Hyperia - New for 2024 (Ride thread)

[Vinlarr89]

21 hours ago, coasterverse said:

I was actually thinking just the other day if Hyperia had a different post-breakdown ritual, becuase come to think of it I don't think I've ever (or if I have, it's probably literally only been one train) seen empty trains go round the track after a breakdown.

 

The question of how Thorpe could fix the reliability issue is one that really interests me - LSMs where the trim brackets are is the most obvious answer to me, but I'm not sure how possible that would be to retrofit LSMs into a bracket not intended for LSMs and that's not even taking into consideration the fact that the trains probably aren't capable of utilising LSMs, which would mean yet ANOTHER retrofit which would likely cause a whole other stream of problems.

 

Realistically, shortening the height of the outerbank inversion thing is probably easiest and would have the least amount of moving parts... but also can't really see the park opting for this either.

 

I just reckon it will continue to be operated the way it is at the minute pretty much indefinitely - it's a pain in the arse, but at least it somewhat gets the job done without costing the park any extra money.

Why not go the whole hog, take the lift hill down increase the angle by a couple of degrees and add 5-8 ft to the top of it. 
Should do the trick 😉

 

All seriousness though, a zero car with a ballast tank built in? Fill it during downtime then empty it before sending first riders around. Seems the cheapest solution. 

[Project LC]

The easiest engineering solution is to add some permanent weights evenly across the trains.  Although that would require design checks to see if the structure and trains can deal with the increased forces. It would also increase wear. In the meantime the absolute easiest way to ensure weight is on the trains and spread out without going over the design maximum is fill the train with people. 

 

Installing LSMs would be very expensive, mostly getting the power over there and you would basically require new trains. It wouldn't surprise me if adding LSMs comes to a similar cost of reprofiling the outerbank. 

 

 

 

[Marc]

I wonder if adding weight to the trains would then make them run too fast with the heavier trains + fully loaded with people.

 

Fingers crossed this is less of an issue as it warms up a bit but I’d imagine Merlin / Mack would like a permanent solution to this.

[Project LC]

There is certainly a potential for it running too fast if you do add weight to the trains. There will be all sorts of assumptions in the design and safety factors. It depends how conservative they were during design to determine how much weight they could safely add. 

 

I think the most realistic solution is to ensure that trains have x amount of guests when dispatching and to provide an easy evacuation plan for when it does inevitably stall with passengers. 

[Benin]

See they're doing lift hill walks for Hyperia. 

 

For £120. And you need to have done a track walk on Colossus, Oblivion or Swarm within 3 years.

 

Seems a bit off to enforce that.

[JoshC.]

When the park put out a "register your interest" sign up for Hyperia coaster climbs, the response was huge. I've been made aware that if everyone who responded to that ended up actively choosing to do it, there would be a 4.5 year waiting list.

 

So a mixture of a high price, some form of pre-requirement plus needing an Annual Pass takes the potential load off of needing a waiting list, which would probably have been met with a worst reaction than what's currently happened. Maybe those 3 things were a little unnecessary, maybe the price is a tad too high, but the park put those measures in place to allow a smooth introduction to the VIP extra.

 

I expect that at some point, they'll loosen those prerequisites, and maybe tweak the price (in the mid-term future) so the jump between other climbs and Hyperia's is not quite so steep.

[Coaster_Contrarian]

Hyperia's having a fairly bad opening day.

[Matt 236]

Thought I would celebrate the arrival of the 2025 season, by recording and arranging the ride’s theme.

 

 

[MattyMoo]

So... Hyperia has been down all day. Twitter saying a drive wheel issue on the lift.

[Cal]

Lots of issues with the lift so far this year it seems. Do feel sorry for them as it’s continuing to be a nightmare for them to operate.
 

Swarm in comparison has probably had a handful of closed days since it opened 10 years ago, pretty sure it didn’t have a single day closed in its first couple seasons. 
 

Good to see they have sorted out the rest of the area (updates shared on theme park guide) as some it really looked a mess on AP day. 

[JoshC.]

It didn't open on its second day of operation last year, what made people think it would open on the second day of season this year?

 

But seriously. It's not an ideal position to be in. It further develops a narrative that the ride is unreliable. People who don't understand how theme parks work then believe that the park haven't done any work to the ride over winter. And for some, they can then create a narrative against the park. Obviously the situation isn't good, but it's a "Thorpe are the worse place ever" story.

 

The question really is...what's happening? Why is a bog standard lift hill coaster, from one of the most reliable manufacturers around, causing issues? And is there a party to blame? And can these issues be rectified so they don't happen again? 

 

As someone who really likes Hyperia, it's hard for me to say this, but I can't help but wonder what would have happened had Thorpe gone for a B&M Hyper. I'm not saying they should have; on paper, both were extremely positive additions and no one would have thought "well, one is notably more reliable than the other". But there's certainly a "What if?" lingering in my mind of how much easier things would have been if they did, and what the park's situation might be now.

[Benin]

Wasn't the lift hill a bit of a prototype from Mack?

 

B&M might've built an entire layout too 😉

[Inferno]

I think I’m right in thinking the main (and most crippling) issue since opening has been the stalling / near stalling, and the resulting delays with loading / unloading dummies etc.

 

For all we know that issue could be being actively worked on. Something like a new ballast zero car will take designing, manufacturing, testing, redesigning, manufacturing, installing and testing some more - taking many months, not to mention the legal conversations and negotiations over who pays for the fix exc!

Hopefully a proper fix is on the way behind closed doors. 
 

Fixing that single (all be it very large) issue will remove a lot of the pain day to day, and would probably mean Hyperia would open on time every day - that alone would be a huge step forwards.

 

The recent problems with the lift hill could be just down to pure bad luck, and something that could happen to any ride at any time, but it feels so much worse on Hyperia because it’s on top of the existing ongoing problems.

 

Either way, it’s not a good look for Thorpe or Mack is it… and I agree, perhaps a B&M would have been the better option after all… But who was to know.

 

I am hopeful that the pacing issues will be resolved  soon, and Hyperia will just operate reliably.

 

- - -

 

On a separate note, I’d be really interested to see what the conversations look like between Mack and Merlin around all this.

I’d hope that Mack are doing all they can to solve this at no additional cost.

[MattyMoo]

No Hyperia action today either thus far it would seem.

 

When do I start to get nervous for my visit on Wednesday? 🙃

[Glitch]

2 hours ago, MattyMoo said:

No Hyperia action today either thus far it would seem.

 

When do I start to get nervous for my visit on Wednesday? 🙃

Why would you be nervous? If it doesn’t open you’d be entitled to compensation in the form of a free fast track and the right to complain on Twitter

[MattyMoo]

She's back, and she's got a 150 minute queue.

 

...temporary day 15 mins later...

 

...now open again.

 

....closed again 10 mins later

 

...queue evacuated at 4.30

[Cal]

Well it didn't last very long, queue has been cleared.

 

What on earth did they do to the lift hill over closed season... 🤣

[MattyMoo]

I don't get it. It's just a lift hill, all be it a big one. Truly odd, considering this wasn't an issue last year (I mean there were plenty of other issues mind you but still).

[MattyB]

Damn haven't been to the park for a couple of years now, and have booked for Thursday.  Hope its up and running 

[MattyMoo]

11 minutes ago, MattyB said:

Damn haven't been to the park for a couple of years now, and have booked for Thursday.  Hope its up and running 

 

It really shouldn't be this difficult and stressful, should it?!

[MattyMoo]

Is the default setting "Delayed" even before the park opens now, or would this suggest they've been working on it and don't expect it to open on time? Or is it a case of managing expectations? Answers on a postcard.

[Benin]

Managing expectations. 

 

It'll open or it won't. Such is life. 

[MattyB]

Just been checking the app.  Does the park not have quiet periods anymore?  Just seen Colossus at 70 min, and the other coasters around 40-60 min.

[Benin]

25 minutes ago, MattyB said:

Just been checking the app.  Does the park not have quiet periods anymore?  Just seen Colossus at 70 min, and the other coasters around 40-60 min.

 

Not for a very long time.

[MattyMoo]

1 hour ago, MattyB said:

Just been checking the app.  Does the park not have quiet periods anymore?  Just seen Colossus at 70 min, and the other coasters around 40-60 min.

 

I've noticed that Mondays especially have become busier - possibly people having long weekends I assume.

But yes - mega quiet periods seem to be few and far between, the quietest is September before Fright Nights start, really.