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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

Bowser said:
Sorry that it's a slight thread deviation but i've seen this mentioned before, that Disney gave out free fastpasses and i'm curious as to how this worked?
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It changed throughout the time,
when it started it was only for main attractions and to the side of the attractions there were ticket machines at the start of the day You would place your pass in and push a button and then would get a ticket with the return time on (I can't recall if you could do multiple at the same time but I don't think you can) and then you give the ticket ata the end of the fast pass queue

Then disney moved to fast pass plus a contactless system where 30 days before (60 for hotel guests) your stay you could book 3 fast passes per day (once used if avaliable you can book more) and each ride had fastpass. With terminals at the start and e d of the fast pass queue and they were on all of the rides

Overall a big downgrade as it meant you had to plan heavily before leaving to have a good time as they would run out fast, or not be avaliable due to hotel guests

Another problem with the new system was that since it was free, easy to book and they had a huge amount of passes it drove the queue times to an insane degree, for example the snowhite ride from the enterance a full queue is 40 mins with no fastpass but with fastpass it can be 2-3 hours. And since you booked the fast passes before hand (not on the day first come style) it disincentives comming early as there is little point

And then it moved to a pay system where you pay for the fast pass system (j am not sure as I haven't used the new system) and then it moved again to lightning lane (I haven't used this either)
 
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Thanks for the responses all and sorry for the brief deviation. Will watch that later but sounds more like it was a free virtual queuing system than fast-pass (a-la Mandrill Mayhem last year albeit with paper as opposed to digital)!

To inadvertently get back on track, I do wonder if Hyperia considered that? It almost never seems to be below 80 minutes but then TP don't have the digital systems of CWOA and Legoland so perhaps that ruled it out.
 
Bowser said:
To inadvertently get back on track, I do wonder if Hyperia considered that? It almost never seems to be below 80 minutes but then TP don't have the digital systems of CWOA and Legoland so perhaps that ruled it out.
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I think that’s quite par for the course for a new ride in its opening year. Most new rides in previous years haven’t often gone below an hour in their first year.

I think Mandrill Mayhem having a virtual queue was a special case due to its particularly low capacity. As Hyperia doesn’t suffer from this (not to the same degree as Mandrill, at least), I don’t think it was really needed here.
 
Bowser said:
Thanks for the responses all and sorry for the brief deviation. Will watch that later but sounds more like it was a free virtual queuing system than fast-pass (a-la Mandrill Mayhem last year albeit with paper as opposed to digital)!
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the Tussauds parks had the exact same free system of collecting return times back in the early 2000s, they called it virtual queue.
 
Got a question, forgive me if this comes across as dim.

How can a ride like depth charge have downtime that isn't weather related?

It's just a super slide with the conveyor belt being the only mechanical aspect right? So if it closes, it is because the conveyor belt has stopped?
 
Dhev123 said:
Got a question, forgive me if this comes across as dim.

How can a ride like depth charge have downtime that isn't weather related?

It's just a super slide with the conveyor belt being the only mechanical aspect? So if it closes, it is because the conveyor belt has stopped?
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You've also got the tipper things that launch the boats. Could always be a guest issue, who knows.
 
I believe Depth Charge is also getting on quite a bit, it opened in 1991 which might make it susceptible to downtime with the conveyor belt, the tipping mechanism and the water pumps.

It could also be structural as well but I'd like to think it'll be closed continuously if it's a structural issue.
 
Hi all. I have just purchased my first gold annual pass for Thorpe. I see that I get free parking. How do I scan/ take advantage of this. And do I also get a discount on food as well? Where can I use this?
 
Wildboy1983 said:
Hi all. I have just purchased my first gold annual pass for Thorpe. I see that I get free parking. How do I scan/ take advantage of this. And do I also get a discount on food as well? Where can I use this?
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Simply scan you pass at the car park barrier. If you entered your car reg when purchasing your pass, Thorpe has ANPR cameras at the barrier which will read your reg and open automatically.

Gold pass you get 20% off on the Aramark food. Thorpe uses quite a few other food vendors though which don't do discount. If you have the app, search 'discount' and it will list all the food outlets you can get discount at.

If I was you though, i'd avoid the ones you can get discount at 🤣
 
Wildboy1983 said:
Thanks for the info. Is it a good strategy to go straight for hyperia first or better to do other stuff instead and come back later?
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It is never a good idea to go to a new ride first. I’d recommend this order; Colossus, Saw, Inferno, Stealth, Swarm, Hyperia. I’d get Colossus and Saw out the way straight away while most people are preoccupied by Hyperia
 
Ethan said:
It is never a good idea to go to a new ride first. I’d recommend this order; Colossus, Saw, Inferno, Stealth, Swarm, Hyperia. I’d get Colossus and Saw out the way straight away while most people are preoccupied by Hyperia
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...So when the new ride breaks down at lunchtime, you can hate yourself all afternoon!
Always a tricky decision with the big new ride.
I warned you first!
 
GooseOnTheLoose said:
Why on earth don't the other Merlin attraction apps offer this feature?
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Because thorpe is the best in the merlin group? Case in point good/excellent bus services when the car park is due for 'environmental' reasons. When a certain park with little to no public transport options charges to park in a field with a under par transport system.
 
rob666 said:
...So when the new ride breaks down at lunchtime, you can hate yourself all afternoon!
Always a tricky decision with the big new ride.
I warned you first!
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True but it’s a risk worth taking. Note that the route I recommended only works if Hyperia is open on time in the morning. If you get through the dome and see Hyperia closed on the app then definitely don’t go to Colossus and Saw first
 
Wildboy1983 said:
Thanks for the info. Is it a good strategy to go straight for hyperia first or better to do other stuff instead and come back later?
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Single rider is usually very quiet first thing as most people use the main queue. But it has been opening slightly later so may be best to get on the other coasters first. Colossus/Saw and Inferno/Stealth are good ones for the morning.

Make use of the 7pm close, the park is filtering out after 5ish at the moment so queues on Hyperia have been getting low in the evening.
 
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