May 6, 201411 yr comment_182590 I think that has been on there for a while. I remember someone saying about it before.
May 6, 201411 yr comment_182591 Search Mondial on Ride Traders and Samurai comes up...could this mean it is leaving or do you think someones "borrowed" their pictures??? http://www.ridetraders.com/ViewItems.aspx Yes this has come up before and I remember people saying it's just a picture being used for a Topscan which is on sale, samurai itself isn't actually on sale! My guess is they are probably just using samurai's picture because the Topscan being sold is in a bad state
May 14, 201411 yr comment_183135 Besides how much of an intense setting it's being run on now... the thing that really bothers me is that it needs something like a minimum of 15 people to be able to ride Samurai, and when you visit on quiet days like I did yesterday you can be waiting around for ages and with no one else joining the queue, so didn't end up riding it in the end! anyone know why this rule is in place?
May 14, 201411 yr comment_183136 Besides how much of an intense setting it's being run on now... the thing that really bothers me is that it needs something like a minimum of 15 people to be able to ride Samurai, and when you visit on quiet days like I did yesterday you can be waiting around for ages and with no one else joining the queue, so didn't end up riding it in the end! anyone know why this rule is in place? I'm not sure because I've seen Whirlwind at Lightwater Valley run with about five people on it!
May 14, 201411 yr comment_183140 I'm guessing it could be due to their parking issue and that they need 15 people, probably equally distributed, otherwise just say 5 people on one arm could cause issues?
May 14, 201411 yr comment_183141 Its somthing to do with in the event of a power failure that if there are more than 15 people the weight of the cross will work its way to the bottom.
May 14, 201411 yr comment_183223 Yup what Marc said - it's been in place since the ride moved to Thorpe Park in 2004.
May 16, 201411 yr comment_183358 Today was, erm, sort of a prime example of the 15 people rule. From what we were led to believe, Samurai's hydraulic oil (or whatever it's called, it confuses me) overheated blah blah so it basically E-Stopped itself; and brought itself down under its own momentum. What was funny about this was engineers had to manually bring it down by leaking the hydraulic rams or something technical that I don't understand, and in doing so it ski-wift itself; meaning gondola five was literally flat against the platform, and the whole of Samurai was parked in a weird way. I feel sorry for the operator; and the riders at the time a-like, it must not have been pleasant trying to get guests to mind their legs while they literally got plonked down. Credit to maintenance though, they had it back running a few hours later (I'm guessing once it had cooled down).
May 25, 201411 yr comment_184074 Despite samurai being run much faster... I still feel the cycles are very disappointing. Look at the row with only three people, the arm doesn't spin properly meaning the car goes under the same position of the ride each time you go round. This arm did not flip once(the one with three people on the end) as it was at the very top point going forwards and backwards. On a properly run Topscan, this would get flip as the arm would be propelled forwards then rocking backwards and forward etc... That would make it one of the best seats on the ride. My point is, the ride isn't giving a fair spin just like vortex to be honest. There are seats which are MUCH better than others. These cycles are awful and I hope they can be changed at once. Thorpe PLEASE read this as I don't want people queuing an hour and getting the worst seats. FIX THE RIDES!!
May 26, 201411 yr comment_184102 Samurai is out of Thorpes control really, it's dying on its backside and frankly we're lucky it is running at all.
May 26, 201411 yr comment_184133 I never truly realised just how badly Samurai was run until I'd been on a Top-Scan run by a travelling German fair. Die Kirmes am Rhein Top-Scan is quite literally the most intense experience my body was ever put under, so much more so as I wasn't expecting it to be as intense as it was, because I always thought Samurai did a fair job (despite videos showing it is much slower than it's travelling brothers).
May 26, 201411 yr comment_184134 One of the cycles Samurai has been running this year has been far better than in previous years (usually get this one first thing in the morning). The trouble is the other settings it can run on are terrible. It's the inconsistency of sometimes getting a decent ride and other times not which sucks.
May 27, 201411 yr comment_184183 The inconsistency is simply because it's allegedly overheating because it's running quicker than it's been used to the last few years. I'd put it down as an age issue personally. Also noticed Arm 4 seems to be the most intense this year. I don't know why but it seems to like making me feel like I want to vomit, as I don't take too nicely to being held upside down for a full rotation before flipping out...
May 27, 201411 yr comment_184188 On Sunday it was dead by half 5 and the que was evaced so assumed it over heated then as well. Didn't open for the rest of the day. Didn't get a chance to ride it then as I planned to go on it towards the end of the day. On my previous visit I was on row 1 and it was great, did loads on flips etc.. Best ride I've ever had on Samurai and that's my only ride I've had on it this year It's a shame I can never ride it in the morning because you need 15 people, and that area is dead in the morning.
May 27, 201411 yr comment_184189 I'm not sure because I've seen Whirlwind at Lightwater Valley run with about five people on it! yes but Whirlwind is in a much better state than samurai..... :/
May 28, 201411 yr comment_184217 I never truly realised just how badly Samurai was run until I'd been on a Top-Scan run by a travelling German fair. Die Kirmes am Rhein Top-Scan is quite literally the most intense experience my body was ever put under, so much more so as I wasn't expecting it to be as intense as it was, because I always thought Samurai did a fair job (despite videos showing it is much slower than it's travelling brothers).Skater from Kasier?That has to be one of the best designed, run and most fantastic ride experiences out there. Was absolutely astonished when I rode it aswell As for the ride itself, I would like it if they slowed it down and ran it slowly like last year however oiled the seats lots every month or so so that the cars flip loads like last year:
June 3, 201411 yr comment_184678 yes but Whirlwind is in a much better state than samurai..... :/ Really? REALLY? I visited Lightwater Valley back in 2012, and met a nice chap who's in charge of marketing and he told us that Whirlwind has overheating issues back then (and this was when the 'second one' came in technically) so it runs slowly on the main arm, but with a fast cross arm to create flips. But that creates quite a forceless although intense ride. I suppose rides like Beast show true intense running theme park top scan capability. But Whirlwind kind of shows that speed isn't everything; and I like to think Samurai has hit middle ground to a degree where its fun to ride and at times can give excelling rides; yet is pleasing the general public still.
June 7, 201411 yr comment_185032 I've heard people say that Samurai is the only Topscan with restraints which creak and move, and thought it was worth mentioning that the ones on Speed Wave at Brean do the same.
June 8, 201411 yr comment_185045 ^and The Beast at Fantasy Island, I found that to be the worst for it!
June 8, 201411 yr comment_185052 I've heard people say that Samurai is the only Topscan with restraints which creak and move, and thought it was worth mentioning that the ones on Speed Wave at Brean do the same. I've felt the restraints move slightly on Samurai, but I assumed it was the norm for the automatic OSTRs e.g Vortex, Dragon's Claw (AI) etc. Also, I've never noticed an audible creak if and when the restraints move, possibly as I was blissfully ignorant of the fact they do that and it's apparently unusual. As far as I'm aware it's nothing to be concerned about anyway(?)
June 8, 201411 yr comment_185057 If it was anything to be concerned about, no doubt it would be closed and not opened until rectified.
June 8, 201411 yr comment_185075 Most top scans have them - fairground ones seemingly click down and they wobble too!
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