How Busy Is It Going To Be?

[Mark9]

Right, so instead of endless topics asking us how busy the park is going to be, instead here is a rough guide to the kind of business the park/s should be expecting this season. It's not set in stone and remember business can be effected by weather, ride reliability, mount of trains/cars on the rollercoasters, amount of staff working on things, fastrack etc etc etc!10am - 5pm Weekday. Likely to be very empty, particularly in term time. Queue time should be minimal (Unless your name is Stealth and you have a stupid system where you can only load 4 in the first, 8 in the second and then you end up rolling back anyway etc etc) 10am-5pm Weekend. Will be emptyish, however likely to be long queues for Saw, Colossus, Stealth and Nemesis Inferno.10am-6pm. Busy but not so bad. Queues for the coasters could reach 45/60 minutes, whilst the rest of the flat rides should be a max of 30 minutes. June and July are when schools start rolling in, so between 11-3 the park will be very busy.9.30am-6pm. Should be busy. Queues for the coasters could reach 60/90 minutes and the rest of the rides queues will be between 20/40 minutes. Fastrack will be in operation.9.30-7pm. Expected to be busy. Queues should be similar to 9.30-6.00 close except the last hour should be quite empty.9.30-8.00 Again should be busy. At least you have a long day to get on quite a few rides. 10.00am-10.00pm Will be busy. Last year wasn't as bad as previously however if it ever hits peak capacity, queues will be up to 2 hours for the rollercoasters and between 45/90 minutes for the flat rides.Remember guys, read this guide to help if you beat the queues without wasting money on Fastrack. Also use the park well. Head to Stealth and Inferno instead of Saw and Colossus. Do rides whilst they look empty instead of following the majority of the crowds.

[Stokesyboy]

I've done plenty of rides in the last 2 weeks so not bothered about a high ride count Going to take some pictures and get on some rides that's all

[javs]

went today and it was really busy! The Swarm had a queue time of 90 mins for the first 2 hours. But I resisted the temptation of going there first and went left. Turned out a good move as I walked on Samauri, Colossus, Saw and Inferno as everyone else queued for The Swarm! The queue came down to 15 mins after lunch and I did it 4 times. Amazing day out in the end.

[d.m.k]

Went yesterday (Thurs 29th) and probably made the best decision I've ever made about visiting. Staff on the gate said Weds had been a bit busier than they first thought but only forecast 5,000 for Thurs. Turned out the longest queue we found was 15mins for Swarm, which was ridden 4 times, as were almost all other rides However, staff were also saying how advance bookings have gone crazy for over the Easter holidays. Prepare for a VERY busy Easter was the advice :/ and I'm due to visit.

[javs]

I'm not sure where everyone came from on Wed's! The park was running out of food too! Other than that, I was mighty impressed at how they coped with ride dispatch and queue times which were still short.

[one-eye-mike]

Evening chaps.Me and a few buddies are hoping to go to Thorpe Park ither on Tues 10th April or Tues 17th April. However were not sure when the schools break up etc so is there anyone here who visits the park reguarly and would be able to give an insight I what the better day is?Much apprechiated everyone, thanks.

[d.m.k]

one-eye-mike, pretty much all schools have broken up now but most kids will be going back on 16th April. Going on the 10th does have the advantage of having longer opening hours, but if I were you, I'd put your visit back till 17th, you'll probably have a much better day with less queuing Got a question of my own, has anyone ever been on Easter Sunday? One of my mates said it was dead last year but wanted this confirmed because he seems to think "dead" is an hours wait for Stealth :L

[Walker]

Got a question of my own, has anyone ever been on Easter Sunday? One of my mates said it was dead last year but wanted this confirmed because he seems to think "dead" is an hours wait for Stealth :L

I'd love to know this too. Planning a trip there on Easter Sunday. I was curious about the queues, I really don't know what to expect. Part of me thinks it could be dead with people staying at home for Easter, but I guess it could go the other way with everyone being off?

[Ryan]

I'm sure the whole Easter period will be very very busy! Swarm was advertised as 90 mins when I visited on Monday and other coasters were between 45-60 mins.

[JoshC.]

Today seemed strangely quiet. Swarm did reach a 90min+ queue near the beginning of the day, but had died down by 2pm to about 40mins. Colossus started off big, but was 5/10 mins for a fair bit of the afternoon. Saw and Inferno never really peaked about the hour mark either, with most flats and water rides never really getting above 20-30mins. For Easter, pretty good. Not sure whether any other day this Easter break will be like that mind..

[Ryan]

Today seemed strangely quiet. Swarm did reach a 90min+ queue near the beginning of the day, but had died down by 2pm to about 40mins. Colossus started off big, but was 5/10 mins for a fair bit of the afternoon. Saw and Inferno never really peaked about the hour mark either, with most flats and water rides never really getting above 20-30mins. For Easter, pretty good. Not sure whether any other day this Easter break will be like that mind..

That would probably be due to the poor weather forecast

[d.m.k]

Well, I've confirmed my trip for Easter Sunday now so looks like I'll be finding out how busy it'll be soon.

I'm calling the park on Friday to book friend's AP discount ticket and I'll ask if the operator has any idea how many people they are forecasted over the Easter period

[th13teen]

I am going this Saturday, and I was wondering how long the queue is for buying tickets? I have an AP but my friends have to buy tickets with there BOGOF vouchers, Its just I don't wan't to be stuck in a ticket queue for half an hour if I can go on a few rides!

Plus will it be busy considering its meant to be pissing down-if you will pardon the pun!

[ashley8bit]

Hello,

How busy do you guys think it will be on Thursday next week. I've tried to time it when people are at school but wondered if anyone had a better idea.

Thanks

[Stokesyboy]

Probably empty, I've looked at the queue times and the max one I saw was 10 minutes for Stealth, Swarm had 0 mins

[ashley8bit]

Excellent. I'll report back how busy it is. Thanks.

[filmbenwilliams]

Hi all:

First post here, but have visited regularly ahead of trips in the past and found stuff like the below interesting.

Went today (Monday 30th April) and had a great day. Was actually quite busy at the gateline, etc., and the park was sort of busy all day. Maybe kids skipping out on study leave...

Longest queue was for Stealth, advertised as 40 mins, but actually more like 25. Second longest was Nemesis Inferno, which we waited 25 for, and was advertised as such. Shortest queue time was literally 0 minutes, at different times of the day on Swarm (amazing!), Saw and Flying Fish (it's a tradition), as well as all the thrill rides that spin and make everyone feel sick (including characters on the park map, which is gross). Stealth started the day closed, but opened at around 12pm. Same with Tidal Wave.

It wasn't the ghost town I was expecting, but we did get a couple of go-agains, and we got the last ride of the day on Swarm, of course by accident, which was excellent. Generally we had to wait for a few trains to clear before we got on, which was great.

Goes to show that the wisdom in the original post is correct - on a weekday, 10-5, you'll get a lot of riding done with low to moderate queuing.

[Stokesyboy]

I think the weather might have contributed yesterday, It was sunny where I am so I would pressume it was sunny/ slightly cloudy down at Thorpe.

[th13teen]

I have realised I love the rain, because it really does keep people away, and yes it hurts the face, but as long as you don't sit at the front its great! I went last weekend on Saturday, and I got on The Swarm 5 times in sucsession with no queue!

I also got on literally everything, I can usually do most of the rides, but I got to 3 in the afternoon and realised I had done everything (except Rumba rapids, I'm 16! )

All in all a good trip!

[mburland]

So...Jubilee Bank Holiday. What do you think? Monday or Tuesday? Will it be packed, or will everyone be at home enjoying their street parties and cucumber sandwiches?

[Doc]

Due to it still being a bank holiday I imagine it will still be relatively packed. Maybe a few less because of the celebrations, but maybe a few more. It is kind of hard to predict.

Anyway I know I am probably going to regret asking this but can anyone inform me how busy it might be on Saturday the 2nd of June (first day of half term?) To be fair I am going to be going again in July when peeps are still in school but I was invited to go one month early as well and I never like to say no to a trip to Thorpe.

So does anyone know how busy it will/can get or if anyone could give me a quick tip or two?

Thanks in advance.

[stealth888]

Hmm it will either be very busy or not so busy. In my experience, Sundays are usually quieter than Saturdays but I think this Saturday, due to the good weather and Saturday being a 'family day', also with the Jubilee weekend happening I'm sure it will be quite busy (Queues for the big 5 around 90 mins)

Being the first day of the half term holiday however, people may wait until mid-week to go. Saying that, the largest queues potentially may be around 60 mins, but of course during the middle of the day the queues will be at their longest.

I'd say get there early and take advantage of the short queues in the first hour, maybe go in a clockwise direction around the park (majority go for Swarm), then if you're lucky go on Swarm mid-afternoon in the 30-45 minute queues (the best queues for the Swarm in my opinion, the looped news report on the TVs lasts around that long), if you're lucky they may even be shorter, around 20 minutes.

Again, like I say to anyone who wonders how busy it will be, you never know till you get there. Last year I went two days in a row in the summer holiday and the first day it was packed out, second day the longest queue was 45 minutes.

Anyway, have fun!!

[Doc]

Firstly thank you for the quick response.

I agree that usually Saturdays tend to be the busier day but as you said, being the first day of the half term I guess people may want to leave visiting until later in the week. The info on ride times is excellent and I will do my best to acknowledge this on my visit. As you said I will try making the most of the first hour there, starting at SWARM, and then going round to get to the other major coasters. I always thought midday may be fairly quiet in terms of queues as everyone will be eating but I guess I will find that out for myself.

As you said, it really does vary daily and I guess I won't know how bad it is until I get there. Still it is nice to get somewhat of a head start.

Thank you again for the help and haha, I'all try

[jjh123horry]

I'm going next tuesday (19th June), does anyone any idea what it could be like? I know itll be during the week and people will be at work, but I know the schools are starting to do end of year trips (I know it seems early, but some schools finish earlier). So if anyone has any idea as to what it could be like, it would be great help.

Thanks

[Ricky]

As the weather recently and in the upcoming days is awful, I shouldn't imagine it being busy at all. As a heads up schools weeks are now lingering upon the park. Starting in the next two weeks you will see a vast amount of schools having school trips, and you will see up to 8000 school children (maybe more). Careful planning may be necessary through the end of June to mid July.

[Dummiguy]

How busy is it likely to be tomorrow; how long would some queues get?