Leaderboard

1. I'm a theme park enthusiast. I get far more out of a well themed, story based area then just a ride in a big field. I can enjoy things like Fury 325 and Afterburner but my god, I would much rather be riding Baron 1898 and Nemesis. They send shivers, they make me feel connected in a way that a stat heavy machine never can. I prefer family theme parks to thrill parks and I like the variety and imagination that goes into family rollercoasters. 2. Theme Park hotels and staying the night is part of the experience and have become vital to a theme park trip to feel right. Over the years I've stayed at many Disney resorts, Europa Park, Dollywood, Efteling for example and I find them so engaging and immersive. 3. I love hitting parks hard in the first few hours and then relaxing and putting my feet up in a beautiful restaurant or in a bar and just reflecting. One of my star memories is at Toverland, sitting outside the Flaming Feather in the beautiful sun and just relaxing with a beer and chicken wings watching the rides go by. A park that doesn't have a lovely restaurant to sit back and chill isn't worth visiting in my opinion. 4. Theme Park road trips are hard. Just doing day after day after day of theme parks is exhausting and relaxation days are key to making the most of parks.

On the topic of Make Your Mark / putting your own Easter Eggs in mazes, I think we can thank/blame @Glitch:

You can judge a coaster by its cover. Vekoma SLC? Yeah, that'll be rubbish. Nu-Vekoma? Yeah, that'll be fun, smooth, possibly slightly over-engineered. Intamin multi-launch? That'll be good. 20+ year old B&M? Will be intense, little head-banging, showing its age, but still fab. It's not a perfect rule, but you will get a good idea of what you're getting just by looking at the coaster. The less you know, the better. Let me tell you a story. Late 2008. Corkscrew at Alton Towers was about to be removed for a new coaster to open in 2010. A 14 year old JoshC was told that that coaster would have vertical drop track, but keep that secret. Tbf, many people ended up being able to piece that together long before that was revealed in March 2010, but I had known almost 18 months before that official reveal. It was almost 3 years from finding out about Thirteen's secret that I actually rode it. And don't get me wrong, I like Thirteen. But imagine how much more I'd have enjoyed it if I didn't know? Never say "I won't get there". Moreso when you're younger, it's easy to think "I won't ever get the chance to get to that theme park". Again, I remember thinking that about Phantasialand when I was younger, and watching POVs of (and reading all about) Winjas. And, like Thirteen, I ended up riding it, liking it, but knowing all its secrets beforehand. It would have been so much more cool had I known nothing going in. So yeah, never think you won't go to a park, or won't ride a ride...as long as it's open, there's a chance. Enthusiasts are great. There's some amazing people who are enthusiastic about coasters, who are just lovely. It's a great community to be a part of. Enthusiasts suck. For balance. There some awful people who are enthusiastic about coasters, who just grate you and everyone around you. It's a minority, but it's a fact of life. Roller coaster element names are stupid. I still don't know what a step-up-under-flip actually is, and frankly I don't care. Nor do I know what a dragon roll is. Is there an element called a twisted knot? Who knows. And what the bloody heck is a jo-jo roll? And why is it called a banana roll; it doesn't roll and doesn't look like a banana?! (In saying that, Untamed's 270° double inverting corner stall - affectionately the 270° dics - remains my favourite inversion, by on-ride experience and name) Don't let anyone else tell you how to enjoy your hobby. You want to only visit Merlin parks and lap Mandrill Mayhem for the rest of time because it's your favourite coaster? Cool. You don't count creds? Fine. You only ride thrill rides, and don't bother with kiddie ones? Perfect. There will be people (in some instances, more light-heartedly) who tell you you should do this, should do that, or say "Why do you do that??". But you do you.

Park seems to have bought a few misters for around the place: Weird to get them towards end of summer, but better late than never (equally could have been delays outside their control). But if they have bought and own them, it should be easier to then get them out in future. Also, the Hyperia stage is outside Ghost Train, presumably ready for Oktoberfest prep: With Oktoberfest starting a week today, it does continue to show, in my opinion, that Oktoberfest is very much just a side quest style event that is the middle child of Thorpe's current line up. Whilst I like the idea, I question the worth of it moving forward.

Stage is completely gone, fans/misters on queue line, and work going on around the queue:

Looks like they maybe installing some water fountains in the queue maybe? (Not my photo!)

Just don't break it, or Stealth, thanks.

Hi guys. Some on here have been theme park enthusiasts for a very long time, and over a period of multiple years, you’re bound to learn a thing or two. Whether you’ve learned what you most enjoy or whether you’ve learned how to get the best out of a park or ride, years of visiting parks is bound to have taught you things and shaped your perspectives in some way. I know it certainly has for me! With this in mind, I’d be interested to know; what have you learned in your years as a theme park enthusiast? What have your years of park visiting experience taught you, and what new perspectives have you gained from years of coaster riding and park visiting? I’ll get the ball rolling with some of the things I’ve learned over my years of theme park visiting… Personally, I can currently think of two, off the top of my head: The first thing I can think of is that you can’t always judge a coaster based on only one ride. In my early years of theme park enthusiasm, I often only rode things once and didn’t get what people said about needing multiple rerides to fully appreciate something. I used to think that if I truly loved a coaster, I knew it from the very first ride. The second I first got off The Swarm in July 2014, I instantly knew I loved it and I instantly knew it was my #1. The second I first got off Mako in August 2016, I instantly knew I loved it and I instantly knew it was my #1. The second I got off Icon in August 2018, I instantly knew I loved it and I instantly knew it was right up there with Mako (despite it now only being my #11, it felt like one of the times Mako came closest to being dethroned when I first got off in 2018). But in recent years, I’ve grown increasingly sceptical of my previous theory that you can fully get the measure of a revered coaster based on only one ride. The key formative moment that taught me this was when I went to Florida last year and rode both VelociCoaster and Iron Gwazi, amongst others, for the first time. Both rides were brilliant on the first run… but I wasn’t instantly sold on them being absolutely top tier for me. In both cases, though, the second ride really was the charm; both VelociCoaster and Iron Gwazi were catapulted into that top tier after I took a reride, and it was the second ride that showed me just how great they both were. To some extent, I also experienced this with Hyperia at Thorpe Park recently; I absolutely loved it the first time, but it took the second ride to make me conclusively think that it was absolutely top tier. Now I will say that this mainly applies to hyped up, revered coasters for me; I still feel I can get the true measure of a kiddie coaster, Reverchon spinning wild mouse or Zamperla Volare from one ride without feeling the need to reride. If I actively don’t rate something, it’s unlikely that a second ride will change that. But in those cases where I love something, but I’m not sure if I think it’s truly top tier, I’ve learned that it sometimes takes a second ride to truly determine the full measure of it. Sometimes, of course, my initial opinion won’t change that much or it might possibly even decrease, but in some other glorious cases, everything falls into place with that reride, and the second ride shows me how truly top tier a coaster is when the first ride didn’t quite. The other thing I’ve learned is that intensity isn’t everything, and it’s fun and rerideability that’s truly important to me. In my very early years of riding big coasters, I used to be mildly dismissive of things that weren’t intense. In my early years of big coaster riding at Alton Towers, for example, my mentality was “1.4m height restriction or bust” once I was tall enough to ride the big 1.4m coasters. But over the years, I’ve grown to realise that there can be a point at which intensity is too much, and that the most enjoyable coaster experiences for me are the ones that are just plain fun and really rerideable. Intensity can definitely contribute to a fun and highly enjoyable ride for me, and being fun, thrilling and rerideable are definitely key components of a coaster that ranks highly for me, but I have definitely learned that the coasters that blow your head off with intensity are often not the ones I enjoy the most, and there are some coasters that aren’t particularly intense that I rate very highly. Hagrid’s at Universal is not an overly intense coaster, but it’s just such utterly joyous fun that I enjoyed it immensely and couldn’t not place it in my top 10! Wicker Man at Alton Towers is not an overly intense coaster, but the fun airtime and pacing makes me laugh so much that it can’t not be in my top 10 and 10/10 tier! Rides like these do not necessarily blow your head off with intensity, but are ridiculously good fun, and it’s rides like these that taught me that I truly care most about that combination of fun, thrills and rerideability rather than out-and-out intensity. Those are just some of the lessons I’ve learned over my years of theme park enthusiasm; if I think of any more, I’ll post them! But I’d be interested to know; what lessons have you learned in your years of coaster riding and theme park visiting? What perspectives have your years of experience unearthed?

The stage and equipment almost definitely will be used for Oktoberfest and Fright Nights. As for actors, I don't think anyone would have expected the show to happen over FN, as actors are simply needed for the event. They might be used for Oktoberfest, Ghost Train, Walking Dead or simply training sessions for Fright Nights. If "scary scares" aren't those actors' thing, and they aren't suited to the Amity dance show (which will presumably return), they'd probably end up relocating to Chessington tbh.

Naturally because I've posted today that it's been closed for ages, it's re-opened today. Currently has a queue which stretches almost to the Teacups!

I had the same thought, but can't be sure either way. Still digging around to find out. Over Fright Nights it closes at dusk in any case. Rumba is an interesting one at the moment. It's been closed for an extended period of time, and that's sort of flown under the radar. Many of my recent visits it's just been sat there, although on Thursday it was testing, with staff in all Watcher positions. Saturday again it was dormant. Two weeks to get it back open. Thorpe did say earlier in the year, on the Facebook passholder group, that it's a seasonal attraction. I guess it makes sense; it's a staff intensive attraction that is out the way and will have a low ridership in autumn. A different kettle of fish to, say, Tidal Wave, which though expensive to run and has low autumnal ridership, is very prominent. Too prominent to close. Remember in 2020 when Rumba was 'transformed' for Oktoberfest into the Oompah Rapids? That feels a lifetime ago, and now it's closed for basically the whole event. The park need to do something with it. Realistically, the park lack a mid-level water ride; one that gets you wet, but not too wet. Rumba and Storm Surge are rides on water, but barely get you wet. Updating Rumba, with new boats and effects, could work. The other option would be the scrap it entirely and put a new ride there. With some work, they could create a closed water system there and put in a new water ride (new gen log flume with restraints?), but it won't be cheap. The issue for Thorpe right now is they still have Slammer SBNO, next to the big new thing, they've got flat rides which are nearing 25 years old, they've got an elephant in Ghost Train, which surely can't operate as is until the end of the decade, and coasters seem to be the main draw to the park. Where in all that do they fit in a Rumba replacement? So the bigger question is: do they drag our Rumba as much as possible, rolling the proverbial turd in a bit of glitter, or do they take the hit and SBNO-it, hiding it behind a few extra trees? Neither is ideal, but it feels like we're leaning more towards the latter.

100% doable I'm sure on the app to put exact opening times for each ride on them. However I think having a very open ended "it MIGHT close early" is more of an issue. Either say it WILL close say 30 minutes prior to advertised park closing time or just close it at that point and damn the consequences. Giving such vague wiggle room can cause issues. Thorpe's communication back on my May visit (the day they didn't tell anyone in the park about Hyperia being closed until letting people in) still irks me. Now THAT was terrible communication, and probably part of that is out of fear of backlash that the big new thing wasn't open, but making it worse by not communicating properly to those visiting on park (social media posts, especially whilst people are travelling or already there don't help much). Fear of bad PR often leads to it moreso than clear and open communication. Must've been a reason why the early closure announcement was only made in the Hyperia area after all.

18th August 2024: Thorpe Park Hi guys. Today was an exciting day; the day of my return to Thorpe Park to finally ride Hyperia! I was going to Thorpe today seeking sweet, sweet redemption… I’d already been unsuccessful on a previous attempt to ride Hyperia back in June, with me having to agonisingly watch it test before it reopened 2 days later… that tasted particularly bitter, and to rub salt in the wound, I then watched tons of other people, including my sister who isn’t overly into coasters, go on it and tell me how brilliant it was. Today, I was finally going to find out whether I agreed! That was not the only exciting aspect of the day, however… the other exciting aspect is that after two successful visits to Alton Towers that he absolutely loved, my grandad decided to join me and my dad at Thorpe Park today! After he loved Alton Towers, me and dad thought that Thorpe Park would be the next logical step for him, and I was excited to show him the sights and sounds of the UK’s most thrilling theme park for the first time! That’s enough of a prologue, though; let’s get into the meat of our day at Thorpe Park! We left our home in Gloucestershire at around 7:40am this morning and after a relatively smooth drive barring some reduced speed limits and roadworks on the M4, we arrived at Thorpe Park 2 hours later, making good time for entry into the park a little after 10am following a brief wait for security: On the subject of security, we actually had a rather interesting near miss with Thorpe Park security today… As we were queueing for security, my dad was telling my grandad that he would need to take his watch and such off for the metal detector. Thinking that my grandad would be irritated by this, we were both taken by surprise when he said “I’m more worried about the f***ing knife in my pocket!”. Before anyone gets any ideas, I should clarify that this was a small penknife that my grandad uses for gardening and had simply forgotten to take out of his pocket, but it still gave my dad fear that Thorpe Park security staff would get the wrong idea if my grandad tried to go in with it, and he sternly directed my grandad to the sign clearly stating “No Knives”! It didn’t seem to cause any issues (we were relieved, but I’m not sure whether the lack of drama is a good thing or not in the grand scheme of things…), but me and my dad were nonetheless concerned about how this could have been received by the security staff… I think we were very lucky! After thankfully entering the park drama-free, we pondered going to Hyperia first, but as it had by far the longest queue and we wanted to give my grandad a proper first timer’s taste of what Thorpe Park had to offer, we decided to go for a different big coaster first… Colossus While some signs said it was closed, Colossus was in fact open on a 0 minute advertised queue, so me and my grandad decided to give it a go (my dad sat this one out, as he’s too tall for the restraints). As promised, the ride was indeed walk-on, so me and grandad waltzed onto row 7 very promptly; you can never complain about that! But how was the ride? Well, I’m not the biggest fan of Colossus, but I have to say that today’s ride in row 7 was not bad at all as Colossus goes, and maybe in contention for being the best ride I’ve ever had on it! It was a bit rough in places, but nothing overly terrible by any stretch, and the first half was pretty decent! The tight restraints definitely take away from the ride, and I’m still not convinced I overly enjoy the numerous consecutive heartline rolls in the second half, but in the grand scheme of Colossus rides, I could not complain too much! My grandad was a big fan of the ride; he described Colossus as “right up there with Smiler as one of the most insane coasters [he’d] ever ridden” and remarked that it “was the first time [he’d] ever felt like [he] was going to fall out of the restraint”!: After Colossus, we decided to head to another big coaster nearby… Saw: The Ride Saw was on an advertised 10 minute queue, so we decided to take a ride on there. This queue was marginally understated, taking more like 15-20 minutes, but it still wasn’t overly long. So, how was the ride? Well, we were seated on the front row, and I’m afraid to say that it wasn’t an overly good Saw ride; there were a number of notable jolts, including a particularly head-splitting one on the first drop, and there was a general strong roughness throughout. Unfortunately, I’m sad to say that my grandad did not enjoy this one, or at very least, it did not seem to agree with him; he came off it feeling “sick as a dog” and didn’t seem to enjoy the roughness and jerkiness of it. To be honest, I sadly think it was a bit of a day ruiner for him, as I’m not sure he ever completely recovered from it: After Saw, we finally decided to give into temptation and ride the big new draw after seeing that its queue time had dropped… Hyperia Hyperia was on an advertised 65 minute queue time, and my dad didn’t think that it even looked that long, so we decided to give it a ride. Despite my dad’s thinking that it didn’t look 65, the queue time board was true to its word and we ended up waiting 65 minutes. Even still, I can’t complain too much about a 65 minute queue for a brand new ride in the summer holidays; I’ve waited far worse! So, how was Hyperia after all the anticipation? Well, I was seated in row 8, and it was a phenomenal ride, with obscene speed and very nice airtime and hangtime… but I wasn’t immediately certain on whether it was absolutely top tier. I’m going to remain shtum on Hyperia at this stage in the report, however, as previous experience with hyped-up, revered rides has taught me that 1 ride is not necessarily enough to reliably get the measure of a hyped ride’s true greatness. When I went to Florida last year, for example, both VelociCoaster and Iron Gwazi grew on me considerably after a second ride, so I wondered if the same would be true of Hyperia… let’s just say that the story does not end there! In terms of my dad and grandad’s thoughts, my dad said that it was “undeniably excellent, but not as good as VelociCoaster” (my dad’s favourite ride), remarking that “it was absolutely mental”, and that “the first drop was mental”, but that he was “unsure on [his] feelings on this getting airtime by pushing you out of your seat sideways lark”. I didn’t get much of an opinion from my grandad other than relief that it was smoother than Saw (although I did think I heard a distinct “f***ing hell” fall out of his mouth as we hit the brake run… interpret that however you wish!): After Hyperia, we decided to sit down on a bench and calmly eat lunch for a bit before heading to our next big coaster… The Swarm The Swarm was on an advertised 35 minute queue, so we decided to take a ride. This queue time ended up being understated, as we ultimately ended up waiting around 50 minutes. On a side note, the operations seemed notably slower than usual on here, with 2+ minute dispatches and stacking being frequent. But how was the ride? Well, we were seated in row 3, and it was really decent! I do really like Swarm, and today was no exception; I love the sense of speed (particularly on the first drop as you start it’s a smooth ride, and I also think that there are some very nice inversions on there! The vest restraints are a minor detractor for me, but not a huge one; I overall thoroughly enjoyed my ride! My grandad seemed a bit non-plussed by the experience, describing it as “a bit uneventful”: After The Swarm, we headed over to our next big coaster… Nemesis Inferno Nemesis Inferno was on an advertised 30 minute queue, so me and my dad decided to take a ride on there. By this point, my grandad had clearly had enough of the rides and decided to sit Nemesis Inferno out. The 35 minute queue was marginally overstated, instead taking 30 minutes, and we took our seats on the back row. So, how was the ride? Well, I thoroughly enjoyed today’s ride on Nemesis Inferno; it was smooth, was forceful without being excessively forceful, and packed some awesome inversions and a brilliant sense of speed throughout! I do really enjoy Nemesis Inferno, and I don’t think the Nemesis comparison does it any favours; it’s a cracking coaster in its own right! My dad said that the ride was “good”, but that “it definitely wasn’t as smooth as the new Nemesis at Alton Towers” for him (I disagreed with him on this, but to be fair, I was seated in a middle seat while dad was sat in an outer seat): After Nemesis Inferno, we met back up with my grandad to head over to Stealth and see whether he’d ride it, but it pretty much closed the second we got there. As my grandad wasn’t even sure if he wanted to ride it anyway and seemed like he’d had enough, we decided to leave the ride be for today. I would have liked to get a ride on there, as I do love Stealth, but I wasn’t too distraught not to seeing as I had 4 rides on my June visit; I can’t exactly say I haven’t already had a decent fill of Stealth this year: After we abandoned Stealth, my grandad had no intentions of riding anything else and we’d covered all of the other big coasters, so my dad let me loose to go and reride Hyperia using the single rider queue. I had not one, but two additional rides on Hyperia using this, and both gave me a notable advantage over the main queue. The first ride saw me dodge a 65 minute advertised queue and only wait 35 minutes, while the second ride saw me dodge a 90 minute advertised queue and only wait 30 minutes. I can never complain about that! By complete fluke, I also got assigned to the back row on both rides, so I managed to take two rides in the back right seat, which is supposedly “the best seat on the ride” according to one of the designers!: Now, I think it’s about time I talked in a little more detail about Hyperia than I did earlier. The million dollar question is; did Hyperia repeat the phenomenon of VelociCoaster and Iron Gwazi, where “the second ride was the charm”, so to speak? Well, the answer is yes! Oh my god, yes! I loved Hyperia the first time and thought it was phenomenal, but it was the rerides that made me see the height of its true greatness and declare with certainty that for me, this is definitely a top tier ride! Where to begin with it… in terms of some key highlights: That first drop is absolutely unhinged, and so, so good! I love a big first drop, and this is a sublime one; the ejector airtime is absolutely absurd (you get absolutely ripped out of the seat!), the 180 degree twist adds an intriguing additional sensation, and the sense of speed you are hit with at the bottom is nuts! Hyperia definitely sits alongside Mako and Iron Gwazi as having one of my favourite first drops I’ve ever done! That outerbanked turn into the inversion is insane. I’ve never experienced an element quite like it; while I’m not necessarily convinced that sideways airtime beats good old straight airtime for me, the sustained sideways ejector was absolutely absurd! The Immelmann is just wonderful! The speed you get going up into it is brilliant, and you get an absolutely sublime pop of sustained ejector airtime coming out of it! This was a definite highlight of the ride for me! This is a fast ride, and you can definitely feel it! The sense of speed is absolutely absurd; Hyperia reminds you just how fast 81mph is! I’ll do a longer and more detailed review later in the relevant thread that has a couple of critiques as well, but overall, Hyperia is just absolutely sublime, in my view! It’s a stunning investment for Thorpe Park and the UK theme park industry, and it certainly lived up to the years of hype for me! In terms of comparisons and specific ranking spots; I’ve thought it over following my 3 rides, and I will say the following: It is easily my favourite ride at Thorpe Park It is easily my favourite UK coaster In terms of overall rankings out of the 123 coasters I’ve ridden, I have conservatively opted for the #5 spot, with the ride currently being beaten only by Mako, VelociCoaster, Silver Star and Iron Gwazi in my rankings. It’s definitely a top 5 worthy candidate, folks! Overall, then; I absolutely loved Hyperia, and it definitely lived up to the hype for me! To return to our Thorpe Park day; by the time I’d had 2 Hyperia rides, it was around 3:45pm. My grandad was clearly flagging and had had enough and my dad seemed like he didn’t to wait around any longer, so we left the park for the day. So, that brings my day at Thorpe Park today to a close! Overall, then, I had a great day; I was thrilled to finally get on Hyperia for the first time, and it did not disappoint! That was my main aim for the day, and with 3 rides on it, I comfortably accomplished this aim! I also enjoyed getting on some of Thorpe’s other great rides; these always put me in a good mood, and while Hyperia is now the crown jewel, some of Thorpe’s other coasters are no slouches either! Thorpe has always had an excellent coaster selection for me, and Hyperia has just taken it to the next level! I was disheartened, however, by the fact that my grandad didn’t seem to have an especially enjoyable day, and didn’t warm to Thorpe Park like he did to Alton Towers. I think I may have made a mortal error by directing us to Saw so early on in the day, as it was that ride that seemed to put him off for the rest of the day. He absolutely loved our first ride on Colossus, and declared that one of his favourites! Me and my dad also had a theory that his sickness feeling may not have been helped by the fact that he decided to forego wearing his glasses for the whole day instead of taking them on and off all day, so he was walking around the park with blurred vision all day. Nonetheless, he just didn’t warm to Thorpe Park at all. He apparently said to my dad that “it seems busy compared to Alton Towers… and I don’t like busy”, and whatever the reason, he just seemed to go off the park and the rides quickly and not warm to them at all. I was sad that he didn’t like it, but he’s never going to like everything and I’m glad that he came and tried it out. I don’t sense he’ll be in a rush to return to Thorpe with us, however! But overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the day and was glad to both accomplish my aim of getting on Hyperia and hear my grandad’s first time thoughts on Thorpe Park! Thanks for reading; I hope you enjoyed this report! My next trip report will be coming on 5th September, when I visit Drayton Manor to take my first ever ride on Gold Rush and ride the last of the new for 2024 UK coasters! I can’t wait to try that ride out!

This is so lovely Matt ❤️ Brought back fond memories of my Grandad Keep making memories Matt. I hope you’ve got an ORP with him!

The app does also say that "all Hyperia queue lines will close prior to the advertised park closure time". It is mixed messaging, but equally it is there. The question is: how do the park create a clear communication line? Does the app need "opening hours" for every ride, especially ones which are scheduled to be open from open to close? Could the park remove that? Equally, what more can the park do to push that Hyperia's queue line could close earlier, at any time? People don't read the information, or have been conditioned to ignore it (because, more often than not, the queue line does close at park close). The park obviously have reasons for wanting to close the queue line early. Why that is is unclear. Could be engineering, staffing, etc. Obviously with Fright Nights around the corner, there's questions as to whether this will be a regular occurrence. If people want to, say, do the mazes then get a night ride on Hyperia, it feels like it'll be a difficult to get timings right for people, given the issues they have with timing on mazes. I understand the want for a night ride. But just take a step back. You got a ride at some point after 8.20pm. That's good, right? At worst, that's a ride happening at dusk. A ride at a time that wouldn't have been possible so far except on opening day. And you may also have gotten other rides during the day. Your complaint boils down to the fact that the lack of communication meant you couldn't get another ride? As I say, take a step back. Don't get me wrong, the communication can be improved, and it has left a sour taste for some, but saying something like this: feels like an over-reaction to the situation. The park have extended opening hours, with much of the park being quiet during those extended hours (likely due to poor weather), at a time when other parks within Merlin have cut opening hours and have reduced ride selection. Whilst your experience left a poor final impression, there's a huge oversight on all the positives from yesterday.

Today was the first 9pm closure, and it should be said it was a fab day. It's a shame as the weather seems to have put people off. Today was probably the quietest day I've seen the park this summer. This did have the upside that there were short queues; everything was more or less a walk on from 7.30, Hyperia aside. I guess the issue with a late closure is, if there's no extra entertainment/reason to stay later, people won't. We see with Fright Nights people stay. But something like this, there is no incentive to visit and stay late beyond more ride time. And some people may think "longer open hours = busier = longer queues". On the flip side, I hope it improves guest satisfaction further. There's another thing to be discussed: Hyperia. Hyperia is still advertised, as it has been since reopening, as possibly closing before the park does. It has done this on some days, and others it's remained opened till close (or even a few minutes after). The ride closed its queue at 8.30. It was advertised as a 40min queue (which was about right). So the park are well within their rights to do this. There was also an announcement in the area at 8.20 this was happening, as people were loitering. There's quite a few complaints on Twitter circulating because of this. It's a layered one, as I do think that they could.improve their communication here. The other side of the coin is the reason they close earlier is because they want to stop a mad rush of people going and extending the queue time dramatically. A lot of the complaints I'm seeing are from people who wanted to get a night ride on Hyperia and were leaving it as late as possible. I see the frustration that people have, but I also see it from the park's perspective too. Ultimately I think it's a minority of park visitors who are complaining about it, but the park should also see if there's an alternative way to communicate an early closure. To get back to the main point though. 9pm closure good. Thank you Thorpe. Great job. Let's hope it proves successful.

This aged very nicely over 11 years…

I'll stick it in this thread. It looks like Rumba, despite closing early, is returning next year: Whether this is cost cutting or to start on a renovation, who knows.