Thorpe Park Trip Reports

[pognoi]

Damn! Cameron we need to arrange a meet possibly with people who want to go to fright nights but don't want to do the mazes (as much as it misses the point xD)

[Coaster]

Sunday 12th September 2014

 

Time in park:  11:30am - 10pm

RIDES CLOSED:  Samurai, Rumba Rapids, Flying Fish, Stealth (for a lot of the evening), Logger's Leap (evening only).

 

The day got off to a bad start when we arrived and were greeted with this queue for the annual pass fee:

(It was actually a quite a lot longer than this, but I couldn't fit it all in the photo).

 

Despite the queue being this long, and taking over an hour, they only had four out of eight windows open.  Bear in mind that we are only having to queue here because of the park's greediness anyway, so I find it infuriating to be made to wait in a queue when, as an annual passholder, you should be able to walk straight in.  I'm not sure why Thorpe choose to hinder their passholders like this, given that they are usually the park's most loyal guests.  

This was especially annoying for us as two of us had premium passes, one a clubcard day ticket and only one a Thorpe park annual pass, so four of us were having to queue for one person.  
Annual Passholders should not be delayed this much in entering the park, it is unacceptable and absoloutely poor.

 

The first half of the day in the park was okay.  Nothing really went wrong (aside from three rides being closed), so we just went on most of the coasters before having lunch.

 

The second half of the day was where most of the problems started.  Firstly, after going on Studio 13 and Cabin in The Woods we headed over to Saw Alive, which was closed!  Therefore we did a few rides and joined the queue for My Bloody Valentine, which was signposted as being "up to 60 minutes."  This was confirmed by a member of staff.  The queue was nowhere near halfway through the fencing, so should not have taken longer than 60 minutes.  It was moving at a fairly good speed until about 30 minutes in, when the Fastrack queue started to fill up.  At this point the main queue was forgotten about in favour of those who have given the park yet more money, and the Fastrack queue (which was pretty much full) was run off completely before we even moved.  I think they were probably doing a ratio of about 5:1 groups (5 fastrack, 1 normal queue) as we were not moving at all.  Further to this, every time anyone arrived in the Fastrack queue they were put through immediately, which led to yet more hold ups.  

The queue, which should have taken an hour at the most took 110 minutes.  110 minutes stood out in the pouring rain in freezing temperatures, without any kind of apology from the staff.  In fact the batcher asked us three times how many of us there were, as everytime he went to batch us he did Fastrack instead!  Needless to say he got a rather abrupt reply the third time he asked us.

Unfortunately Thorpe have shown that they don't care about anything but money.  This Fastrack situation is diabolical, and I can't remember the number of times they have said "we'll sort it out", yet the same problem keeps occurring over and over again!  My friends were disgusted, one of which doesn't visit Thorpe very often!

 

Stealth was long since closed by the time we came out of MBV, which is inexcusable, especially when we would have probably still have got a ride on it if the queue for MBV had only taken the advertised 60 minutes!  We were told that the ride would reopen again but it didn't, much to our further disgust.  We went to guest services to complain about MBV, and were given a priority pass which we used on the same maze.  Then we went and waited in the queue for Saw Alive which was very short, but nobody was being let in.  After waiting for about 15/20 minutes with no communication about what was going on we left and went in CITW again and then BWP to end the evening.

Overall I was not impressed at all with this experience and at any other park I would be absoloutely appalled.  Sadly, at Thorpe I have just come to expect it.  Very poor show, and one of the reasons why Thorpe is nowhere near the best park in the UK.

 

RIDECOUNT:

Nemesis Inferno x6

X x4

Colossus x2

The Swarm x1

Saw: The Ride x1

Slammer x1

Detonator x1

Loggers Leap x1

 

MAZE COUNT:

My Bloody Valentine x2
Cabin in The Woods x2

Studio 13 x2

The Blair Witch Project x1

[JoshC.]

Therefore we did a few rides and joined the queue for My Bloody Valentine, which was signposted as being "up to 60 minutes."  This was confirmed by a member of staff.  The queue was nowhere near halfway through the fencing, so should not have taken longer than 60 minutes.  It was moving at a fairly good speed until about 30 minutes in, when the Fastrack queue started to fill up.  At this point the main queue was forgotten about in favour of those who have given the park yet more money, and the Fastrack queue (which was pretty much full) was run off completely before we even moved.  I think they were probably doing a ratio of about 5:1 groups (5 fastrack, 1 normal queue) as we were not moving at all.  Further to this, every time anyone arrived in the Fastrack queue they were put through immediately, which led to yet more hold ups.  

The queue, which should have taken an hour at the most took 110 minutes.  110 minutes stood out in the pouring rain in freezing temperatures, without any kind of apology from the staff.  In fact the batcher asked us three times how many of us there were, as everytime he went to batch us he did Fastrack instead!  Needless to say he got a rather abrupt reply the third time he asked us.

Unfortunately Thorpe have shown that they don't care about anything but money.  This Fastrack situation is diabolical, and I can't remember the number of times they have said "we'll sort it out", yet the same problem keeps occurring over and over again!  My friends were disgusted, one of which doesn't visit Thorpe very often!

 

Stealth was long since closed by the time we came out of MBV, which is inexcusable, especially when we would have probably still have got a ride on it if the queue for MBV had only taken the advertised 60 minutes!  We were told that the ride would reopen again but it didn't, much to our further disgust.  We went to guest services to complain about MBV, and were given a priority pass which we used on the same maze.  

 

I've bolded quite a few bits of your post here...

 

-You wait a long time for a maze, much longer than expected.  I know exactly how that feels; it's not nice.

-You complain about this, and get given a free Fastrack ticket for the exact same maze, which doesn't get taken out of the Fastrack quota for the day, and use it that same day.

Surely you can see the problem here?  

 

People are handed out free Fastrack like sweets, which doesn't come out of a Fastrack quota for the day, and can be used whenever.  When people do use them, Thorpe need to fulfil the premium service they are giving to Fastrack guests (a reduced waiting time).  Hence, it increases the queue times and mucks up the estimates they have.  Then if more people complain, they get free Fastrack tickets, and low and behold the deadly cycle continues.  

 

By using those tickets, especially on the same night for a maze you've already done, you're making the problem worse.  Not just the queue for MBV, but the free Fastrack culture that Merlin adopt.  Just something to think about there...

 

 

You say Thorpe only care about money, but I guess the one good thing about the handing out of Priority Passes is that it shows the park aren't afraid to compensate you if you've had a bad experience.  I'm not a fan of the fact that 'free money' is going to Fastrack ticket (why not give guests money off food, drink, merch, or a free return ticket?), but it shows they're not all about money.  They do care about customer experience.

[Coaster]

I've bolded quite a few bits of your post here...

 

-You wait a long time for a maze, much longer than expected.  I know exactly how that feels; it's not nice.

-You complain about this, and get given a free Fastrack ticket for the exact same maze, which doesn't get taken out of the Fastrack quota for the day, and use it that same day.

Surely you can see the problem here?  

 

People are handed out free Fastrack like sweets, which doesn't come out of a Fastrack quota for the day, and can be used whenever.  When people do use them, Thorpe need to fulfil the premium service they are giving to Fastrack guests (a reduced waiting time).  Hence, it increases the queue times and mucks up the estimates they have.  Then if more people complain, they get free Fastrack tickets, and low and behold the deadly cycle continues.  

 

By using those tickets, especially on the same night for a maze you've already done, you're making the problem worse.  Not just the queue for MBV, but the free Fastrack culture that Merlin adopt.  Just something to think about there...

Of course I can see the problem.  I hugely disagree with handing out free fastrack tickets, I would prefer to see them sort out the problems but years and years of past visits has told me that they are never going to change the way they operate the Fastrack system - they would rather be poor if it means more money in their pockets.  But at the time I was with three very disappointed people, as well as myself and we had all just wasted a huge chunk of our day so the only way to make up for it was to use the passes to at least allow us to reduce the queue time on one of our attractions.

 

You say Thorpe only care about money, but I guess the one good thing about the handing out of Priority Passes is that it shows the park aren't afraid to compensate you if you've had a bad experience.  I'm not a fan of the fact that 'free money' is going to Fastrack ticket (why not give guests money off food, drink, merch, or a free return ticket?), but it shows they're not all about money.  They do care about customer experience.

No it's does not.  Fastrack tickets are just bits of paper that don't cost the park anything to give out (besides printing money obviously).  If they really cared about customer experience they would improve what is being complained about rather than just handing out free Fastrack tickets to shut people up.

[JoshC.]

Just worth pointing out that Reserve and Ride is a system that is trying to solve the issue of long queues and (if successful in the long run) makes Fastrack a somewhat pointless system.  So they are trying to improve guest experience in that respect.

 

Personally, I don't think the Fastrack system is terrible, but Priority Passes and disabled guests add complications to the system, ruining numbers and such.  That makes it more terrible.  I'd feel confident in saying that if Priority Passes didn't exist, the Fastrack system would be rather trouble free.  But that's the trouble, Thorpe's got the right idea (making sure that a bad thing doesn't ruin a guest's day), but doing it all wrong (by doing something that ultimately makes matters worse.

 

In my opinion, if you compare the queueing and Fastrack system now to even 2-3 seasons ago, things have improved as well.  They're making improvements, but unfortunately they're also shooting themselves in the foot at the same time.

[Mark9]

Of course I can see the problem.  I hugely disagree with handing out free fastrack tickets, I would prefer to see them sort out the problems but years and years of past visits has told me that they are never going to change the way they operate the Fastrack system - they would rather be poor if it means more money in their pockets.  But at the time I was with three very disappointed people, as well as myself and we had all just wasted a huge chunk of our day so the only way to make up for it was to use the passes to at least allow us to reduce the queue time on one of our attractions.

 

 

No it's does not.  Fastrack tickets are just bits of paper that don't cost the park anything to give out (besides printing money obviously).  If they really cared about customer experience they would improve what is being complained about rather than just handing out free Fastrack tickets to shut people up.

 

I once complained about fastrack. They tried to give me a priority pass for a ride of my choice. I refused and said, giving me a pass doesn't solve the problem. There is a moral high ground, if you are willing to take it. 

[Fred]

Personally, I don't think the Fastrack system is terrible, but Priority Passes and disabled guests add complications to the system, ruining numbers and such.  That makes it more terrible.  I'd feel confident in saying that if Priority Passes didn't exist, the Fastrack system would be rather trouble free.  But that's the trouble, Thorpe's got the right idea (making sure that a bad thing doesn't ruin a guest's day), but doing it all wrong (by doing something that ultimately makes matters worse.

They should strongly limit the amount of Fastrack available (kinda can't when they've offered all these fright night passes and unlimited bollocks). They should also have Guest Services issuing tickets out of the fastrack allocation rather than what they have now (which essentially amounts to no limits - you can **** over the park on one day by just providing passes to the same attractions to everyone who you speak to).

 

They really need to sort it out. It's a huge huge issue at Thorpe and all they ever seem to do is make things worse (by adding Reserve..). Sort out the bloody quotas first Thorpe.

[Project LC]

I don't think Priority passes are going to ruin the fastrack allocation. On a normal day how many people actually have a priority pass and how many will use that on the same ride at the same time. I reckon its between 0-20 people in the space of an hour using it on a ride which will not influence the queue by any more than a train. If I was going to file a complaint I would like the best possible compensation I can get away with unfortuantly thorpes compensation comes in the form of priority passes. 

The problem with fastrack is that the batchers don't seem to follow any sort of ratio and seem to operate by lets make the fastrack queue empty. It would be a far more enjoyable experience if they were given set numbers they can let through and that they follow them. It also applies to RnR, they dont follow any ratio there either its just make that queue empty. 

[TPJames]

100% agree with the two above points.

[planenut]

Well went to TP today (16th October), and got stuck, on Stealth. Well, what I mean is there were so few people in the park, I could not leave Stealth as the team kept forcing me to ride it. Dead lucky with the weather, as the one shower gave me a chance to lunch and apparently, Stealth broke down, so when I went back, all dry, all working, and they made me keep riding, honestly.

Oh, and someone had recognized me from a picture in a book on sale in the shop, apparently I own Thorpe Park - I ought to check my bank account.

[OldFarmerDean]

Went yesterday (Friday) 17th... Got in the park about 5 to 10, and left about 9pm with an hour nap in the car before the mazes opened aha!

Overall had an amazing day and was pleased how quiet it was for a fright night.

Annual pass holders got let in about 15 minutes before the park opened at 10, the queue to collect tickets (which I had done for my cousin with family & friends tickets and thought I had to exchange for a ticket being a premium annual pass holder myself which turns out I don't need to, I can just go straight to the pass entrance with the ticket I printed off), had one booth open initially which was ridiculous but then went to 3 and waited about 15 mins so wasn't too bad.

Ride/Maze Count... Closed rides: Samurai, Flying Fish

x3 Stealth, The Swarm

x2 Studio 13, Nemesis Inferno, Slammer, Rush, Vortex, Rumba Rapids

x1 MBV, Saw: Alive, CITW, Saw, Colossus, Quantum, Depth Charge, X, Detonator, Angry Birds 4D, Dodgems

29 TOTAL

After using Reserve n Ride back in June, I was hoping the system would be working correctly by now, and that having RnR would be a positive thing about the visit... But that was not the case, I mean if there wasn't RnR I don't think I would have got as many mazes done, but why it worked out okay for me is because lots of people didn't know about it and were in the main queue which admittedly I do feel sorry for them as a snail probably could have moved faster along the queue! Back to RnR, I explained my frustration in the Fright Nights topic how for the first hour or so it said let me on now on all the mazes which then led to 30min queues in the RnR section which the lines didn't have enough capacity for this amount of people - as the night went on, they all went to full up, then reset, and then different ones came up can't reserve, MBV had a 3 hour virtual queue apparently while Saw: Alives queue was let me on now, and the RnR queue was trailing all the way back out the queue. If they haven't sorted it by now, they should really give it up, especially as they want to rule it out across the whole park, I love thorpe park, but it will really ruin the experience for me having to plan your day so much!

Lighting around the park is okay, nothing different from last year really... Floodlights around rush and a few other places could do with green covers, and stealth would look nice with red, but guess floodlights are actually part of the theme in this case... Stealth just looks amazing.

Nemesis was my ride of the day, front row both times, and in the dark was just unbelievable, gutted about no mist all day though. Doing Stealth first rides of the day and front row is literally amazing too, certainly a shock to the system and wakes you up!

Studio 13 was my favourite maze, hence doing it twice, just found it the right balance of humour and scares, was nicely themed and had good actors, a shame it's not as good as asylum, and felt shorter, but I actually prefer it as studio 13 as I'm scared of mazes to be fair.

CITW was my favourite maze last year... If you actually like being scared then it's far better this year and probably the scariest maze. I found it terrifying, actors all in your face, one followed us through the whole maze and even out the the exit by slammer, so much smoke you can hardly see, flashing red lights which I hate aha! The spinning g tunnel was to smoky and didn't work, and that was the best part last year.

There is no way MBV is the scariest maze... I mean I came out not finding it too bad. The story line from last year has now gone, and the person at the beginning basically says this mine is collapsing so hurry, oh yeah and stay away from anyone with a gas mask. I seen a nice lot of actors inside but the element of rush didn't work for most of it as you just see the actor in front of you and there's not really much space they just can't really do anything or even follow you so it just makes it a bit rubbish... Definitely good to see more actors and you actually get chased out the last few metres and they really do try and split you up.

Saw: Alive... Am I one of the only ones who thinks this is a consistently good maze seemingly getting g better each year? I reckon it was better last year but is dependant on actors etc. But actors were really in your face, and just all round scary... Not really sure what else to say.

Although I didn't do Blair Witch Project what I found hilarious was watching from Nemesis Infernos exit, and people seem to spend an awful long time in the shed at the end with a lot of screaming, and then when they thought it was all over a woman hid round the side ran after every group running a stick along the metal fences making a really loud noise and chasing them out when they least expected it!

Going again just to do the mazes on Tuesday in half term so will see if there's much changes then.

[Matt 236]

Went to thorpe park (once again) again last Sunday.

Ride count

Closed rides- Fish, Samurai, Caroulsel (after 3pm), Loggers & Rocky (after 5pm), Rumba (broke down later)

Inferno

Swarm x3

Stealth

Colossus

Saw

Loggers Leap

Rocky Express

Rumba

Rush

Quantum

Slammer

Depth Charge

Caroulsel

Banana ride

Teacups

Dodgems

Angry Birds 4D

Detonator

Total 20

Maze count

Cabin

S13 x3 (one was face it alone)

My Bloody a Valentine

Blair Witch

Saw Alive

Total 7

Reserve and ride was running this day and despite hearing mixed things of on the Saturday, the system seemed to work well for my group (at least to begin with) where one of us would reserve one thing and someone rose another. We pretty much hot on the mazes within 5 minutes or so except our second run on Studio which took a lot longer.

Did face it alone again, this time in Studio which was really good, actors dragged me along, shouted at me among a number of other things too which was a intense but good experience and still related to the studio theme too, not to mention being chased alone by the chain saw, but I think that's enough spoilers for now but it's an experience if recommend for those ego love scare mazes. Definitely recommend studio for face it alone.

Pros

Face it alone

Champagne (for face it alone)

Night rides

Bar 360 were good today

Mazes were running better today

One of.my more relaxing thorpe trips recently

Reserve and ride actually worked

Colossus front row (and short queue)

Cons

One train operation at the start of the day (fantastic Thorpe )

Rumba broke when we were nearby

Teacups are too stiff (need to loosen up)

Samurai died

Will be returning next Monday and also for a few hours Friday morning too, this was also my tenth visit this year.

[TPJames]

Thorpe park Saturday 19th October 2014:

Ride count:

Swarm x1

Nemesis inferno x1

Detonator x2

Rush x4

Vortex x3

Zodiac x2

X x2

Dodgems x2

Slammer x1

Teacups x1

Carousel x1

Banana boat x1

Rocky road x1

Cabin in the woods x2

Studio 13 x1

Quantum x2

Saw Alive x1

Rumba rapids x2

Storm surge x1

Total: 31

Pros:

-We were emergency stopped in cabin in the woods! Meaning we got to go a 2nd time! Found the control room as well, cabin was the best maze of the night.

-Rush and vortex in the dark were great. Really enjoyed them.

-Slammer was open!

That's about it...

Cons:

-'"Ride and reserve"(as the staff were calling it, even though that makes no sense) was an utter failure, was good at first as we did studio 13 and cabin in quick succession with no wait. However later on we had to wait 45mins for saw alive after a 2hour virtual wait and after a 5hour virtual wait for studio 13 we were told that there would be a 120minute further standby wait to get in, with fastrack queue at 60minutes and main queue at 4hours long.

-Samurai down all day.

-Coasters up to 120mins and never really came down, stayed around 60mins all day.

-There was cabin in the woods music playing in the X queueline.

-Storm turd got my feet soaked.

-Lack of roaming actors as there were more normal park guests scaring people than actual actors.

-Stealth kept breaking down.

-Mazes went up to 4hours in wait, at one point all mazes were 5hours virtual and 3-4hours standby queueing. When Blair witch opened it went straight to 3hours as well so didn't get a chance to do that.

-Swarm went straight to 120mins at 10am due to one train operation.

-Massive queue at collection building due to annual pass holders wanting to collect their tickets.

-Mazes were OK, don't think actors were putting their all into it.

-Friend got a wasp trapped in his pocket on quantum.

-Only half the cars were running on the Dodgems.

-No mist near tidal wave or stealth like last week.

-Fire and water effects off on swarm.

-Got denied to go on the good swing on rush as the lady said they swing at the 'same height' which she didn't even know what the height was. Apparently the reason they look different heights is because one swing goes faster than the other as well which caused a heated argument. Ended up riding swing B and was much worse than swing A.

-Got stuck at top of detonator as car refused to release and the tower started to shake and vibrate.

-No mist on inferno and was on one train operation meaning it went straight to 90mins.

-Massive queue at guest services all day due to reserve n ride being awful. There was a 30minute wait at one point for guests services.

So there's like no good points and loads of bad points, after visiting alton I'm really disappointed, will be back next Sunday and hope for better operations as they are really really poor.

[planenut]

Well according to my bank account, I don't own TP, but today, happened to coincide with my attendance at Stealth, someone asked me if I was a pilot who was required under the training scheme to undergo several trips on Stealth, which I am not.

[Matt 236]

Was supposed to be doing a TR on Chessington after my planned visit yesterday, but due to complications it was another day back at Thorpe.

Arrived at 9:35-12:45 and returned again at 5:30pm.

Ride count

Morning

Swarm

Inferno x4

Dodgems

Detonator

Saw

X

Quantum

Rumba

Loggers

Rocky

Total13

Evening

Blair Witch

Rumba

Teacups

Angrybirds 4D

Slammer

X

Swarm

Saw Alive (face it alone)

Total 8

Complete total 21

Closed rides Fish, Stealth (didn't open all day) , Samurai, Loggers (after 5), Rocky, Caroulsel

Pros

Morning was pretty quiet

2 train op at the start of day

Best face it alone

Roast and Relish is such a good place to eat

New swarm lighting

Slammer at night

Rumba at night

Inferno marathon

Cons

Stealth was closed all day

Saw's effects were broken

Dodgems had 12 cars broken (yes 12!)

Thorpe was insanely busy

Everything was almost on 1-2 hour queues

We weren't at Chessington

Tbh I didn't enjoy my evening back on park as it was so busy' literally everything had a long queue, best bit was night ride on Slammer and Swarm tbh. Perhaps my least favourite trip in 2014,yet.

Face it alone however sort of made up for which was so good! Did Saw Alive this time and the actors were really in force today and was such good fun, plus they took great use of the props there too. Easily my favourite Face it alone yet followed by Studio and then Cabin, would definitely recommend!

Back again to Thorpe one more time this season, fingers crossed it won't be as bad as this day. Apparently it was even worse today as they almost reached capacity plus Stealth was still down.

[Mark9]

Back again to Thorpe one more time this season, fingers crossed it won't be as bad as this day. Apparently it was even worse today as they almost reached capacity plus Stealth was still down.

 

I don't get it. Had a really unenjoyable day. Goes back straight away. Makes no sense to me I'm afraid.

[Matt 236]

I don't get it. Had a really unenjoyable day. Goes back straight away. Makes no sense to me I'm afraid.

TBH I was originally going to be at Chessington this day, but things occurred preventing this and the main reason I'm going back is to renew my annual pass (it was here or Legoland) and other situations mean so too.

The trip I mentioned was one that was not intentionally planned to happen and was supposed to be at Chessington.

[Whatever]

Arrived about 1:25 today, got out around 7 ish

• Ninferno x1
• Saw alive x1
• Vortex x1
• X x1

Thats it. Queues were massive and the only reason we got on Inferno was because we had a fastrack from last time. I don't mind queueing for two hours (I know, I'm weird right?) but my dad was moaning.

 

Pros:

Live actors were really good (the cannibal cult)

Vortex was going very well

Pizza Hut was lovely

 

Cons:

Inferno seemed rougher than usual

Very busy

People were smoking in the queues and I've been coughing ever since.

They were playing good horror audio, but it was being turned up then down constantly

Vortex was advertised as 25 mins, but took 40.

Saw Alive was very rushed and a bit 'meh'

[Matt 236]

Despite my hit and miss previous visit I returned to Thorpe (once) again yesterday for my 12th and (likely) final trip of 2014.

Ride count/

Inferno 2x

Swarm

X 2x

Colossus

Stealth 2x

Saw

Rumba 2x

Loggers

Rocky

Quantum

Vortex

Depth Charge

Teqcups

Detonator

Total/ 18

Maze count

Blair Witch

My a Bloody Valentine

Cabin

Total 3

Overall total 21

Despite the park (supposedly) reaching capacity (although the actual number was nearer to 13k as opposed to 18k) though the park felt busy it certainly didn't feel unbearable or heaving really. Coasters reached 1-2 hours in the peak of the day and mazes 90-120 minutes (which isn't much more than others days I've gone).

Pros

Good run through on a Blair witch

Best run through on MBV yet

Swarm in the dark

Front row inferno in the dark was a nice end to the day (and season)

Stealth was open

Good operations on Swarm, Stealth & Inferno (for. Out of the day)

Rumba at night is underrated

Seeing a few familiar faces working there

Colossus ran surprisingly smooth at night

Got on Blair Witch quickly

Vortex was running well (and in good in the dark)

Cons

Saw's effects are completely broken

So is Inferno's mist

Swarm started the day on one train

Swarm's 'cattle pen of doom' (the one behind station) was being used (crust when you thought the queue was quiet)

Tea cups are still stiiff

Colossus Operations (took 2 minutes to dispatch each train, at one stage I though it was only on one)

Not being able to queue up for S13 because it was closed before I could even ask (one person doesn't hurt)

Seeing your typical disruptive park visitors every so often

Despite facing the park alone, I supposedly had a better day out yesterday than I had on the 24th. Whether this was due to Stealth being open, being more laid back or having no a Chessington trip cancelled I'm not sure. The only things that made Fridays trip better than this one was my amazing run through on Face It Alone and spending the day with Scary a Coaster Boy & Jack.

Although this will most likely be my final proper themepark trip this year (except for London/Winter Wonderland & perhaps Legoland Christmas), It was a nice end to the 2014 season (especially Inferno front row at night). I've renewed my magic pass for yet another year (although losing 12 days off my last one due to date differences).

However despite this I doubt I'll get 12 trips next year (2 which were actually a bonus this year) and not to mention I have hopes/intentions to escape the Merlin machine next year should things go to plan (so far only doing so at Blackpool and tickley world), potential blog on the way to analyse this year more.

[planenut]

I was night shift last night, so as the weather was to be so good, decided to go in to the park today - big mistake - I had not realized it was a special event day and therefore all Annual Pass holders were expected to pay a tenner, the queues were massive, the car park queue was to the gate. As I had only intended to visit until five, I actually walked away. I suppose if I'd checked the site properly I would have seen the detail.

[dragon2000]

Colossus Operations (took 2 minutes to dispatch each train, at one stage I though it was only on one)

 

 

Colossus was on one train for most of the morning, so might have been this?

[Matt 236]

Colossus was on one train for most of the morning, so might have been this?

Never did Colossus in the morning but 90 minute queues! Could be the reason why.

I queued for it around 8-9pm where it was 45 minutes and trains were dispatching every 2 minutes I think, probably the worst operated coaster yesterday although saw was on 7 cars (at least to begin with).

[planenut]

Today, probably my last chance to do any riding this season, night shift tonight, so I went to TP. Luckily for me, Stealth was working, only about 1000 people in the whole park.

Some of the queues were non-existent, so yes, I actually went on some other things to finish off my season.

Nemesis Inferno x 1

Slammer x 1 (only me on one side and two others opposite)

Colossus x 1

Saw, out of action during my extra-normal saunter

Vortex x 1

Rush x 1

SWARM x 1

X x 1

Stealth, more than one!

 

Total ride count - over 8

 

A nice day to be able to say cheerio and thanks to many staff members, and the rain held off, except for a light shower during the afternoon.

[coastercameron98]

So since I couldn't make it to the park tomorrow for the last day of season I decided to go today - good decision as well it was very quiet to what I'm used to.

 

Ride Count:

 

Stealth - 9 (1 front row in the dark )

Inferno - 8

Saw - 3

Colossus - 2

Swarm - 5

X - 7

Quantum - 1

Loggers - 1

Slammer - 2

Rumba Rapids - 1

 

Total: 39 - very good by what I usually get.

 

Pros:

• My final ride of the season on Stealth front row with the whole train to myself
• Enthusiastic ride staff on X 
• 6 re-rides on Stealth without going round
• Generally very quiet
• Everything went down to like 5 mins in the last hour or so.
• Most coasters on 2 trains from opening
• Lots of rides in the dark

Cons:

• Incredibly rough rides on Saw and Colossus
• Colossus opened 2 hours late
• Stealth on 1 train all day. Grrr.

Apart from those small negative points it was a brilliant day and a great final trip of the season.

[Whatever]

Last day of season *sobs*

Was a quiet day though got there about oneish and left at five.

Ride count:

• Inferno x3
• Saw x5
• Colossus x2
• The swarm x2 (1x backwards)
• Cheif Ranger's carousel x1

Pros:

• No queues!
• The Carousel was playing old ranger songs (because it is its last operating day????)
• I went on Saw 3 times in a row
• I finally saw the Inferno crocodiles!
• Colossus was oddly smooth

Cons:

• Someone vommed on Saw and it had to be closed
• My dad called me a nerd ALL DAY
• It is the last day...
• My restraint on Inferno is really loose.
• Effects on Saw weren't working