Cal

I think anyone who even thinks about sticking backwards rows on any existing coaster should be subject to an immediate and severe amount of pain. Just no.

They had the old 'X no way out' cars which looks to be in the dome today! Does anyone know why?

(Photo from theme park worldwides facebook page)

Oh, I'm sorry, I just simply tried to turn the conversation into something that was related to the thread title. Did I do anything wrong?

I went to Tullys a couple of years ago, thought the mazes at Thorpe Park were a lot better. For pretty much the same price (from what I remember) at thorpe you are also getting all the rides from 10-9, and Tullys you only get each maze once. There's not a lot else to do at Tullys either and if you do want to do anything else you'll have to pay extra for it. I think Thorpe is defiantly better value for money.
Sent from my iPhone 5S using Tapatalk

Well they were better than what there is now... (Nothing )

Yep, such a waste to have a wonderfully themed station building, silly Europa...

Ermmmmmmmm, I think many people will beg to differ on that statement...

One thing which I've noticed people say is about the "unfair ratios" of RnR to people who queue normally, and the long queue times that people have to wait if they queue normally.  Surely that shows the system is in fact working well...
 
Say Saw had a 60 minute queue for people who decided to queue normally - which it did at one point yesterday - and (if there's ratios favouring Fastrack and RnR) only 2 out of the 8 cars let normal guests on.  Then, there's only gonna be around 200-250 people actually normally queueing for the ride (assuming Saw's throughput is between 800-1000).  Assuming the same for the other four coasters, then you're looking at 1000 people queueing for the major 5 coasters.  If all the 'ordinary' queues for coasters are longer, then you're still only looking at 1500-2000 at most queueing for the actual coasters.  
 
Using the system yesterday, was able to get on the rides very quickly after checking in.  I certainly wouldn't have got all 5 major coasters done during the day if RnR wasn't operating, since I wouldn't want to bother with the queues.
 
If those people had to use RnR, and you spread them across the entire park and the 10-15ish rides that could possibly appeal to them, then at this stage, it will give a noticeable, but not particularly huge, increase to ride queue times, as well as boost up virtual waiting times.  I want to see the park try just virtual queueing on the coasters, but at the moment, it's probably a step too far given the limited line up to do.  So the normal queueing option - whilst confusing and weird and whatnot - is a good idea at the moment.
 
What they need to do now is increase the attraction line up.  High throughput rides would be great, but they also need shows, non-rides, etc. to give more alternatives and to keep everyone entertained.  That way, the virtual queueing will work, and there's enough attractions to be able to cope.  The fact that, for the most part, the non-coasters aren't that much more busier at the moment, shows that the park don't actually need that much more for this to be achievable.  I'd even say that if the park could get a season-round show in the arena / Hideaway and CCR back, they could realistically try it next season.  Couple more high throughput rides and attraction in the next couple of years and they could attempt to roll it out to more and more rides as well.
 
Long story short - I think RnR is getting to a stage where it's working well.  The system seems a lot better than in the past, and these trials are coming back positive.  I don't think it'll be that difficult to roll it out to having the coasters to be virtual queue and Fastrack only.  
 
 
Couple of other points.  People mentioning about the fact your can reserve rides when not on park.  It is a flaw, yes, and it is something which would be good to be sorted out.  However, I don't think it's too big a deal?  I doubt there's many people who have nothing better to do than book a place in a queue on a roller coaster just to annoy some other people.  Some people could do it if they're arriving after the park opens, but I imagine that's a smaller problem since most people will arrive within the first hour of opening.  
 
I know many have mentioned the flaw how multiple people from one group can reserve different rides.  This is something which could be abused, yes, however I wonder how much it affects to queues.  I personally doubt it will affect the overall park waiting times if it happened, but I guess that's only something you can know if you compare the two cases..
 
If a ride has a long virtual queue, I don't think that's a big deal.  Just shows it's popular surely?  It's not fun having to plan your day out at a theme park in a way such that you have to say "Right, we have 3 hours till we can ride this ride...", and that's something that Thorpe can improve by having more things to do on park.  
 
 
tl;dr - For RnR to be truly successful, the park needs to give guests more things to do.  The trials they're doing at the moment seem promising however.  Don't knock it til you've tried it either!

Hoping they keep the iconic Midnight syndicate asylum music though. That adds a great soundtrack to that area  the park!

I love the asylum music, it creates so much tension and is so menacing.

This, although I still haven't renewed my pass and haven't visited Thorpe since March AP day. The rollercoasters
 are the only things really worth riding at Thorpe and I won't be queuing 2 hours for Rush or Zodiac to fill the inbetween time.
 
Has anyone told Thorpe (Or Merlin for that matter) that the way to get a queueless theme park is to have excellent staff, high through put rides, maximum capacity at all times and no fastrack clogging up the system.

Ideally, I think in order to use the system you should need a code. On entering the park, either as a pass holder or a ticket buyer, you'd specify how many are in your group, with those people there, and get a code for that amount and then enter the park. Entering that code would enable RnR for the number of people in your group on one device. This would mean people not at the park couldn't reserve and would prevent the situation where 6 people in the group can all virtually queue and reserve for the 6 others, being in 6 queues at the same time.

Hi, like my youtube channel this isn't so much a site advert just stuck where to put it!
I will be visiting various places in the next few months including the southbank, thorpe park, the london mela and maybe brighton pier. This is just a few of the places I will hopefully be attending and I will be taking my camera with me! My camera is of fairly high quality as you will know if you have seen my youtube channel and this means I am able to capture quality pictures, videos and soundscapes.
Basically, I will update you on where I am visiting and what attractions are there and if you wish I can take photos/videos/sound of your desired choice. For instance it could video the swarm at several different angles for you and capture a soundscape if you desire. I know it is a bit bizzare but if anyone wants my media I am happy to offer it!
When I know where I am going I will let you know and what attractions or rides are there. If you wish for anything specific please post letting me know and I will do my best to cater for you! Please note if you wish for onrides I will only provide them if I am confident with taking my camera on and if it is permitted by the ride itself. This means no rides at merlin theme parks will be able to videoed by me unfortunately!
Anyway this is a bit of a stupid idea but if you want any media from me feel free to ask!

Went on a backstage tour yesterday and I have been told a few things that are of interest, firstly asylum was going to be closed last year anyway as THORPE wanted to have all lionsgate mazes but wanted to give it its last 8th season to match that of its previous the freezer, which also had an 8 year run. Also the complaint and subsequent bad press was basically brushed off by THORPE as any press is good press as it drew peoples attention, and also I was told that virtually every year they receive complaints about their mazes that they offend someone and so THORPE basically don't worry TOO much about this kind of problem unless it got out of hand. I also know that The Asylum is definitely being replaced by a new lionsgate maze and apparently according to my host ( who ran one of the mazes last year) lionsgate are going to do something amazing with it that is going to 'outdo asylum'. Also this will be the 13th frightnight and so they are also going to do something special for it and it will be "the best fright night so far". I also asked about angrybirds land and I was told it would be open normally until 2 when all of the removable themeing will be taken away and new horror themeing will be added for firght night opening at 3, the themeing will then be removed to the original angrybirds themeing again at 11 after park close. Also the music during the frightnight hours in angeybirds land will change. All of this was given to me by one of the people who runs the mazes and as far as she was aware is true

At first they weren't batching while the ride was in operation which I thought was odd, as they could of saved so much time. But later on in the day they were batching while it was in operation, and then when everyone had exited they waited around 2-3 minutes before they actually opened the air gates. 

On Wednesday they loaded everyone on and batched people to the air gates before checking the restraints of the people who had just got on the ride. A slightly quicker approach to it I think but it was still dreadfully slow, probably taking around 10mins per cycle. As long as it stays open I'm happy as it is my favourite ride at thorpe despite the massive head rush!

Yes, the actors still touch you up a bit. Which is nice.

Generally speaking from now on Slammer will have a set open time of 11am, however, this is massively dependant on a variety of things. If the engineering team are happy and it's ready it will open at any time from 9:30 to park close. The checks usually last around 10-15 minutes, again depending on a variety of things! 
 
Hope this helps

I'm in Like James said, if I'm not there (probably because I've forgotten, just start without me  

yesterday was pretty bad, with nemesis inferno closed at opening, not opening til gone 10, at this time saw was also closed (and don't think it opened til just before lunch), The swarm was on one train for first few hours if not more and got itself a nice 110 minute queue, with Colossus getting close to that (and think it then got reduced to one train again later on in the afternnon), and nemesis getting like 75 minutes (which to me looked like more than that, with a good half of the extension queue being used!) all because of one train only operation!? stealth had a good 20/30 minute queue as soon as we got in the park about 9.45 due to it only being on one train... I mean surely being a busy summer holiday there'd be some sense in having enough maintenance staff and having them in early enough to open on 2 trains considering the price people pay to get in!

As for downtime, seen stealth testing at some point in the day, and was stuck in saw the ride queue while they decided to add 2 more trains, which was apparently supposed to reduce peoples queues but then took even longer when there was some sort of problem and they had to have engineers to check the ride (and I think subsequently then removed a train from operation!)... so was a bit annoying. slammer was just beyond awful with how long it took to prepare each cycle, plus with a whole side of seats on each arm closed off reducing capacity to 20 people per ride (worked out about 200pph!!!! - although then per arm you're and after splitting you're then waiting in 100pph effectively!), and then just as we were batched there was a bit of a wait to then hear an announcement that there was a fault with the ride, so they sent a test go, and fortunately it was fine and we were allowed to ride. Samurai was closed all day as it had a cherry picker / crane parked up next to it, although while we were in the indoor queue for saw while it was broke, could have sworn we seen samurai moving.

As for rush, most people don't know the difference, and I just make sure I ask so I get the swing I want

things like that really annoy me when they know people will return and have no intention of improving - I mean break downs are unfortunate and unforeseeable (most of the time), but when they can't open a busy park with good capacity and rides closed it is bad! and this is the best the UK has got eh!

I still had a really good day, and highlights were riding slammer (after the slowest moving queue on earth), stealth seemed to have a great throughput while on two trains (must have been good staff), came off saw without a headache whilst still having an intense ride and had an awesome ride on vortex (so much love for this ride when it's running and well, and having good seats always getting the top!).

I'm not patronising you Altitude, I'm applauding the fantastic costume. 

If Inferno had been built in Germany, it would definitely have fire, since they're obsessed with the stuff...
The volcano needs a clean more than anything if I recall, being all mossy and mergh looking... Plus actually existing on the exit staircase as well would've been a bonus... The 2000s were really strange for the overall project quality...

Why do they keep giving out free fastracks when they sell too many already?!
Apart from that I like the idea.

I'd love to see something that many people will think is ridiculous, but in my opinion is awesome!
Whilst its not top of the refurb list, a proper looking volcano ontop of inferno would be lovely.
I went to a dinosaur themed mini gold course by Niagara falls, and they did a better job then thorpe's papiermache (can't spell) volcano.
With water falls, vapour, and every 15 minutes a fire effect with an awesome sound effect that can be heard 100m away!

I don't get why they aren't sticking to it though? Earlier on this year a man was queue jumping on Vortex, luckily the host saw him and shouted out that he had to go to the back of the queue line. In some queue lines they have signs saying queue jumping may lead to being kicked out the park, so why don't they do this? I asked a member of staff later that day and she said there is zero tolerance with queue jumpers and they will get escorted from the park.