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Closed Rides


Ash

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LOL I was so tempted to use Tesco as an example, but decided not, glad I'm not the only one to see the similarity.

I haven't been to Alton yet so am not including any of those, but from a coaster virgin point of view The Swarm is the best overall ride at the park, it's unique, is smooth as butter and my son loved it (along with every single kid in his class who's been, and every other adult I know that have experienced the ride).

The simple fact that Nick Varney as recently as a few weeks ago slams this ride as 'disappointing' and says Merlin are unlikely to ever build another winged coaster, tells you everything you need to know as to how out of touch Merlin management are with their customers, just like Tesco were a couple of years ago...

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Numbers over 2012 fell from the previous year. Business wise it was labelled as a failure. Now I don't think the ride was to blame but Merlin do. The swarm is by no means perfect, it's way too short for me personally.

Merlin won't get another wing rider as they have already got them. They don't need to offer the same experience a few miles down the road.

As for out of touch I would agree. The amount of negativity they are picking up on fan sites is crazy. Visitor numbers may be increasing but I feel that is more to do with the economic recovery and the more people in work than wise investment.

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so apparently it takes an hour and a half to card off one stealth train in the morning, that's without any problems of course... and due to having weekly and monthly maintenece more thorough checks, if for example it's not a peak day. like a monday, they'll run it on one train so it can be on two when it's busier the next day etc.

 

after a behind the scenes tour I can appreciate now how much work it actually is... but for a 'world class' theme park with 'world class' rides, there should be enough maintenance staff and extra trains to cover while they're being maintained etc. to allow the queues to be smaller, which to be fair at thorpe now, there aren't that many days anymore when there isn't demand for an extra train to be added.

 

Slate me all you want, but it is madness how other parks like europa park apparently can run a theme park with rides running at high capacity every day... it's a real shame merlin value money making over guest satisfaction rather than trying to create a balance that works.

 

As for the closed rides, it's getting pretty ridiculous now, again it seems an example of lack of staff over the closed months, and doesn't seem right for detonator to be waiting for a part for like 3 weeks or more now!? I'm glad they're still trying with slammer (surely they must be getting money towards it from S&S!?), just a real shame so many rides have been down this year; worst it seems to have been since I visited for the first time back in 2009.

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Numbers over 2012 fell from the previous year. Business wise it was labelled as a failure. Now I don't think the ride was to blame but Merlin do. The swarm is by no means perfect, it's way too short for me personally.

Merlin won't get another wing rider as they have already got them. They don't need to offer the same experience a few miles down the road.

As for out of touch I would agree. The amount of negativity they are picking up on fan sites is crazy. Visitor numbers may be increasing but I feel that is more to do with the economic recovery and the more people in work than wise investment.

IIRC tourism as a whole fell in 2012 compared to 2011, it's missing the point to blame a single ride for the downturn in a Parks performance when the whole Country was in the same boat. I agree the Swarm is too short, but I understand that was due to planning restrictions rather than design.

Your last sentence hits the nail on the head, we are one of those, more spare money is why we bought the MAP's, it had nothing to do with the rides at the park, for us it was a no brainer for all the things we wanted to do this year, especially now my son is tall enough to enjoy the rides at the parks with me.

I also know of several other families who are MAP virgins this year, overall they are happy, but whether they renew will be another question all together, many are surprised at the queue lengths at weekends and there has been many a playground conversations to the effect of 'if it's this busy in April, wtf is it going to be like in August?', we've taken to doing flash trips after school to avoid the queues (we all live close enough to Chessie to get there before 4pm and enjoy a few rides).

Back on topic, has Vampire been closed all weekend, or do they run the ticketing system then?

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The simple fact that Nick Varney as recently as a few weeks ago slams this ride as 'disappointing' and says Merlin are unlikely to ever build another winged coaster, tells you everything you need to know as to how out of touch Merlin management are with their customers, just like Tesco were a couple of years ago...

 

3 of the 5 major Merlin parks have winged coasters now.  A winged coaster wouldn't fit in with Chessington really and given Alton's constraints, I'd be very surprised if they had the space to build a decent winged coaster.

 

The Swarm argument could go round in circles for months, but I think one thing worth remembering is this:  2013 saw the addition of a new, large-scale piece of theming (the billboard), which many see as the best near miss of the ride.  The backwards rows, despite all the stick they are given by enthusiasts, have been well-received too.  Given that, I don't think it shows they're *completely* out of touch with their customers, but rather they needed to give it a kick start for it to be as popular as they wanted it to be.

 

after a behind the scenes tour I can appreciate now how much work it actually is... but for a 'world class' theme park with 'world class' rides, there should be enough maintenance staff and extra trains to cover while they're being maintained etc. to allow the queues to be smaller, which to be fair at thorpe now, there aren't that many days anymore when there isn't demand for an extra train to be added.

I think you might have hit the nail on the head - they simply need more staff.  I don't think having extra trains would help, as that requires a lot more storage space (which Thorpe simply don't have), and they would probably end up doing a Stealth and always having two ready and the third in the middle of a major strip down.

 

and doesn't seem right for detonator to be waiting for a part for like 3 weeks or more now!?

 

It must be a pretty major part for it to be down this long.  The ride was fine for AP day and the first few days of the season, and then died, so it must be something quite serious and unforeseen to be waiting this long. 

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The simple fact that Nick Varney as recently as a few weeks ago slams this ride as 'disappointing' and says Merlin are unlikely to ever build another winged coaster, tells you everything you need to know as to how out of touch Merlin management are with their customers, just like Tesco were a couple of years ago...

 

Sorry but I have to disagree with you there.. Even if as enthusiasts we enjoy these rides, Nick Varney will know everything from visitor numbers to guest feedback on these rides and is in a much better position to make comments on a rides success than us. 

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Ian, if Merlin were so against a wing coaster after The Swarm, how come Heide Park gets one 2 years later? 

 

think the comment about Wing coasters was made more recently than that. If thats what has been said by Nick Varney can only assume that the visitor feedback from the Wing coasters isnt overly positive. 

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Good!

Responding to the reason why it may have taken so long, Detonator is the only drop tower model of its kind. So it would have been custom designed and thorough checks would have had to take place.

 

I went to a business conference for merlin about a week ago, and some interesting points were bought up.

2012 wasn't a good year for thorpe, let alone any park in the south. They were discussing it in a business forum and they concluded with the Olympics, most people stayed in very central london or with relatives and stayed for the shortest amount of time possible, so rather then the Olympics bringing customers to other businesses, it took them away.

I talked around to other businesses and they confirmed this. Most London (or southern) based private small chain businesses saw a loss in customers over summer 2012. 

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Just read the Q&A summary.. that's an interesting read...

 

"Turning seats backwards is a mark of desperation" - That marries up nicely with Thorpe having a hard year in 2012 and wanting to maximise the impact The Swarm had on the market (a little like Stealth 2.0 around 2007...)

 

The next big thing after 2017's Alton Towers addition will be 2020... Rules out an island coaster next to Swarm until at LEAST then (and also gives an opening year to SW8's rumoured woodie)..

 

 

Any way, back on topic.. Glad to see Detonator is back in operation. Any news on the other casualties?

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