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From my personal experience, I don't really find a difference with what row I sit on. I find different trains to be rougher than others though, I imagine that depends on which ones have recently been serviced, and had wheels replaced etc...

Looks like a small fire has broke out on Wickerman this afternoon. Hopefully there isn't much damange. I wonder what caused it?

They're already one of the best for UK opening times so can't complain really - none of the other merlin parks are staying open till 7 consistently throughout summer. Meanwhile Towers have a 5pm close in August. As you say, hopefully this will help build a case for more of it next year. Would love to see it. Even if it means opening an hour later, or as you've said previously just keep FN attractions and coasters open till 10. Would make a big difference.

Opening hours have been extended until 9pm on the last 2 Saturdays of August (24th and 31st) Great to see - especially at a time when hours are being cut on a weekly basis at Towers at the moment...

Not sure how many were in it, but Thorpe have today announced they will be closing the passholder group on Facebook as in their words 'regrettably, we no longer feel that the group is serving its intended purpose.' Big shame. I always thought it was a great way to see updates which the general public wouldn't necessarily be interested in, and also a great way for them to get and interact with feedback. I did notice since Hyperia had opened it had been a lot less active, with them replying to less and less comments etc..

I'm also less hopeful now - as there doesn't to be any changes to last year does there unless allocation is lower. The thing is they know the rough hourly throughputs the mazes get so I don't get why its so difficult to get right. Towers seem to get it right, I've never had a bad experience with queues there. It does surprise me they haven't changed the pricing structure this year, as last year the higher queues seemed to be early on and very little queues later on. But they have the stats etc so must have their reasons for doing it. Last year, I visited on an off peak day and got turned down on my final maze as I queued too long on the first 2. Had to argue to experience a maze which I had paid for. Really puts me off purchasing mazes this year, especially with less time in the dark with the 9pm closes. I will probably just purchase 1 shot maze tickets as an when I want to do one and I see a short queue for one. Free mazes and 10pm closes... what a time to be alive 😢

First teaser video out. Website has also been updated to show we have 4 mazes this year, same 3 as last year and 1 new one. Glad they’ve got a 4th. Hopefully this will relieve a bit of pressure on queues, hoping they can get that right this year.

Very different layout indeed, still fairly short but a much more traditional hyper layout. I do like the layout we got as its very unique, but one thing I like about that other one is the low to the ground final airtime hills. Hyperia is great and I'm happy with what we got, but to think what it could have been if they didn't have trims and a bit more at the end of the layout.

Tiger Rock has re-opened today. Glad they've managed to get it open much quicker than expected.

Temple of Mayhem has now updated to be closed for the remainder of the season. Not a big loss but still a strange decision to close an attraction before peak season. The fact that they started closing this on off peak days before closure makes me believe this is another cut, rather than something wrong with the attraction/building. Wonder if they’re ever going to make an announcement/update on Scorpion Express 😂

I've noticed different hosts have different ways of batching too which really influence the single rider wait time. For example, if the back row needs filling and the next group in the main queue is a group of 4, some hosts will just stick 2 single riders on the back row, where as some will call down the queue for the next group of 2.

So, summer holidays are approaching and Chessington are closing their water ride all summer. I imagine this is the highest throughput ride on park too. If it re-opens for September, it'll then go back to being closed midweek till the end of season too. Chessington just never gets better does it.

From what I've seen on Twitter, organizers were told very last minute it would be on 1 train, but who knows. Seems like a very strange decision. People had paid good money and I imagine it'll put people off organizing these type of events at Thorpe in the future. There excuse of needing it ready for the next day is nonsense when it ran till 10pm press night and opening day, and will likely run on 2 trains till 9pm daily during fright nights. They could've ran it on 2 if they wanted to/planned it properly.

Another topic, the park must surely be aware that the break run is seriously impacting throughputs at the moment. No matter how hard they work in the station, I don't think its possible to get higher than around 800. If the train got into the station quicker I imagine they'd easily be hitting 1000+. Do we think this will be sorted in closed season or it'll be left how it is? I'd be surprised if this wasn't changed especially with the parks recent focus on throughputs. At the moment, the queue moves well. But when Fasttrack increases to normal levels and RAP is changed from 1 per visit its a bit concerning how well it'll cope.

Was the SRQ closed with no one batching?