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Thorpe Park: General Discussion
- Thread starter Ted
- Start date
Ian
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Dizz, Bobby’s Yarn Land
Re: Thorpe Park
Well come to that surely you won't be able to get on some ride's if you're late? Rather than begrudgingly joining a long queue you can miss out on a ride once it hits it's daily quota of riders?
For Fastrack, fine, this would be a great system. But not for main queues.
DiogoJ42 said:
Well come to that surely you won't be able to get on some ride's if you're late? Rather than begrudgingly joining a long queue you can miss out on a ride once it hits it's daily quota of riders?
For Fastrack, fine, this would be a great system. But not for main queues.
smudge
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Nemesis
Re: Thorpe Park
I think this could work.
Imagine an app where you have a list of rides and the current virtual que time, you still choose what ride to que for.
It should still have a whoring ability too, if for example, the que is 0 mins, then you can opt to 'que' for the ride on your app, but then immediately go back on.
If a ride is 20 mins, you can opt to go on a ride with 5 mins, or just have a drink. It will drastically increase on-park spending. It will also benefit guests as they should be able to get on more attractions.
There could also be a calendar function, so it wont allow you to book two attractions for the same time and you will also know what time you need to get to each ride. allowing say at least 5 mins between attractions.
I think this could work.
Imagine an app where you have a list of rides and the current virtual que time, you still choose what ride to que for.
It should still have a whoring ability too, if for example, the que is 0 mins, then you can opt to 'que' for the ride on your app, but then immediately go back on.
If a ride is 20 mins, you can opt to go on a ride with 5 mins, or just have a drink. It will drastically increase on-park spending. It will also benefit guests as they should be able to get on more attractions.
There could also be a calendar function, so it wont allow you to book two attractions for the same time and you will also know what time you need to get to each ride. allowing say at least 5 mins between attractions.
KingNemesis
TS Member
Re: Thorpe Park
I see some issues with this.
1. In order to get this to work they will need to create more spots to reserve rides as not everyone will have a smartphone, which will create a queue for not queuing for a queue..
2. Personally I can't see this working... It is so impractical.. Imagine if this gets rolled out for the whole park.. it involves an extra step for customers, they can't queue up for a ride because they need to go on there smartphone or go to a ride and book. Bare in mind how they word it, no queues at all! If they reserve a ride they have to wander around till it's there time making the park look rammed as people are wandering around aimlessly waiting for there time. Also I personally can not image there to be any queues at all!
I see some issues with this.
1. In order to get this to work they will need to create more spots to reserve rides as not everyone will have a smartphone, which will create a queue for not queuing for a queue..
2. Personally I can't see this working... It is so impractical.. Imagine if this gets rolled out for the whole park.. it involves an extra step for customers, they can't queue up for a ride because they need to go on there smartphone or go to a ride and book. Bare in mind how they word it, no queues at all! If they reserve a ride they have to wander around till it's there time making the park look rammed as people are wandering around aimlessly waiting for there time. Also I personally can not image there to be any queues at all!
Surely they should protect the system to prevent abuse?!
Re: Thorpe Park
I was at Thorpe yesterday - the new system seemed a bit of a fiasco. We were told entering the park that we could only ride The Swarm using the booking system, so we booked - nearest slot was in about forty minutes time. You could book for forwards and backwards, and, like Disney Fastpass, you could only book for a single slot at a time - on your phone you would put how many were in your group. But if more than one member of a group had a smartphone, you could book as many slots as you had phones so they will need to sort that out.
When we got to the ride there were loads of people outside the entrance, it was pretty chaotic. I don't think they ended up using the booking system for the backwards queue, and for the forwards queue if you had a booking you used the Fastrack queue. People used the main queue if they didn't have a booking. They were very lenient over time slots, you could turn up at any time and they would let you on. This wasn't much use though as by midday the system had been scrapped and the Fastrack queue reopened to Fastrack.
In all, it seems a good idea in principle (we only waited 10 mins for our booked ride) but was very chaotic!
I was at Thorpe yesterday - the new system seemed a bit of a fiasco. We were told entering the park that we could only ride The Swarm using the booking system, so we booked - nearest slot was in about forty minutes time. You could book for forwards and backwards, and, like Disney Fastpass, you could only book for a single slot at a time - on your phone you would put how many were in your group. But if more than one member of a group had a smartphone, you could book as many slots as you had phones so they will need to sort that out.
When we got to the ride there were loads of people outside the entrance, it was pretty chaotic. I don't think they ended up using the booking system for the backwards queue, and for the forwards queue if you had a booking you used the Fastrack queue. People used the main queue if they didn't have a booking. They were very lenient over time slots, you could turn up at any time and they would let you on. This wasn't much use though as by midday the system had been scrapped and the Fastrack queue reopened to Fastrack.
In all, it seems a good idea in principle (we only waited 10 mins for our booked ride) but was very chaotic!
nickhutson
TS Member
Re: Thorpe Park
They're trying to get ahead of Disney in this.
Disney are going to introduce ride scheduling soon and "whoring" will be out of the question. Thorpe (Merlin) want to beat the mouse to it. Good luck to them...!
They're trying to get ahead of Disney in this.
Disney are going to introduce ride scheduling soon and "whoring" will be out of the question. Thorpe (Merlin) want to beat the mouse to it. Good luck to them...!
Dave
TS Founding Member
Re: Thorpe Park
I'm not too fussed about losing whoring as i tend not to. I just can't see the existing system they have actually working. For a start as has been said it only takes a group of 5 people with 5 sets of smart phones to set up slots for a range of rides and you have a self made fastrack and you can get 5 rides queued up in the time it would take to queue for one.
It will work for Disney as they don't have nor want paid fastrack, can't see Merlin wanting to lose that revenue stream myself.
I'm not too fussed about losing whoring as i tend not to. I just can't see the existing system they have actually working. For a start as has been said it only takes a group of 5 people with 5 sets of smart phones to set up slots for a range of rides and you have a self made fastrack and you can get 5 rides queued up in the time it would take to queue for one.
It will work for Disney as they don't have nor want paid fastrack, can't see Merlin wanting to lose that revenue stream myself.
Benzin
TS Member
Re: Thorpe Park
Don't fix what isn't broken comes to mind...
This is an apparently simple system? In comparison to the already perfectly simple children can do it one? Prevents people from running straight to it, being confused as to why they can't ride it first thing then faff to get a slot which is probably an hour away...
I assume people are counting the 10 minutes 'queue' as from entering the queue as well?
I can just imagine the absolute lunacy of this being park-wide as well "Oh right, let's do Swarm, can't until 12:30, ok, let's do Stealth in the meantime, oh, that's only from 14:00, etc, etc"...
Why can't we just stand in one singular line and queue normally? There is no possible way you can completely abolish queues, and as the system is proving, if it crashes then plentiful amounts of problems occur...
If we want to improve the 'queueline experience', then either design better queues in both layout, interaction and theme, or push up the operations and improve the throughputs... No need for some silly over the top method of organising your day of picking some timeframe over just walking to a ride and going into the queue...
Also, it's clearly already open to high levels of abuse like the old free Fastrack system, amazing <3
Don't fix what isn't broken comes to mind...
This is an apparently simple system? In comparison to the already perfectly simple children can do it one? Prevents people from running straight to it, being confused as to why they can't ride it first thing then faff to get a slot which is probably an hour away...
I assume people are counting the 10 minutes 'queue' as from entering the queue as well?
I can just imagine the absolute lunacy of this being park-wide as well "Oh right, let's do Swarm, can't until 12:30, ok, let's do Stealth in the meantime, oh, that's only from 14:00, etc, etc"...
Why can't we just stand in one singular line and queue normally? There is no possible way you can completely abolish queues, and as the system is proving, if it crashes then plentiful amounts of problems occur...
If we want to improve the 'queueline experience', then either design better queues in both layout, interaction and theme, or push up the operations and improve the throughputs... No need for some silly over the top method of organising your day of picking some timeframe over just walking to a ride and going into the queue...
Also, it's clearly already open to high levels of abuse like the old free Fastrack system, amazing <3
James
TS Founding Member
Re: Thorpe Park
It sounds like an awful system tbh. Not due to it eliminating 'ride whoring' - but more due to the fact it restricts how any guest would have a relaxed and spontaneous day.
Most people go around a park in an order. Like at Alton Towers people go in a clockwise or anti clockwise motion depending on how they wish to get around. Having something like this would surly mess an order your average guest normally does? It would pretty much restrict how they go about their day. Most people (especially those new to parks) go on rides based on what they see in front of them. Imagine a new guest seeing The Swarm and going "wow, I really want to go on that" only to find out they cannot ride it until 4 hours later when a slot is available to ride it. It takes that initial excitement away of seeing a ride and wanting to go on it in that moment.
Imagine this on rides at Towers. "Lets go to Oblivion first" "Sorry, that's fully booked until 2pm, but Air has a free slot at 11am, shall we take that" "Yeah sure, book a slot for Nemesis around 11:30 while you are at it too" "Oh, that's fully booked until 3pm"... Unless I'm interpreting this idea wrongly, it sounds like it could become a very messy system open to abuse, restricting general guests' days out and also eliminating multiple rides (which the general public do too).
Queuing is perfectly fine as it is. It's what the British are all about! The flaw with all modern rides is the queue design and entertainment. Looking at queues like Nemesis and Oblivion shows that queues can be enjoyable, even if you're waiting for hours - why all new rides lack this care and attention to design/detail is beyond me.
It sounds like an awful system tbh. Not due to it eliminating 'ride whoring' - but more due to the fact it restricts how any guest would have a relaxed and spontaneous day.
Most people go around a park in an order. Like at Alton Towers people go in a clockwise or anti clockwise motion depending on how they wish to get around. Having something like this would surly mess an order your average guest normally does? It would pretty much restrict how they go about their day. Most people (especially those new to parks) go on rides based on what they see in front of them. Imagine a new guest seeing The Swarm and going "wow, I really want to go on that" only to find out they cannot ride it until 4 hours later when a slot is available to ride it. It takes that initial excitement away of seeing a ride and wanting to go on it in that moment.
Imagine this on rides at Towers. "Lets go to Oblivion first" "Sorry, that's fully booked until 2pm, but Air has a free slot at 11am, shall we take that" "Yeah sure, book a slot for Nemesis around 11:30 while you are at it too" "Oh, that's fully booked until 3pm"... Unless I'm interpreting this idea wrongly, it sounds like it could become a very messy system open to abuse, restricting general guests' days out and also eliminating multiple rides (which the general public do too).
Queuing is perfectly fine as it is. It's what the British are all about! The flaw with all modern rides is the queue design and entertainment. Looking at queues like Nemesis and Oblivion shows that queues can be enjoyable, even if you're waiting for hours - why all new rides lack this care and attention to design/detail is beyond me.
Dave
TS Founding Member
Re: Thorpe Park
See a better idea is one Disney are trialing which is where you have a space with lots of activities that you enter rather than a standard queue, you are given a number and when it's your turn to ride you progress to the entrance (within the activity space).
You are still effectively queueing, it's just your free to wander around the space, grab a seat or play a game until it's time to ride. Think Disney have or are going to trial this on the Dumbo ride.
Making the Swarm queue space a big open place with chairs, food outlets and maybe some themed entertainments could work. You have to then stay in that area until called.
See a better idea is one Disney are trialing which is where you have a space with lots of activities that you enter rather than a standard queue, you are given a number and when it's your turn to ride you progress to the entrance (within the activity space).
You are still effectively queueing, it's just your free to wander around the space, grab a seat or play a game until it's time to ride. Think Disney have or are going to trial this on the Dumbo ride.
Making the Swarm queue space a big open place with chairs, food outlets and maybe some themed entertainments could work. You have to then stay in that area until called.
Tim
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Air / Blue Fire
Re: Thorpe Park
In theory I'd love a system like this. I've said for a long time now that whoever manages to create a queue without a queue system that actually works will completely revolutionise the way Theme Parks are run. Imagine for example that instead of waiting in Rita's god awful cattle pen I could spend that hour+ exploring the gardens or the towers or something else that the limited hours in the day doesn't allow for. Then imagine all the space that could be saved without the need for most of that cattle pen and the many things that could replace it.
But this isn't something you can just trial midway through the season and expect to work. Firstly in Thorpe's case what are you meant to do when you aren't queuing? Notice that in Disney's Dumbo example that was given above their solution is to have something for guests to do while not in a traditional queue. Or take my Towers example where there are other places to explore around the park.
Secondly the use of smart devices while a nice idea means that not all guests have the same access/ability to use the system. But let’s assume that every group has a smart phone that acts like the Q-Bot system used by Legoland. These would eliminate problems above like multi-ride booking per group but some fundamental issues still remain. For starters unlike simply joining a queue many people won't understand the system. Then you have faults such as programming bugs or machines breaking which would likely result in people referring back to just queuing normally (as was seen during Thorpe's trial). And we haven't even considered ride break downs or other throughput issues which make it impossible to give a set time when booking for you to turn up. The best it can do is tell you how many people are ahead of you and then estimate the queue times, noting any major delays.
I could go on about this for hours but my main point is that a system like this could one day revolutionise how we experience theme parks but I think Disney’s approach to interactive queue’s (see Dumbo and Haunted Mansion) are better steps in the right direction by getting people used to the idea that queuing doesn’t have to be spent standing in a line.
In theory I'd love a system like this. I've said for a long time now that whoever manages to create a queue without a queue system that actually works will completely revolutionise the way Theme Parks are run. Imagine for example that instead of waiting in Rita's god awful cattle pen I could spend that hour+ exploring the gardens or the towers or something else that the limited hours in the day doesn't allow for. Then imagine all the space that could be saved without the need for most of that cattle pen and the many things that could replace it.
But this isn't something you can just trial midway through the season and expect to work. Firstly in Thorpe's case what are you meant to do when you aren't queuing? Notice that in Disney's Dumbo example that was given above their solution is to have something for guests to do while not in a traditional queue. Or take my Towers example where there are other places to explore around the park.
Secondly the use of smart devices while a nice idea means that not all guests have the same access/ability to use the system. But let’s assume that every group has a smart phone that acts like the Q-Bot system used by Legoland. These would eliminate problems above like multi-ride booking per group but some fundamental issues still remain. For starters unlike simply joining a queue many people won't understand the system. Then you have faults such as programming bugs or machines breaking which would likely result in people referring back to just queuing normally (as was seen during Thorpe's trial). And we haven't even considered ride break downs or other throughput issues which make it impossible to give a set time when booking for you to turn up. The best it can do is tell you how many people are ahead of you and then estimate the queue times, noting any major delays.
I could go on about this for hours but my main point is that a system like this could one day revolutionise how we experience theme parks but I think Disney’s approach to interactive queue’s (see Dumbo and Haunted Mansion) are better steps in the right direction by getting people used to the idea that queuing doesn’t have to be spent standing in a line.