tomglazed

I haven't been on the new X so I can't comment on the loudness but maybe it is at the max it can go for sound insulation reasons? After all, X is pretty much just a tin pyramid, if you play loud booming music inside it would likely be heard outside especially by Colossus.

Not to mention weren't both Rush & Slammer both technically bought as "prototype" rides? I know Rush was but unsure about Slammer. If it was, that would certainly give S&S a lot of coverage in contract terms.

I definitely agree with what your saying but you have to remember that, whilst one train op does mean having staff being less busy therefore not using them to their full capacity, it does mean that they do save money on the maintenance side of the house. Some roller coasters go through wheels like they are going out of fashion and they aren't cheap (not to mention all the other parts which require replacement from time to time) so I understand why they do run one train op on the dead days. Busy days is a whole other case obviously. I do however think, if a ride is on one train op meaning staff do end up with more time on their hands, that is a perfect opportunity for guest interaction. Asking how their day is going, what their favourite ride is etc.

I'd equally like to see what they do with the prospect of new areas. Atleast I hope they have new defined areas considering lost city has always had a very patchwork theme but now you have a rave ride there...

I would agree. It is unfortunate that in order to be in the flying position, it's necessary to have far more substantial restraints. But with wing riders being far more traditional seats just placed out wards, it gives the feel of being far more open. I guess B&M have just given their customers a choice of roller coaster which could accomplish a flight themed ride.

I was going to say, they equally worked with Six Flags on one of their Batman rides to turn around some rows of their seats. It's sounds almost like an after market modification they are offering. Wouldn't say no to reversing the rear row on all the Oblivion shuttle...

Whilst the ride remains economically viable to run in the eyes of the park then they will keep it. I understand the ride hasn't been breaking down anymore than usual recently but I would be very surprised if the words "Shall we bother keeping this ride?" have not passed the lips of Thorpe or Merlin management at some point, especially during the extensive downtime it had where signage was removed.

Well I guess with X going forward from this year onwards, clearly Thorpe couldn't just go cold turkey and let go of the backwards gimmick straight away. Thats in no way an informed opinion as I rarely get the time to go to Thorpe but from what I've seen it hasn't done much to add to the ride experience. If I'm honest, it sounds quite nauseating to say the least, no reports of excessive vomitting yet?

Definitely. I get that there have been setbacks with weather and all sorts of things but the second track wasn't even fully complete yet and they announced there will still aiming for a late May opening? I lost faith that very second. I don't know if I'm the only one that thinks that I'd rather them delay the opening and announce that way beginning of this year and say it'll be ready for Summer and then have soft openings and maybe open it early thereby exceeding guest expectations than under delivering in what appears to be a complete press shambles so far. I mean on top of the delayed opening, I remember watching the news segment on Smiler and they said it had opened when it hadn't yet. I get that that could well be a fault of the News network but its just been a calamity with press in the run up to opening to say the least.

Wow, still all sounds positive. This has probably been said before but personally I am still pleasantly surprised the lengths to which Thorpe have gone to give X a new lease of life. It had been crying out for something significant for a while, or at least something more than the improvements they made a few years back. To see that they have actually gone to the lengths of substantial work on the trains and now the re-programming of the ride. I gotta say, hats of to Thorpe on this one. I think I've seen for a while ideas people bouncing around of actually doing away with the dark theme and putting in lights so it is good to finally see this realised. I think one of the best things they have done really with respect to it's other rides is Thorpe have finally taken it out of it's top thrill category. For years having X in the same category as Stealth and Swarm was very much doing the other rides a disservice. On a different note, I'm glad Thorpe have pretty much done away with the zones. I mean a rave ride in the middle of a lost city? I think that would speak for itself; those mayans/aztecs/which ever time period really know how to party clearly

Only hope will be that they paint it at some point, however with the delays already, they probably have bigger fish to fry in order to get the damn thing open. I mean close to or on it's due opening date they were lifting trains onto and off track, come on now.

Would certainly be interesting to see a POV of X without the stops at the blocks. If I'm visualising it right and it takes it at the usual speed with little to no slow down could you be getting very small bits of airtime coming off the blocks, especially off the first one? Probably being very optimistic here.

What an advert indeed, controversial considering you should really be keeping your shoes on to ride...

It might have changed but last time I looked there was some form of machinery, old bits of train and other stuff that I couldn't make out.

Thorpe wouldn't remove the pyramid. It is after all the park's giant closet for odd bits and bobs. There is quite the assortment of stuff strewn in there. Think of X as the space beneath your bed where you cram stuff to make your bedroom look tidy

Its good that they are adding to the theming but never in a million years did I think that a mangled billboard was going to even be publicised as a "new addition" for 2013. It just makes them sound like they are really clutching at straws here... I mean really they added a new water pump fountain (which didn't last long) onto Rumba Rapids, where was the "new for this season" advertising for that? And then when they changed the Vortex restraints to blue; such missed advertising revenue there

Looking back at the past posts, I'm hedging my bets on X No Way Out having something done to it. Not feeling this whole "turn the rear rows of Swarm backwards" thing at all. I don't even think it'd be that simple of a task because it isn't just the trains which can be turned round row by row (relatively easy) but the chassis would need minor modifications for the simple fact that the hooks and anti roll backs may need to be swapped round so that they can still engage properly with the lift chain; if not then the hooks won't hook into the chain and you'll get a brilliant ride where the train will just sit at the bottom of the lift hill... Literally just of the top of my head I have been thinking about the "sting being in the tail" clue and maybe X could become themed around feeling like you have been poisoned by the Swarm.

It really would be cool if the cost of doing this retrofit was reasonably low compared to buying a whole new flat. If it is relatively low then all we can hope is that is considered during a lower investment year. Realistically though, when has Thorpe ever done anything so radical to their rides? Unless then change could be advertised as and enough could be generated, I can't see it happening.

My guess it would be quite a pricey retro fit but it would be so worth it. Feeling so vulnerable and being able to see everyone's faces; it would be awesome.

I see what you mean but adding the chart music is really just an angle which Thorpe have explored in order to make queue lines less of a dull experience for the GP. The park so still want to differentiate themselves from just being a static funfair and I feel putting bulb lights all over the show like funfair rides would be a step too far. Maybe adding smaller programmable LED's somewhere on the main arms or back of the seats would look rather good? Improvements for Vortex I would like to see are: Start spinning as soon as possible during floor lowering: enable a slight increase in capacity with being able to squeeze more rides in per hour. Increase the spin speed: The spin speed seems to vary a lot, sometimes it is slow sometimes it is faster; are they deliberately not running it faster in order to reduce wear and tear?

Am I the only one who feels that trusting Thorpe Park with a decent dark ride is like giving a a toddler an ice figure? The thing is more than likely to fall to pieces before we know it. I'd really want to be proved wrong if they did get one but you can guarantee that there will be some elements which will work for the first season only to never be seen again; until a few years down the line when they do a spruce up and add some new stuff and have the potential to market it as an "improved experience".

I think we can for certain say that there will be noting brand new for 2013, most we can hope for is an X spurce up but this has been asked for every closed season, even the closed season after it did indeed receive some work. If anything "new" does happen for 2013, I really hope they move XNWO down to the Thrilling and Fun rating because having it as Extreme Thrill really does make a mockery of the other rides which have that rating. Rating XNWO as the same as Stealth, Detonator, Slammer or Swarm?... You get the point.

I realise this. I was more pertaining towards having a specific row (either front or back) where all the cars have cameras for that row only and having some sort of signage where by people know that they can be filmed on that row of each car; no special new queue has to be setup for the purpose. The current setup is the same as having an on ride photo camera which only manages to take photos of every other row of seats; people come off thinking that they had a picture taken when in fact they haven't.

I know I haven't been to Thorpe as much but on the times I have been I haven't seen the systems in such a state to say they barely even work. Even if the PicSolve system needs improving, there are other providers of the technology out there. CDride do all of Canada Wonderland. Even if Thorpe do have some kind of exclusivity deal with PicSolve then they could at least use other providers as leverage to say "hey, we want this, better systems are out there which we could use so sort your systems out." And on the topic of Saw only having select cars active, I think that really does need a better approach as I have heard numerous people come off the ride to see they were not filmed as their entire car was not active. A solution I thought they could do is remove all cameras from the back rows and have only the front rows on every car fitted with cameras; having signs up telling riders if they want to be filmed then queue for the front row of the car. Or maybe even just have the back rows fitted with cameras so the back row is made more appealing.

I definitely agree with you but unfortunately past experience has shown that Thorpe clearly are not singing to that song sheet. As I've posted somewhere else, Thorpe appear to be all about building new rides and then maintaining them in the most cost effective and safe manner; nothing that really goes above and beyond their duty to keep their rides available as much as possible. Unless they are explicitly mandated by the manufacturer to (for example) repaint the ride every so often for safety or even increase the ride's lifespan then I'm sure they would do it. But on the topic of the next new ride, I really do think the next big thing should have a pure focus on airtime. From my view, I think Thorpe already have every other coaster trick covered: Inversions: Colossus, Inferno, Saw, Swarm Inverted: Inferno Launch: Stealth Wingrider: Swarm Backwards: XNWO Vertical: Saw and Stealth Family: Flying Fish With all those rides covering a lot of existing bases, the only base which I see isn't covered properly is airtime; a ride dedicated to ticking that box, and doing it well. We've got some positive G-force monsters at Thorpe, I think the negative G's now need some love.