May 7, 201510 yr comment_208820 People mention about how Slammer is the last Sky Swat as though it's important. But Thorpe don't advertise it like that at all. Only enthusiasts know it's the only one in the world, and probably are the only ones who care at the moment. Sure, Merlin have a particularly liking for Firsts and Onlys, but if they're not advertising it, then it means nothing.
May 7, 201510 yr comment_208824 I think Samurai is almost certainly on the way out. Its just so unreliable these days; you can tell it wasn't meant to last the sixteen years that it has. Its meant to be a fair ground ride damn it! I'd be glad to see it go, its not like it runs decent settings either... Slammer on the other hand, well, that's just a massive shame. I'd love for it to last forever, but that surely wont happen. I reckon they'll be seeing how much they can improve the reliability before they start giving it a greater marketing focus. And if after all this work (adding new supports etc.) its still breaking down, then well, I doubt it'll out live Samurai...
May 7, 201510 yr comment_208825 From a park perspective: Slammer costs more to maintain and continually repair as undoubtedly it has been more reliable over its life than Samurai plus it is unique, S&S don't make them anymore so don't supply parts therefore the park have to get parts specially made which takes time and costs more money. Samurai is also more popular, shifts more of a queue, takes up less room and probably costs less to run an hour as it doesn't involve compressing air. It also doesn't have to be shut half way through the day to be checked for cracks etc. Neither ride is perfect, but logically Slammer should go before Samurai (ideally they'll both go and we'll get one reliable good replacement- note it doesn't have to be a flat.)
May 7, 201510 yr comment_208826 I don't want either to go, but I still think that Slammer should stay, it offers a unique experience (something that should be advertised more) and is definitely one of the scariest rides in the UK in the eyes of the general public. Samurai should be replaced with a brand new Top Scan IMO, but that's never going to happen.
May 7, 201510 yr comment_208828 I think the next major problem the ride has that's it! It's gone... If I had a penny for every time I heard this, I wouldn't have needed to take out a loan for my tuition fees...
May 8, 201510 yr comment_208853 Why are they stopping half into the day to check it for cracks? If people are willing to go on a ride that has to be checked daily for cracks fair plate to them, on the other hand, if Merlin were to offer S&S a large amount of money why wouldn't they manafacture one more sky swat? Say slammer originally cost £3,000,000 they should offer S&S £5,000,000, if Thorpe listened to the public and scrapped Samurai and got a new, bigger and better sky swat that would be a good resolution.
May 8, 201510 yr comment_208856 Another one will not be built as it has turned out to be a deeply flawed design. A new one would have many of the same issues.
May 8, 201510 yr comment_208858 But they could resolve the issues and the flaws and make a sky swat 2.0 with the failures from there previous productions as a lesson learned and replace the parts that are faulty and re design them so they last longer, they should just build a better one with more man hours and better parts
May 8, 201510 yr comment_208859 S&S gave up on it, I highly doubt any other company would want to go for a similar design, as using hydraulics instead of air pressure would probably result in even more of an unreliable mess... Or at least it would still have the potential to suffer from the same issues as the original... As always, every year, the best thing for the park to do would be to scrap it and replace it with, well ANYTHING...
May 8, 201510 yr comment_208861 If they were to scrap it, and Samurai whilst they were at it they should really think about getting a woodie, it would be a great addition to the park, or they could remove Mr. Money as well and make something like the big one at Blackpool pleasure beach
May 8, 201510 yr comment_208862 The problems with the skyswat are near impossible to fix. There is no way to fix the strain on the beam without using materials used for aircraft wings. Which would push the cost way up. Samurai is the one that needs to leave first.
May 8, 201510 yr comment_208872 The best option for a sky swat design would be to use a pit so ultimately halving the complexity of the ride
May 8, 201510 yr comment_208873 The best option for a sky swat design would be to use a pit so ultimately halving the complexity of the ride Definitely reduces the complexity of the ride, but then means you have to build a ~40ft deep pit to house it, which is expensive and, in many cases, impractical. The sky swat design just never really worked out; it's just one of those things really. Sure, they could spend a whole lot of money to improve it and create Sky Swat 2.0, but the concept of it just doesn't really work. The rides themselves aren't particularly popular either.
May 8, 201510 yr comment_208878 Not sure about anyone else, but I haven't seen any work being done to Slammer recently but seems like they're working on it today! Hopefully they will get it open soon. Also noticed the last time I was there they had the Slammer sign ready to be put up, don't think they bothered to put that up last year when it was open. (Photo from Themeparkworldwides facebook page) I really don't want Slammer go, but I can see it going as soon as possible and I do understand why. It must cost them a ridiculous amount of money for maintenance, has to close midday for checks and even when it is open it never seems to be popular. Not sure if that's due to it being out of the way, and people not knowing it exists? I don't see why the park don't advertise it as the 'worlds only' or whatever, never even see pictures on facebook when it is open.
May 8, 201510 yr comment_208895 It is a bit of a joke, this is the fourth season running I believe that it has spent months closed. As much as I enjoy the ride, if it's causing all these problems then is it really worth keeping?
May 8, 201510 yr comment_208896 It is a bit of a joke, this is the fourth season running I believe that it has spent months closed. As much as I enjoy the ride, if it's causing all these problems then is it really worth keeping? You misspelt eleventh.
May 8, 201510 yr comment_208898 You misspelt eleventh.Has it seriously not done a full season in eleven years?
May 9, 201510 yr comment_208902 Has it seriously not done a full season in eleven years? Might be my memory playing tricks on me a bit / over-exaggerating some downtime, but I pretty certain it hasn't done a full season without being down for at least a month or two.
May 18, 201510 yr comment_209267 If there's any activity or sign of opening, there will be a flurry of activity, mark my words. Didn't it open around July last year?
May 18, 201510 yr comment_209268 Around about then. Yesterday it was making funny noises and there were engineers working on it, however none of the main cables on the towers seemed to be in place
May 18, 201510 yr comment_209275 Didn't it open around July last year? And last year it was moving/testing on AP day. God knows when it's going to open this year.
May 18, 201510 yr comment_209280 It may be a nice ride but getting it fixed just seems pointless to me. The same thing happens every year and I'm stunned they still put time and money into it.
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