Cal

An absolutely crazy day
TP has been closed on some recent Wednesdays, but I noticed it was available today and with the weather looking the better option, I went.
A staff member who knows me told me that there were maybe only a couple of thousand people attending. oddly enough, I wanted to ride Stealth, and as there were hardly any guests on the ride or platforms, the gate was kept open so that people could re-ride, and that continued to beyond the lunch hour, with so many guests telling me that every ride was walk-on. During the time, some people wlo lived within a few miles had also then attended due to seeing online the short queues. 
As much as it pained me, I left Stealth and had two walk-on rides each on Nemesis Inferno, Hyperia, Saw, Colossus and Swarm before dragging myself back to Stealth, where the re-ride gate was open and announcements of "re-ride just get on", several were running to get on again, and there were loads of conversations between people and staff, many discussing their crazy ride totals for the day.
There really were few guests and no waiting for rides one wanted.
Staff were really upbeat and helpful. It really was a crazy day..

Launch pad looks near complete and a new screen has been installed. I imagine this area will be open before 10am and they'll do some kind of countdown for park opening in the morning?




I'm certainly not complaining, but not sure how viable these last minute openings are, as the park was deserted today. First time I've seen Hyperia walk on and able to re-ride on empty seats throughout the day.

Spent my afternoon lapping Hyperia and Stealth. Great atmosphere, particularly on Stealth as it was full of enthusiasts re-riding. Someone I spoke to had done over 80 laps 🤣

App says it’ll be reopening this Friday 1st May, which is in line with how long it takes them to do a cable change.

They regularly do them a little faster than scheduled so wouldn’t surprise me to see it open Thursday afternoon.

Stealth is back open today!

Stealth is back open today!

Operator was clearly just feeling generous, unless they run 5 laps as standard now.

But they do usually adjust laps based on queue time.

The operator can control the amount of laps, so it usually runs between 2-5 laps.

3 laps is pretty standard, 2 when its very busy and then 5 when its quiet. I've personally not seen more than 5.

Odd they were doing 5 laps if it was busy though 🤣

Colossus getting a higher throughput than Hyperia

I do hope they consider throughput for their next big coaster. No matter how hard the staff work you can't really achieve a high throughput on it and when its the most popular ride on park, with a huge RAP and Fasttrack allocation it struggles on the busy days.

If anyone’s interested, I have a few throughput timings and insights from my Thorpe visit last Monday:
Colossus (Theoretical: 1,300pph on 2 trains) - 786pph (2 trains, average of 4, 13th April 2026)
Hyperia (Theoretical: 1,050pph on 2 trains) - 770pph (2 trains, average of 4, 13th April 2026), 763pph (2 trains, average of 10, 13th April 2026)
Nemesis Inferno (Theoretical: 1,150pph on 2 trains) - 1,023pph (2 trains, average of 6, 13th April 2026)
Saw: The Ride (Theoretical: 1,000pph on 8 cars) - 854pph (unknown number of cars, average of 8, 13th April 2026)
Stealth (Theoretical: 1,000pph on 2 trains) - 827pph (2 trains, average of 9, 13th April 2026), 860pph (2 trains, average of 6, 13th April 2026)
The Swarm (Theoretical: 1,100pph on 2 trains) - 946pph (2 trains, average of 10, 13th April 2026), 1,022pph (2 trains, average of 5, 13th April 2026)
Overall, then, I would have said ops were pretty good, but perhaps not as high-end as I have seen in a couple of cases. Colossus was doing pretty well in my brief snapshot by that ride’s standards, and Saw was smashing it! Inferno and Hyperia were also doing well.

Some others were still good, but perhaps not as high as I have seen. For example, Stealth, consistently attaining slightly below 90s between dispatches, seemed somewhat slower than on my last visit back in September, where the staff were pumping out trains at a rate of knots and attaining nearly 1,000pph. Swarm also seemed slightly less consistent. That is me being persnickety, though; operations were generally good, and ride availability was also strong throughout the day!

One thing I did notice is that Inferno was batching at the station entrance, which I found a bit odd… I wonder why they’ve changed this for 2026?

Shuffles around at that level aren't all that uncommon. I believe the previous VP of Legoland Windsor has moved to a broader role within Merlin.

Obviously we don't know the exact day-to-day responsibilities of the VP / Divisional Director roles of the parks, but as has been mentioned, the past few years with Neil in charge have seen lots of positives with operations and general improvements. Thorpe has, for the last couple of years as a minimum, been generally considered the best operated Merlin UK park, with the best reliability, best food, best Halloween event and just in general doing well given the relative tight purse strings from Merlin above.

That certainly won't be down to one person, but things like that happen when you've got good leadership in place.

It has been announced that the VP of Thorpe Park is stepping down from his role.

They never last long throughout anything, however Neil has lasted quite a long time. No idea what this means for the future

I believe it sounds an alarm if the restraint comes down enough to indicate that the person in the test seat would fit.

Very annoying I know - would be better to have a green/red light like I've seen at other parks 🤣

At least its working though I guess! SAWs test seat does the same.

I believe it sounds an alarm if the restraint comes down enough to indicate that the person in the test seat would fit.

Very annoying I know - would be better to have a green/red light like I've seen at other parks 🤣

At least its working though I guess! SAWs test seat does the same.

Something I've noticed with Zodiac testing is that its actually reaching the full 90 degrees height and staying at full height for a few seconds before it starts to lower again.

Haven't seen it reach full height in years! Will be interesting to see if it does that when it opens or if its just engineers running it in manual.

Something I've noticed with Zodiac testing is that its actually reaching the full 90 degrees height and staying at full height for a few seconds before it starts to lower again.

Haven't seen it reach full height in years! Will be interesting to see if it does that when it opens or if its just engineers running it in manual.

Zodiac has been doing a lot of testing so far this season so will likely re-open soon.

I do agree with your point though. I’d love to see Thorpe add some new flats rather than slowly losing them like we’ve seen at other parks.

Zodiac has been doing a lot of testing so far this season so will likely re-open soon.

I do agree with your point though. I’d love to see Thorpe add some new flats rather than slowly losing them like we’ve seen at other parks.

They should have kept the price high.

It's weird Towers is charging £20 for one of their coasters, yet Thorpe have reduced the cost of a one shot of their newest coaster foe their newest coaster.

I'd hope that yesterday's long Fastrack queues is a one off due to the mixture of the taste unlimited Fastrack, first day having extra Premium Passholders, etc

The Premium Passholder perk of one free Fastrack per visit is a real wildcard and I expect we'll see lots of quirks over the coming weeks.

I agree most people will end up wanting to use their's on Hyperia at Thorpe.

Haven't updated my top 10 in a while and have a few changes from 2025. New for 2025 in bold.

1) Toutatis
2) Untamed
3) Kondaa
4) Shambala
5) Hyperia
6) Ride to Happiness
7) Taron
8) Balder
9) Helix
10) Nemesis

Kondaa used to be my number one, with Toutatis in second place. After riding both again in October I decided I prefer Toutatis overall. From the moment I got on it in 24 I was addicted to it, I’ll never get bored of that swing launch. I also love its more aggressive airtime.

Very late to this but...

Park count:
Thorpe x10-20?
Paultons x1 (first time in over 10 years)
Liseberg x2 (first time)
Grona Lund x1 (first time)
Portaventura x2 (first time)
Ferrari land x1 (first time)
Parc Asterix x1
Walibi Belgium x1
Walibi Holland x2 (first time)

Pretty successful year for me. 5 new parks, returning visits to some of my favourites and 3 European Halloween events. I got 29 new creds (4 of them being in my top 10) bringing me to a total of 205.

Highlights
Getting back to Paultons and seeing how much that place has changed. Haven't been since I was a kid.
Portaventura was much better than expected.
Walibi Holland was the best Halloween event I've ever been to. The Clinic and Slaughterhouse were the craziest Halloween attractions I've done, and Us vs You was a fantastic maze.
I got on all 5 of my top 5 coasters last year.

Disappointments
Red Force wasn't as good as expected.
I expected bad from Furious Baco. But that is by far the most uncomfortable and painful coaster I've ever experienced.
Insane being closed at Grona Lund. Never done a Zac spin so was keen to get on it.

2026

I still don't really have much plans this year so will probably be a quieter year for me.
I have a Merlin pass so have been to Thorpe and Towers already. I'll get lots of Thorpe trips in for sure.
Paultons for the opening of their new coaster.
Have a holiday in Turkey booked so will go to Land of legends and get on another Mack Hyper 😍
I was planning on Falcons Flight but thats looking unlikely now. Potentially a US trip instead. Was having a look at Florida but might be a bit silly to not wait for the new 2027 coaster at Universal.
Looking at doing a couple days in Madrid but nothing booked yet.

Mean I don't know anyone staff wise but been told someone called Josh Reynolds has moved over.

Interesting to hear/read about the troubles Towers are having (again) this season, with staggered opening and many rides not opening until well after opening time if at all.

I have heard a lot about a shortage of engineers being one of the main causes of all the problems.

My thought....
Has Alton Towers just become bigger than is feasible to operate?

It's an enormous site with actually quite a few rides, not to mention the 6 hotels....
If you think about the sheer number of staff required to (for example) run a hotel, let alone six, as well as run the daily opening routines and maintenance on all the rides across such a large site, it equates to a huge number of people.
When you also think about how remote the location is, they need to draw employees in from far and wide, which is going to be difficult for a company that doesn't appear to have the money to compete with other companies who might attract potential employees with the same skills and interests, who would prefer a permanent (not seasonal) role.

Considering AT isn't open all year, thus isn't making money for a portion of the year, AND the fact that many of the staff are seasonal, it must be a constant headache to fully staff such an enormous place.

When you compare this situation with that of Thorpe Park's for example, as an outsider at least, it would appear that running a smaller park with fewer aspects (no hotels, smaller site, closer to towns/cities for employment etc) is more advantageous.
Unless of course the business runs and brings in money all year round, like Universal will.

Completely agree. Overall the park looks pretty fresh and they're on form operationally as we've come to expect the last few years. I'm disappointed the Colossus repaint wasn't finished though.

I know Thorpe had Hyperia but it does feel Thorpe has lacked ££ out of the merlin parks.

- Chessington has had a serious amount of investment the last few years. Jumanji, Paw Patrol land, and minecraft land next year.
- Towers has had Nemmy retrack, Toxicator, millions on skyride refurb, and new family coaster within the last 3 years.

Would love to see a new flat on the Slammer site next season to complement Hyperia, and a new major investment on the Rumba site or island behind Swarm before universal opening in 2031 would be fab.

Really nice to see. Likely pre-planned and then announced today to make people feel like they got bonus time.

After having visited for a couple of preview days, it does feel like Thorpe is still on form operationally. It's a shame that Tidal and Zodiac aren't ready for the start of season. Depth Charge is also currently closed, which might be because of work on The Launchpad. It's equally a shame Launchpad isn't ready, but I imagine that's because of planning delays.

There's been a few bits of work here and there across the park. New paving to replace tired paving. It's basic but does the job. New signs and paintwork in Saw's plaza. New effects in Walking Dead. Detonator repainted.

But equally, the park feels effectively the same as when Hyperia opened (minus, of course, Rumba now). Last year, there was only one new food outlet (the Dessert place between Tidal and Ghost Train, replacing the Apple Fries unit). This year, no new food units, and only a couple of menu changes (though the Boulevard Bites menu is good and reasonably priced).

Now when Hyperia first opened, and in general all the TLC that happened for 2024 with Project Sparkle, Thorpe felt fresh and alive again. And they could afford to ride that wave for a bit and milk it. But I think that that wave is petering out and they do need some bigger refreshes or something new of note now to sustain visitation.

So yeah, much the same as before, but should be a good season ahead. Hopefully things like weather and such play ball for the park.

Hours extended today for passholders day from 11-5 to 10:30-6 which was a nice surprise, even with the park really quiet.