June 5, 201411 yr comment_184949 The 7pm starts might just be for when the park closes at 6 in July, maybe they will revert back to 7:30 when they reach the August dates.
June 5, 201411 yr comment_184950 Closing at 10 pm isn't really a "night" event. They just about got away with it at 10:30 pm IMO, but I can't justify paying for it when other parks (eg Oakwood) stay open until 10 pm free of charge, plus there are fireworks and a dive show and all rides stay open!)
June 5, 201411 yr comment_184951 They charge because they "limit" the amount of tickets sold. No idea what this limit is but judging by the last summer night its about 10,000 people. Ok 10,000 may be an exaggeration but for what was meant to be queue less was more 20 minute waits. I would have complained if guest services were open.
June 5, 201411 yr comment_184952 They charge because they "limit" the amount of tickets sold. No idea what this limit is but judging by the last summer night its about 10,000 people. Ok 10,000 may be an exaggeration but for what was meant to be queue less was more 20 minute waits. I would have complained if guest services were open. Agreed, plus I had to wait about an hour to get in (which took a good 45 minutes off the three hours we should have had). Why not open until 10pm with discounted tickets after a certain time?
June 5, 201411 yr comment_184953 There's clearly not enough demand for the park to open until 10pm during summer. It would be nice if the trialled it sometime again in the near future, but in the past, it just hasn't worked out. Okay, some parks like Oakwood stay open until 10pm, but Oakwood is a very different to Thorpe, for example, with a much different location, market and aim. Summer Nights became more popular as time progressed; no doubt this was due to word of mouth. The earlier events were literally dead, no queues and just what they advertised. They'll have improved from last year and will get the right number of staff giving tickets out and ensure that queues are absolutely minimal. I don't see any problem with paying a small fee to get next-to-no queues. Yes, there were a couple of nights when it didn't work out, but Thorpe will have learnt from these mistakes and make sure it doesn't happen again.
June 5, 201411 yr comment_184954 Yeah same, we waited about 30 minutes to get in, if we hadn't been there the whole day we probably would have been waiting longer. I know that some people towards the back of that queue were waiting way over an hour. With that many people whey should have just added more trains.
June 5, 201411 yr comment_184956 I don't think it will be a payed attraction to be honest, most wave riders you get 1 go at time and the max you get is 1 minute plus most people fall off within 5 seconds Usually you'd stay much longer as far as I know a good 10-15 mins atleast.
June 5, 201411 yr Author comment_184957 Usually you'd stay much longer as far as I know a good 10-15 mins atleast. They have like a clock on them which has a countdown
June 5, 201411 yr comment_184959 They have like a clock on them which has a countdown I know that but I'd expect for the time on there would be more then just a minute tbh
June 5, 201411 yr comment_184961 Yeah same, we waited about 30 minutes to get in, if we hadn't been there the whole day we probably would have been waiting longer. I know that some people towards the back of that queue were waiting way over an hour. With that many people whey should have just added more trains. That was what hacked me off! Every coaster was on one train with queues, yet it was advertised as no queues! If they had left the second trains on (or added them once they had realised that overselling tickets for a no queue event will cause queues to form) then there wouldn't have been many queues!
June 5, 201411 yr comment_184963 That was what hacked me off! Every coaster was on one train with queues, yet it was advertised as no queues! If they had left the second trains on (or added them once they had realised that overselling tickets for a no queue event will cause queues to form) then there wouldn't have been many queues! I went to all but one event and didn't queue more than 5 mins, intact I even remember being the only person on Colossus and Inferno for a good few rides!
June 5, 201411 yr comment_184964 For the most part, 2 trains on the major coasters wasn't needed. The events I went to, the was no queue for any of the coasters with one train on them. Having two trains would have probably been an unnecessary expense on the whole and been a bit pointless. Granted, on the one or two nights that there were queues, it would have been nice to have extra trains, but there may have been reasons this was not possible (maintenance, budget, etc.). On the whole, I don't think it's totally fair to judge an event (in its debut experience) on one bad night!
June 5, 201411 yr comment_184966 That was what hacked me off! Every coaster was on one train with queues, yet it was advertised as no queues! If they had left the second trains on (or added them once they had realised that overselling tickets for a no queue event will cause queues to form) then there wouldn't have been many queues! Saw had no queues because it was left on full capacity as some of the main day queue was still there when summer night started. So that's where I stayed for the night. I didn't really mind as I had been to 2 of them before and was there all day but on the previous 2 the swarm always had a wait of about 15 minutes. Stealth always had a bit of a queue a X was always empty, even on that last night. Something which I did notice is that Storm Surge developed quite a problem of not enough riders. And if you got on you would be stuck on until they dispatched the next boats.
June 6, 201411 yr comment_184970 I went to all but one event and didn't queue more than 5 mins, intact I even remember being the only person on Colossus and Inferno for a good few rides! Cute, you went all alone
July 2, 201411 yr comment_186155 There is a 'Preview Event' for all Annual Passholders, where you get into Summer Nights free instead of paying £5 - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/thorpe-park-resorts-summer-nights-preview-for-annual-passholders-tickets-12074235363
July 2, 201411 yr comment_186162 I'm asuming that it will get the full 500 people so it may be a little busy than expected.
July 2, 201411 yr comment_186163 500 will be dead, unlike the 20,000 school kids that will be there in one day on one of the week days in that period.
July 2, 201411 yr comment_186166 True but ive been to a sold out one and it wasn't what I was expecting compared to the other ones. Stealth and swarm were both 15 minutes, and that is 15 minutes too long. Much preferred the ability to just stay on stealth 10 times in a row.
July 2, 201411 yr comment_186168 Sold out ones last year were between 1000 and 2000 I believe. Also, the first 500 tickets are free, more are available but you have to pay the usual £5 fee for them.
July 2, 201411 yr comment_186169 True but ive been to a sold out one and it wasn't what I was expecting compared to the other ones. Stealth and swarm were both 15 minutes, and that is 15 minutes too long. Much preferred the ability to just stay on stealth 10 times in a row. You're giving Benin a run for his money with your negativity.
July 2, 201411 yr comment_186170 I take theme parks very seriously. Any problem no matter how big or small is not acceptable. A 15 minute queue is not acceptable when it was originally advertised as no queues. I guess they did rectify the problem by changing it to minimal queues.
July 2, 201411 yr comment_186172 No doubt they'll have tweaked the maximum numbers / the way the advertised the event. The first few Summer Nights were very quiet (but obviously popular enough to keep going!), and word of mouth probably made the event much more popular then anticipated. They'll have learnt from last year for sure!
July 2, 201411 yr comment_186173 Looks like it's sold out already... https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/thorpe-park-resorts-summer-nights-preview-for-annual-passholders-tickets-12074235363
July 2, 201411 yr comment_186177 Just a heads up for any Merlin VIP Pass holders, Just had an email from Merlin to confirm ALL Dates are no charge for VIP Pass holders during the summer nights event, just to ask for a wristband for the evening from VIP Host when picking up a VIP wristband during the day. Only saves a fiver a person per night, but every little helps!
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