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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

Matt N said:
Isn't the highest throughput ride at Thorpe Swarm at 1300pph? Or did I imagine that? Actually, I think it might be the Rapids overall, but Swarm is the best major ride.
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Swarm is around 1200. The Rapids can get more in theory, but would rarely run all the boats (there's no need). And even if it did, it would be difficult to fill all the boats effrcticele enough to get near its theoretical throughput.

IanSR said:
These are the cuts that happened sometime midway through last year correct? I know a few people who would disagree that it didn't impact operations.
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No cuts happened midway through the season. Yes, some rides closed before the end of season, but that wasn't because of budget cuts.
 
Prophecy said:
Swarm is around 1200. The Rapids can get more in theory, but would rarely run all the boats (there's no need). And even if it did, it would be difficult to fill all the boats effrcticele enough to get near its theoretical throughput.



No cuts happened midway through the season. Yes, some rides closed before the end of season, but that wasn't because of budget cuts.
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I may be wrong (probably) but I'm sure I read there were staff cuts at Thorpe last year on TPM at either the beginning of the year or part way through it in their engineering departments, and then later in the year they made a load of their winter maintenance staff redundant too? maybe @pluk knows more?
 
I don't really know the answer on that one. There are always staffing cost pressures and they may well have let people go across backroom, but I think it might be more of the case on the engineering and tech services side that staff have left of their own accord and the park have struggled to replace them rather than Thorpe having made a decision to have fewer engineers and technicians.
Probably not the best position to be in going into the new season.
Vacancy adverts out confirm they are looking to recruit in these areas. https://merlin.taleo.net/careersection/4/jobsearch.ftl?lang=en&organization=4470430280
 
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Stuntman707 said:
So the late summer openings, Fright Nights and MOS this year are one specific event?

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It’s not a cracking idea to twist someone’s words when you have directly quoted said person at the same time. Point out where I said “one specific event”.

The late openings are linked to events with a proven track record of bringing in guests. But then they also open a week later and close a week earlier than AT and have 35 mid season closed days compared to 27 at Towers.

Before you panic this is not me saying that’s this means Towers have done better things, just that both Merlin parks have cut operations compared to 4 years ago, they have just distributed their operating budget differently as their visitation pattern is different (one is a small thrill park in a city and the other is a big family/ thrill park in the countryside).

Fact is Merlin are cutting operations across their whole non-Lego theme park portfolio.
 
I fail to see how I twisted your words “The late openings are a specific event”. I agree the late openings are linked to events which draw in crowds however. Don’t go twisting your own words rather than admitting that your original post was not what you were meant to say. Please don’t correct me again, At the end of the day, I’m not disagreeing with what you’re saying now.
 
Stuntman707 said:
I fail to see how I twisted your words “The late openings are a specific event”. I agree the late openings are linked to events which draw in crowds however. Don’t go twisting your own words rather than admitting that your original post was not what you were meant to say. Please don’t correct me again, At the end of the day, I’m not disagreeing with what you’re saying now.
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The comment you are reffering to was in reply to a comment about the MOS event as they have not extended Fright Nights opening hours. Hence the “a specific event”.

So yes I will correct you again.
 
Well I asked you not to bring it up again, it’s starting to get silly now. There are extended opening hours during summer and the Walking Dead Events, not just MoS. I’ll ask you again, stop being petty and stop correcting me! End of discussion.
 
Stuntman707 said:
Well I asked you not to bring it up again, it’s starting to get silly now. There are extended opening hours during summer and the Walking Dead Events, not just MoS. I’ll ask you again, stop being petty and stop correcting me! End of discussion.
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Sorry...
 
Well isn’t this friendly, let’s try to keep things a little more constructive to the topic in hand rather than bickering over who corrected who. Many thanks.

Either way, another park in the country to offer some late night openings is always a positive, just a shame in the case of Thorpe is does still come at the cost of daily opening!


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IanSR said:
I may be wrong (probably) but I'm sure I read there were staff cuts at Thorpe last year on TPM at either the beginning of the year or part way through it in their engineering departments, and then later in the year they made a load of their winter maintenance staff redundant too? maybe @pluk knows more?
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There definitely were no cuts to staffing budgets made during the year (though there have been some throughout the winter). Those cuts haven't been made to maintenance staff though - in Merlin's eyes (and quiet rightly), maintenance staff are essential for H&S and the more of them there are, the 'more safe' the park is.

They probably could do with more than they have to help take the pressure off the staff that they currently have, but that's the same with most things anywhere if we're honest. More staff would probably lead to less people leaving too, but that's not really a conversation for here.
 
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A post over at Thorpe Maina says these are from ITV.
https://forum.maniahub.com/topic/11...e-new-for-2018/?do=findComment&comment=256334.

Shame they didn’t theme the trains.

http://www.itv.com/news/london/2018-03-06/thorpe-parks-new-rollercoaster-tester-swings-into-action/

The ITV article is basically a CV for a member of staff

Jordan Middleton's career has reached new heights - after she landed her dream job as a rollercoaster and attractions excellence tester at Thorpe Park Resort.
Jordan's first day in the role saw her try out their new The Walking Dead: the Ride, for passenger comfort and fright value.

Jordan, 27, is more than qualified for the job - having ridden 840 rollercoasters in more than 50 different cities and countries around the world.
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Rob said:
I still cannot get over the name of the coaster; The Walking Dead: The Ride. I mean, that has to be one of the worst rollercoaster names ever. TWDTR isn't much better either!

:)
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I thought it was even worse than that, The Walking Dead: The Ride. amc Walking Dead

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