Zappomatic
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Posts posted by Zappomatic
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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.
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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!
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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
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To be fair I think if enough people complain (not just the few moans from here) they will change somthing.
The parks do take feedback seriously and have kpi targets to hit and I imagine a bulk of complaints would possibly work against them in this resulting in questions being asked.
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.
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Sorry Ian, but that is exactly what you are doing with your 'interpretation' of the message from THORPE PARK. It clearly states there is no upper limit on the number sold, that they sell more as the queue time increases. Obviously the more fast track they sell the longer the main queue gets, so with their odd thinking that allows for the sale of more fast track tickets which will? You guessed it, cause the main queue to get longer and allow the sale of more fast track tickets. It's a never ending cycle of stupidity. There is no upper limit on the length of the main queue line other than the complete capacity of the park.
There is no positive spin to put on this system. It out and out sucks and is clearly the cause of much complaint and loss of guest satisfaction. The obvious and as far as I know common way of managing this is to have an absolute limit on the number of fast track ticket sales in any given time slot as a percentage of the operational capacity of a ride. The standard queue continues to move at a reasonable rate and the fast trackers stay close to walk on. This means that the sales of time slots simply get for later in the day and everyone is kept relatively happy.
The system as described by THORPE PARK is fundamentally flawed and has the net result of making anyone happy, apart from maybe the accountants at Merlin in the short term.
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.
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"Unlimited Fastrack sales" is definitely not the right way to word to. Unlimited would imply they would sell as many as they can, with no consideration about any other pieces of information.
As Benin says, they have no upper limit / cap on the number they sell per day. This means that they're not saying 'Okay, every day this year, we will say at most x many Fastrack tickets', but instead 'We'll sell this many to ensure Fastrack users wait this period of time in proportion to the main queue'. So, no where near unlimited, as they won't sell so many the Fastrack queue goes above a certain waiting period, but it just doesn't have an exact bounded number.
Certainly an interesting system and different to how I would expect it to be run.. I'll muse over that for a while before I say what I fully think.
However, it's really good you got such a clear, informative and helpful response. Normally, you find that such responses feel very general and feel like they've just been copied and pasted. However, this has obviously had a bit of thought into it and gives information about Fastrack, helping give a more helpful and specific response to the complaint. Good to see.
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...
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So the worse it gets the worse they'll make it into a continuing spiral of chaos. What utter utter morons, that makes no sense from any point of view. How can they not see this, and who the hell is running that place so ineptly that this is allowed to happen?
Are you going to continue your dialogue with them @Zappomatic and try to explain to them the stupidity and flaws of their current policy?
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.
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Here's Guest Services' response to my complaint about Fastrack overselling:
Our Fastrack units have high tech systems in place that take into account the current queue time of each ride, its operational capacity and the number of tickets that have already been sold. There is no specified restriction on the total amount of tickets that can be sold per hour or per ride but are sold to represent a percentage of the overall waiting time for that ride. Here at THORPE PARK we do our best to allocate a certain proportion of tickets per time slot in order to reduce the queuing time for those who have purchased tickets. In light of the information provided above, if the queue times increase, then ultimately so does the number of allocated tickets for those wishing to purchase Fastrack. As previously mentioned Fastrack does not guarantee you access straight on to the ride but acts as an optional service to reduce your wait and I am advised that they are suggested to amount to a third of the queuing time compared to that of the main queue. These figures are constantly monitored and adapted when necessary.
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.
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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?
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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?
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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!
- Worthy9992 and dragon2000
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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?
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That's horrible. I hope she manages to recover soon.
The one thing I still don't understand is how this was possible. Isn't the edge of the conveyer covered?
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.
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I keep going on this thing, and I keep getting headaches... Today's was especially nasty... Urgh... It was very juddery in the vertical sense, rather than neck bashing... Dunno why it's the only Eurofighter that suffers so badly...
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.
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Stopped on Sunday morning just as my boat was returning to the station - had to walk up the ramped part of the conveyor!Anyone know whats up with Storm Surge?
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ReRide.net is back, after a long battle to reset various login details.
- pluk and Phill Pritchard
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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!
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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!
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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.
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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!
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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?anyone heard the new canada creek/ranger county music? quite stange hearing lady gaga playing...
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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.
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This is from ReRide.net which I still have backed-up and eventually will get around to updating and uploading again!
Thorpe Park RadioA presenter speaks!Every Saturday during his final year at university, Nik Rawlinson presented Thorpe Park Radio. Today. he presents The Lab on LBC (Thursday, 7-9pm on 1152 AM, London). Here, he tells us about his experiences of Thorpe Park Radio, how it worked, what they played, and why it ended. Thanks Nik!Why Thorpe Radio ever took me on, I don't know. The demo I sent was totally unsuitable. It was a long chunk of speech, punctuated at regular intervals by hic-ups. Someone liked it, though, and in late spring 1996 I got the job.Pay was £40 a day. Not much, especially when you take out the cost of travelling 67 miles each way, but enough to give a poor student, which I was at the time, some extra money for the week.I opted to work on Saturdays, the busiest day of the week, while another presenter did Sunday, and a third handled Monday to Friday. We never met, but wrote notes to each other in a large red log-book book in the studio. 'Don't let levels peak above four in the Fungle Jungle', 'Please note Splashtacular showtimes have changed this week.'For an in-house station, the set-up was fairly impressive. The mixing desk was a good five feet wide, with more channels, faders and gain and balance controls than you'd find in a professional broadcast station. Into this was fed a single microphone, two CD players and a couple of turntables, one of which ran slightly slow.Behind where the presenter sat, a large wooden unit, about the size of a filing cabinet, served as a rack-mount for half a dozen tape machines. These played pre-recorded output to some of the queues on the top rides. Loggers Leap and Depth Charge, in particular, opted out of the Thorpe Radio feed, prefering to promote themselves rather than the rest of the park, even though their audiences were already captive.The studios were located in what is now called Calypso Quay, looking out on the Teacup Twisters, Model World and, if you streched across the desk and craned your neck to the left, Burger King. They were two rooms, fronted by three panes of chunky glazing that weren't quite thick enough to stop you hearing guests bang on the outer window. There was enough of an insulating gap between each piece for you to safely ignore them if you felt unsociable and still get away with it though, especially if you had the music up loud.And the music was always turned up loud. Very loud.There was nothing in the way of a playlist. No prescribed set of tracks to be played at a certain time, apart from a general edict that after four we should slow down the pace in an effort to encourage people out of the park. We often brought in music from home, but the studio was stocked with an impressive range of material. To the left of the desk, CD racks mounted onto the wall held a range of compilation discs. A green floor-to-ceiling curtain sectioned off the opposite end of the room, which was filled with spare parts and several hundred 7in singles. Many were scratched, but there were some true classics, among them a dance remix of the Roobarb theme tune.The most fun was the half hour before the park opened up, though, when all areas except for the entry gates were fed direct from the desk, bypassing the tape machines.This was a chance to play loud tracks, as the team assembled at their positions and got ready for the day. The theme from the film version of Mission Impossible, practically anything by Bon Jovi, or U2's 'Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me' were common. It was a small audience, but lots of fun, and there was no need to play the jingles or ads.The jingles themselves were very well made, and all led well into songs. They had definate start and end points, and some had no backing so they could easily be played on top of a track. One in particular, Mr Monkey asking visitors to come and see him in the Fungle Jungle, was exactly 28 seconds long, and fit perfectly into an instrumental half way through Like a Prayer.I have happy memories of Thorpe Radio. They made me cut my hair, which was long overdue, but warned me to take it no shorter than a number four, and I got away with never wearing a uniform. There was a sticky moment checking in one morning when the people who took the register had changed, and they asked where my uniform was. I spent an anxious few minutes sitting on a bench to one side while the tried to track down my manager, but as time wore on we got closer and closer to opening time and eventually they had to let me go, in my jeans and trainers, without a shred of a Thorpe Park outfit about me.I walked through the empty park, past the static rides, cutting by the deserted central square, and I felt I had made a lucky escape.Towards the end of the season the days got longer as the nights drew in and the management saw it as an opportunity for a fireworks display over the lake. There was no need to tone the music down - it could be loud and fast right up until eight, after which I would slip out and join the crowd, free of any uniform, and enjoy the display like a paying guest.I was sad when the park closed for the winter, and fully intended to return the next year if I was not doing other things by then. But when the call came the following spring it was no longer quite so appealing. The Performing Rights Society had noticed that the station was more than just background music, and as far as they were concerned it was proper radio. The music licensing fees were too high to sustain the station, so the presenters would be reduced to mere button pushers, occasionally permitted to announce a show or the temporary closure of a ride.And so I never did go back, but the further away I get from it the more I enjoy looking back on the long hours spent locked away in a noisy room all by myself.Thorpe Radio - the best radio station there never was.-- Nik Rawlinson
Samurai
in General Discussion
Posted
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!