Coaster

Whether it's the last day or not, it's still not on for them to be acting like that with customers still in the park.

Ah okay, that's understandable then.

Doesn't any dark ride effects/scenery come under construction though? Or is that just the ride hardware? Obviously construction doesn't count marketing costs but are they usually included in the quoted cost of a ride?

I guess it's not essential, but it probably says the manufacturer's name in the ride manuals, and on the restraints of some coasters etc... I would guess that all operators/dispatchers know the manufacturers of the ride(s) they work on to be honest. Find me anywhere where I have "slagged off" staff for "not knowing as much as me about rides". I have never claimed to know lots about rides, and obviously ride staff are going to know more about how they work as they operate them, but where did I say that they don't?

It's not compulsory that ride staff are enthusiastic about rides, but it's nice if they do have at least some care for theme parks and rides. It's the difference between staff being enthusiastic about their job and just doing it "because it's their job", and the behaviour from staff at the end of the day today showed a complete disregard for the park and the paying customers there! Staff should know the manufacturers of rides if they work on them IMO, but then what do I know?

Not sure how accurate this is, but RideRater have said that the budget is £20 million. http://riderater.co.uk/2015/thorpe-park-and-derren-brown-in-three-year-plan/

Very, very poor staff discipline on several occasions today. At the end of the day on Nemesis Inferno, about 100 staff members joined the queue after ride close. The staff working on the ride announced through the PA that no staff would be allowed on, but they ignored this and basically pushed past some customers at the gates so that they had to send the train as there were still members of the public on it. Despite this, there was still around three trains worth of staff members left after this. Earlier on in the day, on Slammer two members of ride staff were let on through the exit in front of the main queue. Not only that, but they went in the back row where there were already five people waiting instead of filling up empty seats available in rows 2 and three - the ride operator allowed this, and said through the PA that "we don't care about batching." This led to members of the paying public having to regroup and split up which is just poor! It really shows the kind of people some of Thorpe's staff actually are, they think that they can get away with whatever they want because it's the end of the season! As for park operations, all coasters were on one train (apart from X which I think was on two, and not sure how many Saw was on). It's what I have come to expect of Thorpe so it was no surprise.

Does anyone know why Slammer closed early today? We saw staff walking away from the ride at about 4:40pm talking about having just been on it, so it seems as if they closed the ride early so that staff could go on!

Thank you, I was waiting for someone to post that!CCR17 please Thorpe!

Well I'm not holding out hope on it actually being good but what I meant was that I like how they are keeping it a complete secret.I plan on going on it the same way I approach any new ride, which is with an open mind rather than expecting it to be amazing/awful. Thirteen's advertising was just stupid.

It could be a simple dark ride with vehicle travel (similar to Duel's ride system) but with a lot of effects/enhancements, but the complicated nature of the building frame makes me think otherwise. One of the best things about the buildup to this attraction is that we literally have no idea what it is!

PARK OPEN: 10am - 10pm RIDES CLOSED: Avatar Airbender, Crazy Daisy (for the stage). Firstly, it was fantastic to see BPB so busy, I don't think I have ever seen it so busy in 11 years of visiting and the atmosphere was fantastic. As for the Halloween event, it was good but I came away feeling like BPB could do so much more! When you see parks that have only just re-opened (Dreamland) or much smaller than BPB (Pleasurewood Hills) putting on two or three full scale scare mazes, BPB's effort at a horror maze really does feel a bit sad. I actually felt that the Chinese Puzzle Horror Maze was better last year as there were actors and more props, this year we didn't encounter any actors on both of our run-throughs and the props were sparse in comparison to last year (for example no theming on the exit path). The park entrance area was decorated really well, with an amusing device welcoming people to "Vampire Beach" as well as various other decorations. Unfortunately past the sculpture gardens there was little sign of Halloween which was a shame, as in the past they have had a large inflatable pumpkin by The Big One on the old Turtle Chase site, spiders on the Ghost Train and more decorations scattered across the park. The location of the stage was just weird this year, using the Teacups platform was bizarre when they already have a much more impressive stage, but in fairness the decision to open the BBQ was a good one! Something else I can't understand at all is that some very good, high quality Halloween props were added to the sculpture garden area midweek, but by Vampire Beach they had been taken away! Finally, on a Halloween event, why was Holiday Rock FM playing normal songs? There are loads of Halloween songs which should have been played after 4pm IMO, it would have given the park a much better Halloween atmosphere and the decision to play normal songs was odd. Parkwide, it was good to see that the troll/giant outside the Ghost Train is moving again, now all we need is the ceiling props back - oh, and a capacity improvement! (But seriously, watching how it "coped" with the high crowds on Saturday was a bit embarrassing!) It also seems as if some work has gone into making the park as a whole look better at night, as I noticed lots of lighting improvements - especially the Flying Machines which looks fantastic at night now! Highlights: - Seeing BPB buzzing with atmosphere and absolutely packed out! (It was very busy all week as well, probably the same crowd levels most days as Vampire Beach before the second wave of guests came in at 4pm). I think it says a lot about how much Blackpool as a resort has progressed this year, and if Vampire Beach had been on all week then they would have had a huge influx of guests at 4pm every day! Compared to last year's event crowd levels were much higher both in the queues and around the park, in fact the same could be said all week - I haven't seen such high levels of crowds on the paths for at least five years. - All available rides being open all day, it's how it should be but I feel as if they deserve credit for this as other parks seem to use late night opening as an excuse to close certain rides after 5pm. - The park being open until 10pm, please do it more often next year! - Meeting Amanda Thompson! Lowlights: - It was fantastic to see the park so busy, but I hope money is spent on the right things this winter so that the park is better equipped to cope with crowds next year. - The Chinese Puzzle Horror Maze wasn't as good as last year, and I think BPB could produce much better if they wanted to. - Lack of Halloween theming and music. - Ghost Train's queue. Ridecount: Big Dipper x4 Valhalla x2 The Big One x2 Wild Mouse x2 Steeplechase x2 Horror Maze x2 Grand National x1 Nickelodeon Streak x1 Revolution x1 Avalanche x1 Skyforce x1 Infusion x1 River Caves x1 Wallace and Gromit x1 TOTAL: 22 Photos! This was such a clever idea! This picture was taken a few days before Vampire Beach, and strangely enough it was removed before the event - why?! :? I actually got a train in shot for once! Taken whilst on PBE; My final thoughts were that given the huge success of the event (in terms of guest numbers), it would be great if BPB introduced a proper scare maze next year. They could still keep the Chinese Puzzle Horror Maze as the family-friendly one, but a scare maze would be fantastic. More importantly, it should be a week-long event! Thanks for reading.

Lots of midweek closures next year at Chessington; 19th-20th and 26th April, 10th-11th and 17th-18th May, 13th-14th, 20th-21st and 27th-28th September and 4th-5th and 11th-12th October. I can't comment on this as I don't know how quiet the park is on those dates usually, but that does seem like quite a lot of closed days.

I just hope it is a ride without a long, drawn out preshow (unless it's done really well). Having videos/preshows as part of the queue would be good but I much prefer just getting on the ride rather than, for example, the original Zufari setup. I'm probably in the minority with that though.

Reopen it!

I'm surprised no-one else picked up on this, but the 2016 opening times have been released. https://www.thorpepark.com/resort-information/getting-here/ They leave a lot to be desired aside from Fright Nights with peak summer season being just a 6pm close, and for the first time in several years (I think) there are midweek closures in September and October.

Yeah it is, but if there wasn't such a ridiculous overreaction over an offhand comment of "I wanted to get on the last train of the season" then I wouldn't have posted it!I mean seriously? If those complaining about my post turned up at another park to find the signature ride closed you would be annoyed (not everyone checks the website before visiting), but somehow it's okay because it is at Thorpe "can do no wrong" Park. Also I don't get why people are saying "they're not closing it to annoy you.". Of course they're not, did I ever say they were? People have different views on what is/isn't acceptable but I don't bombard people with rubbish when they say something I disagree with; for example "U OK HUN" - what a load of complete tosh!

I hope it stays, whilst it's not in the best of states (well it wasn't back in 2013 when I went on it anyway), some of theming in there is very impressive and if they did spend the money to refurbish it, it would be a great dark ride.

Good, the music IMAscore have produced so far is great so this should be no different!

So that's what happened with Tidal? I can understand the closure in that case, however that's still no excuse for it to be closed for as long as it has been - I've seen lift chain snaps dealt with quickly and the ride in question re-open within two days (not at Thorpe I might add). Where have I commented on Fury stalling? Again, where have I said this? Hulk is having a planned refurbishment, and I don't recall saying "it should be open" so you're making that up. Not half as stupid as quoting posts that I have never made makes you look. I wasn't aware of that, but good move by Thorpe!

Well maybe you shouldn't make assumptions then.As it happens, I was away on holiday when Slammer reopened so was not actually aware of it. Also just to add, rides should be open anyway so I don't see much to praise - but as said, I was away so wasn't actually aware that it was reopen.

Actually I'm really glad Stealth is closed, best decision Thorpe have made all year! Yippee for closed rides!!

Well I don't know why people are moaning about the music being off, you should be grateful - the fountains are on! Expectations are much too high to expect fountains AND music, don't you know how hard speakers are to maintain?!

No it's not, and the annoying thing is that they didn't give any notice for this closure, it's more the fact that I wanted to go on it this weekend rather than the last train.What about people who booked for this week/weekend before it was announced?

Strange decision to close the signature ride a week before the park closes, not happy as I like to get last train of the year!