Zappomatic

Didn't know until today that they won't run Samurai with fewer than 15 riders. Park was so dead today that we had to wait for more people to turn up to ride before they'd let us on!

Was good to see the smoke make a return on Stealth, and the smell reminded me of The 5th Dimension.

All music on park switched off later in the afternoon as they were shooting for the One Direction 3D film. It was quite weird walking around an open but quiet and deserted park! Also has the Canada Creek playlist changed? Seemed a bit more like what they used to play until a couple of seasons ago.

Amazingly quiet day on park today, with no queues for anything at all - not even Swarm backwards! The only real waiting was for Samurai which apparently needs 15 riders to be able to run - took some encouragement to get passers by to get on. There seemed to be a couple of camera crews on park and it seems one of them (or maybe it was the same one?) was following around Liam from One Direction. Really did have to laugh how they all got led up the exit path for Nemesis Inferno when there was no queue through the main entrance anyway! Park looking a lot cleaner and neater than it has in some time with lots of things repainted including Lost City queueline fences, outside of the Dome, Canada Creek Burger King and the block containing Burger King, Mexican Cantina etc. I get the feeling the park are now taking cleanliness seriously as there was no evidence of last season's litter, the exception to this being around the Rumba Rapids course - needs sorting out. The Swarm backwards is certainly an interesting sensation, but I prefer riding forwards. Quantum was incredibly jolty. Can see this having some downtime soon... Rumba Rapids actually got people wet by waves splashing over the side of the boat for once, however we did scrape the tops of the pipes a few times. The Swarm and Colossus were running on one train. Nemesis Inferno had two trains on but only one was in use but the park was so empty that even the one train was going out with plenty of empty seats! Lovely to see the return of mist and lights on Nemesis Inferno. Menu at Bar 360 has changed slightly (and prices have gone up). It now features sharing platters, and a few changes and additions to the main meals. I had sausage and mash which was an extremely generous portion and quite tasty, but I would have liked more of the onion gravy and maybe some peas or beans to go with it. Later in the day most of the music around the park completely cut out which on top of the lack of guests made for a slightly weird atmosphere. I think the playlist in Canada Creek may have been changed - still not the old upbeat country classics but definitely less dreary than last season. As previously mentioned the entrance, Dome and Neptune's Beach now have a pretend radio station type setup called The Noise. Among the current chart stuff I randomly heard an old Craig David song which for some reason I found very funny indeed. Staff all very friendly and polite, and some of them chatty. Pleasingly despite being only the third real open day they all seemed to know what they were doing! All in all a really good day with plenty of positives and very little in the way of niggles. Let's hope they can keep it up!

If the 4 person "holes" are anything like the Lookout Lodges at Whipsnade (they look very similar) then really they only sleep 2 adults and 2 children. It would be incredibly cramped for 4 adults! I stayed in one earlier in the year and it was certainly cosy but you had to walk to a toilet/shower block if you needed facilities. http://www.zsl.org/shop/experiences/camping/lookout-lodge-accommodation,47,GAL.html

I hope so. I haven't seen their Facebook page so full of anger since last year's AP day! They definitely got something wrong over Fright Nights and I hope they learn from it.

You described exactly what I was thinking of posting. Problem is I think it's probably way too obvious and sensible for Thorpe Park to even consider it.

The initial reply I got was a load of copy-pasted nonsense that in parts was completely irrelevant to my complaints. Thing is, the more Fastrack tickets they sell then potentially the longer the main queue time becomes, meaning they can sell even more Fastrack tickets, which pushes the main queue time up, which means they can sell more tickets...

No, can't really be bothered as either they'll notice the flood of complaints they've been having, or ignore me and everyone else. Hoping some of their dubious practices come back to bite them in the form of people not returning to the park. I think that's the only thing that will make them change.

Here's Guest Services' response to my complaint about Fastrack overselling: So essentially Fastrack tickets are unlimited - the busier the park the more their systems are set up to sell, watering down the benefit for people who have bought them and making things hell for those who haven't.

Agree that the park is now looking horribly run-down, and yes on Friday my non-enthusiast friends had the same comment. Not just minor things like chipped paint, but buildings visibly crumbling, litter from previous seasons building up in crevices, multiple seasons worth of grafitti scratched into things... I think the most revolting thing I saw on Saturday was in the tunnels in the Colossus queue line, and between the fence and the wall in the station. Yuck! I think the whole entrance area could do with being demolished and started again. What a cheap looking mess the current set-up is! They could also do with more indoor (or at least heated) food outlets for the cooler months of the year. On a chilly or wet day the outlets that have indoor seating just can't cope. Would it really be so expensive to install some heaters in the Calypso BBQ tent?

On Friday the rotation speed seemed such that everyone was getting a go at a top-swing. The ride also seemed to go on for longer than I remember! And when did it develop that weird judder?

These rumours might explain the absolutely terrible state of the cars at the moment - looks almost like someone's been trying to eat the rubber surface of the seats!

Just come across a 1990 brochure on Flickr, not seen it before. Interesting how much pride the park took in its history, the attention to detail in its rides, and general pride in cleaning, maintenance and customer service. Who knew even back then they had a 16 track sound studio to produce their own show and ride audio? http://www.flickr.com/photos/65600336@N08/

On Saturday it did strike me just how big the gap is between the conveyor and the metal bar that separates it from the other conveyor. Most people don't have a reason to walk across this but it's certainly possible to get confused and walk the wrong way.

I always get a horrible headache from Saw, too. I never actually bash my head on the restraints - it's almost as if the contents of my skull is being shaken around like a Kinder Surprise! Yet I can ride Colossus multiple times with no ill effects.

Stopped on Sunday morning just as my boat was returning to the station - had to walk up the ramped part of the conveyor!

ReRide.net is back, after a long battle to reset various login details.

Amazing find! The only real remnants are the building in the background at the beginning which now houses KFC and the arcade, and the white boat she's walking on which is now Saw Alive!

First time I heard that ad on Sunday I was on Rumba Rapids and thought for a moment the audio system was having a bit of a moment. The woman/girl they've used to record it sounds so false and lacking in charisma, and the acoustics make it sound like it was recorded in a toilet or something!

On Sunday the restraints decided to shut themselves as people were getting off, trapping some people half in and half out of the seat and clonking quite a few on the head - looked painful! They had to use a battery pack to release them. Guess something must have tripped and the restraints fail-safed into the locked position.

Went through this on Saturday for only the second time since it opened and it's definitely better. And being on the end of the chain of people I was getting rather a lot of attention including someone in the gun room constantly tickling me and going "tickle tickle tickle" in a high pitched voice - bizarre!

It seems very out of place and also seems to clash with the music from the BBQ place. Are the speakers on top of Burger King new?

People in the queue were actually laughing today because the whole queueline was lacking any audio except for a short, brightly lit section before the ramps with extremely loud and slightly tinny dance music that suddenly came on. It was one of those moments where everyone looks at each other in disbelief - made no sense at all! This ride has reached a whole new level of WTF complete with a dancing ride op.

This is from ReRide.net which I still have backed-up and eventually will get around to updating and uploading again!