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I love it when Jack comes back every year or so to complain about Fastrack at Thorpe. It's like when Steve posts every now and then to tell us how **** Merlin are. It's like a comfort blanket.

Yep, Detonator really looked nothing like the concept art did it... Oh wait.

Best thing about the testing was the cheers from the crowds as the train went down the first drop. The sense of community from things like this is never better then days like today.

Not being funny but if it takes 20 minutes to get up the lift hill the queues are going to be horrendous and in my view this is just another way of Merlin exploiting fasttrack sales.

Initially guests wanted it at Helix, it got complaints that it felt unsafe. Then with Icon its because the restraints had double redundancy in case of failure, the seatbelts give it a third redundancy if something was to go wrong. Looking at a few others, Copperhead Strike opened with seatbelts (unsurprisingly, Cedar Fair after all) and DC Rivals Hypercoaster didn't, neither do the majority of the Blue Fire clones, Star Trek or Capitol Bullet Train. Merlin being Merlin, I can just see the guest perception taking precedent with Hyperia. This is the company that wouldn't batch a station at Mandrill and has ugly queue lines where every new ride has fences over 6 foot tall.

As the OFFICIAL DG95 DOMINIC GARDNER would say. A WORLD EXCLUSIVE… trains delivered

Station organ audio is back and some audio added to the lifthill too. The most welcome change however is that the Swarm vests no longer lock at dispatch, making for a far more comfortable ride. This brings it in line with more modern B&M Wing Riders.

I was in the area due to work so I thought it would be rude not to pop in Tuesday and Wednesday, so thought I'd share some thoughts from this season below. I didn't bother visiting with no Nemesis last year so was my first time in a couple years, meaning it was also my first time on the Curse. Was really impressed with this, couldn't comment on what effects were working/broken as I'd never been on before. Easily my favorite dark ride in the UK. Main reason for visiting was to get as many rides as possible on Nemmy. Got 5 on Tuesday, but was only open half a day so was expecting a better day on Wednesday, but with it only operating with half a train I only went on it twice. One of them I got in the queue just before 4pm, and it still took 85 mins with no fastrack/rap. Got back on Sub Terra for the first time in yearssss, same as I remember nothing special but nice to have a filler attraction back, something towers really lack. The park in general looks really fresh. Oblivion in particular looking really good. Could tell the Smiler has had some touch ups but still looking pretty poor in some places. Towers always seem pretty consistent on the effects and audio front. Audio everywhere was sounding great, didn't notice any broken/distorted speakers. A lot of their speakers are still bose too which I prefer. Operationally wise, pretty poor. The staff were all doing a great job with what they had, but every major coaster bar Nemesis has started the season on reduced capacity. This isn't just due to it being a weekday as well, as I've heard it was the same on the weekend. Rita - 1 train Thirteen - 2 trains (3rd train currently in pieces under the lift hill) Oblivion - 4 trains 1 station. No complaints here, team were smashing it and it didn't have a queue. Smiler - 3 trains Wickerman - 2 trains Galactica - 2 trains 1 station Nemmy - 2 trains Tuesday, till around 20 mins before closing 1 train. Opened on Weds on half a train and remained like that all day. Few other points; - Never been the biggest fan of Wickerman but I was really enjoying it this trip. It was absolutely flying round in the rain on Wednesday, the back row and front row rides I had are the best I've ever had on it. 6 years on its still looking like a brand new ride, solid edition to their lineup and nice they're looking after it. - Same goes for Smiler, never been the biggest fan but no matter where I was sat was riding really smooth and really enjoyed it. Single rider queue on it is lovely too. - Pleasantly surprised to see roaming actors at Nemesis, Curse and Wickerman on an offpeak weekday. They do add to the areas, and I wish Thorpe had this approach rather than the cringe we get there. Would prefer a few actors at Swarm and Saw than the 'thrill makers' - Love the fact the park opens early, believe the entrance opens at 9. On Wednesday I got in just after 9:30, went straight to dark forest. By just after 10, I had done 2 rides on Rita and and Thirteen thanks to them both opening early. - Galactica really doesn't fit in with Forbidden Valley anymore and is looking in a state. The track looks pretty terrible, half the TVs off, projector off in the station. Just looks like they've given up with it, so hopefully a re-theme coming with the new flat next year. - 4pm close. In my opinion if queues are anything more than 10 minutes, especially a park the size of Towers, it should never close at 4. 5pm minimum. - As someone who really likes flats, there really isn't a lot to do apart from going coaster to coaster. It seems they're going to address this though, I do hope there is more coming than the 1 they've already put plans in for.

I noticed Russ mentioned this too, but unless I'm imagining things they were definitely spinning all of last season 😄

Drip drip drop with the April Showers. Blowing blowing but when's it going going to go on the track track track, can they claw back back back. May the 24th be with us or will it not. Random Abba reference goes here for reasons unknown.

And don't forget Hyperia will have a single rider queue too. Once I've ridden with my mate for the first time, we'll 100% be using that.

The park need to decide whether they prioritise the main season or the winter season. If they want to do both, the engineering team need to be expanded. They also said a week or so ago that some rides like Rattlesnake and Griffons Galleon will not be open on off-peak days. Poor decision as Rattlesnake seemed to be one of the few rides that was running well over the weekend. Merlin theme parks really test my patience at times. The general expectation at a theme park is to go and rides will be running. At Merlin it's currently a gamble if anything is open on time or for at least half the day.

Pacing will alter significantly as testing continues. Firstly the train literally crawled over the crest of the lift hill, in a couple of weeks it will be going significantly quicker over the top as Mack lifts are normally fast. This won’t dramatically alter the speed at the bottom (probably only a couple of mph) but that will mean a significant amount of additional kinetic energy is being carried by the train. Secondly the friction will reduce as the ride beds in and warms up so the speed will be maintained throughout the layout. This will probably mean more airtime but less hang time

Bit slow etc. Definitely will have a lot of wasted momentum going into the final brake run by looks of it.

train reveal I think they look very good

Thank god we were spared the higher capacity crowd pleasing B&M hyper ey

God the capacity is gonna be crap.

this project has turned out to be one questionable decision after the other to be honest - don't get me wrong - I absolutely cannot wait to ride - but everything from the station building, planned landscaping, lack of a viewing platform, queueline etc has been pretty disapponting thus far. I also personally find thorpe's generous (putting that lightly) overuse of the gold colour super tacky. if it was used as a highlight colour against a black station, it would look so much more elegant. also a little confused by the black and gold colourscheme of the station, queue etc but the actual coaster itself is white and gold? wouldn't a white and gold station have fit the aesthetic better than a black and gold one..?

What is Merlin’s new obsession with 7ft high fencing for the queue lines now? I’ve just been watching JS latest construction update where he showed park of the queue and to be honest it just looks stupid. The rides meant to partly be about floating and feeling free, what a great way to start that experience, ramming the rider into a metre wide queue with a fence taller than you… I know there’s probably something to do with Heath and safely that’s influenced this decision, but how come like 90% of the other rides on park don’t have fencing higher than like chest height?

I've heard rumors of a permanent closure but no one knows for sure I guess as they've still not communicated any update. Its still showing on their ride availability page as 'closed until further notice' Although it was testing a little last season I don't think theres been any movement since and the area is closed off so its not looking like it'll be open any time soon!

^ I mean this is basically what I was trying to say to be fair 🙃

The operator would switch the lights off (switch in the console) and I believe to not play the launch audio they'd use the mic to override it. They've stopped doing these now thankfully. They were good fun a good few years ago, but when the word got spread and people were asking for them every other launch they got very boring.

And I've worked in project management. Zero surprise that some projects really push the limit in terms of targeted handover dates. Purely depends on what Mack says the required testing hours needed are. Which none of us are privy to (and any of those who are won't be able to divulge such information). Merlin have form for it too over the years. Even Nemesis is getting stuff added to it since opening officially.

Just looking at photos from Theme Park Guide... 54 days until opening? It feels like a rush to me 👀 I'm sure Thorpe Park knows what they are doing... They always know what they are doing... Right?!

That is generally what roller coasters do, to be fair.

Hopefully this is the start of slightly stronger ops on Oblivion! In previous years, it's often had slightly weaker operations, with throughputs slipping to 800-900pph on occasions, so I was pleased to see this improved throughput reading! That's an interesting finding with Wicker Man. Clearly it was going a bit slower during your visit, as both of my readings had it closer to 800pph, or dispatches roughly 10s or so faster.

Samurai is looking fresh!

Yeah I must admit I didn't know whether or not to add it to the list, but the park are still yet to announce a permanent closure. Its also still listed as closed on the ride availability page (https://www.chessington.com/plan-your-visit/resort-information/ride-availability/) but looks like this page hasn't been updated for a good while! Its a strange one as I thought they would be desperate to get this back open, and it was seen testing last season. But maybe they have bigger plans for this area now!

Not that it makes a difference to your point, but Scorpion hasn't run since mid-2022, and is completely absent from the park's map now. Whether it's died a slow and painful death or just taking a hibernation, who knows...

Thanks for this @Matt N always find these interesting! Its so satisfying being in the Nemesis queue, always seem to have a good team running it and the queue constantly moves. Nice to see Oblivion is being ran slightly better this year hopefully that continues. Only timing I got last week was in the Wickerman queue as I was bored and was interested how it does on 2 trains. Were dispatching trains roughly every 2 mins so 720.

Thanks Parm this is a brilliant update! I don’t think anyone on here expected the trains to arrive soon

For anyone who's interested, I managed to time various ride throughputs on my visits to Alton Towers yesterday and today. The throughput readings I managed to attain are as follows: Galactica (Theoretical: 1,500pph on 3 trains/2 stations): 871pph (3 trains/2 stations, 24th March 2024, average of 10) Nemesis Reborn (Theoretical: 1,400pph on 2 trains): 1,301pph (2 trains, 23rd March 2024, average of 8 ) Oblivion (Theoretical: 1,900pph on 7 shuttles/2 stations): 1,146pph (5 shuttles/2 stations, 24th March 2024, average of 7) Rita (Theoretical: 1,150pph on 2 trains): 394pph (1 train, 23rd March 2024, average of 5), 357pph (1 train, 24th March 2024, average of 8 ) Runaway Mine Train (Theoretical: 1,061pph on 1 train): 473pph (1 train, 23rd March 2024, average of 4) Note: The back car was missing, so the 473pph figure, which assumed a full train of 46, would have been more like 432pph in reality due to the train actually only carrying 42 riders as opposed to the usual 46. The average dispatch interval was 5m 49s, for reference. Wicker Man (Theoretical: 952pph on 3 trains): 829pph (2 trains, 23rd March 2024, average of 8), 770pph (2 trains, 24th March 2024, average of 8 ) I also have a few other side observations and insights to offer: Operations on Nemesis Reborn were noticeably slower today than they were yesterday. Yesterday's operations, listed above, saw dispatch intervals of 90s or less and little to no stacking, with a train often being dispatched as the one in front of it was still completing the course. Today, however, dispatch intervals of no faster than 2 minutes were being attained and stacking was routine. I'm not sure what the difference was, but today's operations were notably slower. I was unable to get a proper timing, but a brief attempt I made at timing saw a dispatch interval of over 2 minutes being attained, and I'd say that this was quite par for the course for the time I was in the queue. Pretty much every train I saw stacked outside the station for a notable period. For some perspective, I waited 60 minutes from the gun for my ride yesterday, while I queued 50 minutes from a little before the Phalanx shipping container lab for my ride today. The Smiler looked as though it might have been running 4 trains today, but I wasn't sure. I say this because the ride was often attaining perfect duelling, which I wouldn't imagine is possible on only 3 trains! I noticed that the intervals on Galactica appeared to be pretty inconsistent when I was doing the timing above. The intervals appeared to range between 80s and over 3 minutes!

The Big One by far. The way it whips round to the right is always a bit terrifying. But Hyperia could take the best first drop.

In 2016, a full 3 hour and 45 minute version of WWTP Radio's Stealth mix was uploaded to YouTube, but has since been delete for quite a while. I'm sure someone out there has at least one Stealth mix, as I heard through the grape vine someone on here made an extended mix the park used for a few years. I'm very eager to find this mix and won't rest until it's unearthed and shared with the world once more... Anyone who has this full mix, which includes the songs and ads and segments, please reply to this post. Or anyone who knows where it may be, please do let me know. Thank you!

Call me mad but I visited on the opening day as Nemesis is a very missed coaster. All the park updates this year justified a new annual pass for me. I didn't run to FV but I knew if I didnt go there first thing, the queues were going to be mental. Anyway, only ended up waiting 2 hours which wasn't bad for the insane popularity that day. One thing I've not experienced before is the positive energy and enthusiasm in that morning queue. The atmosphere really was electric. I'll go in depth on Nemesis on the other thread. Forbidden Valley was a nice surprise to me. I wasnt expecting such an overhaul of that whole area. The atmosphere there now is just top level. Frankly I could happily spend all day just in that area and Gloomy Wood. It feels like a different park. As I did not go last season, The Curse was also new to me. Feels like a proper ghost train again now. my favourite effect was the hall of mirrors where Emily is riding in an empty carraige in your reflection and then it turns back into your own reflection at the end. I love all the little references and easter eggs in general, such a nice nod to the parks history. Oblivion was smashing it in terms of operations. It had all 6 trains going round and not stacking for too long. The repainted hole was looking vibrant and a bit of a taster for the sparkle project to come. This did however make the station feel very worn and looking like it's in need of a modernisation itself. X-Sector felt very empty even with the end now blocked off to guests. Surely that area must be in sight of a Forbidden Valley style update. Rita was probably the worst for operations. Didn't even bother. If it was on two trains, they were stacked in the station. Thirteen was fine, nothing negative to say although it always seems to have a massive RAP queue which I find funny considering it's supposed to be for those who have issues with queueing. Thought I'd give Burger Kitchen another chance this year. My god the burgers are still awful but they are charging a premium for quality worse than a fast food chain. The burgers are literally like the frozen horse meat you get in the freezer isle. They need to get rid of that Aramark contract and bring back the fast food franchises because I'm not eating there again. It's one thing if they were running it themselves but now they are outsourcing again this is just not acceptable. They are smashing it with the merchandise, some great offerings and proper embroidered items that are going to last. When I went to Engerylandia I was rather disappointed with the lack of branded merch so Merlin in general do a great job here. Overall I had a good day. Nice to see Towers busy and as popular as ever. The new areas are a great sign of the future for Towers if they can sort out the food.

The distinct lack of filler rides was far more telling yesterday with 3 big coasters down (Thirteen, Galactica and Wickerman) for a considerable time. Fortunately Nemmie was on full capacity but the park need far more than the one they're getting next year. There's at least 2 spots free in X-Sector, and could definitely fit more elsewhere with some ingenuity. Meant lots of 50 minute plus queues across the board for the majority of the day (exacerbated by many school trips mind). Which severely limited our choices of ride due to the 4pm close. Granted we did spend a fair chunk of time in CBeebies Land though. I'll probably contact the park regarding not being able to combine RAP with Parent Swap as it is very much a killer to our day if we don't have 2 RAP users in the group currently. Also a lack of decent eateries needs to be addressed. Not asking for much but there are so many Burgers & Hot Dogs across the park but few alternatives. Especially if you want a sit down inside. The prices are obscene too. Not visiting Pizza Pasta whilst it's £21 per person (plus baby isn't big on pizza. She's strange). Alty Mans is fab. Dark and creepy as. Couple of iffy effects here and there but on the whole is a fantastic refurb. Between that and Nemmie the future could be bright. Does mean other areas look awful comparatively though. It was great to have Nemesis back. Had a good day overall but that was the only coaster we did due to the limited capacity and queues. There's still a lot of work to be done.

Back on fully loading 2 trains this morning. She's back ❤️

Started on one then second added around midday. Is very strange. Saw claims of overspeeding which might make sense with the new magnetic brakes and over sensitive modern day sensors. Would also explain the half filled trains. However if on the weekend they revert back to full loading it'll make little sense.

All things TPM reported here and on social media a couple of weeks ago, without having to watch a 40 minute video with ads Thanks for rounding up the key things from the video Matt; appreciated as always!

Agreed. If it was H&S I'd rather they just made the queue slightly taller. I know its a different park but it amazes me the Nemesis airgates were aloud to stay but this isn't aloud. I was thinking that re the floor. Hope that does get sorted as they've put a lot of work in to make the area look great, but that looks terrible...

Got back on Nemesis today. Overall, they've done a great job with the area and I do like the new colour scheme. I do prefer the original music, and the original queue line too. Yes the new queue offers new views of the ride I hadn't seen before, but I quite liked queuing down in the pit and getting close to the ride. It didn't open till around 1ish today so was a bit busier than I expected. They also decided to take a train off 20 mins before park close, causing a queue. Weird decision unless there was an issue with the train. Apart from that though, they were running it flawlessly as usual with little to no stacking. Strange decision to remove the front row queue. Was also annoying having a batcher in the station so you can no longer choose a row. Hoping this doesn't last long, they never bothered with that before and it never seemed to be an issue. Hoping for a better day tomorrow and to get on the back row.

That's pretty much all the eye does. It's given life by the claws around the eye moving up and down like its in anger. There was already some dead pixels so hopefully its an easyish fix. I was very excited for the return of Nemesis and I'm very happy that it's already running incredibly well, pretty much picking up where the old OG left off. I was concerned it might run slow but it isn't. I think it's a success and the energy around Nemesis was electrifying. Managed 6 rides including a front row and a back row and I'm happy.

Have some in-depth thoughts about Nemesis Reborn and the new Forbidden Valley, entirely about the new theming, as you all know the ride itself is excellent - It’s Nemesis! Been looking forward to this a lot, but had some reservations regarding Forbidden Valley and its theming, I do think it’s a real shame that Forbidden Valley has lost its Post Apocalyptic, Mad Max-y vibe, but what’s been done with the new theme is - regardless of personal taste - very impressive. Almost every major set piece moves, every set piece has sound, the station and shop have their own small show sequences, the theming is dynamic in a way that Merlin hasn’t really attempted before. The area makes you feel like you’re in a bombastic monster movie, if old Forbidden Valley was about exploring where an event had happened, New is about seeing it, hearing it, and feeling it happen. This whole project feels like Merlin’s first step into the modern era of theme parks, if this is the new quality bar for Merlin there’s a lot to be excited about. Towers' continual commitment to street theatre helps the area shine as well. I’m not under the illusion there will be this many characters out all the time, but knowing you’ll see at least one of them is a lot of fun and helps the area feel alive. I’m particularly fond of the Mushroom Cloud Tour Guide, hope you find your bus king! This isn’t to say everything’s perfect of course, the “school perimeter” fencing is ugly and the gun in the queue line screams “We tried to move the old one but it fell apart, so we threw this together” But what’s wrong is pretty minor and fixable, after seeing the tweaks Alton Manor got last year I wouldn’t be surprised if we *actually* saw this stuff worked on. But yeah, really impressed with it all, Forbidden Valley truly feels like it belongs to Nemesis again. I’m looking forward to spending more time in the area throughout the year and seeing how it evolves over the coming years, they cooked!

Big One by some distance. Though Hyperia should have something to say about that!!

Either The Swarm or Dragons Fury for me

Swarm for me I think. Dive drops are just lovely

I went on the BTS tour of the park today. Great tour it should be said; it was headed up by Russ, who is a fantastic speaker. I did mean to ask about the screen, but honestly forgot. It does seem like it won't be fixed for start of season (I believe the park said this in the passholder group a few weeks back too). A real shame. Hopefully they can hide the dead pixels with whatever they put on the screen. Okay, now time for some updates. Everything is still a Work in Progress it should be stressed Toilets Loo enthusiasts rejoice. All the toilets have received some love. Swarm toilets. The walls have been painted green (originally white), and no more foot pedal sinks Megastore toilets are nicely themed Tidal Wave The rebuilt bridge, with the original Pier 13 style. The fire effect is proving very tricky to implement, but is being planned still Big Easy Boulevard Stealth Colossus The park have released that the entrance is a bit flat, and so are looking to add more colour/depth to it, although this will happen mid-season. The shop front looks nice. In terms of the rest of the repaint, and indeed a Sparkle Project continuation, the park hope to do that either next closed season, or the closed season after. The park want to do it regardless, and recognise they need to keep up appearances - literally - now that they've started to do this. Personally, I hope it happens next closed season, as it does look a little jarring in places. The park is looking lovely though, with the Hyperia area coming along and looking smart. There's other small updates too, such as KFC getting refitted and other new food places. Some parts of the park are still a bit tired looking / haven't really been touched. Rumba/Inferno is the big example I would say. And the Sparkling up does highlight how tatty some parts of that area, and the likes of Swarm and Saw, look. I do wonder if this means that, come opening, some enthusiasts will focus too much on those and not the fab stuff that we've seen heavily documented and shouted out about. But yes, it's clear to see the park have put time, effort and money into things this winter, and they're taking strides in the right direction. I'm excited to see what will happen and hope their plans pay off!

Lady Di is riding it with Sir Capt. Tom & Baby P.

I'll be intrigued to see if Detty gets some crazy queue times just because of the new area. Such a good little flat, one of Thorpe's most bang-for-their-buck additions.

And here's an issue I have with the park at the moment. They have been great at sharing updates geared towards geeks and those who are interested. The collaborations with Jack Silkstone over the years (pre-season videos, for example) have given a great insight into what to expect, some of the park's thinking, etc. But they're almost being too open. We go back to Tidal Wave's fire effect returning. That was announced for, what, 2021? And yet here we are, no fire effect in sight. Their communication about SRQ has been good. They trialled it on Saw last year (after a push to trial it from a Rides Team Leader), and expanded it to a couple of flat rides. They've said they intend to put it on Stealth too. But that was many months ago, and the official line has just been 'it's coming soon'. How long does it take to set up? I genuinely cannot understand why it is taking so long, especially since Stealth was designed to have a Single Rider Queue, which still exists. If they hadn't have said anything until it was confirmed and all but in place, it wouldn't have caused any issues. Even if they said "We're looking at putting it on more rides if possible - watch this space", that would be fine. But by announcing it, with no clear idea of when it could happen, it's created this situation which frankly could have been avoided. Hopefully they've learnt from that, and choose to be more selective with what they talk about. And they get SRQ up and running. I don't see Stealth's life as limited. Hydraulic launches are fine. Yes, Top Thrill Dragster had issues, and that's why they've changed that. Hydraulic launches are still not the most reliable and parks do still have issues with them. And yes, hydraulic launches are old hat now, with LSMs the launch of choice now (and rightfully so). But at the same time, Thorpe have got Stealth down to a tee. Yes, it's had a bit of downtime recently (a few days I believe). But aside from that, it's been reliable, rarely has a rollback, and is incredibly popular still. Okay, it's not going to be the tallest ride on park. But that's not big issue, when the tallest ride is only a bit taller and faster, and on the other side of the park. It still has a huge selling point and draw. People still lap it up. Thorpe aren't short on space, so don't have a need to remove it yet. And frankly put, there's other coasters which would be higher up on the list to be removed in my opinion. Doing a Top Thrill feels a bit unnecessary at the moment. It would have to be turned into a swing launch in all likelihood, which would require a significant rejig of the station. The whole process would be incredibly costly at a point when, again, that money could be better spent elsewhere. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.