January 25, 201213 yr comment_130757 Egg on Thorpe park's face when several amputations take place on the first public ride on Swarm.
January 25, 201213 yr comment_130763 Yes, people are actually believing it...Well, I was a girl at school reading it in the study room earlier, and before I said anything, she said it was fake and all around a bit stupid...
January 25, 201213 yr comment_130783 Of course people with some common sense are going to see through this, test dummies losing limbs couldn't possibly happen in the first place and it's inevitable that people are going to see through Thorpe's marketing scheme. As for the people that do actually believe it, it will make them scared and that's the job of the PR. This is going to generate a lot of conversation regardless of whether or not people believe it and that will either have the effect that it's supposed to and make people scared, or if they can see through it they will be talking about it. Even though this PR is a load of crap and it makes no sense, both of the Newspapers that reported on this have mentioned how 'safety actions' are being taken."The ride-testing phase is absolutely crucial in ensuring extreme fun doesn't compromise safety, and we work with the very best teams in the world to ensure we reach the gold standard in safety, so if that means re-modelling a church it's taken us a year to build, then so be it."To lift the lid on what goes on behind the scenes of building a monster rollercoaster such as The Swarm is quite unprecedented, but we want people to understand the level of planning, precision and care that goes into creating their ultimate thrill-seeking experience." To be honest, this is actually a win-win situation for Thorpe. For the people who actually believed this, they will be scared but will most likely also pay attention to the fact that things are being done to 'make the ride safer'. As for the people who can see straight through this crap, like the girl Michael knows and all of us on here, we need not worry because we all know this wasn't true anyway. Thorpe have successfully managed to make people scared, generate conversation amongst the public and still make their ride look safe. Yeah, it is a load of crap but it's definitely working better than the Monks Walk thing...
January 26, 201213 yr comment_130822 Yeah, they are doing a good job of getting the ride known. I'm hoping for some Thirteen style adverts on the tv soon!
January 26, 201213 yr comment_130887 Ugh, This marketing really isn't helping the ride, I've had two people in my school say that they weren't going to ride it because it was "unsafe", Ugh.
January 26, 201213 yr comment_130892 Corr, to even have people say "The Swarm" in my school would be amazing. Let alone talk about all this crap PR.
January 26, 201213 yr comment_130903 It really has got the word out, people at my work who know I'm coaster geek keep saying to me about it too.
January 27, 201213 yr comment_130926 randomly overhead someone today saying it must be true its on the dailymail *face palm
January 27, 201213 yr comment_130927 I know I'm in a minority here, but I think this is genius.If any of my friends do bring this up, I'm not going to tell them it isn't true. Because they'll s*** themselves the first time they ride. Oh... wait, I'll only get to ride with one friend due to Thorpe's stupid disabled policy only letting me take one person on a ride (Which means visiting with just one person, too)
January 27, 201213 yr Author comment_130931 I know I'm in a minority here, but I think this is genius.Agreed, the amount of people who have mentioned it to me even at work proves that same kind of effect as the say no to bo one!
January 28, 201213 yr comment_130992 Oh... wait, I'll only get to ride with one friend due to Thorpe's stupid disabled policy only letting me take one person on a ride (Which means visiting with just one person, too)I thought the policy in 2011 was minimum 1 carer, max 3.
January 28, 201213 yr comment_130995 I thought the policy in 2011 was minimum 1 carer, max 3.Officially, it was one carer if the disabled guest could walk unaided, 2 if they cannot.However, if it was a party of 3 with a disabled guest who could walk unaided, customer services usually allow 2 carers.
January 28, 201213 yr comment_130996 I thought it adapted to Chessington's disabled policy which was that you could have up to 3 guests coming up the exit with you (making a party of 4), but you need 1 carer if you are able to walk unaided or 2 carers if you cannot walk unaided. So that would mean you can have more than one person on the Swarm with you at once Lewish.
January 28, 201213 yr comment_131003 my friend has a disabled pass and they let four of us on when we go to thorpe park
January 29, 201213 yr comment_131005 Last time I went to Thorpe (May... I think) We got turned down and we had to split our group into two. It sucks. I'm actually considering spiting my health at some point this year and just queueing, just so that I can have a nice day out with my friends.
January 29, 201213 yr comment_131007 So you still got all 4 through the exit of a ride? And did anyone else in your group have a disabled wristband? (Because rules on the number of disabled guests on rides and the guest to carer ratio are different etc) And did the ride cater for groups of 4 from an exit at once? Please don't be spiteful because you are already receiving a good service that the park provides, and some ride hosts can only fit you in in smaller groups to lessen the load of the main queue.And if you are able to queue, some may argue you don't need a pass in the first place? This could get way out of hand, and I don't mean to offend you because I have no idea of your disability of seriousness of it, just that disabled passes are for those who cannot or have a lot of difficulty queueing.
January 29, 201213 yr comment_131008 No just me and a friend, and my brother and his girlfriend queued. We tried the whole "one person on a ride with me" thing but they got bored quickly waiting around so we split up. My disability makes standing for long periods of time hard for me, and by the end of the day I would be completely shattered and would take me a day or two to recover, something I'd rather avoid. I'm willing to do this so that I can visit Thorpe with more than one person, as eventually the conversation dries up and the only words that you speak are "What shall we go on next" - "Don't mind". I am grateful for the whole exit pass thing, I know they don't have to do it. I just think changing the policy to only allowing one person on a ride with me pointless.
January 29, 201213 yr comment_131009 Can I step in here?All I'm going to say is, it isnt the parks fault that your "conversation dries up", thats just poor social skills. Like you've said, the park dont *actually* have to provide this service, they could easily just make you queue, or you dont visit at all. The way I see it is, your in their court, so you need to play by their rules. It's quite simple really, and if you dont like it, well, nobody's forcing you to be there...
January 29, 201213 yr comment_131010 Meh, I'm just gonna queue. It's not just the conversation thing (And for the record my social skills are fine )... If I go to Thorpe/Alton/Wherever with a group of friends I want to stay in that group, not be separated for the whole day. I used to be able to do that, and I don't get what's so unreasonable about wanting that. Sorry legs
January 29, 201213 yr comment_131012 the only ride they stopped four of us from getting on was on saw. I think it depends on who the host is and if they stick to the rules or not.
February 2, 201213 yr comment_131243 I have a feeling I know what the next news story will be: test dummies have arms and legs burnt after testing of Thorpe park's new ride!
February 11, 201213 yr comment_131762 It has just been shown on the Jonathan Ross show! He announced the new ride and showed some photos including the broken dummies pic, then then went on to say how it would go 100 MPH and he would be one of the first to ride it!
February 11, 201213 yr comment_131763 JR seems to always get to turn up at these celeb ride preview events, I think he's quite the theme park fan - I saw him at Alton Towers a few years ago.
February 27, 201213 yr comment_132833 I can confirm that an advert for THE SWARM is running at cinemas, my friends saw one whilst watching the new Denzel Washington film, Safehouse in Woking.
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.