And it clearly did a few times last season when they were only accepting prebooked tickets as it had reached capacity, fright nights felt like it although that was probably a mix of busyness and R&R

Thorpe's theoretical capacity is 17k, but said ages ago their capacity has never been reached.

 

I don't think there's ever been 17k (or whatever the actual capacity is) has been reached in the sense of there have been 17000 guests in the park at any one point.  But there have definitely been days (including over this past FN) where they had around about that number of guests in the park over the course of the day - or, at least, that's what I've been told!

I got a Standard Annual Pass as I was thinking 'I don't drive and I don't mind paying a fiver for Fright Nights' but haha oh no. Thank you Thorpe. I'm only going to visit once during next season if at all and stick to Chessington the rest of the time it seems. I do love Thorpe but it has been a case of one step forward and ten back really.

I got a Standard Annual Pass as I was thinking 'I don't drive and I don't mind paying a fiver for Fright Nights' but haha oh no. Thank you Thorpe. I'm only going to visit once during next season if at all and stick to Chessington the rest of the time it seems. I do love Thorpe but it has been a case of one step forward and ten back really.

 

To be fair. Whilst I don't agree with the charge, when you bought your standard MAP February half term openings at thorpe wasn't even an option..

^ I was also referencing the rise in FN fees.

There is only one other thing Thorpe could do now to make me even more angry with them. So at their current rate we will get a RNR announcement in the next few weeks.

I didn't know it was possible for a company to damage their name so much over £5.

There is only one other thing Thorpe could do now to make me even more angry with them. So at their current rate we will get a RNR announcement in the next few weeks.

I didn't know it was possible for a company to damage their name so much over £5.

Thing is - if you put it into perspective a few angry people on Facebook / tpm isn't reakly so damaging to their name. I'd be certain more Standard pass holders will just pay it and go than avoid it.

Yeah I know. Information failure is to blame for that one. If more people in the UK knew what parks are like just a few miles away Thorpe would get away with a lot less. Ill just be waiting until paramount park. 

 

This is on the Merlin Annual Pass website, it is not hidden and is in clear view. You cannot say that Merlin or Thorpe Park have been somehow evil by introducing a 5 quid charge for an event which is clearly stated on the website can happen, even though it isn't a big event, it still requires extra effort from thorpe which in my eyes justifies there being a small price for standard annual pass holders. *rant over*

The point is this is NOT an event. Fair enough charging for fright nights etc. But a reduced ride line up is NOT an event.

There is no more to be said. This is an utter load of rubbish and the charge is disgusting.

Summer nights is a reduced line up..........

Summer nights is a intentionally reduced queue time. 

Plus they have other entertainment, all the coasters are open, it isn't freezing cold, free parking (does this event have free parking?)

I think the charge is all going to depend on the quality of the day. Much like Summer Nights if you have the opportunity to go in on a quiet time and ride the rides quickly it's money well spent. If you pay and one train operation rears its ugly head all week creating hour queues, then there is a real sense of being ripped off.

 

The charge is frustrating but as the first "event" of 2015 for me it's about the service quality.

Well for them to justify a £5 charge I'm expecting all coasters that are open to be on maximum capacity, no Fastrack being sold and minimum breakdowns.

If Standard Annual Passholders do think it is worth £5, they will go. If this is the case, the price will stay.

 

If Standard Annual Passholders do not think it is worth £5, they will not go. If this is the case, the price will not stay.

 

 

Stealth should in theory have 2 trains ready. However everything else I don't know if they would have had enough time to do a full strip down. A swarm train strikes me as quite complicated and time consuming to do a full strip down. 

Stealth should in theory have 2 trains ready. However everything else I don't know if they would have had enough time to do a full strip down. A swarm train strikes me as quite complicated and time consuming to do a full strip down. 

Yes, of course I know that maintenence is a very complex thing, but the above post is the quality I would expect if they are charging passholders.

I would expect the exact same quality but Thorpe do keep saying very limited capacity. Which is making me question if that means 1 train operation. 

If they limit capacity correctly though then one train operation isn't a problem.

If they limit capacity correctly though then one train operation isn't a problem.

Yeah right, they do one train operation at peak times so I doubt they would limit the event to keep queues down to an acceptable level.

It depends what they consider correct. I've seen swarm with a 100 minute queue on 1 train op with the 2nd train just sitting there waiting to be put on. I'm expecting about 2-40 minute queues at this "event". open from 10am - 5pm that isn't worth a penny. In fact if its free its still questionable. No matter how much I may like stealth and swarm a day of just those 2 in the cold doesn't sound amazingly appealing. 

The one train op this past season seems to boil down to the topic of the park's engineering capabilities, of which it seems like they've had to deal with a shortage in the number of engineers.  Assuming that they can get enough engineers to get everything ready, I see no reason why they won't be able to run two trains during the event (if they are required).  

 

I can't believe people STILL give the same old rubbish of "Thorpe will only run one train to annoy guests and encourage Fastrack sales" - it's a load of rubbish...  

If they limit capacity correctly though then one train operation isn't a problem.

 

One train operation is ALWAYS a problem, no matter the park...

I do agree that one train op is not to sell fastrack, its just highly annoying to see the 2nd train sitting there with no one working on it. Most of the time it did seem to be down to not enough engineers available to add it at the time it should have been. 2 train op should be possible on the rides they are opening if they have changed around the schedules so it favours the rides they want to open first. However that would require them knowing the line up.