Inferno

Awesome trip report It's interesting to hear this about the Swarm from someone who doesn't visit often... - you were unsure on how to go about riding the backwards seats (charge or no charge?) - unsure of which side of the train you could ride on - unsure on how to actually get to the ride in the first place. It's little things like this that I think many of us overlook I think, and I agree that things really aren't that clear at all. I hope things get ironed out before the busy summer, otherwise the confusion is going to cause chaos.

I haven't been on it yet unfortunately. (always avoid TP at Easter ) But from everything I've heard about & read it seems that this was done on the cheap and was a bit of a bodge job. The general response seems to be "it's ok" rather than "wow that was bloody awesome". It's such a shame because it has so much potential! The laminated paper sign sellotaped over the old one says it all really... I can't wait to see this for myself though. I have never really had any sort of soft spot for X, so it will be interesting to see if it's just the nostalgia thing that people don't like about it.

The more I hear about Merlin Studios the more ridiculous it seems to get...

I find that it varies throughout the day. I guess it depends if there has been a gust of wind just before you pass through which would clear the tunnel out.

This is true. The Annual Passes bought during the January Sale at Chessington do not work at all at Thorpe, at both the barriers and the turnstiles. I have one of these duff passes myself I've visited Thorpe 3 times since opening day, and the pass hasn't worked on any occasion. The Staff are aware of it though and they always apologise and say they're looking in to it, so it doesn't have any affect on anything to be fair. It's just a pain. (and a bit embarrassing when you get rejected by a barrier!) On my latest visit they made a note of my pass number and said they were looking in to it.

Sometimes you do get a whiff of puke on some of the restraints... I've definitely smelled it on Samurai's restraints... Yuck.

^ Duelling Dragons

No idea, but trying to find this piece of music is like trying to find a needle in a haystack! Which is weird, because most other songs from the other parks are plastered all over the internet.

I suggest you rip this before it gets removed..... You can edit out the tune at the start yourself.

^ THIS. If you want to go out for a nice meal, but go looking for it in a theme park, you're looking in the wrong place! The people complaining about poor food choices at Thorpe Park are probably the same people who complained about Chessington only having a few rides open on a Zoo Day... Some people literally live to complain.

Nobody is forcing anyone to eat at a branded restaurant.... The fact that these places even exist at the park is because enough people like them enough to go and spend money there. If you are that offended by BK and KFC, go to Calypso BBQ or 360 Bar & Grill. They are both great, and you'll get an Annual Pass discount. In fact nobody is forcing you to eat at any of the outlets at all! Bring your own if you feel that strongly about it! Merlin's parks have unbelievably good food considering that they are a theme park chain! Stereotypical theme park food consists of donuts and dodgy plastic hot dogs. Thorpe has so much more choice than that.

Please, for the love of god, tell me X and Swarm will be ready for opening....... Let's give them a chance to get this right before we criticise tbh... They could have things ready yet...

^ ok, but why would they buy a new expensive crane when they can just use the rope that's already there? What they have works, so why change it?

Since March 13, 2009

Sunken Gardens seems to have taken on that role these days

I love the Swarm, but I know exactly what you mean about rider interaction. I think this applies to the Station as well, there's just no atmosphere in there. Really I would have liked that to have a closed roof. That's actually a very good point... It is actually a shame that the queue is so bland and boring, and the helicopter is in such an odd place, right out of the way. You could easily miss it if you weren't looking out for it... Also considering that they had a blank canvas to work with, the queueing/bagdrop/frontrow system is terrible. It's very easy to sit here and complain though. Yeah it has it's down sides, but to be fair to them The Swarm is still amazing. We could pick fault with any ride if we tried hard enough. I can't see the problem with this new billboard tbh. Yeah ok, a small building or part of the church would have been better, but hey, I'd rather have a Ferrari than my clapped out old Golf, but it achieves much the same thing, and is fit for purpose. I reckon the billboard could be the best near-miss on the entire ride. It will light up at night too, which will make the island look even more spectacular in the dark. Hopefully some of the lights will flicker as well.

I can't see much effort going in to the removal of all the Dr Pepper styled "Stand here, what's the worst that can happen" paintings on the paths and roof in the Splash area. I bet they will stay there slowly fading away until everyone forgets about them. I hope they take down that tacky plastic widow with all the Dr Pepper stuff over it in the middle of the queue though. Aren't they supposed to be bringing the fire back this year?? Maybe they'll generally clean it up if they're going to the effort of doing the fire?

I do see what you are getting at. Saw could have been mind-blowing. Imagine what Universal could have done with it? The potential is amazing. I still think it's a good ride though. The theming is pretty good really. I just wish they would allow the queue to fill the entrance corridor like it used to, so everyone gets to experience the shotgun trap and the videos. As it is at the moment, these effects are wasted, because the queue is held outside.

^ Agree with this. In my personal experience of talking to people that's what has happened. The subject of TP was brought up at work a couple of weeks ago, and the general consensus was "yeah I went there once. It was expensive and we queued 2 hours for Stealth." (along those lines.) There was a lot of negativity about queues and expense... THAT is the main thing many people are remembering about their trips to Thorpe. I think they've just gained themselves a bad reputation tbh, and need to build it back up. People just don't have the money to blow away on things like Thorpe Park at the moment, it's as simple as that. Everyone's after better value for money right now. Blaming the Swarm's marketing for their drop in attendance is ridiculous. The real reason people are not flooding through the gates is because people don't feel that it's worth it, especially at the moment when their target customers have literally no money to spare.

Surely they will just renew the contract?? Saw is pretty much a dead brand now anyway, so I'm sure there is a deal to be had.

3rd November is a Saturday so I'm assuming that will be fairly busy. It's not your fault if the park oversell them! For the benefit of you and your non-mazegoing friend I'd say buy a Freaky Fastrack

I was there on Sunday, I picked up all pre-booked annual pass tickets, passholder friend&fam tickets, Passing tickets and Fastracks from Advanced Ticket Collection no problem at all:)

^ When did the helicopter get scribbled on like that? If you look back at this you can see it's been blackened a bit since then...

^ Which is fantastic, but just causes a hold-up later in the day when it's busy... So the problem of adding trains half way through the day still stands.

^ You forgot to mention the endless breakdowns.... Oh so many breakdowns Nearly every time I've been this year they've only added the second train half way through the day. Are they trying to build up the queue to sell more Fastracks?? I can't see any other reason for it! It seems that when the ride is finally up and running as it should be by about 2:00ish, the throughput is amazing. It's a shame they cant get it right in the mornings! Well that's what I've found in my experience anyway