Chessiekid

Had a week off work because of the Corona, decided to do something productive. The idea was inspired Full Throttle (which is probably quite obvious) however this one doesn't slam into the brakes as soon as you get going

The barriers on the sides of the trains you mention only existed for a short while too, the restraints ended up being replaced as a long term fix. They allow minimal movement of the legs and they are awful.

I made this to fit on the island behind swarm and stealth, its based on the idea that a monster lives in the the lakes around the island and has a loose pirate theme, sort of a throw back to the old treasure island. I also added a log flume to replace logger that could also be expanded upon theme wise. Anyway I think something like could be really fun and fill the airtime sized hole in Thorpes line up.

Sorry to bump this topic but I have a really strange question and I was wondering if anyone here might be able to help me out? I just stumbled across this video on you tube somehow and noticed it uses part of the Colossus theme but instead has a guy rapping over it. Does anyone know if Thorpe Park commissioned the song originally, or is the version in this video the original? When I googled the lyrics nothing showed up which was quite strange and also leads me to believe that the guy raping must have used the Thorpe version as a sample. Is anyone able to clear this up for me?

yep it reaches around 4.5G in a few places however that's not in lateral G forces. If a roller coaster had the possibility of giving you a neck fracture, even with a restraint it wouldn't be open. I like to think I know a thing or two about roller coaster design and typical designers will avoid high lateral forces as much as they can as they are generally quite uncomfortable (for example, a wild mouse) I'll try back up my point with some evidence. Take this heart line roll on Maverick for example at 12 seconds (it was eventually removed cause of stress on the train) Now look at Mavericks restraints That restraint was not designed to keep your head in place.

I can assure you Saw reaches nowhere near 5G in lateral forces in fact I'd be surprised if surpasses anything over 1. Shoulder restraints purpose are not to keep your head in place.

Not true, plenty of rides have snappy turns and utilize lap bars. Just take a look at Iron Shark or Dare Devil Dive, both Eurofighters both use lap bars Don't belittle me with a completely unfounded comment and then proceed to patronize me with a question like that. Especially as you seem to have no idea what your talking about.

I was operating there back in 2013/14 so left before The Smiler incident so I would imagine things have probably changed a bit. I remember having to do like 12 hour practical hours before being able to operate Tomb Blaster and Rattlesnake then on top of that it was 2 hours reading a COSWP. There was also a theory test and practical test. The emphasis still then was massively on H&S and interactivity, getting high throughput's was never really encouraged at all. We were always told (much to my annoyance) "Make sure you are taking your time with your checks and showing guests safety is the number one priority." At rides like Rattlesnake we would only have 6 cars running yet it seemed like there was constantly 2 cars stacking (Again this infatuated me) because attendants were moving as slow as snails, constantly worried that they had got the slightest of things wrong. In my second season especially the environment seemed to be one of fear over disciplinary action for using your incentive instead of sticking to the book.

A little bit off topic but for some reason that "news" story got me thinking about how much better a ride Saw would be if they were able to replace the trains with the infinity II style trains, or even just replace the shoulder restrains with lap bars. I know it would make no marketing sense to change it and Merlin are the type of company to add OTSR to an RMC. Still it would make for a great ride as the layout really isn't that bad at all its just all that head banging that ruins the ride a bit.

Its not the most reliable of rides however its more likely to be running then it is to be closed. Try not to worry about it to much or let it weigh on your mind too much as it will end up spoiling your trip. At the end of the day if it is down for whatever reason (which it shouldn't be) there isn't really much you can do about it plus I ranked it quite low compare to some of the other coasters in the park so although it would be annoying to miss out on it, it really isn't the end of the world.

Anyone else heard anything about a carousel planned for Market Square. I'm not sure if its moving the current one or getting an entirely new one but apparently this is something happening next year in place of the donuts shack. Was wondering if anyone else had heard anything about this?

I'm going to try help you out a little as I visited in August 2015, things may have changed a bit but hopefully some of info will be of use. - As far as I can remember every major coaster had a front row queue, I'm not one for being too fussed about riding front so I didn't use it. They seemed to vary in length, all depended on the ride really. - Got to be honest the Safari was probably the highlight of the day, 100 times better than Zufari and IMO better then Kilimanjaro Safaris at Disney. It lasts a good 30 or so minutes and the amount of animals you get to see is amazing. Something really not to be missed, plus its a good break from coaster riding. - We visited in middle of the summer holidays and I was generally surprised how quiet the park seemed to be. The longest I waited for anything was Kingda Ka, which was like 60 minutes I think. The crowds started to pick up about 11ish. - We tried to get on Kingda Ka on 3 separate occasions only managed it once. It has history of being a fussy ride so if you see it cycling just head to it would be my advice. - They were not running together when I visited and I cant imagine that's changed tbh. Something about loose articals and NJ law. - I went in August and am obviously not a regular guest so cant help you there however I did visit Magic Mountain in October 2014 and it was really quiet so if that's anything to go by you should be alright in terms of crowds. - The park itself is a bit weird, its not the nicest of parks imo all seems a bit grubby and it is literally a concrete slab with a load of rides plonked on it. I did personally much prefer Magic Mountain however Great Adventure has an amazing collection of coasters and that makes it totally worthwhile. I will say I went into El toro with an amazingly high expectation which was a mistake on my part as the ride didn't really live up to it. So my advice is keep low expectations and your day will turn out a lot better. If I can be of any other help feel free to ask

If anyone is interested I try to build realistic/detailed parks in Planet Coaster.

Which is a shame as it comes across as a sort of "that will do" attitude.

I was afraid it may come across a bit like that, I just feel after the hype around the ride settles everyone will look at it again and see how much better it could have been. This is my opinion as an enthusiast, not a member of the GP. ask my friends what they think of Saw, 9 out of 10 of them will say its their favorite ride, that's because Thorpe Park is all they know.

Any ride that tries to make you do stuff, is not fun. Forced interactivity is the worst thing! Instead of pretending their is something to panic about, actually make me scared. It's a shame, I went in with terribly low expectations and the whole time I was thinking what an absolute waste. It frustrates me to think what they could have built with the money they had. I try my hardest to not bash Merlin but I feel people are deluding themselves into thinking this is a good ride, its not.

I've heard many a tale told of those 30 second dispatches, consider me jealous.

Sorry to jump in, never rode the original but if I operated the thing for two years albeit on two trains and under the most ridiculous H&S rules imaginable am I allowed to call it my baby? As at the time I did consider it mine

So yesterday I took my first trip to Thorpe Park since April 2010, it was a last minute thing and booked the night before as me and my pals had decided whilst in the pub it was something we should do as we all had a day off. Drove down to the park for about 9.50, once we arrived I saw the entrance area was pretty busy. I was expecting a busy day having known college kids had just finished there exams and school trips. waited around outside the entrance for a about 10 minutes, noticed the massive screen, that was cool, defiantly an improvement over what was there before. I also like the new branding, much better then those big head guys and the promotion of pissing and having sex behind bushes. Headed straight through the dome noticed the queue board, nice to see they want to bring the themed areas back and its a great start actually made me really excited about the day if I'm honest. Because none of us had been in so long and had hadn't been on The Swarm we decided that heading there first was probably best. Took a brisk walk down by Depth Charge and followed the path up to the entrance of the ride. Was really impressed by the scale of everything and was really nice to see so many effects working, made a massive contrast to the last times I had visited where on other rides with effects were just left off or hadn't been maintained. We walked through the queue, which was pretty standard, some nice videos and such but wouldn't want to be stuck in it. At the bag section the fella at the front directed us to the right hand side. On a side note I noticed the same staff throughout the day manning every position, when I was working at Chessington we were constantly changing positions and rides. Is this common practice at Thorpe, seems a bit unfair on staff if I'm honest. Anyway headed past the control box and took up a row at the back, this decision was made as I had heard from various places this would be the best place to sit. Was also surprised to see 4 attendants on the platform and later in the day operations defiantly benefited from this. The ride itself was great really enjoyed the first drop after the lift and easily my favourite UK ride. Next up was Stealth, I had ridden Kingda Ka few summers ago so was really excited to back onto another Intamin Accelerator. Queue was short and we queued about 5/10 minutes. Again operations seemed really slick, I was impressed. Although I had just recently left working In a park where getting 400 PPH on major coasters was seen as good so my expectations might be quite low. Had a great ride on Stealth, I had forgot how much of a punch that ride leaves. We wanted to get the coasters done because we could notice the park was starting to fill up, we hit Nemesis Inferno. Queue board said 15 minutes was more like 25, I know how hard it is to keep accurate queue times though so I wont criticise that. The ride itself was good, nothing amazing was good to get back on it though. Again it was good to see effects working, stealth also had all its effects working other then one launch light that was out. We made the walk up to the Saw and Colossus area of the park, we noticed Colossus was on 45 minutes and was on one train. Could only see that the queue was going to get bigger during the day so we took the decision to get it done. Once we entered the queue we walked up the first part and saw the rest of the queue which was at the bridge. at which point we agreed that being the weakest coaster in the park that waiting that long on one train was not worth it. We exited the queue and saw the queue sign had been changed to 75 minutes, a much more accurate representation of the queue I imagine. Next on our list was Saw. A ride I actually rated quite highly last I had rode it. Queue was advertised at 40 and was probably what we waited. Again great to see all the indoor effects working properly makes for such a great ride. That first drop into the spikes is amazing! Rest of the ride was okay, defiantly getting rougher as it ages and that jolt at the bottom of the main drop is disgusting. having done all the big coasters but Colossus by about 11.15 we went to check on the Ghost Train. had a little look round the shop and the ride area. Looks interesting will obviously have to reserve my judgement till its open. Not thrilled by the VR stuff though. I'm a Celebrity was close to this area and had a 30 minute queue, the through put was awful on this, who decides that 200 or so people an hour is acceptable? The ride itself was pretty terrible if I'm honest. The actors try hard and it looks pretty but fails miserably at doing what its supposed to do, entertain. The challenges are just rushed and just seem pointless. That wind tunnel bit is a joke. Had lunch at Burger King, not really much to comment on there. Headed to Rumba Rapids next, waited 10 minutes for this. Was exactly how I remembered it, not the most impressive of rides and could really do with some touch ups. I did find it quite entertaining albeit not that wet. After Rumba we went and cycled the flats, Detonator, Samurai, Rush and Vortex. Got them done in about an hour an a half. Detonator and Rush were good. Vortex and Samurai however are showing their age and could probably do with replacing, as long as they are actually replaced. After flats we took a ride on X, again something a little new for us. Was an interesting idea, I was almost expecting ID scanners and some bouncers as we walked into the platform area. The 2 per row rule was strange, must be annoying for attendants to enforce. Having operated Black Bucaneer I know how annoying rules like that can be. Still X was actually quite good the lasers and stuff were pretty good and the ride itself now makes for a great family ride. After X we took a look at the queue board to see what we wanted to do next, must say I really do like the branding on these. saw Stealth was 15 minutes so headed to it. Same again really, I really enjoy the launch its great and operations seemed good. After our re ride on stealth we headed over to Colossus which was still posted as 75 minutes, we had a look over the bridge anf noticed the queue came up to the queueline kiosk. We assumed this would be like 45 minutes or so, which it was. Got into the station and the ride got stuck on the lift . initially I assumed someone had got their phone out or something, then I saw the engineers had arrived so expected the worse. Wasn't to bad we got a priority pass for something else and worked to our benefit I also got a geeky look at the transfer track area We used our priority pass at The Swarm avoided a 60 minute queue and got on near the front. Although it was frustrating to see rows going empty because of improper batching and a large bag queue to reclaim property, glad we didn't have any. After The Swarm it was about 4.20 so we decided Saw should be our last ride as Colossus was still down at this point. Headed to saw and it started to rain quite badly, it made what was probably a 40 minute queue about 20 minutes as a lot of people gave up and left. Whilst heading up the lift of Saw I noticed Colossus was cycling, I clocked my watch and noticed it was 4.50 so after saw we made a quick exit and was able to get into a 10 minute queue for Colossus. Colossus was average we got on near the front which if I remember correctly always made for the better ride. Still really rough and if Thorpe Park ever do decide to remove one of the big coaster I can see this one being the first to go. Overall actually had a really good day. IMO has come on leaps and bounds from what I remember, was nice to see full capacity on all the rides other then Colossus (which I assume was because the other train was having issues), I guess that should be expected though. Was also really great to see almost every effect turned on and working. Wasn't too disappointed with not being able to get on Ghost Train, it was however a little annoying Slammer was closed, I really like that ride. One thing I do want to mention is the clientele at Thorpe is awful isn't it? I know there headed in a more family direction the sooner they can get to this the better. The amount of disrespect I saw for staff and property was awful and in no way justified. So yeah top marks Thorpe Park really enjoyed my day, defiantly better then visits I had back in 2009/09 when it wasn't uncommon to expect half the coasters to be closed and 2 hour queues on major rides.

The ride ran 5 cars throughout the start of the season it got back up to 6 by about late April. Then of course The Smiler incident happened. With the dispatches there is a dispatch switch on the control panel, this has 3 settings. 0,1 and 2. Whilst on 0, 7 cars would usally be in operation and the train can be dispatched as the computer reads the last car is half way up the lift, this was never used as it would cause block shut downs almost daily. Setting 1 was for when 6 cars were used and would allow you to send the ride once the computer had read the ride had cleared the lift. Lastly we have setting 2 which from all your reports the ride is probably using now, this will keep a ride from being dispatched until the car has passed the second set of breaks after the lift. The setting is there for helping the operator dispatch the cars so that the timing is right. With 6 cars the ride was barley breaking 300 on 5 cars it was about 200.

Without knowing the complete in and outs of it all, Tomb Blaster is currently down due to major concerns with the fire safety of the building. I'm not sure if it was an internal or external decision but There was always a rumor going round that the thing would go up in flames in about 6 minutes.

The issue arises once the attendant has checked all the bars and sees someone in the last couple of rows with a bag around their neck, resulting in all the bars having to be raised and checked again.

Belive it or not, that is one of the higher throughputs across the park.

When its busy they go up to 50%, I've seen it happen at Rattlesnake aswell.

I think they alternate the trains, one for the exit one for the main queue.