CharlieN

I went on a school trip to Thorpe 2 Monday's ago, and thought I'd share some stuff.. Firstly, operations were awful. I've never seen slower dispatches in a theme park. The Swarm staff had no urgency and were chatting to colleagues all the time - so much so that on one occasion it took 2 minutes for new guests to board the ride after the train entered the station. Secondly, I began to queue for flying fish, but didn't get to ride, because the queue moved so slowly. Bizarrely, quests would only be allowed onto the train once departing riders had completely left the exit path. This was made worse as no one was stationed in the loading bay. What's the point in a loading bay/point if we are held behind a holding point and only allowed to progress when previous riders have completely left the exit? The most inefficient loading procedure I've ever seen on a ride (Although, I'm not a regular Fish rider, so this may just be the protocol.) Finally, KFC. As you can imagine, the amount of school trips correlates with the busyness of KFC - which on this case, was heaving. KFC seemed terribly over staffed, yet understaffed of people who actually new what they were doing. There was one guy who was just standing around, getting in people's way, hindering everything. Too many cooks spoil the broth, eh?! Furthermore, The woman who served me gave me a notably grumpy look when I have her £10 for a meal that cost £5.79. Her grumpiness was presumably because of her apparent inability to work out my change, which I ended up helping her calculate. Bloomin' heck! It wouldn't take a lot for operations and service to be made significantly better. A bit of training is all that's needed, incentives for staff and numbers to reach. No staff member I had contact with seemed to want to get things done quickly - there was no sense that the park were pushing the staff to do this either. Really appalling.

I suppose I ought to add The Great Movie Ride to my list now. Its a great shame how short term WDW confirmed its closure but it just seems/ed like such a me ride. Dang.

Yep, I've seen them and they are gorgeous. Especially the treasure tour, which looks so magical. Also, I had no idea the vehicles had an interactive element to them... blown away. One of the three tours...

Just please don't change the soundtrack...

An exciting World's first attraction... why does this statement completely unexcite me? Answer: The world first crappy celebrity jungle maze.

Here's the direct link to the video on YouTube:

Thorpe are 'heartbroken' about closing a ride that could have easily been repared/improved/maintained? Whatever its replacement will be, better be good - and that's not a second hand children's flat ride with blue fences, Thorpe. (a second hand children's flat ride with with any other colour fences however, would be sufficient )

Yes, true. But the park will also not want to disappoint the enthusiast contingent. It's far from the top of their priorities but I'm sure that they won't lose enthusiasts trust at the sake of a small marketing claim - because, let's face it, the 'SW' branding really only has an affect on enthusiasts. I highly doubt any GP will think 'I really want to come to Alton Towers because the new ride is a secret weapon.' Therefore, judging by the small influence 'SW' has on the marketing of Alton's ride, the park surely wouldn't falsely brand the ride just to get enthusiast hype. Also, I doubt that the ride development process focuses on the 'ground breaking' gimmick and then the SW gets plonked on afterwards. (To me, the mentality engraved into AT is that the new big scale rides are going to have an innovative aspect to them. Teams of designers present rides knowing that they will be unique. I always imagine it's not a 'we'll have a mack mega here', 'a GCI here' but more of a ' we'll create a roller coaster with a track drop' and then manufacturer comes later. Like John Wardley always said, Merlin wanted a killer image and all that other shiz when a ride gets proposed. I imagine it's still somewhat sinilar.)

Boring SW8 construction update: The station's wooden framework's gone up, beams can be seen under where the lifthill will be and there's some track in place in the station. I must admit I'm actually quite excited for this, it does seem that for it live up to its SW8 status, there must be more to meet the eye. https://mobile.twitter.com/TowersStreet/status/871419544245555200

Sounds good and all that, but that means they're losing that ejector airtime! Wasn't it the largest negative g's on a coaster anywhere? crazy tophat>big loop anyday.

Voletarium opened today, and whilst it may not be particularly exciting or innovative, the ride looks stunning and will aid the park's line up. All reviews I've seen have been positive and the queue really does seem fab! Fun, explanatory and incredibly immersive.

Reading for for the win, I guess! I say that purely on the selfish basis that if Huddersfield don't get promoted then Wagner is more likely to leave and become Norwich's next manager. (At least I can dream, but I don't see Uwe Rosler becoming our next manager.)

Why do some members seem to know things regarding this year's fright nights? Some stating the quantity of mazes, others showing knowledge of IP's. Was there a major information spill that I missed or is this just a case of 'my brothers friends work at Thorpe and told me this'?

Oh no.