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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

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The queue is actually horrendous. Presumably a last minute call to a security company like they use for Fright Nights wasn't a option.

If this is the way forward definitely need the numbers to do it. Otherwise this will greet people daily.
 
A stabbing at a hospital today in Brighton. Not seeing a huge movement to suggest that anyone entering NHS property should be searched.

I think this "Thorpe must search everyone and use metal detectors" narrative that is building is difficult. The expectation that parks should be searching prams for knives, when two groups of feuding teenagers can walk into a pub, public park or supermarket without any intervention from anyone, doesn't stack up.

Equally, Thorpe have to be seen to respond, but I am not sure the response is this - if anything, it will only work at the moment due to limited gate numbers and it's not infallible ... but the fact you have done something and still missed a weapon, could potentially make you more guilty than if you had done nothing.

When you get on a plane, you can take some comfort in the fact that everyone has faced the same rigour from security, but as a society, our approach is a complete hotch potch.
 
Benzin said:
If this is the way forward definitely need the numbers to do it. Otherwise this will greet people daily.
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This is just a short term reassurance measure I'm sure. Once it's out of people's fresh memory it'll be back to normal.

You know some fool will be trying to get something in to prove a non point in the news or on the socials.
 
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I kind of think Thorpe is between a rock and a hard place. Unfortunately society has changed since I was a teen but people do expect a theme park to be a place with few worries and escapism.

DLP manage very good security checks (even on staff) so it's not unthinkable. Have you seen the new security Hardwear at Animal Kingdom? People are saying it's excellent and can handle 1000s hourly and does not just find metal. The only things you have to take out of your bag is unbrellas! If m£rlin were to invest in something like this the ques would be minimal and security alot higher - less staff too.
 
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As a society we have to decide how to balance risks in a proportional way. There's no such thing as absolute safety or security. Is it feasible or sensible to do invasive searches of every person, or do we do minimal checks and accept that occasionally one person slips through the net?
 
SuperMuscleMan said:
I kind of think Thorpe is between a rock and a hard place. Unfortunately society has changed since I was a teen but people do expect a theme park to be a place with few worries and escapism.
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And, unlike shops or NHS hospitals that other people have cited, here you’re paying to get in. That’s a really important difference - if it’s costing me £39 for a ticket, you bet your life I’m expecting a) the rides and attractions to be maintained to the highest possible standards and b) to have a safe day out in all other aspects.

I would also imagine that if someone is stabbed in a supermarket or whatever, the culprit is probably going to be from that local area. At a theme park, you’re drawing in a much more disparate crowd from further afield, and when you consider TP’s current clientele, the potential for trouble is arguably higher. If the two men arrested over this incident are charged, we will almost certainly find out their hometowns - and I’d be staggered if they were from Staines or Chertsey.

Are heavy-handed security checks an inconvenience and out of step with the rest of society? Yes - but I’d rather have them than not (and I accept I’m in the minority on that here).
 
@KolonelKlink - would you expect the same level of security at a cinema, concert, theatre, sports match or restaurant?

I am not personally suggesting that I am completely opposed to a heavy handed security check, it's the inconsistency in the expectation/delivery that I don't understand?
 
pluk said:
You know some fool will be trying to get something in to prove a non point in the news or on the socials.
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The question is if caught, would they be handed over to the police for carrying an offensive weapon.

Or reported to the police once they splash themselves across social media as a concerned independent security tester.

Sent from my SM-J600FN using Tapatalk
 
delta79 said:
The question is if caught, would they be handed over to the police for carrying an offensive weapon.

Or reported to the police once they splash themselves across social media as a concerned independent security tester.
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If they were caught in the act with a bladed or prohibited article they'd real struggle to claim a defence.

After the event based on footage only you'd struggle to mount a case.
 
KolonelKlink said:
And, unlike shops or NHS hospitals that other people have cited, here you’re paying to get in. That’s a really important difference - if it’s costing me £39 for a ticket, you bet your life I’m expecting a) the rides and attractions to be maintained to the highest possible standards and b) to have a safe day out in all other aspects.

I would also imagine that if someone is stabbed in a supermarket or whatever, the culprit is probably going to be from that local area. At a theme park, you’re drawing in a much more disparate crowd from further afield, and when you consider TP’s current clientele, the potential for trouble is arguably higher. If the two men arrested over this incident are charged, we will almost certainly find out their hometowns - and I’d be staggered if they were from Staines or Chertsey.

Are heavy-handed security checks an inconvenience and out of step with the rest of society? Yes - but I’d rather have them than not (and I accept I’m in the minority on that here).
Click to expand...

I should have been more precise with my thinking and said shopping centre (arndale, trafford centre, bullring etc...), my mistake!

They attract people from outside their locale and they have had similar and worse experiences with knife crime. Just because they're free to get in I wouldn't expect their security to be any less lax than a Theme Park. Nor would I expect either place to offer long term metal detectors and other OTT security over a small scale incident.

I'd support whatever measures Thorpe are doing to guarantee safety and understand that they need to be seen to responding to the mentioned incident, however I don't think any blame lies at the Theme Park in this case.
 
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SuperMuscleMan said:
I kind of think Thorpe is between a rock and a hard place. Unfortunately society has changed since I was a teen but people do expect a theme park to be a place with few worries and escapism.

DLP manage very good security checks (even on staff) so it's not unthinkable. Have you seen the new security Hardwear at Animal Kingdom? People are saying it's excellent and can handle 1000s hourly and does not just find metal. The only things you have to take out of your bag is unbrellas! If m£rlin were to invest in something like this the ques would be minimal and security alot higher - less staff too.
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Disney see themselves as a terrorism target and are concerned about explosives and weapons for mass shootings.

I don’t think UK theme parks are a great terror risk, so they don’t need to do as thorough checks as Disney do. Also it is still mainly security theatre, Disney at most parks (before the new scanners) only randomly use metal detector arches and only added them in 2015 after the Paris terror attacks. After 9/11 In 2001 they started bag searches. But even this was more a theatre to reassure people, the determined terrorists would still be able to do something if they really wanted to.
In the UK only Thorpe and Blackpool have ever really done even random checks and these are the the most urban located thrill theme parks. If people were looking to attack the public (ie a terror attack rather than gang rivalry) I would expect Alton Towers would be the bigger target.
 
KolonelKlink said:
And, unlike shops or NHS hospitals that other people have cited, here you’re paying to get in. That’s a really important difference - if it’s costing me £39 for a ticket, you bet your life I’m expecting a) the rides and attractions to be maintained to the highest possible standards and b) to have a safe day out in all other aspects.

I would also imagine that if someone is stabbed in a supermarket or whatever, the culprit is probably going to be from that local area. At a theme park, you’re drawing in a much more disparate crowd from further afield, and when you consider TP’s current clientele, the potential for trouble is arguably higher. If the two men arrested over this incident are charged, we will almost certainly find out their hometowns - and I’d be staggered if they were from Staines or Chertsey.

Are heavy-handed security checks an inconvenience and out of step with the rest of society? Yes - but I’d rather have them than not (and I accept I’m in the minority on that here).
Click to expand...

I think the issue is there isn’t a security check other than strip searches that can achieve what you are asking for here. Security checks are mostly about optics, even the highest security level in public spaces isn’t 100% guaranteed (airports) and they have equipment far more advanced than theme parks have access to.
 
Thorpe have been fiddling again and now Fright Nights starts on 7th October and has reduced hours with 9pm close instead on traditional 10pm close.

812-EF08-C-5-F8-C-4623-BD91-9-C06-A86-C0331.jpg


https://www.thorpepark.com/plan-your-visit/before-you-visit/opening-times/
 
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