Thorpe Park Trip Reports

[AdamY]

Funny, when I went a few days before going on holiday (27th ish) there were some really excellent staff around. They were much more chatty than usual, and seemed to really be enjoying themselves. It was very nice to see.

[britcitchris]

I went for the first time in a few years on Monday and thoroughly loved my visit. The park was busy but not as busy as I was expecting and between 11.15 and 5pm, we managed 6 rides. These were Saw x 2, Saw Alive x 1, Stealth x 1, Tidal Wave x 1 and Nemesis Inferno x 1. This visit was my first encounter on the Saw attractions and I immediately fell in love with Saw the ride. The themeing is just world class and the ride itself is a great experience. I am a big fan of Adventure Island's Rage but Saw is truly something else. I thought that Saw Alive was good fun and not as scary as I thought it might be. Just as well, as I'm a complete 'fraidy cat of attractions like these! Over all, we had a great visit. The weather was lovely, the queues and ride dispatching were well managed and most importantly of all, all the rides were running. Usually, there a few rides out of order when I get to visit, so yesterday was a real brucie bonus for me! When I return home, I might get some images posted from our day.Well done Thorpe Park.Chris.

[AstroDan]

6 rides in 6 hours? I wouldn't call that very much... but if you were taking it leisurely?

[Benin]

First time I've heard worldclass and Saw in the same sentence...A rather weird day this is turning out to be indeed...

[Whiteknuckle]

I went there the other day, but not going to blah on with a trip report, I just have a question.Why are they playing Alton's Flume music on Depth Charge?

[AstroDan]

Wouldn't be the first time they were using it on there...

[JoshC.]

Last time I went on Depth Charge, they were playing the chart music.. In fact, in a fair few of my recent visits, chart music has been playing all the way up to Flying Fish. Prior to that, the Fish had Depth Charge's music...

[britcitchris]

6 rides in 6 hours? I wouldn't call that very much... but if you were taking it leisurely?

There are a few factors in me being really pleased with the day, despite only 6 rides. I was expecting it to be busier than what we encountered, so yeah, I was pleased... and because of the busy queues, I had great opportunities to practice on my photography. I got some shots of Stealth that I was really pleased with :DChris.

[britcitchris]

First time I've heard worldclass and Saw in the same sentence...A rather weird day this is turning out to be indeed...

I was bowled over by it. From the work put into the station and maze exterior, to the intricate detailing inside the building. Then there is the excellent ride layout itself, to the theming around the track layout. I was also impressed by the option of the dvd, of the onride experience itself (although we didn't purchase it.) Everything adds up to making it a brilliantly themed and world class experience. I often find that UK parks don't inject decent amounts of money for elaborately themed rides, like our American counter parts but Saw: The Ride is a fantastic exception. It would not be out of place in say, Universal Studios Chris.

[Mark9]

Welcome back to TPM britcitchris. It's good to see someone come off of Saw: The Ride and really enjoy it. The fact that I disagree with pretty much every point you make is neither here nor there. Out of interest have you ridden Thirteen at Alton Towers?

[britcitchris]

Welcome back to TPM britcitchris. It's good to see someone come off of Saw: The Ride and really enjoy it. The fact that I disagree with pretty much every point you make is neither here nor there. Out of interest have you ridden Thirteen at Alton Towers?

Yeah, I haven't been on this site for a looooong time. Thanks for the welcoming! As for Thirteen, I rode it for the first time last week. I thought it was an excellent and well themed 'mild' thrill coaster. As I was on my own in the morning, at the park, I used the Single Rider Queue and was on it within 5 minutes, so I rode it twice in a row Chris.

[Fred]

See, I kinda agree with SAW. I love the internal queue and internal ride area bit and the effects and stuff. I just don't like the ride.

[coddy92]

Went to Thorpe on Wednesday 31st August to celebrate my 19th birthday, and had a great day!A group of 9 of us went, and the day started off well as we were able to skip the ticket queue and enter through the Annual Pass entrance. My sister works at Warwick Castle and therefore has a Merlin Magic Pass, meaning that up to 20 of her family and friends can get into any of the Merlin attractions for free! We arrived at 9.50am (the park was open from 9.30am- 8.00pm) and when we got in the park was quiet as many people were queuing for tickets!Went straight to Stealth as it was closed when my friends and I went before. Got on in 2 minutes which was fantastic! From there we went on Nemesis Inferno (and we were able to drag my sister on as she had never been on an inverting roller coaster before!) and waited for 5 minutes...my sister hated it and didn't go on many of the other 'big' attractions during the day- but as we all got in for free it didn't really matter! She was also a very reliable "bag holder"!After a great ride on Nemesis (and a hilarious photo!) we all went on Storm Surge (queued for 20 minutes...) before heading towards Colossus- which had the longest queue of the day, 70 minutes! It was worth it, though, and we all had a great laugh! After this we went on lots of the other attractions, and the longest queue that we experienced from here was 60 minutes for SAW- The Ride. We assumed that Loggers Leap was closed all day as the water trough was completely empty and no logs were leaving the station. This was a shame as it meant that the queues for Rumba Rapids, Storm Surge and Tidal Wave became quite long at some points, but luckily this didn't affect us!My highlights of the day included Stealth (twice- once at the very beginning, once at 8pm when the sun was setting- very pretty!), SAW- The Ride (especially when the foam/ water spurted into my friend's face, causing them to scream in pain like a baby as we span over the body) and Colossus, of course!When we went to Thorpe at the end of March 2010, SAW Alive was really scary. This time we obviously went in during the actor's lunch break. It was a disappointment! There were only 4 actors inside, and none of them stayed in character. One of them even joined in with our singing of 'why do birds suddenly appear...' as we walked round. None of the actors were scary, and they just seemed to stand there and shout 'BOO' a couple of times.That was the only major disappointment of the day (although we witnessed queue jumping on Colossus, SAW- The Ride and Rush...we told the ride attendants when we got on the rides but the jumpers had obviously already gone...)Anyway, it was a great day and we all really enjoyed our free day out!Ride count:Stealth x 2Colossus x 2SAW- The Ride x 1Nemesis Inferno x 1Tidal Wave x 1Storm Surge x 1Rumba Rapids x 2Rush x 1Flying Fish x 1Depth Charge x 1X:\ No Way Out x 2SAW Alive x 1Storm in a Teacup x 2Zodiac x 1Quantum x 1Coddy92

[Mattgwise]

Great day overall at Thorpe Park today, was good atmosphere around the park. All rides were available but several small period ride closures throughout the day (Tidal Wave, Quantum, X\\ No Way Out and Loggers Leap) which were sorted out very quickly.Was an accident on the Battle Beams side attraction, guy was laying down and given oxygen by the on park first aid crew/paramedics, didnt manage to find out what happened as the four security guards that stood there were moving everyone along but they were with him a good half hour.Queue lines overall were not too bad. Longest queue I saw was 80 minutes for Storm Surge but generally for most rides queued between 15 mins and 40 mins. The longest I queued all day was 60 minutes for Saw. Nice to see preparation under way nice and early for Fright Nights with the Curse Marquee already up and Time Voyagers closed.Got on all rides with the exception of Storm Surge and Detonator.I do have two negative comments for the day:1.the chaos that everyone has to experience every day in the car park at the end of the day. It honestly took 30 minutes to get out of the car park. as it is so slow with the barriers and cars along the main road leading to them being blocked so you cannot get out onto it. They really need to rethink the layout of the car park as this has been a problem for two years now.2. The staff on Vortex around 4 o clock were letting the riders board the ride and then having a chat for at least two minutes before coming to get us to put arms out for the restraints to lower. This happened on every ride I saw whilst queueing and mine, which added a good 10 minutes to the queuing time.

[JoshC.]

So...it had been over a month since my last theme park visit, and with a couple of trips cancelled / postponed with people, it was due time for a little family visit there. After troubles with the buses there, we got there for just before 11 (instead of the 10/half 10 we had originally planned). It was busy when we got there...as expected.But the weather was nice!Though dark clouds were looming in the distance...So, as we got past the turnstiles, the first thing that struck me was Swarm's advertising sign. As some may know, I was slightly sceptical about it's positioning, detracting for the feel the tank created. However, my view has changed - I'm a fan of it; does the job PERFECTLY. The tank, however, needs to have the writing taken off; the sign advertises the slogan beautifully. If they were to take of the writing, I'd say there's enough continuity for it to work with the GP. The sign.The positioning. As said, I'm fine with that now, but feel the writing on the tank isn't needed (now).After a shorter-than-normal ride on Vortex, which left me feeling slightly short-changed, general wandering around took place. I had a sneaky peek in the arena, to see what was going down with the new maze...Absolutely nothing. :PRumba Rapids, a 'favourite' / must do of mine. For the first time this since I think, I actually had to queue. *Shock, horror - queuing at a theme park!*. Meh, I like the music, so I don't mind. Anyway, love the fact that the pre-tunnel waterfall has returned - top notch stuff Thorpe. Standard Stealth photo.We were relatively worked, so we decided to wander round for a bit more, and ended up by Stealth; not for the ride, for The Swarm advertising! XD We saw 'police officers' in the distance, closer to the photo point than Sunken Garden area, so we had a nose around in SG.Sunken Garden greenery.Swarm site looking normally normal.After we emerged from behind the theming, we were greeted with this:An accomplice of Les Coogan!Looking a bit drunk to be honest.I was about to speak to him, then he turned around, and walked away! How very rude of him.. heheI followed him, overhearing him and the female officer 'arguing'. I saw him take a sip from his cup of water (which I assume was meant to be discrete, but ah well), then he turned around and spat it all out.. "What are you doing!?" Screamed the officer. "I just threw up." He replied. After general 'aliens are doing it' comments, I asked for a photo, to 'help spread the truth'. He happily obliged.I can't remember what was written on the paper. 'The cake is a lie'springs to mind; I can make that out too. For all you gamer-savvy people out there, it's a regular theme that comes up in Portal... One thing to note was he wasn't reading from it. He wandered off afterwards shouting 'Put it on the internet!'. One thing I half liked / half disliked was the fact that neither officer interacted with me personally, which seems against what I've seen in videos. I liked that because it seems as if they knew I was a bit more savvy on the concept, so it would be more worth interacted with others who weren't too sure, to make it seem realistic that it was just some lunatic. I disliked because it meant less interaction for me.. Anyway, couple more antics:Officer talking to some people.The guy walking off..Quite possibly the funniest thing I've seen an actor at Thorpe do. He approached a group of 4 cleaner (yes 4! Why they were clumped together like that I will never know..) and poured some water on the ground. He complained that they weren't doing their job, so made them clean it up. Of course, the mark still there, he ranted a little bit more, then went into something about aliens I guess, as I started to wander off.. The discussion was lengthy, and did attract some attention.After a bore spin on SIATC (namely because the cup was too hard to spin), we had lunch at the Mexican Cantina, then it was Canada Creek times. We just missed a CCR train, but I was slightly shocked to find two people were sitting on the grass, just to the left of the track, as if nothing was wrong. The driver stopped and escorted to just outside the barriers. What a pair of idiots.Said grass.Saw from CCR.Loggers Leap followed, with great enjoyment of course. The park was busy, the weather was getting worse, so we decided to call it a day...almost. Flying Fish had to be done of course.A quick peek at Se7en's new location was had first.The operator on Flying Fish was actually amazingly epic today. After our 4 laps, and with not all the rows filled up for the next ride, the op told us to leave our seats..without even locking our bars. He then proceeding to 'have a go at us' for not leaving. He tried bargaining with us, persuading us to leave, pleading with us (saying how we were being selfish for not letting the next people on the ride) then threatened to call security and get us escorted from the park. After someone on the train shouted 'there's not enough security for all 38 of us', he finally decided to unlock the seats. I heard the click, saw a couple fly up, thought I was able to get up, but no...loads of bars were still locked. He then mocked us 'still stuck' people, saying we weren't worthy to leave, and that he could call security now.. Then another click an my bar flies up a bit. I finally stand up; though it's not that easy for me of course! The bar only unlocked a little - so I still couldn't get out! XD After a bit more fooling around, everyone was free. Got to admit, it helped fill the train up and made it epicly fun for us - an applause from he well deservedly got from me. *claps*To round off all of the pictures:Dogs in theme parks? How!?That's that then. Just a nice little trip for just over 3 hours, was something to do really. Best way to describe the day was another day at the office - the usual going ons, along with a few perks. Probably the last trip I'll have before FN now; which I can't wait for now all the more!

[Luke_A]

Okay... so I also visited Thorpe today, got to the park about 10 mins before opening (9:30) and headed straight for Inferno then Det first seeing that Stealth wasn't going to open until 10... The swarm has had what looks like it's electricity transformer fitted; to the right of the maintenance shed, that's all I noticed going on today... other than the fact that there are still some footers to go in (some were still left on the pile) and workers were on site all day moving mud and stuff around... Good Points about the day.

• Stealth 'posh English man' offload station announcement now playing.
• Stealth smoke back&Inferno smoke VERY thick with all the lights working brilliantly!
• Ride teams dispatching nice and fast on all rides, not much hanging around by consoles.
• Most queues ok, only bought fastrack for Colossus&Saw: the ride.
• Les Coogan was absolutely brilliant today! will get onto that later...

Not so goood issues...

• Inferno only on 1 train until the queue got bigger in the morning. WHY??? (the team were excellent when it was on 2 trains however)
• Slammer &Samurai down all day, this was stated on the website though so it was kinda expected.
• Rush went down to one swing at about midday, was going VERY high though and producing some awesome floaty air.
• Saw had a few moments of downtime, I was lucky enough to *just* be going into the saw plaza when they said it was back in operation at about 12:00, got on about the 4th car, it worked for about 10 mins then was down again, got a fastrack later in the day anyway for it.

Queues were just average to be honest, Colossus 60-90mins, Saw 50-80mins, Stealth 60mins, Rush 40-60mins(1 swing), Nemesis Inferno 30-40mins.Pictures!From about 3/4 of the way up Storm Surge's lift hill... zoomed in and not much too see, thought I'd post it anyway. Les Coogan doing his thing, with a pretty flower in his cap and a strand of pampas grass which he was 'tickling' people with to get their attention and also using it to 'dust' the Swarm's rig by the Sunken Gardens. Les doing some dusting, he was actually really funny today, and the 'police' were more free with him which I think was great as he was really interacting with guests well.The Swarm's site from the Stealth offload, you can see to the right of the structure that there is a grey box which looks like it is covered in heat sink type grills, I believe this is an electricity transformer.Site overview (notice footer columns&rebar still left in the right of the image)Zoomed in shot of the footer bases left and the transformer in the background.Les hiding from the 'police' behind a bin, he was knocking on this bin repeatedly as if someone was living in there, then said "oh, I don't think he's in today, must be out" We were eating some chips and he looked over disgustedly and said "oooh you like potatoes then" :/ Haha. He also had some notes with him, some reading "The Cake is a lie"&another saying "I've lost my keys" with a picture of the Stealth truck pulling the caravan pointing to a tyre on it labelled "flat tyre"And I leave you with Me&Les. Thanks for reading, another TR next Saturday, hopefully with track... Les also told me to put my picture with him on the internet too...

[Fred]

God that really shows stealths maintenance shed sticking out like a sore thumb behind some pretty good theming. Then again, thorpe don't tend to care much...

[Mark9]

So.. a bit of history. I've had quite a busy year on the theme park front, tackling some of the greatest known parks in the world by some of the most dedicated owners. Disney, Universal, Sea World have been visited as well as three amazing Italian parks. In that time, my visit's to Thorpe, Chessington and Alton have decreased quite a lot due to money, time and lack of pulling power. The last time I went to Thorpe was back in March and since then a lot seems to have changed and all of it for the worse. I just cannot fathom how a park like Thorpe has slipped so quickly in six months. After my four month break from Chessington, the park felt rejuvinated, everything was fun again and exciting and all the new little theming effects enhanced the experience slightly.No such luck with Thorpe. So where do I start?Music is a good one. Back when I was an avid visitor in 2004 every ride had its own soundtrack, dedicated announcements and more importantly, it all worked. These days, chart music blasts out everywhere. Now, I don't mind it at the entrance, because it greets you with something to get into before you enter a different world. But it's not the case anymore and I can't think of much worse then riding Flying Fish with Cheryl Cole being blasted at me. Why am I not launched to Inferno's dispatch music anymore? Why does Colossus now beatbox at me? Why do I get Ashlee Simpson singing about her boots at me in Canada Creek as opposed to the gorgeous, WESTERN sounding Dolly Parton. Even in the restraunts you just get the Box channel playing the top 40 hits. Sex in an elevator? No thanks, not at a theme park.Reliability. Why is it I can visit parks all over the bloody world and yet I return to Thorpe and am immediately greeted with Slammer and Samurai will be closed all day. Last time I visited Samurai was closed all day and on my first visit of the season, Slammer was down all day. Can Thorpe just give up on those two and add something that works. Please.Ride look. Inferno is green, Vortex hasn't seen a tin of paint on its ride structure in ten years. Colossus is brown. Rumba looks attrocious. Wheel covers not on all parts of Inferno, ride seats closed off on Vortex and Detonator (Out of use). The rides at Thorpe have no stories, no real theme to them. With the exception of Tidal Wave, every single ride at Thorpe is a quick blast of thrill and then you move on. There's no atmopshere, no feeling of involvement, no story. It's just a train going through the motions getting people on and off as quickly as possible and with as little feeling as possible.You'd argue that the people at Thorpe don't care abput stories or rides looking like crap or music not being themed. Then why did Thorpe, in the mid 2000's bother to do any of this kind of stuff at all. And why are they insisting on creating a well themed, atmopsheric, story based ride next year. If Swarm is going to have even 10% of the quality of Raptor it's going to make everything else at Thorpe look outdated, tired and dull.And maybe thats the kick up the bum it needs.

[Marc]

Music is a good one. Back when I was an avid visitor in 2004 every ride had its own soundtrack, dedicated announcements and more importantly, it all worked. These days, chart music blasts out everywhere. Now, I don't mind it at the entrance, because it greets you with something to get into before you enter a different world. But it's not the case anymore and I can't think of much worse then riding Flying Fish with Cheryl Cole being blasted at me. Why am I not launched to Inferno's dispatch music anymore? Why does Colossus now beatbox at me? Why do I get Ashlee Simpson singing about her boots at me in Canada Creek as opposed to the gorgeous, WESTERN sounding Dolly Parton. Even in the restraunts you just get the Box channel playing the top 40 hits. Sex in an elevator? No thanks, not at a theme park.

I have to disagree with this, id say the music is the best its been in a long time, alot of things have been fixed in the past few months, all the rides all play their own tracks, equipment has been added to, improved and repaired. I agree with you regarding Inferno, would be great to have that back to how it was, I dont really see your point on Colossus, the beatbox track is just another variation of the Colossus theme (http://www.thorpeparkmania.co.uk/page/remote_audio_view.php?ride=Colossus&track=Colossus%20Theme%20-%20Beatbed).I also agree about chart music on rides, although I suspect the reason its on Fish is because fish falls under the beach / neptunes area on the link, and the beach had the chart music.

[James6]

Personally I agree wholeheartedly Mark. My main problem with Thorpe is that so many of the rides aren't worth the queue's they get, partly because of the lack of theme and the fact it is essentially just the ride etc.Tidal Wave is awesomely themed, but it's never warm enough, and then other than that, Rush, Colossus, Inferno and occasionally Saw are the only rides I would actually be willing to queue a decent amount of time for.

[Luke_A]

I agree with Mark about the ride appearance at the park, I've visited about 4-soon to be 5 times this season, and Inferno hasn't had all of it's wheel covers on on ANY of those visits, one train was missing about 4 on my last visit, while the other was missing about 2... I think the thing about the audio is that it just needs one big overhaul, get Bose in and tell them to sort out EVERY SINGLE THING that isn't working, yes I know this will probably cost alot, but at the end of the day it's the little things that add up to making your day&the park better. On the other hand, I'm a fan of the new chart music at the entrance&front of the park. It gets you all excited and ready for your day at the park. If I'm honest the old entrance music wasn't the most entertaining thing to be waiting at the entrance too... I much prefer Nicki Minaj, Gaga, David Guetta, Rihanna, Britney, and all the chart music they play now, it works well for the park. But I would Never want to see Chessie or Alton end up like that. Samurai seems to have had a pretty bad season, Slammer has had a pretty good one than usual though to be honest, both running great too!

[Deleted Users]

I have to disagree with this, id say the music is the best its been in a long time, alot of things have been fixed in the past few months, all the rides all play their own tracks, equipment has been added to, improved and repaired. I agree with you regarding Inferno, would be great to have that back to how it was, I dont really see your point on Colossus, the beatbox track is just another variation of the Colossus theme (http://www.thorpeparkmania.co.uk/page/remote_audio_view.php?ride=Colossus&track=Colossus%20Theme%20-%20Beatbed).I also agree about chart music on rides, although I suspect the reason its on Fish is because fish falls under the beach / neptunes area on the link, and the beach had the chart music.

I really want to know what the reasoning was for adding chart music to the two last family/child friendly areas of the park. Fish being on the same link seems like a damn good reason not to change it.

[JoshC.]

A view from what might be a different side of the fence, if you will...I had my 14th visit to Thorpe at the weekend, which lasted a few hours due to me having a cold. What has taken me there 14 times this season you may ask - is it because I love the place, love the atmosphere I create, love the rides? No. Simply put, it's a place for me to go which is a 30 minute (ish) walk from where I live, and it works out as a cheap day out to go with friends, in our particular cases. I'm not saying I don't enjoy visiting, of course I do, otherwise I wouldn't bother going, would I? So, in my 14 visits, I think I can say Thorpe is having one of it's better seasons. Reliability, though not perfect, is generally one the up. Out of those 14 visits, I can remember 2 were more than 1 ride was down all day (one of which was actually Saturday..). Generally, the four major coasters (and every other ride) was up and running at the start of the day too. That has been a consistency throughout the year for me, which I think needs some recognition - especially when compared to previous seasons. I think it's worth pointing out hear that Samurai and Slammer are both currently down due to 'cracks', which perhaps shows that they're not the greatest rides to have at a park where reliability is an issue. Despite this, Slammer has had a very good season this time round. One of my biggest grumbles I've had this year is the music. The chart music has completely dominated the front area of the park, up to FF and even Vortex. Now, whilst I'm not the biggest fan of it in general, I understand the usage in the entrance area and the bridge, but not on rides. And don't get me started on the new CC playlist, which I absolutely HATE. However, I have heard no such grumbles when I've been with 'non-enthusiast' friends; they prefer the new CC playlist (even after liking the old one), and really have no issues with chart music playing on some of the rides even. To be fair, I see their point - how is having a different piece of background music going to affect their day, whether they like it or not. They're not going there to listen to some music, they're going there to enjoy a day out with others, and be at a theme park. As long as some atmosphere is there, it keeps people happy. (Before people stop reading the this post thinking I'm an utter idiot, please do read on, as there is more to come...)When it comes down to the atmosphere the rides create, well, I'd say that the more recent projects (ie, the Merlin ones) seem to be going in that direction. The Saw duo are examples of creating attractions which have theming in conjunction to a ride. Granted, the coaster doesn't work brilliantly with theming during its entire course, but that's the trouble with a fastracked movie-tie-in idea, which at the end of the day, Saw was. Storm Surge looks horrendous, but it shows signs of interactivity with the free water canons; Thorpe are coming up with ways that keep their target market entertained. I've seen people much more interested in the canons than the actual ride; possibly not what they were aiming for, but it shows that Thorpe aren't just thinking of the ride any more. Look at Swarm and it's on-park marketing; the park I'd say is showing signs of improvement in this area. When looking at older rides, I'd say the flats need a complete do-over when it comes to their appearance, and new ones should be thought carefully for their look and audio. I think everyone hopes that some of the older flats will be sorted out in due time.And now, what this whole thing is leading up to...

You'd argue that the people at Thorpe don't care abput stories or rides looking like crap or music not being themed.

This one sentence. I've heard it used a thousand times, and much like Mark has said, then why have Thorpe bothered in the past? As I've been alluding to this entire post, the park seems to have recently been 'getting away' with things. They have been able to get away with not making older rides look very pleasant, let the park audio slip into a jumble, let rides lack any true experience to them and so forth because it doesn't really affect the average person's day out. People rave about Saw, despite it's lack of theming everywhere. People give the thumbs up to Storm Surge because they are able to enjoy it. I could go on and on and on here. I am in no way saying people at Thorpe don't care about stories, theming, music and everything else, but as long as something is there, they are kept happy. It all boils down to how much Thorpe wants to be the best. If they truly want to be the best, this 'sliding by' will no longer happen, and we will see great rides in the future, that are the full package, and general park improvements occur. If they don't, we can expect more years of what we have now. Personally, I think the next year will shows us just how much they want to be 'Number 1'...

[AdamY]

Just a quick note about today... Had generally good experience with the staff, and ride up-time was excellent with the exceptions of Slammer and Samurai. Inferno's mist is looking great and the lighting is also very good at the moment. Being a weekday we lost count of ride counts but suffice to say Inferno x9 pleases me greatly Have added LC12 non-news to the relevant topic.

[Fred]

Good post JoshC, however I completely disagree with the music thing.Music creates an atmosphere, a build up, a suspense, an excitement and a memory. When you're a "BIG FAT THRILL PARK POO YOURSELF LOLS", you'd think they'd care more about this. As obviously, you want them to feel more scared, you want them to cake themselves, you want them to remember it, and remember the brand. Hearing that music again later is a big part of it - I hear matrix music, and I think samurai, not matrix. I don't listen to Chase and Status and think of a ride.It's what splits them from being a fairground/fun park to a theme park or a really decent day out. You get all sorts of emotions at these parks, which make you enjoy them, and want to relive them.. going back and spending money. Fairgrounds have none of this, and a completely different atmosphere. They lose out on making it scary as such.Simple things like this always affect people subconsciously, whether it's music playing, to seeing paint peeling on something. It'll ultimately affect their day out (even if they're not talking or actively thinking about it), and really does matter to whether they want to return. For instance, I want to return to blackpool, because the park was extremely well presented and surpassed my expectations, not necessarily because of the rides themselves (of which I thought were mediocre).On someone elses topic - they don't need a bose man. I presume they have their own audio visual technician. Give him a decent budget, and a work buddy and they'll easily be able to make their way round and maintain it. It's usually a case of the team being too small with a too small budget rather than not existing.