ben199

Not once did D.M.K mention crowds or the park being busy as a source of disappointment. All the issues raised were operational and customer services ones completely in the parks control.

Not once did D.M.K mention crowds or the park being busy as a source of disappointment. All the issues raised were operational and customer services ones completely in the parks control.

Not once did D.M.K mention crowds or the park being busy as a source of disappointment. All the issues raised were operational and customer services ones completely in the parks control.

Not once did D.M.K mention crowds or the park being busy as a source of disappointment. All the issues raised were operational and customer services ones completely in the parks control.

Not once did D.M.K mention crowds or the park being busy as a source of disappointment. All the issues raised were operational and customer services ones completely in the parks control.

Not once did D.M.K mention crowds or the park being busy as a source of disappointment. All the issues raised were operational and customer services ones completely in the parks control.

Not once did D.M.K mention crowds or the park being busy as a source of disappointment. All the issues raised were operational and customer services ones completely in the parks control.

What a car crash of a thread.

What a car crash of a thread.

I went last week, it's 2.60€ each way and you pay the driver. You can find the times on the DB Navigator app.

What a car crash of a thread.

What a car crash of a thread.

What a car crash of a thread.

What a car crash of a thread.

Another excellent post @Marhelorpe.
 
It's a bit of a "hot potato" to discuss but it's clear the system is broken and/or being abused/flouted beyond what it was intended for - that group of TWENTY people on one pass being a perfect case in point.
 
I understand people have needs and reasons, but I can't help but think the popularity of the internet and therefore awareness of RAP's on groups such as the MAP group means they are being abused for the very slightest reasons purely to maximise the number of rides and minimise the queuing time vs. non RAP users.
 
It wouldn't surprise me if Merlin are scared to refuse a RAP to a guest for fear of reprisals on social media, the press etc. which is a sorry state of affairs but that sums up the grabbing, want-want-want and superiority complex that an increasing number of the population seem to have. Did someone say VIP MAP lanyard? *cough*

After visiting the park last Saturday on the 29th September leading up to Fright Nights, I feel now is a good time to voice some big concerns I have with the way several rides are being operated not just across Thorpe, but other Merlin parks such as Alton and Chessington. This problem has been getting worse and worse as 2018 has progressed and up until the start of 2017, this was never an issue before until now. But last Saturday demonstrated this system has now gone too far, and this is regarding the use of priority or disabled passes by guests. 
 
Now, I understand this may be a discussion which can be quite sensitive to some readers and I am not criticising or demeaning those who use these passes that have a genuine disability, but I am going to pick at the way the parks manage this system because it has reached boiling point after my experience last weekend and here's why with some examples I've experienced this year and indeed last weekend. Used spoiler tags for each example to keep this post shorter:

(Saturday 29th September - Colossus) 
 
(August Bank Holiday - Th13teen)
 
(Every visit in 2018 - Derren Brown's Ghost Train)
 
(September 2018 - Vampire)
 
(Opening day 2018 - Wicker Man)
 
Before 2017, this system never really posed any problems or frustrations in the past at any of the Merlin parks, but every time I visit any of the parks now, the number of people I am seeing using these ride access passes has increased dramatically, so much so that in most cases, they are in fact longer than the Fastrack queues and this poses a huge problem. All the main queues for every ride across every park are moving so slowly now that it makes Spinball Whizzer's queue look like nothing these days. What should be short & quick queues on quiet days are now doubling in length for the most part across the majority of rides at Thorpe, and I have noticed this on every visit I have made this year.

Staff on most attractions are allocating far more seats to those with a priority/disabled pass to the point where as highlighted with Colossus above, they are now filling entire trains of these people in order to keep the length of them down. With Fright Nights soon approaching where queues will hit their maximum lengths, I am deeply worried many attractions are going to have some horrendous queueing experiences for guests not only in the main queue, but also the disabled and Fastrack ones where they will need to also wait longer because of the quantity of people that are now using these passes.

I'm unsure what solution I can suggest to prevent this getting further out of control, but this needs to be brought to attention because the situation is getting worse and worse every visit I make and nobody else is talking about this ever-growing problem shockingly. I need to be careful with how I word this, but something needs to change with the allocation of these passes because right now, I am seeing the disabled entrance as nothing more than just another Fastrack queue given many people through my eyes don't look like they have a disability. And for those with a genuine disability such as being in a wheelchair, I find this incredibly unfair for them, just like the father at the example with Th13teen I mentioned above.

I can only ever dream of a queue system similar to the likes of Phantasialand and Europa Park, but understand this will never happen sadly. As it stands, not one of the three queues at Merlin parks is a win for guests, so something needs to change to keep this from degrading and getting worse.

I mean, it sounds like more filler (parkwide stuff) and less actual proper mazes?  Like, they haven't had to build up any proper mazes this year, it seems like they're taking the route of do less, but in a way that makes it marketable as more (but even then it's being twisted grossly, 6 mazes when they're just not).
 
More parkwide stuff is good but not at the expense of actual mazes, especially TBT which was arguably the most popular in recent years and set to become the new "staple" attraction - as Asylum was for many years.
 
Sure it's great if you like TWD, but I'm not in that camp so there'a very little that actually appeals to me.

If the rumoured line up of Saw, Living Nightmare, Blair Witch, Santum and Platform 15 is true then why should anyone be excited? Admittedly Sanctum is a rumour but it's looking like the ratio of indoor mazes to outdoor mazes is about 50/50 so for what reason are you so optimistic?

If the rumoured line up of Saw, Living Nightmare, Blair Witch, Santum and Platform 15 is true then why should anyone be excited? Admittedly Sanctum is a rumour but it's looking like the ratio of indoor mazes to outdoor mazes is about 50/50 so for what reason are you so optimistic?

If the rumoured line up of Saw, Living Nightmare, Blair Witch, Santum and Platform 15 is true then why should anyone be excited? Admittedly Sanctum is a rumour but it's looking like the ratio of indoor mazes to outdoor mazes is about 50/50 so for what reason are you so optimistic?

Looks like we're heading towards 3/6 of the mazes being outdoors. Really disappointing if so.

I was there Thursday evening from 7:00 and I was a bit disappointed too. I was so excited for Living Nightmare but it was closed the whole time. If it closes early why can't Thorpe say so on the website or queue time app? I would have gone to the park a few hours earlier if I had known it would shut at six. Same with the rapids, tried at about 8:30 and it was closed, why not put a big sign at the entrance saying 'Ride closes at dusk' or say so on the app?

Operations were alright, two trains on everything but Swarm and around a ten minute queue for the main coasters from 8:00. Swarm was a different story though, only one train and I must have waited 5-6 cycles before I boarded, wasn't pleased with that.

I went in with the expectation it would be just like Summer Nights plus a horror maze and it didn't live up to that. Stealth being closed all evening didn't help either but I get that these things happen.

It just always strikes me as odd that when one park does something well, it always has to be justified further by saying "Well, it's better than this". 
 
You don't watch a great film, say it's great, then say "and it was better than a rubbish film". Yet it seems almost normal to do that with theme parks. 
 
I just don't get it.

If you think more people riding obscure coasters is somehow a threat to your ego and status as an enthusiast then that's ok, I think it's an odd reaction but if that's how you feel then that's how you feel. That doesn't offend me.

However you definitely were condescending in that original post. There's a fair chance you're the only one on this forum who's been on both an Aquatrax and a tilt coaster so to say that everyone who's not you is part of the 'unwashed masses' is a bit rude and condescending and I think that's worth calling out.

Not until Jart appears to say otherwise.