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Closed Rides


Ash

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But when your leaving at 7ish in the morning and the engineers only a little way into the morning checks how on earth will they know if the rides going to be open? *gets out crystal ball* "mmm yes stealth wont open next wednesday till around 12" ... oh wait thats every wednesday my bad!

But Zodiac had already been down for a few days, so that's no real excuse. If a ride's been down for a day or more why don't they do what they used to and put it on the website and only take it off when the ride has re-opened, instead of just ignoring its closure altogether. It's not exactly asking too much is it?
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Because it's bad publicity maybe? It's a bit strange that a business should advertise a problem on their own website!You wouldn't go on to the British Airways website to book a flight and read that 11 flight have been delayed today, 50 people have had their luggage lost and 3 flight have been cancelled!

It's actually informing paying guests about the day ahead of them.
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Well that's a fair comment, but other businesses, and indeed many other parks don't offer this service! In fact Thorpe is one of the few.This info is always on the scrolling boards at the entrance anyway, I think it's wrong to show this on their website which is mainly used for advertising and drawing people in!

Both Chessington and Alton Towers do it...
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Well that's a fair comment, but other businesses, and indeed many other parks don't offer this service! In fact Thorpe is one of the few.This info is always on the scrolling boards at the entrance anyway, I think it's wrong to show this on their website which is mainly used for advertising and drawing people in!

To be honest thats ludicrous. The website is an advertising tool, but it is also a means of informing guests about any potential problems the park may have. For instance, last year it said about the high number of school groups it was expecting during July. That's not putting people off, it's being honest with its customers which is far more important then the management packing the park out.It's all very well saying you can find out when you get there, but I'd be pretty pissed off if I came from quite a long way away to find out a ride has been closed for several days but it wasn't advertised on the website. And saying, call, yeah I could but 9/10 people won't as they don't expect rides to be down at all...
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Never looked at a trains website before catching one then?

I agree! Could you imagine! I'm pretty sure when theres strikes and waht not they tell you to check the website for delays, cancellations and what not! Jesus this person must not go on BAA that much!
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I'm pretty sure when theres strikes and waht not they tell you to check the website for delays, cancellations and what not!

As far as I'm aware the Thorpe Park staff are not on strike, and the BA website does not tell everyone that a flight is cancelled on their homepage, the customers have to log on using a reference number and check for themselves, or they find out when they check-in online 24 hours before departure.I agree that it's good for them to inform people about times when they know it's going to be busy, as in your example with the park informing of high number of school groups it was expecting during July, but I still think it was a bad idea for them to make a long list on the front page with every ride that is down, like it was on the previous website. And yes I do see that it's good to tell people when a ride is causing a lot of problems and is expected to be down for a while, as they did with Stealth earlier this year.The point that I was trying to make is that I find it strange that they should be expected to list every single ride that's out of operation, maybe just the major ones I would expect, and this seems to be what they are doing this year.To be honest it's not going to make any difference to the number of bodies through the gate on a given day, people are just going to be annoyed that a ride is out of action and turn up anyway!
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I agree that it's good for them to inform people about times when they know it's going to be busy, as in your example with the park informing of high number of school groups it was expecting during July, but I still think it was a bad idea for them to make a long list on the front page with every ride that is down, like it was on the previous website.

100% agree with that, the "Rides Unavailable" box almost make it look like it was expected a ride to be closed, so glad thats gone. But I do think its important people are informed, and as ive said theres allways a way of finding out, 9 times out of 10 it will be on the website, allways if the rides a major one such as Stealth, Saw and so on.
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I personally see having a 'Rides Unavailable' section as common sense. We all know that these rides aren't easy and can go down at any point. And the park themselves always say in the small print how rides are "subject to availability" or whatever. So why not just update it? It's not hard and is very simplistic - I think a heck of a lot more of the GP would prefer it rather than be against it..

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Like I said earlier, if the ride fails to be green carded whats the point in putting on the website when its green carded probably less then an hour before park opens? nobody would see it! yes if a ride is down for a few days it should be put on the site but there again I bet thousands of people don't look on the site!

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Like I said earlier, if the ride fails to be green carded whats the point in putting on the website when its green carded probably less then an hour before park opens? nobody would see it! yes if a ride is down for a few days it should be put on the site but there again I bet thousands of people don't look on the site!

Hence why I said Zodiac should be on the website, because it had been down for a few days before anyway.
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Like I said earlier, if the ride fails to be green carded whats the point in putting on the website when its green carded probably less then an hour before park opens? nobody would see it! yes if a ride is down for a few days it should be put on the site but there again I bet thousands of people don't look on the site!

Can we use to laymans terms please, people won't in general understand the concept of a 'green card'; and besides rides don't get green carded anymore, it's a board!
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Hence why I said Zodiac should be on the website, because it had been down for a few days before anyway.

Obviously we dont know about the closure, we dont know if they hoped to get the ride open later in the day etc, Also Zodiac is hardly a ride guests are going to visit the park for unlike somthing like Stealth, so its not always put on the website, a stance which all the Merlin parks seem to have adopted this year.
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Obviously we dont know about the closure, we dont know if they hoped to get the ride open later in the day etc, Also Zodiac is hardly a ride guests are going to visit the park for unlike somthing like Stealth, so its not always put on the website, a stance which all the Merlin parks seem to have adopted this year.

Well in the past they kept the closed ride on the website until it physically re-opened, so why can't they keep doing that? And pfft, my brothers favourite ride is the Flying Fish, it differs with every individual guest and no guest should ever have to come dissapointed just because they like different rides to the cliched ones.
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But it says on the scrolling message when a ride down, when a ride isnt down it dont say anything, dont see the difference really. Not much point in a dedicated rides unavailable section, especially now.

For some slower computers, or when there's slow internet connection, that scrolling message can be a nightmare! Also, looking at the box was much quicker. Also, if no rides are down, surely the box could easily be removed and a link to somewhere else could replace? That isn't too hard is it? (I'm not trying to be sarcastic there; I'm actually asking :D). I agree with what Dan is saying, about if a ride is down for a few days then it should be in a box on the website. In my eyes, it's common sense

besides rides don't get green carded anymore, it's a board!

Wow, when'd that happen? That must have been such a big step.. :)
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For some slower computers, or when there's slow internet connection, that scrolling message can be a nightmare! Also, looking at the box was much quicker. Also, if no rides are down, surely the box could easily be removed and a link to somewhere else could replace? That isn't too hard is it? (I'm not trying to be sarcastic there; I'm actually asking :)).

Possibly, although you can click low graphics version if you do have a problem with the message. I just dont think it needs a box on the site, I dont see where it would fit in on the current site and none of the other parks have one (id say thorpes reliability is probably the best out of the main 3 so far this year) so dont see why Thorpe would.
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(id say thorpes reliability is probably the best out of the main 3 so far this year)

Who'd have thought! Took 'em long enough, but I totally agree, nothing has been closed all day during any of my trips this year, so hats off to them. Fingers crossed they can shake the reputation now.
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