OldFarmerDean

well thorpe only stated a few particular days (yesterday being one), that to expect the park to be busy due to high numbers of school visits... so unless lots of people (as many school kids as the past few days) who are now on summer holidays decide to go, which is highly unlikely, rest assured it won't be as busy as I experienced yesterday

The queue looked massive for tidal wave, so can only presume the queue board was correct. Slammer had a sign out the front, I think similar to what samurai had towards the end of last season saying it was closed, but they managed to get it back open for fright nights, so you never know about slammer... but they don't want more people getting stuck up the top! I actually love rush, but on one swing operation (must have been a fault with the other one), I wouldn't even consider queueing for it... it has a bad enough throughput on both swings, let alone one! And overheard someone in the queue for Vortex that they didn't get there til 11 with a school trip and had to be left by 4, and this was gone 12 and it was their first ride... I can imagine so many disappointed school kids only getting on 2 or 3 rides (unless they buy some fast tracks, which some kids don't really have the money for that). I got there at half 9, and got in a queue for The Swarm just before it shut at 6... I was surprised how busy it was as soon as the park opened, got to the swarm about quarter to 10 and it already had a half hour queue, because normally the first half hour or maybe hour, are pretty dead, but no, the school children seemed to be out in full force haha; I was expecting the last hour or two to die down completely as well, and still stayed reasonably busy (although flying fish was a walk on ), got in swarm queue quarter to 6, and with the two 5 minute breakdowns didn't get on it til about twenty past, so still a 25 minute queue at the end of the day - a lot of the school trips must have been around the london area so therefore could get there earlier and leave later, compared to when you hear about schools from scotland going to alton towers for the day and only getting a few hours in the park! heard a staff member in the annual pass office saying they had to close the drop off point just to park more coaches, that's how busy it was!

and are now asking for ides to retheme runaway train as well as dragon falls now... so are they stopping the work on the runaway train now, and just doing it in the closed season to one of the ideas they like or one of their own - I really hope the themeing is on a scale of how it was before, as flying fish at thorpe is pretty boring with no themeing! :/

and when samurai had the sign last year saying closed til 2013 season, and they fixed and opened it for fright nights... I don't know about all season but I could see slammer being down a while, as they know it's not opening by putting a sign by the entrance and changing it's status on queue time to CLOSED which all the other rides which are down say Unavailable.

Spoke to a member of staff and apparently it got stuck up the top (wouldn't lower) with people on for well over an hour, and that it wouldn't be open for the rest of the season; did wonder why it said CLOSED on the queue times instead of Unavailable!

was there today, and spoke to a member of staff, it's fair to say it is/was one of the busiest days off the year... not too sure what the actual queue times were as I found the boards on several occasions to be pretty inaccurate, but the park was busier than I've seen it on fright nights - queued 10 minutes or so just for KFC! Seen tidal wave queue board peak at 140 mins, the swarm front & back, and Colossus 120 mins, Storm Surge, Loggers Leap & Saw 100 mins to mention a few! Managed to get on, Swarm x2, X x4, Nemesis Inferno x2, Detonator x1, Vortex x1, Colossus x1 (fast track), Flying Fish x2, Loggers Leap x1, Rocky Express x1, Quantum x1... so not too bad considering how busy it was! Seen Storm Surge go round with an empty boat presuming it was broke down/testing? at one point. Rapids seemed to be closed for most of the day, Stealth & Vortex was apparently unavailable at some point during the day according to the queue time boards. Loggers Leap was down for the first few hours. Slammer is not open at all and listed as CLOSED on the queue board instead of unavailable (was told by a ride staff it's down for the rest of the season as it got stuck at the top for over an hour with people on). Saw stopped operation for a while when I was in the queue, not sure the reason for it, but left the queue as it started back up. Rush was on one swing operation and was getting queues up to the entrance which must have meant an easy 90 minute queue! I seen samurai having a bit of a problem parking, and later on was closed and testing. Got in the queue for The Swarm at the end of the day and we had 2 announcements on separate occasions that it had broken down, luckily was up and running with 5 mins each time. All the coasters seemed to be running on full capacity, and nemesis inferno staff were trying to get the people on and off the ride as quickly as possible; got 4 circuits on flying fish, and ride staff were spraying the water out a hose pipe tap as people were going around (such a good idea ). Even though I didn't have a refillable cup, each station seemed to be open, and were offering separate queues with little or no people in them (thought I'd mention it as it was brought up the other day how bad it was). Unfortunately the slush machines were out of order most of the day after they sold out in the morning as it would take them ages to refill them and freeze it up. as the queue on Colossus was out the entrance, a staff member had a handful (looked like loads - too many) of fast tracks in his hand offering to sell them to people (me being one, and am glad I bought them), but a sneaky way of making money! the fast track queue on saw at one point was queuing out the queue and up to the photo stall - looks like a case of too many being sold! got speaking to a ride queue staff on Colossus, he was the one that let me know about slammer, he also mentioned that we'd just skipped a 120 minute queue by getting fast track, and that he was told (presumably by thorpe? well that was how it sounded he was told by) that Colossus is getting bigger queues than The Smiler, and was shocked to hear when I informed him it closed yesterday, and was closed today due to a bolt falling off the track... he said that bolts come off Colossus quite often and it's just a simple case of close the ride, replace the bolt (which they have loads spare of), test the ride and reopen it the same or next day. [not sure how true some of this information he is giving me though haha] All in all still a good day though with boiling weather, and took advantage of the annual pass offer...bargain! going back next week on friday, and staying for the Summer Nights!

never been in the summer holidays before... and seen this on thorpe parks website (am intending to go monday 22nd), so just worrying/wondering how busy it will most likely be! Planning a trip? We're expecting high volumes of visits from schools on 16th, 17th, 18th and 22nd July, so the Park will be busy on these dates... I am going again 2nd august in the day and for the summer nights... but monday is a bit of a last minute plan as we're planning on getting an annual pass for an extra tenner on top the full day price so we can use it again on our trip in august, and have it to use for the rest of the year. just wondering if it would really be worth going, spending like £30 between us on petrol and parking, as I can imagine it being busy, but have been fright nights, and worried it would be busier than then, and almost a waste of a day, even though we would be getting the passes (considering the offer is definitely on til at least end of july, but the chances are it could stop when we go on 2nd august!) thanks.

doesn't that ride have restraints though... surely they were trapped in while stuck upside down in the water!?

if they use wristbands, they could give them out to people with tickets for the night if they are going in on the daytime as well... that way queue lines close to general public at 7, and then reopen at 7.30 with only people with wristbands allowed to queue, that half hour gives the queues time to die down, not saying there won't be people still in the queue though at 7.30, but eventually will just be summer night guests - as the dome will be open til 11, it's hard to clear general public guests, so wristbands is the only feasible way I can see it working?

sounds decent... just trying to make a whole day out of it really, pointless coming from bristol over 2 hours away for just 3 hours in the evening. the park will be busy in the day (which put me off going), but at least you got an extra 3 hours (in the dark, well some of it, being an added bonus), which would work out cheaper than buying fast tracks in the day anyway

thanks... I read the dome is open til 11pm, so I could stop for dinner in there between the day and night park opening - do you know what the food is like, is it dear? thanks again

I'm not sure if anyone would know... I got tickets for the summer nights on friday 2nd august, which gates open at 7 and rides 7.30... I am also planning to go in the day, and seen that the park closes at 7. so how do thorpe park know who to let on the rollercoasters after 7.30 etc. if I am already in the park? and as you don't have to pay for parking for the summer event, if I stay there all day and for the summer nights thing I don't have to pay for parking. so confused. any help would be grateful, thanks.

I actually love Sonic Spinball in terms of the ride itself... but it does have a terrible throughput (and therefore long queues, and I can't remember for years when I have actually went into the main queue - and instead done single rider just to get on it), throughput becomes even worse (but great for single riders with only 3 riders per car) when it rains, and admittedly doesn't exactly have the best location. The main point, I didn't even realise how old the ride was, I was thinking it was pointless them removing or moving it, but the fact it is almost 10 years old did change my mind, and the fact it was a cheap ride in the first place, probably not designed to last years on end like nemesis! Thorpe Park do not need Sonic Spinball, the throughput would make the queue in the busy park be unbearable, and it does fit in as a solid family ride, and really fun attraction in alton towers!

I really enjoy The Swarm, but must admit it's not something I necessarily find very thrilling - just a highly enjoyable, smooth ride - although the near misses (and the billboard this year) do give the ride the thrilling/fearful edge it needs... A wooden coaster, unless they get something like El Toro etc. which does look genuinely thrilling (or a RMC hybrid with an inversion or 2 which is what I'd like to see), then we are going to be left with a very fun and slightly thrilling ride which through word of mouth and expectations may not go down well with people who are looking for 'extreme thrills' as that's the line of marketing that thorpe have gone for with their main coasters and thrill rides. I'm personally not too fussed with how scary a ride is, as long as if it is highly enjoyable - that doesn't go down well with Colossus and saw though in my eyes as they are thrilling/scary, but I don't rate them highly for enjoyability!

I really hope this is some serious sort of market research and not just a bit of fun interacting with people who like/follow them... although it's nice to see them replying, and to me at that does sound somewhat promising doesn't it? http://s1290.photobucket.com/user/DeanGaryCox/media/thorpe_zps70487a7a.jpg.html?sort=3&o=2

http://s1290.photobucket.com/user/DeanGaryCox/media/enterprise2_zps3e2a7cbc.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1 http://s1290.photobucket.com/user/DeanGaryCox/media/enterprise1_zps288e204a.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0 won't let me attach the images for some reason... the pics are on those links

urmmm gimme a while, never used flickr or that before... shall sign up in a min EDIT: wouldn't let me add flcikr extension pictures? just signing up to photobucket now...

Ended up getting fast track for the smiler, for 3... best decision ever, got on rita, thirteen, nemesis (all front row), air and ripsaw before 12 - so managed to get on pretty much every main attraction in the day. Now on to The Smiler... it's nice to genuinely feel scared for a ride and the adrenaline starts to kick in, everyone knows what the outside of the ride looks like, but the indoors is really cool, and nice to see them out some effort in to it, including the exit and the shop; the ride itself was awesome, I spent most of the time laughing and not even realising what's going on missing some of the marmaliser effects, but love the ride and would love to go on it again sometime, and overall a really good addition to alton towers. Verdict: Nemesis is still better, only for the sheer force and the speed over a compact layout it gives you - but the smiler wins in terms of overall experience

Can't find a topic for Enterprise... but was there today and maintenance staff were removing the carriage/carts off the enterprise wheel - doesn't look good! I have pictures but not sure how to put them on here?

does it necessarily mean the wooden rollercoaster got denied planning permission or just decided to change with the opportunity of a SAW IP, and liked the look of gerstlauers?

if I like it, shouldn't be anything stopping me getting the queue for it at the end of the day, and experience what you feel is good

thanks for the help... will most likely try and get a fast track as soon as I go in, in the morning (hopefully before they sell out) for sometime in the day, failing that queue at the end of the day - but definitely make the most of the first hour or 2, as the last 2 times I've been, I can get on the 4 big coasters in dark forest and forbidden valley in the first hour or so - which is definitely a lot less than hour + queues!

I missed the smiler when I went on may 23rd and they never opened it but going tomorrow so it's all good - fingers crossed it actually opens and stays open haha

but I mean for general public... a standard wooden rollercoaster in an advert without being the tallest, steepest, fastest etc. just wouldn't appeal - but an advert showing a wooden coaster with inversions, it's new to the UK, it will get peoples attention.

for a woodie to be good and have a marketing appeal, it needs to be a RMC wooden/steel hybrid with an inversion or 2! would love to see one go around by loggers leap, adding to the canadian theme!