Coaster

Has anyone been to Thorpe on a weekday in the past few weeks? If so, how busy was it? And do they make an effort? (Like running two trains on rides efficiently etc...) (I am visiting on a weekday next week and would like to know what to expect). Help much appreciated!

Detonator has got a theme and is a great ride, but I can see that on busy days it is a long queue for a very short ride. That's the only reason I can see for people thinking it's boring. (It's also the only ride one of my friends won't go on.)

Don't go on it then! There are many people who like Detonator, me being one of them. The only drop tower I have ridden that tops it in terms of airtime and stomach feeling is The Drop at Funland Hayling Island.

NO SCAFFOLDING! (Not the theming one, the one around Rita)

Makes you wonder why The Smiler didn't have lapbars - Karacho looks equally intense!

^ Sometimes Inferno feels really fast in the morning though! I knew this was the case with some rides (particularly woodies) but I didn't know that it was all of them.

Let's hope so! It shouldn't be needed though. When a company pays the best part of £20 million for a new coaster it should have been built correctly! The Smiler needs to get corrected!

I don't actually think much of Inferno, I prefer Nemesis. Inferno is strange, some days it runs really well and is a great ride whereas other times it is slow and lacks force.

The big lighting rig should be on a strobe setting rather than a few strobes with other lights completely lighting up the pyramid.

Oh for... I very much hope that the management of Towers have a right go at Gerstlauer! Surely it can't be too hard to get your head around the fact that in an inversion like that the second part should be lower than the first!

Please!!

^ Let's hope they have received feedback about the laziness that was seen in previous weeks and have done something about it! (Although this happens quite often with Thorpe - they have random good days before going back to being their usual slow self... Let's hope this time it stays like it should be).

^ To be fair Colossus is probably the most depressing looking ride at Thorpe ATM. A shame because its really not a bad ride, but a bit of care would be nice.

Not always, however it is nearly always wrong.

The whole backwards row queue doesn't work! At times it is ridiculously longer than the main queue whereas I have seen, on more than one occasion a long main queue when the backwards queue has been walk on.

I absolutely agree with this 100%. The staff this year are, honestly, much worse than last year's. The staff last year tried to make your day enjoyable, whereas this year they are treating you more like an inconvenience than a valued customer (not mentioning any names here, *cough* swarm staff *cough*). Last year operations and staff were not perfect by any means, but this year it has declined greatly.

Looking at Saw, Inferno, Colossus etc it is the norm for Thorpe. They make a ride look all "nice" and new for about a year, then just leave it to rot like everything else. It's very sad considering how huge the investment was and I agree with you that it is not good that it has got into this state already! I mean look at Saw, they must have spent quite a long time getting together all those audio clips to play in the queue, then a few years on they can't even be bothered to fix the speakers! (As for The Swarm TV's, that is one thing I wouldn't mind being switched off - it makes for the most annoying queueline ever!)

I agree with this - with Experiment 10 in it's 1st year of operation I would have argued that it was worth the extra wait, but last year it was pants. The sent huge groups through less often than before so it didn't really increase the throughput and just took away and factor of fear due to being with a huge group of rowdy people. Unless they revert back to the old system I don't think that E10 has a place at Fright Nights this year - everything that was good about it in 2011 was gone in 2012. If they do use it again (which they probably will seeing as it is relatively new) then BRING BACK THE GAS MASKS and smaller groups! It was so much better. Oh, and scrap the stupid television screen final - far too many things rely on TV screens. Regarding what you said about Asylum and Curse, I find it strange that whilst Asylum's queue always seems quite quick (probably helped by the brilliant soundtrack they play in the queueline) The Curse's (and Se7en's when it was there) seem a lot slower, but you would think that they would be the same.

I like the idea of a Fright Nights map (similar to Towers I am guessing). In previous years they have been handing out little fliers with details about the mazes on them. I'm just praying that they don't charge per maze like Alton...

A woodie with a vanish element would be very good! Although this is probably unrelated to the next coaster - just a case of them wanting to show that they take an interest in other theme parks/rides other than their own.

Thanks for those links, very interesting! Making me wish I had ridden it even more!

Does anyone know of any POV footage from the original Haunted House? I really wish I had experienced it, whilst I like Duel from what I have heard it used to be a much better ride.

I completely agree with this - they offer no alternative such as a premium pass so they should not restrict the annual pass! To be honest I disagree with charging extra for any passholder - either standard of premium because if you don't like halloween events and would not change your visiting regime regardless of the event then you are basically blocked out of the park for a month! (Bear in mind not everyone can visit on weekdays). They could still make people prebook so that the park doesn't reach capacity but without charging. It's just another greedy scheme to make money (which they have plenty of!) Another option could be making people pay if they want to use the mazes - maybe they could issue a wristband which costs £5 which admits people into the mazes. (Don't get me wrong I love the mazes, but there are a lot of people who don't go in them but still want to visit the park).

The queue page is now showing The Smiler as being open again (180 minute queue as of 12:40pm)

Well according to the queue times page The Smiler is closed again... http://www.ridetimes.co.uk/