Thorpe Park: General Discussion

[Rick]

Do you mean Battersea Power Station Station? For that is its name

I did, you nerd

 

[SuperMuscleMan]

Not sure I would class closing a ride mid season as giving the best experience possible to guests.

The best experience possible would be writing off the months left on the parts and replacing them closed season, so aside from any reactive maintenance in the season, the ride can operate fully throughout the season.

Maybe not for you but safety here is a priority, customer satisfaction next and who's to say they did not try over winter but the parts were unavailable? I think it's great to have a heads up. Towers on the other hand with hex is just a con. Disney prewarn of closures, even in peak periods they shut rides. Admittedly it's a 365 park. But I congratulate thorpe for some common sense.

 

[jon81uk]

Found myself on the Northern Line today from Battersea Power Station. During the week there's typically a few people in each carriage but on a Sunday I found myself on my own for 10 minutes or so.

It got me thinking that, despite its problems, Ghost Train at Thorpe is a pretty incredible reproduction of a Tube train, for a regional park. Plus, I still maintain that the outer of the interior set is probably the coolest thing Merlin has ever built.

Although the fact it is such a close replica is also one of the biggest issues as it doesn’t transport you away to a new and exciting adventure clearly enough. I never quite worked out exactly what the plot was on my one and only ride.

 

[DistortAMG]

Maybe not for you but safety here is a priority, customer satisfaction next and who's to say they did not try over winter but the parts were unavailable? I think it's great to have a heads up. Towers on the other hand with hex is just a con. Disney prewarn of closures, even in peak periods they shut rides. Admittedly it's a 365 park. But I congratulate thorpe for some common sense.

I agree that announcing them is good.

But having a ride closed is always going to be a negative customer experience. Irrespective of the reasoning.

People go to theneparks to primarily ride rides, pretty obvious right? Therefore, having rides closed in the main season is going to be a negative experience for the customer, seeing as many customers are there for the rides.

It may very well be that they are keeping people safe and could not source the parts. We expect to be kept safe so that should not come into it. Putting the argument across to a customer that we have closed the ride but have kept you alive is hardly a positive experience for a customer. It is clearly a good decision, but positive, no. Even if those words are not explicitly used.

Pre warning customers of closures is an improvement to customer experience, but it is still not as good of an experience as the rides being open. Customers do not usually know or care of the reasons a ride is open. They just see it closed and it is negative to them.

Tldr: Rides have to be closed to maintain them and keep people safe. Because the park have done that, that is not a better experience for the customer than having the rides open and safe. It is an essential decision but it does not make a person's day better than having a full lineup.

 

[SuperMuscleMan]

I agree that announcing them is good.

But having a ride closed is always going to be a negative customer experience. Irrespective of the reasoning.

People go to theneparks to primarily ride rides, pretty obvious right? Therefore, having rides closed in the main season is going to be a negative experience for the customer, seeing as many customers are there for the rides.

It may very well be that they are keeping people safe and could not source the parts. We expect to be kept safe so that should not come into it. Putting the argument across to a customer that we have closed the ride but have kept you alive is hardly a positive experience for a customer. It is clearly a good decision, but positive, no. Even if those words are not explicitly used.

Pre warning customers of closures is an improvement to customer experience, but it is still not as good of an experience as the rides being open. Customers do not usually know or care of the reasons a ride is open. They just see it closed and it is negative to them.

Tldr: Rides have to be closed to maintain them and keep people safe. Because the park have done that, that is not a better experience for the customer than having the rides open and safe. It is an essential decision but it does not make a person's day better than having a full lineup.

I think what I'm getting at is pre warned honesty is good. The situation with hex is unacceptable. At least if the rides mentioned were your must do/deal breaker rides you can schedule a visit not to fall on the one or 2 days it's closed.

This is all about the pre warning. Not the fact the rides are closed. (Which if a 48 period pre warned is not a big deal to me - I would go another day).

Take note Alton... Thorpe have better customer service - who would have thought!

 

[Skyscraper]

I think what I'm getting at is pre warned honesty is good. The situation with hex is unacceptable. At least if the rides mentioned were your must do/deal breaker rides you can schedule a visit not to fall on the one or 2 days it's closed.

This is all about the pre warning. Not the fact the rides are closed. (Which if a 48 period pre warned is not a big deal to me - I would go another day).

Take note Alton... Thorpe have better customer service - who would have thought!

Hex is marked as closed all day on the app and has been for a while now.

 

[Islander]

Hex is marked as closed all day on the app and has been for a while now.

Very, very few people will be checking the app before visiting - it's a tool for on the day.

Scheduled closures should always be advertised on the website.

 

[BigShadowtinytree]

Was at Thorpe today, operations for the rides I went on were decent and it was busy but not ridiculously so, i never saw queues go over 60 minutes, most queues hovered between 30-45 minutes, except for collosus which hit 70 at one point, but with the operations on that I’m not surprised. I would be so chuffed if they refurbed that coaster and gave it new trains at some point, I might actually like it then, but I doubt it’s a priority for Merlin they have many things on their plate at the moment and all their parks need work in some form.

Made a special effort to get on Zodiac today, having rode this exact ride back when it was at Drayton Manor briefly nearly 20 years ago - Christ that makes me feel old - I wanted to get on it again. It still looks pretty much exactly how I remember it at Drayton, so that was a pretty cool nerd moment for me. Not done an enterprise for ages either with the one at Towers being in bits for the whole season.

Did The Swarm 3 times, in the morning one side of the back row was blocked off, then it broke down briefly before our first ride, and when it reopened the whole of the back row was blocked off on both trains for the rest of the day. Not sure what the reason for that could but but it always makes me think of weight issues or something along those lines, could be way off though. I do like Swarm, it has some really cool elements and is just really fun to ride, just a shame it’s short.

Edit; also forgot to add that the freestyle machines weren’t working, not sure of the reason but I know Legoland’s machines have been out of order too recently. Plenty of water refill stations around the park though and plenty of places to buy drinks with the carnival kiosks selling drinks too along with the usual places.

 

[Matt N]

It would appear that Thorpe Park is trialling a single rider queue on Saw The Ride:

Brilliant news; I look forward to trying this out on my solo Thorpe visit on 10th September!

The one on Smiler works very well indeed, so let’s hope the one on Saw is the same!

 

[DistortAMG]

I think what I'm getting at is pre warned honesty is good. The situation with hex is unacceptable. At least if the rides mentioned were your must do/deal breaker rides you can schedule a visit not to fall on the one or 2 days it's closed.

This is all about the pre warning. Not the fact the rides are closed. (Which if a 48 period pre warned is not a big deal to me - I would go another day).

Take note Alton... Thorpe have better customer service - who would have thought!

Oh sorry. Totally mis understood! Yes I agree with this. Pre warning is great.

 

[Skyscraper]

It would appear that Thorpe Park is trialling a single rider queue on Saw The Ride:

Brilliant news; I look forward to trying this out on my solo Thorpe visit on 10th September!

The one on Smiler works very well indeed, so let’s hope the one on Saw is the same!

So is that using the same lane as RAP?

 

[Matt N]

So is that using the same lane as RAP?

I’m not 100% sure. The post says that it’s using the second set of stairs inside the building (the ones that run directly alongside the main queue all the way up to the station), but I’m admittedly not sure where RAP enters on Saw. I’d assumed that RAP merges at a similar point to Fastrack (which I think merges in before entering the building), but I’m not 100% sure on that one.

They appear to have created a few new switchbacks for SRQ, though, so outside at least, it appears to be a totally separate queue.

Did Saw even have an SRQ to begin with?

 

[Nick🎢]

RAP merges at the same point as fast track but is a parallel queue up until that point. It's the bit where it randomly hisses before the stairs.

 

[djtruefitt]

It’s funny how Thorpe used to have single rider on some rides and they removed them some years back. Partly because I don’t think the staff could do it very well. Stealth single rider was great as it was usually just walk on and the staff didn’t care

Having been abroad the last week, I do miss single rider lines, I used loads on my trip and they can save you so much time if you time it right.

 

[Enter Valhalla]

Thorpe was actually the first park in the UK to operate single rider queues. Sadly they got a bit obsessed with them and started putting them in places where they really shouldn’t have been, Nemesis Inferno exit being the best (or should I say worst) example.

From my experience, the staff ran them well but they were often at ride exits where they really shouldn’t have been and it got so out of control that they removed them.

 

[D4n]

Flying Fish was my favourite example of an inappropriate single rider queue ... how awkward and unnecessary.

It seemed to last longer than most of the others as well before removal

A single rider queue on Walking Dead would be a good idea given the need to fill seats

 

[AT86]

If memory serves they also had an issue that comes with the TP clientele, in that groups would often not want to be split up when they reached the end of the single rider queue and would argue with the staff members.

Causing issues which inevitably slowed down operations as trains got held back whilst staff dealt with said guests.

 

[BigShadowtinytree]

I love single rider lines, it means when my other half and I go to parks with our kids we can take turns going off to do a big ride or two without being gone for too long. Smiler single rider has gotten a lot of use from us this season and we’d definitely make use of a Saw single rider if we ever took the kids to Thorpe. In fact we’d probably use it when we go on our own as we don’t mind not sitting next to each other. Hope this trial is successful.

 

[Enter Valhalla]

If memory serves they also had an issue that comes with the TP clientele, in that groups would often not want to be split up when they reached the end of the single rider queue and would argue with the staff members.

Causing issues which inevitably slowed down operations as trains got held back whilst staff dealt with said guests.

I was a regular user of the single rider queues at Thorpe and I never saw this happen even once.

 

[Benzin]

I was a regular user of the single rider queues at Thorpe and I never saw this happen even once.

Happens all over. Usually the staff do win mind but there have been plenty of examples I've seen where groups kick up a fuss (even at Europa) about being split up even if they're in the single rider queue.