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Ash

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Not sure where to post this but on park now, swarm is 60mins, stealth and Colossus are 30mins and nemesis inferno is 45mins.

They are all on one train operation.

Edit: Stealth is 60mins now and saw is 80minutes, stealth is running one train and saw is running 4 cars. Hopefully they will add more meaning queues die down in the afternoon.

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Absolutely ages for all 3 of them. Samurai managed about 2 weeks of operation just over Easter. Slammer is yet to open. Has detonator even opened this season?

Detonator was open for the annual pass preview weekend and then broke straight after that. It's still sitting there not being worked on so I presume they are still waiting for a part.
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Not sure where to post this but on park now, swarm is 60mins, stealth and Colossus are 30mins and nemesis inferno is 45mins.

They are all on one train operation.

Edit: Stealth is 60mins now and saw is 80minutes, stealth is running one train and saw is running 4 cars. Hopefully they will add more meaning queues die down in the afternoon.

That is just atrocious! I thought BPB were bad last week, after seeing this maybe I was being a bit harsh on them.

What's the excuse this time then?

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There's perfectly justifiable reasons behind most of these. Come on, all it takes is discussion. Stop sitting behind your computer screen digitally pointing and moaning and try to undertsand why these things happen. 

 

It's off peak, and most rides added capacity upon demand. That's perfectly normal and acceptable.

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It's off peak, and most rides added capacity upon demand. That's perfectly normal and acceptable.

The thing is though, isn't "off peak" supposed to mean the queueing times are shorter? The queue times today for the major coasters were around the same if not longer than an average weekend.

It wasn't as bad as it seemed though, we managed most coasters multiple times and had a fairly high ride count as everything apart from the coasters were virtually walk on all day. Nemesis inferno and saw also did add extra cars upon demand, resulting in short queues during the afternoon.

Swarm and stealth were the only real problems, I'm sure 65minutes is enough "demand" for both of these to have a second train added but there must have been reasons behind it. The two spare stealth trains looked perfectly ready to be added however maybe running costs may have been an issue. Swarm definitely should have had a second train added, however this may have been down to a technical issue or another factor of which I do not know.

The amount of people on park was around what I was expecting so I was pleasantly surprised when most queues died down in the afternoon(bar swarm and stealth which were over 30mins after 11am right up until closing time; swarm was also claiming a 30minute wait but we waited around 50-60minutes).

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Off peak simply means 'demand is less'. 

Some schools still don't go back until wednesday but some park figures have halved since the weekend before last, so in comparison it could still be determined as off peak. 

It is unfortunate that rides don't always increase capacity but it can be down to a numerous amount of circumstances, whether these are obvious or not is (obviously) not always clear.

 

But at least most of the queues were within reason, it's good to hear that especially seeing as there will still be crowds there until mid week.

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Stealth requires another staff member to have a 2nd train. It needs someone on the offloading platform where as when on 1 train op the boarding side restraint checker doubles up as the person on offloading. Swarm does not require more staff so should be more straight forward in adding a 2nd, however the swarm trains take a lot of time to check with swarm often being one of the last rides to reach 2 train operation.

With that being said I don't think that optional reduced capacity is ever justified . Off peak is called that for a reason. It shouldn't be getting near the level of queues as a peak day and yet it is a regular occurrence. Unless a 2nd train is slowing down operations I think that it should be added. It may cost a small fraction more but it improves guest satisfaction and means that they stand a small chance of removing the title of the UK's queue capital. People don't go to parks as they expect long queues so any time they can be avoided they should be.

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Thorpe are doing terribly again this year with coaster capacity.

 

Visited on Wednesday, the really hot day. Queues up to 90mins.

Stealth on one train all day, multiple breakdowns. Swarm opened up an hour late, on one train until midday (I waited 20mins and then they added it on, total wait 50mins). Nemesis Inferno opened up around midday, got in the queue within 5mins of it opening when it was displaying 20min queue and waited 50mins at which point they added on the second train, total wait 80mins. Over-selling of Fast Track and staff mismanaging the Fast Track queue... Colossus we know about being on one train, queue up to 70mins. X still not at full capacity, queue up to 60mins. How often do you get to say it was actually SAW that probably had the fastest moving queue!?

 

Same thing at Chessington. Again, we all know about Vampire. But how about Zufari operating in the Easter holidays with only two trucks going around, with 2/3 sat unused.

 

Something has gone really wrong this year. And seems to most years...

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Now that sounds like stealths 2nd train (or launch system) has a problem. Which is something that cant be helped. But that doesn't let Thorpe off the hook, people still have a right to complain and apply pressure to them to make them improve their customer satisfaction. That can be in the form of adding a second train to meet demand or informing people in why the 2nd train is not in use.

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2015: Merlins worst year yet

Think I know what I'm voting for most disappointing Merlin moment this year ;)

 

'Everything' is not a valid option...

 

Thorpe never seems to really have an off-peak anymore in the same way that the others parks do... Probably not helped by the constant single train capacity though, perhaps pushing for that extra budget of staffing/maintanance would be beneficial to the guest experience...

 

An hour long queue on one train isn't acceptable (apart from when the other train is borked a la Colossus, obviously)... Regardless of it being peak, or off-peak...

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It's really shocking, but until everyone leaves them and visits decent parks, this is what we get. Whilst some of the rides at Thorpe are great, their operation is DIRE. As long as you have visited, and on paper they have 'a good year' Merlin will keep offering this awful sub standard, and we will constantly go round in these discussions.

 

Thorpe is always the worst offender (aside from Vampire's shocking start this season), you'd think that someone would spot a problem. Like Chessington, somewhere in management there's a boss with history in SALES, not visitor experience, and at the end of the day, Merlin is only concerned with how many they get through the gate. Simples. There is nothing more to say.

 

Running one train on what they call 'low peak' just saves them money on maintenance in the long run. Again money, not visitor experience. Yes I know it's a business to make money, but it's obvious whilst walking around the southern parks, that someone in the business is utterly clueless.

 

Paramount will shake things up, even if they think people will return to their below standard southern 'resorts', where they can queue for lazy operations, or at Chessington those most popular rides built in the 1990's.

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