JoshC.

Alton's system has its flaws too. I remember hearing stories from last season of queues over an hour long for the charged mazes? Never good for a time-slotted system, where you would usually expect minimal queues. However, I think that system is more suited to Alton Towers and their situation (Scarefest is a more family-oriented event, and there's only 2 mazes they charge for). Equally, I think the system used at Thorpe suits them and their situation (FN is scare-oriented and has many attractions). Personally, I would prefer to pay £10 to experience Fright Nights and allow the opportunity to get to do 5 scare attractions, than to faff about paying £6 a maze and have a time-slot system which would struggle to work.

Because X is not a dark ride! X is a roller coaster inside a building. A dark ride is a ride which usually isn't a roller coaster, and focus more on telling a story and theming, rather than a thrill. For rides in the UK, see examples like Hex, Nemesis Sub Terra, Duel, Tomb Blaster, etc. And even if you did count X as a dark ride, what's wrong with having another indoor attraction? Having another indoor ride makes sense, as it's a ride which can open whatever the weather, will likely attract all the family, and is something different. What's wrong with that!

http://9gag.com/gag/avZwPjb

Thank you pluk for trying to protect me on Night 1, even if you're efforts were blocked! And yeah, cheers Paige for killing me so soon. All I wanted to do was to be the very best, like no one ever was. Alas, I could not explore this new region to see if there were any Pokemon I could catch to understand the power that's inside... Thanks Turtle for running this again, was fun! Would love to see another one run in the future (if you have the time of course! ); this one seemed to go quite smoothly this time, even if it finished quite quickly.

I really think people over-exaggerate what the Standard Pass will become... You're not included in two special events at Thorpe, free parking and some dates for the London attraction. It's not going to descend into things like just being a discount ticket or anything... As for Feb half term, I'm hoping to visit, but it well be determined on factors like the full line up and how busy I am at the time. If I was living near Thorpe and had a Standard Pass, I would likely visit just the once, though.

It might be possible, and I'd imagine the upgrade fee would just be the difference of cost between passes now. Best way to check would be to ask Thorpe directly though!

Double post but ah well... Thorpe are advertising their Premium, and it also includes free access to Summer Nights: That's rather good to be honest!

I think you're underestimating how big a task "changing that attitude" is! Goes back to what I said earlier, people view theme parks as a 'day out', and that day out will normally finish no later than 6-7pm. Enormous task trying to change that attitude for most people during the summer time! Again, this goes back to what I said earlier - for many people, a 'day out' will probably finish around 6-7pm. You do notice the park get less busier for the last hour, that;s for sure! Beyond 7pm, far less people will stay at a theme park. The busiest Summer Nights last season saw around 1600 people from what I heard, and I expect that if the park had just been open until 10pm, only about 3000-4000 would have stayed anyway. Fright Nights remains popular because of the additional attractions, that fit the time of year, and there's traditionally less things going on in October evenings than there are in July/August evenings. Even then, many people do leave FN at around 9pm. It would be interesting to see the park try extended hours with evening performances / shows, but would they be an incentive enough for more people than not to stay on? I'm not so sure

BPB is in a different situation to theme parks like Thorpe Park and Phantasialand. It ust doesn't make sense to compare a tourist attraction of BPB's popularity and nature to opening times to theme parks!

Across the year, BPB also manage to provide better opening times (ie - they are open for more hours) than Phantasialand. PHANTASIALAND ARE SUCH A BAD THEME PARK AND NEED TO INCREASE THEIR OPENING TIMES AND STAY OPEN LATER, ESPECIALLY DURING SUMMER.

It's very similar to the Merlin Annual Pass situation. A Standard TPAP now costs £69.99, and a renewal of a Standard TPAP costs £59.99. However, they're doing the January special offer which means that buying a new Standard TPAP is the same as a renewal (an incentive to draw people in, basically), and the renewal stays the same price. In other words, for this month, a Standard TPAP costs £59.99, whether you buy a new one or a renewal.

Totally agree with Benin about waiting till 2016. Whilst I'm sure this ride will still be good minus the full story and theming, I think waiting an extra year would be MUCH better, to get the full ride experience.

Last season, the park did do a ticket that allowed entry from 2-7pm during summer for £15. Not sure how popular it was though! Sounds like, to me, what you're suggesting here is just scrapping Summer Nights and instead making those dates have a longer opening. I'd personally prefer the idea of Summer Nights; it gives that exclusive feel for a small price, and you can still get all the rides done in a day, plus many rerides on the coasters. So that sounds like a better option. Maybe that's a long-term plan for the park though, starting off with Summer Nights to test the water / to encourage guests to stay later?

I think they are (though I never really paid attention to Friday opening times to be honest). Is a good idea though! Well, technically speaking, Thorpe are open till 10pm in the summer, what with Summer Nights. Yes, it's a paid extra event, but from a business standpoint, it seems to be the only viable option to keep people to stay that late. In the past, Thorpe have tried with late summer openings, and it just never really worked. It would be interesting to see them try it again (with say evening entertainment or something like Mark suggested). I think there's a bit of a culture thing behind it though - on the whole, people in Britain have the idea of a 'day out' and a 'night out', and it's rare that people will spend both day and night in the same place. Maybe I'm way off the mark here, but that's just how I see it. Just for the record, I think laser shows are out of the question at Thorpe - something to do with the many planes that go over the park or something I heard. Personally, I'd prefer fireworks to be brought back for end of season / bonfire night rather than appearing during summer. As I say above, I do agree that it'd be interesting to see them try late openings with evening entertainment, but I'd still be surprised if it actually worked!

One thing which won't be New for 2015 is opening times, which remain very similar to last: https://www.thorpepark.com/resort-information/getting-here-opening-times/ http://www.thorpeparkmania.co.uk/news/06-01-2015/2015-Opening-Times-Revealed They're good opening times all-in-all. I assume Summer Nights will return 7-10pm as well, keeping good summer times. The only thing I'm disappointed with is that more Fright Nights dates weren't added - I would have thought the popularity of the event would have encouraged them to try more weekday dates to be honest!

Banned because you're called 2009.

Whilst I've yet to go to Winter Wonderland, if they were to charge an entrance price to get in and charge for rides, I just wouldn't go. Do one or the other, but not both. That would be my worst nightmare to be honest...

To understand, the power that's insideee us Townies, we wish together: ##vote Ryan

It's not an unusual thing across the world of theme parks. Indeed, from what I can understand, it's more common to own rides slightly further into the season than not. Maybe their reasoning behind it is because of Smiler's delays and realising that the UK's unpredictable winters are not best for construction work?

And the final standings, for those keeping track... 1) Slammer 2) Nemesis Inferno 3) The Swarm 4) Stealth 5) Colossus 6) Rush 7) Rumba Rapids 8) Detonator: BOMBS AWAY 9) Saw - The Ride 10) Tidal Wave 11) X 12) Samurai 13) Depth Charge 14) Loggers Leap 15) Vortex 16) King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems 17) Quantum 18) Flying Fish 19) Rocky Express 20) Storm in a Teacup 21) Chief Ranger's Carousel 22) Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride 23) Zodiac 24) Storm Surge --- However, it turns out that Angry Birds 4D was accidentally left off the list when someone copied and pasted their go near the beginning of the game. Since it would be ridiculous to start the whole game again just to include that, let's just stick it at the top of the pile... Winner) Angry Birds 4D Experience 1) Slammer 2) Nemesis Inferno 3) The Swarm 4) Stealth 5) Colossus 6) Rush 7) Rumba Rapids 8) Detonator: BOMBS AWAY 9) Saw - The Ride 10) Tidal Wave 11) X 12) Samurai 13) Depth Charge 14) Loggers Leap 15) Vortex 16) King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems 17) Quantum 18) Flying Fish 19) Rocky Express 20) Storm in a Teacup 21) Chief Ranger's Carousel 22) Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride 23) Zodiac 24) Storm Surge Congratulations to Simworx, Rovio and Thorpe Park for creating such an awesome 4D experience that it topped the pile. Better luck next year Slammer

Nemesis Inferno (2) Slammer (8) Slammer - Inferno + Nahhh

Nemesis Inferno (4) Slammer (6) WINferno + Slammer -

Nemesis Inferno (5) Slammer (7) Swarm (3) Slammer - Swarm +

Staines is the nearest place. Plenty of shops, coffee places, restaurants, etc., as well as a cinema. There's also a market on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. A little further afield is Woking, which is a bit bigger basically. Has all the same stuff as Staines, just more of it. There's loads of other leisure activities as well. If there's something nice your mum is specifically interested in doing, I'd suggest Googling "*activity* near Chertsey", and I'm sure something will come up.