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Flamingo Land: General Discussion

Enter Valhalla said:
To be fair to Flamingo Land staff, the park has some very odd operational processes, which really slow down the queues. It’s not really the fault of the staff members themselves.
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I got told by a operator once that guests are only allowed to ride four ‘intense rides’ an hour, but they have no way of enforcing it across rides, and even on one ride, they don’t enforce it.
 
Secret Weapon said:
I don't understand this policy at all... is it simply to keep the queues short?
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It won’t be due to queue length. I assume it’ll be due to health & safety risks associated with constant re-riding. Like has been said though, it’s impossible for the staff to enforce.

Alton Towers has a blanket no re-rides policy for this exact reason. That’s easy for the staff to enforce.

Chessington and Plopsland allow one re-ride but not two (in other words, if you’ve been on a coaster twice in a row without getting off, they make you get off after the second ride) This is much more difficult to enforce.

At Ferrari World, you have to wait 15 minutes between Formula Rosa rides due to its intensity, and at Gold Reef City in South Africa, they say you have to wait 10 minutes between rides on Tower of Terror and Golden Loop for the same reason, generally however after exiting, walking back through the queue etc, 10 minutes has usually elapsed anyway so no need to actually enforce it.

Then of course there’s Thorpe Park, who allow seemingly unlimited number of re-rides as long as there’s no queue.
 
Enter Valhalla said:
Alton Towers has a blanket no re-rides policy for this exact reason. That’s easy for the staff to enforce.
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This is genuinely the first time that I have ever heard this!

When I used the Spinball Whizzer single-rider queue, I walked straight back onto the ride seconds later and wasn't stopped (although not onto the same exact car).

I also remember the staff commenting when I kept using the Smiler SRQ, but - again - I wasn't stopped (although it takes at least 10 minutes to rejoin the queue each time).

I never used the Nemesis SRQ, but others on the forum have stated that it was often possible to keep leaving the ride and rejoin in the exact same seat mere seconds later, so should staff have prevented this?

I didn't realise that constantly re-riding a ride was dangerous (didn't a guy in Blackpool ride for days on end?) - with the possible exception of spinning rides such as the waltzers and Air Race at Drayton Manor!
 
I don’t understand why it’s parks’ responsibility to stop people from reriding things.

I don’t personally see the harm in reriding within reason (people have done record attempts before, haven’t they?), and is it not somewhat down to personal discretion? People can choose whether to reride, and they can opt out if they feel like rerides are taking their toll; the park is not forcing them to reride.
 
Secret Weapon said:
I didn't realise that constantly re-riding a ride was dangerous (didn't a guy in Blackpool ride for days on end?) - with the possible exception of spinning rides such as the waltzers and Air Race at Drayton Manor!
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It absolutely can be for sure. Plenty of incidents over the years around the world I'm sure of people pushing it too far.

I once backed out of an all day Nemesis challenge years ago at 24 consecutive re-rides. As I got to around the 20th I started to feel really unwell and it just got worse so I quit shortly after.

I think I did Wickerman like 14 times consecutively once on an off peak day and felt totally fine though so it clearly depends of the forces and type of ride. Also used to marathon Tower of Terror at Camelot back in the day when i was a kid and that didn't bother me either.
 
Matt N said:
I don’t understand why it’s parks’ responsibility to stop people from reriding things.

I don’t personally see the harm in reriding within reason (people have done record attempts before, haven’t they?), and is it not somewhat down to personal discretion? People can choose whether to reride, and they can opt out if they feel like rerides are taking their toll; the park is not forcing them to reride.
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Maybe parks are just worried about getting sued in case somebody has a medical emergency and blames the park for not warning them that intensive rides can be dangerous if constantly re-ridden?

As I say, this is the first that I have ever heard of this, as I don't remember a park officially telling its guests not to re-ride (I'm not saying that the policy doesn't exist, but it sounds like it's aimed more at staff than the public?).

Benjsh said:
I once backed out of an all day Nemesis challenge years ago at 24 consecutive re-rides. As I got to around the 20th I started to feel really unwell and it just got worse so I quit shortly after.
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In the case of Nemesis specifically, part of the problem is the exhausting walk around the queue itself (ditto for Oblivion). If you had stayed in the station itself then maybe it wouldn't have been so bad?
 
Enter Valhalla said:
It won’t be due to queue length. I assume it’ll be due to health & safety risks associated with constant re-riding. Like has been said though, it’s impossible for the staff to enforce.

Alton Towers has a blanket no re-rides policy for this exact reason. That’s easy for the staff to enforce.

Chessington and Plopsland allow one re-ride but not two (in other words, if you’ve been on a coaster twice in a row without getting off, they make you get off after the second ride) This is much more difficult to enforce.

At Ferrari World, you have to wait 15 minutes between Formula Rosa rides due to its intensity, and at Gold Reef City in South Africa, they say you have to wait 10 minutes between rides on Tower of Terror and Golden Loop for the same reason, generally however after exiting, walking back through the queue etc, 10 minutes has usually elapsed anyway so no need to actually enforce it.

Then of course there’s Thorpe Park, who allow seemingly unlimited number of re-rides as long as there’s no queue.
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On this topic, Toverland has a policy where you can literally re-ride and swap seats as long as there's no queue ☺️

I've done that with Troy about 6/7 times on a recent visit and did it with Fenix a couple of times.
 
owenstreet7 said:
On this topic, Toverland has a policy where you can literally re-ride and swap seats as long as there's no queue ☺️

I've done that with Troy about 6/7 times on a recent visit and did it with Fenix a couple of times.
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Do you have to swap seats, or can you stay in the same one?

Is there a reason for swapping - e.g. to force people to briefly stand up between rides?
 
Secret Weapon said:
Do you have to swap seats, or can you stay in the same one?

Is there a reason for swapping - e.g. to force people to briefly stand up between rides?
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You can stay in the same seat providing someone's not at your airgate.

If someone's at your airgate, they're happy for you to go to an empty seat and keep lapping the ride.

Sorry, I think I've worded this one not as clearly as hoped.

Toverland is the most lapping friendly park I know of.
 
Secret Weapon said:
This is genuinely the first time that I have ever heard this!

When I used the Spinball Whizzer single-rider queue, I walked straight back onto the ride seconds later and wasn't stopped (although not onto the same exact car).

I also remember the staff commenting when I kept using the Smiler SRQ, but - again - I wasn't stopped (although it takes at least 10 minutes to rejoin the queue each time).

I never used the Nemesis SRQ, but others on the forum have stated that it was often possible to keep leaving the ride and rejoin in the exact same seat mere seconds later, so should staff have prevented this?

I didn't realise that constantly re-riding a ride was dangerous (didn't a guy in Blackpool ride for days on end?) - with the possible exception of spinning rides such as the waltzers and Air Race at Drayton Manor!
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What you are describing though, isn’t re-riding as such. You were getting off and going round each time. What Alton Towers doesn’t allow is for you to stay on rides, or jump back on empty seats. Essentially you have to exit the station every time. When Nemesis did have the SRQ it was possible to kind of abuse it at times because you could get off, run back around to the SRQ and they’d let you on the same train. The point is though, that Alton Towers don’t let you re-ride without leaving the exit. Many other parks do.
 
Now that I think about it, I remember a bunch of kids staying on Maelstrom at Drayton Manor during the 2025 Christmas event, when the queues were virtually empty (in fact, the ride itself actually then closed an hour early).

I'd assumed that Alton Towers wanted people to leave the ride each time simply in order to keep the station as clear as possible (and thus expedite boarding), but you may be right that perhaps it is also for safety reasons as well !

EDIT: In hindsight, I regret having not gone to Scarefest in 2025 - specifically, the Friday where the windy weather meant that the park was empty in the evening - because I seem to recall hearing that the queue for Thirteen was so small that the train was actually waiting in the station, and so it would have been interesting to hear if the staff forced everybody off after each ride or allowed them to stay on! (Even if the policy is to remove them, an empty station happens so rarely that they may have forgotten)
 
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ERT at Blackpool has always involved the walk (or run for the damn fools) round the exits...for health reasons.
Six, enough.
And completely off topic.

Mingo's big water ride, closed for another year???
 
Secret Weapon said:
Now that I think about it, I remember a bunch of kids staying on Maelstrom at Drayton Manor during the 2025 Christmas event, when the queues were virtually empty (in fact, the ride itself actually then closed an hour early).

I'd assumed that Alton Towers wanted people to leave the ride each time simply in order to keep the station as clear as possible (and thus expedite boarding), but you may be right that perhaps it is also for safety reasons as well !
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I know I am right about it being for health and safety reasons. Several staff members at Alton Towers have told me that’s why they don’t allow re-rides.

And this is why it’s even more surprising that Thorpe Park seems to essentially allow unlimited re-rides.
 
Enter Valhalla said:
Chessington and Plopsland allow one re-ride but not two (in other words, if you’ve been on a coaster twice in a row without getting off, they make you get off after the second ride) This is much more difficult to enforce.
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I'm not sure thats true re Chessington. From my experience, they have the same policy as Thorpe. Theres been times I've sat on Rattlesnake and Mandrill much more than twice in a row.
 
Enter Valhalla said:
Chessington and Plopsland allow one re-ride but not two (in other words, if you’ve been on a coaster twice in a row without getting off, they make you get off after the second ride) This is much more difficult to enforce.
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I’m sure we had 3 continuous rides on the Ride To Happiness, as specifically allowed by the ride ops. I guess with all the other stuff they have to do, keeping track of individual re-riders is difficult.

I suppose also that the small risk of someone having a medical emergency caused by re-ricing an intensive ride should be set against their chance of injury by trying to peg it out of the station and back around the empty queue line to catch the next train.
 
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