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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

I completely agree that the way Thorpe is marketed is its problem. As soon as you walk through the gates and hear teen pop music blaring out whilst 14 year olds with spliffs hanging out their mouths push past you in a vain attempt to get to the Swarm first, it doesn't feel like a theme park. That added to the view of just how small it looks from the front of the dome, it feels more like a fair ground than a proper theme park.

The parks teenage fair ground atmosphere is compounded inside by the ready supply of booze bottles at most catering outlets. Never do I see so much queue jumping as I see at Thorpe as well as profanities being shouted out everywhere. On Tuesday I watched as some young lad smoked IN the station of the Swarm on the stairs whilst his mate spat over the edge onto the platform below, narrowly missing someone.

The parks continuous marketing strategy geared towards the type of people who watch ITV2 and actually find Kieth Lemon funny, seems very odd to me and is such a shame. There are actually some decent attractions there for a few kids. I bet the amity beach could be lovely on a hot day and I always liked Loggers Leap and the whole Canada Creek area (before half of it was shut down). But I won't take my children there because of the awful atmosphere for them. I fully understand why you would market it as a thrill heavy park, but Thorpe seems intent on actively trying to exclude families rather than simply just marketing it on its thrill ride credentials. That's made even odder when you consider that teenagers and young adults not only have less spending power than older adults but also are naturally attracted to this kind of park anyway! There's a wide range of adults, thrill seekers and enthusiasts out there to entice in other than just teenagers.

It's a shame because I really like the park itself. I enjoy the flats between coasters, which gives the park a great uniqueness. I think the coasters are great (although I have a loathing for Collosus). Although the theming of areas is a completely confusing mismatch, some of the theming around is good and I like the fact I can still buy a Burger King or KFC. I actually enjoy an adult day at Thorpe more than Alton at the moment (maybe because I've got so used to the AT lineup and the lack of variety through flats) but I hate the atmosphere there.
 
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Yes I agree, throughout the 00's they were building thrills rides but they imo didn't start marketing it towards the teen thrill market til 10's, as before then they still had a greater mixture of rides for family, kids, thrill and the expansion in thrill rides was needed at that point in time.
 
Many moons ago, when Inferno was new and shiney, me and my housemates were walking down the exit ramp, only to find a young chavling tucked against the wall smoking a doobie. The following exchange happened...

Housemate: *sniff sniff* Ooh, smells like some good cheese.
Chav: What? Shuddup man, I'm bein' well sly here!
Me: "Well sly"? You do realise that everyone who gets off the ride has to walk right past you, right? That's twenty eight people every minute or so. Of all the places in this park to have a spliff, you've chosen the least sly location possible!
Chav: (looking sheepish) .... Suddup, man!
Other housemate: Come back to us when you've smoked one on Tidal Wave and kept it lit, like we did earlier.
(Chav's jaw drops in awe as we walk away)

(DISCLAIMER: Yes, my housemate smoked a spliff and somehow kept it lit on Tidal Wave. We were young and foolish, and it was before we knew better. However, he did get a round of applause from the whole boat for this achievement.)
 
Me: "Well sly"? You do realise that everyone who gets off the ride has to walk right past you, right? That's twenty eight people every minute or so. Of all the places in this park to have a spliff, you've chosen the least sly location possible!
28 people a minute? Not with Thorpe's operations *rolls eyes*
 
I was on inferno a while back sitting next to someone who had a spliff while queuing, he looked like he was whiting out when he sat down. Well down the exit path, I've never seen so much chunder and to make me laugh so much he could hardly walk after, bouncing across the nets just by the lift hill.

Security where waiting for him outside the inferno shop. Lol! I p****d my self laughing as he tried to claim he only had a B&H.
 
Visited Thorpe for the first time yesterday. Despite it being a hot, busy day I enjoyed it! Expected half the rides to be out of action for at least some portion of the day judging by the regular comments on their twitter account but everything seemed to be running ok. Stealth and The Swarm were comfortably my highlights of the day, it was nice to ride coasters with a bit of height to them compared to Towers where most things are tucked under the trees.
 
I was at TP today, operations were dire, stealth was down until 4, dispatches took 2 mins per train and colossus was on 1 train all day creating a queue of 140mins! Plus the park was full of little "chavs" who should be at school but were clearly skiving off as the coach park was nearly empty...
 
I was at TP today, operations were dire, stealth was down until 4, dispatches took 2 mins per train and colossus was on 1 train all day creating a queue of 140mins! Plus the park was full of little "chavs" who should be at school but were clearly skiving off as the coach park was nearly empty...
Colossus was on one train yesterday too, with both rows of car 6 out of action. Was it running a full train today?
 
Colossus was on one train yesterday too, with both rows of car 6 out of action. Was it running a full train today?
Car 6 is still out of action. Also the new dispatch audio on the swarm and inferno sounds really out of place. :I
 
Car 6 is still out of action. Also the new dispatch audio on the swarm and inferno sounds really out of place. :I
Wasn't last years swarm dispatch sound one of the sound effect from Duel? Sounded a lot like it.

What's the new one like for both
 
Wasn't last years swarm dispatch sound one of the sound effect from Duel? Sounded a lot like it.
No, it's not. It does sound similar to the screeching bust sound effect at the beginning of Duel though. :)

 
It's a rather enthusiastic sounding guy telling you to keep your head back, hold on tight and brace yourself. Doesn't suit The Swarm at all as it is played over the top of the screeching noise. Same for inferno but it is usually cut out by the cabin op saying "Harnesses locked, train ready for dispatch" Which also ruins the station environment... :I
 
They seemed to add them a few weeks back, as they weren't there at the start of the season.

Inferno and swarm has them, I have a feeling colossus might, however when we went on it last night it was just pumping out pop music!

It also amazes me how much quicker the staff were working on colossus once it got to ride close and they wanted to go home!
 
Colossus has its usual soundtrack currently. I'm glad it doesn't have this new dispatch announcement.
 
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