Hyperia - New for 2024 (Ride thread)

[Parm Pap]

Down at the station, early in the morning,
See the little hyper trains, all in a row.
Here comes the ride op to start up the lifthill,
Puff! Puff! Peep! Peep! Off we go!
Puff! Puff! Peep! Peep! Off we go!
Puff! Puff! Peep! Peep! Off we go!

 

 

Down at the station, early in the morning,
See the little worn down wheels, all in a row.

Here comes the T-cut to fix up the structure,
Chuff! Chuff! Toot! Toot! Off we go!
Chuff! Chuff! Toot! Toot! Off we go!
Chuff! Chuff! Toot! Toot! Off we go!

 

 

Down at the station, early in the morning,
See the little vibrations, all in a row.

Here comes the budget to cull next year's new one,
Clickety clack! Clickety clack! Off we go!
Clickety clack! Clickety clack! Off we go!
Clickety clack! Clickety clack! Off we go!

[Cal]

Hyperias soundtracks, including the dispatch and lift hill tracks have all been uploaded to Spotify and Apple music! 

 

Great to see. Big fan of these and they sound great in the queue/area, so glad I can give them a proper listen now.

 

 

They've also released the timelapse of construction 

 

7

[Jax]

Hyperia had to be evacced today on the brake run. Great way to celebrate National Rollercoaster Day, lads 

[Mattgwise]

Took a few hours to get going again, but was still able to get 2 rides in post 5:30pm

[Matt N]

I’ll do a longer review later, but… WOW! Hyperia is quite something! I’ve had 2 rides so far, and am currently waiting for a 3rd in the single rider queue…

 

I haven’t decided on exact ranking spots yet, but my gut take is currently; easily my top ride in Thorpe Park and definitely my favourite UK coaster!

 

What a phenomenal addition to this park and the UK theme park industry!

[Matt N]

Earlier in the day, I promised to write a longer review of Hyperia when I got home. Well, here it is!

 

While it's not exactly the aspect of the project I was most interested in, I'll start by giving a few cursory thoughts on the theming and the area...

The Area

One aspect of Hyperia that has been heavily criticised is the theming and the area. I have to say that I did not personally get the hate for this; the front-of-house areas look fine to me. It's nothing breathtaking, but I think it's functional and looks perfectly fine. I quite like the black and gold aesthetic, I quite like the station, I quite like the plaza, the queue landscaping is nice enough, and the queue is by no means terrible (although not anything overly inspiring either). In terms of some aspects I would critique, however:

• The queue could maybe have had a more interesting and less contained layout. I would have loved it if the queue had wound around the ride Wicker Man-style and offered various different vantage points.
• The ride area itself is quite unsightly at present, particularly the area around the splashdown. The lake with all of the weeds in it looks quite ugly, in my view, and I don't think the actual splashdown area is particularly pretty either. The rust-coloured splashdown track in particular does not look good at all. However, you don't notice this too much on the ride, and the ride area will probably grow to look better with time.
• Speaking of the splash effect, the whole splashdown is an idea that had such promise, but has turned out to be a complete damp squib. It seems to have completely died only a couple of months into operation, but I did see it working on my visit 2 months ago, if I'm remembering correctly, and I think it's a completely redundant effect even when it works. That sort of effect is designed primarily for visual appeal for non-riders, so when it's hidden behind a 7ft fence and no one can see it properly, it completely loses its purpose.
• If I'm being pedantic, I'm not a huge fan of how the maintenance shed looks and I would have preferred for it to parallel the style of the station. That is an extremely pedantic point, however; it's not really a big deal.

Overall, though, I wasn't too displeased with the area and theming. It's not some spectacular theming extravaganza by any stretch, but I think it overall looks nice, clean, stylish and perfectly functional. I think the style works well for the sort of ride Hyperia is, and I was never expecting heavy theming from a hyper coaster.

 

Let's now move onto the far more interesting aspect of the project; the ride itself...

The Ride

Now Hyperia has been a ride that I've been excited for for absolutely ages. I watched its build process with great anticipation, and I had high expectations for the ride. But the question is; did it live up to those expectations? Well, dear reader, my answer is; yes, it definitely did! I had 3 rides today, one in row 8 and two in the back row, and Hyperia is an absolutely sublime coaster experience, in my view!

 

The negative g-forces are absolutely absurd; the ride advertises 14.8 seconds of negative g-force, and let me tell you, I can fully believe that figure! They've designed this ride for weightlessness and I think it delivers; you seem to spend most of the ride duration pinned out of your seat in some capacity!

 

The speed is also absurd; it's easy to forget just how fast Hyperia is, but let me tell you that you're quickly reminded of just how fast 81mph is when you're actually on the ride! The sense of speed in parts of Hyperia's layout is ridiculous!

 

 For me, an element-by-element walkthrough of Hyperia goes something like this:

• The first outerbanked turn out of the station before the lift hill is utterly pointless; I don't know why this couldn't have just been a regular turn. The outerbanked version seemingly serves no purpose other than to be mildly awkward and uncomfortable.
• The lift hill is very fast. I liked the views from the top!
• The first drop is absolutely unhinged, and probably my favourite part of the ride! I'm a fan of a big first drop, and Hyperia's is truly wild; the ejector airtime is absolutely sublime and surprisingly sustained, and the 180 degree twist adds a really interesting additional sensation! It's definitely right up there as one of my favourite first drops I've ever done, alongside those of Mako and Iron Gwazi!
• The Immelmann is also absolutely sublime! I love the sheer sense of speed you get going up into it, and the sustained ejector airtime you get coming out of it is absolutely top-dollar! You're pinned out of your seat for a good couple of seconds, and the airtime is absolutely sensational! The Immelmann is another element that's right up there as one of my favourite elements on the ride!
• The outerbank into an inversion was a very hyped up element of Hyperia, and I have to say that it did not disappoint; it's absolutely insane! The sustained sideways ejector here is absolutely wild; you are pinned sideways out of your seat for what feels like seconds and seconds, and the negative g-forces are fairly strong in terms of force here as well! I'm not entirely convinced that I prefer sideways airtime to good old straight airtime, personally, but this element is absolutely brilliant nonetheless!
• The zero-g stall is an excellent element, but definitely weaker than the other three big ones for me. With that being said, you still get some very fun hangtime, and it is probably the most convincing example of a zero-g stall I've yet done (the other two stalls I've done are VelociCoaster and Iron Gwazi). I dare say I still find the zero-g stall a slightly overhyped element type based on my experiences of them, but this one did convince me of the merits of the zero-g stall a little more than VelociCoaster's or Iron Gwazi's did; it is a very good element with some excellently fun hangtime! The stall is fun, but not quite up there as a standout moment of Hyperia for me. With that being said, it has very tough competition in this regard; if this element were not on a ride as stacked with brilliant elements as Hyperia, it would probably stand out more!
• The splashdown trim is quite noticeable. I didn't find it uncomfortable enough to significantly detract from the ride, but the braking force is strong enough that it does seem to contort your face a tad...
• The outerbanked turn after the splashdown was a surprisingly excellent element for me! It seemed to start with you getting some really decent sideways floater that then transitioned into a surprisingly strong pop of ejector, and I found that really interesting and fun in terms of how it rode!
• The airtime hill into the brakes is an excellent way to finish with a bang; that hill provides a lovely pop of good, clean, surprisingly strong ejector airtime!

On this coaster, every single element hits and hits hard; there is a strong selection of standout "wow" moments on Hyperia. The first drop, the Immelmann and the outerbank into an inversion are all absolutely world-class elements, and that whole first sequence is just perfection! The other elements also hit well and provide good thrills and weightlessness, and I don't think there's one bit of Hyperia that doesn't deliver. Well, other than maybe the trim, and that weird turn before the lift hill...

 

As per usual with Mack Rides, the trains with overhead lap bars are immensely comfortable. I think Hyperia's are perhaps the most comfortable example of this train style I've experienced. In terms of smoothness; there is a rattle. It's noticeable. But it wasn't strong enough that it massively bothered me. It was more that I could feel a bit of a shaking sensation rather than that the rattle was actively hurting me or massively detracting from the experience. It's no worse than the mild rattle of, say, Stealth. The ride was overall very comfortable and enjoyable for me, and there were no severe jolts or anything (roughness-wise, I tend to find myself more sensitive to sudden jolts than rattling).

 

In terms of some comparisons; Hyperia is comfortably my favourite coaster at Thorpe Park (it was previously Stealth), comfortably my favourite UK coaster (it was previously Wicker Man) and also comfortably my favourite Mack ride (it was previously Icon). In terms of my overall rankings; out of 123 ridden coasters, I've conservatively settled on the #5 spot, behind Mako, VelociCoaster, Silver Star and Iron Gwazi (in that order).

 

If I were to offer up some pedantic hair-splitting critiques that explain why it's not my #1, and why it's not higher than #5:

• The rattle. Hyperia's rattle didn't overly bother me at all, but the coasters above Hyperia have a more perfect blissfully smooth feel to the point where it's almost an active positive attribute in itself.
• The trim. I didn't find it overly uncomfortable, but it is quite noticeable, more so than on Mako and Silver Star, and as I said, it does sort of contort your face a bit from the braking force, which isn't the case on Mako or Silver Star.
• The fact that the ride lacks straight airtime hills. As sublime as Hyperia's sideways and inverted airtime elements are and as plentiful as the sustained weightlessness is, nothing quite beats a good old straight airtime hill for me, and Hyperia does have somewhat of a shortage of traditional straight airtime moments.

I know those are very pedantic points, and pretty much entirely based on personal preference, but when you're talking about the top 5 and determining exact placements, I think I can afford to get pedantic! When the coasters in question are this good, it gets competitive at the top, and I have little choice other than to split hairs!

 

One legitimate critique I will offer of the ride itself is with regard to the capacity. It's not the highest for a brand new major ride, at 700-800pph, but I think a key reason for that has nothing to do with the park's operations and may have something to do with the brake run. They were operating brilliantly, and stacking was very rare, but the train seems to take a very, very long time to return to the station and moves along the brake run track very, very slowly. This results in more idle time in the station, and if they were able to speed up the train's movement through the brake run, it might improve the capacity. Hopefully this is something the park can look into in the future.

 

But overall, I absolutely loved Hyperia! It's my favourite coaster at Thorpe Park, my favourite coaster in the UK and sits in my top 5! The weightlessness is sublime, the sense of speed is absurd, the elements are absolutely top-drawer, and all in all, it's just an absolutely sublime coaster! What a brilliant investment for Thorpe Park and the UK theme park industry!

 

On a side note, here are a few photos I took of the ride:

[Cal]

Interesting decision tonight, they’ve decided to close the queue for Hyperia at half 8 today even though the wait is currently 40 minutes and the queue isn’t full. 
 

They announced in the Hyperia area that the queue will be closing within the next 10 minutes but as far as I’m aware this wasn’t advertised anywhere else on park. 
 

Lots of people currently entering the area for a night ride and getting turned away. Doesn’t help that it’s still showing open on the app. 

[Benin]

Depends when they were allowed to operate till. Might have pulled the plug on it a bit early just in case they broke any "curfew" agreed with local council etc.

 

Which would be fine if communicated properly. 

[JoshC.]

30 minutes ago, Benin said:

Depends when they were allowed to operate till. Might have pulled the plug on it a bit early just in case they broke any "curfew" agreed with local council etc.

 

Which would be fine if communicated properly. 

 

Fairly certain there's no curfew beyond the usual one for all Thorpe rides (which is like after 11pm). So they wouldn't be anywhere near that

[Coaster]

Thorpe handled this terribly.  It wasn't made clear at all with the app showing 21:00 as the closing time.

 

It was announced over the tannoy at 20:20 in the Hyperia area that the queue would close in 10 minutes time, but there was no notice given to people in any other area of the park, and to make it worse, the app was still showing the ride as open causing a lot of guests to arrive for their night ride and be turned away disappointed.

 

We were halfway down the queue when it was announced, meaning we lost the opportunity to get a night ride.  If Thorpe had communicated the closing time properly throughout the day we could have planned to join the queue at a better time.

 

Worst of all, Thorpe actively lied on their social media pages on several occasions, guaranteeing that Hyperia would be open until 9pm when this wasn't the case!

 

You cannot be taken seriously as a park if you can't be honest with guests, managing closing times is nothing new and parks across the world manage to get it right to avoid leaving a poor final impression.  Thorpe just aren't a professional outfit and it shows.

 

[Marc]

I think if the queue is going to close early it’s not something they will ever announce a time for, for what ever reason they seem to not want it to run that long after closing time, I guess it’s just something we will have to live with this season, I’ve no doubt it will receive lots of work over winter and hopefully they will avoid things like this, as afterall Hyperia is the exception, generally the park never closes rides earlier unless they really have to.

[JoshC.]

6 hours ago, Coaster said:

Thorpe handled this terribly.  It wasn't made clear at all with the app showing 21:00 as the closing time.

 

The app does also say that "all Hyperia queue lines will close prior to the advertised park closure time". It is mixed messaging, but equally it is there.

 

The question is: how do the park create a clear communication line? Does the app need "opening hours" for every ride, especially ones which are scheduled to be open from open to close? Could the park remove that? 

Equally, what more can the park do to push that Hyperia's queue line could close earlier, at any time? People don't read the information, or have been conditioned to ignore it (because, more often than not, the queue line does close at park close).

 

The park obviously have reasons for wanting to close the queue line early. Why that is is unclear. Could be engineering, staffing, etc. Obviously with Fright Nights around the corner, there's questions as to whether this will be a regular occurrence. If people want to, say, do the mazes then get a night ride on Hyperia, it feels like it'll be a difficult to get timings right for people, given the issues they have with timing on mazes.

 

6 hours ago, Coaster said:

It was announced over the tannoy at 20:20 in the Hyperia area that the queue would close in 10 minutes time, but there was no notice given to people in any other area of the park, and to make it worse, the app was still showing the ride as open causing a lot of guests to arrive for their night ride and be turned away disappointed.

 

We were halfway down the queue when it was announced, meaning we lost the opportunity to get a night ride.  If Thorpe had communicated the closing time properly throughout the day we could have planned to join the queue at a better time.

 

I understand the want for a night ride. But just take a step back. You got a ride at some point after 8.20pm. That's good, right? At worst, that's a ride happening at dusk. A ride at a time that wouldn't have been possible so far except on opening day. And you may also have gotten other rides during the day.

Your complaint boils down to the fact that the lack of communication meant you couldn't get another ride?

 

As I say, take a step back. Don't get me wrong, the communication can be improved, and it has left a sour taste for some, but saying something like this:

6 hours ago, Coaster said:

You cannot be taken seriously as a park if you can't be honest with guests, managing closing times is nothing new and parks across the world manage to get it right to avoid leaving a poor final impression.  Thorpe just aren't a professional outfit and it shows.

feels like an over-reaction to the situation.

 

The park have extended opening hours, with much of the park being quiet during those extended hours (likely due to poor weather), at a time when other parks within Merlin have cut opening hours and have reduced ride selection.

Whilst your experience left a poor final impression, there's a huge oversight on all the positives from yesterday.

[Coaster]

2 hours ago, JoshC. said:

I understand the want for a night ride. But just take a step back. You got a ride at some point after 8.20pm. That's good, right? At worst, that's a ride happening at dusk. A ride at a time that wouldn't have been possible so far except on opening day. And you may also have gotten other rides during the day.

Your complaint boils down to the fact that the lack of communication meant you couldn't get another ride?

 

As I say, take a step back. Don't get me wrong, the communication can be improved, and it has left a sour taste for some, but saying something like this:

feels like an over-reaction to the situation.

 

The park have extended opening hours, with much of the park being quiet during those extended hours (likely due to poor weather), at a time when other parks within Merlin have cut opening hours and have reduced ride selection.

Whilst your experience left a poor final impression, there's a huge oversight on all the positives from yesterday.

 

First and last impressions are the most vital thing in customer experience.  You can have a fantastic product/attraction, but if the final experience a customer has is poor, that will linger and leave a lasting negative impression.  Thorpe Park, as a customer-orientated business, should understand this.

 

I deem it unprofessional because parks across the world manage to inform guests of when a ride queue will close.  Phantasialand display closing times on electronic boards at each ride entrance, and even BPB (with all their faults) manage to display opening and closing times for each ride, both on their app and on the boards outside ride entrances.  It's a basic part of operating a park, but somehow Thorpe can't get it right.  If a park gives out inconsistent information across different channels, they're not even grasping the basics.

My complaint isn't specifically about getting another ride.  It's that the queue closing time should be made clear both online, and from first thing when entering the park.  Other parks do this, there is no excuse.  Had we known in advance when Hyperia's queue would close, we would have joined nearer to 8:30pm to allow for a night ride.  Instead, we missed out on a proper night ride due to Thorpe Park essentially lying on social media.

[Marc]

I don’t think it’s fair to accuse someone of lying, there is a human behind them tweets rather than “Thorpe park”, maybe the tweets should have pointed to the information in the app that states the queues will close early but don’t think it’s fair to be calling them liars.

 

They seem to close the queue so that the ride isn’t operating too long after park close, for what ever reason that is, so I suspect that makes it very hard to actually give a time it will close, when I joined around 8:25 there was lots of people congregating around the entrance / area to try jump In for that last ride so I do see why it’s difficult in that respect to set a time well in advance.

[Coaster]

1 hour ago, Marc said:

I don’t think it’s fair to accuse someone of lying, there is a human behind them tweets rather than “Thorpe park”, maybe the tweets should have pointed to the information in the app that states the queues will close early but don’t think it’s fair to be calling them liars.

 

They seem to close the queue so that the ride isn’t operating too long after park close, for what ever reason that is, so I suspect that makes it very hard to actually give a time it will close, when I joined around 8:25 there was lots of people congregating around the entrance / area to try jump In for that last ride so I do see why it’s difficult in that respect to set a time well in advance.

 

Ultimately, Thorpe Park did put out information that was untrue.

 

With that said, I hold the management responsible, not the social media teams; there looks to be a lack of synergy between departments.

[JoshC.]

1 hour ago, Coaster said:

I deem it unprofessional because parks across the world manage to inform guests of when a ride queue will close.  Phantasialand display closing times on electronic boards at each ride entrance, and even BPB (with all their faults) manage to display opening and closing times for each ride, both on their app and on the boards outside ride entrances.  It's a basic part of operating a park, but somehow Thorpe can't get it right.  If a park gives out inconsistent information across different channels, they're not even grasping the basics.

 

I mean, Phantasialand used to be worse. The park had a closing time, and they would close queue lines as and when, depending on queue length. You simply had no clue, and would have to keep an eye on queue times and try and time things right. 15 minutes after the advertised park close, the whole park would be deserted. Efteling was similar. They have improved, fortunately, but other parks have historically have had issues, but have learnt and improved from them.

 

 

1 hour ago, Coaster said:

My complaint isn't specifically about getting another ride.  It's that the queue closing time should be made clear both online, and from first thing when entering the park.  Other parks do this, there is no excuse.  Had we known in advance when Hyperia's queue would close, we would have joined nearer to 8:30pm to allow for a night ride.  Instead, we missed out on a proper night ride due to Thorpe Park essentially lying on social media.

I guess the obtuse response here is a theme park is fluid; things change. You were in a position where you were given information (you were in the ride queue when you were told the queue line was closing soon). You could have chosen to cut your loses slightly, leave the queue, then rejoin, giving you the chance for a night ride. You'd have wasted some time, but you would have been able to use the information given to you to allow the night ride.

 

As I say, it's an obtuse answer, and not a good scenario (and I hate this suggestion), but you had the most up to date information and made a decision. 

 

25 minutes ago, Coaster said:

Ultimately, Thorpe Park did put out information that was untrue.

 

With that said, I hold the management responsible, not the social media teams; there looks to be a lack of synergy between departments.

 

Not to be facetious, but have you raised / are you raising a complaint with the park? It's clear that Thorpe do see social media discourse (including the forums), but they will take further notice of a complaint which can be passed onto the relevant departments properly. 

 

I've raised a complaint this year about the inaccuracy of the height measuring sticks across the park. I've noticed that the more accurate / consistent slider measures are now in place at rides following my complaint. Now I know that they didn't read my email, and immediately order slider measures, place them clearly at rides and encourage ride staff to use them. But I like to think they've taken notice of that complaint, and similar ones people have made, to make the decision to address that complaint.

 

Obviously it's not my place to tell someone whether they should lodge a formal complaint or not, and I'm sure if the Head of Customer Services is reading these forums they're cursing my name at the fact I'm actively encouraging people to flood the customer services inbox. But I genuinely believe it is the best thing to do (certainly much better than going on social media saying Thorpe Park are lying, when it's simply people behind a screen giving out stock answers which they're given, and can't do anything about)

[Inferno]

It’s a bit of a weird one this, because it’s not like Thorpe to close a queue before park closing time.  Historically they’ve always been really good (and very open) about closing the queues at closing time, not the rides. It’s a point that they themselves have made many times in their “tips” sort of posts, and blogs etc.

 

What’s not helping is that I expect the entire reason for many people’s visit this weekend was to get a night ride on Hyperia, which was then unexpectedly ruined…

I suspect basically everyone in the park was planning on joining the queue in the 10 mins prior to closing, which would have resulted in a long queue, pushing the opening hours later and later.

 

It wouldn’t only affect the ride team, there would be engineers, security, admissions, and all sorts I would imagine.

 

All I can think is that the staffing situation is such that they have people working really late and needing to then be in again early to open up again? It wouldn’t be good to have staff going home at midnight for instance, then having to get up again to be in for 8AM - yes I know this happens, and does at my own job, but putting things in place to look after staff is a good thing, if that’s what this is about.
I can’t imagine the park is awash with staff at this time of the season, given that September is a quiet time.

I suppose Thorpe’s staffing structure also isn’t really setup to deal with late nights either is it, other than Fright Nights, where extras are brought in and special measures are in place, etc?

Staff rostering is a nightmare at the best of times, let alone when there’s a sudden change like this.

 

Whatever it is, it’s crap for everyone. But at least it’ll only be while hyperia is new.

 

Would everyone have preferred it if from opening time Hyperia’s queue was advertised as closing 1hr before park close?

[Benin]

14 hours ago, JoshC. said:

 

The app does also say that "all Hyperia queue lines will close prior to the advertised park closure time". It is mixed messaging, but equally it is there.

 

The question is: how do the park create a clear communication line? Does the app need "opening hours" for every ride, especially ones which are scheduled to be open from open to close? Could the park remove that? 

Equally, what more can the park do to push that Hyperia's queue line could close earlier, at any time? People don't read the information, or have been conditioned to ignore it (because, more often than not, the queue line does close at park close).

 

100% doable I'm sure on the app to put exact opening times for each ride on them.

 

However I think having a very open ended "it MIGHT close early" is more of an issue. Either say it WILL close say 30 minutes prior to advertised park closing time or just close it at that point and damn the consequences. Giving such vague wiggle room can cause issues.

 

Thorpe's communication back on my May visit (the day they didn't tell anyone in the park about Hyperia being closed until letting people in) still irks me. Now THAT was terrible communication, and probably part of that is out of fear of backlash that the big new thing wasn't open, but making it worse by not communicating properly to those visiting on park (social media posts, especially whilst people are travelling or already there don't help much).

 

Fear of bad PR often leads to it moreso than clear and open communication. Must've been a reason why the early closure announcement was only made in the Hyperia area after all.

[Mark9]

Probably should have kept it open till 9pm to be honest. Even though we were one of the luckier ones to get in the queue with 20 seconds to go, it would have made me feel a tad bitter if we had missed out. I love the other rides so would have just done them, but hyperia night ride was the prime selling point.

 

 

[JoshC.]

Looks like the Hyperia show might have ran its course.

[MattyMoo]

There's no way whatsoever that'll be back next year. Was good though, a nice touch.

[Matt N]

Funnily enough, my dad was saying to me when we were at Thorpe on 18th August “Let’s take bets on how long those actors last… I’m saying they’ll be gone by the end of summer”… it would seem he was quite possibly right!

 

However, is it a possibility that they’re just being re-allocated for Oktoberfest and Fright Nights?

[JoshC.]

9 minutes ago, Matt N said:

However, is it a possibility that they’re just being re-allocated for Oktoberfest and Fright Nights?

 

The stage and equipment almost definitely will be used for Oktoberfest and Fright Nights. 

 

As for actors, I don't think anyone would have expected the show to happen over FN, as actors are simply needed for the event. They might be used for Oktoberfest, Ghost Train, Walking Dead or simply training sessions for Fright Nights. If "scary scares" aren't those actors' thing, and they aren't suited to the Amity dance show (which will presumably return), they'd probably end up relocating to Chessington tbh.

[Coaster]

On 8/25/2024 at 8:47 PM, JoshC. said:

Not to be facetious, but have you raised / are you raising a complaint with the park? It's clear that Thorpe do see social media discourse (including the forums), but they will take further notice of a complaint which can be passed onto the relevant departments properly. 

 

I've raised a complaint this year about the inaccuracy of the height measuring sticks across the park. I've noticed that the more accurate / consistent slider measures are now in place at rides following my complaint. Now I know that they didn't read my email, and immediately order slider measures, place them clearly at rides and encourage ride staff to use them. But I like to think they've taken notice of that complaint, and similar ones people have made, to make the decision to address that complaint.

 

Obviously it's not my place to tell someone whether they should lodge a formal complaint or not, and I'm sure if the Head of Customer Services is reading these forums they're cursing my name at the fact I'm actively encouraging people to flood the customer services inbox. But I genuinely believe it is the best thing to do (certainly much better than going on social media saying Thorpe Park are lying, when it's simply people behind a screen giving out stock answers which they're given, and can't do anything about)

 

I haven't, largely because a few weeks prior I raised a concern about a separate issue in guest services and was told "there's nothing we can do."

 

In that instance, I explained that two of my friends had come in on day tickets and Hyperia had remained closed until 6pm (at the point we visited GS it was due to be closed all day), several coasters had opened an hour + late, downtime across the park was pretty drastic and Fastrack overselling caused a 60 minute queue on Inferno to become 2 hours.  I was told that because the "magic return" (can't remember the official name for it) hadn't been activated, nothing could be done.

 

Absolutely not the fault of the staff behind the desks, but the sign of a management who simply don't care once they've got people through the gates.

 

If the day described above wasn't deemed awful enough to offer a return visit, I have to question what standards they actually aim for and whether raising a complaint about Hyperia closing would be a productive use of my time.

[JoshC.]

The way I see it, writing an email to Thorpe to explain one's frustration and how it could have been avoided takes me no longer than writing a post on a forum, or even a thread of tweets. That form of feedback can be stored and reflected on much more than forum posts and social media tweets, for example, and can be seen by those who have more of an ability to make change happen. 

 

Obviously everyone uses time in their own way, but giving direct written feedback is the best way I can see, as a guest, of offering an insight into a poor experience and how it could have been avoided.