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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

The WWTP Radio soundtrack has always been a real point of great interest for me. I love it, and when I was a teenager it actually got me in to 50s and 60s music big time, a genre which I’ve continued to love right into my 30s.

Personally I think that Amity Cove is a better themed area than Tornado Springs, and a massive contributory factor is the WWTP soundtrack.

Speaking of the original loop, it was initially pretty short, maybe about an hour long, with only a handful of songs, and dialogue between each song. In 2004, more music was added to make it a longer playlist, and three songs in a row were played between the talking.

Then some time in the early to mid teen years, a load more songs were added to the end of the playlist, making it now easily 3 hours long.

As for Stealth’s WWTP, that is, and always has been it’s own playlist, completely separate from Amity’s one. I know that it’s changed a few times. In 2009, it was incredibly short, and I believe that the guy who runs Thorpe Park Mania actually made them an extended version which they used for a few years.

And here’s one for the real Thorpe Park nerds, does anyone remember 2004’s incredibly short lived CCTP Radio which was played in Loggers queue line and around Canada Creek?

They tried to capitalise on the success of WWTP by turning the country music playlist into a Canada Creek radio station, and my god, it was bad. Literally only lasted a few months before being axed.
 
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Enter Valhalla said:
The WWTP Radio soundtrack has always been a real point of great interest for me. I love it, and when I was a teenager it actually got me in to 50s and 60s music big time, a genre which I’ve continued to love right into my 30s.

Personally I think that Amity Cove is a better themed area than Tornado Springs, and a massive contributory factor is the WWTP soundtrack.

Speaking of the original loop, it was initially pretty short, maybe about an hour long, with only a handful of songs, and dialogue between each song. In 2004, more music was added to make it a longer playlist, and three songs in a row were played between the talking.

Then some time in the early to mid teen years, a load more songs were added to the end of the playlist, making it now easily 3 hours long.

As for Stealth’s WWTP, that is, and always has been it’s own playlist, completely separate from Amity’s one. I know that it’s changed a few times. In 2009, it was incredibly short, and I believe that the guy who runs Thorpe Park Mania actually made them an extended version which they used for a few years.

And here’s one for the real Thorpe Park nerds, does anyone remember 2004’s incredibly short lived CCTP Radio which was played in Loggers queue line and around Canada Creek?

They tried to capitalise on the success of WWTP by turning the country music playlist into a Canada Creek radio station, and my god, it was bad. Literally only lasted a few months before being axed.
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Haha word for word this is exactly the same as me. I think someone on South Parks forum made a complete MP3 playlist of the music available to download which was brilliant in an era before YouTube and Spotify. Used to listen to it all the time.

Same with Loggers Leap which got me into Dolly Parton early on.

CCTP does ring a very slight bell for me. Were the accents awful?
 
Not just the awful accents, the whole thing was terrible. It felt like it had been bodged together in 5 minutes by the park’s Ents department, it was so bad.

Another reason I guess that CCTP Radio didn’t work is that, unlike Amity Cove, Canada Creek didn’t have a story as such, it was just a nice Canadian themed area. So whilst WWTP had news bulletins about the tidal wave, rescue evacuations etc, CCTP had nothing. So they just bodged together some storyline which wasn’t referenced anywhere else, so it just confused most (if not all) guests, including myself.
 
Something interesting to note about the original WWTP radio: it was actually a fairly clever setup using a couple of theme-park-staple Golding Audio media players, one with a series of songs in a playlist, and one with a series of stings.

Both playlists were set to random, and the players would trigger each other - so as one song ended, that player would pause and trigger the other player to play a random sting. At the end of the sting, that player would pause and trigger the first to play a random song and so-on. The entire of both playlists would play alternately in a random order before starting again, meaning that the order of the tracks and stings would constantly change, leading to a less repetitive playlist.

A really neat system, given most similar background audio systems (including WWTP in later life) simply play one pre-mixed track.
 
Wow, I never knew that. It was 2004 when I really started paying attention to WWTP, as this was when the playlist was extended and, based on what you’ve just said, it became a fixed playlist, as opposed to the tracks and segments playing in a random order.

I remember during the 2004 season, sitting on the grass opposite Tidal Wave, now occupied by Storm Surge’s runout, just listening to the tracks and, often, inadvertently remembering the order at which each track would appear on the playlist.

Baby Now That I’ve Found You by The Foundations would always kick in around park closing time on the 5pm days.

Ahhh mis-spent youth.
 
Just on the way home from a visit to Thorpe, thought I’d note down some thoughts on my day to pass the time in the car. We only did coasters (apart from Flying Fish), all of which are new creds for us. We did plan on doing a few flats and Tidal Wave but it didn’t in the end as we were enjoying the coasters too much. Will comment on each coaster starting with the best and finishing with the worst:

1. The Swarm - Wonderful, my favourite coaster at Thorpe. Had one ride at the front and one at the back both on the left side, my only criticism is that it’s a bit short.
1. Saw - Really fun, wasn’t expecting the water and got a mouthful the first time. Got on this first thing and was glad because it was then closed for most of the day. When it reopened we went straight over for another go but we were left waiting a really long time due to fast track being let through in their droves. Not surprising really I suppose as it had been closed for so long during the day so all the fast trackers went at the same time, but still annoying. We waited so long that when the ride host finally came over to let people in the standby line into the station building, people started cheering and clapping sarcastically.
3. Nemesis Inferno - So much smoother than Nemesis, and I don’t even think Nemesis is that rough to begin with. Had one second and one front row ride, no complaints, fun and intense. Doesn’t beat Nemesis for me though.
4. Stealth - Does one thing but does it very well. Doesn’t compare to Red Force but still an exhillerating ride. Had a row six and a back row ride.
5. The Walking Dead - Was alright.
6. Collosus - I had one ride second from the back and that was okay, a bit rough but I expected that. The second time we did it as the last ride of the day and I regretted it so much. Not only are the operations painful to watch, so was the ride itself. I was at the very back and holy moly, the head banging was insane from start to finish and I’m not even exaggerating. I spent more time trying to stop myself coming off concussed than I did enjoying the ride. I think this coaster is not only bottom of the list when it comes to my favourite coasters at Thorpe but it’s probably bottom of my list overall too. Horrendous, needs something doing to it, new trains or just tear the thing down. Not enjoyable at all and a bad way to end the day.

Stopped off at Amity Kebabs to get a drink and ended up waiting 45 minutes, dreadful, longest wait of the day so far at that point.

Self batching is chaos. Saw so many rows on coasters going off empty and no one seems to listen to the ride ops requests to fill all rows.

Overall it was a really good day with a couple of not so good moments. Still got a bit of a headache from that last ride on Colossus.
 
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BigShadowtinytree said:
Just on the way home from a visit to Thorpe, thought I’d note down some thoughts on my day to pass the time in the car. We only did coasters (apart from Flying Fish), all of which are new creds for us. We did plan on doing a few flats and Tidal Wave but it didn’t in the end as we were enjoying the coasters too much. Will comment on each coaster starting with the best and finishing with the worst:

1. The Swarm - Wonderful, my favourite coaster at Thorpe. Had one ride at the front and one at the back both on the left side, my only criticism is that it’s a bit short.
1. Saw - Really fun, wasn’t expecting the water and got a mouthful the first time. Got on this first thing and was glad because it was then closed for most of the day. When it reopened we went straight over for another go but we were left waiting a really long time due to fast track being let through in their droves. Not surprising really I suppose as it had been closed for so long during the day so all the fast trackers went at the same time, but still annoying. We waited so long that when the ride host finally came over to let people in the standby line into the station building, people started cheering and clapping sarcastically.
3. Nemesis Inferno - So much smoother than Nemesis, and I don’t even think Nemesis is that rough to begin with. Had one second and one front row ride, no complaints, fun and intense. Doesn’t beat Nemesis for me though.
4. Stealth - Does one thing but does it very well. Doesn’t compare to Red Force but still an exhillerating ride. Had a row six and a back row ride.
5. The Walking Dead - Was alright.
6. Collosus - I had one ride second from the back and that was okay, a bit rough but I expected that. The second time we did it as the last ride of the day and I regretted it so much. Not only are the operations painful to watch, so was the ride itself. I was at the very back and holy moly, the head banging was insane from start to finish and I’m not even exaggerating. I spent more time trying to stop myself coming off concussed than I did enjoying the ride. I think this coaster is not only bottom of the list when it comes to my favourite coasters at Thorpe but it’s probably bottom of my list overall too. Horrendous, needs something doing to it, new trains or just tear the thing down. Not enjoyable at all and a bad way to end the day.

Stopped off at Amity Kebabs to get a drink and ended up waiting 45 minutes, dreadful, longest wait of the day so far at that point.

Self batching is chaos. Saw so many rows on coasters going off empty and no one seems to listen to the ride ops requests to fill all rows.

Overall it was a really good day with a couple of not so good moments. Still got a bit of a headache from that last ride on Colossus.
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Looks like someone didn't try front row...
 
BigShadowtinytree said:
On Colossus? Is it much better than near the back? I did want to go nearer the front the second time but the batching just didn’t work out that way. Still can’t get over how rough it was, people really aren’t exaggerating when it comes to Colossus.
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Yeah it's better towards the front apparently. I can't comment though as my ride in the front of the second-to-back car was unexpectedly super smooth (and no head-banging as I'm tall). Did the very front as well which was equally as smooth. Although if you're shorter you'll always have the issue of head-banging no matter how rough or smooth it is.
 
Colossus very much depends on so many things to experience it right.

If your the right height and build it rides fine. To short a head killer, to tall a leg killer etc.

But the biggest contributors from my time at the park, was dispatch intervals keeping the wheels/bearings warm, The weather/ heat / humidity.

But also smaller things like which engineer servicing and checking the train in relation to wheels and adjustments.

I cant say ive ever had bad rides on colossus, but my advise is sit forwards with your arms up to reduce head banging.

Also if you catch the end of long operating hour’s and good operations god does it fly around the track, the faster it runs the smoother the ride
 
I am short, so that probably doesn’t help with regards to colossus.

I feel like it shouldn’t be this complicated to get a decent ride on a coaster though, on the right day, with the right operations, when the weather is just right and the fairy’s visited over night to sprinkle magic fairy dust over the track, then, if you’re lucky, you might just get a good ride on colossus🤣
 
An ex employee claims he was attacked and tied up and forced on a ride against his will.

Eventually, after three good summers, my final day came. At around 6pm I was called down to the main office, where I assumed I would be greeted with a farewell card signed by everyone saying how much they would miss me. Instead, I was attacked en route by masked assailants who tied me up and pushed me on a trolley to Tidal Wave, the water ride that routinely soaked everyone who rode it from head to toe.

I was secured inside the ride and sent around it three times against my will, afterwards I was untied and my manager shook my hand. Then someone threw a bucket of yellow slop over me, which I was told was the mixture they use to make doughnuts, and everyone laughed - except the HR rep who told me to make sure I washed my uniform before I returned it.
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www.getsurrey.co.uk

Ex-Thorpe Park employee spills theme park's secrets and best day to work

SurreyLive's Dave Bradshaw reminisces about being paid £3.50 an hour to dress like a clown
www.getsurrey.co.uk www.getsurrey.co.uk
 
Late to the Colossus chat but I never have any issues with it personally, I just think that the last half of the ride is a bit boring and unimaginative- don't enjoy the five rolls in a row that are just there to get the inversion count up.

When we went a few weeks ago operations were great everywhere... except Colossus. The operator in the actual box wasn't really paying attention and one of the two checking bars was doing it so slowly that trains on the brake run were sat there waiting for three to five minutes at times. On a baking hot day that's not great.

Operations on Inferno were brilliant- one of the operators was singing the whole time and getting guests to sing along, which is probably a nightmare if you're not into that kind of thing but was fun for us. A few months ago we had a similar guy on the dodgems, but that was really bad just because it was so loud and out of tune.

Food for Mardi Gras looked good but not on the same planet as Towers, which is understandable.

I wish they'd be clearer on when actors are in TWD. I went with one friend who loves the actors in there and one friend who hates them. Went on with the first one and there were no actors, presumably on a break which is totally fair. Minutes later I went on with the second one, assuring her there were no actors, and lo and behold two zombies scared the poor woman.

While we're on the subject of Thorpe, the famous Jack Silkstone has just posted his second video trying to trick young children into believing that he now lives in Thorpe Park in the space of just a few years.
 
ThemeParkAddict said:
I wish they'd be clearer on when actors are in TWD. I went with one friend who loves the actors in there and one friend who hates them. Went on with the first one and there were no actors, presumably on a break which is totally fair. Minutes later I went on with the second one, assuring her there were no actors, and lo and behold two zombies scared the s**t out of the poor woman.
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There is a sign that they put outside the entrance, strange that it wasn't there for you. Although I don't remember noticing it on my ride back in April, and the actors were there.
 
There used to be a sign, however when I’ve been this season I’ve not spotted the sign and there has been actors both times, so maybe they always have actors in there now.

It’s probably on the H&S board to be fair.
 
I thought the new summer ‘Carnival’ event was meant to be more of a chilled Brazilian/Rio carnival type of affair - but it seems they are opening a scare maze for an upcharge for this event, so now I am a bit confused on what it is meant to be.

74B4EAE1-7FCB-4D0D-BC43-E8FA83E7ED22.jpeg
 
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