Coaster

Find me anywhere where I have stated it is a fact? I said that it explains why some people may remember pushing up the bar, not that it doesn't go up automatically. I really feel as if you're splitting hairs over nothing with this. Also, it's not impatience, I push the bar up so I can be off the train quicker leading to less congestion at the bag hold and ultimately higher throughput!

It explains why some people may remember having to push the restraints to exit rather than the fact that they open automatically.

I got 10% off, not that it matters as I have a MAP. The track sighting is interesting, but I'm not getting excited yet - it may be theming. Regarding the hydraulics company, I'm not expecting the attraction to have a launch (going by the size of the train carriage, there isn't room in the building). Could it be something as simple as an air piston effect (similar to that seen at the end of Sub Terra?)

Stealth's restraints raise automatically, but if you sat and waited for them to rise all the way up then everyone else would be out of the bag drop and halfway down the exit!

Toadies will only draw a queue because it runs with hardly any cars!

Never even thought of the time travel aspect, but that could make for an interesting theme.

I know that, but if the ride has a Victorian theme then I just assumed that the other train(s) would be Victorian themed as well?

Wasn't the whole idea that it was going to be a Victorian train? Or have I completely lost the plot?

It doesn't look very Victorian! Regarding Intamin collaborating with another company to build a dark ride, let's hope the ride system works better than when they last attempted that in the UK!

I'm not blaming them for testing it a lot, I'm saying that it should be done outside of park opening hours.

When stood in the queueline for the attraction it probably won't be visible, but it stands out like a sore thumb from the park's main pathways. I agree, at the very least they could have painted the warehouse the same colour as the facade - especially the parts facing the public pathways.

The first picture shows the ride (taken by holding the camera higher than the fence), the second one shows the fence hiding the ride.

That logic doesn't make any sense to me, you can still enjoy a day at a theme park even if operations are not what they should be at times - it doesn't spoil the whole day.

Thorpe Park - Friday 8th April PARK OPEN: 9:30am - 6pm RIDES CLOSED: Loggers Leap, Samurai. (Tidal Wave opened at around 3/4pm). I had an enjoyable first visit of the year to Thorpe today. The park was quite busy, meaning that a high ridecount wasn't happening but I did manage to get on the major coasters and a few other rides, as well as having a look at the exterior of Derren Brown's Ghost Train and the shop (see photos in the DBGT topic). I noticed that some improvements have been made to the park, for example X which has had a small update to the queue including repainted walls and new graphics on the floor/walls (really liked the new X:/ This Way Out sign, a nice recognition of the ride's history). I'm not a fan of the new soundtrack, and it was playing far too quietly in the pyramid. Tidal Wave has had a water effect fixed, and I believe that more have been repaired in the queueline. Detonator has a new soundtrack, which I'm not keen on in all honestly, it's grating when queueing for the ride. Rumba Rapids also has had a few minor changes such as the "source of the currant" sign being visible in the tunnel, and new lighting. With that said, it still needs a major cleanup in most areas and some water effects. It's great that The Swarm's back rows have been turned forwards again, it made the ride much more enjoyable again - although the station does need to be changed back, as the extra queueing space was causing confusion with people still thinking it was travelling backwards and therefore not filling the rows. Unfortunately there were still issues with the capacity of some of the rides, which I'll briefly mention here. In my opinion it is completely unacceptable to start a ride on one train, causing the queue to build up to over an hour, and then hold up hundreds of people whilst they add the second train. This was the case with Stealth today which was very frustrating - after waiting nearly 40 minutes, we had to watch them add a train and test it three times (even the train that had already been on was being sent round empty), which took about 15 minutes. This was also the case on The Swarm, however I'm not sure when the second train was added as we left it until it was running two. This problem has been a regular occurrence at Thorpe for a number of years now, I'm not sure on the exact reason for it but something needs to change. Several rides opened late, such as Saw (said 10am on the sign, but I think it opened later as it was stopped on the MCBR at 9:30am). The park was advertised to open at 9:30am, and I haven't seen anything on the website to suggest that rides open on a staggered basis - if this is the case then it should be advertised clearly. It was good to see that Nemesis Inferno and Colossus were running two trains, however dispatch times were slow with the rides stacking on several dispatches. X was running two trains which wasn't good, they still have the two person rule as well which caused issues with groups having to split up etc. RIDECOUNT: The Swarm x2 Nemesis Inferno x1 Stealth x1 Colossus x1 Saw: The Ride x1 X x1 Slammer x1 Detonator x1 Quantum x1 Rumba Rapids x1 TOTAL: 11 Overall it was an enjoyable day, but I'm not happy with the ridecount, the queues were long and slow on most rides which didn't help. Thorpe Park doesn't hold my favourite selection of rides, but despite that it was good to be back after what feels like a very long time - I don't think I will be visiting again before the opening weekend of Derren Brown's Ghost Train though. Thanks for reading.

Such a shame to see Loggers in this state I may be wrong, but it doesn't look like anything has happened to it over the winter, despite the fact that it is supposedly closed for "redevelopment?" A very sad sight.

Glad to hear that you had a good day at BPB, and that The Big One opened.

It was selling food/drinks as well as showcasing (or selling, not actually sure) some of the merchandise from inside the building.

Had a look in the shop today, was very impressed! It's definitely the best Merlin shop in the UK, clearly a lot of effort (and money) has gone into it. As for the attraction itself, after seeing the exterior for myself I'm still sceptical but look forward to trying it! Regarding the exterior, it looks good, however unfortunately the warehouse is too visible, and painting it bright red really doesn't help this. Also, does anyone know if the chipboard in the archways is going to be painted? The soundtrack was playing in the area and sounded really good, I recognised a chord sequence which has taken inspiration from a 1980 horror film! Photo update; I'm not a fan of the blue board behind the sign, it looked much more effective when you could see through the letters IMO. I like the fact that some of the queueline is undercover, will make it much more bearable to wait for in rainy/hot weather. Train station theming, hopefully the tape will be removed! Train carriage; The shop; Rotating wall, it's on a 5 minute timer apparrently; Photo sales? All pictures were taken from public areas.

The Swarm's area ambience music was off today - either that or they've edited the You Me At Six instrumental part out, as it definitely wasn't playing. The area didn't feel atmospheric without it, hopefully it's just a temporary problem rather than a permanent change. It was good to get back on the back row facing the right way round!

Haha, it's true though, I'm equally critical of BPB when they do things wrong but they are committed to keeping the park clean which makes it a much more appealing place. Chessington could do with a paint in lots of places, but the lack of cleanliness was a bigger concern both in queuelines, ride carriages and the overall park.

Seeing as Rameses is sat doing nothing, maybe they could take the opportunity to clean it - the two main arms are filthy!

Maybe, along with everyone else in the train judging from the scores on the screen in the shop!

I thought it was to be fixed back in January? (Page 5).

Thirteen would be good if the entire outdoor section wasn't trimmed. Completely ruins the coaster IMO.

Still closed today.