streetmagix

I've heard that the test seat 'is coming soon' for exactly that reason. That being said I fitted in just fine, I'm 1.93m and have to use the B&M big seats. I'm at the top click but no issues, I've seen people much smaller than me have major issues so, as suspected, it's the sensors having issues.

I maybe could see Pleasure Beach moving to a US/Cedar Fair style opening times. May-October Weekends only (plus bank and school holidays) with Mon-Fri openings during the height of summer only. In essence scrapping off peak days but opening all day during peak days. I think this is kind of what Thorpe are doing with their late openings during summer. It would be such a shame though, those off peak days are great for people like us but if there's less than say 5000 people on park are they even turning a profit?

I started writing a reply but it spiraled out of control and I ended up writing it on Medium instead. I've dived into their Annual Filings to Companies House to see what their financials have looked like since 1987. https://medium.com/@simon.stirrat/blackpool-pleasure-beach-financial-health-f0f8be8a4b4f In short: Blackpool do have financial issues, a high debt level and seem to rely on new investments to produce profit. They've improved a lot over the years though, it also shows just how much Valhalla and Pleasureland Southport affected the company.

They did the stealth 'open later than planned' thing at Alton Towers on Thursday due to poor ride availability. Maybe it's a Merlin thing? Shame to hear about more 1 train operation though, especially with the brilliant weather recently.

It could be that Big Dipper, Pleasure Beach Express and Grand Prix need to be closed due to ICON work? They are all in that area of the park right? (I don't know the layout that well)

I was under the assumption that Europa doesn't have any form of RAP, I've never seen anyone entering the ride from the exit ever. I agree the RAP situation has gotten a little out of hand. I think Merlin have tried to tighten up the RAP system in the last year or so, this has caused more issues as people who were entitled are now not. There's a lot of animosity on both sides too. As a general point I do wish Merlin would upgrade and standardise their IT infrastructure. So much of what happens at ticket booths or guest services could be achieved with better web services. 2 for 1, fast track, RAP, digipass could be done remotely leaving guest services for complaints and any oblique requests.

Depends on how big the suitcase is really, there are lockers that *may* be able to take a standard BA/Easyjet/Ryanair hand luggage suitcase. A better bet would probably to store it at one of the London Terminus stations, most of them have secure left luggage facilities although they can get a bit pricey. https://www.left-baggage.co.uk/en/locations then select 'Stations'

I don't know if this has been spotted before but on the page for Summer Lates it looks like Annual Pass Holders will need to pay £10 on Fridays and Saturdays, Thursday will be 'free'. The ticket link just shows the normal tickets currently. I assume it'll be like Fright Nights, extra for Standard and included for Premium pass holders? https://www.thorpepark.com/events/summer-lates

I believe the train front you see in the mid section is still the same one that races towards you, it's just static now. I guess whatever mechanism they designed for it just couldn't handle the load. Assuming that the scene runs every 5 minutes (3 trains, each cycle runs for 15 minutes), the mechanism would have to operate 84 times in a 7 hour day. I do hope to see it back, maybe once they;ve resolved the other issues they might revisit it. Rather than double post I'll post my current thoughts on DBGT V2.5

I've seen the 'member of the public is actually an actor' thing done a couple of times and honestly, it's something really special if it's done right. The issue is having enough actors to fill one seat in each train. Also they would need to queue otherwise people would twig pretty quickly.

Wow, that sounds really bad. Things will be even worse this weekend for Easter. It's admirable that Alton Towers are putting Wickerman on ERT but there seems to be no fall back plan. New rides have teething issues, it's a simple fact of life. If, say, Oblivion was also on ERT that would at least that would give people something to do. Hopefully some of this is resolved soon, most are operational changes should they shouldn't be too hard to implement. They wouldn't be free though...

Worth looking at bpay if you don't have a debit card. Uses the same tech as contactless card but you top it up like an Oyster card: https://www.bpay.co.uk/ . I've bought a wristband to try out next time I'm at Thorpe, it should mean I can safely leave my wallet in my bag/in a locker. I'll report back in a few weeks saying how well it works. It would be nice if Thorpe/Merlin had their own branded contactless payment system powered by the same technology though. How cool would it be to integrate entry tickets, fast track, digipass and payments into one card/wristband? Chances of it happening are slim/nil though.

Looks like they might be closing the resort and canceling passholders day. Considering the forecast it's probably for the best.

I always saw the Baggage Holds as the 'least worst option'. Better than lockers outside the queue, more secure and quicker than cages on the platform. Safer than taking things on the rides.

The biggest issues I saw with The Smiler was not allowing enough people up the stairs to fill the trains, I've even seen platform staff get pretty angry as they had run out of people to batch! Not strictly a bag hold issue but still. As much as I dislike the Universal system it is the safest option, at least give us the option of lockers near the start of the queue. As it stands the nearest lockers are by the park entrance(?) Assuming they're working of course.

As far as I know the lockers by the entrance didn't work at all last season, guest services got pretty shirty when I complained. Said I could use the ones by Galactica instead.... When they work though I really like them, being able to nip back and drop off/pick up things instead of carrying them around all day was very useful. No worries about losing your key either.

They did some work on the multicoloured exit stairs and some of the station last closed season I think. A quick once over with a pressure washer and some work on the drainage would go a long way to getting it back to a decent standard. I'm gutted pretty much all the SRQs are now gone, it seems very short sighted and I would not feel comfortable leaving my bag in the cage when all the trains are running.

The biggest issues (I think anyway) that people have with THE SWARM is the imposing wing over drop and the lack of floor/ceiling. I recommend sitting towards the back of the train, then you don't have much hangtime on the wingover. As the trains are so long you can see the front of the train taking the elements so there won't be any surprises. SWARM isn't that intense, less intense than SAW and far less intense than Inferno. SWARM speeds up during the season, at the start of the season the zero g roll actually feels like a zero g roll and not a corkscrew. Worth trying the test seat, it'll show you how snug you are and how much support the restraight gives you. (missed the boat on this one! Still, hope you overcome your fear. I adore SWARM, hope you'll enjoy it too)

Shambahla was my first B&M Hyper and it blew me away. It's not without it's flaws though, the weird seating arrangement, and the really tight clamshells kill it for me. I'm tall and big but Shambahla is the only coaster I've done the 'walk of shame' from. No big seats like Silver Star, Mako ones don't need to be pulled down as tightly. Dragon Khan is rough bit amazing. I really enjoy Stampida (sue me!) The rest of the park is a bit meh really. Never experienced bad operations myself but I've only been on quieter days.

I'm on Vodafone and the signal was nice and strong. Which network is the transmitter for? I can't see it listed in that article. Good for the local town too I guess.

From memory only Infusion and Revolution has 'Over the Shoulder Restraints', everything else has a lapbar and/or a seatbelt. Infusion was fairly tight from memory though, no test seat and no big seats which isn't great. Revolution was fairly forgiving but again, no big seats or test seats. Sky Force and the Shot Tower also have 'Over the Shoulder Restraints'. Sky Force has a big seat (position 8?) but the shot tower doesn't. Both are quite tight though. Sky Force required a good hard shove by one of the bigger ride ops to lock correctly. I found all the lapbars/seatbelts to be pretty forgiving when I was last there. Not once did an operator have to push down or adjust the bar apart from the normal check. ICON will also have a lapbar, I found it better to push up / stand up a bit so the 'bar' sits closer to my waist.

The new kiddies rides were dumped there because Merlin owned them and they needed to put them somewhere. Chessington is tight on space, they wouldn't fit in Legoland and Alton Towers has Cbeebies land so really it was Thorpe, storing them or selling them for £7.50. The fact they didn't really promote them doesn't really matter, I doubt Thorpe really wanted them to be honest. But, if someone else (Merlin) is paying for installation, branding and training etc .... I'm not the biggest fan of TWD but I approve of the direction they are headed. Year round scare attractions don't really work but really, they are just opening them during their busiest times to soak up the crowds. Also the TWD license would not have been cheap. Whilst it's sad we're probably losing X for the time being it's better than SWARM being turned into a VR coaster or Nemesis Inferno being run backwards.

The fact it was SBNO since September (?) probably shows it just wasn't safe to operate anymore. It's not like EuroSat where they knew months in advance and could organise last rides, publicity and merchandise. It's a real shame it's gone and, really, Pleasure Beach should have handled the announcement much better. A properly worded statement, a nice farewell video (ala Eurosat) etc would have gone a long way for many people. As I said in another thread: British Parks just don't seem to 'get' PR. See this as well as Alton Towers opening times debacle. It's a shambles really.

'Some people just like to watch the world burn'

The thing is: we haven't actually had a press release and Alton Towers social media has said very little. All the information has come from people checking the website and writing reports on it. It took them what, over a day to confirm that the website was wrong? This isn't a PR exercise, it's too much of a shambles for that. The message hasn't been controlled in the slightest.