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Thorpe Park has a promising future, judging by what's detailed on their Medium Term Development Plan. This has come to light with two submissions to Runnymede Borough Council; one at the end of 2009 and one in July 2010.
The plan was the first of its kind since the MTDPs submitted back
in 2003, which detailed the building of Stealth and SAW: The
Ride, alongside the relocation of Samurai and installation of
Slammer and Rush. It also boasted a further round ride, the installation
of a second Detonator tower and a Lake Show, all of which did
not happen, proving that these guidelines are no guarantee of
what might actually go ahead.
The
current MDTP, which details plans for the Park from 2010 - 2016,
is still subject to environmental screenings and council approval,
but it does give us a valuable insight into what the future has
in store...
In
line with Merlin Entertainments' investment strategy, Thorpe
Park plan to build a new major attraction every three years,
most probably with filler attractions in the years in between.
Proposed rides include:
- Roller
Coaster in 2012 (now confirmed as "The Swarm"), not exceeding 40 metres (131 feet) high, located
either at points C or E on the below diagrams (now confirmed as point C - see the 2012 Coaster feature above).
- Roller
Coaster in 2015, not exceeding 50 metres (164 feet) high, located
at point A on the below diagrams.
- 4
- 5 flat rides. The diagrams below show 9 possible locations
for these rides, but only 4 or 5 will be used for rides
between 2010-2016. One of the locations has already been used - Octopus Gardens made way for Storm Surge in 2011.
And in addition to all this:
- Open
Air Stage next to Stealth in 2012.
- Refurbished
entrance to the Park.
- Extensions
to Pizza Hut, Burger King, Shops, Nemesis Workshop and a new
Fastrack booth.
The
MTDP notes that
in April 2009 Runnymede Borough Council approved plans for a
Thorpe Park Hotel, which is very much expected to go ahead.
The Hotel will be themed (hopefully to the extent of, say, Splash
Landings at Alton Towers), contain 250 rooms and boast
a bar, swimming pool and leisure and conference facilities. There
are plans to run a boat shuttle service from the Hotel direct
across the lake to the Park. There is also provision for
a new 375 space car park!
The
2003 MDTP projected an increase in visitors from 1.4 million/year
to approximately 2 million a year over the period 2004 - 2009 (the Park didn't quite make this, getting 1.87m visitors in 2009).
The 2009 MTDP projects an increase of only 200,000
extra visitors/year by the end of the period 2010 - 2016, but
this may be partly due to the fact that Thorpe Park does not
have the capacity to take many more.
2009 Submission
2010 Submission
To view the 2010
MTDP, you can find it at Runnymede Borough Council here. To view the 2009 submission, you can find it here. To
view the previous 2003 MTDP, click here.
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