TPJames

Can't go to the preview night now so was wondering, when will the emptiest time be to go to fright nights?

Yep, its definately down to them cutting costs and not fixing them. I remember riding a few years ago(maybe billys whizzer can't remember) and there were about 5/6 water spray fountains. You can still see them in the floor but now only 1/2 are used due to costs...

Fright nights will feel worse without slammer ):It will hopefully be amazing though anyway, and hopefully the atmosphere will make up for slammer going!

The thing is, I don't see any little ones going on it, maybe because its really hard to tell what it is. I've only seen 1 or 2 people under 1.4 and they were probably above 1.2m anyway. It just seems to be the same people as it used to be riding...

The thing is, the GP seem to be behind the old X no way out! Despite you guys loving it, many comments on youtube, facebook and just from friends and conversations I have overheard, the GP seem to hate the new changes. Many people say its getting rid of the whole point of the ride, which it is! I think this ride is better for families but on this occasion I probably have to agree with the GP and say X no way out is ruined now...

I'm begging for no lap bars. They are by far the most uncomfortable thing I have ever seen. I have never had the chance to ride with lap bars as the new afterburner model is not in the UK yet(they might be on a freak out actually!). They look really painful. People have commented on them and have said that they are very uncomfortable and the ride experience feels very unsafe. I doubt that would get thorpe a good reputation.https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=522808071140955&set=a.368220189933078.90113.355142571240840&type=1&theater

All the ride team know, as when a new op comes into the control box he/she will change the setting. We did ask for the best setting but the ride team told us it was on number 7 or something and cannot be changed until new op comes as it takes a whole to change. Thats what the ride team told me anyway, however when it's being run on manual the op can make it go which ever way he/she wants.

I really hope samurai is replaced with a newer Topscan, so we can have the proper thrill of a Topscan at thorpe park. People who haven't ridden a full speed Topscan before will be shocked at how much faster they are than samurai. I rode xtreme rieger at it was one of the most intense experiences in my life(apart from rock rage!). If thorpe could run it nearly as fast as this(as fast as chessington ran samurai) it would be amazing! I'm hoping for a new Topscan in samurai's place but samurai has always been breaking down and I think merlin will stay away from topscans from now on...

If you write a compaint to customer services they are likely to give you free fastrack, so if you visit again that ride will have been worth the queue

Just by watching a couple of videos I have realised how much worse samurai has become over 2 years. It has ovbiously faced major problems but back in 2011 it was a real speed machine and from 2005-2011 at thorpe it was probably one of the best Topscan rides in the UK:

Yes... OUCH! We had a really long ride after a 45 min queue in the summer which was fantastic except for at the start when it was building up to the top, it juddered around a lot and was quite painful however when we got to the full swings it had stopped(luckily!) and we had a fantastic ride. Despite the juddering, it was my best ever ride on vortex.The issue I find with vortex apart from its age is the fact that it takes so long to load and start up. This is what makes the queue times so long. This is similar to a couple of the other flat rides(samurai, and you could say rush and slammer). I think it needs to be replaced sometime soon with a new 'spin and swing' type ride. However if william wilsons Super Bowl has been going for 20 years, I can't see why vortex can't aswell. However, I think samurai and vortex have had most of their days and are ready to be replaced. The cycles on them just aren't thrilling enough for the 'extreme thrill' they are! I hope we can see samurai being replaced by a new mondial Topscan and hopefully vortex being replaced by a new KMG afterburner(maybe one which goes all the way over ). I'm not sure this is going to happen though however it is clear thorpe are trying their best to make the ride experience better. When vortex and samurai etc. do reach the end of their days I'm not sure what will be replacing them, only time will tell!

How come the chessington AP day on the 15th+16th march 2014 is already sold out! Just noticed the preview day today and really wanted to go!

This is the thing though, I can't see the halloween event leading up to anything but negative feedback. They already have rubbish opening hours until 7pm and they shortened to first week until 5!!! I can only feel that the event will be unorganised, there will be massive queues and there will be no time for night rides with such poor operations and hours. I'm just hoping that chessie can get it sorted for 2014 as I can only see it going down hill from here, unfortunately...

This is actually a question to Thorpe... Will the 'Scare Ratings' for each attraction be released soon and when abouts? Will it be before the preview evening? I am going on that night and can't wait! Will probably go in all of the mazes anyway but I was just wondering! Thanks

Hopefully!Is this just for merlin pass holders or TP AP holders aswell? It makes a difference as I need to know if my friend can go! Thanks

Has anyone noticed that Dragons Fury shakes like mad? We asked the ride team and they said it was designed to do that, but every time a car goes down the first drop, the lift hill shakes like mad! Was wondering if anyone knew why?

Should be heading down, got my ticket booked and got a friend who wants to come. Not 100% sure yet but if I bump into you guys on the evening I will say hi! I hope its not too busy as I want to go on the rides in the dark as well as the mazes and it will probably be the only fright night without 2 hour queues!

At London Mela the other day, they were charging £5 for 'Storm'. It was only going round 3 times and then stopping and you got off. This is what I call high priced and expensive- not £5 for 3 hours of 10 minute queueing...

I'd like to see depth charge go sometime soon... I know it's a negative comment but its an absolute nightmare. It had a 60 minute queue today, and only a few of the ramps were taken(about 4/5). The throughput is incredibly bad and the length of that queue would only be 5/10 minutes on another ride. The boats only go down the actual slide every few minutes or so making the queue a nightmare. I've only done depth charge once and still waited 30 mins on an empty day. I do not intend to ride it again as it is an operational nightmare!

Sorry for double post! I would like to say how fantastic the setting on vortex was yesterday. We waited about 30 mins but later on in the day the whole of the queueline(including extended) was full and it looked about a 60 minute wait if not longer. The setting was fantastic though and seemed to go on for much longer than usual with faster spinning and more high swings. Was great though despite the long wait!

Didn't actually bother with samurai yesterday. It was literally on the worst setting ever despite only a 30 minute queue. It seemed to be running much slower than usual. It started of with a bit of faffing about doing nothing really and then it went around once(spinning) left and once(spinning) right. It then stopped at the top and then came down and lowered. Really not sure why anyway was queueing for this setting as it looked awful! It was the flat ride with the smallest queue in the park which is unusual for samurai...

The back rows of the swarm were the best rows before they got turned round.The whole point of the swarm is completely taken away with BIB as there are no near misses for you to go through. It simply ruins the ride and makes the forwards rows have a lower throughput, also the only good parts of BIB were the first drop and the inline twist.

To be honest I don't think BIB should have been invented at all...

My friend queued 4 hours for the swarm on opening weekend...

I think they use this during sunscream to keep queues down. Have to agree, it's an awful setting!