Inferno

I get what you're saying, but from all the evidence I've seen the Smiler was still a building site on Thursday morning when it was supposed to open. I know the rides are "subject to availability", but It doesn't matter how you look at it, they were selling tickets, selling hotel stays and advertising for an attraction that realistically had no chance of opening on time. Not trying to have a rant, I'm just looking at it from Watchdog's POV (assuming that's even what their article will be about It will probably end up being about prices or something now!)

Oh dear... I guess this can only be about the Smiler. I imagine it will be exactly the same story again, about selling customers a product even though they knew it was impossible to deliver. Maybe they should have been a bit more pro-active on telling everyone about the second delay, rather than leaving it until the day before opening!

All very exciting! I am a bit dubious about it though... They can't be 100% sure about it, otherwise wouldn't they have announced it on Twitter etc?

Sorry to dig this back up (and for the double post ) The Chessington sale pass problems have now been resolved - the premium passes now work at the other park's gates and the car park barriers

Is anyone able to tell me if the issue with passes issued by Chessington in January has now been resolved?

To be fair, Inferno had its dispatch theme reinstated this season, new ambient lighting in the station, and improved mist in the tunnel. I agree that they should never have been left to break in the first place, but it's not as if they've let it get to the same state as Loggers, RMT at Chessington, or Rita. Some of Merlin's rides are quite literally falling apart. Inferno is actually in pretty good shape in my opinion!

Inkeeping with Th13teen or not, this looks absolutely awful... What were they thinking!

True that you probably should wear shoes, but people always leave them on the platform, especially on Inferno, Vortex, Samurai, etc. I wouldn't worry about it. If you discreetly pop them in the bag shelf then it's unlikely that anyone is going to stop you!

When they had it at Thorpe I seem to remember it was generally ok, but it depended on the member of staff who was supposed to be organising it... Stealth always sticks in my mind as being a nightmare because it's just a free-for-all at the top of the stairs, and if the staff didn't have a good grip of it then it was awful. The baggage drop was the thing that slowed it down the most - you couldn't get a single rider to quickly dash over and fill a gap because they would need time to drop off their bag and fight their way through the busy gates. To be honest it was worse than useless because it took so long just to fill one seat! If bags are dropped off a long way before the station (like Th13teen) then it could work. If the baggage hut is right on the station platform though (Saw, Stealth, Rita) it is a nightmare.

I’m sorry if I have brought this off topic it is quite interesting though. I’m not trying to stir things up (honest ), I’m just surprised how lenient the theme parks are towards their staff compared with the places I have worked. Yes, you are correct, I have never worked at a theme park… I have however worked in a supermarket, restaurant and a (sort of) call centre, and in all of these jobs my hours were / are constantly changed to suit what was/is needed, and all of it is legit and above board because it’s in the contract. Christmas for example, I worked for Morrisons part time when I was at college, but my contract stated I had to be available for up to 2 weeks prior to Christmas day to work full-time if required. I actually ended up doing full-time nights, plus extra daytime hours. This was considered 'normal', and everyone working at the store was cool with it because of the extra cash (and because it's hard to say no because you'd be royally screwing your colleagues over by leaving them extremely short-staffed). They were obviously cool with being flexible, but generally (in all the jobs I've had anyway) you’re expected to pretty much do whatever is required to make the business more profitable. So in terms of theme park staff contracts, I would have thought it would be reasonable to ask the staff to be prepared to work unsociable hours for up to 3 weeks during October/November because that is what is required by the business. Just a thought, sorry if this has rattled some cages Please don't think I am holding some grudge against theme park staff - they (on the most part) work bloody hard in all weathers with all sorts of difficult customers. I'm just surprised that staffing is an issue with opening late for a couple of weeks, that's all.

Oh my heart bleeds for them. Other businesses manage it. Supermarkets employ staff to be in the store 24hrs a day, call centres / shops / petrol stations / restaurants / you name it, loads of places employ staff (including students) who work shifts. That's the staff's job at the end of the day! It would simply be written in to all the contracts when they are renewed every season. If the business decides it's changing its hours then surely that's not up for debate among the staff?! I get what you're saying about transport for guests though. Could be an issue.

Completely agree with this ^ Excellent points. Thorpe is just not big enough (nor do they have a diverse enough range of stuff to do) to make it worth opening late at the moment. As awesome as it would be, it would be pointless. On a quiet to moderately busy day you can ride everything you want to within a few hours. It's not very often that you leave disappointed having not been on everything you wanted... Well, not within the last year or so anyway. Fright Nights is the exception, which should stay open until at least 10:30 or even 11:00 in my opinion. It's Fright NIGHTs after all! And Fireworks of course. When they have a hotel and become more of a resort (with shows etc) maybe they'll start opening later?

Oh for the love of god. One day they will actually build one, and this forum will be stunned in to silence for years

Oh my god Thorpe. Why. The end of day theme was so good. This is so...... fairground... I guess it was only a matter of time though tbh

I get what you're saying, but who's to say the rules haven't changed this year? In my job I am asked to meet targets set by management that really degrade customer satisfaction for the sake of making a few quid on the side. At the end of the month, if we haven't met our targets, they will want to know why! We have no choice but to do what the managers say, no mater how stupid we think it is. Who's to say the same thing isn't happening here? I can't imagine the staff are simply too lazy to work hard, because keeping the customers sweet makes life easier (and happier!) for everyone... Something has got to be going on higher up here, surely? Or are they just really short-staffed? I haven't been to Chessington this year and I've never worked there, so just speculating

It's obviously in Merlin's interest for every ride to have a queue, so they are able to sell Fastrack and multi-day tickets... Do the staff have targets to hit, like they musk keep queue times above 30 mins, etc?

Makes you wonder what the hell was going on during closed season to be honest...

Right, this is a weird one... I work in a call centre / tech support helpdesk.... Last year I dreamed I was at work doing my normal thing, but hundreds of theme park guests were calling to complain about the price of the on ride photos at all the theme parks. People were ringing up saying they were loosing their homes and were starving to death because they couldn't afford to pay for anything else except for the on ride photos! And for some reason it was all my fault! People were just spending uncontrollably on ORP's, then blaming me! Lol! I literally have no idea why on earth I was dreaming about this. One of the most "WTF?" dreams I've had!

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