Park Operations

[Coaster]

17 minutes ago, ThorpeAddict said:

I still find it annoying how Thorpe advertise a 9:30 opening but can't manage to get the rides open for then. For example on Sunday we get in and walk round to Colossus which was closed, then Saw which was closed, then Slammer which was closed, then round to IAC which was closed.

Much preferred it when they advertised a 10 opening and let AP holders in at 9:30ish when rides were ready.

I agree, Thorpe seem to run an unadvertised staggered opening system at the moment which is poor (the fact that it's not advertised).

[Cal]

12 minutes ago, Coaster Jamie said:

I agree, Thorpe seem to run an unadvertised staggered opening system at the moment which is poor (the fact that it's not advertised).

I don't think its staggered openings as such because it's different rides which open late every day, it just depends what they can get ready. My point was that they struggle getting everything ready by half 9, I remember a day last year and less than half the rides were open.

[JoshC.]

I do think that IAC is meant to open at 10 every day regardless of when the park opens.  Other rides though is hard to comment on.

[Coaster]

56 minutes ago, ThorpeAddict said:

I don't think its staggered openings as such because it's different rides which open late every day, it just depends what they can get ready. My point was that they struggle getting everything ready by half 9, I remember a day last year and less than half the rides were open.

I noticed on my last visit during a 9:30am opening that several ride signs were displaying later opening times, for example Saw showing 10am and Rumba Rapids showing 11am.

Whether this is a set in stone or a decision they make on the day I don't know.

[Matt 236]

staggered openings at Thorpe park? Well I never.

 

This is the first park I've heard of not to open rides on time. 

[Mark9]

You've never been to PortAventura then.

[Dodge2002]

Unless this has always been the case, which I'm pretty sure it isn't, Inferno was not allowed to run in anything more than light showers today. The moment any sort of moderate rain began the ride was halted. Colossus seemed to be the same too, although only during heavier downpoor, I can't comment on the rest of the rides as I wasn't around them to hear any anouncements, but I know that availability was absolutely appalling today with each major coaster closed at least once, and Saw, Swarm and Inferno all shut at the same time for around 40 minutes. 

I'm assuming this is some knee jerk reaction to the Galactica "incident" last week, and I've emailed them asking about it, but it seems for the time being they don't want to take any risks...

[Coaster]

That is ridiculous if true.

[Ryan]

Just now, Coaster Jamie said:

That is ridiculous if true.

There'a obviously a reason, they don't just do it to wind people up. 

[Coaster]

22 minutes ago, Ryan said:

There'a obviously a reason, they don't just do it to wind people up. 

That is true, but closing coasters in light rain is a bit strange.  Maybe Inferno was suffering from the oil issue?  It could be due to the awful reporting on Galactica's stoppage the other day but I hope not.

 

[JoshC.]

4 minutes ago, Coaster Jamie said:

That is ridiculous if true.

There are parks around the world that close down pretty much all their rides if there's even the chance of rain.  It's obviously frustrating, but it's by no means ridiculous.  

[Project LC]

Well it is ridiculous seeing as in infernos 13 year existence it hasn't ever had to close for light rain. I would understand if it had always been a policy but it hasn't been and there is no good reason why it should change now. This is some over the top knee jerk reaction from the weak Merlin bosses. They have had time and time again to correct the media when they have said something stupid but they always do it way too late.

[Dodge2002]

They've gotta do what they've gotta do and all, but my main issues is that given the English climate, it was literally a case of Russian roulette joining the queue as to whether it was going to stop due to the rain or not, and considering I lost that game 3 consecutive times I was a little annoyed to say the least. And in all my time I have never seen the amount of rain (which to be fair at times was somewhat heavy) bring most of the park to a standstill. So it seems like its the only logical conclusion I could jump to. 

[Coaster]

19 minutes ago, BaronC. said:

There are parks around the world that close down pretty much all their rides if there's even the chance of rain.  It's obviously frustrating, but it's by no means ridiculous.  

But has it happened at Thorpe before?  If it was just one ride then I'd be more inclined to think it was a technical issue, but I've never seen light rain cause lots of rides to close at the same time at Thorpe.

Hope it's not a reaction to all the rubbish media reporting causing the rides to close in the rain!

[Marc]

Infernos lift adjusts to the speed of the train - it uses 2 small wheels at the bottom of the lift to do this. Sometimes in the rain these slip and will cause the ride to shutdown and stop on the lift - the last thing they would want right now - perfectly understandable. 

This was explained by an Engineer at an inferno BTS tour.

[Project LC]

Merlin could just stick up to the media for once instead of shying away. 

[Mark9]

How often do you think that works LC?

[Coaster]

17 minutes ago, Marc said:

Infernos lift adjusts to the speed of the train - it uses 2 small wheels at the bottom of the lift to do this. Sometimes in the rain these slip and will cause the ride to shutdown and stop on the lift - the last thing they would want right now - perfectly understandable. 

An interesting insight into how Inferno works.

I understand the logic, but I think it's a huge shame that they are essentially being scared out of running their rides due to the media.  In reality a lift stoppage is nothing to write home about - it's inconvenient, but is it really worth closing a ride "just in case" it happens?  I would much rather Merlin took the confident approach and ran the rides the way they have been run in the past, rather than essentially being scared of their own shadows which is what this, along with various other changes across their parks appears to be.

 

[MattyMoo]

Yes can confirm Colossus, SAW and Inferno had downtime as soon as it started raining - and at no point was the rain really that heavy. We were out in it so we know

Was a bit annoying - I did think it was odd when explaining it to my non enthusiast mates as to why Nemesis Inferno was shutting as I was sure that wasn't normally the case with rain (there wasn't even any wind today either). The "uncomfortable for riding" message was played then a few minutes later the ride was closed with an announcement from the control room. 

Was a minor annoyance for us today (as everything was walk on/5 mins anyway) but can see this being a big cause of delays if we have a "British summer" Colossus and Nemesis Inferno peaked at 15/20 mins after shutting down. Highest queue I saw was IAC when it was raining outside at 25 mins. Did that for the first time ever today. It's cringey I'm sorry, I give it until the end of this year. Found the whole thing rather odd and awkward , the theming was pretty good though. 

Spotted that Colossus has heaters under the track in the station (but then I  haven't been since October last year).

I witnessed a lift hill stop on Storm Surge in the rain but that could've been someone messing about in a boat... team member was on the stairs.

Was super glad to get on Slammer today  <3 Persuaded my mate to go on when I explained how rare a ride it is. Samurai was testing late in the day. 

Shout out to the crazy team member on SAW singing "Put Your Hands Up" and then asking me what he should sing (I suggested Macarena and he did haha)

[Marc]

I do agree, and whilst you say a lift stoppage is nothing to write home about - thing is though if its pouring of rain and theres guests stuck its not good for the guests - media attention or not.

I have personally seen Inferno shut down in the rain before - just as I've seen it run fine in the rain too over the years - I'm not sure what the deciding factor if it will run or not is. 

[MattyMoo]

The park was very very empty today. Don't think I've ever been there when it's that quiet before. Maybe they were being careful especially with so few guests on park. 

[Project LC]

1 hour ago, Mark9 said:

How often do you think that works LC?

Pursuing legal options of corporate damages and defamation against media companies often leads to follow up news articles being pulled or edited. The story grows much slower and forces reporters to get facts right. Presumably merlin is not following this course of action because legal fees are high and its bad for share holders in the short term. However this course of action is damaging in the long term as stories continue to grow with more and more ridiculous outlandish claims (Galatcica getting stuck upside down) and damaging customer satisfaction as now rides need to close in light rain in a city where it rains 106 days of the year. 

I personally have thought for years that Merlins PR team aren't the best in the world and that dealing with situations like this is poor. Its gotten far worse over the last year as the frequency of these situations have increased drastically. The main issue I have with them is that they are so slow. It takes them days to get a response out when stories like this need a response in minutes and hours not days. On top of that the response given comes across as apologetic when really they should be defending themselves. 

[Benin]

Jamie would HATE Cedar Point, they literally close every ride if it's just spitting with rain... Think the other Cedar Fair parks are the same...

Wouldn't be surprised if it's all part of damage limitation, especially given what happens when people attempt to fight back against our media... It usually just means that the place is put under more stuff...

[pognoi]

I just want to take this back quickly to the issue of fast track. As mentioned/asked a little while ago, what would people do in alternative to fast track during a ride breakdown, there weren't very many straight responses. I find it funny how people are open to critique parks, however have very little constructive to offer them in return. 

As well as this, many 'noble' parks offer fast pass options, such as the likes of Port Aventura, and even Phantasialand as a standard addon package. The main difference, I imagine, is that numbers are controlled a great deal more then they are at merlin parks. Having visited Phantasia on a peak day, I never saw a single fast pass user, and only once did I see a disabled rider. Again, I imagine that these things are much more controlled and discrete.

Getting back to the point in hand; what is good compensation for a ride malfunction? Well, let me say that today I found out (even if it's not news to some) even Europa offer fast track passes for up to 4 rides during a ride breakdown. That's more then merlin, and they offer it to the entire queue & station. Whilst there are countless things to take into account with how these issues are dealt with, how common breakdowns are etc., I think it reinforces the idea that to a certain extent, fast track is the most logical option of compensation, and a lot of the moaning done about it is pretty obtuse. At the end of the day, if a ride malfunction has prevented you from visiting another ride as you would normally, it would make sense that the park sort something out for you so you can visit a ride quicker, causing less interruption to your day. I don't necessarily agree with fast track being a standard addon package, especially at the scale it's done within merlin, however it is very, very difficult to deal with break downs and keep guest satisfaction, at least moderate after that kind of incident.

[Tom]

^ Whilst I agree it isn't just Merlin, in all my Europa visits I rarely recall seeing a ride broken down let alone to a point where priority passes are needed to be given to the entire ride and queue (whereas Thorpe, the ride reliability does seem below par at times).  The problem is that Europa are offering this during a very unusual circumstance which is specifically ride related as you cannot get on one ride despite waiting, you get compensation for other rides, whereas I've known Thorpe Park to hand me 4 ride exit passes at guest services for a non-ride related problem.

Edit:  Also the massive difference in throughput means Europa really can afford to do that; and they don't have fastrack to account for too