JohnD

Rides in the UK are subject to the exact same requirements as all other European rides, though we probably enforce the standards more rigorously than some countries do. OTSRs are not an automatic requirement for inverting rides. As for UK looping coasters with lap bars, G Force sort of counts, but previously there were coasters with actual lap bars only, mainly (exclusively?) Schwarzkopfs. Thunderlooper and Tower of Terror/Twist and Shout were both lap bar only. Possibly the ones at 'Mingo and Dreamland's Looping Star too, but I never rode those so I'm not sure.

I can confirm it's a total misery, on my only visit so far this year I waited 50min in fastrack (which was no more than half full) because they were taking well over a minute between dispatches.

They could solve all the issues very easily with a SRQ, at least in theory, though finding somewhere to put it could be problematic. It would probably have to share the exit with the disabled queue or alternatively merge with the main queue at the entrance to the building, neither of which is ideal. It could hardly be worse than the current situation though, with the ride seemingly running at around 1/2 of it's intended capacity.

PortAventura is one of the worst parks I've ever been to in terms of fastrack overselling, with up to half capacity on major rides given over to fastrack. Sadly it's something a lot of people now expect parks to offer, credit to the likes of Efteling and Europa Park for refusing to go down that route.

Incredible that despite this being first reported way back in November it's taken until now for Towers to officially confirm it. The line-up of family rides is looking pretty weak now, not good for winning people back.

Weren't there rumours a while back about X and Slammer (or was it Samurai) being SBNO this year?

It's a reference to the adverts that ran in the run up to Rita opening, which proclaimed it "your best Alton Towers ride ever", before it had even opened.

That's probably not true any more - how many guests did Thorpe get last year?

I think the biggest issue capacity-wise in the entire park is now Valhalla. Nash is awful but at least the actual queue line is tiny so it's only about a 4 train wait from the stairs which isn't too bad really. Valhalla on the other hand could easily be an hour wait with a full queue, depending on the number of boats in service. It's not too bad on 12 but if they've only got 8 on the system a full queue could easily be a hour's wait. It's got even worse recently as they've reduced the capacity of some of the boats to just 6 seats rather than 8 and speedy pass has taken a chunk of capacity away from the main queue.

So Dragon Falls too then?

I would say better than nothing, but for me it isn't as I'm never going to actually go on it so it might as well be nothing. I wasn't expecting much, but I was hoping for something I'd at least consider riding once.

There's a second train coming soon. Due to the new block system the ride is now limited to 2 trains, though I guess there's nothing stopping them getting a 3rd as a spare.

It was a similar story last night, Vortex, Samurai, IAC and (obviously) Tidal closed all day, then at one point Swarm, Colossus, Saw and Slammer were all shut, plus Rumba, Rocky and Loggers as it was after 5pm giving a total of 11 rides/attractions simultaneously closed. Obviously Thorpe has had a reputation for poor reliability/ride availability for the best part of 10 years but even by their low standards the start of Fright Nights has been appalling for downtime.

I find B&M standups a mixed bunch. Vortex at Carowinds is pretty dreadful and Mantis was rather unpleasant too, but Georgia Scorcher is actually pretty good, and I was very impressed by Green Lantern (though I'm not sure how much that was due to me expecting it to be rubbish). Part of the problem with them it that getting your seat adjusted correctly is difficult even if you've ridden a few and know where you want it. I often find I've got it somewhere vaguely comfortable only for the op to unlock the row when I'm not paying attention and when it relocks I can only just reach the floor.

On the subject of Chessie's weight restrictions, is there any official policy on Rattlesnake? On some of my visits we've been allowed 4 adults and sometimes not. Earlier this year we were told our group could do 4 as we were all fairly light. If they haven't already, they should put a set of scales at the top of the stairs to ensure they fill as many seats as they can.

It was running 7 cars but 2 of them were empty, they briefly closed it to take one of them off which cost us another 5-10 minutes. By the time we got off the exit queue was half way down the ramp, fastrack was almost to the entrance and the advertised queue time was 120 minutes, though the queue line was nowhere near full. Dispatch times were appalling, with most of the cars stacked up outside the station. Meanwhile, Vampire was constantly breaking down and we ended up wasting our MAP fastrack on it as it broke within 10 minutes of reopening after the previous breakdown (we came back later just as it was about to reopen, so fluked a ride with a very short queue). Basically, there's a reason I've only been to Chessington once this year.

Operations on Fury seem a complete mess compared with Spinball. On my only visit to Chessington so far this year I waited over an hour and the queue wasn't even at the shop. It had just opened after a breakdown, and from the queue outside the entrance I'd estimated it would be about 15-20 minutes, based on how long I'd expect to wait for Spinball with a similar number of people. It's good that they've got scales rather than just automatically sending empty seats, but why it even an issue on Fury when Spinball can run 4 adults (unless it's wet)?

I've said this before, but this is the reason I don't visit Thorpe more often. I don't particularly mind queueing 45min for Inferno if it's being operated flat out, but with 1 train and low staffing you don't feel like you're getting anywhere. Last time I was there I waited nearly 30min from the bottom of the steps (back row was reserved for fastrack & exit pass). The Swarm is even worse though, if it's on 1 train and the queue starts outside the station it can be an utter misery.

Why though? Just batch 32 people combined from the main + fasttrack queues. Seating is a free for all, so unless the last group batched takes you to 31 people it should be full every time. Vortex is a perfect candidate for a turnstile with a countdown like on Hex.

Surely a SRQ on Vortex is a little pointless as there's never going to be more than 1 single rider per ride cycle? Fair enough on the likes of Samurai where a single rider always gets on with every group of 4, Rush which has 4 rows so more chances for a spare seat or Detonator which runs cycles more often (though again, at most 1 SR per cycle).

The upper bar and plastic screen is also new, I'm not entirely sure why that's there but the new flaps appear to be intended to stop people from getting out of a locked restraint. I was with the TS group today and half a dozen or so people had to get off the ride when we rode (including most of our group, all of whom had ridden before without any issues). Judging by the length of time between cycles it seems they were probably turning away several people each time.

If the majority of people are waiting an hour and a small number are using RnR as free fastrack, then it's clearly not doing what it's supposed to do. They're unlikely to get many complaints though, as it's great for the people using it and the majority of those who aren't using it probably aren't aware of it.

I thought they had sensors to detect a train in front so they don't bump?

An SRQ on Samurai makes a lot of sense, as without one you end up with an empty seat every time there's a group of 4 (and there are a lot of them). Last time I rode (a couple of weeks ago), we requested and got setting 6, so it's not as if they can't use the good cycles. There was no queue at the time though, which might have had something to do with it.

Presumably they're not willing to apply that rule to Fury, Spinball and Rattlesnake, which is why they're all still closed. Hopefully they can get a more permanent solution worked out, as Air and Thirteen will both have substantially longer waits otherwise (though I wouldn't particularly expect either to be running 3 trains during the week anyway).