I've decided that Sore Saw is so much better and smoother in the rain. I don't know why, but it was actually enjoyable and I didn't leave in pain for the first time.

14 minutes ago, Stuntman707 said:

I've decided that Sore Saw is so much better and smoother in the rain. I don't know why, but it was actually enjoyable and I didn't leave in pain for the first time.

Ha Ha, the approaching rain was the reason I left it yesterday.

On 28/07/2017 at 11:26 AM, pluk said:

Hoorah!  I've been saying this is the very obvious and fairly simple solution to the massively inaccurate queue time problem for years. Aside from unforeseeable breakdowns, once it is set up properly it should be pretty much infallible.  These are the things which needed to be in place before they tried to do that queue-less park nonsense.

Unfortunately these things are never as simple as they seem.  Counting people in and out of the queue is open to abuse if the counter system is obvious (say a turnstile, infra-red detector, etc).  But hiding them is very difficult.  Hence why the system is actually inbuilt into cameras overseeing the queue line, since that cannot be abused, but requires a lot more investment in terms of time and technology and money.  However, it does seem to be very good at the moment and has a lot of other uses aside from giving just a queue time.

 

There's also a separate issue in that you need to be careful of how often you update queue times.  Updating queue times too often can cause confusion and distrust with guests in my experience (even if the time only changes by a very small amount!), meaning that they all end up getting ignored.  Not to mention that it can be difficult to maintain, especially if this was rolled out further.  And obviously updating not enough / large changes to the queue time causes equal amount of distrust and confusion.  So a happy medium needs to be found, which I think this system has achieved - it updates regularly enough to stay accurate, whilst not going overboard.  

 

Another issue is that 'super-accurate' queue times can be a shot in the foot - if you're advertising a 36 minute queue and it ends up at 40 minutes (say due to a slight delay / shutdown / whatever), people will moan.  It's a dangerous game to play, but so far it's one which is working for the park, which is great to see.  I believe there are ways to account for shutdowns in the advertised queue time if needs be though, which is a nice back up.

 

On 28/07/2017 at 11:32 AM, Wumbamillio said:

I think they have rolled this system out to a lot of UK Merlin parks. It's done by bluetooth from people's phones as they advance through the queue, not just from the entrance. Unless Thorpe uses a different system. I don't know exactly how it works (or if keeping track of individual people's phones without notifying them is questionable or not too )

 

On 28/07/2017 at 11:39 AM, pluk said:

Sounds like the perfect Merlin may of taking a simple and achievable idea (count em in, count em out, the difference is the queue) and making it a complex mess which won't really work.

 

As Marc said, this is something which Towers do, and I think it uses a mixture of Bluetooth and WiFi.  It's not just for queues, as it can track people all across the park - as such, the park can see when different areas of the park peak with busy-ness, and thus know where to focus on at different points in the day.  Similar systems are used in places like train stations and airports too, to see when certain areas are busy and thus need more management to support.  Something like that isn't without its flaws though, as it relies heavily on having a large number of phones giving off the appropriate signals at all times, and maintaining and analysing the data can be quite difficult. 

 

However, if it did all work all the time, it would see not only monumentally accurate queue times, but make for a much more efficient and organised park from a behind the scenes perspective.

 

On 28/07/2017 at 0:30 PM, Martin.C said:

Does the system take into account instances where either the ride is running at a reduced capacity such as Colossus on one train, as well as the Fastrack/Parent Swap/Disabled queues too? If it can calculate an estimated wait on those accounted factors as well as dispatch time in-between, that's quite impressive.

 

I believe it does take into account all queue lines, not just the main queue (something again which is harder to achieve than it sounds).  Reduced capacity would also be taken into account. 

Posted this in the general discussion too but was really impressed with the new queue time system Sunday - was advertised at "36" minutes - out of curiosity we timed it, it was exactly spot on (well 35 mins 40 seconds!) - would be really good if they can get this on all major rides / as accurate!

Not sure the GP or even me for that matter care about minute perfect queue times enough to roll it out park wide.

 

It's a theme park after all, so as long as the stated time is 10 minutes give or take from what you end up queuing I'd say that's fine.

59 minutes ago, Mega-Lite said:

Not sure the GP or even me for that matter care about minute perfect queue times enough to roll it out park wide.

 

It's a theme park after all, so as long as the stated time is 10 minutes give or take from what you end up queuing I'd say that's fine.

I do fully agree - within 5/10 mins is fine - it's just always been a criticism that queue times are wrong - hopefully this will make that a thing of the past.

If it works even slightly, it will be an enormous improvement on the previous 'guestimate' method! This is the kind of great use of tech we need in the parks, a positive.

I don't really mind how small the estimate is, anything that just makes it more accurate and a system which is updated in real time would be all I would care for.

Saw wasn't running well on Saturday - the queue moved very slowly, and there was no-one batching at the Fasttrack/Main Queue merge point at bag drop so it was a bit of a free for all. Saw a number of trains going out with empty seats which shouldn't really happen - let alone when there's a 60 minute queue.

 

The spinning blades are back though!

Hi all, 

 

Please accept my apologies if this is against your forum rules. I found this shirt belonging to a family member who used to be a big Thorpe fan and therefore this could be a collectable,  though I am not sure.  I just wondered if anybody was interested in it. 

 

Many thanks

Hey guys just wondering if anyone can actually confirm why the bottom drop jolts? ive heard all sorts of stories like the track is sinking, track isnt slotted in properly blah blah but was wondering if anyone knows the real truth personally I love the ride and the jolt doesnt bother me but I can feel its there cheers guys!

I think maybe its just a rough transition on Gerstlauer's part?

Like The Smiler's jolt on the cobra roll and the final corkscrew?

6 minutes ago, JoshuaA said:

I think maybe its just a rough transition on Gerstlauer's part?

Like The Smiler's jolt on the cobra roll and the final corkscrew?

So a design flaw on gerstlauers part?

I heard it was because the supporting structure sank into the ground slightly after that particular bit of track was installed. Would make sense if it was true, given the land had been filled in on the lake a few months before.

One theory I've heard is that the angle of drop was changed after the design phase.

 

Originally the ride was meant to have a 97 degree drop (like almost all other Eurofighters), but then in mid-to-late 2008, it was announced it would have a 100 degree drop.

 

The element immediately after remained the same, so the curvature of the drop and the curvature of the entrance to the inversion are slightly different, causing the jolt.

The ground settlement would have been accounted for in the detailed design. Most structures are designed to a 1mm tolerance so I doubt it would have been a mistake in the design especially as it would have been checked atleast 4 times before being approved. 

3 hours ago, Ivsetti said:

In other news, 9 days till Colossus is legal for those of you who take their love for coasters to the next level

Legal to drive, but nothing else. Fairly meaningless anniversary

Maybe if Colossus learns to drive properly it'll be smoother?

6 hours ago, Ivsetti said:

Thorpe Park remembering this guy's celebrating 10 years today:

In other news, 9 days till Colossus is legal for those of you who take their love for coasters to the next level

 

Can't help but to think back to all the buildup for the ride and then finally riding it for the first time and...

Won't happen, it's not in the remit of the park (or Merlin apparently)...

Can’t believe Saw will be 10 this year! It hurts my neck just thinking about it!

 

 

Whats actually scarier is that we had 4 coasters in 10 years.... now we have had 1 in ten years.....

 

sums up the investment and overall feel of the park of late

There's quite a few effects broken on Saw currently;

• Shotgun sound effect not working properly
• No lighting/animation on the swinging axes
• No lighting on the crossbows
• No water on the body underneath the barrel roll

I'm pretty sure these were all broken on the annual pass preview day (nearly two months ago)... poor.

10 years of SAW... wow. 

 

so looks like the saw contracts running out soon, new lazy IP probably incoming