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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

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OK - just saying BUT, with so many people out of work still, and the movement of skills from heavy industry/engineering etc, SURELY there are enough people skilled or able to work in that area that would need a job?

Do they pay engineers wages, OR do they pay lacky wages?
 
Given that Thorpe struggle to get things on more than one train (amusingly they cite it as being 'energy efficient') for most openings, there's clearly an issue in budget/staffing in their engineering department...

If I recall, the wages are relatively average for the engineers at Thorpe (30k a year)... Perhaps it's just a niche market for job seekers when a company requires experience in a role few engineers will actually have...
 
TheMan said:
OK - just saying BUT, with so many people out of work still, and the movement of skills from heavy industry/engineering etc, SURELY there are enough people skilled or able to work in that area that would need a job?

Do they pay engineers wages, OR do they pay lacky wages?
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There are always enough skilled people out there. Just like everywhere else though, resources are stretched out and no funding is given for extra staff. Pretty much how every sector runs these days.
 
There's now confirmation on Thorpe's website that they're trialling reserve n ride on the mazes, so far it's only on 17th, 18th and 19th but this could change. It seems there's no paper version, so anyone without a smartphone will have to join the main queue, or buy fastrack.

Presumably they're not running it this weekend as they want to get a better idea of throughput before putting RnR on the mazes, but once it goes live expect the main queues to hardly move at all - you have been warned!

https://www.thorpepark.com/tickets-passes/reserve-n-ride/overview/
 
Wow, so in effect there will be three separate queues for each maze; main, reserve n ride, and fastrack? That sounds like it's going to end well considering the low throughputs that mazes have as it is.

:)
 
Thought I would share a video and some images from the event. Went last Sunday, although the rain was abysmal in the evening it was a great event. I do have to say that Blair Witch was one of the strongest attractions this year but I felt really let down by CITW, just didn't seem to flow well at all. Studio 13 was also very good, a strong maze and felt fresh against mazes such as Saw: Alive.




Fright Nights 2014 by ThemeParkMedia, on Flickr
ALBUM LINK: https://www.flickr.com/photos/themeparkmania/sets/72157646411069273/
 
My friend just linked me to this TripAdvisor review of "The Extra Cut" at Thorpe Park Fright Nights. I am unsure on how much of it is true, but I'm sure if anyone reading this post has experienced "The Extra Cut", or knows of anyone who has, they might be able to inform us.
TripAdvisor said:
Don't pay for this! Complete rip off and a waste of time and money.
The day started off great in the park as normal; however to get on the rides we had to get fastrack due to queue times being over an hour before 12 o'clock, but skipping to the main point, THE EXTRA CUT waste of time.
At 10:30pm we attempted to leave our hotel room (which is a shipping containor) as my 6ft4 friend had trouble getting out of e room to be at the reception at 11pm to be picked up by the production crew and start our tour. 11:25pm they finally arrive and spent 20 minutes getting people into groups, once done we left at 11:45 pm and went to saw alive. We were given the impression that this was a back stage tour of a new maze "the motel" which is advertised all over the park. However, this was only a woman who talked an acting career. We then went to my bloody valentine and experienced a man talking about his pick axe. At this point it became apparent we was not going to get chased round the park like we was told, didn't have to find a picture of ourselves and didnt see anything referring to "the motel" or remotely scary. 'What was the point' we then headed over to " studio 13" and went through the maze ALONE! at this point I'm thinking its going to improve, and soon after we were blindfolded and put into a van. When the van stopped we got out and blindfolds were removed only to find ourselves back at the hotel! From then on we had one lady come in our room to scream and that was the end of the experience.
On a good note the container/room was clean, but after someone had been in there and put fake blood on the mirrors and a few personal effects. However you do save £5 on PARKING but your £500 out of pocket on the experience.

Complete waste of time and money don't book!

Visited October 2014
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They awarded the event 1 out of 5 stars/circles.
 
I visited Thorpe on Saturday and had the worst experience ever. I was fully prepared for a busy day but this was uncontrollable. Arrived at opening time to pick up tickets from Annual Pass office and had to queue 40 minutes to collect! Thought it would be wise to arrive early to get some rides in before the rush...or so I thought!
Headed straight to Saw and had a great ride and through the queue in 40 minutes although advertised as an hour. Not bad for fright nights! But unfurtunately it was all down hill from here.
2 hour queue for Swarm, the whole queue line was open and the queue was spilling out back to the fire engine. Stopped for lunch at KFC, queue was 20 minutes. No tables free.
Headed to the Rapids, 20 minute queue...not bad!
Next up was My Bloody Valentine...got to the entrance 40 mins before opening and were close to the front. The maze opened late and had to wait another 45 mins before entry. Scare maze awesome, could not fault it. 85 minute wait...disaster.
The actors roaming the park and the eating challenges were a great spectacle.
I thought once the mazes opened this would distribute the crowds more evenly. Spoke too soon, Saw closed due to technical difficulties, Stealth did not open all day and the crowds were so big for Ninferno, Collosus and Swarm the advertised waiting time became unavailable.
The scare maze waits were between 120 and 140 minutes and the queue for the fast track looked approximately 1 hour long.
The park was so full, it felt oppressive and dangerous. Now I love Thorpe...not as much as AT but being so close to me it helps with the cravings. This day was just a disaster. After spending two awesome days at Alton earlier on in the week, this was a huge let down. All hail AT, Scarefest was brilliant this year. I left Thorpe Park having 3 rides and 1 maze. Now I only paid £5 but my friends bought full price tickets and drove to London to stay.
Thorpe seriously need to look at their operations of Fright Nights as the crowds are so off putting. I would rather them operate like AT and you book you scare maze slot and pay. I have visited 6 weekends this year and have got on all rides in a few hours.
Really really gutted about my visit and not how I wanted to end my season.
Has anyone else visited and had similar experiences? You expect larger crowds and longer waiting times but my experience was excessive. Such a shame! I thought about heading there again before Fright Nights finishes but I am so put off now and reluctant to pay again...and I have a season pass!
 
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It's the same year after year now. Something needs to be done after over a decade of the event getting bigger and bigger. Surely a separately ticketed event ala HHN is the way forward at this stage?
 
Plastic Person said:
It's the same year after year now. Something needs to be done after over a decade of the event getting bigger and bigger. Surely a separately ticketed event ala HHN is the way forward at this stage?
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It was terrible. I could not believe what a let down it was. I actually felt threatened at the crowds and I'm normally quite a relaxed person. Thorpe sent me an email to review on Trip Advisor today....do they really want my opinion?
 
Wow, looks like you had a fun day.

I've not experienced anything like this at all, nor needed have prepared myself for something this busy. I'm visiting AT Scarefest this Saturday coming, and I expect it to be wedged. I'm expecting most attractions to be over an hour's wait, but considering the whole park is more spread out than Thorpe, and if we work our way round logically, we should still have a nice day out. After all, there's places to relax at Towers, unlike Thorpe.
 
Tom.B said:
Wow, looks like you had a fun day.

I've not experienced anything like this at all, nor needed have prepared myself for something this busy. I'm visiting AT Scarefest this Saturday coming, and I expect it to be wedged. I'm expecting most attractions to be over an hour's wait, but considering the whole park is more spread out than Thorpe, and if we work our way round logically, we should still have a nice day out. After all, there's places to relax at Towers, unlike Thorpe.
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Tom.B I think that is the problem, there is no way to escape it. I had fully prepared myself for a busy day and knew queuing would be imperative but the experience was unreal. Now I know why I prefer to travel to Alton. They have their ups and downs but I still always have butterflies in my tummy when I arrive. Thorpe has just left me feeling fleeced of my money.
 
I rarely get bored at Towers, because there's so much to do for all age groups, (and being an enthusiast, you pretty much do all the attractions at the park!), and I've happily returned to AT 12 times this year come Saturday. Thorpe, on the other hand, I've visited twice in the space of 2 years, and at about 12PM on my second visit, I was already rather bored, and felt myself doing things for the sake of it. It's a shame the people I was with weren't MAP holders, because we probably would've gone over to Chessie for the 2nd half of the day.
 
Write it @EmmaA

Things wont change otherwise, the way they run the park is awful, utterly dire.

There's things I don't like about where Towers are badly letting themselves down, but on the whole the way they run the park as the season progresses is good, and at times for the UK, exemplary.
 
TheMan said:
Write it @EmmaA

Things wont change otherwise, the way they run the park is awful, utterly dire.

There's things I don't like about where Towers are badly letting themselves down, but on the whole the way they run the park as the season progresses is good, and at times for the UK, exemplary.
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I think I will. The whole experience was terrible.

AT has been good this year, atmosphere truly excellent.
 
Thorpe closes it's gates to anyone who hasn't pre-booked for the second day in a row only 30 minutes after opening...

Gonna be a busy week for sure at this rate...
 
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