Leaderboard

we have all had enough of this thing. nothing cryptic about it anymore. it just doesn't work.

So thoughts and notes from yesterday, which was a "VIP preview" for the season, where the park was open 10-3. -We're light on changes. A couple of tweaks to F&B is really all that is "new" -Repaints for part of Colossus and Depth Charge look nice. The small side of the Beach looks nice, also repainted, but it highlights the grime of the large side. -Hyperia grass is nice. Could be extended more. They've added benches to the plaza which isn't a bad idea, but they're atop the wings on the ground, which irks me a bit. -Many new pieces of merchandise, which are the usual high quality we've come to expect -Hyperia had issues yesterday, in large part due to the cold. Hopefully better today. Stealth had an issue during testing and didn't open. -The park usually stumbles during first day or two of opening, and yesterday wasn't any different, with the cold affecting weather, and reliability being a bit on the weak side, but it did improve. I've been to significantly worse first days. -There's a few other bits and pieces around the park. Solar panels atop Ghost Train (but you only see them if you look for them on other rides). Walking Dead has had creative tweaks to the post-ride section. Some speakers seem to have been fixed. Tweak to end of day of audio. If 2024 was Thorpe's year of improvement, 2025 is their year of stability. That's not a bad thing. But after a couple of years of multiple changes, it will have a different 'new season' vibe to it. The kicker for the park this year will be the quality and reach of marketing. That will be what makes or breaks them this year, with little to shout about in the way of new things

You know things are bad when the joke account is being serious.

Apologies for double post but by all accounts, Hyperia has operated successfully since opening. Hopefully the issue is now sorted...

Just a post about some Thorpe Park history some people may not know. In the early 2000's, the park installed its first fast track system, which was very similar to the ones used at Disney. You would put your park ticket in the machine and receive a printed fast track ticket. The system was free to use, and ran for about 1-2 seasons until they decided to follow Universal and charge for the service The machines were ripped out but you can still see remnants of the system today. Tidal Wave: The steel structure with the red roof covering the F&B kiosk was the original covering for the fast track machines Nemesis Inferno had an actual area for the machines included as part of the design. You can see this to the right of the queue line entrance, where the retail kiosk is now located. The ones for Colossus was located where the F&B unit at the bottom of the hill (near Samurai) is now located. Loggers Leap also had machines installed, and these were located next to the entrance to the queue line. Hope this was some fun bits of information from the parks history!

What @Inferno said is spot on - Hyperia rapidly becomes known to the public as "the ride that's never open" - and then attendance falls and doesn't hit the expected returns Vs the investment, and then you end up waiting for another 12 years for the next big coaster again. Ok maybe that's an exaggeration, I think Dezza Brown the original white elephant didn't help there, but you get my point. As I said before, it really shouldn't be this much hassle getting on a sodding rollercoaster. First world problems and all that I know -June 11th and 12th 2024 is still a fresh wound 😛

Thanks for the concern @Cal 😀 Headed straight for it this morning, opened at 1015, on at 1035. Was hoping for another ride or two once the queue died down, it had been 50-60 minutes all-day. Stealth was down this morning and then opened at 11 as I walked towards it, it was a glorious moment entering the 5 minute queue. RIP Hyperia, Stealth 4eva.

Will we be tracking Hyperias opening time everyday this season or is this just a March/April thing?

I've noticed that Mondays especially have become busier - possibly people having long weekends I assume. But yes - mega quiet periods seem to be few and far between, the quietest is September before Fright Nights start, really.

It really shouldn't be this difficult and stressful, should it?!

Agreed, as much as a new flat in Slammers space to compliment Hyperia would've been nice, a year of stability isn't a bad thing. Especially at a time of other parks making cuts and removing rides. Nearly didn't bother with passholder day today after seeing Stealth down and Hyperia on 1 train yesterday, but glad I did. Great day, most rides didn't have a queue all day apart from Hyperia. Unfortunate about Stealth, I think the only other ride that was closed was Zodiac, which was pretty much cycling all day by engineering. Hyperia had a lot of shutdowns (I saw 5+) with trains stopping on the lift throughout the day. They were all dealt with very quickly and most of the time was back up again within 10 minutes. One thing I did notice today is they no longer send empty test trains on Hyperia after a shutdown. Once engineering attended and it was back in operation they just started loading trains again. Think we all know why that is.

It’s an odd and unfortunate situation at towers, because they’re pouring a lot of money in to things, but to “the GP” really they’re treading water and there’s nothing truly new happening… Realistically, despite the bits of investment over the last 5 years, you’d struggle to argue with these statements: - Ripsaw has re-opened - The same Nemesis is still there but is now black and red - The same Skyride is still sat there but is broken - Same old Hex has been sat there for years but is broken - The haunted house ride is still there, but has had a refurb. Don’t get me wrong, this is all money well spent in my opinion and was badly needed and overdue, but really I think AT needs something truly new. There is little that they’ve done since Wicker Man that truly offers something new. As much as I think Toxicator is a fantastic addition, it’s arguably yet another “re-opening of something that closed” if you know what I mean.

Find it fascinating how the GP are going oh it’s just ripsaw and the enthusiasts are trying to fight back saying it’s a newer model!

It was early this afternoon after a breakdown I believe. How dare you get a video you might get kicked out for this 🤣 Rumba rapids will now be opening in June instead of May to compensate for crane hire costs.

Scaffolding and crane on their way! How much must that cost to keep parked up?! Have they bought it? Either way, fair play... 20250402_152636.mp4

Oh…. It stalled this morning? Come on now. Getting a bit embarrassing. I’ve worked for companies who have made legal ultimatums with suppliers for reputational damage, for lesser things than this. Management asking staff to try to stop photos being taken is evidence that they are trying desperately to protect their brand. It can’t go on like this for much longer. I’d say really it’s reached the point that it’s become too big an issue to tolerate. I agree with Pap (!) - ultimately Merlin have been sold a very expensive product that just isn’t fit for purpose. I really hope this is actively being worked on urgently, because theme parks can’t really afford cock ups these days. Big investments have to hit the mark and bring in the money reliably and consistently. Being closed or on half capacity regularly, with negative publicity every few days, is unacceptable for such a huge investment. I hope Mack are taking responsibility and working on a solution…. If not I can’t imagine Merlin to be a company who will play nice if they have been screwed.

Id argue it’s virtually impossible to never send empty trains, they were doing their best not to when it was colder a couple of weekends back but you still will have a point where you need to - for example last trains of the day. I really hope Mack really can come up with a proper solution for this, I know it has new wheels but it seems it’s going to need some more drastic changes to ensure it can reliably run in the future.

white elephants work sometimes.

Hyperia opens at 4.05pm. Fingers crossed the issue is sorted....

Not for a very long time.

Well it didn't last very long, queue has been cleared. What on earth did they do to the lift hill over closed season... 🤣

Why would you be nervous? If it doesn’t open you’d be entitled to compensation in the form of a free fast track and the right to complain on Twitter

Thought I would celebrate the arrival of the 2025 season, by recording and arranging the ride’s theme.

Why not go the whole hog, take the lift hill down increase the angle by a couple of degrees and add 5-8 ft to the top of it. Should do the trick 😉 All seriousness though, a zero car with a ballast tank built in? Fill it during downtime then empty it before sending first riders around. Seems the cheapest solution.

Visited Towers this weekend for the first time this season. First impressions weren’t great, from the misleading car park layout, various delapited areas and the monorail running just two trains. Rather embarrassing to what could be argued to be the UK’s flagship park. Operations seemed noticeably inferior to previous standards, with Rita on just 1 train and Galactica on just 2 trains and 1 station, disappointing every 5 minutes. Having 3 rides closed ( albeit expected) is also a shame for a park that’s had 4.5 months to sort things out. On the p,us note, the Thirteen team were doing great! Although not rammed, queues often reached/exceeded 90 minutes. Spinball,oblivion, Wickerman, Galactica and Rita at the very least experienced lengthily shutdowns. This excludes the heavy rain closure that evening where most rides understandably closed for a short while. However closing Spinball in the rain (as opposed to reducing capacity) now is just disappointing. Despite running the Alton After Dark and being the start of season, there wasn’t any real buzz or atmosphere at the park which I’ve felt previously, even post Covid. The vibe improved noticeably after dusk, but there was just something missing and I can only put it down to further quality retraction from the Merlin machine. I had a Toby carvery breakfast, so therefore didn’t need to eat the overpriced and underwhelming food selection. I don’t want to be constantly negative about the resort, so I do have some positives. Toxicator is a great addition to the park, it looks the part more than I was expecting and looks great off ride. The setting was the right level of intensity and adds more to the area. Curse is still an exceptional dark ride and epitomises what the creatives can do with the right resources. Although a little rattly, Nemesis Reborn is still fantastic and looks stunning at night. I really want to be more appraising and positive towards the park, because they have so many great rides. But I can’t sugarcoat the place solely on this. Towers has a lots of operational issues at the moment and with current trends I see things getting worse rather than better. The park ideally needs millions spent on infrastructure upgrades, however this will probably never happen.

Considering there are brackets for trims which would end up with the train going even slower through that element it does seem that something was massively miscalculated

Its what Kingda Ka would have wanted.

The quotes were from Abdab of Terror Tomb fame. It made as much sense as most of the posts. But doesn't look like Thorpe are going for the speciality car for Hyperia this season. Otherwise they'd have gone on about it by now.

Changes to the application, making it smaller and comply with biodiversity stuff https://x.com/ThorpeParkMania/status/1902060291598496045?t=g4E2hlX9nxq7u74Q21fUkQ&s=19

Imagine someone revisiting Alton Towers this year after previously going in 2015 who’s not an enthusiast? Essentially they are witnessing an upgraded Ripsaw, plushed up Nemesis and a modified Haunted House. Essentially in their eyes Wickerman is the only new ride they notice since last time besides maybe some bits and bobs in Beeb land. No Blade, no Flume and couple of other missing attractions, amongst some yet to open attractions and some of the most ludicrous park food. In both price and substance. Certainly makes for a rather negative return visit so far. We shall see how this season goes, but can’t hold too much optimism so far.

I very much would have thought the demolition of two big structures for a rollercoaster would only be done when all other available land has been utilised for ride construction. To recap there is the land behind swarm which is large, and if the hotel ever gets built where the planning permission was applied for there is another prime real estate plot at the front of the park which was identified for a coaster. One day I’d like to see the pyramid come down and a brand new show building constructed there to house a new modern dark coaster. However there are many many other issues to resolve first at the park

100%. You have to take a step back from being an enthusiast and see what the public see. Nemesis is still Nemesis, as good as it is.

To be honest, given how poorly nearly all of the other UK parks are doing right now, a year of stability sounds like exactly the right aim for Thorpe. Hyperia’s near stall and ongoing downtime however is getting worrying now that we are heading in to season 2. It doesn’t seem like it’s going to be a reliable workhorse does it… I really hope that they can get to grips with it. Surely they can’t keep going on like this every time it gets a bit chilly… The solar panels on Ghost Train are slightly interesting in that they’d only be installed on a structure that they intend to keep for a decent amount of time. I guess the building is here to stay, even after the ride is gone (which probably won’t be too long let’s face it).

Glad they managed to get Toxicator back open in the end. Do feel for the current management and staff as they are clearly trying. Just bad luck and not enough investment from Merlin. From what I've seen online, its running really well and looks great. We just need more of this. I'm really not sure replacing postman pat with another coaster should be the priority right now. Another flat in X Sector and Dark Forest is needed ASAP.

Update: Nemesis and Sub Terra are available, rest of FV is not. EDIT: The park are saying it's a burst pipe near Toxicator and they do not expect it to re-open today I hope that the drain issue is just an unfortunate coincidence with it being on opening day and not an actual design flaw / problem. If it's the latter, that's a not quick or easy fix. Toxicator had an estimated 2-3 queue at opening too. Multiple gour queue for a top spin. People are crazy. Towers openings are getting a reputation right now and it's not a good one. I feel sorry for the staff. There will be plenty of new staff who are getting a baptism of fire right now. And plenty more experienced ones who will be sighing at the thought of starting the season off roughly. But hey, the only way is up from here!

Sounds like Hyperia has had its fair share of issues today. Credit where credits due though, they seem pretty on it maintenance wise this year. Can’t remember the last season all rides have opened at the start. Still 2 weeks till main season starts too. Saying that I have no idea how many trains the coasters were on. Still good to see though none the less.

To be fair Thorpe looked probably better than ever last season in a lot of places, the operations were very good in general, and they have got a (still) brand new coaster. It rarely gets much better than this, <1 year after opening a new coaster of Hyperia's scale. I do agree though that it's a bit ridiculous that the new area has been left unfinished for all this time (and possibly in to this season). The stage area and splashdown debacle do seem to reveal some questionable choices during the planning. Given how difficult it is to run a theme park in the UK at the moment I'd say things are looking pretty good at Thorpe. All rides are still open and running well, which is more than can be said for most of the other UK parks, and the park is looking very fresh in a lot of places following the re-painting and rebranding from last year.

It is 20%

Yes Stealth they've discussed (re-)adding an SRQ before, but the current batching system works well for the efficiency of the ride and doesn't lend itself to SRQ. And this is the thing. SRQs serve two purposes: 1. Improve utilisation scores (the percentage of seats filled) 2. Give a mild improvement to guest satisfaction scores The first point is the bigger one. SRQs simply do not improve throughputs meaningfully. Let's say Hyperia sends 40 trains an hour, and 1 person from the SRQ goes on each train. That's an increase of 40 people. And without an SRQ, a good batcher could probably fill some of those seats anyway. So it's not really significantly meaningful. Improving utilisation does ultimately look good, and will increase the total ridership, and so ever so slightly improve the "rides per head" score - the average number of rides ridden per guest. But it will be marginal. As for improving guest satisfaction/experience. The number of people using or benefitting from SRQs is generally a tiny proportion of the number of guests. That's not to say parks should ignore them, but it should be remembered that it's again minimal gains. SRQs need to properly and sensibly integrated. That's why Hyperia works. How does one, for example, introduce an SRQ on Nemesis Inferno? There's no clear pathway to the station for it. Any potential batching point is too far away. Similar stories for Swarm and Colossus. As mentioned, Stealth has that natural point, but the current operation of the ride doesn't lend itself to having an SRQ. You could put it into some flat rides, and share the space with Fastrack, but that requires good batching. And bluntly put, Thorpe don't have enough staff who care to be good enough batchers (a trend common at many parks, for the record). So yeah, I don't see any rides having SRQs retrospectively (re-)added any time soon.

Not fussed about Rumba being closed till May, its crap anyway. If cuts need to be made then I'd rather this than cutting staff elsewhere, less capacity on coasters or cutting opening hours. It would be nice, but realistically the only coaster they can add it to would be Stealth. There was plans to do this but it would've required them to do some work to the queues to implement, and they were worried it would impact throughput. They don't currently assign rows on Stealth and it works fairly well, so I doubt that will change. It would work well on some of the flats too, Rush and Vortex would be nice. I don't see why these couldn't operate the same way that Samurais do using the same queue as the Fasttrack queue. Vortex used to have one and it worked well.

As mentioned in the Sparkle thread, Hyperia now has grass / turf around its queue line: It's a small thing, but much better than what was there previously.

Damn I'm there tomorrow. Not looking good. 😔

So... Hyperia has been down all day. Twitter saying a drive wheel issue on the lift.

Hyperia's having a fairly bad opening day.

See they're doing lift hill walks for Hyperia. For £120. And you need to have done a track walk on Colossus, Oblivion or Swarm within 3 years. Seems a bit off to enforce that.

Great news - never rode one of these but looks like a great flat. Nice to see PB making a big investment too. Do have to question from a business point of view making this announcement now. Will certainly put a lot of visits off till next year I imagine. Bit concerning last years losses rose to £2.8m too. https://riderater.co.uk/12451/blackpool-pleasure-beach-losses-rise-to-2-8m/

I hope that being friends and family, they are understanding and caring today...