Marc

I think this sums up pretty well this isnt a problem exclusive to Thorpe..

Is it not a bit different? I thought Smiler ran all 5 of its train and was never bought as a "Spare"?

Yeah definitely - going up is pretty slow and waiting for it to tilt was what got me, and when you started tilting it felt like it took for ever. Its hard to tell how the drop was to HK - I'm sure the laying down did add some to the intensity.

Whilst not majorly intense Falcons fury was pretty good - much better than Hurakan Condor but still not anything on Detonator. The restraint vests are quite hard - comfortable but I wouldn't like to sat in them to long in the laying down position. They also had a new thing where the seatbelts get locked too and were not able to be undone until the restraints were released - not seen this on a ride before.

I agree with this - 45 mins is a long queue especially one one train - which goes back to what I said earlier its fine when queues are 10/15 mins long, its just they need to be able to be in a position to increase the capacity when needed.

Whats the point in sending a ride round with empty seats? 1 Train is fine if the queues are at an acceptable length. Its difficult to compare thorpe to places like Disney / Cedar Point - they are on on totally different scales and what is probably considered a quiet day at these parks would be a busy day at thorpe. Whilst Alton are very good at running rides on 2 trains, their operating hours are probably the worse of any other UK park so its swings and roundabouts really.

I don't have a problem with them running 1 train on rides when the parks quiet enough most parks do it and - 10/15 min queues are perfectly acceptable - it becomes more of a problem when the parks busier than expected and for whatever reason they are not able to add the 2nd train causing queues to become quite some length.

It's worked for 25 years, whys it need fixing now? I guess none of you visited when you had to take your stuff on tidal wave!

The hold on tight and brace your self is just on a 3 min loop and plays every min or so.

There have been 3! After the original "Ready to Go.. Looking good.... 3 2 1goo goo go" There was somthing like "Ready to go keep your heads back.. 3 2 1" and then the one we have now. Ready to go looking good heads back was too long for the launch sequence

Noticed that that side of the row comes *very* close to a rather large tree - I expect this is why and once thats sorted they will be able to re-open them seats

Surely if you was going to buy one you would arrange the same with a group of friends so you all had one :S? It depends how you plan your visits, as has been said, the park have given you ample time to book your ticket at £5 in advance, this helps the park get an idea of how many people will be visiting which I expect is a great help to them, with the fastback being worth £25 you only actually have to have 3 spur of the moment trips to make this worth it. If your someone who plans trips in advance then its worth paying the fiver now and the bolt on isn't worth it. Just because its not value for money for you don't mean it isn't for a wider audience!

To be fair Merlin do similar deals around that time too, I know merlin are not perfect but IMO their annual passes do represent very good value, even if the Standard does have paid extras.

Merlin Premium Annual Pass: £199 BPB Annual pass: £189.60 Merlin Standard Pass:(With restrictions granted) £159 Merlins offering looks much better value to me.. Cant really comment on Oakwood as have not been in years.

I bought fastrack and used the fastrack entrance. Exit is for disabled riders.

The problem with samurai is it needs 15 people to run - on the quieter ones it would be sat there waiting for people. I think with dodgems /teacups in this years line up they had a fairly good balance of rides.

Just got back from the final Summer Nights of the season - probably the busiest I've seen it with all the main coasters having around 15 - 20 min queues. Was good to see the event busier proving it can work and will hopefully see it return next season

You tried Twitter - often get the best results here nowadays with any company.

Yep - early in it's life it had metal plates on the side of it's trains which stopped you from being able to do so but were a massive pain, they were removed when these new restraints which stop you lifting your legs were installed.

Problems with restraints doesn't automatically mean they are going to just open, the chances of that are terribly minute. The thorpe engineers know the ride better than we do, if they thought there was any risk of riders being stuck for long periods it wouldnt be open.

Surely it depends what time of year you go - the trials being held in the middle of summer at a time when queues are usually pretty long that would be pretty good. I dont see how a 1200pph ride goes to waste as the RnR system will simply allocate 1200 people per hour to the swarm (Give or take some for fastrack allocations etc).

The restraints are designed to move slightly - it's nothing to worry about

For all the stick you give them Merlin have maintained slammer for years to keep it operational..

An average everyday guest would be more than happy with that on a busy summers day though?

Wow - And people complained that Angry Birds land ruins Stealth