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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

Enter Valhalla said:
I think it’s time for it to go, and something like a water coaster to be added in its place. Let’s be honest, it’s not been great ever since it changed from Thunder River.
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I completely agree with you - I've been waiting to see the back of RR for years due to it's ever declining experience & need for ever increasing staff and saftey rules (sorry if I offend any fans of the ride! 😔) however, I remember during closed season, Thorpe ran a few Q&A threads on the Annual Pass group & someone asked about the future of RR - the response was that there were no current plans to remove or update the ride (which disappointed me!) Hopefully though, it is in line to be one of the next areas of major development 🤞
 
BooMT said:
I completely agree with you - I've been waiting to see the back of RR for years due to it's ever declining experience & need for ever increasing staff and saftey rules (sorry if I offend any fans of the ride! 😔) however, I remember during closed season, Thorpe ran a few Q&A threads on the Annual Pass group & someone asked about the future of RR - the response was that there were no current plans to remove or update the ride (which disappointed me!) Hopefully though, it is in line to be one of the next areas of major development 🤞
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I expect the new island they wanted to craft will be next. The park wants a few mixed family rides and this rapids is not offensive to anyone. If the ride operates with 10 staff with late opening I can't see this being as much of a staff issue as that's 3 hours of no staffing per day and the tech team get more time.
 
AT86 said:
Remember when Taziker retracked part of Colossus but it didn’t fit so had to be taken back off and redone resulting in weeks of down time and delayed opening in 2023?

Yeah, they’ve won an award for that.

taziker.com

Taziker Wins UK Tekla Award 2024

Taziker has won a UK Tekla Award 2024 in the Small Projects category for retracking work on the Colossus Rollercoaster at Thorpe Park.
taziker.com taziker.com
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'Neil Harrison, Managing Director, Taziker said: “We are proud to receive a UK Tekla Award for Small Projects. This recognition is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the Taziker team, as well as the important role that Tekla software plays in helping us to achieve precise and efficient results for our clients.”'

I am not sure about that...
 
Shaggy_Dog_ said:
The fatal accident on the rapids at Drayton in 2017, it had the consequences of changing the way parks operate water rides in this country.
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Yes I know, I was being sarcastic, given how widely reported that event was.

Anyway, moving back to the point I was originally making, the requirement for 10 staff to run the ride, the requirement for under 18s to be accompanied, the ride being effectively redundant for use by school parties, the removal of all the sprays and the taming down of the ride itself, all added together make this ride an operational nightmare and a ride which is no longer viable to feature in the park’s future plans.

The reasons for those restrictions being in place is irrelevant. They are in place and they have to be, so I would say that keeping the ride just isn’t sensible anymore, and it should be removed.
 
Enter Valhalla said:
Yes I know, I was being sarcastic, given how widely reported that event was.

Anyway, moving back to the point I was originally making, the requirement for 10 staff to run the ride, the requirement for under 18s to be accompanied, the ride being effectively redundant for use by school parties, the removal of all the sprays and the taming down of the ride itself, all added together make this ride an operational nightmare and a ride which is no longer viable to feature in the park’s future plans.

The reasons for those restrictions being in place is irrelevant. They are in place and they have to be, so I would say that keeping the ride just isn’t sensible anymore, and it should be removed.
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What a strange tone of voice. It’s no longer viable because you’ve decided so?

The reply seems to present your opinion as fact, and having a go at someone (for not understanding a vaguely worded previous post was apparently sarcastic) is a little petulant. Maybe your comic talents are wasted on us.

RR is certainly not what it used to be, but will without doubt help with queues during the summer holidays. There’s plenty of younger kids and families who will appreciate having that ride for a few years to come. As long as it’s safe and not being presented as something it’s not, keep it open I say.

I’d love a better ride in its place, but that’s true of 50% of the rides at any UK theme/amusement park. What would remain at Blackpool or Chessington if we close everything past its best for example?


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I think it's about time Merlin invested in Congo and Rumba. Some new high backed boats and netting, or something in the design of them, that makes it impossible to fall out of the boats. I refuse to believe a fool proof design that's safe cannot be achieved if the will, and the cash, were there. A full investment in water effects, theming, and spectator interactions, coupled with a marketing campaign, and both rides have the potential to be great. A return to the theme park staples they once were, that I think the demand is still there for.

My ride on Rumba last week was indeed depressing, but all the way round I was thinking about how much potential it has. I think these rides have an important place in both park lineups, especially since both parks are suffering in the 'whole family' department at the moment.
 
I think the indoor part of Rumba Rapids could do with some investment, as it looks very poor at the moment. Thorpe Park could perhaps add some fake rockwork and upgrade the waterfall, as this has quite a lot of potential, but it currently doesn't seem to add to the ride experience.
 
For lots of junior school groups, the rapids is the highlight of the day, and many schools have hooked in volunteers to get all the kids on the rapids.
Popular attractions, even when the effects are off.
They could have done with a good scrub up on my last visit, and that was a few years ago...
 
ChrisAChats said:
What an entitled tone of voice. It’s no longer viable because you’ve decided so?

The reply seems to present your opinion as fact, and having a go at someone (for not understanding a vaguely worded previous post was apparently sarcastic) is a little petulant. Maybe your comic talents are wasted on us.

RR is certainly not what it used to be, but will without doubt help with queues during the summer holidays. There’s plenty of younger kids and families who will appreciate having that ride for a few years to come. As long as it’s safe and not being presented as something it’s not, keep it open I say.

I’d love a better ride in its place, but that’s true of 50% of the rides at any UK theme/amusement park. What would remain at Blackpool or Chessington if we close everything past its best for example?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Goodness, it was just an attempt at humour, but never mind. I won’t attempt to be humorous going forward.

Anyway, I certainly didn’t present this opinion as fact. I would argue that the cost of running any ride vs what is actually gained from the ride should always be a consideration. And it usually is.

For the number of guests that actually use Rumba, compared with the massive staffing costs, together with the high number of training hours and subsequent costs associated with this, I would stand by my argument that it is no longer viable, when compared against other rides which cost far less to run, have lower operational risk (the extra safety measures and high staffing numbers are there to negate that risk) and which are more popular.

You use the example of rides at Chessington but rides such as Tomb Blaster, Vampire and Tiger Rock are far less costly and cumbersome to operate and are far more popular with Chessington’s demographic.

I don’t expect you to agree with me, but based on the factors I’ve suggested, I would argue (on fact-based opinion) that the ride is not particularly viable anymore.

Now what would be really interesting would be to see what percentage of park guests actually use the ride, and how they would rate their enjoyment of the ride compared to others. Now that would really provide us with evidence as to whether or not the ride is viable, but sadly we don’t have said data. This is something that only the park will know 🙂
 
rob666 said:
For lots of junior school groups, the rapids is the highlight of the day, and many schools have hooked in volunteers to get all the kids on the rapids.
Popular attractions, even when the effects are off.
They could have done with a good scrub up on my last visit, and that was a few years ago...
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I do wonder what a party of British schoolkids would be like on a properly wild rapids ride like Radja River at Walibi Belgium or River Quest at Phantasialand where you feel like you might get thrown out of your seat and in to the water at any point. I suspect that those rides might actually make them hold on and behave themselves because there is a little sense of danger there, whereas because British rapids rides are often so tame and neutered now it makes them play up to get the splashes in as they try and liven it up a bit.
 
Shaggy_Dog_ said:
whereas because British rapids rides are often so tame and neutered now it makes them play up to get the splashes in as they try and liven it up a bit.
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I don't think you are quite right, the rapids are neutered because the kids stood up leading to a tragedy. Yes the rapids in the UK don't have the massive drops of others, which is what gave the impression that it is "safe" to stand up, but they were then made even more tame because of the standing and horseplay.
 
jon81uk said:
I don't think you are quite right, the rapids are neutered because the kids stood up leading to a tragedy. Yes the rapids in the UK don't have the massive drops of others, which is what gave the impression that it is "safe" to stand up, but they were then made even more tame because of the standing and horseplay.
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That’s kind of what I was alluding to, in that with a rapids ride that actually throws you around quite a bit I don’t think you’d see groups of kids standing up so much and moving around as they’d be genuinely more concerned about holding on and not ending up in the water. Whereas with tamer rapids I do wonder if it gives them a false sense of security and makes them think they can do things like get up out of their seat or lean in to the water to splash their friends. But of course a big thing can be for them trying to move seats to avoid a waterfall that they are approaching.
 
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The Intamin rapids at Silver Dollar City is a fantastic example of how a modern rapids ride can work. The traditional rapids section is really fast and you get soaked, then you also have the wow factor for spectators with the main drop. The boats have high fences so it would be near impossible to fall out.

Haven't done the Sea World Orlando one but imagine that's similar.

Popped in to Thorpe after work for a couple of hours today and Hyperia stopped on the lift hill and remained closed, hopefully it's a minor issue. This meant I was forced to venture into other areas of the park! Saw was vile but I really enjoyed Inferno which was more forceful than I remembered.

@rob666 I attempted to get a kebab to do a review for you, but they had sold out. Might try again next week, watch this space.
 
I haven't been on rumba rapids in years, do they have any effects/water spray/waves working at all? I don't remember anything particularly happening on the ride last time.

Do they still have the spray at the entrance as well?
 
Matt.GC said:
I think it's about time Merlin invested in Congo and Rumba. Some new high backed boats and netting, or something in the design of them, that makes it impossible to fall out of the boats. I refuse to believe a fool proof design that's safe cannot be achieved if the will, and the cash, were there. A full investment in water effects, theming, and spectator interactions, coupled with a marketing campaign, and both rides have the potential to be great. A return to the theme park staples they once were, that I think the demand is still there for.

My ride on Rumba last week was indeed depressing, but all the way round I was thinking about how much potential it has. I think these rides have an important place in both park lineups, especially since both parks are suffering in the 'whole family' department at the moment.
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I wouldn't be too surprised if they were planning on axing them in the future, rapids are a health and saftey nightmare for instance it can take 3-5 mins depending on the length of the rapids for the currents in the ride to settle after a ride stop so if someone ends up in the rapids then the life guards have to wait 3-5 mins before they can help and due to the currents it can be really difficult to swim in the water. we saw recently the incident at that six flags park where a boat got stuck and peopl started to try and get off causing people to panic and people enging up in the water which is very dangerous. I wouldn't be too suprised if they were wanting to replace them with either a new model or a new ride although I do think that congo may be difficult to replace as the area is made for it to go round, but rumba dosn't seem like it would impact another area of thorpe.
 
Here's an idea - seat belts! Look at the stats for such rides. Seat belts save lives.

The water rides at Universal are superb - Valhalla style dunking. The difference being the Florida sun will dry you out rather than the north winds sending you into hyperthermia 😁
 
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