Dan9
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Posts posted by Dan9
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The Smiler queue line will be open tomorrow from 9.30am, the queue will close at 12noon for planned maintenance.
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It's not the floodlights, they appear in all sorts of places like the path leading into the staff car park, the bridge normally has loads near the end of the day too (even when the lights aren't on). Not really sure why it's now that suddenly there's a massive gathering!Well they 'could' turn off the floodlights which is what attracts them in the first place
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Eh? Thorpe's attendance fell because The Swarm wasn't intense? Well firstly you disregarded my point about it being the job of the marketing team to bring in customers when there's a new attraction, not B&M's. Why would the fall in attendance be the fault of a ride the majority of their guests every day haven't been on yet? You then seem to assume your own opinion is the opinion of the public. It isn't. For example I don't like Saw but most of the public enjoy it. As I said before, The Swarm is received very well by the majority of those who ride it, regardless of what you think of its intensity. Also the fact that the park's having such a good follow up year (as well as it getting better as a park anyway) suggests The Swarm has a good reputation anyway. People are coming back, more so than last year. It didn't have the instant appeal like Stealth or Saw had and as Benin said, had to deal with difficult circumstances, but in the longer run it's turning out to be just as smart an installation.In 2012, the year Swarm opened, attendance fell by 9%. How is that not bad?
And what I'm saying is, the park advertised it as intense. And pretty much none of the new B&M coasters are intense. I think they will only buy another coaster from them if they were to market it as a 'family coaster', like PA did with their hyper.
(anyway, for me The Swarm is the most intense coaster in the park, and the only ride I've ever been on to make me greyout. A lot... clearly new B&M's can't be that forceless then...)
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Oh I agree, I've very much enjoyed what Merlin have done with both The Swarm and The Smiler from a marketing and creative point of view. I'm simply suggesting that you can't blame the manufacturer for a park underperforming in a coaster's first year when the public don't know anything about the ride beforehand, that's the job of marketing.To be fair, Swarms marketing was pretty much what enthusiasts called out for and I think the marketing was some of the best weve seen from the park.
The problem is the GP like gimmicks, Saw, Colossus, Stealth, Smiler, Thirteen all have their own little gimmicks and have all been massively successful.
Thats not a bad thing mind, most of them are very good rides
As it is, there are many other reasons why Thorpe (and many other Merlin parks) didn't have a great 2012. This year Thorpe have been on much better form and yes, I can confidenty say The Swarm is a very well received ride from the vast majority of the public.
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Why would The Swarm be considered a failure after the park's success this season? And even if they did consider it to be a failure (it isn't), why would that be B&M's fault as opposed to their own marketing team?^ Because B&M are quality <3
I just don't see them going with B&M soon, after the 'failure' of Swarm. Mack? Perhaps. But I would be slightly put off buying an Intamin coaster considering all the accidents that have happened recently (Shoot the Rapids, Furios Baco etc.)
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All Fright Nights dates are officially now 10-10pm, and the season has been extended a day to Tuesday 5th November.
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Can you please explain your point further, I'm really not sure what you're trying to get at? Both involved extensive land work, both had buildings constructed, theming props made/bought... all of those costs varied with the two rides and evidently The Swarm ended up being £2 million (if those figures are correct) more expensive, not too much when you think about the scale of the projects. B&M's cost more too...I just think they could of done better with the amount of money they had. The swarm cost £20m and the smiler only cost £18m!
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EC as much as I understand your loyalty to Oakwood, I can't believe that it isn't silly for them to not be able to get one of their most major rides ready until four (?) hours after opening every day. A decent amount of people will go on Tidal Wave from around 11am every day so I doubt there's a complete lack of demand, especially in the summer. If they are that worried about the ride's safety that they need to do hours upon hours of safety checks for half the day then why do they run it in the first place?
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Seems I'm way geekier than I thought.
Massive thanks/round of applause to Sidders for taking the time to put this together and of course everyone who took part; great to see the quiz turned out so successfully! -
Tbh I have better things to do like enjoying and appreciating good music than sit here arguing with you over who is the better artist
Don't be aggressive with your opinions in the first place then...
Are you actually kidding? At least Gaga shows some progression and takes a different sound with her NEW music, katy perrys Roar sounds like an offcut from teenage dream, so much for the dark mature sound, it's just as teeny bop pop as teenage dream singles.
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Tidal Wave is considerably more themed than Saw, something I'd thought was pretty clear. I'd personally give the edge to Nemesis Inferno over it as well, it's just a shame it's effects are less reliable as when they're all working the volcano effect really is impressive (the queueline misters
)As for the ride, I agree that not literally every ride I have is rough, but the vast majority feel like it's trying to cut my neck off, and not in an enjoyably immersive "oh I'm on a Saw themed ride" kind of way. A big problem for it for me is that even when it isn't like that, the layout itself is dull and feels awkward.
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Respect for Minnie.
- Benin, Ryan and Phill Pritchard
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Speaking of buses, the 950 is not on top form today. Was stood in the full cattlepen bus queue, with it spilling all the way back into the main entrance plaza, and 40 minutes passed without a single bus leaving or entering the park. Nothing to be seen. In August, on a 10k+ day, 5 minutes after closing time, in 30 degree heat. Slightly uncomfortable... especially when you know even after you get on the bus with no air con, you'll be in gridlock just trying to get out the car park anyway. They need to sort out their entrance sooner rather than later.
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On RCDB there has been no official announcement made by merlin or Heide Park currently.
As far as I'm aware RCDB only deals in 'official' announcements, and it's rare that the official announcement is the first time people become aware of the new ride. We knew Thorpe would be getting a wingrider before 'The Swarm' announcement was made, for example. In this case the environmental impact study published last August suggested it was a wingrider, and track at the B&M plant known to be wingrider had been arriving at Heide Park from the start of June. (from Heide-Park-Forum and Screamscape)
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Duel is great though; that, Nemesis and Runaway are more than enough to keep me occupied!
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Banned because Disney elitism makes me sad
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I can back this up with many factors:
- Reliably of rides - they are either all working or you have may out of action
- Queues - either non or very long
- Staff - Either very friendly or miserable and want to go home
- Audio - Sometimes they get it working ok, other times it doesn't work at all
- Refill drinks - Either the mix is right or wrong
- Effects on rides - Work sometimes, and not at other times
- Attitude of guests - Either very family/friendly or a car crash
What I am getting at is you can have one visit and it can be brilliant, you enjoy yourself, get on loads of rides and it is something you will remember and want to come back again and again, on other trips you have a completely different experience
But that's the same with pretty much all other theme parks... (except maybe Europa Park, who seem to be only top notch all the time)
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Reading the two reviews on here it shows how going on a different day can have such a different atmosphere. I have always found this with Thorpe, you either have a brilliant day or a disappointing day. I do feel Thorpe always struggle to give a consistent experience.
Other theme parks you go to you can almost predict what kind of day you will have, where as Thorpe you never really know.
How do you manage to predict how your day's going to go at other theme parks? I'm not sure I understand your point at all. Your experience of a day is affected by an enormous variety of things, I really don't think Thorpe is the main conductor in that, that's just sort of how life operates...
From what I've seen so far it seems to be a satisfying event for the guests who go, it's just that Thorpe themselves haven't quite figured out the most efficient way of running it.
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Can't be at the live since I'll be at Summer Nights sadly. But surely with the scoring system, everyone will look for the most obscure and it could end up that the most obvious answers score really well?
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The Smiler
in Alton Towers
Posted
Opened for an hour, stuck at the bottom of lift two, evac still in process. Rita yet to open today, Nemesis on 1 train... good times Towers.