streetmagix

That's most unlike Merlin to cut back on staff shortly after a ride/attraction opens.

Jeez guys, this is one echo chamber full of negativity - talk about "love us, hate Merlin" sometimes.
 
So, no. Bouncezilla isn't a multi-million pound rollercoaster or flat ride. No it isn't an immersive dark ride. No it isn't long term. It is as every bit garish, loud and obnoxious as it suggests. It actually does what it does well and although the location isn't perfect, it's something different to do in the park (along with GameFX and the Lunar cinema too). At the moment, there are lots of rides and games stalls, but very few attractions or experiences. So, it's nice that Thorpe are exploring the possibility of things outside of rides. It's just a shame that some people interpret this as cheap, low effort and poorly thought out. Ultimately, this seems to be popular with the public and I guess that matters more to Thorpe than some die-hard forum keyboard warriors out to criticise every aspect of the park and Merlin. People seem too willing to pick them apart for every tiny detail not to their taste, but seem to be unwilling to recognise when they do well or congratulate them for at least trying something new.
 
Given that DBGT and The Swarm didn't generate the ROI they had hoped for, allowing Thorpe to explore other aspects of their park and guest profile is actually wise. But of course, Thorpe could build an RMC to rival Steel Vengeance or a Hyper that would challenge Hyperion and they would still rubbish it "because it is Thorpe".

Blimey.
 
*Books visit to Phantasialand*

There's good reason people are against Alton Towers new pods. Looking at it purely in comparison to what Premier Inn are planning -
 
Premier Inn:
- Designed by PriestmanGoode
- twin beds that can be pushed together to create a double
- a bathroom with power shower
- free wifi
- a TV
- power sockets
- air conditioning
From £19 a night
 
Alton Towers:
- Bare Pinewood "minimalistic theming"
- fixed twin beds & small double taking up most floorspace
- free wifi
- power sockets
- convection heater
- Shared bathroom facilities a short walk away in "pod camp"
- Breakfast bap
(Currently free mini golf offer)
From £88 a night off peak
 
Purely on value for money, Premier Inn's luxury pods wipes the floor over Alton Towers pods.

I have...
 
But of course, you'd never get anything wrong. ?

Would have thought you of all people would have realised a sarcastic post when it's slapped across your face. Clearly not.

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.

"It's better than nothing" ©️Merlin Entertainments

You're probably being sarcastic but I've just tweeted them
 
Now we wait.

They're still getting hammered on Tripadvisor (I'm aware that people are more likely to complain than praise), things will only get worse as the school trip and summer holidays arrive.
 
Honestly: the next few years could be golden for Thorpe. The late opens have been a success, cheap annual passes and the park is looking better than last year. They just need to quicken the operations, either reopen or remove the SBNO rides and make Project 2020 a success.

But there's a pop badge. Everyone loves those. In years to come, after Brexit has gone through and the apocalypse has arrived, people will trade goods and services for small circular plastic discs with a poorly fixed cheap sticker in the middle, and our saviour Mrs. T will overthrow the queen.

IT LIVES
 
https://www.facebook.com/BiuroPodrozyAlicja/videos/2776515639031593/

I would say it's way more intense than it looks. Really nice airtime, good laterals and a relentless pace. I did however ride it at the end of a hot, sunny day. If it takes a while to warm up then I probably rode it at the best time. Honestly, I was expecting not much from Wicker Man but it's probably my favourite ride at Alton Towers now.

They opened DBGT just a few minutes before close, so kudos to them. 
 
 

I was there for a few hours this past Saturday for their late opening. Apart from some people who couldn't handle their drink (seriously? It must have cost you a fortune to get drunk at Thorpe) the atmosphere was great, queues were pretty quiet from around 2000 onwards and the staff seemed pretty happy. They are all paid by the hour I believe so they'll all get a couple of extra quid in their pocket at the end of the month.
 
I really do see the future at Thorpe of being open longer but on fewer days. They still need to sort out ride availability though, when I arrived at around 1930 DBGT, The Walking Dead and both of the B&Ms were down. I don't think DBGT:HGVFHBGIFBIF reopened at all, the 2 B&Ms and Walking Dead did though and SWARM was flying!

Also to note is how the rapids restriction board states there's "no eating or drinking in the queue" despite the fact that there are vending machines towards the front! What a pickle we are in.

I'm sure it will be fine, all the VIP MAP's will be in their hospitality crèche anyway.

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.

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.

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
 
 

Hopefully a sign of things to come but park ops were good today - relatively quiet but coasters (apart from Colosuss) all running 2 trains - hope it continues.

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.

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. 

My my my, you guys, you made me swim back with your comments! Okay. So. Things to consider, some has been touched upon.
 
New director of Thorpe in the last year or two, so that brings a new opinion, view and strategy of the direction they want the park to go into.
 
Comparing this to DBGT is a bit stupid to be frank. Okay it’s opening year wasn’t great, and then, the creative team seemed to change slightly (I'm not speaking any names in my posts) and suddenly the experience was significantly improved. It’s the same team behind this, and to be honest from a theming and concept side, following on from DBGTROTD and Living Nightmare I think this could be a pretty well thought out and produced project, despite the IP/horror/height restriction change.
 
Someone touched upon Old Town kids rides and Slammer. Firstly, the Old Town rides were in Weymouth Sealife. Why put them into storage if they can be put into an area. Without them that corner of Thorpe would be Rocky on its own. And Slammer, well it’s still standing. It might not be set to run again, but we don’t know what’s happening there; let’s be honest.
 
Someone touched on budgets. Yep. Bang on. Merlin’s had a tough year in the UK and yes, as many know anyway, LEGOLAND parks and midways are where the money is. Hence why they’ve not bought or opened any theme parks without a brand. Even the rumours of SeaWorld/Busch have an element of brand identity within their sale. The company has spent a lot of time growing Heide Park and Gardaland to push them in their local rankings; and has invested as needed into the UK parks as they’ve gone along (Thirteen, Smiler, Wicker Man, Swarm, DBGT...) unfortunately there’s gonna be a cross of budgets. Thorpe is doing satisfactory for the company so much like CWOA and LEGOLAND the money is invested at present at Towers to try and regain footfall.
 
And finally, bearing in mind people know full well where I stand on TWD (even the mazes) TWD did unfortunately do amazingly well last Fright Nights. And whilst people look at this year as ‘X Retheme’ to the general public it’s the year of TWDTR, SAW: Alive, Late Nights etc. It may be a small investment but my god, they’ve been clever. To a paying customer there is basically the Fright Nights appeal (to a degree) for most of the year with the 10pm closes and scare mazes.
 
I think don’t knock it until you try it. And even then just be patient. There’s a lot more behind the scenes than ANYBODY could truly understand I’m sure that swings these decisions; and have trust in each individual that they want the best for the park the same we do. And for the love of god just try and be polite. Positive criticisms and all that; as these teams work damn behind the scenes I bet to bring things like this to reality; it’s not REALLY fair for people to rip it to shreds before they’ve even physically seen the entrance, let alone ridden it.
 
Flipper, out.
 
PS Flying Fish is a family ride. Could suit a non-rider parent, a disabled adult, a young child. You can’t tarnish it as a ‘baby ride’ when actually it can cater to many more than you may initially think.