March 10, 201312 yr comment_152530 I fear the queues will be awful though... If the station is 1 hour 15 minutes ish on one train on what was an empty day, I would DREAD the weekend... No way, not 1 hour 15 mins with limited avalibility aswell! I am visiting on Saturday 16th and I will probably have to wait 2 hours for it backwards! Should be worth it though, I am really looking forward to the ride backwards
March 10, 201312 yr comment_152535 Yes, it was that long... 1 train op </3 Special mention MUST go to the pair of ANGRY GOONS at the start of the day who had a go at the staff for not letting them on the backwards section... It was utterly embarrassing to see and it gives enthusiasts a REALLY bad name... You are not wanted at these parks if you're going to treat staff like crap just because you can't be the first people to go backwards... So glad I spent the day with a group of enthusiasts who just love the social side and don't care about being the first riders or whatever...
March 10, 201312 yr comment_152536 Yes, it was that long... 1 train op 3 Special mention MUST go to the pair of ANGRY GOONS at the start of the day who had a go at the staff for not letting them on the backwards section... It was utterly embarrassing to see and it gives enthusiasts a REALLY bad name... You are not wanted at these parks if you're going to treat staff like crap just because you can't be the first people to go backwards... So glad I spent the day with a group of enthusiasts who just love the social side and don't care about being the first riders or whatever... Yup, I was in the station at that point! Got offered backwards without a ticket too as the rows were empty. Didn't experience anything more than 25 minutes though on my 5 times on the swarm today
March 10, 201312 yr comment_152537 Investigating the possibility of fastrack backwards doesn't mean they'll actually sell backwards fastrack. Though this is thorpe, I suppose..
March 10, 201312 yr comment_152538 Investigating the possibility of fastrack backwards doesn't mean they'll actually sell backwards fastrack. Though this is thorpe, I suppose.. Yep it's thorpe I heard about them giving backwards seats to people because there was no queue for them towards the end of the day. I just wish I could have been there to ride the rides at thorpe today! Bring on the 2 hour wait on Saturday
March 10, 201312 yr comment_152540 ... the queuing for it is dreadful. I've never seen anything as ridiculous as the queue for backwards rows, it really does need sorting out. This is exactly what I predicted, expected and feared. I didn't want to be right.
March 10, 201312 yr comment_152541 got on it backwards twice today I realised that in the separate queue (on both sides) many people were going for the absolute back row so row 6 was near enough empty
March 10, 201312 yr comment_152547 It was so quiet today that at the end of the day there were no batchers in the station so if you wanted you could go backwards and many people were getting multiple rerides of the forwards seats due to no queue (me included )
March 10, 201312 yr comment_152548 Just realised in my last post I forgot to mention the billboard! The only time we did forwards facing was front row (left), so perfect row for the near misses! WOW!!! It is the best near miss on the ride and probably the best near miss I have ever experienced! I actually ducked and lowered my arms! It also provides another near miss later on but I won't spoil it EDIT: Thinking about it, the second near miss is possibly only experienced on the left hand side.
March 10, 201312 yr comment_152557 Swarm backwards is great, love how everything sort of catches you off guard, the first drop is brilliant backwards. As others have said though, the near misses all go slightly unnoticed. Backwards didn't make me feel ill like some have said, although I did only do it once. Backwards Swarm has its uniqueness and forwards Swarm provides the near misses... Good addition for 2013 though this is in my opinion!
March 10, 201312 yr comment_152610 I didn't really rate the Swarm in 2012, but went on it today, positives: -A much much smoother ride than last year without the jerking -The near misses work well -Most effects working well Negative: -Queue not well organised -and yet again and every every every time I ride it, the fireball didn't go off, but a nice smell of gas
March 10, 201312 yr comment_152619 Its a good point about people not wanting the second to back row, almost like queuing for the front and only getting second row. Hopefully they get the queueing sorted out and in my opinion I think online tickets would be best for the first few months. March and April could be chaos with everyone wanting to ride. Another option could be to give out back row tickets at the beginning of the day for free with allocated times? A short queue at the beginning of the day could ease the queue later on for the ride itself.
March 10, 201312 yr comment_152620 Its a good point about people not wanting the second to back row, almost like queuing for the front and only getting second row. Hopefully they get the queueing sorted out and in my opinion I think online tickets would be best for the first few months. March and April could be chaos with everyone wanting to ride. Another option could be to give out back row tickets at the beginning of the day for free with allocated times? A short queue at the beginning of the day could ease the queue later on for the ride itself. People who arrived half way through the day would complain that they can't get on backwards rows- the only option is to make you prebook!
March 10, 201312 yr comment_152624 True but fast tracks often sell out early and people don't really complain, I guess its just a sacrifice made arriving late.
March 10, 201312 yr comment_152644 -A much much smoother ride than last year without the jerkingSmoother? Last year it was as smooth as a baby's bum!
March 11, 201312 yr comment_152655 Swarm is probably the smoothest coaster on park (followed by Inferno).
March 11, 201312 yr comment_152667 Effects were working well? Not the water splashes that's for sure, seems the only effect is the fire which half the time fails to ignite (a shame because it is awesome)...
March 11, 201312 yr comment_152671 Firstly, this is a POV of The Swarm BACKWARDS Secondly, this pretty much confirms that The Swarm will not have prebooked tickets to ride it backwards?
March 11, 201312 yr comment_152782 Sorry if I've missed this already, but can anyone confirm if the ORP is still available for the backward facing rows? Or do the picsolve booths just show the back of the seat...?
March 11, 201312 yr comment_152785 Sorry if I've missed this already, but can anyone confirm if the ORP is still available for the backward facing rows? Or do the picsolve booths just show the back of the seat...? The ORP cameras just take photos of the back of the chairs... If you try and buy it they will not let you anyway! Hopefully this will be sorted out soon though.
March 11, 201312 yr comment_152788 Yesterday they had the screens for the backwards seats turned off so you couldn't view the photo of the back of the seat.
March 11, 201312 yr comment_152806 but staiines isn't a quiet town in the countryside To be honest, the Staines area is more of a quarry and waterside area than a country side surrounding unlike Towers, Legoland and Chessington (to a degree). I always thought the theming of the ride was that it was a quiet town in countryside for some reason. Possibly because the church is almost identical to the one in my town.
March 12, 201312 yr comment_152839 Possibly because the church is almost identical to the one in my town. Deralict and an alien flying through it?
March 12, 201312 yr comment_152882 Well, to be honest, that area of Surrey was the subject of Jeff Wayne's musical, "The war of the worlds". I think he was born in Woking, as there is a statue of one of the fighting machines there. I wonder if it is loosely related somehow. Places like Horsell Common and Byfleet are mentioned. As the crow flies, not very far away from the park.
March 12, 201312 yr comment_152930 Love how War Of The Worlds is based so locally and mentions Horsell common.
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.