Fingers crossed they can get the train off and reopen for tomorrow 😬

That TPM article is a really good overview.

 

I really feel for the staff at Thorpe, and the people at Mack who did all the complex work on the layout.  This is clearly not what anyone wanted at all.

 

Mistakes and unforeseen problems happen all the time.  It’s unfortunate that this one has such an impact and is is so costly.

 

I think it’s fair to say though that this has become quite urgent, and can’t continue for much longer.  As has been mentioned above, brand reputation, for both Thorpe and Mack, is now on the line.

 

Does anyone know if the train has been recovered yet?

So didn't manage to get Hyperia today 😔

 

Had a surprisingly smooth ride on SAW.  Nemesis is awesome and has aged like a fine wine.  Did Stealth and Swarm, had a Burger King and a pint, and then went home.

 

I do feel for the park, they have had issues with their last two installations (Derron and Hyperia).   

Hyperia appears to have re-opened today on one train.

New water feature in the Hyperia queue 

 

 

Not exactly a great way to introduce guests to it. But the ridiculous amount of netting also hates it when it rains too.

So finally manged to get Hyperia today.  First ride was back row, and it was insane!  2nd ride was towards the back.  Also did some rides I haven't done in years.  Got 5 laps on Flying Fish, did Vortex & Zodiac ( which I immediatley regretted - getting older and lots of spinning do not go hand in hand), Quantum and Rush.  Tidal Wave was a godsend today.  Also did Swarm, SAW and Nemesis. We ate at Vibes which was very good, and price was reasonable.  I also took some travel sickness tablets with me today which made the difference!

 

More thoughts on Hyperia:

 

Was surprised how much you are out of the seat.

Didn't think it needed to be much longer, maybe a helix or additional bunny hop.  

Queue line leaves a lot to be desired, also think they need some sort of screening on the lift motor as its very loud.

 

Surprisingly quite busy.  Colossus broke down and was stuck on the lift when we arrived.  Assuming it moved to one train operation as the queue was 60mins for a lot of the day.  Stealth was out all day.

I did a Hyperia coaster climb this evening.

 

There was some chatter when it was made live about the cost being expensive (£120). It is, no beating around the bush. But it is worth it. My experience was about 3hrs all in, and included lots of time spent scaling the ride, time spent in the console and time spent around the turnaround outside the station, with lots of opportunities for photos, fabulous hosts and a great vibe. 

 

Find attached a variety of photos (of me). I'll write a proper TPM article later.

I’ve learned today that apparently Hyperia has had some of its wheels replaced with nylon ones, resulting in the trains maintaining higher speeds for longer through the high points (and a shorter time to complete the circuit of course).

 

With no sign of any reoccurrence of the valleying issues for several weeks now, could we finally be in the “business as usual” phase, with the ride running reliably and consistently?

I guess it’s still too soon to say, but here’s hoping.

10 hours ago, Inferno said:

With no sign of any reoccurrence of the valleying issues for several weeks now, could we finally be in the “business as usual” phase, with the ride running reliably and consistently?

I guess it’s still too soon to say, but here’s hoping.

 

I mean it wasn't exactly valleying every week last year so who knows.

 

Think it's been as unreliable as most things under the Merlin umbrella.

Its definitely noticeable now, it's a little rougher and jolty in my opinion, especially as it warms up and from row 4/5 onwards, but doesn't detract from the ride experience too much.

 

I do wonder if this is a long term solution or just temporary?

I got on Helix on the weekend just gone for my first time, which is over 10 years old and it was glass smooth in comparison.

 

Also, watching the ops on Helix makes me so glad we don't have seatbelts on Hyperia 🤣

Any ideas why Hyperia appeared to be running only one train today?

I saw somewhere that Mack were on park having a look at it and will tomorrow while the park is closed, planned to be back on 2 Thursday. Not sure how much truth is in that though.

App is stating a 2hr queue today. Considering it is off-peak, I'm thinking it must still be on one train.

Does anyone know if it's still on one train?

1 hour ago, LightSam said:

Does anyone know if it's still on one train?

 

Its been back on 2 trains since Friday  

The Hyperia splashdown makes a return once again

 

I must confess myself surprised that the park didn't really do anything to acknowledge a year since Hyperia opened beyond a social media post (and ride staff wearing gold party hats, which they likely bought themselves).

 

I'm not saying that the park had to do anything, or that they should have done anything. But last year, the park did a few things differently, such as the opening ceremony and handing out certificates to people who rode it opening day. They then did the "Hyperia day" celebration on 23rd June (23/6). It seemed like they were going in a direction of celebrating things, or pushing Hyperia in a different way.

 

Now whether it's the Merlin restructure has meant that there's not the capacity to do that, they've lost a bit of confidence in Hyperia with its reliability issues, or they just never planned to do anything, we'll never know. But regardless of the why behind it, there's a part of me that is surprised they didn't really do anything.

 

 

---

 

 

In other (vaguely related) news, Jack Silkstone / Thorpe are releasing a Hyperia documentary. I think the original plan was to release this yesterday (I'm certain Jack even said that at one point), but obviously that didn't happen...

 

 

 

11 hours ago, JoshC. said:

last year, the park did a few things differently, such as the opening ceremony and handing out certificates to people who rode it opening day. They then did the "Hyperia day" celebration on 23rd June (23/6). It seemed like they were going in a direction of celebrating things, or pushing Hyperia in a different way.

 

Apologies, this is massively pessimistic, but I very much suspect that the people who would arrange the sort of things you've listed there have probably all been made redundant...

 

Even things like the start of season videos etc, and all the new 'super-transparency' stuff that the new brand was all about, has all been abandoned.

 

Unfortunately it's always that sort of stuff that goes first when it comes to cost-cutting isn't it, in any business.  It seems to be back to basics, which is a shame because there was a lot of good happening there.

Any sign of the splashdown yet?

 

I’ve read today that apparently the trains have had a new small support added underneath each row of seats. I wonder what the reasons were for that?

5 minutes ago, Inferno said:

I’ve read today that apparently the trains have had a new small support added underneath each row of seats. I wonder what the reasons were for that?

Could it be to make them vibrate less?

 

Some have been expressing concerns about a rattle, particularly since the wheels were changed, so I feel like adding that new support could maybe be a way of securing the seats a bit more and stopping them from vibrating as much?

 

I haven’t ridden it since the wheels were changed, but I don’t remember it having a bad rattle when I did it last year. There was a slight one there, but it didn’t detract from the ride whatsoever for me.

 

On a side note, I’ve heard that the new wheels are making the ride run faster than ever… I can’t wait to try it out again later this year!

So the splash might never come back?

I've definitely noticed it's a little rougher and a bit jolty since the wheels have been changed in my opinion. 

 

I haven't been on since the support/braces have been added to the bottom of the seats but have seen some comments saying its made it even worse which is interesting? 

 

23 hours ago, LightSam said:

So the splash might never come back?

 

They have recently reinstalled the splash down which indicates it could come back in the future. It hasn't been seen working again yet though since it was turned off last season.

Rode Hyperia 5 times on Sunday and one of the trains is very noticeably more rattly than the other.  I still love it but it did give me a pretty bad headache and on Monday my neck was in agony 

Road it monday just gone myself for the first time, had two rides, both of which I assume was on the same train as it was rattly as hell. Also came off with a banging headache, I thought to myself how is this ride only a year old. Don't give me wrong, still a great ride, just not re-rideable in its current state for me at least on one of the trains.