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.

[Tom]

My school breaks up the day before, it's likely a lot of schools will be out.

[Benin]

Since when did schools break up in May?Used to be June back in my day...

[Tom]

End of May. And My birthday is June the 7th and has only been in half term once because of the Queens Jubilee; so schools usually break up at the end of may/very early june!

[Cat]

23rd May should be pretty dead since it's a weekday and it's a weekday on a school week. Most rides should have 5-10min queue max...

Woohoo!! Thanks for that!!

Since when did schools break up in May?Used to be June back in my day...

It's a bank holiday that week and they're off from the 27th to the 6th. I checked a few places and it's the same in Surrey, Hampshire and Wiltshire. Some schools might have inset days on the 27th though. I'm going to sound old saying this, but they've only just had easter off, my daughter's still eating her easter eggs lol! Plus it was extended becasue of the royal wedding. Lucky kids!!!

[booboo]

I went on tuesday (24th may) and weds (25th)Tuesday wasnt too busy, noticed quite a few school trips though.... most queues were roughly about 20 - 30 minutes..Wednesday was slightly quiter with no school trips... longest queue I went on was saw said 60 minutes but it was only 25 O_o hmm lol.

[Mr.man]

What will the queues be like today roughly anyone thanks in advance.

[JackR]

Does anybody know how busy it's going to be tomorrow? Me and a friend are going and we figured because its half term it will be quite busy, but judging from previous days this week does anybody know actually how busy it will be?

[Ben1990]

Anybody who can...get down there tomorrow! This week is a complete gem because it's just before schools begin their visits and lots of students/teens have exams...and for whatever other reason...it was brill today- the park felt empty most of the day!THE RESULTING QUEUE TIMES...NI-waited 20 minutes maximumColossus-30 minutes maximumSAW-25-30 minutes maximumSamurai-25 minutes fairly consistentlyVortex, Slammer, Rush- maximum 15 minutes eachRumba, Quantum, Enterprise, Tidal- consistently 0 minutes Stealth- 35 minutes all dayStorm Surge- 45 minutes consistentlyHope this is helpful to somebody

[Dan]

I'm going the 20th / 21st is it going to busy with any trips reported going ?

[Tom]

If anyone went today, would you reccomend going tomorrow? Was at Chessie today and it was pretty empty so I'm thinking tomorrow at Thorpe will be similar.

[Ben1990]

Chessington does seem to get these strangely quiet weekend days every now and then..sadly though I doubt Thorpe will have been/ will be anything like Chessington today/tomorrow...it always seems to be packed at weekends throughout the summer. But hey- you could get lucky

[jjh123horry]

I'm going the 20th / 21st is it going to busy with any trips reported going ?

I'm goin on the 20th with some mates. I doubt that it would be very busy, seems kids are at school, people at work, and its a monday, so people are gonna be knackered from the weekend before, so they probably wont be bothered to go, but thats my opinion

[Jake C]

Monday, do we think all the school kids will be there?Jake

[jjh123horry]

Monday, do we think all the school kids will be there?Jake

I personally, being a year 11 who has just left doesnt think that ALL the school kids will be there. Most trips are done during the week, not on the 1st day at school, just to much hastle for teachers. Also its a monday so people wouldnt really go because their just so knackered from the weekend before, also the weather says rain, so it puts people off going, even if it doesnt actually rain on the day. I will also be there if you do want to meet up

[Dan]

I'm goin on the 20th with some mates. I doubt that it would be very busy, seems kids are at school, people at work, and its a monday, so people are gonna be knackered from the weekend before, so they probably wont be bothered to go, but thats my opinion

Me and 4 of my mates will be there if you want meet up to say hiii I agree I'm hopping to be a non busy day , but never works out like that for me

[Lukeeeeeee.]

Me and 4 of my mates will be there if you want meet up to say hiii I agree I'm hopping to be a non busy day , but never works out like that for me

It won't be as busy as a weekend, but it will still be fairly busy as all of the year 11s have finished school and I went this time last year and it was full of undesirables! Anyway, it shouldn't be mobbed, but expect to queue about 20-40 minutes probably. Have fun!

[jjh123horry]

Me and 4 of my mates will be there if you want meet up to say hiii

Sure, would be nice to meet up to say hii

I agree I'm hopping to be a non busy day , but never works out like that for me

I'm hoping to same, would like to try and do as any rides as I can I think people will be put off by the weather, it says rain for monday so we shall have to see

[SkySkream]

Hey Guys I'm New Here, So This Is Like My First Proper Post. I'm Gonna Be 12 In July And I'm Having My B-Day Party at TP With A Few Mates. Its Gonna Be My First Ever Time At Thorpe And I'm Proper Hyped As I LOVE Theme Parks (My Fave So Far Is AI Been Going Since I Was Like 1 Its Amazing, But I Feel Like I Need More Thrills So Thats Why I'm Coming Thorpe) I'm Going On The 24th As Our School (bout an hour away in some place called enfield) Has An Inset Day But Loads Of Schools In My Area Had It On Last Wednesday, I Dunno About Schools In Surrey (I'm In Yr 7 btw) So I Was Wondering How Busy It Will Be On The 24th And Could Some1 Pm Me And Tell Me Some Tips For First Timers At Thorpe, It Shuts At 6PM and I Plan To Arrive At 10am When It Opens And I Wanna try And Get On Everything. Thanks

[th13teen]

I went to Thorpe park today, But left before I could enter the park! When we arrived at 9:50 we were greeted by a full car park or should I say coach park! I knew it would be full of school trips, but I really didnt expect that many, especially for that time of day! My dad needed a new annual pass because it had expired, so we went to the annual pass kiosk, and the queue to get one was nearly 2 hours. We waited 5 minutes without the queue moving in the slightest so we decided to go to Chessington instead were they seem to treat you as a paying customer rather than no.12335! I thought this queue by thorpe park was ridiculus because I knew within 60 minutes they would have changed there annual pass office into a ticket handout/come back later, and queue all over again. We were not having this!You would have thought Thorpe park could learn from chessington and Alton but apparently not! Whatever you do don't go to thorpe park when there is a teachers strike on! I excpect queues because its summer and school trip season BUT not that much of a queue!

[Diesel]

I don't think you appreciate how hard the staff work at the park. The management knew it was going to be busy, and henceforth made added arangements in order to try and reduce a catastrophe. There is only so much they can do with 6 or so lil kiosks to buy an annual pass, when there are 200 people waiting when it takes 5 to 10 minutes per person of course its going to be haywire.

[Dan9]

Thorpe should learn from Chessington? Whilst this quote is 100% correct in a number of areas, this surely can't be one of them. Thorpe actually have a sensible-ish amount of kiosks available, unlike the er, two, at Chessington. (Where earlier in the season it took 90 minutes to renew an AP, in a queue of probably no more than 25/30 people)

We waited 5 minutes without the queue moving in the slightest so we decided to go to Chessington instead were they seem to treat you as a paying customer rather than no.12335!

I also have absolutely no idea where you got this idea from... you said you left the queue after 5 minutes, so how do you know how hard the staff were working? The only point I can see you might be trying to make here from the evidence you've provided is that Chessington is superior to Thorpe because it isn't as busy... Even though Chessington is superior to Thorpe anyway.

[th13teen]

Oh trust me I was there alot longer than 5 minutes, it was a figure of speech!I don't give complaint about how the staff work, They work bloody hard USUALLY all the time, I am talking about the system that was run.Unlike Chessington, Thorpe make you get your Annual pass at the entrance with the 200 other AP collectors, meaning you waste 2 hours of your lifetime getting your very expensive annual pass, whereas chessington let you have a ticket in seconds, so you can enter the park enjoy a few rides and when you feel like it during the day you can go to the 'extra' adventures and collect your annual pass. Thorpe park in the past have never got it right because whenever its busy at the AP booth they will do the same as Chessington but only after you have been waiting over an hour and a half.Just to point out I now do find Chessington much better to thorpe park, no matter how bitter that may seem to some on this forum, the past few visits I have had have knocked Thorpe park SO far down! Before you know it they will be selling Fastrack for the AP collection!

[Dan]

I've always found thorpe park really busy most of the season , The staff on the ticket booths are working flatout and as fast as they can . I renewed my annual pass last month and my friends collected there new ones and we got all done in about 10 minutes which I was amazed .The earlier you get there the better , you don't expect ever to turn up 10 minutes before opening and expect to get your pass and go straight in before opening to time with the queues .

[pluk]

I don't think anyone has questioned how hard the staff work? But it doesn't matter how hard they work if the system put in place by those above doesn't work. I've been incredibly frustrated trying to get into both Thorpe and Chessington through the queues. A problem I've not experienced anywhere else in the world (or at Alton Towers, I'm not sure what they do differently. Maybe the monorail keeps the flow of people steadier). Consider too that Disney manage it very smoothly even though they search everyone, and fingerprint everyone with a multiday ticket.I think the increasingly complex price structures are partly to blame. There is no incentive to book in advance with 40% off if half price / bogof vouchers are everywhere. Why not just charge £20 no matter if you book or just turn up, or just allow voucher code input on line. People would print their own tickets at home and not have to queue on the day. Also, it took a friend of mine 45 mins to get an AP the other day with practically no queue, that is insane. I don't know what's wrong with it but that system is clearly not right.

[Marc]

Just a heads up the parks been packed over the past week and I guess it will be now untill the school trips are over.