ve ridden (I say somewhat: I ignored very small family and kiddie creds). But then I asked myself: are there any trends here?

I went down a bit of a rabbit hole and ended up answering that question, and the answers (plus some scary maths) follow. Don’t worry, you can skip the scary maths bit though.

Before getting started, you can see my Top 10 here. And when I ranked all these coasters, I went for broadly the same logic of ‘Out of all these coasters, which one would I like to ride most?’. It gets a bit iffy mid-way through; for example, how do you compare a specific Vekoma looper, Maurer spinner and a woodie all from different countries (an some you haven’t ridden in years) and decide what you’d rather ride? The short answer is you basically just wing it and hope for the best..!

My Top and Bottom 30 (copied from my Excel spreadsheet, which is a bit messy)

I specifically wanted to look at 4 key ride stats from each coaster: length, height, speed, inversions. Fortunately I‘ve tracked all these things in the past, mostly using rcdb, unless I think it’s wrong…Untamed’s 270 Double Inverting Corner Stall is 2 inversions, not 1 thank you very much. So far so good.

*Now for some scary-ish maths…*

Now trying to come up with a correlation between several different things is…tricky. Fortunately during my PhD I had to self-teach myself how to use a statistical programming language, R (who says that a Maths PhD doesn’t have real world applications?!). Basically what this would let me do is put in all the data I had, and it would spit out all the possible correlation details I could want. The downside is that I needed complete data for each ride; so the length, height, speed and number of inversions. A fair few had incomplete data, meaning I’d be looking at 110 different coasters and their stats. That leaves a few gaps, but largely it’s okay.

So, putting all that data in and running some magic stats stuff that I don’t really understand properly, I got this lovely graphic:

Lots of interesting, but slightly scary, figures and numbers…

This shows individual correlation between Ranking and each stat, as well as between the stats themselves. The closer the number is to +1, the better the correlation. The closer the number is to -1, the better the “anti-correlation” (basically, the higher the value of the independent variable, the lower the dependent variable). It also gives plots against each variable. So on these individual cases, it seems:

-The longer the length of the cred, the less likely I am to rate it.
-The height of the cred doesn’t matter too much, but I seem to prefer slightly shorter creds
-Creds with higher speeds might detract from the experience for me.
-Number of inversions doesn’t matter too much, but some might help.

Interestingly, these vague interpretations don’t necessarily match up with my experiences. These are indeed just possible thoughts.

And that’s almost the point: there’s issues with this, of course. Most of the creds in this list are in very short range of height (about 80-120ft), and speed (around 40-50mph). This makes it hard to get a good view of any correlations. Equally, number of inversions is a difficult one given its discrete data (0, 1, 2, etc) rather than continuous, and a huge proportion of these creds have no inversions.

But what about combining all these together? Well, R is able to calculate that (though I don’t *really* know how..), and gives a few different measures.

-The first is an adjusted R-squared number (like an R-squared number, but for multiple variables). The closer to 1, the better all the model explain the ranking. This was churned out to be 0.2266, which is low (but in these situations, ie – ones which are less scientific, lower numbers are to be expected).

-We then get a F-statistic value, and a p-value, which are related. The F-statistic’s ‘goodness’ is only seen when compared to another number which comes from the number of pieces of data you have, and the p-value effectively indicates the probability that the F-statistic’s value is wrong. Effectively you want a large F-statistic and a low p-value. The F-statistic is 8.984, which given the size of the data is good, and the p-value is 2.799*10^(-6), which is good.
(NB: I know very little about all this, so I could very much have been talking out my backside during this..)

*End of most of the scary maths stuff*

So basically, what this means is that the model I have (which can be put into an equation; see below) isn’t particularly good at predicting where I’d rank a coaster. But there exists something, perhaps a much more complicated formula, which might be good at such predictions! None of that is too surprising – I’m more likely to like a coaster with good stats after all. But obviously things like theming, location, manufacturer, restraints, etc all come into play too.

So, without further ado, the current formula I have…

Rank = 131.777733 – 0.010833*L + 0.254006*H – 1.607595*S + 4.531214*I
where: L = length in feet, H = height in feet, S = speed in mph, I = inversions
Side note: the stuff which is also churned out from the programming suggest that the current formula puts too much of an incorrect emphasis on height, and that number of inversions is problematic for the formula.

As a random example, using two rides from Cedar Point to show this, this would suggest something like:
Maverick (L=4450, H=105, S=70, I=2) could be my 6th favourite ride, but..
Steel Vengeance (L=5740, H=205, S=74, I=4) might only just squeeze into my Top 20.
Hmmm, maybe not…

Fun fact as well: this formula suggest that a “no-cred” (ie something with no length, height, speed or inversions) would be more fun than my bottom 3 coasters. Those are Ukko (Linnanmaki), as well as MP Express (Movie Park Germany) and Condor (Walibi Holland). Hard to disagree there..!

It’ll be interesting to revisit this after riding some new creds, and maybe redoing this whole thing after getting a lot more creds under my belt, to see if I get something which is perhaps better! And also it’d be great to add more into it to try and make it a bit more accurate (possibly)!

Do you rank your coasters ridden? Do you go for a Top 10? 25? ‘Top 10%”? Or keep track of any geeky extra things? I’d love to know!

Why I Loved the ‘Island Like No Other’ Branding

Back in 2014, Thorpe underwent a bit of a metamorphosis. After pretty much exclusively focusing on thrills for many years, and slightly alienating other target markets, the park tried to more openly welcome the broader family market. With this came the introduction of a new brand – The Island Like no Other. And honestly, it was brilliant, and was by far my favourite image and brand the park have created for themselves.

The key visual, whilst a little heavy-handed with coasters, captured Thorpe Park beautifully

But let’s backtrack a bit. Of course, technically speaking, Thorpe Park isn’t on an island, but it certainly feels like it when you visit. And a theme park on an island, or just even being largely surrounded by water, is largely uncommon. But what differentiates Thorpe further is how to even enter the park, you cross over that bridge.

That bridge

I think it’s perhaps understated how amazing a feeling that can be, especially by regular visitors. Despite the dome being at the end of the bridge, it’s still easy to see the likes of Colossus and Saw, and even catch glimpses of Stealth and Swarm. And with the bridge serving as a defacto Main Street, without the distractions of shops and what have you, it’s genius in a way, even if not intentional when the park was designed.

In fact, I still have a stand out memory of walking down the bridge on my first visit of the 1999 season, seeing the advertisements for the then-new Pirates 4D show. I can still hear the music blaring out, feel the slight wind that picked up across the lake brushing across my face. It’s so simple, yet almost magical. The park might have changed a lot over these last 20+ years, but the ability to create that impact is still there.

Introducing the Island branding in 2014 gave the opportunity for that potential to be realised to its fullest. Theme parks should always have an element of escapism, and pushing Thorpe as an island, where the bridge to get there is a portal to a world of escapism, was brilliant. It was a way for me to remember the realm of magic that the park’s entrance had, whilst also opening up a new world of opportunity.

The ‘Endless Fun’ branding was also introduced, and again was great!

Whilst the Island branding has been slightly watered down over the last couple of years, the smart and sleek style remains and has been heightened in many areas. The ‘Exhilarating Adventures’ branding is perhaps an evolution of the ‘Endless Fun’ style that was adopted concurrently with the Island branding, so it’s nice to see that still there. It perhaps doesn’t have the same level of potential as the all-out Island branding had, but it’s still very nice to see.

I think what always stays in my mind though is just how incredible the Thorpe entrance can be. Sure, it’s by no means perfect (and never has been). But it’s easy to forget how fantastic a feature it is, without even really trying, especially after many frequent visits. I really hope that the bridge, and more generally, the island motif as a whole, is pushed as a focal point of Thorpe again in the future!

Top 10 Creds (2020 Edition)

It’s almost expected of people who love theme parks to be able to rattle of a list of 10-or-so of their favourite rides. For some it’s easy, for others it’s an impossible task.

I know some people like to give a score for their rides, but I hate doing that. My idea for determining my Top 10 is as follows.. I ask: ‘If I had the choice and ability to go on one ride I’ve been on, right now, what would I choose?’. That’s my favourite. Then, ‘Once I’ve done that, what would I choose next?’. And so on. It’s not perfect as your mood can change, but it works.

Anyway, without further ado, here’s my Top 10 creds…

1. Taron (Phantasialand)
Taron is such a complete experience of a ride. Long ride experience, with great moments of airtime and intensity, along with a really good flow to the ride and an amazing surrounding area to go with it. And, most importantly, it’s just a ton of fun. Some rides can be good, but not always leave me with a smile on my face. Taron always leaves me grinning from start until well after I’ve gotten off.

My least favourite section of Taron, yet it’s still rather speedy!

2. Taiga (Linnanmaki)
Simply put: Taiga is phenomenal. The second half of the ride is literally full of experiences that are better than the ‘highlight’ moments on a solid 95% of coasters out there. The first half is perhaps a little too on the tame side, but it’s totally necessary to build you up into the craziness of the second half. I slightly prefer Taron, but the fact I can’t really explain why other than “just ‘cos” shows how close it is between these two.

The second launch, leading to an insane sequence of elements

3. Untamed (Walibi Holland)
Untamed is quintessential Walibi Holland. A should-be intimidating wooden/steel multi-inverting ride given a monster name, yet features calming theming such as illuminated ‘LOVE’ signs, and an oddly relaxing epidemic lounge playlist. It shouldn’t work, yet it does. The ride itself is an airtime machine, particularly in the second half where you spend more time being flung out of your seat than sitting in it. And the ‘270º double inverting corner stall’ inversion, whilst ridiculously named, is ridiculously fun.

Even the logo of Untamed is pretty neat

4. Helix (Liseberg)
To me, Helix redefined the launch coaster. When I thought of launches before this, they were seen as a way to get a train to go fast quickly, replacing the need for a lift hill. Helix instead just uses its launches to give the ride a boost of speed, to complement the natural surroundings which help the ride build up speed. It’s so cleverly executed, and the ride really just left me stunned.

5. Oz’Iris (Parc Asterix)
The newest edition to my Top 10. Oz’iris is probably the first in my list that I would describe as having a sense of ‘elegance’ to it too. Unlike the creds above it, this isn’t a particularly “relentless” ride, but instead is designed to flow and have every element complement every other element. And it does that perfectly.

6. Balder (Liseberg)
A Woodie with lots of airtime. Classic really, despite Balder not even being 20 years old. I’ll admit that whilst this has stood the test of time and skirted around the bottom half of my Top 10 since I rode it in 2017, my memory of it has become hazy. I look forward to re-riding it one day, but until then, this is in danger of tumbling down the rankings.

7. Lost Gravity (Walibi Holland)
Lost Gravity is another ride which encapsulates the heart of Walibi Holland. Aesthetically, the ride looks great, especially with the non-standard yellow/black track design. The ‘reserved gravity’ theming, from the likes of shipping containers to upside down helicopters, sounds a bit tacky on paper, and can even look it in photos, but it just..works? And then the ride itself – it’s a little short, it could be better, but the first drop and couple of airtime hills more than makes up for any other shortcomings in my book!

Lost Gravity has been a grower for me, but the colour scheme – and the first drop – were always high up on my list!

8. Nemesis (Alton Towers)
Nemesis is a masterful feat of engineering. In many ways, Taron was the new age version of Nemesis in my opinion, with Nemesis featuring a near-new ride concept and fantastic style and concepts to match. I find it a bit too intense for my liking at points, which has seen it slowly slip down from my #1 spot over the years. But there’s no denying that this is a fantastic ride.

It’s not easy summing up Nemesis in one photo, but this does a good job

9. Joris en de Draak (Efteling)
Perhaps a controversial choice, and even more controversial in that I’m lumping both sides of this racing coaster into one ranking. But I’m going with the technicality that this list is my Top 10 coaster attractions, not just Top 10 coasters. Each individual cred is a decent little layout, but the experience is heightened greatly by the racing element for me. And most importantly, just leaves me with that great big smile on my face at the end of each ride.

10. Troy (Toverland)
And rounding off the Top 10 is another Dutch cred, and another Woodie. Troy is unlike the other woodies here in that I find it’s more of an intense Woodie, rather than a more airtime based one. But it still features that ‘out-of-control’ness that all my favourite woodies have, and leaves you wanting to cling on for dear life in the best possible way.

The new-in-2018 entrance to Toverland means you get some wonderful views of Troy!

And so there we have it! I don’t like heaping expectations on rides I may ride in the future and saying ‘This could be a Top 10 ride for me’. And even if I did, I don’t think I would have thought the likes of Untamed, Lost Gravity or Joris would be where they are. But with fingers crossed that I’ll be able to go to Belgium this year and try out the likes of Kondaa and The Ride to Happiness, it will be interesting to see if this changes in a year’s time!

4 Themes I Love (and 3 I’m not a fan of)

Whilst I do prefer to see rides have some sort of theme and theming, it’s not the be all and end all for me. But when a park does decide to go down the themed route, there’s some broad themes which really interest and excite me. But there’s also others where I just…roll my eyes at it. Some themes are great, and even if not done very well I’ll still enjoy them, but others just don’t spark my interest.

Love: Anything Foodie
Eg: Maus au Chocolat (Phantasialand), Popcorn Revenge (Walibi Belgium), K2 (Karls Erlebnis Dorf Elstal).
A weird one, as ‘Food’ isn’t generally thought of as a theme for a ride. But rides like Maus au Chocolat, a ride where you go into a chocolate factory to shoot mice, to Popcorn Revenge, where popcorn has overrun a movie theatre, to K2, a coaster about potatoes, have always caught my imagination. There’s something just so quirky and fun about taking something so commonplace, and turning it into the focus of a ride. And the level of creativity required to make them work always shines through. Food-themed rides just come through as a proper little highlight for me.

Popcorn Revenge at Waibi Belgium really captured my imagination in particular

Not-a-fan: Western
Eg: Western areas at Walibi Belgium, Slagharen, Bellewaerde.
Western areas are very generic, which doesn’t necessarily mean bad. In fact, there’s some which are nice to look at. But in my experience, you can be in one without really realising it’s there. The theming is largely just so bland. To me, nothing ever stands out or captures my attention. Don’t get me wrong, there can be some nice set pieces and whatever, but the whole thing just feels like a bit of a snore.

Gold Rush at Slagharen. It looks nice, but not for me.

Love: Egyptian
Eg: Oz’Iris (Parc Asterix), Challenge of Tutankhamon (Walibi Belgium), Kingdom of the Pharaohs (Legolands).
It’s funny, as Egyptian areas are also quite generic. But they also have the ability to look interesting. And if you’re ever by something Egyptian themed, you know it. I guess there’s something just about the style that’s always interested me since I was younger too, but in general, you can’t go wrong with some striking, Egyptian-inspired statues in my book!

Oz’Iris at Parc Asterix is, much like the rest of the park, visually stunning

Not-a-fan: Pirates
Eg: Pirate Shores (Legolands), Pirate themed areas at Parc du Bocasse, Chessington.
Again, the whole idea of pirates (in pretty much anything) has never really interested me. And one of the staple theme park rides in a ‘pirate ship’ almost always seems to get a faint pirate theme too. But I’ve never really got it – it feels like there’s not much mileage in the idea in the first place, and I’ve yet to see anything that convinces me otherwise.

Love: Music
Eg: Speed of Sound, Psyke, X
Again, like food, ‘Music’ isn’t necessarily a theme. But if rides make music a key focal point of the ride, it can really pay off. Speed of Sound’s on board audio which just seems to echo around the ride and plaza is so simple, but again, so fun. X at Thorpe executed the idea of ‘roller coaster through a club’ pretty well, creating such a fun experience which was different to any other incarnation of it. And these sorts of things help make these rides memorable too.

Riding on a wave of light and sound on the now rethemed X at Thorpe Park

Not-a-fan: ‘Over the top panic’
Eg: Wicker Man (Alton Towers), Huracan (Bellewaerde), The Walking Dead: The Ride (Thorpe Park).
This is a difficult one to label. What I mean here is the type of theme where you’re under attack, being sacrificed or in a level of danger, and it’s just presented in a way that’s a bit too heavy handed. Wicker Man, Walking Dead The Ride and Huracan at Bellewaerde spring to mind here. There’s a level of ‘in your face’-ness about their intentions – you will be sacrificed, you will die, etc. It’s a little bit of an eye-roll for me.

The funny thing is, I don’t necessarily mind the idea (for example, I quite enjoyed Walking Dead first time round, especially). But it really diminishes the re-ride value for me, because there’s only so much you can invest into suspending your own disbelief a second time. A certain level of subtlety is key with these types of rides for me. Rides like The Swarm and Baron 1898 handle it much more to my liking: there’s an obvious element of danger, but it’s not thrust in your face that you should be panicking about facing imminent doom.

Love: Racing
Eg: Stealth (Thorpe Park), Formule X (Drievliet Park), Speed Zone (Walibi Holland)
I’m not really a fan of things like F1, etc, but I enjoy the idea in a theme park. It’s a largely simple idea, and isn’t something that needs a lot of work to do right. If anything, it’s mostly just small touches that turn a ride/area into a racing theme area. And it all adds up to create something that’s just fun to be around.

There’s also buckets of potential with this theme that I’ve yet to experience. A ‘race’ between roller coasters. Some sort of competitive time-trial-based dark ride. Lots of mileage there.

Formule X at Drievliet Park in The Hague is light on theming, but it’s simple and fun, with a catchy soundtrack!

So all in all, it’s a pretty funny situation. The obvious underlying point is if something is fun, I’ll like it (well, duh..). But there’s some particular themes which feel like played out tropes at this point to me, which just doesn’t spark my imagination. And whilst it does seem that some of the lesser used themes and idea intrigue me a bit more, I don’t mind plenty of standard / classic themes too! Here’s hoping I find more favourite common themes in the future!

Do you have a theme which you always love? Or one that kind of just makes you roll your eyes? I’d love to know!