Return of Reserve N Ride?

[TPJames]

Hi all,

I was just having a look at the thorpe website and I've noticed a feature on it.

https://www.thorpepark.com/tickets-passes/ticket-information/

When you click on tickets the options come up, RESERVE N RIDE, is the last on the list however risk still there. However, when you click on it, it comes up with an error message! My question is mainly aimed at thorpe however it takes a while to do a direct message to them so I was wondering if anyone knew if they had plans to bring back the system?

Many thanks.

[JoshC.]

But the shift in target marker was huge and very noticeable. They didn't spend millions on it, but they opened their appeal to many, many more people, which can only bring people through the gate.

Swarm backwards and X no doubt helped, as they had something to cater for thrillseekers that was new, but also a new thing for younger guests too.

[Project LC]

But the shift in target marker was huge and very noticeable. They didn't spend millions on it, but they opened their appeal to many, many more people, which can only bring people through the gate.

Swarm backwards and X no doubt helped, as they had something to cater for thrillseekers that was new, but also a new thing for younger guests too.

I would say that the shift in marketing came late in the season, around mid august. So to have that huge change in people is a bit odd. Look at CWOA, they also did very little and they increased by 15%.

However I feel we are going a bit off topic.

[Mark9]

Yeah Chessiglngton only added a brand new ride, they were so lazy, silly Chessington.

[Project LC]

clearly I'm failing to get my point across so I'm going to give up.

[Coaster]

On a different subject, it's a shame that the public will come to the park for any gimmick (swarm backwards) no matter how (IMO) bad it is...

[Benin]

Wouldn't be at all surprised if Thorpe (and Chessie)'s sharp percentage rises in attendance were due to very poor performances the previous year... Looking quickly, Thorpe dropped 10% in 2012, so in the long run, does this increase really mean much? Considering that the poor performance couldn't directly be attributed to the park completely...

Towers dropped 9.4% the same year, Smiler helped in some respect, though of course the issues with the ride would have prevented a high rise... Imagine CBeebies Land will cause an even sharper influx this year...

Like, 11% of 2 million is 220'000, so that's 11 days worth of 20'000 guests... I find that using percentages to prove an arguement never fully tell the true story, as parks like Lightwater could in theory have a 45% increase in guest numbers but that might equate to something like an increase of 5'000, which isn't exactly much...

[Project LC]

There's lies, dam lies and statistics. Something I feel Thorpe park will turn to, to justify reserve and ride.

[TPJames]

Oh how I love that my quick question topic has become a massive argument!

Such fun

[Project LC]

On other sites its just become a list of hate. So at least here we have 2 sides to an argument.

[Coaster]

It shouldn't be an argument though. If people don't like something then it is their right to voice this. I like debate, but it seems that anyone who doesn't like what Thorpe does gets shouted down. To be honest, if everyone had exactly the same view then there wouldn't be any point in a forum.

[JoshC.]

No one's arguing though? Just a discussion - people have different opinions and they're being discussed. No one is being shot down, or told their opinion is wrong. Some will not like what Thorpe are doing, others may do. Others may feel that there's things that are said which are unrealistic / unfair towards the park.

There's no arguing going on. So just grab a nice cold beverage and enjoy the debate!

[TPJames]

I didn't really mean it in that way, I just meant it as a 'quick question' in the first place so wasn't expecting a whole discussion over it

I haven't really contributed to this topic but I have been following it and I do agree with what the majority are saying, I think it is good for the park to trial these as they will give the park a feel for how it works but I wouldn't like it see it a permanent feature, by all means it is a good fastrack replacement.

My reasons for this are like others have said, there is nothing to do at thorpe but rides. If you make everyone queue virtually, then all those people are just going to queue for the other flat rides. On a busy day at thorpe you are getting 2hour+ queues on the big coasters so if it were made a permananent feature, all of the flats would be getting at least 3 hours(they are usually 90mins anyway on a sunscream). It would simply just not work.

There is no physical way to make a queue less park, especially not for thorpe at this stage. There is no where to direct the potential 10,000 guests who are virtually queueing except to other rides. It wouldn't make your ride count higher, it would just be the same or less than it was with normal queues. Until thorpe get shows, entertainments every day etc. I don't think thorpe can physically proceed with this after trails unfortunately.

[Project LC]

you can make a queueless park if you let about 500 people in. Something tells me Thorpe wont be doing that though with the exception of summer nights. Although saying that the last summer night still managed to get 15-20 minute queues.

[Flipper]

Btw, you can put any random 9 digit number in and it works .

Smiler doesn't get more than 1000, infact that's it's absolute maximum. Hence it's constant queues.

Just want to throw this in there, with a layout example and statistics for a 1170.

http://www.gerstlauer-rides.de/products/roller-coasters/infinity-coaster/

Claiming 1200.

No, maybe it is not entirely accurate or whatever. But I'd say that it's pretty close to what you're saying Fred. Considering Gerstlauer claim SAW can get some crazy number similar to that; and Cobra at Paultons (Bobsled 450) can achieve 720 per hour, it's clear Gerst are very good at over-exaggerating throughput realism (although I do sometimes question if it's their prospective that things can be operated differently to how they are set up, like I know Cobra can run six cars over five, and have quicker dispatches but potentially more shutdowns for spacing) but that aside, Gerst claiming 1200 is pretty close to Fred's claim of 1k. So lets believe Fred.

__________

That aside. I think it's a matter of wait and see with R&R. I think it'll work if they still keep a 'standby' queue strategy and also keep tweaking it. But time will tell and I think its unfair for people to cast the parks efforts aside before it's been given at least it's trials to prove itself. It's a new system for the park, and a relatively new approach to things for any park - and being optimistic perhaps, but who will be laughing when Thorpe pull this off to work even if just on quiet days?

[Project LC]

Even if they do pull it off it still prevents the way I want to go round the park. Even if I got a smartphone with perfect internet access it would still be annyoing. I play the system they have and will get 20 rides on very busy days. However this will force me to wait longer times as many more people will see when queues get shorter and all queues will be about the same waiting time.

[Fred]

The thing that Reserve and Ride would work really well for.. are attractions with ridiculously low throughputs which stay roughly the same.

Scare mazes.

That'd be nice, instead of having to wait 3hrs in a non-moving queue. I'd much rather queue 3hrs for a coaster as you're usually moving still.

[TPJames]

I could definately see the system working on fright night for the horror mazes. My only issue with that is that because they are open at 3pm(or later) they will all be booked by about 11am meaning that people who come later on will only be able to go into the mazes late into the evening.

As for the scare maze queues not moving, that was purely down to fastrack. Thorpe were absolutely ridiculous and I am horrified at the fastrack ratio they did when I visited. They were letting about 3 groups of fastrack for 1 none fastrack which made the queue not move and absolutely horrendous.

[Marc]

On the parks official website they have a Q&A.

Trials are set to run Friday and Saturday for all 5 coasters.

Also something on fastrack..

Q: Can I use Fastrack?

A: Standard Fastrack use will be available on 6th & 7th June. Fastrack will be available through Reserve N’ Ride on your smartphone on 23rd & 24th June, and from 27th-30th June.

[Benin]

Making things even more complicated then...

Surely if the overall aim is to make the park queueless there's no need for Fastrack to be run during this trial? Aside from that it's the park's only major source of income...

[Marc]

Fastrack has always ran during the trails... ? It looks like they are just planning to use the system as a fastrack one in later trials.

Theyve just posted to facebook too -

We've listened to all your feedback following Monday's trial of Reserve N' Ride.
Reserve N' Ride is back this FRIDAY and SATURDAY and we are looking for as many people as possible to give it a go.
If you're coming to the Park and don't fancy queuing for your favourite coaster, head to http://bit.ly/reservenride to find out more.

From reading that it looks like it wont be enforced in the trials this weekend and that if you so desire you can stand in the physical queue too.

[Fred]

Mm that'll be a fun day for guests using the main queues. With both fastrack and reserve going ahead of them, which means any queue board will be highly inaccurate.

Don't get me wrong, it's very good that they're allowing people to queue. Very good. Just wouldn't enjoy being in normal queues myself when you've got no limit on those using reserve and ride at the moment!

[Benin]

So normal queue, Reserve queue AND Fastrack queues?

Can instantly predict that having all 3 together won't work at all...

[Marc]

Will be interesting to see how that goes - I expect it will be a gentle nudge to people to use Reserve n Ride but if they really want to queue they still can.

[adam_sparks1]

I'm going on Saturday with my cousin who has never been before and we want to at least get on the 5 main coasters.. Now this will be really hard to do with RnR. Any tips on how to get the most done with this system in place

[Mitchada04]

Well if you can use the main queues as normal like it sounds, go straight to Saw and Colossus, then head round to Inferno and Stealth. Assuming the normal queues are open you should be able to do them easily in the first hour. Then go on Reserve 'n' Ride, book your time for Swarm and do a few things whilst waiting for your time slot.