Fred

Depends if you're unnerved by them or not. They congregate in their hundreds around the towers and literally fill Dark Forest. But they're fine elsewhere, and don't cause you any bother as long as you're fine with letting them to as they wish.

They're not the absolute best, but they get stick cos they're pretty damn awful rides. Give me a ride which provides a fun sensation and has any form of throughput anyday.

19th. But filled with gypsies. 18th will also feature gypsies. Midweek first week is dead though.

Was the queue out the station at all? They run one empty if they're not filling trains (Cos it's hassle loading two trains and not filling), but the second there's a queue on the ramp then they should use two trains - if they weren't doing that then they're in trouble. The Smiler has run 5 trains almost the entire year, apart from the first week of September onwards (same time they removed it from ERT) to prepare for Scarefest. Then an unfortunate issue which led to it being on 3 trains the past weekend. I believe it may well be up to 4 trains now (as the Queue didn't go over 30mins this afternoon according to ride times). Oblivion usually runs a minimum 4 shuttles when on one station, 5 shuttles when doing dual station (up to 6, they have 7 like John says). Thorpe are just utterly useless at everything.

I really flipping hope Merlin brings this to a park. If they completely ignore a Mack Mega (which would be perfect in all their theme parks at the moment) then they've lost the plot.

Only thing which "doesn't work" on sub terra is the water effects downstairs - turned off because it was way too damp down there which would result in huge loads of mould and the lovely themed walls (which you can only see with the houselights on) falling down.

Wouldn't be surprised. It barely went over 600 per day midweek when I worked there.. so a thousand sound about right nowadays.

£10.95 at Towers

Lol I went to Newcastle Upon Tyne when I was 15. From Brighton. Without telling Parents (until like 5 years later). How did I get away with it? Cos I told them the correct time I'd be home. Boom.

Thorpes always interesting how stuck they've been with food wise. Like RMC and Tussauds were like, screw you forward planning!!

Your staff are crap

I imagine it'll be people who dont have a clue how the ride functions that have brought in the rule. Probably saw Samurai having that rule and thought it'd be sensible. Hey ho. Lazier times for the ops there.

Whaaaaat. They lied!! Fair enough, my dreams have been shattered.

Noticed from a Thorpe staff video that the building is very typically... devoid of theming. What happened to all the sexy pirate theming? why can't they make it look nice inside?

Bloody hell Mark, you beat me to it by a minute!!

Never understand why groups moan about splitting but being on same train. It's not like you can speak to them during the ride or anything.

3 adult rule on Rattlesnake. Adults are big butchy blokes.. I think they class people with theme park initials as children when riding Of course, I'm joking. But yeah there's a rule but usually they ensure its proper adults on Rattle not like teens.

I believe Vampire is on 2 trains regardless of busyness now. That's pretty good!

Studio Tour in Florida just feels very dead. When I visited a year ago it closed way before the rest of the park closed. I think it even opened later too. Alongside the also very dead Muppets, and a huge closed off play area.. and then just 'set scenes', the entire area was a constant ghost town. Good they're getting rid, it was crappy.

Arguably the best throughputs on park? Can any rides top Swarms throughputs at thorpe?

It's a load of bollocks though. 15 people would make naff all difference to Rameses, whereas 15 people would make a difference to lightweight samurai. If Rameses sensors trips the first (and only thing) it does is to lock the gondola into position. Then you're stuck anyway. You need power to the ride to bring it down, be it under manual or battery powered. A miniscule amount of people on the ride (or even a full batch) would make no difference if there's no power. If there is power the only thing it'd do is make the battery lowering *slightly* faster. Chessington bringing in ridiculous rules for no reason.

Aww no I want to add to this throughput malarky. X.. has 10 people in a train.. say it is being dispatched once every minute (sounds like thorpe) that gives you a maximum 600. They wouldn't be able to do every 45 seconds to get the 900 required. Swarm is sexy though. Love a good old swarm train.

I wasn't saying it was a bad thing - it's just very wrong to think they're doing it for the benefit of the guests themselves. I personally love it, any quick moving queue is good for me!

Fairgrounds.. legally paying for music or asking for permission? . Tbf it's royalty free music, but they won't have asked for permission.

Ooh I like it, particularly the data over time. That'll become really fascinating once it has a good few months worth of data on it!