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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

Danscott22 said:
Honestly not really, Nemesis and Inferno are probably my least favourite major rides at their respective park! Montu however, is one of my absolute favourites!
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Really? Wow; I find that very interesting! I actually have Montu as my favourite inverted coaster too out of the 6 I’ve ridden (5 B&M and one Vekoma), as I just remember it being fantastic from my last visit to Busch Gardens in 2016; long, a nice amount of g-force and surprisingly smooth in comparison to something like Nemesis!

Come to think of it, I think “Rank your ridden B&M inverts” would be a really interesting thread; we haven’t had a good ranking thread in a while, and with us being an Alton Towers fan site, B&M inverts are likely a very hot topic with regards to ride types!
 
Parks need to be stricter with distancing measures. It should be a case of if you're not following them then you're thrown out. They really need to take a no sh!t approach.

All queue lines have cameras and it should be announced that if people don't distance in the queue lines then the ride won't run until people do. If it comes to singling people out then they should be removed.
 
So, I went to Thorpe Park for two days and stayed in the Shark Hotel for the night and had a good time overall. There were some positives and negatives to the experience though. Some major on both sides.

Positives:
  • The operations were great on the whole for the major attractions. There was hardly any downtime (apart from delayed opening this morning on Saw, Colossus and Inferno although this was resolved within half hour, which isn't too bad for Thorpe).
  • The coasters were running extremely well. I had the best rides I've ever had on Inferno (which felt faster?) and Saw (this could've been due to the fact we were sat in the back middle seats but it felt a lot smoother and it was nice to have the option to not get your head bashed around).
  • The new lighting on Saw looks brilliant. You can actually see some of the effects and it just looks visually more pleasing.
  • The Rapids - what have they done? Me and my girlfriend got soaked on every spin and the waves were actually quite forceful on some moments. If it had a little more theming this could be a standout attraction.
  • Hand sanitizers were placed everywhere around the park which was useful and there were multiple in some stations. On the whole I was impressed by this.
  • It was also nice to see Quantum back in action. I didn't realise how much I missed this attraction. A great laugh if you're not into the intense flats and are prone to passing out on them like me.
  • Infinity Bar And Grill looks fresh too. A really nice and modern revamp.

Negatives:
  • Tidal Wave - I don't want to panic people but this did not look in a good state. All the water was drained and the lift hill seemed not line up at the very top. I heard rumors the metal is eroding too. It looked neglected, rusty and possibly the worst state I've seen it in. It's a real centerpiece to the park as well and it stood out like a sore thumb not even having the fountains run. I'm really hoping this is sorted ASAP but we know Thorpe's track record with water rides.
  • The crowds - I mentioned this before but this is an issue. I don't believe for a second yesterday was "30% capacity." The park was rammed. Ridiculous queues on everything, impossible to distance in areas at the park due to the sheer amount of people and there were a lot of people not distancing in queues putting those of us that were trying in a sticky predicament boxed in with them.
  • The look - this is not all of the park but there's areas that just look neglected, it's sad to see. Obviously I touched on this with Tidal Wave but there were other areas too. The arcades near the Banana Boat (as people pointed out before) looks horrendous. And Old Town... Just... Looks... Sad. At least before you had a miniature arcades in the corner but now there's the Rocky Express, the remainders of poor old Loggers and that's it. Doesn't look professional at all. Don't get me started on Saw Alive too.
  • Organisation - I understand this is a difficult time but the organisation at points was actually quite shocking. On Saw no one checked my restraint and they dispatched before I could ask. I get they were panicking as the ride was down but safety has to come first rather than worrying about dispatches. When entering the park it was all over the place too. I was told to queue in three different places by two different people. There were just people entering without pre-booking too which was just dumb. Fasttrack on the flat rides for hotel guests was also poorly marked some clashing with the exit meaning distancing couldn't be maintained.

I have to say though, overall, I had a good time and that's the main thing you want from a theme park. Today did seem a bit quieter so hopefully they are limiting numbers again after the controversy it was causing on Twitter. It's definitely worth the visit just for Swarm alone!
 
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I wouldn’t worry about the harness opening mid ride, the amount of testing that happens behind the sense with that type of harness (I was told it happened on smiler so I’m assuming it happens on saw) is very impressive.
 
spinba11 said:
I wouldn’t worry about the harness opening mid ride, the amount of testing that happens behind the sense with that type of harness (I was told it happened on smiler so I’m assuming it happens on saw) is very impressive.
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True, but also not the point.
 
That's certainly massively concerning from a health and safety stand point - predominantly from the point of view that seemingly procedures may not be being followed. However, I'm extremely confident that when the ride management team become aware of this issue, it will be resolved incredibly quickly.

Crowds, and poor crowd management, seem to be a major issue as of the last few days. As a result, I personally have little desire to go to Thorpe. It's sad, because I've been to smaller attractions this month that have massively increased their staffing levels to ensure much smaller crowds are managed.

In terms of Tidal Wave, it was meant to feature heavily in their summer soaked event this year. Additionally, marketing have taken to using 'the UK's wettest theme park' on hot days, so I wouldn't be massively concerned of it going the way of Loggers Leap just yet.
 
MakoMania said:
Same happened to me on Smiler, they seem so occupied with the new procedures they are forgetting to check restraints every now and then.
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Remember that if a restraint wasn't locked the ride would not allow despatch and it would show on the op panel, then the op would ask for a re-check over the PA system. Nothing to worry about. :)
 
Glad I bailed on getting a MAP renewal this year now! Think I’ll stick to Towers for the foreseeable future.

In terms of restraint checks, this is hopefully an isolated issue. However, the point is less about the restraint being potentially unsafe and unlocked (as others have said, there’s parks who don’t bother with restraint checking at all or just provide a cursory hand passing over the restraint, instead letting the system handle it).

What is a concern is if standard operating procedures are being allowed to slide. When procedure falls apart is when the trouble starts, something Merlin should be acutely aware of. It could suggest a training issue, or staff who are overloaded with the volume of new changes and pressures of operating in the current situation. However, as I say, these are hopefully isolated cases which can be attributed to what is effectively opening week teething issues. If the same thing is still happening later into the season however then it may suggest a bigger issue.
 
Ian said:
What is a concern is if standard operating procedures are being allowed to slide.
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I would guess that as someone else mentioned, its possible the standard operating procedure isn't going well as they are too pre-occupied with the exceptional covid-related additional procedures. Hopefully staff will get more used to everything in a few weeks and things will speed up as they get used to it too.
 
I didn't mind about not having my restraint checked. Nonetheless if there's people that are afraid it takes away their reassurance and could ruin their experience after 90+ minutes of waiting. Hopefully this was a one off.
 
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