Sunscream?

[TPJames]

Hi everyone,

I was planning to visit thorpe in the busiest week of summer when they are trailing reserve and ride. I was also looking forward to the sunscream event as I went last year and there was some nice entertainment on but it appears that it isn't returning? Can anyone confirm this as it would be a shame to have no entertainment in the busiest week of the year!

Thanks to all.

[Whatever]

Btw, I think they have already trialed reserve and ride. I went two weeks after fathers day (sorry for the strange date) and they trialed it then. My dad ad my uncle managed to get on all the big 5. The reserve and ride was down for about an hour and my dad asked the man by Stealth when the site would be working. The man said, just tell the other guy that I checked your phone, and let them go on the ride without even virtually queueing! They seemed very impressed by the whole thing.

Sorry I didn't answer your question, but I dont think Sunscream is returning. But there was some band playing when I went on Saturday by tidal wave.

[TPJames]

They are trialing reserve n ride again from 22nd-26th August.

As for the band playing that is Thorpe Park resort live which happens every Saturday. It would have been MDNGHT.

I think it is very disappointing if it isn't returning as thorpe need more shows and entertainment especially during summer peak seasons. To get rid of all of it is very disappointing especially as they need more things to do while you are waiting virtually on reserve n ride. I hope they will have forms of entertainment around the park in the arena etc. as I will be very disappointed if they don't.

[Whatever]

Ooh, they are trialling it again, must go.

[TPJames]

Bear in mind this is in PEAK week and will have waits of about 2 hours even on the virtual system. This is why I think sunscream should return as it will mean people have shows to see and things to entertain them while they are queueing virtually. I hope thorpe put some entertainment on otherwise the queues will be moved directly into flat rides making flat ride queues much much longer.

Worth a try though.

[Mitchada04]

I'd be surprised if they didn't do something over the bank holiday weekend at least but I doubt it'll be SunScream purely because that event has been so overdone. Taking it they used to do essentially the same thing over Easter too with the silent discos, random BMX people and so forth. If they come up with an original event like they did with the Big Easter then yes. Braniac Live again yes please! That was one of the best things the park have done entertainment wise in years.

 

Why do they to have an event though if you know it's going to be busy already? Not like you need it to pull the guests in, you've got Summer Nights on the Fridays and Saturdays, Showcase Live on the Saturdays (and other days too like on Friday there was someone on park performing by Tidal Wave so there's nothing to say they won't get a few acts in each day of that week). And the fact they're trialling Reserve'n'Ride as well means there's enough going on, what with FlowRider as well if the weather is good! 

 

And just a thing about the last trial they did on Reserve'n'Ride, it can be quite a slow system to update the queues virtually. The virtual queue for Colossus (which we had a slot for) was over just under 2 hours, on a Friday in June! The actual queue, non existent! Even with "standby" queue being allowed on! The ride was walk on (remembering this is when they were allowing Resrve'n'Ride, Fastrack and main queue to be open) and it took another hour for the system to adjust the times to "ride right now." Will be very interesting to see how it copes over the busy period.

[TPJames]

I'm not saying I want an event over the week I just would like to see entertainment to give people something to do while they are waiting. This is simply because I don't want the queues to move directly into the flat rides. Last year vortex was 90minutes and could easily be double if people are queueing for vortex while virtually queueing for other rides.

I'm just saying they need entertainment or the flat rides will not be able to cope with the amounts of people on park.

[Whatever]

I'm not saying I want an event over the week I just would like to see entertainment to give people something to do while they are waiting. This is simply because I don't want the queues to move directly into the flat rides. Last year vortex was 90minutes and could easily be double if people are queueing for vortex while virtually queueing for other rides.

I'm just saying they need entertainment or the flat rides will not be able to cope with the amounts of people on park.

90 minutes for Vortex? A ride that I didn't even know existed until I was nine because it was so hidden? Wow.

[TPJames]

Well I visited during the peak season of sunscream last year(on the Friday I think and these are the queue times I can remember).

Vortex- 90mins

Rush- 60mins

Samurai- 30mins(was on the shortest cycle ever).

Detonator- 45mins

Zodiac- 45mins

Nemesis inferno- 80mins

Colossus- 90mins

Stealth- 90mins

Saw- 140mins

Swarm- 120mins, forwards and backwards.

X- 45mins(it got to 2hours when I visited a few weeks back though during school trip season).

Tidal wave- 120mins

Loggers leap- 60mins

Storm surge- 120mins

Rumba rapids- 30mins

Depth charge- 60mins

Okay so what is the point of me listing the queue times? My point is that that week is ridiculously busy. If each coaster is around 90-120mins wait on the virtual queue that is about 1500-2000people queueing per big coaster on their device. That means 10,000 people will be moving to other rides. Let's say there's about 10-15 rides which these people are likely to move to, you are getting about 500-1000 people extra per ride. Maybe you will not get that many but there will be at least a couple of hundred extra. Seeing as the flat rides have throughputs of 500people max it will easily add an hours queue if not more.

My explanation is a bit long winded but I hope thorpe see this as if there is no entertainment to suck up the crowds I fear that queues will be overflowing out of the queue lines for the smaller rides.

[Kerfuffle]

Storm surge- 120mins

[Whatever]

I would never wait that long for storm surge- even in the access queue it was about half an hour! (I get to skip the queues for the rides that my brother goes on)

[Kerfuffle]

I would never wait for storm surge...AT ALL

[Whatever]

I once went on Storm Surge with my family and some strangers. As we got to the top I said 'Is this the ride that all the limbs fell of the dummies isn't it?'

I think that actually happened on testings for the SWARM but the other people on the boat then looked really nervous!

[Kerfuffle]

Well that's ONE way to make Storm Surge...'interesting'!

[Whatever]

Probably not-the only way to make it better is to get rid of it! I bet that even Thorpe park wish they hadn't put it there as they had to take away Octopus gardens, and with the new 'Famiwee feem' they would have liked to have kept them.

[Kerfuffle]

Thankfully we now have a partnership with Rovio! Just scatter some innocent Piggies across the flume and that'll send the Angry Birds to a destructive and satisfying end to the ride! (Where's Bomb when you need him?) 

 

 

 

...and I've now just realised that this probably isn't answering TPJames' question about SunScream!

[JoshC.]

As much as it pains me to say anything good about Storm Surge, it is better for the park the park then Octopus Gardens in my opinion.

 

At the end of the day, Octopus Gardens was a collection of dated rides which would look more comfortable in a high street than in a theme park.  Their popularity was declining (well, of course, considering the target market), and it just wasn't for the park.  Storm Surge, despite its list of flaws longer than the Great Wall of China, is a family ride which can be 'enjoyed' by the majority of people.  

 

Now the target market is families, but they seem to be focusing on families where the children at slightly older.  Chessington and Legoland have family markets that are more geared towards families with younger children, so it makes sense for Merlin to turn Thorpe to do what they're doing.  When a child hits 7-8, they'll likely be 1.2m anyways, so can do a lot of rides there now. 

 

Octopus Garden just didn't have a place in Thorpe any more, and I think even if Thorpe had always been a family park, it wouldn't have deserved a place any longer than what it got.  

[Whatever]

As much as it pains me to say anything good about Storm Surge, it is better for the park the park then Octopus Gardens in my opinion.

 

At the end of the day, Octopus Gardens was a collection of dated rides which would look more comfortable in a high street than in a theme park.  Their popularity was declining (well, of course, considering the target market), and it just wasn't for the park.  Storm Surge, despite its list of flaws longer than the Great Wall of China, is a family ride which can be 'enjoyed' by the majority of people.  

 

Now the target market is families, but they seem to be focusing on families where the children at slightly older.  Chessington and Legoland have family markets that are more geared towards families with younger children, so it makes sense for Merlin to turn Thorpe to do what they're doing.  When a child hits 7-8, they'll likely be 1.2m anyways, so can do a lot of rides there now. 

 

Octopus Garden just didn't have a place in Thorpe any more, and I think even if Thorpe had always been a family park, it wouldn't have deserved a place any longer than what it got.  

Yeah, I suppose what I said was kinda wrong. Octopus gardens was only suitable for three year olds.

[TPJames]

 

 

 

...and I've now just realised that this probably isn't answering TPJames' question about SunScream!

I didn't like sunscream as such I just really enjoyed the entertainment as it gave guests something else to do apart from stand in queuelines. I hope thorpe do bring back entertainment in the arena and in other places just to take guests away from queueing all day. It would be nice to have the entertainment without it being overly advertised as the advertisement for sunscream made the park more busy than it would have been without it(better for thorpe but not for us !)

[Whatever]

Wouldn't they make more money by having the arena turned into a ride which may give them more visitors hence making more money, whilst with the arena they have to pay people to perform and people don't really know about the arena that much that they would go there just because of it.

[Kerfuffle]

Wouldn't they make more money by having the arena turned into a ride -

- a DARK ride!

[TPJames]

Wouldn't they make more money by having the arena turned into a ride which may give them more visitors hence making more money, whilst with the arena they have to pay people to perform and people don't really know about the arena that much that they would go there just because of it.

No please no.

The arena is one of the ONLY sources of entertainment and shows in the whole of thorpe park. It needs to remain. I have seen event after event take place in the arena whether it's just the fanta challenge or full on BMX stunt shows. It's always popular and it's something fun and extra for people to enjoy separate from the rides. If thorpe want to implement reserve n ride they need to make more shows and entertainment to take people away from the rides and reduce the queues for the smaller rides which don't have reserve n ride. Despite a new dark ride gaining more guests, the places for entertainment need to be kept to give guests something extra to do. There are plenty of spaces for new rides like MHFS and the new island so removing the arena would be completely unecessary.

Not to mention the arena is also an ideal place for a fright night maze, which currently holds MBV. There aren't many ideal places for fright night mazes but the arena is one of them. It's better to have the mazes in places like the arena than places like the asylum and cabin in the woods which have to take up the pathways (and Colossus queueline) for their own queueline. The arena is a very ideal place for new enetertainment(as is the asylum building) and I hope it stays for the entertainment purpose. I would much rather have a new ride in MHFS or in a currently unused spot than using something very ideal for entertainment. Anyway that's my view on it!

[Whatever]

Yeah, well, I suppose, sorry.

[TPJames]

Oops, sorry it came out really stressy but no need to be sorry! Everyone has their opinions and it was just my opinion and feelings towards the area

[Whatever]

apology accepted:)

[Mitchada04]

I'm sorry but the arena isn't used enough to warrant it being there just in case they get some same old repetitive BMX people in over summer. Apart from 20 so days at Fright Nights it is hardly used! The only thing it's been used for this year is storage and a school meeting point over trips week. It's just a waste of space! 

 

It is prime location for a dark ride. You can build a nice large building and not have to worry about obscuring the locals views as it will be in the core of the park. It will use up space which is unused and noticeable (at least the Fungle site is behind a fence and out of the way!) Whilst entertainment is good, it doesn't pull guests in! The park have 2 stages on park now for performances (Tidal Wave and The Dome), you have the 4D cinema, they can always put a stage up by Stealth like they've always mentioned on the MTDP or have BMX over there which they've even done before. We also had Braniac Live over Easter in the Asylum building. I'd much rather they developed the arena into something before opening up another one of the new islands with just one attraction and it feels empty or is a pain to get to (Swarm!). The new islands are primarily for coasters as well because of the lack of space in the core of the park!