October 27, 201410 yr comment_195946 Not even 12 and already full up... Either they've reduced the capacity to something more manageable or it's just hell at the moment...
October 27, 201410 yr comment_195948 The queues are not too bad. Stealth is under an hour and nothing is in the hundreds. Maybe capacity has been reduced a bit.
October 27, 201410 yr Author comment_195949 It could also be that loads of people have prebooked but haven't turned up just yet.
October 27, 201410 yr comment_195950 Ill just sit back and watch the fastrack complaints come rolling in.
October 27, 201410 yr comment_195951 Dilemma do I go this afternoon? My mates got a tesco voucher ticket and I've got a premium annual pass ticket?
October 27, 201410 yr comment_195952 Unless you have pre-booked they wont let you in. Is the tesco voucher a ticket or something to exchange for a ticket?
October 27, 201410 yr comment_195953 Either they've reduced the capacity to something more manageable or it's just hell at the moment... It was pretty hellish this weekend - 17,000 gate figure on the Saturday, and not much less on the Sunday. Heard one attendant quote 4 hours standby queue for Cabin in the Woods on Sunday. Fastrack overselling was rife; even those who had stumped up the cash had to queue for up to an hour at times...
October 27, 201410 yr comment_195954 Ill just sit back and watch the fastrack complaints come rolling in. Do you not have anything better to do?
October 27, 201410 yr comment_195955 No I dont, I was meant to be at cwoa today but had no way of getting there. So I have a day of nothing planned.
October 27, 201410 yr comment_195959 So, the park is at capacity and is turning people away. What kind of hell awaits those inside? How close to capacity were they the last couple of days when the park operations royally fell over? How bad can it get, or will they suddenly find a way to cope?...
October 27, 201410 yr comment_195960 So, the park is at capacity and is turning people away. What kind of hell awaits those inside? How close to capacity were they the last couple of days when the park operations royally fell over? How bad can it get, or will they suddenly find a way to cope?... Yesterday was very busy - was there for around 3 hours and got on X, Slammer, Rumba and Depth Charge , waited around 30 min max Sure it's busy - but it's certainly not as bad as people on fb saying they only got on 2 rides all day!
October 27, 201410 yr comment_195961 It was extremely busy yesterday, but for some reason, I don't mind Queueing for two hours, but I didn't.
October 27, 201410 yr comment_195964 Sounds to me like they've reduced the capacity a bit. Yesterday was far busier yet all rides were still open. As for Tesco clubcard etc, don't they usually say they'll validate them for Chessington instead? Or am I just imagining that?
October 27, 201410 yr comment_195965 I'm at the park today, whilst it's definitely very busy today, it doesn't feel like its heaving or too overcrowded. Longest queue currently is Saw on 110 minutes however I expect it will get a lot busier in the evening. Fright Nights have been very busy this year so far, which is hopefully a good thing for the park but not for anyone visiting.
October 27, 201410 yr comment_195967 My take on fright nights at the moment: As we have seen the hype for fright night this year seems to have drastically increased! And so for future years I think we need another 2 mazes added (on the beaches) either lionsgate ips or thorpes own mazes to help with the large queue times and maybe bring them down to around an hour on peak nights. Also why unlike towers is fright night not open for 2 weeks in a row to give people the option to go on a quieter night.
October 27, 201410 yr comment_195968 My take on fright nights at the moment: As we have seen the hype for fright night this year seems to have drastically increased! And so for future years I think we need another 2 mazes added (on the beaches) either lionsgate ips or thorpes own mazes to help with the large queue times and maybe bring them down to around an hour on peak nights. Also why unlike towers is fright night not open for 2 weeks in a row to give people the option to go on a quieter night. It's because thorpe want the extra money from fastrack sales. Would be great if you could go on off peak nights though, would mean the park could actually incorporate some real theming on park. Would love to see halloween decorations like alton towers do.A lot of people turn up for maze openings, my guess is the mazes will still go straight to 2hours when they open and rollercoasters will stay over an hour. Certainly seems emptier than Saturday however I expect it will get busy for the evening. When I visit later in the week, my friends plan to get to the park later so worried as I fear they will get turned down by the park. Also, just to note that turning down people will cause even MORE complaints. However, will mean less complaints inside the park about long queues. However, this will balance out meaning there will be the same amount of complaints anyway.
October 27, 201410 yr comment_195979 Definitely agree there need to be more FN's out of the weekends/holiday week so people who are able to avoid the crowds actually have the opportunity to.
October 27, 201410 yr Author comment_195987 My take on fright nights at the moment: As we have seen the hype for fright night this year seems to have drastically increased! And so for future years I think we need another 2 mazes added (on the beaches) either lionsgate ips or thorpes own mazes to help with the large queue times and maybe bring them down to around an hour on peak nights. Also why unlike towers is fright night not open for 2 weeks in a row to give people the option to go on a quieter night. If Thorpe chucked more mazes to the line up, I'd worry about a potential dip in overall quality. Yeah sure, it means people spread out more and there's more to do, but is it worth risking quality for quantity? I'm not too sure. Also remember the park are trying to move away from sticking mazes in tents. Up until about 2010 I think, Thorpe did run Fright Nights for about 3 consecutive weeks, but the weekdays were just so quiet if I remember correctly, so they just cut them away. Given how the event is growing though, it would be interesting to see if it's popular enough to sustain enough visitors for it to be worthwhile now. Also, just to note that turning down people will cause even MORE complaints. However, will mean less complaints inside the park about long queues. However, this will balance out meaning there will be the same amount of complaints anyway. Nahh, don't think so. Very few people will turn up on the gate after 12pm just expecting to buy a ticket easy peasy. Most of those who turn up after that time will be AP holders (who have to prebook) or people who have prebooked. Certainly won't be the same number of complaints either way.
October 27, 201410 yr comment_195992 If Towers can run Scarefest for two weeks, Thorpe can run Fright Nights midweek before half term... Hell, Thorpe is busy for most midweeks anyways...
October 27, 201410 yr comment_195994 At the park and posting from the Colossus queue. This is a 60min wait. Have just waited 65 for Swarm and 60 for Stealth. Inferno has its full queue rack open and is going between 60 and 90 mins. Almost forgot, waited 65 for Saw earlier, it broke down just before we got on and has gone up to 110 mins ever since. Maze queues are 90mins plus.
October 27, 201410 yr comment_195995 ^Much shorter than what it was on Saturday then, in fact pretty much half what it was on Saturday. Must've decreased the capacity then.
October 27, 201410 yr comment_195996 If Towers can run Scarefest for two weeks, Thorpe can run Fright Nights midweek before half term... Hell, Thorpe is busy for most midweeks anyways... Thorpe isn't busy midweek, it's just that all the rides are on one train operation...^Much shorter than what it was on Saturday then, in fact pretty much half what it was on Saturday. Must've decreased the capacity then.It's clear they've decreased capacity after so many complaints. The queue times are still bad but they aren't as horrendous as they were on Saturday and Sunday.
October 27, 201410 yr comment_196004 Capacity has not been decreased! The full signs are no longer up! So they've basically reopened the gates! They were just expecting with the way the gate figure was rapidly climbing in the morning to hit capacity so they had to announce it so all prebooked people could get in! Many people left a 3 (many more families as it's half term and quite a few trips) so they were expecting to hit capacity but didn't.
October 27, 201410 yr comment_196006 Do people reckon it's worth risking using a tesco clubcard print at home ticket for Saturday, or is it likely they don't let non-prebooked people in quite early?
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