Thorpe Park: General Discussion

[Leigh]

Op shouting dispatch intervals then counting the hosts down on Stealth is unnecessary and cruel. Showing the hosts up if they run out of time doing safety critical checks ain't it.

Not like we had a major accident at a Merlin park caused by staff neglecting safety due to operational pressures or anything.

I agree, that’s not on and hope they put a stop to that. Plus the fact there’s already an interval timer on the platform anyway staff can look at.

 

[Poisson]

They also have headsets but were shouting over the PA? Yay Forp.

 

[AT86]

Nothing says an immersive themed experience like a ride op berating ride hosts over the tannoy.

Stay classy, Thorpe Park.

 

[Matt N]

Given that a likely massive Hyperia queue was displaced earlier today, the rest of the park doesn’t appear to be coping badly with the strain at all. The longest queue is 50 minutes, nothing is currently closed, and The Swarm is on a queue as low as 20 minutes!

 

[Ethan]

Given that a likely massive Hyperia queue was displaced earlier today, the rest of the park doesn’t appear to be coping badly with the strain at all. The longest queue is 50 minutes, nothing is currently closed, and The Swarm is on a queue as low as 20 minutes!

That’s likely because half the visitors were probs theme park nerds who have decided to leave because the ride they went for isn’t open

 

[Mhoowee]

Because of Hyperia's "unforseen issues" most of the people have left and it is quite nice

 

[Matt N]

On a promising note, I consistently heard that operations park-wide were excellent yesterday in spite of queues aside from Hyperia mostly remaining quite short!

It does seem like Thorpe are trying their very best to dispel the long-held notion that they have “rubbish operations”, with a real focus on efficiency in recent seasons!

 

[flyingguitar]

One thing I noticed today is that I feel like swarm really needs it's bag hold on busy days, the dispatches are quite long as people are messing with their bags and staff are waiting for guests getting off.

 

[Benzin]

Mostly seemed OK. Still a few bouts of downtime here and there which didn't help.

Think was more the organisation in the morning that really ruined the day.

 

[Benzin]

Double post but this photo needed sharing.

 

[Matt N]

Double post but this photo needed sharing.

They’re completing the other side next year due to the fact that completing it this off-season would have required the ride to remain closed for longer and they felt that having the ride open sooner was a preferable outcome.

 

[AT86]

They’re completing the other side next year due to the fact that they didn't get enough budget to employ enough people to complete the work in one closed season, meaning millions of guests get to see if look a mess for another year completing it this off-season would have required the ride to remain closed for longer and they felt that having the ride open sooner was a preferable outcome.

Fixed it for you.

 

[Shaggy_Dog_]

Double post but this photo needed sharing.

This years repair budget has already been blown on clearing up all the confetti on the floor from Hyperia’s VIP launch event spectacular so we’ll just have to live with it until the 2025 season.

 

[Mick]

Had a somewhat frustrating day today:

- Detonator: advertised 5 mins, waited for 20 before being evacuated from the seat as the ride closed. Was up and down all day and didn’t get on it in the end.
- Saw: Queued on an advertised 45 mins, took over 2 hours! First they closed it to add a train, then it closed again for a temporary issue, op’s seemed really slow and the RAP people were being waved through without her even looking at the cards.
- Colossus: Advertised 15, took a 1 hour wait in the rain, no idea why but ops seemed so slow.
- Nemesis Inferno: Advertised 35, took about an hour. Also was closed for the first 2/3 hours of the day.

Actually thought the general look, feel and vibe of the park was very good, but the ops and reliability was underwhelming.

 

[benpicko]

- Detonator: Was up and down all day

That's the ride though, to be fair

 

[djtruefitt]

Have to say generally operations were really good on Friday/Saturday across the park, especially on Stealth which remained pretty much walk on most of Saturday.

However the Swarm had the worse operations I’ve ever seen on it. I’ve no idea why but it was just taking forever for staff to do anything, there was no urgency at all. Queue time was by far the longest on Swarm on Saturday and having done it twice during the day it’s no surprise.

In other swarm news it was nice to hear the old area music is back, just need the TVs and news channels back now.

Also audio was playing on the helicopter which I’ve not heard for years now.

 

[Dhev123]

I remember swarm used to fly trains out in 2012/2013 and early years, with the train in the station dispatching right after the other one had hit the 'midcourse' brake run and turnaround into the station. I had a 4 year break from thorpe due to the pandemic and me moving up north for uni, and albeit the day I went on was deserted, but the ops were so much slower, with the other train stacking for around a minute before the next one dispatched the station.

Also, is there a reason why the swarm slows down so much more these days after the turnaround? I remember it would slow down but you'd hit the turnaround with enough speed that you'd find on a family coaster, but recently, the brakes hit so much harder and you crawl past them

 

[KiMa]

Also, is there a reason why the swarm slows down so much more these days after the turnaround? I remember it would slow down but you'd hit the turnaround with enough speed that you'd find on a family coaster, but recently, the brakes hit so much harder and you crawl past them

I asked a ride op in March why it would sometimes slow to an absolute crawl on the midcourse and he said he thinks it is to reduce overspeeding, I remember a few visits last year where it slowed to an absolute crawl from like summer onwards and in March this year, though last two visits it seemed like normal? Weird one for sure.

 

[rob666]

Urethane compounds, temperature and wear.
Possibly/probably.
Same as my old board wheels...
Some days were faster than others.

 

[flyingguitar]

I remember swarm used to fly trains out in 2012/2013 and early years, with the train in the station dispatching right after the other one had hit the 'midcourse' brake run and turnaround into the station. I had a 4 year break from thorpe due to the pandemic and me moving up north for uni, and albeit the day I went on was deserted, but the ops were so much slower, with the other train stacking for around a minute before the next one dispatched the station.

one big slow down I noticed on saturday was guests messing with bags whilst trying to get on, the restrains would reliease and everyone would take at least 30 secs to pick up their bags, then 20-30 secs for everyone to leave the station fully, then gates open at least 30 secs of people messing with bags and sitting down, then 30-50 secs restraint checking and the train was out, I would have estimated about 1-2 mins per dispatch was lost due to people dilly dallying on the station due to bags/waiting.

I am guessing the building next to the merge point was a bag hold, if so I really think the swarm is a coaster that needs a bag hold, people just spend too long messing with bags, and since the gates can't open till most of the previous lot are off the train, people messing with bags adds quite a lot of time compared to nemesis, where the gates are opened with people still in the station collecting bags.