Ricky Posted August 2, 2009 Report Share Posted August 2, 2009 They arn't wasting time, The hooking system/sensors arnt functioning well and isn't releasing, it was shut for about 30 mins yesterday with this problem and I asked my good mate and she said its being very tempremental lately Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Posted August 2, 2009 Report Share Posted August 2, 2009 The way the post was written suggested that the ride operator was pretending that the ride had broken down, just to scare the riders for his amusement. This shouldn't be done, regardless of the queue length. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Posted August 2, 2009 Report Share Posted August 2, 2009 Well when things "cease" operation it could mean several things, in this case it could just be refusal because of sensor's. The operator might not of been "playing games" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Posted August 2, 2009 Report Share Posted August 2, 2009 Obviously it's not wasting time if the problem can't be helped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted August 2, 2009 Report Share Posted August 2, 2009 If the ride continued running I would guess he was playing games. Its nice for ops to do that though, guest interaction and all that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Posted August 2, 2009 Report Share Posted August 2, 2009 If the ride continued running I would guess he was playing games. Its nice for ops to do that though, guest interaction and all that!I don't mind the ride operators interacting with the guests using the PA system, have competitions etc, but I think that faking a ride breakdown is taking it a bit too far. It's just my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themeparkmad Posted August 2, 2009 Report Share Posted August 2, 2009 I don't mind the ride operators interacting with the guests using the PA system, have competitions etc, but I think that faking a ride breakdown is taking it a bit too far. It's just my opinion.Interacting with guests and giving out false information is misuse (sp?) of the PA system.I would not really be that happy if a ride operator gave out a PA stating a ride is having technical difficulties, then to find it starting / dispatching.This would be for any Ride or Attraction at a theme park. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Posted August 2, 2009 Report Share Posted August 2, 2009 Not all problem's developed have to seek mechanical attention! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Posted August 2, 2009 Report Share Posted August 2, 2009 Not all problem's developed have to seek mechanical attention!That's not the point. Tom wrote in his post that the Detonator operator was deliberately falsely announcing a breakdown with the ride, when he knew that the ride was in full working operation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deleted Users Posted August 2, 2009 Report Share Posted August 2, 2009 I think the same guy was operating on the 24th. He played the broken down announcement, waited half a minute a then dropped us. This added to the ride value immensely and there was no queue so that was not a problem. He was also making people who were riding Detonator for the first time sit next to the operating box and doing anything possible to scare them. A great member of staff. To all the people who are saying about queue times, I walked past in the middle of day when the queue was 15 minutes and he was only talking over the PA and dropping straight after the countdown. 10 minutes and below is when he adds in the other stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Posted August 2, 2009 Report Share Posted August 2, 2009 In my opinion, he should only be doing things like that when the queue is completely empty (in the morning, up until around 10.30am - 11am). Otherwise, the ride team should be aiming for very quick dispatch and a high throughput. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted August 2, 2009 Report Share Posted August 2, 2009 Paul, I believe Daniel said there wasn't a queue, so there isn't a problem! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Posted August 2, 2009 Report Share Posted August 2, 2009 10 minutes and below is when he adds in other stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomathy Posted August 2, 2009 Report Share Posted August 2, 2009 Look I don't really get what the fuss was, it added to the riders amusement and overall value of the ride. The ride operator was just having some harmless fun with the guests and the riders weren't exactly annoyed, they were scared but not annoyed, and before anyone mentions it, detonator is meant to scare people so the operator was just showing the full potential of the ride. I only posted the original story because I thought you guys might find it amusing. Obviously you took it way too seriously! It was just a BIT OF HARMLESS FUN!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Posted August 2, 2009 Report Share Posted August 2, 2009 I'm entitled to my opinion, and anyway, the operator could still have fun without abusing the PA system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomathy Posted August 2, 2009 Report Share Posted August 2, 2009 They arn't wasting time, The hooking system/sensors arnt functioning well and isn't releasing, it was shut for about 30 mins yesterday with this problem and I asked my good mate and she said its being very tempremental lately there was no problem with the ride, just the operator creating a bit of an atmosphere Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Posted August 2, 2009 Report Share Posted August 2, 2009 there was no problem with the ride, just the operator creating a bit of an atmosphereYou can't really call it atmosphere. That is what the queue theme and ride music is for. Breakdown announcements are designed to inform, not entertain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomathy Posted August 2, 2009 Report Share Posted August 2, 2009 You can't really call it atmosphere. That is what the queue theme and ride music is for. Breakdown announcements are designed to inform, not entertain.But it was just a bit of harmless fun, make of it what you will but I believe that it just boosted the rider's overall enjoyment of the ride and park experience. The music when it says 5-4-3-2-1 EXPLOSION is no longer in time anyway so that is already misleading riders! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Posted August 2, 2009 Report Share Posted August 2, 2009 It was in time when I rode last week, just a bit quiet that's all. It would be nice to have that timed nicely with the drop, at a terrifying volume. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomathy Posted August 2, 2009 Report Share Posted August 2, 2009 It was in time when I rode last week, just a bit quiet that's all. It would be nice to have that timed nicely with the drop, at a terrifying volume. I agree! there is a speaker at the top of thee tower but its just too quiet, the music was out of time when I went on Sunday, a week ago! I can't believe that the first post that I made on this subject has brought a whole page worth of comments. Its kinda funny, I though I would get one or two, but instead a whole page came! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Posted August 3, 2009 Report Share Posted August 3, 2009 There are 4 speakers at the top of the tower, one 151 Bose speaker at each corner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark9 Posted August 11, 2009 Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 You can't really call it atmosphere. That is what the queue theme and ride music is for. Breakdown announcements are designed to inform, not entertain.But they are entertaining the guests. Themeparkmad and you seem to be the only ones with a problem with this. Detonator by it's very nature is one of the only rides at Thorpe where the operator can have fun with the guests. Keeping them up longer, teasing them, pretending the ride has broken down creates a level of interaction that very few rides at Thorpe allow. As T0M has already said, the queue was below 10 minutes anyway and I'm sure the people in the queue thought it was funny that people were coming off the ride even more scared then usual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted August 11, 2009 Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 Thats what happened to me yesterday, there was no queue at around 7:30 and there was only a couple of us on the ride, so the operator said pick a number between 1-10 so we said 8, he says ok and raises us up to the top as normal, we were up there for about 5 secs and the annoncement came on stating "We are aware your gondala has stopped moving etc." and about half way through the message we dropped and none of us were expecting it, I didn't catch the operators name, but there was two of the one with long blonde hair and one coloured man who was a little on the large side, anyway that ride was one of our best on Detonator ever, along with the Fright Nights one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Posted August 11, 2009 Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 I don't mind it when the queue is a walk-on, but Detonator especially has an extremely small capacity for each cycle, and the queue usually takes a while longer than the time advertised anyway. It only really annoyed me last week, it was 5.45pm, the queue was advertised as 5 mins, and I had to be out of the park at 6pm. We didn't get out of the ride until 6.25pm, mainly because of the fact that the ride operators were playing games etc, which added time to each cycle. When you join a queue that is advertised as 5 mins, you expect it to be 5-10 mins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James6 Posted August 11, 2009 Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 The only time I've witnessed this sort of interactivity was on April Fools ( 1st of April) one year at Alton Towers, and on literally every ride the ops were talking, joking, making the rides more fun, and I wish it was a year round thing at all of the Merlin Parks. It was on Ripsaw , the op said you've broken down when we were at the top , then moved us in front of the fountains and said we've broken down again. Then once the cycle was over and we were at the bottom he said that the restraints were stuck and to get off we would have to do everything he said so he made us wave our arms to right , arms to the left, scream, try to jump up and down etc etc.It was really great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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