Mattgwise

Lost City was playing chart music, but am sure I could hear the ambiance at Zodiac. Saw is still dead, has been for a good year and half now, it really ruins the atmosphere.

Ride operation (loading/dispatching etc) so much more efficiently today with next to no fasttrack ticket holders.

All rides played correct music, Colossus still high pitched and Stealth area slightly high pitched. I personally don't think this will ever be rectified now. Shame the piano loading theme has been ditched from Samurai again. Was so much nicer hearing that last year.

Today had two rides in same seat, front left. The first time it was quite rough, jolted at the bottom of drop and hurt my head. This is for me is the first ever time I've experienced the jolt. On my second ride I did not feel the jolt at all and wasn't too rough. Bizarre.

Just got back from Thorpe Park. Was a brilliant day despite the awful heavy rain pouring down for most of the day.This meant minimal queues. Longest I queued all day was about 20 minutes for Nemesis Inferno and Saw. Stealth was on 1 train so may have been about 30 minutes but had a priority pass from previous visit so didn't queue. Later on in the day got to walk on all rides and even stayed on for rerides on Rumba and Detonator. Think I now prefer rainy days to sunny days when it is so much quieter Storm Surge was initially closed but reopened later on, Saw closed briefly about 1pm and Slammer closed twice temporarily but was a strange situation as both times the ride was operating normally with guests and queue line closed, then nothing happened for 10 mins and it reopened again. All other main coasters ran perfectly from what I saw with two trains and quick dispatching (amazing how much quicker things are without fastrackers) Was strange to see almost all rides closed and shut down by about 6:02pm. Ride Count from 12pm to 6pm: Colossus x 1 Stealth x1 Saw x3 Nemesis Inferno x3 Detonator x4 SIAT x2 Rumba Rapids x3 Swarm x2 X x2 Slammer x2 Samurai x2 Vortex x2 Rush x7 Quantum x1

Maybe it was done for the bank holiday weekend and to coincide with the roller disco evening event. Who knows, they can't seem to make their minds up at the moment. Anyway am visiting the park tomorrow so will report back, whether its as mentioned two posts above or changed back.

I think all these hybrid coasters look vile! Ride experience on them looks awesome though!

Nice report. I also went here for the first time last summer and am already eager to return, although will probably wait until next year now. Fantastic park and run so well.

And like my post about Whirlwind a few posts up, that particular topscan is not programmed as sophisticatedly as Thorpe's as it does not lower pods in the same position as it started in, So I guess it won't give the zeroing problems. Does anyone know if there even are any other topscans other than Thorpe's Samurai that lower the ride with the pods in the same position?

As much as I would also like them to replace Samurai, a few points: 1. Whirlwind at Lightwater is only into it's third season so will of course be running better (like chessington where it was relatively new) 2. Samurai is programmed to lower with the pods in the same position they started in, whereas most other topscans, including Whirlwind do not have this programmed into the ride and will lower in any position therefore not requiring it to be positioned perfectly before lowering. 3. I doubt Whirlwind gets through as many cycles as Samurai in a single day as Lightwater Valley is much quieter compared to Thorpe Park.

Have to agree with you on the music front. It did seem quiet inside the ride but my goodness was it vibrating like crazy in the Colossus queue so can see why they probably won't turn it up anymore than it currently is. The building would probably fall down if it was turned up anymore!

Yep I am aware of that (Ouchie!!! I don't fancy that either) and I think the sign entering the station mentions flipflops and high heels being the exception, but am sure the announcement says to keep shoes on without mentioning the exception. Of course I could have misheard as the announcement was unclear due to high level of bass and background noise.

There is actually now an automated announcement that plays after dispatch theme finishes telling guests to keep shoes on.

I disagree with you actually. Three or four years ago I'd have agreed but last couple of years for me except slammer and the odd few short shutdowns, rides have been pretty reliable.

It must be a recent change then due to be implemented very soon. Doubt it would be a price for peak days as the sign was a permanent one. Bet the ticket prices probably go up a pound as well as that usually happens on a yearly basis a few months into the season.

Car parking was £4 today but upon entering the car park the sign said £5, So I would imagine the price will be going up momentarily unless the sign has said that all season but perhaps actually a mistake.

It really is silly. Opening times are an important factor for most and I think that extra hour would make more people who think twice about going actually go!

HAHAHA!! I thought for a few seconds, "what's he on about" then saw the picture of the scaffolding!!!! Hilarious

So another to add to the list of rides that broke down today that I did'nt see. Wasn't a reliable day at all. This has happened with me on the ride too, must say at first it was awesome but then it got a bit much for most. Did add an entertainment factor to the ride though, and ever since the cycle has seemed insanely short!

Year I would say buy a new one too. Everyone says they aren't designed to run constantly in theme park environments, but thinking about it. It was opened originally in 1999 and its only been the last 4 or 5 years its started to bugger about, so they could buy a new one and have it last at least another ten years, maybe longer as after all in 1999 topscans were relatively new meaning they are probably built better now. It is a very popular ride at Thorpe Park and I always here people talk about it.

Quick report on today. Park obviously fairly busy due to bank holiday weekend but have seen it busier. Longest queue I saw was 80 mins for Saw The ride. Ride reliability was not great today. Tidal Wave didn't even open, Samurai had issues and was closed virtually all day (See Samurai Thread). Slammer was closed from 5:15pm, Storm Surge broke down, Saw The ride either broke down or had cleaning to be done for about half hour, sadly no one was informed in the queue due to the speakers being still dead for second year in a row. (surely this could have been sorted in the closed season!) Colossus team were dreadful today although some of it was the ususal restraint not locking on larger people problem resulting in not 2, 3 or 4 but 5 restraint rechecks at one point, They seriously only managed to dispatch 8 trains in nearly 30 minutes at around 5pm, resulting in queue with a fasttrack ticket taking 40 minutes from the joining point!!!! I was impressed with the changes on X and the ride seemed more worthwhile, faster and forceful without the stops on Blocks 1 and 2, although heard people saying "why have we stopped/" on third block as it stops for quite some time. The park could have done with staying open another hour though as didn't get on as many rides as planned to. I went to collect my complimentary fasttrack tickets from a previous complaint last year and as I was about to show the email and give my details, the guy said not to worry and that he believed me so gave me the tickets without me having to give the details. Fantastic as they are still sitting there and waiting for me for next time as well (Not so good) Ride Count from 11:30 til close X x1 Nemesis Inferno x1 Quantum x1 Stealth x1 (fastracked) Saw The Ride x1 Colossus x1 (Fasttracked - although took 40 minutes) Rumba Rapids x1 Swarm x1 Wow, one of my lowest ride counts, but was with some very slow people who liked to stop for photos, snacks and cigarettes etc!

No Siren closing track or end of day music today, just switched to the Noise at around 6:10pm.

Only managed to open for about an hour today. They tried to reopen it a few times after several test cycles but each time after around 1 or 2 cycles with people it stopped again. It spent most of the day slowly rotating in the loading position, and engineers were clearly trying to sort it most of the day.

Awesome news, Have always wanted to try one of those since seeing it open at Luna Park a few years ago. They look really fun. Wonder what it will replace?

And Slammer still gets interrupted by the Colossus music. Wasn't there recently an upgrade to the system?