BigBobJones
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Posts posted by BigBobJones
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This incident is very shocking I am really lost for words really.
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And how do Thorpe justify a 20% increase in gate prices with such appalling ride availability or rides running on reduced capacity. I am so happy I refused to renew my MAP on the principle that the sale price was higher to read all about the large number of rides which are down. If the parks in Florida can keep their rides going all year what do Thorpe do for 4.5 months a year when they are closed?
As people have said it seem acceptable that rides are always down at Thorpe.
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Picsolve is getting there, do it for something like £50 for digital downloads on all parks and I'd be interested for a month.
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Paramount park is on a sort of fastrack scheme from the government to try and speed up its construction as quickly as possible. For planning permission to be denied would be a very odd case. Merlin should start looking into ways to try and keep guests now so they don't act too late.
The only thing which may put off a dark ride is that the queues dint show the result like bigbobjones said. As thorpe are focusing on making queues smaller and more pleasant I imagine that this could be a far bigger factor than we might think.
This wouldn't be the first big theme park to get full government backing for it all to fall apart and never get built. There are plenty of disasters out there if you read through our history of parks which failed and just because the PM gives them their full support, it does not mean it will be built. Look at Battersey Power Station and Corby, massive government backed parks which never got built.
If I was Merlin I would not be spending money until they start building PP and have secured funding. For Merlin even if PP gets delayed by a few years, they can divert funding to opening more Medway attractions or even open up another Legoland which will return a greater profit.
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My only suggestion is not to make an changes to the forum as it looks fine and works very well. Towers Times changed their forum and for me killed the experience on the website. I like the TPM forum interface.
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Thorpe does need a dark ride as the park does need to offer something to everyone. The arena is a good location and could easily be brought into Angry Birds land if they wanted to extend the Angry Birds IP into a dark ride. For all dark rides, the biggest downer for most people is the queue. As the perception is if you can see a ride like Stealth or Colossus, you know what you are in for and can judge if the 60 minute queue is worth while. With dark rides you just don't know if you are going to get a good ride or not. Queuing for 60 minutes for X would for some be a complete waste of money.
Rides like Duel, Hex and Bubbleworks with their large throughputs ease people into the ride. Hex is brilliant as it just eats through guests meaning it never has a queue. hex and Bubbleworks do well as the continuous moving on and off system allows guests to come on and off. Tomb Blaster on the otherhand enrages me as the non-continuous loading causes the queue to stall and it just seems forever for that next train to come and the slow speed of checking lap bars. Hex has it right and it works so well. So for any dark ride throughput and speed is very important.
The Laser one at Legoland I only ever went on once and won't go again unless it is walk on due to queuing for over an hour is a very very hot tend to find that there was another queue and such a naff ride at the end of it.
For family coasters, they can easily get a good family coaster at Thorpe which doesn't take up a huge amount of space. A spinner like Spinball, a Th13teen style ride. Just look at the Fish it takes up no room at all. there are plenty of options and some very good flats out there too.
As for Paramount Park, Merlin are right not to do anything, the reason is if it doesn't get started, they have not invested or lost any money. As soon as planning permission is accepted and they start work, Merlin have 2 years to invest in their parks. why spend 50 million now when you may not need to spend it?
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Just had a good look at the new website and I give it 10 out of 10 for style and ease of navigation and the selection of products available.
The only grump I have is when it says "Tickets from £22.99" which makes me believe I get a ticket for £22.99 when in fact the price of a normal adult is £24.99.
If anything they have got the online prices right, I would be happy to pre-book a ticket for £24.99 where as I believe last year unless you booked more than a week in advance you only got the cheaper ticket? Correct me if I am wrong guys.
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I just make a point of leaving 20 mins before the park closes or earlier then you don't have the queue
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An easier answer is a picsolve app for your smart phones. Picsolve develop the app and have the servers they already have in place.
Go on the ride, type in the picture number or scan a QR code, collect your photos, pay at ANY shop, machine or even online. Digital would have a very low cost.
Self service ORP would be an option too.
For me I would be happy to pay £50 and have 50 digital only photos, use a smart phone app, or get a ticket printed, pay at home or on a machine.
The photopass could even be a card with a bar code on, you buy it with whatever value you want, scan your card at a self service machine, type in your photo number, click buy and a receipt comes out with your normal digital download.
There are plenty of options. Cameras need to work as they don't always work, the quality of the cameras needs to be good as some of the ORP are very poor quality.
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There was only mist coming out the top this morning, so by lunchtime they must have got the other misters working. It is a shame as it seems to be the exception that the effects work at Thorpe.
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I did X 5 times today, they seem to have got it nailed, its a thrilling fun ride for all the family, good enough for the MOS events, the lighting and music are spot on and on all 5 rides I have to say I had a consistent experience which is what all riders should get.
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Still closed today
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No music on the first section of the ride today. It is good to see they have got rid of the Imperial Leather sponsership and given it a tidy up.
The fountains section was improved, but lots of work needs to go into the lights. They have them in the right place, but there were two scan lights which seemed to be on demo mode so were not adding to the effects. They had an LED strobe, but due to the other lights you just didn't get the same effect you once had where the water looks like it freezes due to the strobe lights. I'm sure this will be fixed
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Today is a great example of how badly they are running the ride. Got there at 09:50, but they didn't open it until 10:10, so by the time they opened the queue was all the way past the Bubble Works to Market Square. Instantly on opening they had a 90 min queue.
On a positive note the ride was fantastic and the staff were getting the train out of the station just as the other train was hitting the brakes. It is delays like this which cause mega long queues. Why can't these parks get the rides ready for opening as this just annoys so many guests when you have a mile long queue for a ride.
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I do like the buccaneer bay music
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I went on X last weekend and it is a much better improvement, turning up the music, moving the central lighting column and the different music made all the difference.
I really like the laser as you go up the lift hill, there are nice dark sections and bright sections, so they have done a great job over the closed seat on on X. This is as polished as the turd will get, but I don't think they need to change anything, keep it as it is.
There is no need to pull it down as they have plenty of space for other rides for the next few major investments. Plus this is an indoor ride which is great for rainy days and cold days.
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£10 per photo (including digital download), £5 for digital only download or 4 for £25 with digital. so still sky high prices.
They looked mainly the same on my last visit.
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Hi everyone,
Just wondering how wide the seats are on most of the rides at Thorpe Park?
Not too worried about the ones such as Loggers Leap or Tidal Wave, but I'm more concerned about ones like Nemesis, Colossus etc.
The reason I ask is that.. How can I explain it.. I'm a larger lady, I have a small waist but bigger bottom half. Similar to Homer Simpson, only with a smaller waist and more hair on my head..
Thank you for any help!
X
- Forget Colossus, it will be a long wait and the most embarrassing time of your life as they won't be able to get the restraints down, you will be crushed and everyone will be looking at you, then you have to get off. After holding up the entire train, everyone will be looking at you.
- Nemesis, stick to the larger seats on rows 4 and 5.
- Samurai, ask for row 5 and seat 2
- Saw, Stealth, The Swarm, Flying fish, X, Slammer, Rush you should be fine
- Vortex, if you are larger as in large boobs or tummy, then avoid (See Colossus above)
This is all from my own personal experience.
- James_C and rhiannanmoynan
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I went on Zufari today and I have to say it worked for me. Missed the Gonzi thing, got Chase Van Driver, queues inside for a short time. in total the queue was only 15 mins. got to see lots of animals and the effects were working well.
SAW: The Ride
in General Discussion
Posted
Hopefully Saw will be open before the main summer holidays. Lets hope they get all the modifications and training done soon.
I am really surprise that The Smiler crash and Alton Towers closure just had constant media coverage for the last 5 days.
Hat off to Nick Varney, he did very well in that awful Sky News interview.
If anything, this incident has improved by opinion of Merlin and their safety rather than being negative.
I would have no issue going on Saw or The Smiler tomorrow if both open.