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[2024] Thorpe Park: Hyperia - Mack Hypercoaster

RIPCorky said:
This just makes me think it ran slower than they were expecting themselves. Why rise to the criticism and answer to that? Let the ride answer it's own questions on further test runs and opening day. Bit tin pot that is
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Worth noting that I think the FAQ was posted in the Annual Passholders Group. Yes many of us on here have seen lots of videos of new coasters testing over the years, but there are many people in that group who have not - especially coasters of this height. I personally don't find it tin pot, or see anything in that post that demonstrating that it was slower than they expected. They're simply providing a little more "less marketing friendly" information to regular visitors who might be asking questions in the group away from their full official page. It's no different to the position taken with the Sparkle stuff, it's not necessarily a good look to show it off to potential new visitors, but to regulars it's fine.
 
RIPCorky said:
This just makes me think it ran slower than they were expecting themselves. Why rise to the criticism and answer to that? Let the ride answer its own questions on further test runs and opening day. Bit tin pot that is
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I’m not quite sure on what Thorpe are aiming for in terms of audience here. For most of the general public it looks intimidating or terrifying. For enthusiasts it’s “short” or possibly “slow”.

To come out after one test and attempt to defend it is a little strange.
 
Craig said:
Worth noting that I think the FAQ was posted in the Annual Passholders Group. Yes many of us on here have seen lots of videos of new coasters testing over the years, but there are many people in that group who have not - especially coasters of this height. I personally don't find it tin pot, or see anything in that post that demonstrating that it was slower than they expected. They're simply providing a little more "less marketing friendly" information to regular visitors who might be asking questions in the group away from their full official page. It's no different to the position taken with the Sparkle stuff, it's not necessarily a good look to show it off to potential new visitors, but to regulars it's fine.
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That's fair enough but they probably could have left it to other members of that group to explain it rather than release something like that. It's just to me they've jumped on a lot of the criticism and tried to defend it, when a decent ride would do that itself like Nemesis
 
RIPCorky said:
That's fair enough but they probably could have left it to other members of that group to explain it rather than release something like that. It's just to me they've jumped on a lot of the criticism and tried to defend it, when a decent ride would do that itself like Nemesis
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Surely it's better to have an official response from the park than to leave it to the rabid fanbois?
 
RIPCorky said:
That's fair enough but they probably could have left it to other members of that group to explain it rather than release something like that. It's just to me they've jumped on a lot of the criticism and tried to defend it, when a decent ride would do that itself like Nemesis
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Nemesis had the advantage that the vast majority of people watching it test will have been on the ride before, that’s not the case for Hyperia.

The reality is that these days where absolutely everything is immediately uploaded to the internet it makes sense to address things as and when they come up. I think there’s a fair chance that Thorpe would have rather just tested the ride in peace and then upload a video of it once it’s run in a bit and some of the scenery was in place but waiting until that point isn’t an option when you’ve got the Tubearazzi standing there with GoPros before it’s even on the lift hill.

The media these days is so unbelievably cynical and everything so geared towards generating clicks that it genuinely wouldn’t surprise me to see certain outlets come out with clickbait headlines ‘Thorpe new coaster almost STOPS UPSIDE DOWN’ so at least they can address some of this stuff before it’s released.

I just think it’s the reality of things being uploaded to the internet before they’re anywhere near the finished product, Burton handled it in probably the wrong way with the Nemesis theming but he does have a point that unless you’re dealing with an dark ride the thing will be there for public consumption before it’s anywhere near ready - from a PR perspective the inevitable social media posts calling it slow or whatever aren’t great for their new record breaking coaster so I suspect it’s just aimed at that.
 
Josh555 said:
Nemesis had the advantage that the vast majority of people watching it test will have been on the ride before, that’s not the case for Hyperia.

The reality is that these days where absolutely everything is immediately uploaded to the internet it makes sense to address things as and when they come up. I think there’s a fair chance that Thorpe would have rather just tested the ride in peace and then upload a video of it once it’s run in a bit and some of the scenery was in place but waiting until that point isn’t an option when you’ve got the Tubearazzi standing there with GoPros before it’s even on the lift hill.

The media these days is so unbelievably cynical and everything so geared towards generating clicks that it genuinely wouldn’t surprise me to see certain outlets come out with clickbait headlines ‘Thorpe new coaster almost STOPS UPSIDE DOWN’ so at least they can address some of this stuff before it’s released.

I just think it’s the reality of things being uploaded to the internet before they’re anywhere near the finished product, Burton handled it in probably the wrong way with the Nemesis theming but he does have a point that unless you’re dealing with an dark ride the thing will be there for public consumption before it’s anywhere near ready - from a PR perspective the inevitable social media posts calling it slow or whatever aren’t great for their new record breaking coaster so I suspect it’s just aimed at that.
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Sometimes it's better not to respond to trolls on the internet and let those same Tuberazzi film it getting quicker and quicker with each time it test runs. I honestly would not expect a company of Merlin's size to lower themselves to do this on a ride they've probably spent 20 million on. Just ignore and go about testing quietly and confidently
 
I think the main reason we’ve seen Thorpe Park post these FAQ answers when Alton Towers didn’t do anything similar is because their general approach to social media is a lot more open than Alton Towers’. Thorpe Park tend to share things and be quite open with fans, whereas Alton Towers tend to be a little more reserved and secretive on social media.
 
RIPCorky said:
Sometimes it's better not to respond to trolls on the internet and let those same Tuberazzi film it getting quicker and quicker with each time it test runs. I honestly would not expect a company of Merlin's size to lower themselves to do this on a ride they've probably spent 20 million on. Just ignore and go about testing quietly and confidently
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To be fair I think it’s fairly in keeping with Thorpe’s comms team generally.
 
I'm not even seeing this as a direct response to trolls? I'm just seeing it as a bit more information for regular visitors who are curious as to what's going on. People want to chat and speculate about the ride. Thorpe have provided them a place to do it in a space that they have some control over and is a little more private allowing them to be a little more open about what's going on. It's given them an opportunity to provide some official context as to why the myriad of videos show the ride looking slow, that's to be applauded in my view.

I think Towers could learn a fair bit from the way Thorpe have been approaching social media and enthusiast engagement as of late. I really like it, much more open and less stuffy feeling than Towers. That's for another topic though.

My own personal view on the ride - as expected so far really, especially for an initial run. I'm expecting a speed increase obviously, but I wouldn't rely on it being an all out difference come opening. You want that hang time on a ride like this in my view.
 
To everyone that's ever made a "looks slow" joke and then unironicaly said this looked slow after watching the first test run... I think you missed the point of that joke.

This is a classic first test. It crawled over the lift hill and audibly squealed all the way around. It's clear the ride isn't even close to running normally yet.
 
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RIPCorky said:
Sometimes it's better not to respond to trolls on the internet and let those same Tuberazzi film it getting quicker and quicker with each time it test runs. I honestly would not expect a company of Merlin's size to lower themselves to do this on a ride they've probably spent 20 million on. Just ignore and go about testing quietly and confidently
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It’s not Merlin doing it, it’s Thorpe Park. They run their own annual passholders Facebook group to give these kind of updates, none of the other parks do that anyway.
 
A bit of a noob question. Many people mentioned that the chain was not running at full speed for today’s test. Is there a reason for that? I’m guessing it’s to ‘ease in’ the chain and train and allow for an e-stop if an issue arises, but answers on a postcard, please.

In regards to coverage of rides before they even open. Essentially, it will be enthusiasts who cover and watch/analyse/discuss these things. It’s not like ITV is running a six o’clock special covering how slow Hyperia looks on its first test. The majority of non-enthusiasts will not care about this.
 
James said:
A bit of a noob question. Many people mentioned that the chain was not running at full speed for today’s test. Is there a reason for that? I’m guessing it’s to ‘ease in’ the chain and train and allow for an e-stop if an issue arises, but answers on a postcard, please..
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Well, if you were driving your brand new lottery-win super car for the very first time, seconds after it rolled off the production line, would you slam the accelorator to the floor the very first time you start the engine?
 
They obviously ran it slowly to make sure theres no clearance issues and they didn't have to get the welders to come and cut out some steel beams like at another UK park. 😂

But....no in all seriousness that was a very typical first test run. They have to check for a long list of things so it won't be the first time it's tested and only crawls through some of those elements.
 
I'm going to provide a slightly gushy post here but i think it is absolutely incredible to see a first test of a ride in general. Especially Hyperia having some really high points. It's amazing to think of the engineering that goes into building these things. Just being able to calculate how much momentum you would need to get through those elements. It was running quite slow, but fair play, it is amazing to see it get through the course.
 
Sharko said:
It's amazing to think of the engineering that goes into building these things. Just being able to calculate how much momentum you would need to get through those elements.
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As an engineer, these days it isn't as difficult to calculate given the amount of programs available that are pretty accurate to real life scenarios. CAD/CAM is king of design and manufacture.

Some knowledge needed to make the program work, but it's not like Arrow drawing and manufacturing Big One by hand (for example).
 
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