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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

MakoMania said:
How does a coaster chain break? I've never heard of that before, not saying that it couldn't happen though, I'm not an engineer.

What I have heard of fairly frequently though is a chain lift hill gear box breaking as described above.
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It can happen just through wear and tear I guess, good preventative maintenance should stop it from happening though. If there was a manufacturing defect though, that could cause it to happen.

The trademark tapping sound you hear when going up a lift hill, is in fact the anti rollback system working, which would stop the train falling backwards if the train was to stop or the chain was to break. Although, the sound is dampened and or non existent on modern coasters as they usually use a magnetised centrifugal based clutch on the train, which pulls the anti rollback dog up from the anti roll back rail when the train is in motion.
 
Plastic Person said:
Given how wildly popular Fright Nights is, it just never seems to evolve in any meaningful way. I am not one to judge without visiting, which I won't be this year, but, with the exception of the more theatrical Platform 13, it seems to me that every maze is now completely interchangeable. And even Platform 13 contains some variation of 'zombie' as the central foe. Do they just have one make-up department and one mass orientation for actors now? Utter gubbins.
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It's a shame as there were some really innovative mazes if you go back a few years, Experiment 10 and Cabin were both unique ideas and FN was pushing the boundaries of scare attractions.

Fast forward to 2018 and you get this.
 
MakoMania said:
How does a coaster chain break? I've never heard of that before, not saying that it couldn't happen though, I'm not an engineer.

What I have heard of fairly frequently though is a chain lift hill gear box breaking as described above.
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Chains can break but they have a 10-15 year life span usually. I really doubt Swarms has gone already.
 
Coaster said:
It's a shame as there were some really innovative mazes if you go back a few years, Experiment 10 and Cabin were both unique ideas and FN was pushing the boundaries of scare attractions.

Fast forward to 2018 and you get this.
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I have a question because i'm genuinely interested to know peoples opinions. What would you rather see in a scare maze:-

A less intense maze but a more theatrical performance and better theming, or...
A maze that focusses more on scares than in performance or theming?

Probably a silly question but the way i see a maze is that it should be a kind of show that you walk through rather than sit and watch. I feel like a lot of the mazes these days just throw you in a dark space and try and make you jump with chainsaws and zombies. What i'm trying to say is, would a mazes with less jump scares and more story telling appeal to you more?
 
On the face of it, yes. I'm all for more story driven mazes. However, Just standing there while an actor recites lines at you can get rather boring for a lot of people, especially after you've paid up and queued for ages.
It's a fine line, but there must be a way to integrate a plot without breaking the flow?

Some of the best mazes I have ever done had no plot at all, just a good theme. For example, there was one at Canada's Wonderland based on old horror B movies. The whole attraction (sets, costumes, makeup and even lighting) was in black and white, creating a very surreal atmosphere. It was low on scares, but very entertaining. We gladly went round a few times, just to try and spot all the references.

I think Margate's mazes do a pretty good job of working a plot in to them, and are nicely unique because of it.
 
DiogoJ42 said:
On the face of it, yes. I'm all for more story driven mazes. However, Just standing there while an actor recites lines at you can get rather boring for a lot of people, especially after you've paid up and queued for ages.
It's a fine line, but there must be a way to integrate a plot without breaking the flow?

Some of the best mazes I have ever done had no plot at all, just a good theme. For example, there was one at Canada's Wonderland based on old horror B movies. The whole attraction (sets, costumes, makeup and even lighting) was in black and white, creating a very surreal atmosphere. It was low on scares, but very entertaining. We gladly went round a few times, just to try and spot all the references.

I think Margate's mazes do a pretty good job of working a plot in to them, and are nicely unique because of it.
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I would very much like to try Screamland one of the years, might incorporate a trip next year. We are doing Burton Screamfest this year.
 
Smilertron said:
I have a question because i'm genuinely interested to know peoples opinions. What would you rather see in a scare maze:-

A less intense maze but a more theatrical performance and better theming, or...
A maze that focusses more on scares than in performance or theming?

Probably a silly question but the way i see a maze is that it should be a kind of show that you walk through rather than sit and watch. I feel like a lot of the mazes these days just throw you in a dark space and try and make you jump with chainsaws and zombies. What i'm trying to say is, would a mazes with less jump scares and more story telling appeal to you more?
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Be careful of what you wish for.....

....you could end up with getting "Thorpe Dungeons" ;)
 
ihaveaspergers said:
Which I advised them to do.
Seems Thorpe security don't mind bombs being left in the car park or at security...

Sent from my Swift 2 X using Tapatalk
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I just want to pipe up here sorry if it's going off topic as I haven't read further then this post. I'm a doorman and have been for 15 years working in places like Croydon and Kingston. I can honestly say that while some facts here might be a bit confused the basic outline and response from door staff dealing with this is 100% correct. I have seen first hand what a phone charger does to someone's face when used as a weapon. Now that's not saying everyone with a charger will use it that way. But you can't say they won't. And for the safety of other venue users it's best to restrict them from entering in the first place. While I don't agree with the you won't get it back part I can also understand this as they might not have staff to return a item. Unlike a club or pub that will always have someone that can help somewhere like Thorpe might have a emergency at that very moment you want your item back and they just won't be able to do it. You get given the option. You can go return it to your car or you can give it up on the understanding you won't get it back. Calling the police in this situation will not help. Private property it's there choice what they will and won't allow to be brought on to it. And if you are silly enough to call 999 over something like this there will be 2 outcomes 1) a extremely long wait as no police will answer the call under blues and twos and will prob have better things to deal with. And 2 a very annoyed police officer when one does finally arrive

I would also like to add that I have never worked for Thorpe park or Merlin in any roll. But will say I know of a few door staff that work Thorpe
 
Crawleyboy01 said:
I just want to pipe up here sorry if it's going off topic as I haven't read further then this post. I'm a doorman and have been for 15 years working in places like Croydon and Kingston. I can honestly say that while some facts here might be a bit confused the basic outline and response from door staff dealing with this is 100% correct. I have seen first hand what a phone charger does to someone's face when used as a weapon. Now that's not saying everyone with a charger will use it that way. But you can't say they won't. And for the safety of other venue users it's best to restrict them from entering in the first place. While I don't agree with the you won't get it back part I can also understand this as they might not have staff to return a item. Unlike a club or pub that will always have someone that can help somewhere like Thorpe might have a emergency at that very moment you want your item back and they just won't be able to do it. You get given the option. You can go return it to your car or you can give it up on the understanding you won't get it back. Calling the police in this situation will not help. Private property it's there choice what they will and won't allow to be brought on to it. And if you are silly enough to call 999 over something like this there will be 2 outcomes 1) a extremely long wait as no police will answer the call under blues and twos and will prob have better things to deal with. And 2 a very annoyed police officer when one does finally arrive

I would also like to add that I have never worked for Thorpe park or Merlin in any roll. But will say I know of a few door staff that work Thorpe
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I was more on about they should call 999 if they think i am bringing a bomb into the park.

Sent from my Swift 2 X using Tapatalk
 
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Crawleyboy01 said:
I just want to pipe up here sorry if it's going off topic as I haven't read further then this post. I'm a doorman and have been for 15 years working in places like Croydon and Kingston. I can honestly say that while some facts here might be a bit confused the basic outline and response from door staff dealing with this is 100% correct. I have seen first hand what a phone charger does to someone's face when used as a weapon. Now that's not saying everyone with a charger will use it that way. But you can't say they won't. And for the safety of other venue users it's best to restrict them from entering in the first place. While I don't agree with the you won't get it back part I can also understand this as they might not have staff to return a item. Unlike a club or pub that will always have someone that can help somewhere like Thorpe might have a emergency at that very moment you want your item back and they just won't be able to do it. You get given the option. You can go return it to your car or you can give it up on the understanding you won't get it back. Calling the police in this situation will not help. Private property it's there choice what they will and won't allow to be brought on to it. And if you are silly enough to call 999 over something like this there will be 2 outcomes 1) a extremely long wait as no police will answer the call under blues and twos and will prob have better things to deal with. And 2 a very annoyed police officer when one does finally arrive

I would also like to add that I have never worked for Thorpe park or Merlin in any roll. But will say I know of a few door staff that work Thorpe
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How did this raise its head again lol!

Just to throw my grenade in, let in this weekend with opened vape juice large bottles. Opened water bottles and loose vape batteries and vape charger - no issues.

But I was a good nice polite citizen


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Crawleyboy01 said:
I have seen first hand what a phone charger does to someone's face when used as a weapon.
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What a ridiculous logic.

You should see what happens when someon strangels a person with a rain-mac sleeve.
Or when a person has a key rapidly inserted into their eye
Or when a lens from a pair of glasses is broken and used as a small blade.
Or asphyxiate a person with a plastic bag.
Or impale a person with a theme park ride trophy.

Customers are not criminals, and that it could potentially be used to batter or otherwise maim someone is not a valid reason to introduce unnecessary restrictions on perfectly reasonable everyday items.

If I wanted to batter someone I'd probably go for the loose block paving, and I suspect there are a thousand other ''weapons" laying around the park. The point is, I don't want that and very few do.
 
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