JoshC.

I'm sorry, I thought Halloween Hocus Pocus started on the 22nd!

Vekoma, the manufacturer, call it a family coaster (sometimes referred to as an enigma; the track style). The only reason that warrants to high height restrictions is the fact that the trains are programmed to be backwards (as far as I know). The park advertise it as a thrill ride due to the high restriction.Do get your facts write before you criticise members for taking the tine to write and relatively long and detailed reply..

I think it means that if you live in a council house and are violent, you're a chav. So, if you're getting angry over that, then it probably means you yourself are a chav :(But yeah, that acryonim is utter rubbish and, to be honest, what some define as a chav will be different to what others say. Simple as that.

You base that on one family though. There's not one family in the UK that go to Thorpe.

The thing which you do not understand is that families still go to Thorpe, despite all advertising. No matter what view you take, they still go.You're basing it on a business / enthusiast view, comparing investments, etc. I have a basic understanding of what the parks have done, and what their intentions were. You seem to forget that families of all ages still go to Thorpe park, and they don't think about it the way you are.

I find it very ironic how you have said to everyone to take your enthusiast hat off, and yet you still look at things with it on yourself. It's contradiction.The GP won't think about who the park are aiming towards, they will just go for a fun day - and you don't seem to comprehend that.

So...A family wants to go to Thorpe park. And that happens a lot - loads of families still do go. However, everyone is unable to enjoy the day because the park should only target the teen market. After all, if Chessie are only down the road, then the family can split up and go to two different parks. Yeah, makes really good sense. As you have said, the park isn't designed for the enthusiast - the GP make up a greater deal of the target market. And, if Thorpe just target the teens, and a family go there, the family will:Not have as much fun.Feel unwelcomed.Struggle to keep younger kids entertained.So on and on.And they aren't going to think 'Oh, well Thorpe's a business and they're designed to a particular market so it's our fault for bringing kids here', are they?

^^Use a bit of logic. He's saying it's wrong to generalise everyone inro two groups... This actually upsets me.When people feel they cannot share their view in case they're shot down, or out of fear that they'd be accused of being 'wrong' or narrow minded ir something.I have found many of your opinions very fair judged and interesting and just as thoughtful as many others' for what it's worth Bill.

I full agree with everything that AstroDan, Air Dan, plain old Dan (though, if you want to be pedantic, the park have added a new 'attraction' per se since 1998 ) and James6 have said. ;)It's rather typical at how 'some' people have resorted to insulting others, and not even sticking to their main point, just because people disagree with them. And that's typical TPM.

The thing I don't understand is why you're comparing two completely different parks. Thorpe is much bigger, much more popular and much busier than the park you work for. Yes, from a business side they are the same, but the day you seen Thorpe having rides virtually a walk on on one carriage will be a very sad day for the company. Yeah, t'is Chance.

Firstly, any need for all the question marks - just looks immature. Secondly, if you read back, you'll realise the VERY FIRST thing I said regarding this matter was thinking it was regarding maintenance. Quote is here: Finally, what has that point got to do with your main point about saving money during the season?

Here's a question for everyone...How much extra would it cost to run a second on, say Stealth?I've heard Rita's launches cost about 23p, so slightly more than that (I'd assume) to launch Stealth - and then just the motors in the station? For guest satisfaction to be increased, is it really that much more of a cost? I'd say no..

I find it very ironic how you pull the business card yet in the 2011 topic you say "This is The Nations Thrill Capital. We would prefer a forceful flat ride or small intense coater. not Depth Charge in a round dinghy that twists." So, if the park "aint guna lose money they do not need to", then why would would spend money on a forceful flat when they'll be just a successful for getting the cheap round dinghies? In my eyes, this is the only reasonable 'excuse' the park can have. To be honest, I wouldn't put it down to laziness - I'd put it down to maintenance (this of course without knowing the real reason). But just letting a queue build on one train makes the queuing experience worse, and decreases guest satisfaction - one of the key priorities of any theme park! Thorpe used to, when they were a lot quieter. I doubt they do that any more, or only do it rarely. As for the second comment there, excuse me? What facts has Dan not got exactly? And Paultons is a very different park to Thorpe - comparing the two on operations is like comparing Waitrose to a small, simple non-chained supermarket. The business card that people pull always annoys me. Yes, the park is a business. But does that mean they have to compromise guest satisfaction? No.

The way I see it is simple. Anyone goes on a day like today, poor weather, all kids at school, people at uni, people at work, etc etc - most people would expect it to be quiet. So, you queue up needlessly for 20 minutes when that could easily be 5. At any park, guest satisfaction is a key priority. And a 20 minute queue on one train is far worse than a 20 minute queue on two trains. It's just like the Fastrack effect - stop start, stop start. Makes the queue feel a lot more painful.Also, with the case of Stealth, the train gets in the onload station at around the same time the other train is on the airtime hill (I think). So having two trains isn't going to increase the capacity to the extent that a queue will become nothing. The GP don't think about the cost of running a ride - they think about queuing as quickly as possible so they can do as many rides as possible. I personally hate the idea of one train operation, especially at a park as popular as Thorpe. It just makes the queue feel slower and, if a second train is put on the track, it feels just as bad when they send it round for test runs. It's a lose-lose situation in my eyes.

I wonder if they only want to operate on one train to help ensure that they don't have issues on any major coasters for FN; which would be even worse?

Will probably make it quieter.

As stated, a £5 charge applies, but there is no need to prebook - except for between 28th-31st October/

Sorry, what I basically meant was how FN runs on Fridays, weekends and half term, instead of on weekdays as well.

Hey,The 15th shouldn't be too busy in terms of FN - hour max for the mazes and slightly longer for Saw and maybe other major coasters in the dark.But due to the scheduling changes, with less dates, it could be busier.However, still go. You won't regret it.

That tonight?Not going of course, but enjoy the perfect FN weather; ie wind and rain. Lol :/

Halloween is a pre book date as it is, and I'm sure that it will be pre booked out. No one can possible say when the least busiest day of half term will be. Weather along with many other things affect it,

Know what exactly? If you're talking about the crane, as I passed the park to go to Staines today, I was the 'crane' in the park, in the position of where Slammer is.If you're talking about when it will re-open, I was only guessing, as I obviously had no idea what it was doing. Though I can't see work being done on Slammer to make it operational now unless they want to reopen it before end of season.

Do believe there was a black 'crane' (not sure of the exact word for it ) on the Slammer site today. Should hopefully be up before end of season if it was doibg something that isn't dismantling.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a troll.Thought you ought to know

I didn't mean to say that - but unfortunately that's how it has been taken and all I can do is apologise for any offence caused. I won't go into what I actually meant to say as it'll probably do more harm than good. I fully agree such groups are good and do help people coming out and deal with problems they face and I'll leave it at that. Cheers for the explanation Ricky