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The Swarm


JoshC.

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The headache advert is brilliant. My only concern is that a massive billboard doesn't really fit in with a quiet town in the countryside... And also the advert isn't seared like the buildings are. :P

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).

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Headeze - what a name (gives me an idea if I ever I changed from RideAddict). Another classic Thorpe brand then. Guess we'll never see their FHM magazine on the shelves!

Looks good in my opinion, and great to see that they are still using the fire :)

Yes, glad to see it's working at the beginning of the season, let's hope they keep it up and use it more regularly now!

I probably wouldn't queue ages extra for it as you have to at the moment.

Roughly how long have the queues been today? However long they have been, you can't really take it as an average for the rest of the year, being a friends and family day today.

How does the brave it backwards entrance actually work? It seems completely sperate to the rest of the main and fastrack queues so how do they get it to work?

From what I remember, last there was a main entrance and a fastrack entrance. Looking at that picture, I'm guessing that all they've done is merge last year's main entrance to make it a main and fastrack for this year, and used last year's fastrack entrance for the backwards rows this year.

I haven't been today, anyone who has, please correct me if I'm wrong.

The headache advert is brilliant. My only concern is that a massive billboard doesn't really fit in with a quiet town in the countryside... And also the advert isn't seared like the buildings are. :P

Well Thorpe is a village close to the M3 and M25, hardly in the countryside, especially with so many lakes around. And with Staines and Chertsey towns nearby, London is not that far! Plus Staines is a hole!

OK, so having seen the various updates on Facebook, I'm giving in. The back rows don't look to bad after all, and I will try the very back one. It looks good going up the lift hill. Surely you must get that slowness as it comes off the lift hill, and you get that drag at the back through the dive drop? The billboard, hmm...looks alright, better than what I imagined.

And it looks like my suspicions have been confirmed - nothing changed whatsoever in the station queueline towards the back (well the pictures don't show it anyway).

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Having ridden it backwards twice today and once forwards (plus of course numerous other times forwards in the past), I can say that backwards certainly does feel more intense. Back left is still the more intense side. My first go was back left and it blew me away. Was so nervous going up the lift hill, it seemed to go on forever! The drop was a weird feeling (still better on the right though). As expected the near misses are not as noticeable although I noticed more on my second time backwards.

The drop and inversions feel pretty intense and it's all very disorientating, didn't know there I was! It also made my stomach go a fair bit which resulted in me and Peaj both making some amusing noises! We came off feeling rather queasy!

Did find it amusing seeing the obtuse photos; they haven't sorted it out yet (assuming they will get another camera for the backwards facing rows) so there were some lovely shots of the backs of the seats :lol:

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Having ridden it backwards twice today and once forwards (plus of course numerous other times forwards in the past), I can say that backwards certainly does feel more intense.

See, I disagree with this. Ian and I came off after riding backwards and both agreed that it feels pretty much the same as going forwards (as did the others when they got off). The only real differences are obviously the near misses being less noticeable, and a bit of disorientation because you can't see where you're going.

Backwards is definitely a surreal experience - it did make me feel a bit queasy. It wasn't bad, but it is definitely gimmicky, and in my opinion forwards Swarm is MUCH better. The queue time said 40 mins, when in reality it was only about 5-10. Put it this way (well, Ian's way because he said this, I just agreed), "if I'd queued the full 40 minutes to ride it backwards, I'd have been very disappointed."

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I would of been better if they had just made the seats 4D instead of backwards. Cos everybody would be able to ride it with no separate queue, no reduced throughput, no disgruntled customers and for what I can see a 4D would be immensely intense. Oh well, a guy can dream.

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New queue system: Backwards has taken over the old fastrack queue line. Main queue now turns right towards the shop. Fastrack carries straight on into what was part of the extended queue line and then cuts into what used to be the front row queue to reach the bag drop. There is no longer a dedicated front row queue - waiting extra for FR now seems to be at the discretion of the batching hosts. It seems the new signage for main/fastrack isn't clear enough though - a lot of people went the wrong way today, despite the fact fastrack wasn't even in operation

The backwards rows are ticketed similar to the old front row system, except the tickets are paper rather than laminated, and have the date printed on them to minimise abuse of the system (and means there's no point in people stealing them!). The station queue line has changed slightly to accommodate the backwards seating, but nothing major.

I do have a number of issues with the way it's been implemented though - I'd rather they just have a queue for back rows inside the station and leave people to sort themselves out rather than use batching hosts. That way if the backwards seats have a short enough queue you can wait extra, otherwise you don't bother - just like you would for the front row on other rides. Currently, on ride photos/videos have not been adapted - the photo screens are just displaying the back of the seats for rows 6 & 7, and the camera on row 5 is still in position (I'm not sure if it was working though).

As for the billboard; I'm not a huge fan of the aesthetics, but the near miss effect is a pretty good improvement to the ride. I'd say it adds more to the experience than reversing some seats does at any rate. For best effect sit on the front left.

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Yeah I don't get the backwards hype. The lift hill and first inversion/drop are pretty cool but row 5 felt more intense. Also Dan9 got told off trying to take a picture of his backwards ORP which included... his foot. Classic.

I would of been better if they had just made the seats 4D instead of backwards. Cos everybody would be able to ride it with no separate queue, no reduced throughput, no disgruntled customers and for what I can see a 4D would be immensely intense. Oh well, a guy can dream.

Yeah except 4Ds ride similarly to being thrown down a hill in a barrel.

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Can say Swarm backwards is very good fun and unique but have to agree it's not worth queueing ages for. The billboard is definately a great addition and creates a really immersive near miss (in that you are completely surrounded). Fire is also going off most times with a gasball when it doesn't so overall very good.

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This has been tweeted by Coasterforce:

Chatting to a Swarm ride op, tickets to ride mrawS will probably be free but guests will have to prebook online. Operations need sorting.

Would be rather disappointed if that was the case - let's hope that's not the case ey? They've also tweeted saying the backwards queue (for the left hand side at least I think) had pretty much not moved in 15 minutes...

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We can't complain- Thorpe are probably trying to do what's best for their guests, if they make a pre-booking online system, sure guests will be disappointed on the day if they can't ride but at least people will not have to wait hours to ride backwards. My only issue with this is that Thorpe will probably try and sell fastrack for backwards seats meaning that even if you pre-book you will still have to wait ages.

The only reason the queue barely moved is because only 4 people get on backwards each ride(on one side) and there is only a one train operation, meaning that even with the AP prebookers the queue will be massive for the swarm backwards. I just hope they get the 2nd train up and running quickly...

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Indeed, when the second train comes in and staff get used to it I'm hoping it should be okay. But for now, they are going to really struggle, as they are without the second train for the next couple of weeks.

Might need a fastrack ticket then ;)

I am really not sure how they are going to make the backwards rows a success, especially in the first couple of weeks where it will be on one train. If they sell fastrack for back rows on top of this(which they undoubtably will) there will be an even bigger problem. They will sell a mass amount of fastrack which means only about 4 people from the main queue(per train) will be able to get on- I think Thorpe will end up making you pay extra to ride backwards...

I just got a reply off facebook:

THE SWARM backwards will be a standard queue and you will not be able to pre-book in advance. As this element is still new, we are still investigating the possibility of Fastrack however any new inforamtion will be posted here first!

They are definately putting fastrack on- at least they are not making you pre-book online!

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Mraws is really not that massive a thing in the end, indeed, first drop aside, the ride experience differs very little...

1 hour 15 minutes queue from behind the control box is however, an embarrassing situation to have, one train or not...

Mark9 is actually right, a lot of effort for really, a minimal difference...

I liked it mind, but it doesn't change much, I'll prefer to queue for normal depending on the situation they decide (3 staff members said 3 different things about the method of backwards queuing)... The near-misses of course are now pointless backwards (the billboard is surprisingly good though, especially with the bonus chopper for the left side), and it's no more intense or forceful in either direction...

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...

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