JohnD

(off topic) Going back to Knightmare, is there any confirmation that Oakwood have it? When I last went past Camelot on the M6 about a month ago it was definitely still there, so they can't have had it for long. It also seems a little unlikely that it could have been removed without news of it reaching the various forums. I'd love the ride to stay in the UK, but outside this topic I've not heard any mention of the ride since the park closed (also, I'd rather it went to LWV, purely as that's easier for me to get to). As for Spinball, it's always bugged me that a lot of people want it removed, as I've always been rather fond of it. I've never understood the "it ruins the view" argument, as you can't see it until you get towards the bottom of towers street anyway, especially if you're on the box office side. Capacity is an issue (though it's not as low as Fury since it can actually manage 4 adults per car most of the time) and it isn't really that well themed but it's still a pretty fun ride. The 's' drop half way though is a real highlight for me, especially if facing backwards.

Providing a ride is designed with SRQ in mind, they're a great idea that ensures rides run to maximum capacity. In my experience the SRQs on Rita, Spinball and Thirteen all work(ed) well, Air's is a bit of a mess as it only serves 1 station but generally doesn't slow things down (and if the merge host sends all odd numbered groups to the right it minimises the number of empty seats). The one on Nemesis seems a bit of a bodge as there's no way of getting single riders into the bays prior to loading so the staff need to be very quick to ensure trains aren't held up, but somehow it still seems to work most of the time. Ideally, most major coasters and many flat rides should have SRQs, but only if its users can realistically be batched before the gates open. Out of Thorpe's rides I believe Saw, Colossus, Inferno, Stealth and Samurai would all benefit from SRQs if properly implemented - possibly other rides too.

Most of the time it's a bit of a non-issue really, it's pretty rare for the rides to even fill all the seats during ERT let alone have any sort of queue. When trains are being sent half empty it's more trouble than it's worth to make people wait and probably causes a load of complaints. People who've booked online in order to get ERT may be a little annoyed, but as an AP holder I don't really care unless they start getting long queues during ERT.

At the weekend there were several diesel generators in front of Runaway Train that appeared to be powering that area of the park, possibly including Flying Jumbo's. With that in mind, it's possible they're only running the ride on busy days to save fuel.

The Swarm fastrack advertised on the website is for the forwards rows only, though there is fastrack for the backwards rows, priced at £6. There's also a package featuring Swarm backwards, Stealth and Saw front row(?) for around £15 ("Back to front"). I'm not sure if either are available online. Be aware that the backwards queue line may not open as soon as the ride does - on Sunday the backwards queue didn't open until 10:00 (Swarm opened at 9:30) - until that point you had free choice of row as there was no-one batching. There were less people waiting for the backwards rows than the forwards rows when I got there, which was convenient as with the ride running 1 train at the time I didn't fancy waiting in the bays behind 4 trains worth of guests in the other rows.

On the 3rd picture it seems there's a circular board you can cover the window with for privacy. These rooms look quite a bit bigger than the first ones they showed, presumably they are the ones that fit 2 rooms into a container rather than 3. At least it's possible for 4 people to stand in these rooms so you don't have to immediately climb into bed to fit everyone in.

The problem seems to be with the main arm rather than the cross - you tend to line up above the marked areas but with the main arm a couple of degrees off-centre. I suspect the weight distribution of the ride could have something to do with it, but it seems like the sort of thing the ride should be capable of compensating for. I remember on one occasion last year the ride lowered with the pods slightly off their intended position. Rather than just ignore it, the ride was raised and rotated all the way round, only for it to stop in the wrong place a 2nd time. Another 359 degrees later we'd finally got back to where we were supposed to be and were finally let off.

No - both Colossus and Canada Creek were still playing too fast/high pitched. Stealth had no music at all when we rode.

New queue system: Backwards has taken over the old fastrack queue line. Main queue now turns right towards the shop. Fastrack carries straight on into what was part of the extended queue line and then cuts into what used to be the front row queue to reach the bag drop. There is no longer a dedicated front row queue - waiting extra for FR now seems to be at the discretion of the batching hosts. It seems the new signage for main/fastrack isn't clear enough though - a lot of people went the wrong way today, despite the fact fastrack wasn't even in operation The backwards rows are ticketed similar to the old front row system, except the tickets are paper rather than laminated, and have the date printed on them to minimise abuse of the system (and means there's no point in people stealing them!). The station queue line has changed slightly to accommodate the backwards seating, but nothing major. I do have a number of issues with the way it's been implemented though - I'd rather they just have a queue for back rows inside the station and leave people to sort themselves out rather than use batching hosts. That way if the backwards seats have a short enough queue you can wait extra, otherwise you don't bother - just like you would for the front row on other rides. Currently, on ride photos/videos have not been adapted - the photo screens are just displaying the back of the seats for rows 6 & 7, and the camera on row 5 is still in position (I'm not sure if it was working though). As for the billboard; I'm not a huge fan of the aesthetics, but the near miss effect is a pretty good improvement to the ride. I'd say it adds more to the experience than reversing some seats does at any rate. For best effect sit on the front left.

Back when ERT was mainly for hotel guests it used to be Air and Nemesis only, accessed via the woodland walk. The park opened at 9.30 to day guests with rides opening at 10, but anyone who wanted to ride Air and Nemesis before 10 was allowed to regardless of whether or not they were entitled to ERT. IIRC it stayed that way until around 2006/7 as I remember heading to FV first rather than wait for Rita to open on at least one occasion. As for 2013, it seems they're still going for a list of rides that offers them the most convenience rather than what would be best for guests. Only 2 major coasters, at opposite sides of the park, and the ones that tend to have the shorter queue in their respective areas. Being able to get the likes of Air, Rita and Spinball out of the way early would be far more useful in terms of time saved later on. Alternatively, opening rides that are a bit closer together would mean you wouldn't feel like you're wasting your ERT walking all round the park.

Colossus (7) Detonator (6) Nemesis Inferno (4) Rush (5) Stealth (5) The Swarm (5) X:/No Way Out (3) Colossus + X -

Swarm should have been the top priority this (last?) season. With it being the new ride it's obvious that a huge number of guests are going to head there first so it should have opened with the park and on 2 trains every day of the season if at all possible. If the park opens earlier than advertised then it's not essential to get everything open straight away. Most people probably wouldn't even notice if Stealth and Inferno opened a bit late.

No idea, I've only bought fastrack at Thorpe once and that was for FN mazes back in 2007. I guess a possible (partial) solution could be to sell more tickets in earlier time slots and fewer later on in the day to try to compensate for people missing their slots. My worst experience with fastrack was when a salesperson arrived at the Inferno entrance shortly after we'd joined what looked like a 45min queue. The sudden spike in fastrack users caused the main queue to slow to a crawl and it took 70 min to get on the ride. The amount of people willing to buy fastrack on off-peak days further shows how ingrained the idea the idea has become. I saw someone try to use fastrack during ERT at Alton Towers once (on Nemesis) - the trains were being sent half empty at the time.

The problem with being strict with timeslots is that timekeeping at theme parks is difficult. Thorpe would rather just let you use your ticket than refund it or switch it for another slot, as either way your ticket cannot be resold. It's far less hastle and more profitable to let people in after their slot has expired.

Ripsaw only uses prog 4 (the one with the spins) on very busy days. Prog 7 (see above) is more usual, or p8 if it's really quiet - recently p8 hasn't even been managing a single flip, with the gondola rolling back rather than going all the way over. The result can even be more intense than when it manages to complete the flip. A collection of videos of all the settings (except the rare 'custom' ones) can be found on the Towers Street wiki. I've always felt that Rameses seems to being deliberately run on settings that minimise the stress on the ride to try and keep it going as long as possible. The ride experience is pretty poor as a result. Ripsaw can be hit and miss, but at it's best is far more thrilling than Rameses whilst simulateously being a far less unpleasant experience.

I know that wasn't entirely serious, but Ripsaw/Blade and Submission/Enterprise on rotation would seem entirely plausible, though if it comes to borrowing money saving policies from Oakwood of all places then it's really time to worry about the future of the park...