SteveJ Posted February 22, 2013 Report Share Posted February 22, 2013 Not necessarily true. Many rides still get high praise and fame many decades after they opened. Nemesis, for example, still attracts people from all over the world thanks to its reputation, which is quite rare for a British rollercoaster. It achieved its reputation for being such a great ride in every way and a genuine feat of engineering. The Swarm, by comparison, is not in the same league. It's not really a question of gimmicks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
holtjammy16 Posted February 22, 2013 Report Share Posted February 22, 2013 The phrase "over-egging the pudding" comes to mind. The phonebox and ambulance additions fit in well and were a great addition. Or more like the finishing touches. This is just an add-on that won't look right, too much of these extras and Thorpe will ruin it and be counting their chickens. Riders want some airtime! Wow, how painfully pessimistic. What's the use in saying "that won't look right" when you haven't even seen it in person yet? Seems a bit too early to have such a strong opinion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RideAddict Posted February 22, 2013 Report Share Posted February 22, 2013 Erm, what? The ride isn't changing, a billboard will not affect the physics of the ride. Wow, how painfully pessimistic. What's the use in saying "that won't look right" when you haven't even seen it in person yet? Seems a bit too early to have such a strong opinion What I am saying is that if Thorpe keep on adding bits then one day the ride will look like a patchwork quilt, and certain elements of theming will be obviously younger. The novelty will wear off no matter what gimmick the ride has. It becomes familiarity, Yes. Blackpool's rides are a prime example. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Posted February 22, 2013 Report Share Posted February 22, 2013 ^ Your saying nothing of the kind when you say about 'airtime' which is what I quoted. You are saying that somehow the billboard will affect air time. Which, I might add, is in a position where airtime does not play a role and it is positive G's coursing through your body. Coaster XTREME and Luke_A 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jammy3112 Posted February 22, 2013 Report Share Posted February 22, 2013 I think that the billboard fits quite well. I know it's not exactly the most exciting near miss they could have, but I think for the piece of track it's on, it's perfect. Swarm is by far the best themed ride in the park, and I for one quite like the open roof on the church. I rode this in the rain and lightning last year, and must say it made the ride theme come to life in some aspects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted February 22, 2013 Report Share Posted February 22, 2013 How can people be judging the billboard yet, we haven't even seen it?! A badly edited image does not represent in any way what it will actually look like, it just provides us with a representation of the sort of shape it will be etc. I hope it will look good and I'm sure it will, they could even have mist coming through the gap but that's probably not going to happen considering we already have mist under the plane wing. holtjammy16 and Jammy3112 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Coaster Man Posted February 22, 2013 Report Share Posted February 22, 2013 I think that we need to actually see the billboard before we can fully judge how it looks and whether it should/shouldn't have been installed. Coaster and holtjammy16 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RideAddict Posted February 22, 2013 Report Share Posted February 22, 2013 ^ Your saying nothing of the kind when you say about 'airtime' which is what I quoted. You are saying that somehow the billboard will affect air time. Which, I might add, is in a position where airtime does not play a role and it is positive G's coursing through your body. What?! No, I'm not saying the billboard will effect the airtime. Let me just point out too that I was being a little sarcastic about the airtime! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveJ Posted February 22, 2013 Report Share Posted February 22, 2013 How can people be judging the billboard yet, we haven't even seen it?! I've seen plenty of billboards in my life and none of them were interesting to look at. I doubt this will be much different. Flying through it on a rollercoaster, however, could be quite fun, regardless of what the object actually is. But putting mist on it would be completely gratuitous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldFarmerDean Posted February 22, 2013 Report Share Posted February 22, 2013 As someone mentioned previously about you should still feel your'e in thorpe park when riding the swarm as if the aliens have taken over the park, the billboard should be designed with the thorpe park logo so it appears as their own advertising billboard being destroyed by the swarm!? Jammy3112 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexander Posted February 22, 2013 Report Share Posted February 22, 2013 I think the billboard will be a decent addition to the rest of the theming elements, but whoever made that image should be shot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted February 27, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2013 The park have released some photos of work ongoing maintainenance on the rides. Notice the work for the billboard. By far my favourite! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stokesyboy Posted February 27, 2013 Report Share Posted February 27, 2013 Bilboard is going well... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RideAddict Posted February 27, 2013 Report Share Posted February 27, 2013 I bet it's cold up there, but even in these temperatures I'd go up! Where did you get these from? And do you know what the guys are doing on the track? I really do hate that vertical zipwire in the middle of Stealth - really makes it look bad. I can't see it in that picture, does anyone know if it's still there or been removed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveJ Posted February 27, 2013 Report Share Posted February 27, 2013 Look at all the amazing theming. Look at the big island behind The Swarm, it has brilliant potential for a rollercoaster. I've never really seen it properly before. I like the way it joins up with the Treasure Island peninsula, which has been unaccessible to the public for decades... Eventually they could build up an 'outer ring' of new land extending from The Swarm round to where the railway used to join with Canada Creek. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevenVig Posted February 27, 2013 Report Share Posted February 27, 2013 Whoever thinks that the billboard will not fit in, please elaborate..... I think the billboard is an excellent idea. The area is supposed to reflect a small town/village that has been devestated by The Swarm, adding a billboard only adds to this idea. I think it's great. All of you need to stop complaining and be grateful that there is still a hefty amount of investment still going into this ride. Can any of you honestly name another ride that was this heavily invested over multiple seasons? Yeah.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPJames Posted February 27, 2013 Report Share Posted February 27, 2013 Guys... It has been announced that for pass holder day there will only be a limited 1000 spaces backwards on the SWARM. Does this mean in the future we will be seeing that you have to prebook tickets to ride it backwards? Or maybe it is just because they will not have built a backwards queue by then.... Who knows? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted February 27, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2013 Guys... It has been announced that for pass holder day there will only be a limited 1000 spaces backwards on the SWARM. Does this mean in the future we will be seeing that you have to prebook tickets to ride it backwards? Or maybe it is just because they will not have built a backwards queue by then.... Who knows? Oh-err. Where was that announced? If that's the case, then that would mean in theory only one trains has the two rows turned backwards / operational. I think it was said that there's no necessary extras (such as buying / booking a ticket) to go backwards, so that would be strange. Hopefully, for a 'backwards' queue, they'll just scrap the front row system (which was just a bit pointless to start with really) and modify that a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted February 27, 2013 Report Share Posted February 27, 2013 Where did you find that out? I don't think I'll be bothering with annual pass day, as much as I would like to go to the park sooner it's just too much hassle, why are they only letting 1000 people on the backwards seats? I hope that doesn't mean it will be limited throughout the whole season, because that would be very complicated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitchada04 Posted February 27, 2013 Report Share Posted February 27, 2013 It was sent out in an email by Merlin. They did this pre-book thing with Saw Alive on the 2010 AP day which was good because it avoids massive queues on the thing everyone wants to do. For the main season you don't have to book a ticket for it but Fastrack will be available if you feel the urge to spend £7 (guessing) to jump the queue to go backwards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted February 27, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2013 Explains why I had no idea about it - I seem to have stopped getting emails from MAP for some reason, even though my pass is in date. :S With 1000 spaces, that would suggest to me that there's only one train operation taking place (or only 1 train with backwards seats), neither of which would create a pleasurable queueing experience... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.S217 Posted February 27, 2013 Report Share Posted February 27, 2013 It sucks for me I'm at school when they are released at 10 am could it not have been midnight Tuesday not Wednesday plus I pre-booked my Pass day Ticket 2 weeks ago to get a ride on the The Swarm Backwards so I can experience it with out the long queues which I would possibly experience during the year. so for me I am rather annoyed at Thorpe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stokesyboy Posted February 27, 2013 Report Share Posted February 27, 2013 I think the majority of people that a pre booking won't be at school at that time, I think that it's a good time to do it, means people don't have to get up early for it or stay up late! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitchada04 Posted February 27, 2013 Report Share Posted February 27, 2013 I've probably made a mistake somewhere but it seems to work. The park is open 7 hours on the AP day and 1000 Swarm backward tickets are available. This gives an hourly throughput of 1000/7= 142.857 (or 143 rounded). And with 8 seats going backwards 143/8= 18 trains an hour. So if my maths is correct that would mean a dispatch time of just over every 3 minutes which is a terrible throughput. Meaning that the forwards facing seats (20) multiplied by 18 gives only 320pph for forwards and a grand total of 463pph for the whole train. Now hopefully there is a mistake somewhere (in either my working out or Thorpe's decision at 1000 tickets) because I don't want to believe these figures. If these figures are true I can see Thorpe and Merlin receiving many complaints. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted February 27, 2013 Report Share Posted February 27, 2013 ^If maybe only one train is ready to run backwards that would be right? Atleast it should avoid a repeat of Storm Surge! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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