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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

djtruefitt said:
Last year when it opened and before the pass holder group got deleted they always said it was going to get a front row queue but it never appeared
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I'd be interested to know how a front-row queue would work alongside a single-rider queue; would the single riders now only be allocated to rows 2 to 10? If so, then there would be the risk of empty seats in the front row...
 
Benzin said:
Single riders would go wherever necessary. Would be rarer to get front row but still doable.
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I might be over-thinking it, but I assume that there might need to be a slight gap between the train and the front-row queue in order to allow single-riders to slip through if necessary, without them having to join the back of the queue?

I only say this because I remember sitting alone in the front-row of The Big One at Blackpool last year, even though there were 2 people behind me in the front-row queue (they wanted to sit together, so they decided to wait for the next train).
 
Secret Weapon said:
I'd be interested to know how a front-row queue would work alongside a single-rider queue; would the single riders now only be allocated to rows 2 to 10? If so, then there would be the risk of empty seats in the front row...
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Back in the lovely day, I got front seats on nemesis more than once from the exit gate single rider queue.
 
Secret Weapon said:
I might be over-thinking it, but I assume that there might need to be a slight gap between the train and the front-row queue in order to allow single-riders to slip through if necessary, without them having to join the back of the queue?

I only say this because I remember sitting alone in the front-row of The Big One at Blackpool last year, even though there were 2 people behind me in the front-row queue (they wanted to sit together, so they decided to wait for the next train).
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Depends if the front row queue is "batched" like the rest of the train is currently. Can merge then.

Though given there's only 2 queues currently after the initial batch point something is gonna go unless they move front row to another part of the building. Or add an additional claustrophobic queue.
 
I would not be surprised if the batcher role gets eliminated at some point (not necessarily this season) to reduce staffing, this would probably also involve removal of SRQ and could mean front row queue would run up the right hand side of the stairs

Assuming that doesn't happen yet, the station is big enough to run a small front row queue along the wall, accessed from inside the station without needing to rearrange the queues on the stairs. SRQ could be assigned to front row if/when spaces occur, though in practice I would imagine this would be extremely rare.
 
John said:
I would not be surprised if the batcher role gets eliminated at some point (not necessarily this season) to reduce staffing, this would probably also involve removal of SRQ and could mean front row queue would run up the right hand side of the stairs

Assuming that doesn't happen yet, the station is big enough to run a small front row queue along the wall, accessed from inside the station without needing to rearrange the queues on the stairs. SRQ could be assigned to front row if/when spaces occur, though in practice I would imagine this would be extremely rare.
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I think SRQ and batching could be closed during quiet days (similar to AT) but during busy days I think they would need the throughput.
 
Secret Weapon said:
I'd be interested to know how a front-row queue would work alongside a single-rider queue; would the single riders now only be allocated to rows 2 to 10? If so, then there would be the risk of empty seats in the front row...
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I remember that's what happens on Taron with Phantasialand. The front row is empty when a single is on there however with Europa, they will batch the SRQ wherever.

Wodan had a bad habit of batching evens to the back and odd numbers towards the front making it nearly impossible for single riders to ride row 14.

John said:
I would not be surprised if the batcher role gets eliminated at some point (not necessarily this season) to reduce staffing, this would probably also involve removal of SRQ and could mean front row queue would run up the right hand side of the stairs

Assuming that doesn't happen yet, the station is big enough to run a small front row queue along the wall, accessed from inside the station without needing to rearrange the queues on the stairs. SRQ could be assigned to front row if/when spaces occur, though in practice I would imagine this would be extremely rare.
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That would be my worry for the throughput and my reason why the backwards seat shouldn't happen.

flyingguitar said:
I think SRQ and batching could be closed during quiet days (similar to AT) but during busy days I think they would need the throughput.
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I believe the SRQ for Hyperia was designed in such a way where it could run on any day as there's one merge point for multiple queues before batching.

I'm not really sure the park are able to run it efficiently without assigned seating and not impacting the throughput too much which might be why the SRQ was added in originally. It may be as crucial for Hyperia to have it in the same way as Mandrill Mayhem.
 
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John said:
I would not be surprised if the batcher role gets eliminated at some point (not necessarily this season) to reduce staffing, this would probably also involve removal of SRQ and could mean front row queue would run up the right hand side of the stairs

Assuming that doesn't happen yet, the station is big enough to run a small front row queue along the wall, accessed from inside the station without needing to rearrange the queues on the stairs. SRQ could be assigned to front row if/when spaces occur, though in practice I would imagine this would be extremely rare.
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Good point; I assume that the single-rider queue may now need to return back to its original position on the left side of the staircase as a result (I believe that it was switched to the right-side around August 2024 or so).

I assume that the batcher may now need to move slightly further back into the station as well, so that the front-row riders will be allowed to join the dedicated queue before a batcher mistakenly attempts to allocate them to one of the other rows?
 
owenstreet7 said:
I remember that's what happens on Taron with Phantasialand. The front row is empty when a single is on there however with Europa, they will batch the SRQ wherever.
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I’ve been assigned front row on Taron from the SRQ and had someone join me from the SRQ for the front row. It’s going to be a park decision whether they decide to batch single riders to balance out odd numbers from the main queue. There is no benefit not to do so.
 
Its rare to have single seats on the front row available on a two-abreast coaster, unless there is a single rider in the main queue. A group of three would normally take the front seats with two people ans the third goes second row so a single would batched from SRQ to second row.

Whereas on a four-abreast coaster the group of three means there is a single seat on the front row.
 
jon81uk said:
Its rare to have single seats on the front row available on a two-abreast coaster, unless there is a single rider in the main queue. A group of three would normally take the front seats with two people ans the third goes second row so a single would batched from SRQ to second row.

Whereas on a four-abreast coaster the group of three means there is a single seat on the front row.
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I believe the occurrence is slightly more when there's a dedicated front row queue.

When there's assigned seating for all rows such as Hyperia, it is infrequent but I have had about 2 front row rides from SRQ out of 60. I think there's a couple more from main queue on a very quiet off peak day but it's not frequent that you'd get front row on SRQ.
 
It is luck and is more difficult being 2 across. I haven’t got a front row ride on Hyperia directly through the SRQ but of my 6 rides on it I’ve been given the front row on 2 occasions and therefore to someone else in the SRQ. Once was I queued up normally due to being the 2nd or 3rd train of the day and the other I used a fast pass for a night ride.

I’m generally at a park alone so I’m pretty familiar with how each park I visit handles any SRQ’s they have! (Bar Parc Asterix, where all SRQ were shut and they were very strict on front row only from the dedicated queue and would not assign me to an empty front row seat when using fast pass).

My experience is that it’s harder to get a front row ride as a single rider with a front row queue that does not have an SRQ. Also a lot slower, especially for 2 across seating! Example of the 2 and 4 across seating making a difference is Zadra vs. Hyperion. For Hyperion I was always bundled forward in the front row queue being a solo rider, was like a cheat code. For Zadra I was always behind pairs so I stopped bothering.

Also I’ve had to justify a lot why I wouldn’t take any spare seat on the train whilst in a front row queue at times to other patrons behind me.
 
for front row, single rides is a problem, for instance on stealth and rita you can often see a group of 3 all of them want to go on the front row, thus they all queue meaning there are quite a few times where there is one seat free, as another group of 3 may not match up with the front row it can be a empty seat.
 
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