BigBobJones

I won't be returning to TP PH, the Merlin outlets are much better, apart from Battered Fish N Chips which is vile.

I went several times during the week last year, got on all rides at least three times, had lunch and still left the park at 3, some days had enough time to do everything at Chessington and go to Thorpe for a few hours. But this year looks like most visits will be at weekends with the nieces.... so looong queues :-(

To be honest, yes they can, a cable could snap on Stealth, a wheel could become faulty on a ride, these are complex machines and the possibility of them going wrong, no matter how small the fault, it could even be a faulty sensor which brings the ride down.

Can't wait, those Zufari trucks are huge!

Pizza Pasta is open and has been open on all three Zoo days I have been there.

I guess we wont really know until it opens, I really hope they have maintained the tunnel.

Hmm havnt they already taken a ride out of a building *cough Spacestation Zero* *cough Flying fish* (Stealth Opens) *Cough new for 2007 the Flying fish has moved*

Well I am happy to do a video diary this year to justify my opinion. For me it is not the age of the toilets, its the fact they are clean, functional and you can actually wash your hands with water and dry them. I can do this at all parks, but not Thorpe.

Thanks Fred, but a company like Merlin should have the common and retail sense to already have a good selection of items for sale online. They are spending how much on marketing for the smiler, but no on-line shop..... Anyway I don't have Twitter.

Toilets.... this is one of the things I have been in contact with Guest Services about often as I need to use the toilet the often: In Summary - Alton = Good apart from the car park end of the monorail station Thorpe = Diabolical My reason for this: Alton Monoirail toilets, always dirty, blocked and un-clean, I think they clean them after guests start arriving for the day, so you have the previous days dirty, mess there if you get there early like me. Towers street, love the designs on the doors Everywhere else is clean, tidy and most of all functional and always see staff in duty cleaning them Where as Thorpe: Those stupid sinks they have, never give you enough water to fully wash your hands, often the water is just a dribble and you have no choice of hot or cold. The hand dryers don't work correctly, they either fail to work, or switch off 2 seconds after putting your hands under them (reported many times and no action) And every time and it is EVERY time I try to use a toilet, I have to wipe piss off the seat from previous guests who don't have the decency to lift the seat up. There was also that one time there was no toilet facilities at all in the entire park. Plus I dislike the way the Dome toilets sound like a nightclub. Now Chessington, most of their toilets are by far the best, clean, very modern and functional, this should be the template Merlin should be using for all their facilities.

I was trying to get hold of a Smiler T-shirt/Hoodie or even a Smiler Mug, but the online shop for AT was pants, so looks like I'm going to have to wait 3 weeks and buy one in person. :-( Sort it out Merlin.

hmmm

Before I got a Merlin pass, I thought all the Merlin parks were a complete rip off and I didn't go as it was too expensive, I changed my mind once I got a Merlin Pass.

But no toilets by the look of it

LOL never believe anything on Wikipedia

Yes got them on a Zoo day in the Chessington shop in the main square opposite Pizza Pasta.

Yes I see that at work, "Its the end of the year, we need to blow 10K on some crap we don't need or we will loose the money" then we can't spend £100 on something we really need as its not in 'the budget'

Got ours at the weekend and the hole punched through in the shape of a bottle, which is easy enough to manage. Our passes are valid for another 15 months, so I think we got a bargain here. I can't see the hole punch thing working for couple who share a capsule, as they just register it on one card and only get one person go up. I can see many areas where this can be abused. Staff simply not checking which happens way too often If you have say 3 capsules and only two of you go up with valid passes and you explain the other person is in the loo, I'm sure you can get that third capsule filled up. One area I would like to see improved is more self service areas where you can fill up yourself nothing more frustrating than waiting at the food outlets for ages when you have one customer in front and the staff are working at a slow speed

I would rather they stick the the basics: Clean toilets, hand dryers which work Theming which works Paint not peeling off Rides which don't break down as often It seems pointless changing something which is brand new and will be popular if you do nothing.

New for 2014, we have turned the back to rows forwards but turned rows 4 and 5 backwards...... hmm running out of ideas here, lets add a double decker bus or a train as we are running out of ideas. Or leave it as it was....

You wait they will be a ticket booth at the entrance £5 for fast track, £2 for the front, £3 for the back, would you like an ORP and we can arrange an on ride video, that will be £20

This has got me very angry, the Swarm was perfectly good, if they had done nothing to and not spent a penny, there would still be huge queues, they would still sell lots of fast tracks and people we will love the ride. But they have wasted money on a ride which simply does not need any money spending on it, but they are happy for the rest of the park to rot away, seriously am I missing something here...

I'm running out of steam on this... I'd prefer an opening date to knowing what the ride will be called!

To be fair they did open today with the snow and the zoo was well gritted, shame the Bubbleworks was closed and they closed the place at 1:30, but at least they made the effort.

I can't believe people will queue for to buy fast tracks, queing for 20 mins to spend money on something which will save you 20-30 mins.... Often the fast track queues are long, I have seen the Swarm have a Fast Track queue with a good 100 people in it on very busy days. I believe the only time I will buy fast track tickets is if I visit some of the US parks where I have spent a good £1,000 on the holiday, then getting everything done in one day and not having to spend two days doing everything would be value for money. I don't think any of the UK parks have enough to offer which make me want to do two days, the only exception would be Alton Towers, but I would rather spend the extra cash to stay over in a hotel, and do it over two days, nothing more stressful that trying to squeeze everything all in one day. Plan, arrive early, if your first through the door do the busy rides first. As I have a MAP it is easier I guess as I can come back as many times as I like, but for guest paying £45 to get in I guess they want value for money, but spending double on that to get fast track doesn't make sense to me.