March 10, 201213 yr comment_133697 Nicely painted Looks good but didn't there used to be trees behind it?
March 10, 201213 yr comment_133714 Those trees were cut down before the end of last season, I believe.
March 10, 201213 yr comment_133715 A couple of them were cut down, they are now all gone, looks stupid to be honest! *shakes fist*
March 20, 201213 yr comment_134622 Just found this online, is this Samurai (as in, our Samurai, when at Chessie?) amazes me how non-fairgroundy it looks compared to Samurai now with the standard Mondial Top Scan fences
March 20, 201213 yr comment_134628 Just found this online, is this Samurai (as in, our Samurai, when at Chessie?) amazes me how non-fairgroundy it looks compared to Samurai now with the standard Mondial Top Scan fences Samuai just seems to have become a common name for Mondial Top-scans. Our one looked nothing like that, it looked like this:-Chessington's was also a brand new model, not second hand purchased.
March 20, 201213 yr comment_134708 In fairness, very similar :PCheers for clearing that up.I do question though, how much longer the current Samurai will last; its popularity is as strong as ever, but as a ride, it's starting to show its age in my opinion. If it did go, I'd be emotional if it wasn't replaced with a new Mondial Top Scan.What are other people's opinions on Samurai's life left / future?
March 21, 201213 yr comment_134713 As I found on a crazy cycle at the end of last season, Samurai is still more than capable of being amazing and run properly. I've since been told they don't run it properly purely to keep the stresses and therefore maintenance costs down.If that's the case I think the ride is perfectly fine and does not need replacing, as if they did replace it they'd run it just as his one anyway for the same cost reasons. Unless Mondial make a super strong version for park use? In which case buy! Because as it is on one of the 'normal' cycles it's not really worth bothering with.
March 21, 201213 yr comment_134769 As I found on a crazy cycle at the end of last season, Samurai is still more than capable of being amazing and run properly. I've since been told they don't run it properly purely to keep the stresses and therefore maintenance costs down.If that's the case I think the ride is perfectly fine and does not need replacing, as if they did replace it they'd run it just as his one anyway for the same cost reasons. Unless Mondial make a super strong version for park use? In which case buy! Because as it is on one of the 'normal' cycles it's not really worth bothering with.A member of staff told me the other day it cannot run on cycles five or six (the highest Thorpe ever used) anymore due to causing the ride to E-Stop; not sure how reliable that is, but I'd say pretty reliable since she works on the ride. Shame though
March 21, 201213 yr comment_134770 Very Impressive first image, Just goes to show how you can theme such rides...It's a great shame the ride is struggling this season so far, But like I've said to people before rides of these types aren't suppose to last over 10 years of service with the amount of days the park is open during the season...I think it may get to a point where they might have to replace it either with a new model or have the current one sent to Mondial for a complete overhaul
March 21, 201213 yr comment_134778 or have the current one sent to Mondial for a complete overhaul.......again.
March 21, 201213 yr comment_134779 I think it may get to a point where they might have to replace it either with a new model or have the current one sent to Mondial for a complete overhaul I want them to do this, the ride has so much downtime but it's too good to get rid of completely!
March 21, 201213 yr comment_134780 I want them to do this, the ride has so much downtime but it's too good to get rid of completely! ...again.Agreed it's a great ride such a shame about the downtime... & Pluk I wasn't aware it had been sent before...if that's the case then it very well might be coming towards the end of it's life? Saying that if they can run it on lower settings then am sure the park would prefer that option over removing it etc
March 22, 201213 yr comment_134783 That is what they've been doing since it moved to Thorpe from Chessington. It's been refurbished 3 times since its move I believe. It's got to be bared in mind that a funfair version is taken apart at the end of every stint. They aren't supposed to be active for 7 months of the year, constantly.
March 22, 201213 yr comment_134811 So our Samurai is a fun fair version? Or are all mondial top scans fun fair versions?
March 22, 201213 yr comment_134812 They are all funfair versions. Vortex for example, was the first park built KMG afterburner for example (They typically have 16 seater or 24 seater models). Samurai is just a typical top scan. Hence why it's stacking up the downtime at the moment.
March 22, 201213 yr comment_134818 That is what they've been doing since it moved to Thorpe from Chessington.I knew they didn't use Cycles 7 or 8 like they did at Chessie since it moved, but it doesn't do 5 or 6 anymore (and last year it could do cycle 5)
March 22, 201213 yr comment_134821 Samurai only has 6 cycles, they are programmable by the parks engineers as and when they feel.
March 22, 201213 yr comment_134844 I assume the cycle order of 1-6 goes in order from least intense to most intense?Just out of interest, does anyone know what cycle Samurai operates on, generally, when it is open to the public? After experiencing it on "it's most intense and longest cycle", I'm just slightly curious as to what I'm generally experiencing..
March 22, 201213 yr comment_134858 Fright Nights 2011 saw some Cycle 6's I believe. Genuinely came off it thinking "Holy crap! Where'd THAT come from?!". This was at about 9:50pm though, and there were only about fifteen riders altogether. The guy operating was awesome; really friendly, absolutely hilarious and really got what little crowd there was going for the last ride of the night - I came off the ride and it was dead on 10pm - so we'd had an extended ride too!
March 23, 201213 yr comment_134906 Me and Jonny392 almost got stuck on this for a while earlier! We did the cycle and everything but when it came to lowering it and getting us off it didn't want to do it, must have been hanging a fair amount of time whilst the ride op sorted it!
March 23, 201213 yr comment_134908 We had a cheeky cycle 6 earlier, which was much much better than whatever it usually is.
March 24, 201213 yr comment_135017 To anyone that thinks Samurai is run badly, look at this piece of crap.
March 25, 201213 yr comment_135038 What the hell did I just watch? :blink:Mega kiddie setting or what?
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