Thorpe Park: General Discussion

[Bowser]

rant Chessington on Sunday had no-one looking after the car parks. If they had they would of prevented cars parking directly behind 2 rows of parked cars. My car was stuck in the middle and I had a hell of a time trying to get out. Chessington simply shrugged their shoulders and said there's nothing they could do about it but wait for the drivers to come back at the end of the day!! Bad parking is down to bad drivers. I know it's the driver's fault but if Merlin had car park attendants there, it would not of happened! #endofrant

The disabled car park is similar now. People seem to have figured out it’s usually either unmanned or you can lie your way in and by lunch time it’s full of people double parked. At the weekend I had to pretty much reverse round the whole thing whilst my wife waited at the entrance with our son as there wasn’t room to put him in the car.

It is tarmac at least.

 

[George W]

Really not feeling confident about Friday now, might be a one and done but what the hell are they doing still selling fast pass on a abysmal one train operation.

 

[Bowser]

Really not feeling confident about Friday now, might be a one and done but what the hell are they doing still selling fast pass on a abysmal one train operation.

 

[Dhev123]

I'm going tomorrow, do you guys think single rider will even be worth it? I'll probably just wait in the main queue

 

[sillyrooster]

Tbh single rider feels more reliable now as it has it's own batching queue. The main queue line shares with RAP and Fasttrack where they alternate between all three, so if one of the other gets very busy it hits the main queue harder than single rider. With single rider it just takes double the usual time plus the actual circuit time per lap. They don't don't try to be clever with the batching of groups and fill odd numbers in a greedy fashion from the SRQ. It'll take you ages which ever route you pick though.

 

[PJUK]

I'm going tomorrow, do you guys think single rider will even be worth it? I'll probably just wait in the main queue

Here today. Here is practical answer. In queue now at 1630. Main queue time 30 mins. One train obviously. Single rider has just 9 people (before chain), so absolutely worth joining it. Hope that helps.

The staff are working together so well, and trying to despatch the train in 20 to 30 seconds. Absolutely fantastic effort from the ride staff.

 

[PJUK]

@Dhev - Queue line closed at 1650, so you can plan your day tomorrow.

 

[Smiley]

Just for clarity from my earlier post... a: never played RCT, and b: didn't suggest adding LIMs would be cheap/possible for Hyp.

I don't see any issues with having a chain-lift/LIM combination - my post was entirely that IF you are going to design near-stall elements you need to design when external factors make them full-stall elements. My thought was that tiny LIM-boosts could add that extra few mph to counter a full stall scenario. Just an idea.

As for the "extra train" apart from having a spare (mostly redundant, like Harry) it would allow for 3 train operation with separate load/unload stations, and maximise throughput/reduce queue times. You could release a train long before the active one has hit the brake run, if necessary stopping it on the lift if the active train hasn't cleared the brake run by then. But then that doesn't sell FPs....

 

[Bowser]

Here today. Here is practical answer. In queue now at 1630. Main queue time 30 mins. One train obviously. Single rider has just 9 people (before chain), so absolutely worth joining it. Hope that helps.

The staff are working together so well, and trying to despatch the train in 20 to 30 seconds. Absolutely fantastic effort from the ride staff.

Doesn't that only work out if each train has at least 1 single rider? Approx 90 second ride and 30 second, 1 passenger per train means you waited 20 minute. Did you note how often a single rider typically got on a train?

 

[Dhev123]

Here today. Here is practical answer. In queue now at 1630. Main queue time 30 mins. One train obviously. Single rider has just 9 people (before chain), so absolutely worth joining it. Hope that helps.

The staff are working together so well, and trying to despatch the train in 20 to 30 seconds. Absolutely fantastic effort from the ride staff.

Tbh single rider feels more reliable now as it has it's own batching queue. The main queue line shares with RAP and Fasttrack where they alternate between all three, so if one of the other gets very busy it hits the main queue harder than single rider. With single rider it just takes double the usual time plus the actual circuit time per lap. They don't don't try to be clever with the batching of groups and fill odd numbers in a greedy fashion from the SRQ. It'll take you ages which ever route you pick though.

@Dhev - Queue line closed at 1650, so you can plan your day tomorrow.

thank you all!

Even though I’ve already been on hyperia twice, I am still willing to wait up to 60 minutes, so we’ll assess how many people are in single rider and decide if it’s worth it. I think as the other rides will have minimal to no queues, an hour wait for hyperia can’t hurt too much.

Think we’ll try ride around noon (subject to queue times obviously) and then again at around 4.

Excited for tomorrow though! If time permits, going to try get on rides I missed in august such as samurai, TWD, as well as re rides hopefully on some of the big 6

 

[Call_um]

@Dhev - Queue line closed at 1650, so you can plan your day tomorrow.

I really hate the randomness of them closing the queueline early.

Friday and Saturday 9pm close, advertised queue of over 2 hours = Queue closes at advertised closing time.
Off Peak Wednesday 5pm close, advertised queue of 1 hour = Queue closes early.

Really hope they can scrap this and just close the queue at closing time permanently next year. Or at least some consistency/better comms.

 

[owenstreet7]

I really hate the randomness of them closing the queueline early.

Friday and Saturday 9pm close, advertised queue of over 2 hours = Queue closes at advertised closing time.
Off Peak Wednesday 5pm close, advertised queue of 1 hour = Queue closes early.

Really hope they can scrap this and just close the queue at closing time permanently next year. Or at least some consistency/better comms.

I'm hoping the queue time closures are more consistent next season. I'd imagine this was a shock effect from the opening day and original extended closure.

I'd say that it should only close early if queues are excessively long.

 

[Bowser]

Queues closing earlier than park closing time is a very common theme park practice in fairness,

The lack of consistency isn’t fair on customers though as prevents you planning your trip and obviously it’s less palatable when opening hours are already reduced.

 

[flyingguitar]

Just for clarity from my earlier post... a: never played RCT, and b: didn't suggest adding LIMs would be cheap/possible for Hyp.

I don't see any issues with having a chain-lift/LIM combination - my post was entirely that IF you are going to design near-stall elements you need to design when external factors make them full-stall elements. My thought was that tiny LIM-boosts could add that extra few mph to counter a full stall scenario. Just an idea.

As for the "extra train" apart from having a spare (mostly redundant, like Harry) it would allow for 3 train operation with separate load/unload stations, and maximise throughput/reduce queue times. You could release a train long before the active one has hit the brake run, if necessary stopping it on the lift if the active train hasn't cleared the brake run by then. But then that doesn't sell FPs....

on to point B, is this you?

A mini-LIM booster isn't so expensive

Quite easy to have a few cars that are LIM-enabled, quite easy to add the power requirement, quite easy to install LIM on any track and with sensors enable as required.

onto some of the other points, I have 2 guesses why lim/chain rides don't exist: 1 limited track width (for a chain a ride needs a chain dog, ARB, and breaks, if there isn't enough space can't do much), 2: to enable the dual mode it may require a custom chassis to be able to handel the loading, from macks perspective there aren't many other rollercoasters that would use this new chassis (see b and m use the same type of chassis on most their rides) so it would probably cost a park more than adding the launch mechanism to the lift (gold rush) as they would have to pay more for development.

as for the dual station, could help but they can also cause a big hinderance, as if there are guest not leaving quick enough it can hold the train up, and sometimes the added time of moveing stations and lack of people boarding whilst other people are unloading can cause longer dispatches.

 

[ringo]

Queues closing earlier than park closing time is a very common theme park practice in fairness,

The lack of consistency isn’t fair on customers though as prevents you planning your trip and obviously it’s less palatable when opening hours are already reduced.

Not with Merlin though, it’s the one thing they’ve always got right before. This closing earlier is new.

What time do the Rides and Attractions close?​

Our Rides & Attractions queue lines shut at our advertised resort closing time. However, if you are in a queue line prior to this closing time, you can continue queueing and enjoy the ride.

https://support.thorpepark.com/hc/en-us/articles/360001151031-What-time-do-the-Rides-and-Attractions-close

 

[Bowser]

So I think I’m attempting my first Hyperia ride today!

My friend has tickets for the Merlin employee event tonight. Has anyone been to one of these? Are the queues likely to be shorter than normal? Will the app be working?

 

[rob666]

Just get in there!
Spend the whole day in nervous anticipation...
What if it gets naughty again?
So many questions...

We got lucky a few weeks ago...good luck to you.

 

[Bowser]

Just get in there!
Spend the whole day in nervous anticipation...
What if it gets naughty again?
So many questions...

We got lucky a few weeks ago...good luck to you.

Yeah looks like going, just wondering if i'll have time to ride other things/eat etc. And i can't handle standing for 60+ minutes these days so would be good to know as i'll prepare myself.

Might go down for a couple of hours in the afternoon if it stops raining...

 

[owenstreet7]

Yeah looks like going, just wondering if i'll have time to ride other things/eat etc. And i can't handle standing for 60+ minutes these days so would be good to know as i'll prepare myself.

Might go down for a couple of hours in the afternoon if it stops raining...

The rain is due to ease between 10am and 12pm according to multiple weather forecasts including Met Office and AccuWeather.

I'd ignore BBC Weather at the moment though, it seems to think we're having a hurricane way more more powerful than Milton due to a bug

BBC Weather app forecasts hurricane force winds

"Don't be alarmed folks," says weather presenter Matt Taylor after a data glitch on the site.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

So I think I’m attempting my first Hyperia ride today!

My friend has tickets for the Merlin employee event tonight. Has anyone been to one of these? Are the queues likely to be shorter than normal? Will the app be working?

The app is unlikely to be working, it hasn't during any of the private events or buyouts I've attended. The queues will be a heck of a lot shorter than normal. Most importantly...

JUST BLOODY ENJOY YOURSELF!