Is the X Factor tie in the worlds first attraction? Surely not....?!

47 minutes ago, MattyMoo said:

Is the X Factor tie in the worlds first attraction? Surely not....?!

I have been starting to worry this was the case as there's been no more mention of anything else...

1 hour ago, MattyMoo said:

Is the X Factor tie in the worlds first attraction? Surely not....?!

 

Nah, they haven't mentioned the words "worlds first" a million times when talking about X Factor. Summer's still around for a while yet!

The new for 2017 attraction is open. It is the return of Thorpe farm and it's world's first is that it is the world's smallest farm...

 

Wait what...

Wait why is that there..... I'm acc laughing my head off rn please explain.

3 hours ago, Mattgwise said:

The new for 2017 attraction is open. It is the return of Thorpe farm and it's world's first is that it is the world's smallest farm...

 

Thought X Factor filming wrapped up last Monday? Have no clue what Sharon Osbourne's still doing there.

 

Haha

 

In other shocking news on a more serious note old town now operates on a rotational basis. This is appalling for a multi billion pound company even it is a very quiet area of the park. Currently just Lumber Jump open.

 

Haha indeed. Rotational operation is hell for any operator, I wish them the best of luck.

It would have been so much easier to actually advertise the new attractions, rather than act like they don't exist.

The farm thing will be part of a private event.  Some company hires the marquee out every year for this event and brings along a small selection of animals (farm animals, tarantulas, snakes, etc).  

 

The rotational operation thing is bad though.  Quite clearly a budget cut at this stage and very sad to see.  The fact that it doesn't even give times (unlike many other parks who do rotations) shows that it's very much 'we'll wing it and see'.

 

It also defeats the point of having 3 family / kids attractions in the same area if they're not all open at the same time.

 

14 minutes ago, ThemeCrafter264 said:

It would have been so much easier to actually advertise the new attractions, rather than act like they don't exist.

 

Don't see what this has to do with marketing attractions?  They've given these low key, small additions, adequate exposure in my opinion; they were bound to have low, buy steady, ridership.  This is down to budget cuts, plain and simple.

Terrible to have these on rotation when the park already has less attractions available than it has done for the past few years.  Also as said above, the times aren't clear.

 

Thorpe has nice music now but the park is going downhill faster than Oblivion.

HAHAHAHAHA, they're saving like £14 pounds an hour on this. Is guest experience really worth THAT LITTLE to them? 

26 minutes ago, Coaster said:

Terrible to have these on rotation when the park already has less attractions available than it has done for the past few years.  Also as said above, the times aren't clear.

 

Thorpe has nice music now but the park is going downhill faster than Oblivion.

The times were not clear at all. All I could tell you was rocky express was closed at 2.

Really not good enough. Thorpe make big deal about new rides for kids, family decides to visit but then gets alienated due to rotation of rides. Family decides not to visit again.

 

Hopefully it’s just a silly decision and removed for the holidays. If budgets are that tight then the whole question of why both new rides were brought in needs to be asked. 

 

One step forward two back 

"Second only to Disney"

Typical Thorpe 

Visited today and was impressed at the new Security procedure in operation, now with 4 "check points" rather than 2. Got to the park just after 9 am and they were already getting people through the security line - annual pass holders were aloud into the park as far as the access gates, had breakfast at Fins - about £6.30 for a buffet breakfast with AP discount not bad atall!

Yep as much as I have had a moan about the rotation system the park was on top form today operation wise. Most rides open on full capacity (minis Colossus) before 10am and fairly fast dispatches. Some examples:

 

- I counted three times in a row at stealth where a train launched within 42 seconds of arrive at onload.

 

- I was in an odd group at x and they called a member of staff to ride as no odd numbered group arrived for two trains.

 

- Samurai was performing well and loading the most efficient I have seen it allowing people to move forward as people are getting off instead of waiting.

2 hours ago, HermanTheGerman said:

HAHAHAHAHA, they're saving like £14 pounds an hour on this. Is guest experience really worth THAT LITTLE to them? 

It's laughable and confirms what people say about Merlin's complete disregard for guest experience to be true.

Was last rotational operation in UK parks Griffins and Sea Dragons back under DIC days?

1 hour ago, Coaster said:

It's laughable and confirms what people say about Merlin's complete disregard for guest experience to be true.

 

The cost of running rides is more than 2 people's hourly wage. For what it's worth i was in old town at around 2 ish - rocky was going around half full with the other 2 closed - not sure it was making much difference..

57 minutes ago, Benin said:

Was last rotational operation in UK parks Griffins and Sea Dragons back under DIC days?

 

Possibly- I remember when Samurai and a few lost city flats were on a rotational op!

3 hours ago, HermanTheGerman said:

HAHAHAHAHA, they're saving like £14 pounds an hour on this. Is guest experience really worth THAT LITTLE to them? 

 

It's not that black and white.  Yes, you save on staff labour in the obvious sense, but you also save on having to hire break cover for 3 staff members, the costs it requires to train someone up, you save on the operational costs of those rides (admittedly tiny compared to basically all other rides, but still a way to save money).

 

Also any staff member at Thorpe who is trained as an operator gets a pay rise, and they're paid that rate regardless of whether they're operating or not.  So they could have someone trained up to, say, operate Tug Boat, but have them checking bars on Samurai half the time (a job which would require less pay if they weren't trained as an operator).  By cutting the number of rides that need operating, you cut the number of people you need to be trained to operate, meaning you save money all the time.

 

It's true that all the numbers are small, but they all add up pretty quickly.

 

For the record, I'm not saying I like or support any of this (as per my previous post, I am not a fan).  But there is justifiable reasons behind the decision, even if it doesn't feel that way.

 

 

3 hours ago, Ringo said:

Really not good enough. Thorpe make big deal about new rides for kids, family decides to visit but then gets alienated due to rotation of rides. Family decides not to visit again.

 

Hopefully it’s just a silly decision and removed for the holidays. If budgets are that tight then the whole question of why both new rides were brought in needs to be asked. 

 

One step forward two back 

 

How have Thorpe made a "big deal" out of new kids rides?  They weren't formally announced anywhere, they basically just opened with no social media acknowledgement (in the case of Tug Boat) or one Twitter post (in the case of Lumber Jump).  They receive the tiniest amount of space on the park map - and, in fact, Lumber Jump wasn't even on the original map! - and no other mention.  These were 2 kids rides that were quietly introduced to help expand the kid / family line up.  It'd poor that they've created an area which perfectly suits kids / families and now don't operate all rides at the same time, but you can't claim that Thorpe have completely shot themselves in the foot after a making a big deal about something.

 

It's a fair point to raise about why both new rides were introduced when operational budgets are tight to be fair.  However, I guess one could argue that 3 different rides open during the course of the day is better than 1 ride.

 

3 hours ago, ChessingtonSam said:

"Second only to Disney"

 

In attendance figures, yes, Merlin are.  And that's all Merlin claim to.  Attendance figures do not indicate quality.

 

People who constantly bring this up whenever Merlin makes a bad decision are just making themselves look silly.

Is this a joke?

Must be so tough to operate a frog hopper, a train ride, and a tug boat..

Just laughable, parks with half the budget as Thorpe are operating more efficiently.

If this is a long term thing- I have no words, I'm actually depressed by how bad the operations are..

42 minutes ago, BaronC. said:

In attendance figures, yes, Merlin are.  And that's all Merlin claim to.  Attendance figures do not indicate quality.

 

People who constantly bring this up whenever Merlin makes a bad decision are just making themselves look silly.

Umm, no? Its a totally valid point. If a company has the arrogance to claim they're that big, they should be held to that standard. 

 

45 minutes ago, BaronC. said:

 

It's not that black and white.  Yes, you save on staff labour in the obvious sense, but you also save on having to hire break cover for 3 staff members, the costs it requires to train someone up, you save on the operational costs of those rides (admittedly tiny compared to basically all other rides, but still a way to save money).

 

Also any staff member at Thorpe who is trained as an operator gets a pay rise, and they're paid that rate regardless of whether they're operating or not.  So they could have someone trained up to, say, operate Tug Boat, but have them checking bars on Samurai half the time (a job which would require less pay if they weren't trained as an operator).  By cutting the number of rides that need operating, you cut the number of people you need to be trained to operate, meaning you save money all the time.

 

It's true that all the numbers are small, but they all add up pretty quickly.

 

For the record, I'm not saying I like or support any of this (as per my previous post, I am not a fan).  But there is justifiable reasons behind the decision, even if it doesn't feel that way.

 

So its justifiable because it may cost the park, say, an extra £60 a day? That's one walk up ticket price. One. Guests pay that much to get in and still the park can't be arsed to have enough staff? Its pitiful.