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Closed Rides


Ash

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Having one or two rides closed is excusable as sometimes things happen which are outside the park's control, but Thorpe is notorious for their poor ride availability and has been for many years.  No other (major) park I am aware of has such a major problem with multiple rides being unavailable, implying that Thorpe's maintenance team is under-equipped to cope with the demands of their rides.

 

I'm sure the staff they have are doing the best they can to get rides open but like the closure of Blade it would seem that the issue is that budgets are insufficient to enable the park to run properly.

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To the normal, average, everyday guest who knows zero about engineering, or rides, etc though, all they see is a ride closed for some vague reasoning (which of course, is because the real reasoning is never actually divulged to the normal guest)...

 

When the list starts adding up, it starts to become unacceptable... Even if it is sheer luck, with the Merlin parks, there's always a question of whether or not the reasoning some rides end up requiring a lot of work in one go is because they give so little budget that the parks cannot constantly fix the issues when it initially goes wrong... Instead, things are left until the literal moment when the ride/theming is utterly borked that it needs a huge overhaul...

 

It's an underlying issue throughout all the parks...

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Rumba Rapids, "Right, this season we had this problem, that problem and these problems, they all made the ride unavailable for days, even weeks at time. We need to do this, this and this, unfortunately as this was unexpected, this will delay the maintenance program that has been induced on the ride every year since its opening back 1987." Why do you even care that it's not open, it's hardly been the weather for a water ride.

That isn't the point, people go on water rides regardless of the weather, especially Rumba which doesn't even get you wet these days (unless you are lucky enough for the one remaining water effect to actually work!)

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To the normal, average, everyday guest who knows zero about engineering, or rides, etc though, all they see is a ride closed for some vague reasoning (which of course, is because the real reasoning is never actually divulged to the normal guest)...

 

When the list starts adding up, it starts to become unacceptable... Even if it is sheer luck, with the Merlin parks, there's always a question of whether or not the reasoning some rides end up requiring a lot of work in one go is because they give so little budget that the parks cannot constantly fix the issues when it initially goes wrong... Instead, things are left until the literal moment when the ride/theming is utterly borked that it needs a huge overhaul...

 

It's an underlying issue throughout all the parks...

 

Unfortunately, nor you or I know the maintenance budget that is set to the park. So nobody can comment on how the budget is incorporated with the ride availability.

 

Just because a rides unavailable doesn't mean they cant afford to fix it, or haven't tried fixing it over a period of time.

 

 

Yes, I agree it sucks that 6 rides are unavailable, but at the end of the day, these things happen. You really need to ask yourself "Would you prefer them to bodge-job it, and allow it to break over a busier time, or have the ride open a few days/weeks late whilst they ensure it has the highest amount of availability during the year as well as the future?"  

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These things don't happen at most major theme parks.

 

I fully support what you have said about the individualised reasons behind these rides requiring additional work, but surely they should be able to deal with this - in any project management, you always allow for buffer periods in case of need. It is common. Rides require maintenance or refurbishment or a strip down and re-build. It's part of the deal in the technical aspect of running a theme park.

 

If I went to Alton Towers this Saturday and 25% of the rides were closed (which was the case for most of Saturday at Thorpe Park) then it would be the poorest ride availability the theme park had ever seen. But with Thorpe Park, it's almost like it is to be expected.

 

Why should it be expected? It is not like this is a one off - it has been happening for years.

:)

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Yes, I agree it sucks that 6 rides are unavailable, but at the end of the day, these things happen. You really need to ask yourself "Would you prefer them to bodge-job it, and allow it to break over a busier time, or have the ride open a few days/weeks late whilst they ensure it has the highest amount of availability during the year as well as the future?"  

 

I'd rather they planned properly, used the four month closure efficiently and get the rides running on time. You bring up Rumba and Tidal Wave having massive downtime last year. So they knew six months ago that both needed more work then per usual. Also the Blade thing seems to be a no choice thing, imposed on them by Merlin budget cutting. We live in a crazy world where there isn't physically anything wrong with Blade and it's closing and yet Slammer and Samurai, which are pretty much beyond saving are continually being invested in. 

 

It's crazy. The closed rides list wouldn't be so bad if those two just left.

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And how do Thorpe justify a 20% increase in gate prices with such appalling ride availability or rides running on reduced capacity. I am so happy I refused to renew my MAP on the principle that the sale price was higher to read all about the large number of rides which are down. If the parks in Florida can keep their rides going all year what do Thorpe do for 4.5 months a year when they are closed?

 

As people have said it seem acceptable that rides are always down at Thorpe.

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I do agree Mark, and as I said I see the points everybody is making. However what I am getting at is sometimes things can't be helped. From a business perspective (not just Merlin) things aren't always readily available, such as new parts and need to be ordered several months in advance.

For example if one of Stealths accumulators was to break beyond repair, stealth would remain closed for a minimum of 13 months due to having a 12 month manufacturing period and needing to be custom built.

I do agree, they do need to give up on both Samurai and Slammer.

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I suppose if you twist it round at least Thorpe have got a majority open and are advertising openly what is closed. Unlike Smiler which was delayed, and delayed, and barely opened causing thousands of compensation tickets and a Watchdog investigation... I mean, why even work on rides? Thorpe, if Rumba isn't ready, just SBNO it and then U-Turn the decision when the maintenance is done :rolleyes:

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I suppose if you twist it round at least Thorpe have got a majority open and are advertising openly what is closed. Unlike Smiler which was delayed, and delayed, and barely opened causing thousands of compensation tickets and a Watchdog investigation... I mean, why even work on rides? Thorpe, if Rumba isn't ready, just SBNO it and then U-Turn the decision when the maintenance is done :rolleyes:

 

Not the same situation as Blade really, since it was open for Feb Half Term, unfortunately as mentioned elsewhere on this forum Thorpe's operational cuts don't seem to be as obvious in comparison to Towers'...

 

And Thorpe had Watchdog in for Vortex all those years ago...

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Was at Park today and x, vortex, detonator and slammer down.

Vortex had a ladder in the middle of the seating area but couldn't see any work going on. Slammer was being worked on at ground level all day and still has its scaffolding.

Depth charge and storm surge also went down briefly today too.

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did they actually say that about vortex?

I'm actually smiling because I didn't think that the staff could tell the guests why the rides were closed.

but if they actually said that word for word.. I need to find it on youtube. or something

 

Staff aren't meant to tell you what's wrong with the rides, but some do. 

 

 

Was at Park today and x, vortex, detonator and slammer down.

 

Back to having 4 rides closed, not good.

 

X closed around half 1 yesterday, seems to be very unreliable this season and keeps opening pretty late. Don't think I had ever seen X down before this season :P 

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X closed around half 1 yesterday, seems to be very unreliable this season and keeps opening pretty late. Don't think I had ever seen X down before this season [emoji14]

Part of the issue may be that only two trains have been fully maintenaced which means if there is a fault in one of the operational ones, the ride may have to close until that is fixed or until another can be added to the circuit. X was reaching 60minute queues on preview weekend due to two train operation and everything was 20minutes or less.

If X is down for the preview tomorrow, I hope they manage to open another flat ride to replace it. Does anyone know what other rides are on the same team?

Finally, on a seperate note, do we know if Colossus has finished maintenace on train 2 yet, as it's a nightmare on one train operation during peak times.

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Part of the issue may be that only two trains have been fully maintenaced which means if there is a fault in one of the operational ones, the ride may have to close until that is fixed or until another can be added to the circuit. X was reaching 60minute queues on preview weekend due to two train operation and everything was 20minutes or less.

If X is down for the preview tomorrow, I hope they manage to open another flat ride to replace it. Does anyone know what other rides are on the same team?

Finally, on a seperate note, do we know if Colossus has finished maintenace on train 2 yet, as it's a nightmare on one train operation during peak times.

 

X is on the same team as Stealth, Inferno, Rumba and Angry Birds 4D this season :)  

 

Don't think Colossus is on 2 yet as it reached 90 minutes on the weekend :( Agreed it is a nightmare, hopefully it'll be on 2 trains for Easter. Colossus was a lot better last year than previous years for 2 train opp, so hopefully that'll continue.

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