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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

Re: Thorpe Park

Actually, when presented with data, I would assess it...

When of course that is provided to me, I will be able to truly judge the picture...

And compared to the majority on this forum, I'm quite fond of Merlin... Indeed, I give them some tips of the hat in things they've done well, but actually this is more about the evidence you have that supports that Thorpe are doing extremely successfully when externally there is no evidence to the contrary bar a single day that they've hit a high gate figure in the busiest part of the season...

Once it's proven that Thorpe are doing well financially as opposed to the previous status of floundering severely with only Gardaland being worse, then I will give them due... Indeed, they've improved events, but the current switch to family mid-season says a lot more about their situation than it being 'good'...
 
Re: Thorpe Park

The problem I have with Thorpe (and indeed, have always had with Thorpe since I started visiting regularly in 2007) is that it's great when it's quiet but absolutely horrible when it's busy.

I posted in the shoutbox yesterday to point out what I thought were horrific queues at Towers (Rita 100, Air 80, Oblivion + Rapids 70, Nemesis + The Flume 60 etc), but it turns out Thorpe was in a whole different league. Monday's peak queue times, according to TPM members were:

Tidal Wave: 160
Stealth: 140
Swarm, Saw, Colossus: 120
Loggers, Storm Surge: 100
Inferno, Rush (1 swing): 90

Then there's this picture of the queue to buy fastrack, taken at 11am:
post-3565-0-81675800-1374519440.jpg


I've been looking at Thorpe's fastrack options, and something that jumps out is that they're very cheap compared with the equivalent options at Towers. The fact that on busy days most options sell out suggests to me that they are in fact too cheap. With that in mind, here's a list of the packages, their prices and what I think they should be charging. This is based on my long-standing argument that fastrack users should be ripped off as much as possible.



Ticket PriceSuggested price
Ultimate Fastrack£70£95+
Full Throttle (Swarm, Saw, Stealth, Colossus & Inferno)£19.50£25 (save £3)
Accelerator Fastrack (Stealth, Samurai, Vortex & Rush)£10.50 (save £2)£12 (save £3)
Extreme Fastrack (Colossus, Inferno, X, Loggers Leap OR Tidal Wave)£10.50 (save £1.50)£12 (save £3)
Hydration Fastrack (Storm Surge, Tidal Wave, Logger's Leap & Rapids)£7.50 (save £3.50)£10 (save £4)
THE SWARM Fastrack£5.00£6
SAW - The Ride Fastrack£4.50£6
Stealth Fastrack (Pole Position)£4.50scrapped
Stealth Fastrack (Normal)£4.00£6
Colossus Fastrack £3.00£5
Loggers Leap Fastrack£3.00£4
Nemesis Inferno Fastrack£3.00£5
Rush Fastrack£3.00£3
Samurai Fastrack£3.00£3
Storm Surge Fastrack£3.00£3
Tidal Wave Fastrack£3.00£4
X Fastrack£3.00£3
Flying Fish Fastrack£2.00£3
Rumba Rapids Fastrack£2.00£3
Slammer Fastrack£2.00£3
Vortex Fastrack£2.00£3
 
Re: Thorpe Park

Well there goes my desire to visit Thorpe Park again soon...
 
Re: Thorpe Park

Fastrack is a weird one at thorpe - there's seemingly no logical thought to it. Why are some prices rounded to 50p?

They're obviously not linked whatsoever to throughputs of the rides either, otherwise you wouldn't get options of "loggers OR tidal" on extreme fastrack.

No wonder they can have issues with fastrack when you consider Stealth is sold with 5 options.
 
Re: Thorpe Park

Thorpe park was good today. Everyting on 2 trains. Lightning dealt with well. Only bad things were fastrack upsell signs outside all major coasters and colossus and saw dispatch running slow. The queues were a bit long. Managed 7 rides. Swarm front row, Nemesis inferno, Colossus front row ( less rickety than I remember), Saw ( Horrible :( ) Stealth, Rush which was on 1 swing and closed untill about 2:30 and Vortex.
 
Re: Thorpe Park

One thing i dont get about fastrack at thorpe is people are happy to enter the park and join that massive queue presented to them without even looking at queue boards / rides to see how long the queues actually are
 
Re: Thorpe Park

That would suggest that for better or worse, depending on your perspective, Thorpe have created the sort of atmosphere and market that guests naturally assume they need it.
 
Re: Thorpe Park

It does seem that way, i guess it helps the main unit being at the front of the park, but as Alee298 proved, you can visit thorpe on a busy day and get a half decent ride count so im not too sure why people think its needed every day.
 
Re: Thorpe Park

Don't know why people are getting stressed about Thorpe having a couple of bad seasons, at least it does better than Garda and you only have to go back 5 years and it was doing amazingly well with a huge jump in numbers and profit.

Last season it struggled, and it also did at the beggining of this season (though all parks did). But I think they have taken a great change in focus now and got rid of the tacky chav style they have pushed for too long. Hopefully with the change the park will do better and actually feel better to visit.

Do wish they would sort out some of their operations and FT overselling, if they managed that I would go from liking the place to loving the place (ohh and bring back the entrance music).

I have never understood the need to play parks off against each other, I am first and foremost a theme park fan, Alton Towers has sentimental value to me as I have visited it for a long time (since been about 4), but I can like more than one park.

It's not a dirty thing for Thorpe to have had a few duff seasons, go back to 2008/ 2009 and the tables where very much turned when it came to profits between the two parks. To be very honest I think Thorpe do better theming than Towers already, Towers just has a friendlier atmosphere, better operations and mostly better coasters (but Thorpe has better flat rides).

There is room in our hearts for all the theme parks ;)
 
Re: Thorpe Park

TheMan said:
Dave said:
It's not a dirty thing for Thorpe...
Click to expand...

Hahahaha, did I end up in the Tavern without realising it or something?
Click to expand...

Behave :D

The only other thing Thorpe could do to bring it up is add some non-coaster decent installations, recently it puts in great coasters but it's non-coaster installations have been a little naff in the last few years.

If Thorpe get a dark ride and a few more flats for a range of guests (family and thrill) then quite frankly i will be there all the damn time.

:)
 
Re: Thorpe Park

All they need is a kiddies area, maybe themed around an Octopus Garden.... How about a Train ride around part of the park.. maybe in Canada Creek. They could also have a family ride in Calypso, like a journey round a safari. Maybe call it Fungle Safari or something like that.

All those will easily bring families in.

Oh.... wait....

DOH !!!!!

;)
 
Re: Thorpe Park

PeteA said:
All they need is a kiddies area, maybe themed around an Octopus Garden.... How about a Train ride around part of the park.. maybe in Canada Creek. They could also have a family ride in Calypso, like a journey round a safari. Maybe call it Fungle Safari or something like that.

All those will easily bring families in.

Oh.... wait....

DOH !!!!!

;)
Click to expand...

And a 4D cinema somewhere in the center of the park would be a great family attraction :)
 
Re: Thorpe Park

Thinking about it, why not have a dark ride based on a Manor, maybe call it Phantom Manor. Or a water ride based on an old character from the park called Mr Rabbits Tropical Travels.

DOH !!!!

;)
 
Re: Thorpe Park

PeteA said:
Thinking about it, why not have a dark ride based on a Manor, maybe call it Phantom Manor. Or a water ride based on an old character from the park called Mr Rabbits Tropical Travels.

DOH !!!!

;)
Click to expand...
Actually it was called Wicked Witches haunt or Phantom Fantasia but meh. ;)
 
Re: Thorpe Park

Do you think they will leave SAW as it is with this return to family focus? Or do you think it will end up being rethemed?

I was under the impression the licensing had expired ages ago, I guess it was renewed?

I'm not sure what else they could do with it that wouldn't involve taking away the only things that make it in any way special (indoor effects and the ripsaw blades)
 
Re: Thorpe Park

I think Saw's theme will and needs to be left alone really. It wouldn't surprise me if Saw Alive was ditched though, although it's probably best being kept from Fright Nights.
 
Re: Thorpe Park

Hi All,

Just ordered a full-throttle fast track online for thorpe park, but the instructions online are so vague I have no idea what it means :(

It says the time I select will pick the ride order, but didn't actually tell me the ride order for each of the times so I just picked a random one.

The ticket receipt says "Saw the Ride: 3:30 - 4:00" but then underneath it it says ignore the times, as the fast-track begins at 1pm.

So does that mean I have to ride them in a certain order, starting at 1pm? and that I won't even know the order until I pick up the ticket?

They couldn't have made it more confusing if they tried!!

Thanks in advance!
 
Re: Thorpe Park

RoyalFool said:
Hi All,

Just ordered a full-throttle fast track online for thorpe park, but the instructions online are so vague I have no idea what it means :(

It says the time I select will pick the ride order, but didn't actually tell me the ride order for each of the times so I just picked a random one.

The ticket receipt says "Saw the Ride: 3:30 - 4:00" but then underneath it it says ignore the times, as the fast-track begins at 1pm.

So does that mean I have to ride them in a certain order, starting at 1pm? and that I won't even know the order until I pick up the ticket?

They couldn't have made it more confusing if they tried!!

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...


There is no order for which rides you do on the fastrack unless it states otherwise. But if it tells you to ignore the times then you can do the rides whenever you want. You can always ask a member of staff when you pick up your tickets if you are still unsure.

:)
 
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