March 3, 201312 yr comment_151555 Due to the train over-speeding actually, as a result of some poor calculations, hence the addition of trims on the first drop now... As I said though, even the simplest systems on coasters are complex due to the amount of safety systems in place...
March 3, 201312 yr comment_151577 Well, with Slammer potentially being the only sky swat in the world, that's Thorpe's 2014 marketing strategy sorted for them... No need for a new ride or ruining modification of an existing ride to draw in the idiots willing to throw fistfulls of cash at them...
March 4, 201312 yr comment_151601 I love Slammer - in my view, Thorpe Park will be looking at it cost-wise on a year-by-year basis. After all the work done on the ride in 2012, they will be looking to run it for 2013 as much as possible... if there's still more downtime despite this work, then 2014 will become questionable.
March 4, 201312 yr comment_151604 You are definitely on my side in positive thinking for Slammer (high five ). Many others here aren't interested in keeping it.
March 4, 201312 yr comment_151648 Because it's closed more than it's open. Baring in mind it had about 12 weeks worth of downtime in 2012 in one period which in turn is almost half the season. How anyone could condone a ride that barely scrapes 50% ride availability when nearly every other ride except Stealth And Slammer has the average of 94%-96% ride availability. What you have to remember RideAddict, is that maintaining a ride that has a VERY low ride availability percentage is VERY expensive. Hundreds of thousands have been spent on that ride over the year and whilst Merlin are wasting money on a ride that will break 10 minutes after it's opened we aren't getting money from the engineering budget spent on things that are actually worthwhile.
March 4, 201312 yr comment_151685 What you have to remember RideAddict, is that maintaining a ride that has a VERY low ride availability percentage is VERY expensive. Hundreds of thousands have been spent on that ride over the year and whilst Merlin are wasting money on a ride that will break 10 minutes after it's opened we aren't getting money from the engineering budget spent on things that are actually worthwhile. Of course I realise the expense. How do you know the amount of money spent, do you work there? I've never queued longer than about 30 minutes for it. And I've never seen each queue for each end more than half-full.
March 4, 201312 yr comment_151686 I really enjoy Slammer and I hope they keep it for years to come, but I can see why they would want to remove it. It causes them nothing but trouble, costs a lot to run and barely works - and it's not even that popular.Whilst I would hate to see it go, I can see why it would have to.
March 4, 201312 yr comment_151687 I worked there for two seasons. The only ones who seem to want to keep it are Merlin HQ. Even the engineers have had enough with the catastrophic ride.
March 4, 201312 yr comment_151688 Can't blame them really can you considering the amount of downtime it's had...
March 4, 201312 yr comment_151694 More hassle than it's worth! It's a great concept that didn't work.
March 4, 201312 yr comment_151723 It never worked the ride has been plagued with problems since day 1.
March 5, 201312 yr comment_151748 It's a shame everyone doesn't share the same opinion, I've heard a lot of praise for it.
March 5, 201312 yr comment_151764 I rode it twice or three times in 2005. It broke down with me on it twice. It's ****.
March 5, 201312 yr comment_151766 It doesn't like you then. But no ride in Europe can offer the same experience.
March 5, 201312 yr comment_151774 Or the world, seeing as Six Flags have given up with their one also.
March 5, 201312 yr comment_151796 It's one of my favourite rides, it offers such a unique experience and I'll be sad to see it leave, sad but definitely not surprised.
March 5, 201312 yr comment_151797 As said before, I am a Slammer fan but TP can't/won't keep fixing it or sticking a plaster on it if the cost isn't justified. Let's just hope that if Slammer does go, then the money they've "saved" can be spent elsewhere... that elusive Colossus repaint could edge ever closer!
March 5, 201312 yr comment_151806 Eventually (if not already) They will do the same as what they did with CCR. Although slightly different as CCR was the most reliable train ever, they looked at the amount of guests each year tallying against the yearly cost, it was ran by diesel so it wasn't the cheapest with rising fuel costs and was eventually decided that it wasn't justifiable to keep it running. They will look at Slammer and go, ''oh we are spending hundreds of thousands on this contraption, and the throughput is pitiful with only 6 (being the average) cycles being sent an hour. We get barely 200 people an hour on a busy day we have to close it once or twice a day to do routine maintenance. Do we really need a sponge of a ride that sucks in every penny from our budget to be closed half the season with barely anyone riding it? Simple answer no'' Slammer's time at the park is VERY limited with a yearly pattern of being closed half the year particularly over their busy periods being Summer and most of Fright Nights. Yes it is another ride that can (as some may put it) 'Soak some of the guests up'. But if they closed it and got rid of it those hundreds of thousands of pounds can be put into fixing other rides promptly, so all other rides can be on maximum capacity at the best part of the entire season. What you have to think about is whilst Slammer continues to piss everyone at park off, cuts are very likely to be made to other rides. Heck, Zodiac had 4 carriages off most of the season last year, but I'm sure if they hadn't sunk money into Slammer that money could have been used to buy new mechanisms for the doors on Zodiac. The sooner it goes the better from an engineering point of view. And just to clear it up, Slammer is actually my favourite flat ride at Thorpe Park.
March 5, 201312 yr comment_151856 Zodiac had 4 carriages off most of the season last year, but I'm sure if they hadn't sunk money into Slammer that money could have been used to buy new mechanisms for the doors on Zodiac. Have they spent the cash to replace the stickers on Zodiac so it doesn't say Tussards Thorpe park on every carriage.
March 10, 201312 yr comment_152446 Result, I might actually get to ride it on Friday for the first time in years!
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