Park Operations

[TPJames]

When I visited yesterday the park seemed reasonably busy. Car park was pretty full and the park felt busy (in a good way); it was 'alive'.

Considering the terrible weather at the beginning of the week and that many people will be holding off visiting till DBGT opens, I don't think the park are having trouble getting people to visit right now.

It wasn't actually that busy though, everything was just ridiculously slow. Swarm, stealth and inferno all had fast operations in the afternoon and they were all under 30 minutes. Saw and Colossus(and inferno in the morning) had slow operations and were only 45mins+ish because of that reason.

All the flat rides were pretty dead too- I'd be interested to see the gate figures for yesterday in relation to last year as when I visited last year even though operations were still relatively slow the queues were a lot longer across all of the rides.

I imagine things will pick up when DGBT opens though.

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[Tom]

Do they? I read somewhere (think it was on here) that they haven't actually been very busy this past week

I mean on a larger scale

Normal people do not look at forums a day before their visit and see that Colossus is running one train so they cannot possibly visit that week

The fact is, if over the course of the year visitor numbers increase as expected or stay similar, the park sees no reason to change the way they operate on a day-to-day basis or indeed long term

[Glitch]

Over the last 3 years I must've been to Thorpe at least 20 times, and I've only seen the Inferno fastrack entrance being used once, the rest of the time it's always via the exit. All other rides use the dedicated entrance (although yes Colossus changes on occasions), however Inferno has a tendency of using the exit.

Clearly havent been on a busy day then...

[L7123456]

Clearly havent been on a busy day then...

I think on a few days in July and at Fright Nights it was open when I went, however a lot of the time I don't bother going on Inferno.

[MarkC]

Sorry the amount of people queuing with priority passes is getting rediculous. How long will it be till the normal queue is shorter than it?

[L7123456]

Sorry the amount of people queuing with priority passes is getting rediculous. How long will it be till the normal queue is shorter than it?

I remember once when the queue for The Swarm was 45 minutes and the fastrack q was 70 minutes. It is getting pretty ridiculous!

[CharlieN]

Sorry the amount of people queuing with priority passes is getting rediculous. How long will it be till the normal queue is shorter than it?

Fright Nights!

[MarkC]

If I get a runny nose does that mean I qualify for a disabled pass nowadays?

[Tom]

If I get a runny nose does that mean I qualify for a disabled pass nowadays?

 

I know this is a joke, but...

 

A large amount of disabilities are not visible, and it would be best not to take the piss out of them

[MarkC]

Can you please elaborate what disability would unable you to queue for some rides however you're fine to wait an hour in the saw queue line waving around your little yellow band?

[Tom]

Can you please elaborate what disability would unable you to queue for some rides however you're fine to wait an hour in the saw queue line waving around your little yellow band?

 

I'll refrain from an A to Z and just do some As

 

Anxiety

Autism

Acquired brain injury

 

Guests with yellow bands should not be admitted through the main queue of rides, however after working as a ride host, I know they sometimes queue in main queues to try and surpass the need to go on with a carer (For example if their carer does not want to go on a ride), alternatively to 'skip' the virtual queue they wait in after a ride

 

Edit:  Again, be careful, saying 'Waving around your yellow little band' could be taken offensively by some, as some disorders lead to involuntary movements

[MarkC]

I'll refrain from an A to Z and just do some As

 

Anxiety

Autism

Acquired brain injury

 

Guests with yellow bands should not be admitted through the main queue of rides, however after working as a ride host, I know they sometimes queue in main queues to try and surpass the need to go on with a carer (For example if their carer does not want to go on a ride), alternatively to 'skip' the virtual queue they wait in after a ride

 

Edit:  Again, be careful, saying 'Waving around your yellow little band' could be taken offensively by some, as some disorders lead to involuntary movements

So correct me if I am wrong... If they are able to queue in the main queue why are they in need of the band in the first place unless they are trying to abuse the system?

[Tom]

So correct me if I am wrong... If they are able to queue in the main queue why are they in need of the band in the first place unless they are trying to abuse the system?

 

Are you are implying that mental illness is not enough to qualify for a band?

 

Unfortunately as with any system there is always the chance of abuse.  It is difficult for Thorpe Park to identify a 'level' of disability that would entitle someone to a wristband.  This would cause a lot of issues related to discrimination and guest comfort.

 

It is the decision of the park as to whether they issue a wristband, unfortunately in this case it seems that the system may have been abused by an individual with no visible illness (however this may not mean they are able to queue without beyond regular levels of discomfort) - As I said in my last post, riders with wristbands should not be admitted onto an attraction through the main queue, but hide their wristbands when getting to the dispatch point to avoid being caught by staff.  Staff may also be unaware of this rule, or cannot be bothered with the hassle of turning them away.

[Glitch]

Can you please elaborate what disability would unable you to queue for some rides however you're fine to wait an hour in the saw queue line waving around your little yellow band?

Yes we all know the system is abused but I don't think thats it's a topic that we should be commenting on/ talking about. Anyway realistically some of these priority passes are coming from all those handed out at the start of the season. Remember that?

[Coaster]

So correct me if I am wrong... If they are able to queue in the main queue why are they in need of the band in the first place unless they are trying to abuse the system?

It depends on the disorder really. Some people may not be able to cope with queueing for a sustained period of time, however they may have better days than others, or there may be some queues that they find easier to wait in than others.

That is just one example of many, it is insensitive to accuse people of trying to abuse the system when there are several reasons why they may be able to queue at some times but not others.

[Ian-S]

Yes we all know the system is abused but I don't think thats it's a topic that we should be commenting on/ talking about. Anyway realistically some of these priority passes are coming from all those handed out at the start of the season. Remember that?

No the yellow wristband is the disabled ride access pass user. Those priority passes will I think be normal fast track tickets, which depending on the day, may be sent up the ride exit like rap users, and can easily double the queue length. Unless you know the system you might not be aware that once you've gone on a ride there is a 'timeout' period before you can use it again (roughly equal to the queue length time you would have had to wait) so the person 'waving their yellow wristband' around in the Saw queue might have been on a timeout period where they couldn't use their pass - infact that's the only reason they'd be in the main queue unless the park was empty, and depending on their condition coupled with their desire to get on that ride, one might have overridden the others fears/problems enough for them to queue, or as pointed out, they might be able to queue for a short period.

However even as a relative of a RAP user, that doesn't stop me rolling my eyes at the overall stupidity of some people using them, like those who'd rather wait in a queue for 90 minutes to pickup the pass instead of going on the rides while they are walk on, or those still using their pass when the ride is similarly, walk on, so I do feel your frustration.

Personally we'd rather not go over busy periods anyway, preferring to go on quiet weekends or week days, but not everybody is lucky enough to be able to do that.

[Mattgwise]

Probably, seeing as the Inferno fastrack point hasn't been used in years and instead they let them on from the exit.

The Inferno fasttrack point has always been in operation for me (except on March school trips - off peak days). 

 

Oddly enough for the first time on a peak visit today the merge point wasn't being used.

 

What was great about today was very minimal fasttrack sold and used, made queues move quicker, although there was an excessive number of people using RAP. Only the fast track unit near Depth Charge was open.

 

Inferno two trains, Swarm 2 trains, Colossus obviously just the one train, X on 2 trains, making the queue painfully slow, Saw on 6, Stealth reduced to one half way through the day after an issue.

 

Operations as such not bad today , just Inferno being very slow at loading and dispatching, I was in brake run for almost 2 minutes.

 

Park generally not too busy with longest physical queue being Colossus at just over 40 minutes. Swarm was about a four train wait after 4:30. Saw was 5 minutes after 5:15pm.

[Matt10]

The Inferno merge point was being used today, but only for a limited time. Stealth's issues by the looks of things still stem from the new traction wheels and motors installed. As it seems the computer is either detecting a fault or an intrusion of an already filled block section and so is e-stopping, forcing one train op only. Saw seemed to still be suffering from persistent issues with the mid-course brake run as I could often sight engineers there when the ride was down.

[Mattgwise]

The Inferno merge point was being used today, but only for a limited time.

Fair enough, just wasn't in use on both my rides and everytime I walked past. Strange how they only used it for a short period, doesn't seem to be much consistency.

[Mark9]

So correct me if I am wrong... If they are able to queue in the main queue why are they in need of the band in the first place unless they are trying to abuse the system?

 

A carer along with other carers and a boy with MS once told me they used the main queue because they couldn't stand the judgemental faces from people when they got on via the exit.

[Benin]

That's a grim indictment of modern society right there...

 

It's not like those using the exit via a disabled can abuse the system anyway, as long as the staff are correctly using the timecard and whatnot...

 

That said, why do Thorpe on some rides make disabled riders use the Fastrack queue? Bet that isn't fun in summer or FN...

[Han30]

A carer along with other carers and a boy with MS once told me they used the main queue because they couldn't stand the judgemental faces from people when they got on via the exit.

That is actually really sad that they felt that way - they obviously needed the exit pass but sadly some people in society are damned ignorant and only think people who are wheelchair bound are disabled.

With some illnesses they can vary - I have anxiety problems and have done for the past 16 years. I don't get ride access passes (don't even know if I would qualify for one tbh) but at its worse I am housebound. On a good day I can go out taking just a low dose of anti anxiety meds and sometimes none at all. As for queuing - I am usually ok but with anxiety you can get a panic attack out of the blue - a couple of times I've had to leave queues because of it. So people can look perfectly healthy but you never know what issues they are battling.

At TP on Wednesday I (and I resent this) bought fast track for Saw - main reason was that we were leaving at 3pm and my niece was desperate to get back on it and also because I don't think I would have coped well with the 70 min queue - one if the main reasons I only got on 7 rides that day

[Ian-S]

You'd qualify.

[RobF]

Another reason you might see yellow bands in the main queue could be group size, with anxiety and other people being in a  larger group e.g 5 or more people some people may struggle more than they may let on to in silence, simply because they dont want to break into 2 groups ect.

Other reasons include not wanting to ride on the back row for example: if a yellow band holder wants to specifically ride on the front they are forced to hide the band and queue.

Again I think it depends queue to queue in relation to  queue legnth,  path width and  if like the saw queue you can feel trapped at times.

In terms of day to day operations queuing at the exit can be a big deal as so many people make comments at rides exits about it being exit only ect

 

 

 In summary every band is issued for different reasons as such each individual person with a band maybe affected differently  in terms of there physical and mental limitations, no one member of staff customer or otherwise can truely know who is capable of what , some people abuse the system but most dont, 

[Han30]

There was a discussion on RAP somewhere and about who qualifies for it etc and people who abuse the system. there are no doubt people who will take the pee and use it when they don't need to which sadly can shine a bad light on those who genuinely need it.

A couple of years ago I did get a ride access pass at Alton Towers as a small group of us had been swarmed by wasps most of the day and one person actually got stung. I told the lady at customer services about the wasp issue and that it sets off my anxiety (I'm freakin' terrified of them!). She asked a few questions then gave me a wristband and said I would probably qualify for one on each visit. It's hard because if I'm having a good day I would feel like a fraud using it. With a lot of illnesses you can have good days and bad days and sometimes you could be feeling ok and the next minute feel like you're dying.