AstroDan

The track is not yet on site but is expected in the next 2 to 3 weeks.

Last years mazes at Alton Towers, with exception to TOTT, were not up to the parks usual standard which I am sure, judging by The Sanctuary and what I know of The Carnival of Screams, will be much better this year. However, Thorpe Park is more aimed at younger people, so their mazes can arguably be more abusive/involved. The Curse is complete garbage compared to any of those at AT, and the others at Thorpe Park. Also, as much as The Asylum is good, it's been exactly the same for years and years now! I think it's more a case of 'it's always been free at TP', so it's a shame they start to charge. However, at AT - two mazes have always been charged - ever since Scarefest began - so as much as I don't like it, it's 'the norm' so to speak. Perhaps Thorpe Park ought to go down the Terenzi Horror Nights route of having a separately ticketed event from 7:30pm to 11:00pm? The queues always put me off FN to be honest - I almost feel as though I have to have a Fastrack ticket to do them all anyway... so perhaps a separate event would be better in future.

It does sound like Crossing Over at THN from 2010 - only with bags.

I think it's a shame that Thorpe Park have finally gone the way of Alton Towers and have introduced a charge for the new maze. Unless you book in advance, I can indeed see it being £5 on the day. What is worse also, is that this paid experience replaces a free one. As much as I am sure it'll be better, it's just a pity.

Yes. Unless you have fastrack. Whilst in the park, I saw several queues of over 2 hours - including one, Furius Baco, at 2 1/2 hours. I did a quick watch to check throughput - and it was around 500pph. However, the park has amazingly themed areas, some of the best in Europe, and also is up there with the best parks for shows/entertainment.

What is AT's pitiful attempt? All there has been is a brief release?

Nemesis remains one of the best operated rollercoasters in the world. It's always on 2 trains, always run well and nearly always delivers.

E10 is the one I would regard as claustrophobic, especially near the start. There was a maze at Terenzi in a few years ago where guests were put into a very small, cramped corridor. A grim reeper would appear above you. Then the sound effect "You're all going to die down here" played, and you were plunged into complete blackness. 10-15 seconds later, a door would open right next to the guests and a figure would flash a light. Then, you "went over to the dark side" - travelling from life to death - the entirety of the experience was PITCH DARK - you'd walk into walls, suddenly flashlights and figures would burst into your face etc. A truly pitch dark maze is pretty intense.

New official promotional video for Hotel Bell Rock!

Get your best team ready... IAAPA is coming!

There are some theme park-y things you can do over winter. - Chessington Zoo Days (which normally includes 2 or 3 rides) - Alton Towers February opening (limited rides open)

It does seem to vary. Europa-Park experienced massive increases for Blue Fire, and are doing so again for Wodan. I know 2010, with Th13teen at Alton, was also a substantial year - and the same can be said for 1994. But it doesn't always work, as you've highlighted.

I did Se7en last year and it was dire. Barely an actor in sight.

£25pppn would be a reasonable figure, merely for the convenience of not having to drive to a Travelodge. But much more than that and it would be ridiculous, given the price MAP holders can stay at Chessington's proper hotel for. But it really depends on evening options... I really don't like The Dome as it is ...

Alton Towers have, traditionally, had more flexibility. I am under the impression that in 2012, due to financial pressures, they simply don't have the flexibility they did previously. Regularly over the past 10 years, ride close has been extended by 30 or 60 minutes on some days. In fact, extensions at weekends were the norm! I always thought TP and CWOA were less easily 'extended'. However, I am aware that Alton Towers today has extended by 1 hour, to 6pm. The park is actually quieter than yesterday, so I reckon there was some sort of mistake made yesterday.

Alton Towers was the same today. It went from 6 back to 5pm today, and queues were all around 50-60 minutes for major coasters. Air was at the entrance even at ride close! There is no money in the pot to extend' opening times, though. I suppose they are thinking we should be grateful it isn't 4pm. EP extended to 8.30pm today! PFFT.

I guess my experiences of Q Bot are perhaps in parks where it isn't oversold. I have used it at Mirabilandia, where it was truly superb, and Movie Park Germany, where again - it was well managed. I have not seen how it is used at Legoland, sadly.

A Fastrack system, by definition, is naturally going to extend the waiting time for guests without the fastrack ticket. A Q-Bot system, arguably does not do this. I wish they would go down the Q-Bot avenue!

"So that the fastrack queue does not extend the main queue line" EH!?!?!?!

I was at Drayton Manor Park last weekend, and it was busy. Therefore, they extended ride close to 7:30pm! This would have gone down rather nicely at Thorpe Park.

Thorpe Park: 31st August 2012 Having visited Thorpe Park on three occasions earlier in the 2012 season, and having enjoyed each and everyone - I was keen to visit once more this season. Thus, myself and a few others drove down from the Midlands. The park quickly returned to the Thorpe Park that used to be mocked and ridiculed back in 2006/7/8/9, and the day really became more of a chore than anything else, at least in terms of getting on rides. Perhaps it is because Thorpe Park target themselves to young people, that they think they can get away with things that would not be possible at some of the other Merlin parks. Here are examples: - Colossus opened on 1 train. There was instantly a queue, and the 2nd train was brought out later. Why not just start on 2? The ride commanded a 70-90 minute queue all day. - Storm Surge queue was advertised ‘99’ minutes, with fastrack bulging out of the entrance. This ride is an absolute, abhorrent joke and a mess to boot. It squeaked and leaked its way through yet another day of operation... it says everything you need to know about THORPE PARK, that the Fastrack entrance and signage is FAR more obvious than the main entrance on the ride!!! - The queue for Swarm was 90-100 minutes all day. Fastrack was massively oversold. You can possibly just make out the ‘99’ for Swarm and Storm Surge on here: - Flat rides should be the supporting attractions in a theme park. Samurai, however managed a wait of over 1 hour for most of the day, with Vortex and Zodiac both 30-50 minutes. - Rush went down to 1 swing from mid afternoon. The queue line was ¾ full - we didn’t even wish to find out how long the queue was, especially as there were a fair few people in the fastrack line. Our guess was 90 minutes. - Slammer was closed all day due to technical problems. This wasn’t particularly frustrating and I understand that the ride is a technical nightmare - however, regardless - it was closed. - There was downtime on Loggers Leap, Stealth and Rush (in addition to obviously Slammer). - Saw: The Ride commanded a queue time of 90 minutes + all day long. With a massive number of fastrack guests, the poor souls in the main queue were left with a long, long wait. - The park extended the closing time of some of the rollercoasters by 30 minutes. However, this was not communicated well at all. Also, given that most major rides still had queues of 45 to 90 minutes at 6pm (Swarm said 100 minutes at its entrance), 6:30pm was still completely inadequate. - Fastrack was massively oversold. Look at this farcical queue line to buy it near Nemesis Inferno: YouTube clip of queue: - Throughputs, whilst satisfactory on some rides, was wholly inadequate on others. Samurai was taking forever, and was probably the worst example. It was, by far and away, my worst visit to Thorpe Park since the Annual Pass day in 2011. The sheer volume of fastrack sales, and completely inadequate opening hours for such crowds, left a bitter taste in the mouth after a 3 hour drive from the midlands. A busy Thorpe Park is not necessarily the problem - after all, it is/was the summer holidays, and queues are to be expected. But when every single major rollercoaster and major thrill ride has a queue of over 50 minutes, with the majority upwards of 80 minutes - you begin wondering where to turn, where to escape to. With Saw Alive, Time Voyagers and the railway all sitting motionless, extra capacity on rides would have slightly helped at least. There was simply nowhere to go. No dark rides with minimal queues, no garden areas, no zoo area, no aquarium and no show. Nothing but massive queues in every corner. The park need to reassess how they sell fastrack because, on anything other than quiet days, it seems to be that a fastrack ticket is now essential to enjoy the rides at the park within the times permitted. On all but the quietest days, the park has by far the worst queues in the country, and arguably Europe. It was awful and a shame after some good trips earlier in the year. Fastrack was being sold at many ride entrances, thus making the problem worse. I think, that because my three visits earlier in the 2012 season were (unexpectadly) fairly quiet, that it led me to think that THORPE PARK had changed. However, just throw them more than a few guests and the whole place seems to fall apart. BAH! L

How are queues generally at PA these days? When I visited in 2009, I was staggered at the length of queues for Furius Baco, Sea Oddysey and Stampida in particular.

When I visited I managed to aquire a hotel fastrack free of charge from some guests who were leaving and literally were like "hey, we have this fastrack - would you like it". This was in 2009, so quite a while back. The queue for Baco was advertised at 3hours so it was just as well.

There are dozens of "theme park" facebook pages at the moment... it's rather confusing to say the least!

I also wish DMP would rise up, however they continue to let reasonable investments rot, in no time at all, and their operations simply do not match those of the likes of Alton Towers.