September 17, 201114 yr comment_123431 It was the first time it was noticeable this year, it did it for over a minute, which I agree is fun when on the ride (especially as everyone else thinks it is broken down) but when waiting in a 40 minute queue it gets kind of annoying.
September 21, 201114 yr comment_123609 May was my first ride on it as you might recall from earlier in this topic. And it did on one occasion struggle to park, but I thought It'd be on manual mode? I presume it can't so it was on a crap cycle. But one thing that was noticeable was it wasn't weight balanced. One one arm you had a group of fairly big women, and then a group of much thinner people on another. I mention this because I recall when I went to first go on it, first thing in the morning (Nerves, plus morning I felt brave) they said we'd have to wait because it has to be weight balanced with at least twenty people / four arms filled as close to equally as possible before they can run it.But yeah, it did have parking issues. Still, not as bad as Bling at Pleasure Beach Blackpool. 9 times out of 10 it wont park. Just swing it back and forth for ages. I'm not talking like a minute here, I'm on about a minute. Stop for twenty seconds, another minute, stop for twenty seconds. Especially when it's as bad as Samurai. Instead of lifting it's got a drop floor, so the gap between the ground and you on Bling is huge in comparison
September 21, 201114 yr comment_123615 I'd imagine the key to bring it into Manual Mode are not in the control box, I presume Code Zero would be a key holder TL to attend..
October 15, 201113 yr comment_124964 Because I'm super proud of myself for this, here is Samurai's FN11 music! so terrible it's unreal.
October 15, 201113 yr comment_124968 I remember riding it at night not a week ago and my God it was like a different animal! I'd ridden in twice before and found both rides a little mediocre and they just gave me an enormous headache. Riding at night, with that music is highly recommended, even if the music is a bit naff and slightly cheap. Samurai, for once, felt very feral.
October 15, 201113 yr comment_124971 ^ Could not agree more, it's amazing, just SO wrong for Fright Nights. So so so wrong. But also amazing. Part of me weeps, the other part LOVES Samurai ahaha. More suited to Thorpe Blast, I would say.
October 15, 201113 yr comment_124973 I played the music, scrolled down, then saw this picture.Made my day soo funny.
October 16, 201113 yr comment_124976 Remember 'avin it to that back in the day. Bass in the place London!!!
October 17, 201113 yr comment_125072 It delivered a VERY forceful ride last night, I was genuinely terrified for my life! I've never been thrown around in my seat so much before, I came off shaking
October 18, 201113 yr comment_125151 I agree Sarah: Samurai's been very intense of late, particularly at night. It genuinely felt like my seat was going to come away!
October 18, 201113 yr comment_125153 Agreed about Samurai.I've never inverted over the actual platform which was pretty awesome.
October 22, 201113 yr comment_125423 Because I'm super proud of myself for this, here is Samurai's FN11 music!Enjoy, so terrible it's unreal.Going back to this a second, I sometimes feel Samurai would benefit from having limited music on it. Because of the nature of the ride very little music works with what action the ride is performing. Maybe going as far as just having the sound of the ride itself because its quite a noisy ride as it is. Particularly when the ride speeds up, it makes quite a beautiful motorised sound.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB5P8fD56fwI haven't ridden it since March so I forget what it plays, does it still have the piano loading music or is it now playing some ghastly rubbish?
October 22, 201113 yr comment_125427 It had the piano music during the day for my last visit at the beginning of October, but it frequently cut out and was interspersed with announcements and/or silence. At night though, it was playing Blade 's theme music, which is some way detracted a lot from the ride. As good a section of music it is, it's not at all what Thorpe or Samurai needs. Plus, there was a congregation of chavs just having a bit of a rave next to the queue, making the already very dull queue even worse (praise ta lawd that queue wasn't that long).
October 22, 201113 yr comment_125496 The fright night musics now changed to last years one with the happy birthday at the start
October 23, 201113 yr comment_125499 much better! Is it this one:http://thorpeparkmania.co.uk/page/remote_audio_view.php?ride=Fright%20Nights%202008&track=Samurai%20Ride%20FN08
October 23, 201113 yr comment_125565 When I was there it was playing happy birthday, that was on the 16th. I was quite impressed with it actually.
October 23, 201113 yr comment_125572 Agreed about Samurai.I've never inverted over the actual platform which was pretty awesome.You need to go on a fairground one - or lightwater valley. It happens a LOT then
February 2, 201213 yr comment_131204 Samurai appears to be needing a lot of closed-season maintenance again.Drove round Thorpe down the M4 (or is it the M3) yesterday and it was parked concerningly, with the "claw" vertically into the air, and by the look of it a scissor-lift going up next to it. Such a shame. I do hope it makes opening this year, was such a shame it didn't in 2011 :(But yeah, I felt it was something obvious to mention. Samurai is having work done on it still. Deterred from the brick-paving argument in the SWARM topic.
February 2, 201213 yr comment_131261 Samurai appears to be needing a lot of closed-season maintenance again.Drove round Thorpe down the M4 (or is it the M3) yesterday and it was parked concerningly, with the "claw" vertically into the air, and by the look of it a scissor-lift going up next to it. Such a shame. I do hope it makes opening this year, was such a shame it didn't in 2011 :(But yeah, I felt it was something obvious to mention. Samurai is having work done on it still. Deterred from the brick-paving argument in the SWARM topic. Samurai has been sat like that for a good three days. Considering Rush doesn't currently exist - I wouldn't worry yet - the park opens in forty days.
February 3, 201213 yr comment_131277 Funny when I happened to pass the park yesterday only the top of Rush was missing...
February 4, 201213 yr comment_131317 Funny when I happened to pass the park yesterday only the top of Rush was missing... Funny that the top section of the ride was reconstructed only last week Ricky.The ride is missing all four sections to the swing, top swing and hood so I'd consider that as 'non existent'.Thanks for your ratification of the fact though Ricky.
February 11, 201213 yr comment_131731 As far as I know, being parked with the "claw" in the windmill position is a pretty standard position for them to work on the counter weights and such. The whole scissor lift thing sounds also pretty standard as well to look at whatever is in the centre of the arm (hydraulics, gauges etc.)
February 21, 201213 yr comment_132438 Does sound very standard. Once again, people forget Samurai really isn't designed for this type of wrok; it's a fair ride, designed to work for a couple of weeks at most before a full strip down. What's more, the windmill position is the standard position to attach/remove the seating, take down/put up, pretty much the norm. Most fairground Top Scan's could probably be operational within 24 hours from the situation it sounds like at Thorpe.
February 24, 201213 yr comment_132618 It was only sat there so they can paint the platform as you can't access it any other way...So much over analysis!Couldn't help but be concerned when it was down for weeks into the open season!Nice to know its had a bit of a paint TLC on the platform though
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