Marc Posted August 13, 2012 Report Share Posted August 13, 2012 Thankfully not really, hence the free tickets? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted August 13, 2012 Report Share Posted August 13, 2012 Forgot to mention Zodiac was also down for the entire day... There were times today when 7 rides were all shut for whatever reason... So yeah, only real option was to do sommat for the guests... Hell they even waived parking barriers tonight... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocket Posted August 13, 2012 Report Share Posted August 13, 2012 On Sunday at 3 when I arrived: Stealth,zodiac,rumba rapids,saw and loggers leap were all down. With stealth and saw opening and closing constantly for the rest of the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBobJones Posted August 13, 2012 Report Share Posted August 13, 2012 This is getting ridiculous, they can't even keep their rides open. I can understand some small downtime from time to time, but it seems that these rides are breaking down on a daily basis and the big problem is the guests get very little compo for this, I may have a MAP, but if I paid the £42 to get in plus parking, and had no Stealth, Swarm etc and hour+ queues, I would never ever return again. Thorpe seem to be doing this again and again and again and no wonder why the gate numbers are down, they are simply pissing off their customers by having a dirty park with very very unreliable rides and an expensive price which does not give you what you are paying for. Don't get me wrong I have had some very enjoyable days out there this year, but what really winds me up is the staff don't know anything, on Sunday when I arrived and Stealth, Nemesis were not open at 9.30 the staff just said "I don't know". so the fact you were there when the park was open and the ride was not ready, you walk away, 10-20 mins later they open the ride and bang a 30-40 min queue. All Thorpe seem to be good at is selling fast tracks, on Sunday they opened the gates, let everyone in to the dome, then stopped everyone leaving the dome, funny they held everyone by the fast track counter and had staff to walk around and sell fast tracks. I got a priority pass from Guest services as I complained about the none crowd control a 70 year old getting pushed over and the fact rides were not open and Colossus was doing its "send every other car out empty" trick again. We still waited 40 mins in the Swarm fast track queue. So if I paid £42, for entry, £4 for parking and extra for fast tracks which were not fast at all, no wonder why you read on multiple websites, forums about people who will never return again. The trip advisor site is very good if you want honest feedback. Inferno 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sully1311 Posted August 13, 2012 Report Share Posted August 13, 2012 Wow, they really need to sort out their problems! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted August 13, 2012 Report Share Posted August 13, 2012 The reason staff say they don't know is down to things change so often, If you were told a ride was due to be open In 20 min that would cause even more complaints than them giving nothing away. No idea why the sudden change back to their old ways, but hopefully they can sort it soon, reliability hasn't been a huge issue for a couple of years now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mer Posted August 13, 2012 Report Share Posted August 13, 2012 Don't get me wrong I have had some very enjoyable days out there this year, but what really winds me up is the staff don't know anything, on Sunday when I arrived and Stealth, Nemesis were not open at 9.30 the staff just said "I don't know". so the fact you were there when the park was open and the ride was not ready, you walk away, 10-20 mins later they open the ride and bang a 30-40 min queue. Well of course they wouldn't know, Nemesis is located approximately 156 miles away from where they are In all seriousness, staff are not allowed to say why a ride is down as it looks bad. In some cases, they won't know, which is hardly their fault. And in some cases they may know a hell of a lot actually Plus as Marc said, they can't tell you a duration because they simply can't predict or don't know how long it will take. Colossus was doing its "send every other car out empty" trick again. I'm sure the staff had a great laugh playing this game! Sorry but surely you realise there was more than likely a reason behind this? At least they attempted to run the ride. And if you think as a customer you get it bad, think about the poor staff, getting abuse hurled at them/people whinging because a ride cannot run full capacity for reasons beyond their control. Trust me, they hate it as much as you do! Sidders, Luke_A and Stokesyboy 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 Actually yesterday I've realised in a way that Fastrack isn't the most evil thing ever invented, even if it costs money... Imagine if you've never been on Saw and really want to go on it, you have a choice of queuing in that god awful queue for 90 minutes, or parting with some cash for a 5/10 minute queue... For people who rarely ever visit the park, it's a great thing, maybe the costs are a bit meh, but the idea is good... Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd people selling at the entrances ALSO makes perfect sense at Thorpe (maybe not say Sub Terra or some other rides at Towers, but that's for me to investigate further), for Saw (and later Swarm) we realised that if you wanted to get on these rides using Fastrack, you'd have to walk all the way over to Inferno's shop or the Dome, which is quite frankly effort... Having people at the entrances actually improves the system for those willing to use it as it means more sellers (just as long as they just stand there quietly not yelling about fastrack and let the guests come to them, upselling is where personally I'd draw the line there)... It's bad that the reliability has returned to the ages of 2005-2009 odd, but fortunately the only ride that was really really worrying me was Swarm, and it did have an inevitable effect on the other queues, then it opened and everything else lost their queue (5 minutes for Inferno and Stealth in the last hour for example, Swarm was nearly completely full)... Hope they can get their act together but at least Swarm had two trains and seemed to be behaving... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark9 Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 This is getting ridiculous, they can't even keep their rides open. Tip of the iceberg Mr Jones, tip of the iceberg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBobJones Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 Lets not open this can of worms any further! Mer, I'd rather know it is down for a specific reason than a "I don't know" As for Colossus we got a photo of them doing it and reported it to Guest Services who had a go and some free fast tracks as well. The ride operator claimed there was no queue, but the photo clearly showed otherwise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 ^Staff don't give reasons because firstly, most of the time they don't know simply because they don't. Indeed, since the hosts don't see the console, they actually won't know. Not giving reasons also prevents guests spreading rumours (especially considering social media nowadays) and hence keeps uninteresting news stable and not overexaggerated... Simple stuff really and it happens across the world... Imagine telling guests that a restraint was broken? What a bad idea that would be... Mer and Sidders 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTE25 Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 An empty train on a track is always a good sign as it means it is going through its test runs and is about to be put into service. Queue time is just about to be halved. A member of staff at the queue entrance will never know why a ride has closed/shutdown/not opened yet and will not know when the ride will re-open. Any answer they give could be longer or shorter than the actual time. They dont know because they are not the engineer dealing with the problem. The only time they might have an idea is when a ride is shutdown for cleaning due to someone being ill on the ride. 10-15 mins depending on the 'volume' of the illness...to put it nicely. One train opperation first thing in the morning? Well, two trains take twice as long to check as one in the morning... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 One train operation first thing is stupid though, cos then you end up spending 10-15 minutes adding the second train on and testing it... I disapprove of Thorpe's constant doing of this, as it wastes time and causes many disgruntled guests as it's considered a 'breakdown' by them... Why not just have two trains from the off (especially in summer when the park will NEED them) and have to 'endure' no queue in the morning... Luke_A and Inferno 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTE25 Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 If two trains CAN be on the track at 9:30am then two trains WILL be on the track at 9:30am. Nothing to do with Thorpe's decission making skills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 Towers can get 2 trains on Nemesis for 9am... And Rita when it was open, and I would assume they can get 3 on Thirteen for 9... Why can they do it for 30 minutes beforehand and not Thorpe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTE25 Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 My only guess is they have more engineers or they start at 4am... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sully1311 Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 It is really pathetic to be honest, and guests just get fed up of it when they're adding another train on. My only guess is they have more engineers or they start at 4am... Can't see them starting at 4am due to noise issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark9 Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 If two trains CAN be on the track at 9:30am then two trains WILL be on the track at 9:30am. Nothing to do with Thorpe's decission making skills. It comes down to something Thorpe is doing wrong if it cannot get its rollercoasters on two trains from the word go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 I guess we shall ignore the fact that 9 times out of 10 they open the entire park 30 mins earlier than advertised Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inferno Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 ^ Which is fantastic, but just causes a hold-up later in the day when it's busy... So the problem of adding trains half way through the day still stands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 I guess its a fine line, ive been on park and Swarms opened on 1 train for literally 5 minutes to then shutdown and the other added, whilst it only takes 5/10 mins its abit frustrating, but if there's a good 30 mins or so before the train will be ready I personally would rather it opened on 1 train till the others ready. Why there not both ready for 9:30 is a whole different matter to which I guess we may never know the reasons behind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark9 Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 I guess we shall ignore the fact that 9 times out of 10 they open the entire park 30 mins earlier than advertised Bet the majority of riders go towards Swarm, Stealth, Inferno, Colossus or Saw. Which means the majority of people get affected by a one train operation (I don't think this really affects Saw does it). I'd prefer it the other way actually, at least if a ride is totally closed whilst they get a train ready, you at least have the choice to do something else. Getting in a queue, almost about to get on and then it stops operation to get another train on isn't much fun especially as that second train doesn't even start loading immediately. Which means it can add another 15/20 minutes to your waiting time, pretty much voiding the early opening. Benin and BigBobJones 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 More engineers is probably what they require, but we all know funding is tight. Shame Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBobJones Posted August 15, 2012 Report Share Posted August 15, 2012 Funding wouldn't be so tight if they had more engineers, ensured the rides were in full operation from opening, less downtime etc The long queues and ride downtime are the main reasons guests don't return. Not everyone can afford fast tracks and those people who buy fast tracks only make everyone else's day worse by having to wait longer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubbles1 Posted August 15, 2012 Report Share Posted August 15, 2012 But having rides closed doesn't cost them more money than having them open. while the engineers potter around from ride to ride, people who would be going on the closed rides either go on other rides, play the carnival games, or buy food, drinks and souvenirs. If you think what the guests end up doing instead, then you'd need to question why you'd pay more to see less money through in-park purchases. also, there is no evidence people don't return, is there? I mean, attendance has been increasing for years, and doesn't show signs of stopping anytime soon, and unless there is some mass exodus of fast track users in one go, then I don't think fasttrack makes a significant difference in wait time, especially on the high throughput rides like the swarm, where the thing that slows down the line is usually the baggage and batching being messy. Mer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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