TraX

Are we back to a 2 train op yet, or are they still struggling after so many of their maintenance team walked out?

Ouch! I hate the reminders of how great Chessington's theming was. Such a shame the park is such a dive now!

Wasn't there talk of B&M stepping in, claiming that the ride was never designed not to duel permanently?

/\ It shows just how badly Chessington has been run. The original entrance and everything else made Vampire great. Whoever decided the purple posts away from that arch needs to be fired! Kids treating theming as a plaything is a worldwide issue, only at Chessington after landing themselves in very hot water, have freaked out and decided that everything needs to be low and not at height. Continue to watch as the jokers of Chessington's H&S department flatten the entire park. Every other theme park can have queue lines and theming at height and can manage it, but simply not at knee-jerk Chessington. Just wait when they realize all those wooden fences and bridges at Zufari are about to start collapsing.. Didn't think about the long term. Silly billies.

There is a reason there is so much negativity for chessington. It seems to be left in such a state all the time. Yes we see touch ups around the place, but I fear they too will be as difficult as everything else is at Chessington if H&S keep trying to enforce their 'no ladder' use for staff. Yes this is an actual thing. Tell me again why chessington is such a state?

Or bag carousels like Gardaland use?

This is brilliant! Nice work Alton, the Air shop has been full of tat for a while now, so this is a great step forward. Hopefully with Fish & Chips going, we can claim that pathway back. Such a big scale transformation, does seem to imply there's bigger plans for FV!! whoop!!

Rush and Slammer in 2005 were a disaster. Rush closed almost straight away after 2 or so rides, and the S&S handover was literally right before. Slammer well.. hit the press for it's inability to know exactly which way it's balanced, as long as it was balanced. Then came Stealth and the park trying to get their heads around how to deal with the constant rollbacks.. The websites from 2005 also had a ride downtime section, which pretty much always had something in, until the park realized that wasn't the way forward advertising their downtime, it's much better to get the paying guests in the park first. There were high hopes across the park, as engineering got the huge new workshop built, that the downtime would end. Sadly Thorpe just seem to suffer from it. Again you'd think someone would look for the reason. Of course there is, and has been a lot of good too. It certainly has gotten better and IMO their main issue now is they got lazy. Everyone is aware of Thorpe Parks reputation for downtime, as they are of Chessington's current dreadful state, but from my experience there are way to many micro-managers passing the buck, slapping ridiculous rules and regulations everywhere, or H&S knee jerk reactions, which often contradict themselves. I'm still baffled that such an excellent, reliable B&M addition can't even get a water skim effect working, when so many coasters around the world have this no problem. Sloppy. I hate to rant, or be negative on the subject, but someone needs to step in.

It's really shocking, but until everyone leaves them and visits decent parks, this is what we get. Whilst some of the rides at Thorpe are great, their operation is DIRE. As long as you have visited, and on paper they have 'a good year' Merlin will keep offering this awful sub standard, and we will constantly go round in these discussions. Thorpe is always the worst offender (aside from Vampire's shocking start this season), you'd think that someone would spot a problem. Like Chessington, somewhere in management there's a boss with history in SALES, not visitor experience, and at the end of the day, Merlin is only concerned with how many they get through the gate. Simples. There is nothing more to say. Running one train on what they call 'low peak' just saves them money on maintenance in the long run. Again money, not visitor experience. Yes I know it's a business to make money, but it's obvious whilst walking around the southern parks, that someone in the business is utterly clueless. Paramount will shake things up, even if they think people will return to their below standard southern 'resorts', where they can queue for lazy operations, or at Chessington those most popular rides built in the 1990's.

There was a B&M flyer planned over the Loggers lake and what is now the Saw area, concept art had been created and all (brown track, eagle type theme I believe). However as already discussed, plans can easily change for reasons unknown to us. Staff find out all kinds of info, and marketing even ask staff to leak certain stories sometimes too. At the end of the day, things can change and we won't know this for a while. Cross Valley would be an enormous surprise as almost everyone apart from us are against it!

Project LC I was curious as there's been a huge amount of discussions from management teams and in the HR depts, who have had to put together contract and payment ideas, to avoid hitting bad press. I'm sorry if you thought it was uneducated. It's hot topic for Merlin currently.

Don't get snippy there.. I was just wondering, I didn't know the London min wage was optional. To me it's always a sign when the theme parks have such a huge turn over of staff, the standards always go up and down. It would be better to see some of those jobs better paid to keep staff there, and rid of the 0 hour contracts. But thanks for clearing up! Back on topic then...

Anyone know why The London Eye can pay their staff £8.40 an hour, when the London minimum wage is £9.15 an hour? Is it purely up to Merlin Entertainments to ignore it?

It's lovely to see a pathway so close to the track, without a huge fence and netting.

Wonder Mountain's Guardian (Triotech) and Voyage to the iron Reef (Triotech), are the two attractions I think this will be closest too. Justice Leage: Battle of Metropolis (Oceaneering), seems to big school for Merlin. Remember they like to do everything on the cheap (See ZUFARI in general.. and additionally the AnimalLive animation they bigged up as Disney interactive quality HAHAHAHAHA). I also wonder with the Simworx attraction going above the London Eye ticket hall and 4D theatre (Shrek's Bus thingy), that something from Simworx is another good bet for this. Any further talk of a roller coaster is just pointless!

Merlin's main instinct these days is having something new, that will get people in. That's it. Once they're in and the figures show an increase.. Job done. Well done everyone. Oh sorry, I forgot to mention the guests.

This has to be a Triotech attraction.

I'm pretty disheartened with Merlin this year. They just seem to get worse! Feels like they're so busy finding ways to take my money, yet their theme park operations are a complete shambles, and most people think that it's acceptable. It isn't. I've got ONE paid for trip this season, and as a paying guest, I'll hit the roof if their below average operations are still a thing, and if anyone tells me there's 'no demand' to lessen MY paid for queuing time, I'll go crazy! Phew.. Rant over.

90 mins for Saw on a weekday?? Tell me there's a good reason for this, other than the awful truck loads of Merlin excuses we've had so far this season.. ?

As electricBill and Ricky both pointed out, the engineering team are too busy dealing with the actual ride, so all effects come secondary, 'when they get round to it'. I know Chessington have staff that have been working there for many years, and know the ins and outs of many effects, however the park rely a great deal on this, and should rather train new people as everything rests on their shoulders (oh yes, you know who you are), and if they leave or retire, so does their knowledge. At the end of the day and with a few years at Merlin, I can assure you that they're all up for effects on attractions, but they don't think broken effects impact guest experience, as much as the ride being closed. slightly heading off topic.. have they sorted the Swarm's water skim effect yet? Always baffled me that every other park can have a reliable water skim, except Thorpe Park.

The 2015 season has already started, why no 'Inferno mist has been fixed' topic been raised yet?

Don't stand up to them on this. The park is a tip compared to it's glory days (and everyone who works there knows it too). Yes work is being done, but they need a lot more than wooden fences and African theming.

Come on guys, I'm sure that it's not finished. Will get an animal painted on it, African themed, or poster frames advertising the hotels. It won't look too bad.

Rubbish. Thorpe's rides are not ground breaking, it's just another excuse for Merlin offering a below-par experience.

Hit the nail on the head, yet there are so many excuses and expecting this to happen. Why some enthusiasts think it's any sort of OK operation to open a theme park with a chunk of rides down is beyond me. It pains me to see them shouting 'we're open' over social media, when they should be saying 'we're open with limited rides'. Poor show once again. If they can't handle the winter months work, they need to ask REAL theme park operators how they do it staying open longer hours, and longer seasons. Stinks of Merlin's vision of what they think is acceptable. Paramount can't come soon enough.