jonnyfingers

From me, and I was told it by the Thorpe Park area manager at the ECC day last Saturday. I must stress he has no direct control over when they'll be turned on, as we've said before they're waiting on paperwork to be signed.But he was hopeful that would all be sorted before the end of the Easter break.

The behind the scenes tour for the ECC really was great. I'm not the sort of enthusiast who obsesses over the nuts and bolts of a ride, but it really was cool to see the thought and planning that went into Swarm. The concept art, ride technical drawings and marketing ideas were all top notch. Plus we got to see items from years of Thorpe Park history, plans for rides that never game to fruition (including the GCI Woodie that looked very nice!) and various maps showing how the park has changed over the years, and just how much land was reclaimed from the lake.But the best thing about the tour was the enthusiasm shown by the Thorpe Park staff that were present, especially the area manager for Swarm, think his name was Neil but can't be sure. He's an enthusiast just like us and wants to see the best rides added to the park. He admits that what they want doesn't always match what sales and marketing or the development team want, but they always try to come to an agreement. You can see that they put a lot of effort into The Swarm, even going to Gardaland to watch Raptor's operation, picking up ideas on how to make Swarm a better ride, especially from an operations point of view.It has restored my faith a bit in Merlin that, despite all the PR stunts and questionable ride decisions, they have employees that care and do their utmost to make each ride as good as they can.

He said the same thing. I presume the fact the LED are an electrical device on the train a risk assessment has to be done to make sure it doesn't interfere with the restrain system or any proximity sensors. From what he said it seems everything has been tested and has passed fine. But I know from my own line of work (controls engineer for a contact lens manufacturer) you have to do a risk assessment for everything, and the slowest part of the process is the final sign-off by every party involved. And unfortunately to comply with company policy the documents have to be signed off before you can turn things on. So that seems to be hold up. He did say they're hoping to have everything operational before the end of the Easter holidays.

Had a chat with the Thorpe area manager in charge of Swarm today and asked him that question. He said they're just waiting for final approval ifor both the fire effect and the LEDs on the train. Once the documents are signed off both will be turned on.Had a good chat with him in the Thrill Workshop today. Got to see a few behind the scenes photos of Swarm, a lot of it showing the construction of the wing and engine, as well as some official drawings of the ride, including some early concept art. He said that B&M estimate a throughput of 1100 people per hour should be possible and the record to date is 1095 I think. I also asked why the queue gates are opened at the same time as the restraints are opened, which can cause a bit of a people jam. He said the operator controls this and it's done to try and get people off and new people on as quickly as possible. Raptor at Gardaland doesn't do this and throughput suffers as a result.All very interesting.Also the ride was running great today, much more forceful that last week. Not sure if the cold weather has made a difference or if the ride is just breaking in nicely.

Will do, thanks. Thanks for the welcome, have been a lurker for while though it was about time I posted something!But yes, everything you say I already know. Like all true fools I moved to the UK for love! My girlfriend got a great job in London and I struggled to find suitable work in the city, mainly because my work is suited towards manufacturing, not something London is known for! At the same time I was headhunted by a company in Southampton. I worked for their rival in Ireland and they offered a really good package to come and join them (the good salary is both a blessing, but also a curse when trying to find a new job!). We chose to live in Surrey as commute-wise it's near enough the half way point and a lot of our friends and family live in London. So for a year I've been driving 120 miles a day, 600 miles a week and the odometer has just clocked up close to 30000 miles in a year! My job is great and the work I do is very interesting, and I thought it might be possible to move closer, but that's not the case. So the search is on for a new job closer to home. I've decided to try for something in the Theme Park industry as I've nothing to lose really, and it might be possible living close to Thorpe, Chessington and Legoland as I do. But if that doesn't happen I'll be happy with something else, as long as it's closer to home.You're right, money is great, but lifestyle is better. Over 2 hours a day in the car and over £3000 a year in fuel costs is just not worth it anymore. Living close to work and having that few extra hours a day to relax is worth dropping some salary for. If I end up working in the Theme Park industry, doing something I love, then it's a happy bonus.

Thanks for the suggestion. I've been keeping an eye on most of the major ride manufacturers over the last few months for job openings. The only manufacturer that has a suitable open job at the moment is S&S, however that's in Utah so I doubt I'll go for it! But even so the work I do would probably be contracted out by the manufacturers so it's a matter of finding out which companies do that work. I'll ask around and see what I can find out. And it's true what you say about the whole EU being open, in fact I'm Irish and have already moved to the UK for work so moving again doesn't bother me that much, although I do like it here.Just an update on the Chessington job. Their HR department have come back to me saying the think I'd be a great candidate but won't be able to offer me anywhere near the salary I'm currently on. I've asked them what's the absolute maximum they could offer and I'll see if I can come down a bit and maybe we could find some middle ground. I currently commute 120 miles a day for work, but I live close enough to Chessington so working there would save me a lot on fuel costs. All that's unlikely to be honest, and even if everything works out I'd still have to go through the recruitment process and there's no guarantee I'd even get the job! Still you get nothing without trying.

Apologies, I didn't mean it to come across that way.

Thanks for that info. I'm sure all the parks have very good engineers. I'd love to find out more about their day to day activities and whether they have any input on new rides. If it's like my industry most of the work is usually done by outside contractors working for the designers, which is not always ideal as utilising in-house knowledge is sometimes much better, and more cost effective. Most problems with ride systems are most likely due to mechanical or electrical reasons. Any problems are then down to wear and tear and possibly inadequate parts/maintenance. The actual ride control program would be relatively straight forward, dealing with the blocking system, providing alarms when certain safety conditions aren't met, etc. Things get a bit more complicated if there is elaborate interactive themeing, or the ride uses a lot of technology that requires control, for instance trackless guidance systems.

I'm not sure why you're being a little bit hostile towards me. I just saw a job that was of interest to me in the Theme Park industry and applied for it to get my CV into Merlin's HR department. I only posted on here on the off chance that anyone else might be going for it, or might have had a similar role in the past, and because I'm genuinely excited that my skills are somewhat suited to a job in the Theme Park industry.Yes that job I applied for is probably not the best fit for me, but at other Merlin parks, especially Thorpe and Alton Towers, as ride systems are only going to become more complex in the years to come, future jobs may become available and that's when Merlin having my CV on file becomes useful. I'm thinking of the drop track section on Thirteen, the new Sub Terra ride, the possible interactive themeing on Swarm and SW7 at AT. All complex ride systems that use logic controllers and HMIs for operator and engineer interfaces. Not to mention any advanced dark ride that may go in at some point in the future, maybe something along the lines of Spiderman or Forbidden Journey at IOA.Also the controls systems on older rides at Merlin will need to be updated at some point, as I think has happened recently enough on Vampire when the drive systems were changed to new motors. Having someone on the team that's experienced in updating old systems and designing new ones would be beneficial. At that stage my skills and experience might be very useful to Merlin.But I do agree with you that Chessington might not be the best fit for someone like me, but it's the only Merlin park advertising a job that's similar to a role I'd be interested in at the moment.

Woking is also very close to Thorpe Park so maybe they're aiming the marketing at those in the parks's surrounding area first before rolling it out nationwide.

Not really sure what you're trying to say to be honest.I wasn't being flippant about the job. The fact is I'm an experienced controls engineer who already earns over £40,000. However a job at theme park would be of interest to me as an enthusiast so I might consider dropping a bit in salary for the right position. This job is obviously not a good fit for me, however it's a good opportunity to get my details registered with Merlin in case a future, more suitable job becomes available.

I applied for an electrical/electronic engineering position they have advertised. The salary is well below my expectations, and the job is also below my experience level, so I doubt I'd be offered it, or take it. But no harm in getting my CV to Merlin. A future, more suitable position might arise sometime.