A few days ago it was noticed that a website with the url https://www.thorpepark-consultation.com had gone live and speculation had started about the legitimacy of the site. Within hours a leaflet advertising the same thing was also found to have been delivered to the local people near the resort. With both the website and leaflet stating the consultation will be about a new roller coaster and the leaflet expanding further to add the Old Town area of the park being the location for this new coaster. But let’s rewind for a moment as this is not the first time Old Town has been linked to a new development. Way back in 2015 when Loggers Leap closed to the public there were rumours circulating that the area was up for development. Then with the closure of Slammer in 2017 and I’m A Celebrity in 2018 the rumours kept resurfacing. To add to the already existing rumours, it was hinted by IMAScore that they might be working on the soundtrack for Old Town in a post to their Instagram Story (see below).
Moving forward to this year and there have been additional signs and hints. The new scare maze for 2021, Trailers, had a sign that read TP:RMC 2022 and the word Exodus has been seen in many places around the park this year from the mural to the new wraps on some of the arcade games. It is also worth remembering that Thorpe Park have a habit and love of trolling fans, so take these with a pinch of salt.
Theme park enthusiasts usually have many ideas about what theme parks should add but with Thorpe Park they seem to have set their eyes on one of two possibilities in either a hyper coaster or an RMC. For those that don’t know, RMC stands for Rocky Mountain Construction and they are known amongst the community for wooden, hybrid and single rail coasters. Assuming the theme of Old Town doesn’t change, an RMC coaster would fit into the area very well and given RMC’s reputation for creating world renowned roller coasters as well as some innovative and unique coaster elements, it could really bring a touch of excitement to the park. The option of an RMC could also be likely due to the popularity of Alton Tower’s Wicker Man coaster as it showed Merlin that wooden coasters are still exciting and that they can be popular. An RMC would blend into the Old Town but a hyper coaster would completely change the skyline of the park and local area due to its height. The other option discussed amongst enthusiasts is the hyper coaster. These tall coasters tend to stand at over 200ft and whilst they may not have the inversions that many coasters have, they make up for it with their height and speed. The intimidating nature of hyper coaster along with twists and turns and airtime are a reason why the enthusiast want one in the UK. If the park were to build a hyper coaster it would likely be a Bolliger and Mabillard one as the park, and Merlin, have an already existing relationship especially as the proposed roller coaster coming to Chessington is likely to be a B&M wing coaster (unconfirmed), similar to Thorpe Parks The Swarm coaster. That’s not to say B&M would be the team to make it if it is a hyper coaster as both Intamin and Mack have the capacity to build these coaster types.
Both coasters are entirely plausible for the park but I think it’s worth remembering that Merlin in general seem to have this ability to surprise. When we last thought the park was getting a major coaster we ended up with Derren Browns Ghost Train and you could argue that it’ll that attraction is partly the reason why Thorpe Park hasn’t had any real investment since. It’s also worth remembering that this is all purely speculation until December 10th. Anything is possible and I’m sure between now and then we will hear many different things.
But what does this mean for the rides and attractions already in the area. Loggers Leap has just been stood there looking dilapidated and rotting away behind a wooden fence so it’s obvious that that ride will be removed. In September this year rumours floated around that Rocky Express would run its last ride cycle and many enthusiasts descended onto the park to have their last ride on this old school ride that’s been at the park for decades. It’s currently unknown what will happen to the ride. Timber Tug and Lumber Jump will likely go into storage given their relative ease at being able to move around given they came from Weymouth Sealife. It was confirmed this year that Platform 15 would be opening for its last year so that won’t be returning. That just leaves Creek Freak Massacre and the train storage building. It’s likely, but not confirmed, the train building will be demolished and it’s contents moved to storage, sold or scrapped. As for Creek Freak Massacre, we don’t currently know the status of this maze going into 2022. All we know for certain is that the Old Town area housing the smaller rides will be unavailable for the 2022 season, as confirmed on twitter recently (See below), so either Creek Freak Massacre will not be returning or it will be moved or it will still be opening just with a pathway open to access.
There are so many questions yet to be answered but this is normal. I guess we will get some answers on December 10th when the consultation happens and the documentation associated with that consultations goes online and its highly likely that they will end up on this link - https://www.thorpepark.com/about-thorpe-park/local-residents/