Fred

Knew Lightwater was suffering.. turns out they must be going completely down the swanney. Hope all the staff get jobs in Mingo and turn that place around. Although it doesn't have any of the charm that Lightwater has.

That's cos Americans don't have a word for theme park. They call them amusement parks.

At the end of the day, the coasters have it cos you just can't take your bags on (cos it'd be potentially dangerous). Loggers wont injure people carrying bags on so that's why that happens. Most parks make you carry bags on water rides, including Disney and Universal. So shush.

From my experience over 3 days (rather quiet days) Krake is best to do first - the queue just never relented on any occasion whereas I tried to do what you do in Britain (ie, queue for smiler early afternoon or at very end of day). Made no difference. Hotels gorgeous though, by far my favourite Merlin hotel (built by tussauds.. shh).

I doubt she'll be able to do anything - the previous guy has worked under Tussauds Group and I can imagine him not wanting it to be the way it was either!

It's only advertised on the Queue Boards - didn't think anyone paid attention to the ride entrance ones (where you can change them anyway?). Staff ask too. But when they were extending til 7pm the overwhelming majority of queues were 0mins at the 6:30 ride times update. Not to say it was still dead, but shows that people dont tend to stick around.

Why do people think this Horror Pass is bad value? The freedom pass at towers was exactly the same price and sold out. It's obviously aimed at the TP and standard passes market to get more visitation in (as that's what they're struggling with, hence TP season passes and annual passes being stupidly cheap this year!)

Argh you're such a miserable git when it comes to this park or the rides. Poor Bobbhan . Flug sounds to have changed since I rode - the addition of SRQ and Front Row Queue. When I went it was queue to the building which split into 2 lanes (left and right) where a batcher then let 10 of you in each side. The third queue was for Qbot (which wasn't operating). Simple and very very smoothly run. The ride itself judders to hell and also something I didn't enjoy... there's nowhere which feels great... the front row feels like it's being held back constantly and the back row is just juddery judderyness. However it looks visually stunning and I did repeat ride on every seat just to try and see if there was a non-juddery side (there isn't). Park does seem to have budgets cut but its really nicely presented. Looks busy on your day though, colossos out the entrance!!

Poor deal. Also dislike the Horror Pass idea. Towers has removed their Freedom Pass option this year to allow queues to flow more smoothly, this is what thorpe should be doing rather than littering with fastrack (or turn them into paid mazes!)

Unless Fastrack is closed (such as early morning). There's no way they'd block off 4 rows for disabled guests. It'd cause all sorts of issues should the ride shutdown.

Looking forward to revisiting after many years. 8pm is actually worthwhile!

That rock has actually laid there for months - was there last year. The queue was closed due to an issue with a step, but good on TowersStreet for just jumping to conclusions

Anyone remember SAW having to do this every day too?

The shoulders are there PURELY for comfort - hence they dont push them down on empty seats, hence they give them a tap when peoples in them.

I bet you there'll have been a fair few days this month alone where a ride has been down for at least an hour at thorpe. It happens to most parks on a regular basis, just never mentioned.

The incident was easily preventable last year. As for the above "fault" it sounds like a tripped sensor, either being misaligned or a fat guest.

...but but but X No Way Out does smell? It smells LOVELY

I have a childhood phobia of escalators. I use them, but I really dislike them.

You don't know Towers then.. they don't DO one train operations, even on the quietest of days!!

I enjoy this. This is like the "it's meant to look run down" answer. It's meant to look like it was built to look like, not what nature has made it become due to a lack of TLC

There's never any point in getting Gold. But yeah only buy Fastrack if worth it.. it's not really worth it on first week of Scarefest (just get loads of maze tickets!). Fastrack I'd recommend is Silver+ - the 6 coasters for £30 - if you actually wanted to buy Fastrack

I don't think extended opening hours work - they did this til 10pm a few years ago and was completely dead. People are still very much in the mindset of arriving around 11 and leaving around 5-7pm. You would think that if any parks would've grasped how eradicate queues it would be Disney. Yes, they're trialling Standby+ and going mental (see http://www.themeparktourist.com/features/20140815/28078/4-theme-busting-changes-walt-disney-world-should-consider-reversing), however most of their editions are to... improve the queue experience. Or still have people around the queues anyway. Fastpass+ has huge difficulties and this is on same level as Thorpe. Just really don't see it's worth it, reading the other topic and hearing how many staff they're investing in a free system is utterly bonkers!

The thing which, judging from feedback, is the main reason people are enjoying it is because its providing shorter queues than the main queue without having to pay for it. Obviously if people used the system, then the queues would be long, and it'd be great to see the feedback or if it diminishes in the afternoon. Fair play to Thorpe for trialling it though - it'll be more expensive to run staff wise, they have the equipment (unless Accesso is doing everything for free...), and they're doing additional things to try and keep guests entertained. I'd absolutely hate to see what their Fastrack figures are at the moment (and can only imagine Fastrack would reduce in price/increase in allocation if only to maintain the same cashflow). All in all, a very expensive way of improving experience and reducing your margins, when all you really need to do is invest in high capacity rides and then ensure the staff are running these at high capacity without putting bonkers operation rules in there to slow it down. Then suddenly guests have a good day, they enjoy themselves, and it's cost them bugger all really.

Toby - end of september is a great time to visit midweek. Weekends are still quite busy dependant on weather. Timmy - First midweek of Scarefest is fantastic to visit, hugely recommend it. Queues are usually 0mins in the evening too!

Sells out almost every day. That's why it's that price.