RideAddict Posted April 13, 2013 Report Share Posted April 13, 2013 Don't think it's been said anywhere else yet - most of the rides now have a new, larger, colour led scrolling information board at their entrance now. Really helpful to see how long queues are from further away - e.g. seeing Saw's queue time from the Colossus pathway. They were installing the new large information/queue time board next to Rush on Thursday, so they should be back up and running soon (if not already). So this sort of one has been replaced? Picture here. This is interesting if it has, it's the last thing I expected to see, especially as most are mounted into a casing themed around the ride. Is that a serious comment? I truly hope it isn't. What's wrong with these? Large, clear, very informative, accurate. Talking of accuracy, let's hope these new ones are more accurate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt 236 Posted April 13, 2013 Report Share Posted April 13, 2013 These boards appear Definitely improvements from the last ones. I just hope they theme them in to the rides to fit. rOsSwA28 and Coaster 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rOsSwA28 Posted April 13, 2013 Report Share Posted April 13, 2013 Don't think it's been said anywhere else yet - most of the rides now have a new, larger, colour led scrolling information board at their entrance now. Really helpful to see how long queues are from further away - e.g. seeing Saw's queue time from the Colossus pathway. They were installing the new large information/queue time board next to Rush on Thursday, so they should be back up and running soon (if not already). Yeah also saw this today and its a nice change to the old worn ones but still think the 'Welcome to THORPE PARK' bit is a bit unnecessary on them when you know your at Thorpe Park and just want to see what the que time is like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark9 Posted April 13, 2013 Report Share Posted April 13, 2013 What's wrong with these? Large, clear, very informative, accurate. Talking of accuracy, let's hope these new ones are more accurate. You mean the boards that tell you Charlie and the Chocolate Factors queue time of 5 minutes on every single screen but rarely ever mention Oblivion or Rita? The board where Squirrel Nutty has prominence whereas rides like the Rapids and RMT are virtually never seen. The accuracy of these boards is always under question anyway. It's very hard to be dead accurate for rides as it is when you think of the continually changing factors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jom222 Posted April 13, 2013 Report Share Posted April 13, 2013 Whenever I go we just look at the actual queue because most of the time they are wrong (will have to see if the new ones are updated more frequently) and have queued a lot longer than what it sais leading to lots of complaints and getting lots of priority passes and in total 16 free ultimate fastrack wristbands for Thorpe and Alton. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammydodger Posted April 14, 2013 Report Share Posted April 14, 2013 When I last went stealth's queue said 80 mins but it was actually only 15. Never ridden it so many times in a row. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPJames Posted April 14, 2013 Report Share Posted April 14, 2013 When I last went stealth's queue said 80 mins but it was actually only 15. Never ridden it so many times in a row. How many times did u do it in a row? The most I've ever done in a row on stealth is 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RideAddict Posted April 14, 2013 Report Share Posted April 14, 2013 You mean the boards that tell you Charlie and the Chocolate Factors queue time of 5 minutes on every single screen but rarely ever mention Oblivion or Rita? The board where Squirrel Nutty has prominence whereas rides like the Rapids and RMT are virtually never seen. The accuracy of these boards is always under question anyway. It's very hard to be dead accurate for rides as it is when you think of the continually changing factors. Trust you to find a fault with these. They are rather accurate all of the time - sometimes it may slip by about 5 minutes, but it's a generally good display. The only improvement they can do is list all of the rides in alphabetical order, followed by show times if applicable. It's also handy it displays closing times etc. We have one in Towers Street, Katanga Canyon, Forbidden Valley, and one outside Towers not far from Hex exit. A 4th one could be added as you enter X Sector. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark9 Posted April 14, 2013 Report Share Posted April 14, 2013 Trust you to find a fault with these. They are rather accurate all of the time - sometimes it may slip by about 5 minutes, but it's a generally good display. The only improvement they can do is list all of the rides in alphabetical order, followed by show times if applicable. It's also handy it displays closing times etc. We have one in Towers Street, Katanga Canyon, Forbidden Valley, and one outside Towers not far from Hex exit. A 4th one could be added as you enter X Sector. Trust me to find fault?! Dan9, Benin and Luke_A 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted April 14, 2013 Report Share Posted April 14, 2013 Or Towers could bother having queue times also on the actual rides in question in digital format... That's a fault with their system actually, no idea how long most queues are when you join, all well and good with these central ones but when I'm entering Congo Rapids from Duel I have to risk it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted April 14, 2013 Report Share Posted April 14, 2013 Let's not forget that lots of parks don't actually have these queue boards, so it is not compulsary to have them on every ride. One thing I do agree with though is that if they do have them, it is vital that they show at least half accurate times! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammydodger Posted April 14, 2013 Report Share Posted April 14, 2013 TBH its only been recently that I have noticed the queue times on the boards being less accurate, lots of the times that I visited last year they were fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted April 14, 2013 Report Share Posted April 14, 2013 They look pretty good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted April 14, 2013 Report Share Posted April 14, 2013 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted April 14, 2013 Report Share Posted April 14, 2013 They'd look better if I didn't have to tilt my head 90 degrees... Stokesyboy, alexander and Matt 236 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RideAddict Posted April 14, 2013 Report Share Posted April 14, 2013 image.jpg The quality of that is so unclear! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan9 Posted April 14, 2013 Report Share Posted April 14, 2013 The quality of that is so unclear! The natural effect of taking a photo of a screen. I assume the quality is much better in person. Even though it's something you'd expect to have been done over the closed season, I'm glad they've been implemented now rather than leaving it for the rest of the season, something I'd feared before. As a side note to the previous discussion, I'm unaware of how Alton Towers' boards used to run, but the three times I've been this season they've been completely useless. Pickles and Inferno 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted April 14, 2013 Report Share Posted April 14, 2013 Clearer pic and the right way up They are not bad quality, as Dan said its just the camera. The main ones were only showing the Thorpe Park logo today, the rest were working. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted April 14, 2013 Report Share Posted April 14, 2013 What kind of world do we live in where an admin double posts in the space of 2 minutes? On a serious note though, they look quite good and a nice modern update. Hopefully they can be put to good use and we actually begin to see more accurate queue times and not let these go to waste. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge2002 Posted April 14, 2013 Report Share Posted April 14, 2013 I would assume this fits in line with their current focus on Rides per guest. As far as I'm told the park management, believe it or not, are currently trying to make a big push for increasing the average number of rides a guest gets on. This seems like a logical investment in that sense to be honest. They look smart, let's hope they aren't using a version of windows that crashes every 20 minutes like the ones at DLRP... Inferno 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Posted April 15, 2013 Report Share Posted April 15, 2013 Towers ones are okay - the parkwide ones are rubbish (as Air and Sub Terra use 2 of the 4 items on every slide) but are updated every half hour. Actual ride ones are updated by the entrance hosts or the ride operator so are usually rather accurate. They just need more of them. Thorpe ones look lovely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyMoo Posted April 15, 2013 Report Share Posted April 15, 2013 Ooh I was just browsing this thread to enquire about the central queue boards as they were missing at the Swarm ERT meet - these new boards are sexy! Oh and the benefit of these LED screens is that they can easily cope with 3 digit wait times - instead of incorrectly showing queues as 99 minutes at peak times Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RideAddict Posted April 15, 2013 Report Share Posted April 15, 2013 Ooh I was just browsing this thread to enquire about the central queue boards as they were missing at the Swarm ERT meet - these new boards are sexy! Yes, they really do it for me too. Oomph. I think it's better to display a wait time as "1hr 10 mins" rather than "70 mins" - not everyone can do the conversions! Also, lately I've hated the "WAITING TIME: 10 MINS" which just sits on the old LED display. It used to be lot better when it scrolled and said something like "Burn baby burn...Nemesis wait time is 10 mins" - just an example there, remember Colossus would say something like "Experience the power of 10 - Colossus wait time is 90 mins" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted April 15, 2013 Report Share Posted April 15, 2013 It is really that difficult to convert minutes to hours? Or am I assuming too much of the brain power of Thorpe's guests? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STEALTHDAN Posted April 15, 2013 Report Share Posted April 15, 2013 Visited yesterday and I have to say the new queue time boards are a vast improvement on the old ones! So nice job Thorpe, Also the weather yesterday was superb and I dare say Thorpe had there bussiest day of the year so far and they played a blinder everything on top capacity and moving quickly and hardly a fast track queue to be seen! Even rush was on two fill swings for the day! lol pluk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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