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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

George W said:
It doesn't even get you wet but high operating costs for little ridership is probably their reasoning.
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Smiley said:
Agreed - it must cost a fortune in 'leccy, not to mention the increased operating cost of staff.
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Lets remember these sensible and most probable reasons for the rapids not opening when everyone kicks off about it if/when they don't open next week at Towers and they close before the end of the season later in the year!! :)
 
Steve74 said:
Lets remember these sensible and most probable reasons for the rapids not opening when everyone kicks off about it if/when they don't open next week at Towers and they close before the end of the season later in the year!! :)
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But it's not a sensible justification though, because I still pay the same gate price with attractions closed.
 
MattL27 said:
You should not be having rides closed tbh, Thorpe get away with it because it’s location. The beach will be open longer than Rumba. Is it worth doing winter maintenance for 3 months usage
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I think the issue I have is that they don't seem to advertise on their website that it's become a seasonal attraction.

I think it would've be a waste to close for an extended amount of time without a major refurbishment.

I am anticipating that Rumba Rapids will have closed permanently by the end of the decade.

With the ride being closed more often than it's open, I don't see a long term future for it at the park.
 
MattL27 said:
You should not be having rides closed tbh, Thorpe get away with it because it’s location. The beach will be open longer than Rumba. Is it worth doing winter maintenance for 3 months usage
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Does the new dynamic pricing system reflect ride availability? If they can modify in real time to demand then there's no excuse not to do so for planned ride closures.
 
MattL27 said:
You should not be having rides closed tbh, Thorpe get away with it because it’s location. The beach will be open longer than Rumba. Is it worth doing winter maintenance for 3 months usage
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I've just come back from PortAventura, after visiting in the "low season". It's not a 365 park, it operates seasonally.

Ferrari Land doesn't open until April, which was advertised when we booked our visit.

6 attractions were closed in PortAventura Park on both days we visited, not including the show buildings. The two water flumes and Stampida being the most notable.

Ignoring Stampida, which was closed for a retrack, the other closures were due to demand of the attractions and the park during a quieter part of the season. It's not unheard of. As long as the park advertises the closures before hand, and reflects the price dynamically, there's not a real problem.
 
The problem with closing these water rides during low season is that UK weather in the spring is so unpredictable.

There can be some days in March and April where it’s cold, wet and the temperature barely hits double figures. But this isn’t every spring day. If the weather was like that every day in the spring, then I’d definitely say it would be justified keeping water rides closed until it warms up.

But the reality is that, as well as the horrible days, we also have some really nice weather in the spring, during which time the demand for water rides is clearly there, not to mention that the parks will also be pretty busy on those days. I’ve known day during the Easter holidays at Thorpe park for example, where it’s been shorts and t-shirt weather, 20 degrees+, and the place has been rammed. Having a major water ride closed on those types of days isn’t acceptable and looks really obvious to guests who would want to ride it. Therefore I can only really conclude that the park should, in my opinion, have all the water rides ready for start of season.
 
Enter Valhalla said:
The problem with closing these water rides during low season is that UK weather in the spring is so unpredictable.

There can be some days in March and April where it’s cold, wet and the temperature barely hits double figures. But this isn’t every spring day. If the weather was like that every day in the spring, then I’d definitely say it would be justified keeping water rides closed until it warms up.

But the reality is that, as well as the horrible days, we also have some really nice weather in the spring, during which time the demand for water rides is clearly there, not to mention that the parks will also be pretty busy on those days. I’ve known day during the Easter holidays at Thorpe park for example, where it’s been shorts and t-shirt weather, 20 degrees+, and the place has been rammed. Having a major water ride closed on those types of days isn’t acceptable and looks really obvious to guests who would want to ride it. Therefore I can only really conclude that the park should, in my opinion, have all the water rides ready for start of season.
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I believe the thing with the rapids rides is that they may be going out of fashion in the UK because of health and safety requirements resulting in the rides becoming tamer. It has also resulted in higher costs with staffing and energy.

Rumba I'll be honest will be in it's twilight years and will likely be removed sooner than later.

With water rides, I don't think it's the end for water rides in general but I think we'll see more flume style rides (including water coasters) being in fashion again as they seem to be more thrilling, popular, more predictable with safety and slightly less staff intensive. Some of those rides can be adjusted for the climate as well. They also need less land in some cases than a rapids.

At Thorpe Park, it is less popular because it is more of a lazy river nowadays with Storm Surge seeming to be more popular despite poor operations.

I predict that they will swap Rumba Rapids out but a more compact flume style water ride will replace it partially or entirely.

In hindsight, I'd say Thorpe Park (and possibly Alton Towers) may have closed the wrong water ride years ago.
 
flyingguitar said:
It may be a question of if they could last, flumes are fiberglass, something which is much less durable than the concrete they probably would have had to replace a lot of the ride, at which point you may as well get a new ride
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Considering that Loggers is a few years newer than Tiger Rock, I'd be inclined to say it could've lasted a few more years if not at least a decade or two.

We do have to bear in mind that there were outside factors to this closure including the Smiler crash, Merlin's attendance after that, the ride needing refurbishment and Ghost Train's failure.

It was never intended to be a permanent closure, just a year long refurbishment with a possible retheme.
 
rob666 said:
And the massive cost in energy in keeping those pumps running.
Biggest energy user of most parks I presume.
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I genuinely wonder when the next consultation is and what it will entail.

If it's anything similar to Chessington in scale, I bet you the focus will be on the island behind Swarm, Treasure Island and Rumba Rapids sites with the latter being removed.

I'm very sure the writing is on the wall with it's energy costs, reduced running times and high downtime compared to before.

The surviving part of the beach site as well could be a focus for development too. 🤔
 
A few H&B changes once again at Thorpe this season, Doughnut Time & Granny's Apple Fries have left the park and will be replaced by Planet Doughnut and Harbor Dessets.

It seems both of these are ran externally and not by Aramark as magic money isn’t accepted and pass discount is 10% which is the same for all non Aramark outlets at Thorpe.
 
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