JoshC.

When Merlin posted their financial things online (see the Merlin topic), it says about how they're trying a new ticketing strategy for Thorpe, with a big focus on APs. Makes sense really; encourage people to come back as much as possible, have a big focus on customer satisfaction too, and it all works out nicely for the park. Then they can really make their money by having good food and merch. It's a bit of a risky strategy, but I think it'll pay off.

That's weird. They were encouraging on FB and Twitter for people to come if they had they day off school because of Strike Action and, from previous experience, Thorpe does get busy if there's a school strike on. Seems odd that they didn't get more staff in, when they seemingly were encouraging more-than-normal numbers of guests to come.

Looks good; shame I'm not around to go to it. Bit weird that it's only Good Friday and Easter Monday though!

Slammer was also (almost, admittedly) testing last Sunday and 8 days later it's still not working! Until I see people on it, I have no hope for the ride... (and even then, I still don't have much hope for it!)

Thorpe's probably still got a reputation as 'the place to be' for thrillseekers following a good 5+ years appealing to them. Remember, families didn't just stop visiting Thorpe when the brand shifted; it'll be the same for thrillseekers, and they'll still have plenty to keep them satisfied. The next year or two should focus on making families aware they can visit Thorpe again, and that there's enough to keep them occupied for a day (once Angry Birds Land opens, there should be in my opinion as well). Then, after that, they have a good park which can appeal to all, with a main focus of 'up-for-it families' and thrillseekers. Despite wanting Thorpe to appeal to families more, I do hope we don't lose the 'Nation's Thrill Capital' side of Thorpe. A family park and a thrill park are not mutually exclusive...

Just to bring it back up, no effects were working on Thursday at all... Seemed like they rushed to get the ride open or something. Shame, but at least they're all working fine now. Have to say though, Thorpe NEEDS to sort out how they're going to deal with the backwards rows. If they want to do a ticket system, fine, but on Saturday, there was no tickets being handed out for backwards-queue tickets being handed out, leaving the system totally open for abuse (just chose the shortest queue, then ride whichever way you bloomin' want!). If they want to do a one queue for both ways, and people simply decide in the station, fine, but make sure people are aware of this. In other words, choose one way of doing it, and stick to it!

That was the original plan. It featured two MCBRs and had a 4th inversion (bottom right of the picture; think it was some variety of Immelmann loop). I think on larger versions you could see it went right over where the CCR track was as well. It ended up being changed in May 08 time, in preference of the airtime hill and turn around. I think SCB hit the nail on the end as to why these plans and the X car are out in the dome though

So along with an old X car, these were in the dome today... (From Theme Park Worldwide FB) Is the woodie concept still not dead then? Or have they just dragged things out for some after-hours event a little too soon? Whatever the reason, Thorpe do love to tease us geeks!

"Shuttle X:\5 approaching" It looks cracked though!

I'm liking the blue / maroon combo to be honest.

It's the first proper weekend of the park being opened; there's gonna be loads of new staff who are still learning the ropes and aren't going to be at full speed with all the pressures of having guests, etc. It's not something that can be 'done over Closed Season'. It's not great that dispatches are taking longer than they should, but it's an unfortunate fact that things like this will happen. I bet in the next week, throughputs will be a lot better.

Even though Colossus ran surprisingly okay at the weekend, I still found Saw to be more comfortable. Admittedly, I noticed the jolt on the main drop on Saturday, but didn't find it to be uncomfortable in any way.

I do think they used to just leave there (at least, that was the case a few years back, dunno about the past couple of years), but nonetheless, good to see they're making use of an otherwise empty space. As for smoking areas, I didn't see any marked out yesterday, but the park do really need to clearly mark them, and ensure people are aware of them!

You can't expect them to keep it sat there all the time gathering dust! If anything, it's a good thing they've changed it to a lecture room; shows the park are doing more things outside of just opening a theme park (probably to do with National Science Week judging from posters around park) I've noticed that, despite designated smoking zones appearing on the map since 2012, such zones don't exist in real life. Something that really should be addressed consider the obvious shift in target market.

Here's one to get everyone started...

Yep, was a fantastic meet today; shame I had a leave a couple of hours early (sorry if I didn't say bye to anyone when I left, was in a bit of a rush!). Was lovely to see y'all again, hopefully I'll be able to make the August / September meets, as due to uni, it's unlikely I'll be able to make any until then! Looking forward to Peaj's trip report, and I'll try and get my own one up soon!

Naugteh me double posting (but this is important!) I've noticed that the section on the reverse side of the map says that the Shark Feature doesn't open until May!

http://www.imascore.com/helix/ Following the good response to the 30 minute piece, IMA Score and Liseberg have agreed to release the 20 minute Launch platform audio. Sounds very nice

The Marketing Director of Thorpe posted on Twitter the new advert will air on Monday.

The first half (well, first minute of that video) of the ride seems a tad unexciting to me; second half seems to be when the ride picks up. Hard to tell from a POV of course, but I the first half just looks a bit blasé. Looks like a good, fun family ride all in all though.

Looks nice. Seems like the right hand side will be giving a better experience though. Other wing riders seem to give a more even number of 'flipping over the track' and 'flipping under the track', if you will. FotD seems to heavily give the flip overs to the right side. Doubt it'll make that much a difference mind.

Oh Alton... http://www.towersstreet.com/news/2014/skyride-sub-terra-hex-and-ripsaw-to-open-from-11am/

Slap me wrist I'm double posting, but there's another resin statue... Okay Thorpe, you have the 5 major coasters and Tidal Wave in resin statues now. Please stop making such good quality merch...please?

Swarm was a bit of a mare today... Opened late (about 12ish, so not that late, but the latest I've ever seen it open...), no water effects, no fire effects, no audio effects, no audio in the area or station area at all. Nothing. Literally just the ride there, which is a real shame; like the ride was there in body, but not in spirit if you will. Hope it's sorted out ASAP! On a more positive note, operations were fab on the ride, with staff bashing through the trains and sending them out as soon as physically possible it seemed!

Super cool image of the Shark Hotel: Have to say, I'm surprised as how the new colour scheme and wavy top made it look a lot nicer!