My report (copied from TPM, apologies, I did not want to write another one, this one took me long enough!!)
Trip Report 10 september 2012
So, first time to Thorpe this season, and riding the swarm!
Although the park was actually quite busy for a 10-5 day, we rushed around at the start and did a lot of rides within the first 2 hours of opening, then relaxed once the Queues built. First time on storm surge - I actually really enjoyed it! Loved all the rides we went on - Rush still being one of my favs.
Swarm - 1st impressions - a great coaster, great theming and a great addition to the park - sadly only got to ride one side (LHS) I wanted to ride the right but did not get a chance to go on it again! Very re-ridable.
Grumbles:
- Park looked terrible, paint peeling, Colossus (dont get me started), everywhere just looked grubby - I understand it is coming to the end of the season and its been a wet busy summer and rain does make areas look drab, but it just looked so tired compared to my previous visits. Storm surge acting as a waterfall as you walk underneath it.
- Samurai and slammer closed (however cannot grumble about technical problems) - two big crowd munchers. No 4D cinema (I knew about this before hand) and no entertainment at all. I remember the days where there was a show in the arena virtually every day of the year's opening. Having none of the above created even bigger queues on some of the rides.
-Q times peaking between 60mins and 90 mins for all coasters all day (including X:/) - and MAINLY DUE TO THE BAD MANAGEMENT OF FASTRACK (and stealth running one train)! The queues were not even that long for the rides! but as there were so many people queuing for fastrack - when we went on Nemesis it was announced that one train would be for the main queue, the next for fastrack for, I quote (from the ride operator), 'health and safety reasons as the queue for fastrack is so big in the exit line, which is a fire exit' - why is the fastrack Queueline not utilsed (as they do with Nemesis at Alton? Colossus at 4pm, the main Q was just down the left hand side into the station from the entrance (Usually I would say a 15 min Q) the fast track was bulging out of the shop creating a Q time of 60 mins for the main Q.
>>Don't get me wrong, I understand the reasons and benefits behind fastrack, and it can work well if managed properly as I have seen in other parks. But I just see it as a money making scandle for the park to be honest. I was appalled by the fast track situation and technically it was a 10am-5pm day, so an open quotes 'Off-Peak' close quotes day and Queues for the coasters were peaking at 90mins at one point! (Though Off - Peak days generally now are a lot busier than they used to be, but this is understandable.)
- Stealth only running one train
- Q boards unreliable - said 35 mins for Nemesis, queued 65 mins due to fast track, and the queue was not even that big when we looked at it, hence qhy we joined it, I have queued that lengthed queue before and it usually is about half an hour. Vortex said 20 mins but actually waited 45mins, again it was not big queue when looked at BUT due to the ride operators who were APPAULING - to name and shame - Lucy and Joyti. I timed 10 mins between rides due to the ride operators having a general laugh and chat to each other between rides. TEN MINUTES. I was mortified by this, and am writing an official complaint about these two members of staff. I do not wish to pay £40 to stand in a short queue whilst the ride operators have a chit chat about their social lives making the queue twice the length.
All in all, I did enjoy my day and I do love Thorpe, the swarm was brilliant and we did get on most rides we wanted to, mainly due to organising our route around the park carefully in the first two hours to avoid crowds (where we did about 3/4 of the below), but I feel sorry for others who would have been caught up in the 90 min coaster Qs due to one train running or the bad fast track management:
x1 Swarm
x2 Saw
x1 Loggers
x2 Rush
x2 Vortex
x1 Quantum
x1 storm surge
x1 Detonator
x1 Nemesis
x1 Stealth
x1 rapids
Trip Report 10 september 2012
So, first time to Thorpe this season, and riding the swarm!
Although the park was actually quite busy for a 10-5 day, we rushed around at the start and did a lot of rides within the first 2 hours of opening, then relaxed once the Queues built. First time on storm surge - I actually really enjoyed it! Loved all the rides we went on - Rush still being one of my favs.
Swarm - 1st impressions - a great coaster, great theming and a great addition to the park - sadly only got to ride one side (LHS) I wanted to ride the right but did not get a chance to go on it again! Very re-ridable.
Grumbles:
- Park looked terrible, paint peeling, Colossus (dont get me started), everywhere just looked grubby - I understand it is coming to the end of the season and its been a wet busy summer and rain does make areas look drab, but it just looked so tired compared to my previous visits. Storm surge acting as a waterfall as you walk underneath it.
- Samurai and slammer closed (however cannot grumble about technical problems) - two big crowd munchers. No 4D cinema (I knew about this before hand) and no entertainment at all. I remember the days where there was a show in the arena virtually every day of the year's opening. Having none of the above created even bigger queues on some of the rides.
-Q times peaking between 60mins and 90 mins for all coasters all day (including X:/) - and MAINLY DUE TO THE BAD MANAGEMENT OF FASTRACK (and stealth running one train)! The queues were not even that long for the rides! but as there were so many people queuing for fastrack - when we went on Nemesis it was announced that one train would be for the main queue, the next for fastrack for, I quote (from the ride operator), 'health and safety reasons as the queue for fastrack is so big in the exit line, which is a fire exit' - why is the fastrack Queueline not utilsed (as they do with Nemesis at Alton? Colossus at 4pm, the main Q was just down the left hand side into the station from the entrance (Usually I would say a 15 min Q) the fast track was bulging out of the shop creating a Q time of 60 mins for the main Q.
>>Don't get me wrong, I understand the reasons and benefits behind fastrack, and it can work well if managed properly as I have seen in other parks. But I just see it as a money making scandle for the park to be honest. I was appalled by the fast track situation and technically it was a 10am-5pm day, so an open quotes 'Off-Peak' close quotes day and Queues for the coasters were peaking at 90mins at one point! (Though Off - Peak days generally now are a lot busier than they used to be, but this is understandable.)
- Stealth only running one train
- Q boards unreliable - said 35 mins for Nemesis, queued 65 mins due to fast track, and the queue was not even that big when we looked at it, hence qhy we joined it, I have queued that lengthed queue before and it usually is about half an hour. Vortex said 20 mins but actually waited 45mins, again it was not big queue when looked at BUT due to the ride operators who were APPAULING - to name and shame - Lucy and Joyti. I timed 10 mins between rides due to the ride operators having a general laugh and chat to each other between rides. TEN MINUTES. I was mortified by this, and am writing an official complaint about these two members of staff. I do not wish to pay £40 to stand in a short queue whilst the ride operators have a chit chat about their social lives making the queue twice the length.
All in all, I did enjoy my day and I do love Thorpe, the swarm was brilliant and we did get on most rides we wanted to, mainly due to organising our route around the park carefully in the first two hours to avoid crowds (where we did about 3/4 of the below), but I feel sorry for others who would have been caught up in the 90 min coaster Qs due to one train running or the bad fast track management:
x1 Swarm
x2 Saw
x1 Loggers
x2 Rush
x2 Vortex
x1 Quantum
x1 storm surge
x1 Detonator
x1 Nemesis
x1 Stealth
x1 rapids
