I'll basically re-state what I said in the CF Live thread.
Thorpe's reliability is abysmal. I've been to that park three times, and on every occasion there have been multiple breakdowns, rides opening late, and big queues for the rides that are running.
I like to think that I'm generally fair to parks, so I'll say straight up - breakdowns are a fact of life, and I accept that if I'm unlucky, there may be a couple of rides at a park that are only working intermittently when I visit. There may even be a couple of rides that are down for the entire day if I'm really unlucky.
Thorpe is a different ball game completely. I now expect something to break down every time I visit. I consider myself lucky if a major ride isn't out of action all day. This is simply unacceptable when it costs me a small fortune to visit the park. Hell, travel and accommodation costs aside, the park already has one of the highest ticket prices in the UK.
I'll accept that the problems with SAW weren't necessarily the park's fault, but the blame for all of the other broken attractions can be laid squarely at the feet of the park management team. They've had the entire off-season to get things sorted, they know the problems exist with the rides (as they've broken often enough) - why are they not dedicating time and money to fixing the rides properly, and ensuring that they are actually in a fit state to run?
I suspect the short version is, it requires money and the park don't want to spend it. At the moment, they're not getting penalized for their complete lack of concern for their visitors. If rides break and people have a terrible day, the park isn't out of pocket - they just give out a few fast track tickets and/or replacement park entry tickets at zero cost to themselves and everything is OK. As I suspect much of their demographic is occasional visitors from the London area, I many people probably assume that they've been unlucky if they don't get to ride everything, and then come back at a later date to ride the rides that they missed the first time around.
Note all the media hype about SAW on the news before it opened. Note the complete lack of reporting about how everything went horribly wrong this weekend. The general public are probably blissfully unaware of how terrible Thorpe's reliability record is. We've all visited often enough to know better.
The sad thing is, I actually quite like the park itself. Thorpe Park has some pretty good rides. I just find it unacceptable that if I travel several hundred miles for a day out at Thorpe, I now expect to have a terrible day because I expect at least one of their major rides to be unavailable. Where's the incentive for me to visit the park (and bring friends who don't have annual passes with me) again?
