RobD

Ah, the age old swing A/sing B height thing. Okay. So, it's basically done this since 2007. Swing B outperforms swing A, which means the computer goes a little crazy when B peaks much earlier than A at just over 90 degrees (anyone noticed how the first of your 4 full height swings on B is significantly higher than A?). The computer then has a paddy and desperately tries to re-sync the swings by powering A as much as it can, and basically doing nothing with B, thus why the ride ends up with A performing better. By the end of the ride, everything is out of sync and it looks a mess. It did this up until 2011 when the piping that delivers the air to the piston was replaced with titanium rather than a plastic. The ride briefly did better, before returning to it's current, terrible state that it was in towards the end of last year. The usual suspects for loss of pressure are the piston seals, a little like that in a car or on bike forks. If the seals are damaged, some air escapes, the ride under-performs, but, with the consistent nature of the issue I would question whether it is in fact that A get's less compression than B. The short of it is, everything in the book has been done over closed seasons to try and rectify this and it seems to be an on going experiment to try and replace whichever element of the ride is causing the poor performance of A. In regard to ride cycles, it always has been and remains 4 full height swings. The only exception is if the operator stops the cycle, which does occasionally but rarely happen. Don't expect a fix anytime soon, and in the meantime, enjoy the rare days where you get one swing only, as that's when Rush does it's best.

I still cannot get over how much of a dire excuse for a hotel this is. It's abysmal that a theme park which tries again and again to pitch itself as a world class attraction offers it's guests the same accommodation as an asylum seeker attempting cross channel travel. Does the park add to the authenticity of the exeprience by having night time 'thrill patrol' raids on rooms or something? Remember your visa's folks... But seriously, I mean, just look at the entrance, cheap fencing and a concrete path. It's just horrific. The rooms emulate that no personal space feeling you've had all day in queues and basically have the same facilities as a caravan, and are STILL ludicrously overpriced. I have never stayed, but the point I'm getting at here is I never would; the accommodation does not sell itself to me at all, in all honesty I'd rather take my own tent and stay in a campsite, and as so many people have pointed out, with many other hotels locally, why on earth would anyone pay a premium to stay in a hotel which doesn't even have internal corridors? I just think it all reeks of cheap tackiness, no matter how they try and disguise it you're still staying in accommodation that isn't fit for purpose; the concept of this type if hotel is for pop up events where it really is basic. Yes it might be nice for a shipping container but it's still just that. And just for the 'Let's defend everything TP does' crowd (how you can is beyond me), just take a moment to compare this offering with that of other world class players; PortAventura, Alton Towers, Universal, Disney, even Six Flags, and come back to me on this one.

So a quick Rob review. Here we are again, the best time of the year for theme parks, and Thorpe Park are once again hitting us with a theme based event. Maybe I went with false optimism, but I was hoping desperately there would be a vast improvement on last year. There was not. No park wide themeing. Not a sign of Halloween, and the only real effort made was to change every rides start announcement to a horrendously cheesy film director doing the stereotypical scary/cringey laugh and saying lights, camera, action. It was shamefully poorly produced, annoying to hear on every ride, and just screamed of no effort. Music wise there was no significant music change and, quite honestly they may as well not even bother anymore, without the extra themeing or effort to make each ride somewhat unique. How I miss Rush as a playground swing with chalkings, fake cob web, and test dummys thrown into the bushes As for the mazes, I'll make this brief...(in no particular order) 1. Asylum Very very good. Better scares, high intensity and a strong improvement on last year. 2. My Bloody Valentine Excellent. Very intense and also fast paced, the actors were on top form and delivered a fantastic performance. They portrayed the story exceptionally well and did a fantastic job of making the pickaxe guy scary, as he wasn't in your face at all, very withdrawn until the final scene, built the intensity very well indeed. 3. (Now it starts getting a bit rubbish). Saw Dire. Just dire. As it always was, inconsistent, ineffective and a bit wtf. For instance, the actors one minute screaming in traps the get out of these horrendous traps to behave like mental patients before voluntarily returning to said traps. Anyone not in a trap behaved like an asylum patient on holiday to the saw boat. Dire, pointless, and the lighting does not work (too bright). 4. Cabin in the Woods A top class lesson on how not to scare act. Every actor was far too in your face,there was no variety. It got to the point where I just felt like pushing them out of my way, every single actor, literally, just walked right up to me and stared me in the face (like they were going in for a kiss), it was boring and not even close to scary. A total shambles. Theme wise they had made a good effort,but was totally let down by the storyless maze and samey acting. 5. Blair Witch Project Worse maze in the park. Infact maze is an overstatement. It's a straight line path with a few actors who get in your face. I didn't jump once and the final scare was none existent, although I dis enjoy seeing all the old rumba boats and heaters they had gone to such extreme efforts to hide, stored at the back of inferno. All in all, the mazes were very varied. Two strong ones, 2 weak ones, one that is neither a maze nor scary. 4/10 As a Halloween event, fright nights has sunk to its lowest in my opinion, 2/10. It's so upsetting really because at one point 2007/2008), this was without a doubt the UKs premier Halloween event.

See, in the most part I'd just slate Thorpe for it's inability to operate rides efficiently, that and it's superb ability to let twice as many guests in as it really should. I would agree queue times are not bolstered for fastrack sales, it's laziness/forgetfulness/irrelevence. To be quite honest, on busy days, there is no point paying any attention to queue times anyway, as any ride which shows anything more than 20-30 mins less than the others of it's type (so lets say, NI: 90, Stealth: 100, SAW: 90, Swarm: 60), you can guarantee by the time you get to the Swarm, the queue will be closer to 100 anyway... It's all down to how small Thorpe is, and how little variety there is. Unlike at Alton, where people get busied by the gardens/walking around/transport rides/family attractions, Thorpe has 100% Thrill seekers, going for, basically, 10 main rides. Too many people, too few rides.

Oh I know about the dome, but the background audio in the lost city 'flats' area was always the lost city ambiance, alas no more, if it's all chart, basically engulfing the whole area. I'm assuming it's fair to say Rush has no more than pre-recorded announcements this year, if the clips I've heard on here are anything to go by. (Refering to the lack of 2005/2006 music used in most seasons prior).

Vortex music? Zodiac music? Rush's own soundtrack, dome music, a gradual winding down of specific area themes, and ride sountracks over the years as Blackpool style one big neutral (none) theme engulfs the park. It's not a criticism, just that's the direction Thorpe are heading, they want to be an amusement park, not a theme park.

Cry. Well, we all knew it was coming, it's just a real shame that Thorpe Park have had to sacrifice what was some of the best composed theme park music out there. Ah well, if you want a theme park, Europe is just a Ryanair away.

I think people might be reading into the extent of this a little too much. Samurai wasn't given a refurbishment last season, it was pretty much left as is. It ran excellently over the last two seasons, but now, you could be faced with, for instance, a gear box failure. It's expensive to fix and will take time to be delivered, it's perfectly possible they just took the decision, with that in mind, to begin the closed season work sooner, whilst the weather is still good and before you get the issues of winter, such as snow, which brings work to a grinding halt. Just to touch on a few points regarding fairground rides in theme parks; Lightw@ter Valley own and operate a fairground topscan. Reliability wise, it is excellent, sequence wise, it's somewhere between Samurai's cycle 1 and cycle 6, intense, fast, but not insane (not fairground). The ride, as a type, yes, is designed to be operated less than Samurai is, but, fairground rides are still absolutely shagged when they operate for a few weeks, and for anyone who has ridden a fairground top scan, you will know the difference in performance. With regards to Samurai being a park model; yes, it is, you only need to browse the internet a little to see two different types of the ride are on offer, the main difference being the permanent console, different platform arrangement and more permanent fencing, along with the different control system allowing recorded cycles. The simple answer here is somewhere between Thorpe don't look after their rides, and Tussauds were too innovative The Samurai sat at (or, until last week, sat at) TP has to be one of the oldest models in the world. It's naturally going to break with time, but, of course, it's from a reputable manufacture, known for quality and reliability. To expand; no fairground rides face these sorts of issues, and the reason for that is, when problems happen on the fair circuit, it's the show mans livelihood that is passing by. If Samurai was on a fair circuit, and currently at, say, Hull fair, I would bet money that, what ever Samurai's issue, either it wouldn't have arose in the first instance, or it would have been fixed in a matter of days. Show men will and do pay extra for the speedy response needed, a good example of this would be, for anyone who watched Channel 5's show 'Fairground Attractions', the attitude of the owner of the Zierer Star Shape 'air'. It had a minor gearbox/drive system failure whilst at winter gardens in Hyde park, his attitude was to fix it ASAP, because without it, he looses money. Obviously this doesn't apply to Thorpe Park mechanics, to them, if it goes down, it goes down, because realistically, what effect will having no Samurai make to gate figures? Budgets also play a role here, if an area has a certain budget, what comes first? Keeping Colossus and SAW working, or fixing Samurai at their expense? If Thorpe looked after the ride properly, the issues would never arise. The ride would be stripped far more often (which can easily be done over night, to cite fairs as an example, except Samurai only needs the pods and counter weights removing to get at all the working parts, which makes the job even easier). But do they? No. IT's the cheap fix; keep it going, keep it going, keep it going, oh look, it's knackered. Does it need fixing? Cost:Benefit ratio... nope, not yet. And just to address getting a new model; why? Would there be any real benefit at all? The ride structurally is as robust as they come; in fact the only metal fatigue ever found on them is near the base, first detected on Samurai and rapidly fixed across all models. So all that is left is electrics and motors. Motors are far cheaper than a new ride, and electrics are more than likely sound anyway, they tend to be renewed periodically and don't face major issues. The ride control system could also be renewed, but again, its a fraction of the cost of getting a new structure. A proper refurb would be all that is needed; replace all the electrics, replace the control system and plc, and fit a whole set of new motors. Then you have a working ride... just as emerged at the start of 2011. The problem isn't the Mondial Top Scan we call Samurai, it's how the ride is maintained. What you need to think here is, is Samurai a problem? Not from the point of view, 'I didn't get my cycle 6 on Samurai, my day is ruined', but from the point of view, have people stopped coming because it's broken? Have people complained? Have we lost any money? It's all business, it's just Merlin do a better job at letting you know that than the likes of Lightw@ter Valley, where every ride is needed, day in, day out.

Furius Baco, because it's trains are all part of the theme, it's such a lovely little neglected ride, it's 85% a sympathy vote :')

Certainly hasn't for cycle 6 or 4. Both from riding several times and staff I know, the general concensus amongst all is it's still the same.

^ ...no it wasn't.

Squealing pistons is good! Basically, it means it's all shiney and new. Lap bars not locking isn't a major issue, just slows everything down, staff are the main problem there really. It has had a major refurb this year, so will be practically brand new mechanically speaking. Great to hear it's performing well, finally! It had a whole assortment of troubles until 2009 really, it was only then it really got reliable. Don't try and draw any conclusions from overhaul = accident.

So, can anyone say if Rush is running noticably better since it's major overhaul this closed season?

^ True, an effort is better than nothing, but there is only so many times you can do the same thing, just, based around a different creature. Sub Terra is fair, I'll reserve judgement until I ride it, but, it is nice to see them using the original story. As for The Swarm's limb business, personally I'd say it is the cleverest so far. The others (haunted Storm surge, for example) have no relevence, however, this does; one of the key elements of the Swarm is the near misses, and by putting it in the news, it really highlights this to the public and makes them more aware of the near misses, subconsciously almost making everything that bit closer. Shame it didn't achieve the hype it could have. Then there was the morphsuits 'swarming' the London Underground. Almost seems to have gone forgetton how irrelevent and utterly shambolic that was.

^ But the long hours and relaxed atmosphere make PA. It's a park you need to do over several days, not just rush around. In it's defense, I've NEVER seen queues as long as those in the UK (I've visited 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011). It's far better themed than anything we have, and boasts a better selection of re-rideable coasters. Oh, and has a firework disply that lasts 20 minutes every night from June to Septemeber and boasts 10am - midnight hours throughout this period. Where 'meh' comes in, is beyond me, but what can I say, I'm probably the forum's biggest PA fanboy, so, hey hum.

In terms of marketing strategy, I think Thorpe have got it bang on. Thye get people, in some cases, the world over (Storm Surge haunting making Australian news), talking about a relatively (on a global scale) small theme park in the UK. What's more, it's a free marketing strategy. It works excellently, even if the ideas are stupid. It gets people talking and that is never a bad thing. But with what success? Unltimately, marketing always forms part of a business strategy, which in Thorpe Park's case is of course to get more people through their doors. To boost the publics awareness of the park will not neccesarily achieve this alone, the park need to draw people in. So, lets look beyond the PR stunts. For anyone who has been to WHSmiths or Burger King, to name just a few, you will have seen the 2 for 1 vouchers given out to every customer. Now, combine this with the mainstream marketing used, and it soon becomes clear how wide reaching the presence of Merlin's entertainment is outside of their attractions. Essentially, the group manage to maintain a excellent presence in the public eye, through a number of different channels. Combine this with offers, and the customer becomes almost brainwashed into visiting the park. But, then you have to consider the limitations of such a strategy. For example, this won't bring in the enthusiast types like you and I, as the majority of us are annual pass holders, we tend to represent the bread and butter customers. So how do they keep us? Through similar srategy of course! To an extent, this can be through memories of a past day out. For example, why do you think the marketing department press so hard for annual pass renewals early in the season? It comes as no coincidence this is whislt the parks are closed. People remember a good day out, along with the marketing for the future additions to the park, and suddenly, spending £150 that goes directly to the park (probably the single biggest spend they'll get from any one customer all year) becomes very attractive. They also try to avoid people visiting the park, the pass expiring, and them realising it's maybe not worth splashing out £150. Of course, there is a huge variety of customer, but the two approaches here essentially outline two of the tactics. In terms of personal opinion, I dislike, with a passion, the marketing techniques used by Merlin. IT's almost entirely over-the-top, over hyping rides, that would benefit much more from a solid theme. For example, Alton use much the same techniques to Thorpe, when Th13teen, for example, would have benefitted much more from a Hex style marketing campaign, than a SCARIEST RIDE IN THE WORLD OMG strategy, with no real story. The group, generally, in my opinion, lack imagination (notice any similarities in storyline and concept between Nemesis, Raptor, Swarm and Nemesis: Sub Terra, per chance?), and they need to really look to new strategies and ideas.

Samurai and it's cycles; 1 & 2 are the 'normal' ones, nothing bad, just the short, standard ones. 3 - cannot comment. 4 - Intense and moderate length 5 - Reverse of 4, just, not quite as good (in my opinion) 6 - Longest, begins by the ride moving to the left (as you look at it), doing a windmill, and then doing 3 'sections', ie, goes in one direction for a while, changes direction, and then changes direction once more, before ending. (ie: 3 sections to the cycle). This is a good and long cycle, although 4 is arguably better. Cycle 6 is fine, the ride can handle it, it just struggles to park. I had cycle 6 very recently, yeah, it's perfectly capable of handling it, but struggles to park from it. And before anyone tries to tear me apart, when a group of your best mates are all in this R&A area, they tend to give you the cycle you ask for. Oh, and the cycle at the top - actually, it's pretty good, just very very short; observe how many inversions each row gets - more than you often get on Samurai!

The buildings are idealistic, ie: the remains of the destroyed vilage, however, to quite nicely fit the theme, tents would be emergency accomodation, as the homes have been destroyed. Both could work well.Again, if land was used differently there is suitable space, but simply filling in a little more lake (and not vast amounts), would work. As for moving buildings, all you do is build them with a walkway underneath/through the first floor, kind like a courtyard entrance. I can see people considering this expensive, but, as I have said a few times now, it's commonly done in Diney/Universal/Busch, and they are the parks Thorpe competes with.

Adam, because they're there to build excitement, just in the same way you'll see Buzz Lightyear and various other disney characters around disney parks. They're there with props, but not to tell a story, they're independant from the ride itself; where the small details very much do exist to tell the story....despite saying it's a good ride from the start, just not amazing, yep, I see no positives here at all. Quite right, there isn't much point continuing this any further.

Adam, seriously, actually consider what I am saying. This area, next to the Swarm, has actors in it, who are trying to build atmopshere and start the storyline. They are not bridge actors, they're effectively mascots, and work very well in their own right. They create a sense of excitement at the start of the day, and are only there briefly. The actors in the area, and near the area, are serving a very different purpose; to start the story and make you part of the attraction. By extending this to an area that is not part of the attraction, and also adding signs about the ride (which again, extends the ride area, and makes you feel it is part of the attraction), effectively makes this part of the ride. I wouldn't even complain if it was even slightly themed, but it isn't, it's a complete stark contrast to destruction, soldiers, choas, surrounding you, and then, with no real boundary at all, you find perfectly kept lawn and tent. See what I'm getting at?I don't knock Thorpe for trying, and for comparison with smaller UK theme parks, it's very good indeed. But with comparison on an internatioanl scale, and infact, the parks Merlin want to compete with (Disney/Busch/Universal), it is not even close to them. My review is comparing as such, and this is why it is generally negative, because, it simply is not in the same league as these other parks.

^ To the best of my memory, I'm sure I've seen parks making claims based on Mitch Hawker, but you may well be right, in fairness, I can't think of any specific examples.And I totally agree. My opinion is as outlined, the only reason I have continued is due to the general agressive nature of replies. With regard to fun factor, quite right again, Th13teen has it, Rush has it, but neither are amazing. They're good, fun, rides, this is what The Swarm is (just, minus the gimmicks and mis-advertising of Th13teen, I'm talking purely of ride experience).I accept where you're coming from there, but to me, if the actors and signs extend to that area, then, it's part of the area. Literally outside the tent was a soldier/actor, so to me, that's immediately making it part of the area. Again, I'm only talking from the perspective of walking around the area. I don't expect Thorpe to make a ride where I can't see around, I'm talking a few buildings at eye level to make the area feel more complete, rather than a scrap yard. In that sense, many parks do achieve breaking up areas that are, infact, rather close together, quite well, PortAventura being a perfect example of this. Until you are on the rides, you could forget the rest of the park existed. It's immersive, it's atmospheric, and it's more what I was expecting.Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the Swarm is bad, but also, it's not good, and certainly could be better, just like air, fun, re-rideable, but not insane, amazing, or incredibe.

^ Love it Benin. Despite the fact that, internationally, parks actually use the ranks of their coasters in the poll to promote them, it 'ain't worth anything'....And to share some of the wider coaster communities comments:"So B&M have produced another impressive looking, boring ride?""I'm perhaps in the minority - but I liked Swarm.""it's likely because it's forceless. ""its NOT amazing as in you wont come off saying WOW that was the best ride ever etc""The thing seems like it has started off on the right foot but then just lost its inspiration.""I'd give it 3 stars, 3 1/2 at a push."Looks like I'm certainly not alone.Mark9, and those comments echo exactly what I said! I gave it 6/10, not terrible, not great. So, yes, exactly like that!

If you're going to try and rip me to shreads without even trying to understand the concept of what I am saying, don't expect me not to retaliate.1. Tents as buildings, are just fine. Just as you get a wide range of buildings, you get a wide range of tents. Some campfire style white tents that look, trashed around a campfire attacked by the swarm, work a lot better, than a corporate gazebo with well kept lawn. Notice the difference? Are you really that nieve to think I suggested having a ride themed to corporate marquees?2. That's totally irrelevent. Buildings can serve multiple purposes, of themeing and shops, and would work A LOT better than shipping containers. Besides which, I'm not suggesting anything of that scale, I'm suggesting a few 2 story buildings, which line the edge of the island to detract from the open-ness of the space. Cheap, effective, and with little need for space.3. I have no idea what you're on about, I never said to 'leave a village bakery', please don't go off on a tangent.4. I see, now you notice, that my tents idea should not be intact corporate marquees? I see someone is just twisting my words to emphasise their point. Genius.Furthermore, more comments on themeing and ride quality are echoed beyond the Thorpe Park community, in the wider coaster community. I'll leave it there, lets just see where The Swarm ranks, in what is considered the official coaster ranking poll, the Mitch Hawker poll.

Firstly, in regard to the town, actually, would be quite feesable and would only take a few low level buildings and tents to suit the theme, and create a story. Rides cannot be too crampt, so, no, I certainly wouldn't have made any comment. I give several examples of rides with good themeing; The Wizarding world of Harry Potter, Black Mamba, Towers Street, to name but a few. It's very often done, and this is the calibre of themeing I was expecting, heck, even trees would have served as a suitable visual wall to break up the area a little.With regards to Baco's themeing, I wasn't intentionally comparing the two, but just for the record, the trench is now a bit greener as plants are starting to grow, does improve it, but also it's close proximity to the ride does wonders for the feeling of speed. I accept the tunnel criticsm entirely, but would just add you only see it for a split second at 80mph.. it's not where you can see from the queue or other park areas.I just want to emphasise, I am not hating this ride for the sake of hating. I am just not like that, I love Stealth, and Colossus, and particularly Samurai (on cycle 6 anyway...), it's not a go at the park, just simply, the ride didn't do anything at all for me. Compared to my other rollercoaster experiences, it's average.