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Closed Rides


Ash

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I don't consider Fastrack vouchers to be adequate compensation for people who have gone out of their way to visit the park, but I do get your point.

I had hoped the park (or Merlin depending on who it comes down to) would have tried to overcome the early-season ride availability issues of last year, but it seems that things have got worse with two major coasters down.

It doesn't matter if you consider it adequate compensation, you didn't go. 

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Swarm maybe can't be helped? It was testing and had been doing so fine, something must have suddenly gone wrong. Like unexpected, that can't be of Thorpe's fault surely?

Colossus is a similar issue in delays of parts etc. Possibly Thorpe's fault, possibly not.

Rush, who knows. Maybe only one S&S can work at any one time at a park?

It's not great, but they're telling people about it. The fact they gave passholders a priority pass to use on the closed rides later on wasn't necessary as it was a preview day, something they didn't have to do. But they did, and told people the line up before they turned up, and after saying Inferno would be closed got that open as well.

It's Merlin, it ain't going to be great. But stuff happens that can't be prevented.

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Well this is not exactly a new thing. If it was a one off then I'm sure we would all understand. However this keeps happening. Multiple rides not being ready for the start of the season. The chance of 4+ rides having a last minute fault year on year is incredibly low. Besides most parks scheduling accounts for delays like you mentioned. Something clearly isn't as good on the maintenance side as it is at other parks. Could be bad management, lack of staff, ageing neglected rides, the list goes on.

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Swarm maybe can't be helped? It was testing and had been doing so fine, something must have suddenly gone wrong. Like unexpected, that can't be of Thorpe's fault surely?

Colossus is a similar issue in delays of parts etc. Possibly Thorpe's fault, possibly not.

Rush, who knows. Maybe only one S&S can work at any one time at a park?

It's not great, but they're telling people about it. The fact they gave passholders a priority pass to use on the closed rides later on wasn't necessary as it was a preview day, something they didn't have to do. But they did, and told people the line up before they turned up, and after saying Inferno would be closed got that open as well.

It's Merlin, it ain't going to be great. But stuff happens that can't be prevented.

If The Swarm was the only ride not ready to open, and it wasn't a regular occurrence at the Merlin parks in recent years, then I would be more inclined to accept the "unexpected event" scenario.

 

The issue I have is, being unprepared has become a regular thing for Merlin parks in the last two years.  Last year Thorpe and Chessington opened with multiple rides closed, I can't honestly remember if Alton did so can't comment on that.  It seems that the same thing is happening this year with Thorpe having several major rides not ready to open, and Chessington not being ready for pass day (several rides closed and a huge amount of breakdowns from what I've heard).  Then you have situations like The Big Top still being constructed on the day of the preview event at Fright Nights last year, has that happened before?

 

My point is that there is clearly an underlying issue with the park(s), and it needs to be addressed as the current state of affairs is poor.

 

I agree with your point about them informing people, it is good that they have the decency to tell people about the closures - although I have just been on the website and there is nothing on the scrolling banner.

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If they're expecting rush and swarm to be open at some point on Friday, it looks like the problem may be fixed already now, but they need time for staff training, so the ride may even be testing on Thursday I imagine while the training is carried out, and depending how well it goes they're expecting the training to be completed and the ride ready to open some point on Friday, the same for swarm?

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By the looks of Thorpe's updates this winter, it seems as though Rush had a LOT of work done to it this closed season, like it does every 3-4 seasons.  When this happens, it usually opens late (last time it happened it opened April-time I believe?).  So to be opening a day late is pretty good going.  Seemingly the time it takes for that amount of maintenance to occur is just a bit longer than the time they have during closed season.

 

Given that Thorpe have posted videos of Swarm testing, and it has been the most reliable major attraction at Thorpe the past 4 seasons, obviously something unexpected has cropped up for it's slightly late opening.

 

Obviously rides opening late is a bad thing, and given that things like this have happened before, it could be an indication that they need more budget for maintenance, or they need a longer closed season.  But given what we, as enthusiasts, know, I'm not going to hold the slightly delayed opening of Rush and Swarm against them.

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It's not a case of "I'm annoyed so I won't go" it's a discussion as to why this happens at Thorpe every single year!

 

Yeah it's Merlin, yeah as enthusiasts it's to be expected and yes we know rides can be temperamental. Is it acceptable to happen year after year...no.

 

As for not going, this is the first year in 12 years that I have not renewed my annual pass and I can honestly say, it was the easiest decision that I have made. The Merlin parks this year are a complete joke!

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And Colossus..................

I just can't fathom out how they get it so wrong every single closed season, 10 years this has been going on!!!!

To be fair Colossus had scaffolding covering the whole lift hill and sections of track and is having footers re-concreted so has possibly had more work than an average closed season

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It's not a case of "I'm annoyed so I won't go" it's a discussion as to why this happens at Thorpe every single year!

Yeah it's Merlin, yeah as enthusiasts it's to be expected and yes we know rides can be temperamental. Is it acceptable to happen year after year...no.

As for not going, this is the first year in 12 years that I have not renewed my annual pass and I can honestly say, it was the easiest decision that I have made. The Merlin parks this year are a complete joke!

I'm not having a go. As you say it's the same thing year after year, I'm just surprised anyone still goes until the park can get the rides open. I won't waste my precious time until everything is operational. That includes Towers, so no trips for me this year.

It's always annoying when these things happen, but it's Merlin and as you said, it's been going on for well over 10 years.

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That's actually the reason why we haven't picked up our passes yet, no point going until the season starts properly and all the decent rides are running. A few friends went to the pass days and before they were like 'why aren't you going?', then after 'ah now I get it'.

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