Thorpe 2013

[Screaming Coasters]

^ I disagree. I've spoken to a couple unit managers who are disappointed with its success. Obviously you're there most days, but when operations can speak in that way, then thats what we go by. Pulling down a restraint everyday however (even when I was doing it) doesn't entitle us to judge as we don't know whats been said beyond our job.

Shambhala disagrees with you.

It quite possibly does, but the reactions of both coasters are still totally different despite how highly rated they are. Shambhala gets an "Ooh that was nice", whereas Skyrush gets an "Oh my god, what the hell just happened", which is the exact market Thorpe Park aim for these days. The nice rides are something the park can do without now, if they want to get the ratings. This is why I think Alton have gone for the style of ride similar to Saw, just because it was a big success.

 

[gavin]

Swarm seats running backwards? Ridiculous rumour that I'm not going to entertain further.

X:NWO running forwards? Very plausible. It should reduce the vomit, and, as Furie pointed out, could mean a decrease in the height limit, thus opening it up to a lot more guests and finally aiming this family coaster at families.

Plus, the other coasters of this variety run forwards cars and always have; X:NWO is the exception, not the rule. It pretty much is as simple as turning the train around. It's a relatively cheap and simple operation, which is what they'll need after the major investment last year.

 

[Robbie]

I've only been on X:NWO once but the main annoyance for me was the stop/start ride. You'd go for a short while then stop still, then zoom off again, and stop again etc. It was just odd. No matter what direction the seats face, surely just going round in one go would be an improvement?

 

[Nic]

^Yeah, I've always thought they could drastically improve the experience by knocking it down to one, maybe two trains, and letting it run through the blocks. That said though, it still seems to get nasty queues when the park is busy, so perhaps they need the extra capacity? Whatever, I can totally see the rumour about it going forward being true. Ideally (apart from tearing it down, obviously) I think they should do some kind of re-theme on it - like what I imagine Raptor Attack to be (not that I've ridden it since it was the rat...) Have a few bits of lighting, some props, sound effects. Could be done to some kind of "scary" theme and/or a franchised IP. I'm hoping they're still just holding it together with gaffer tape to keep it rolling at bare minimum cost in the hope that it's going to be replaced in a year or two. Especially if they tore out Slammer too (and Storm Surge), they'd have a huge space to play with. We'll see.

The Swarm backwards seats? Bollocks.

As for this whole thing about The Swarm being a "failure" I can kind of see where that's coming from. The major selling point (gimmick, if you like) of the ride was the near misses, and imo that's the one thing it really doesn't do very well. Raptor did this perfectly, and it really added to what would otherwise have been a tame ride experience, so I really don't understand how they missed the mark so badly with The Swarm. Bear in mind that the GP could well be getting on this with the picture of didmembered dummies in mind, thinking they're in danger of injury as it'll be so scary. If that's so, it's not hard to imagine that they'd be disappointed.

 

[nealbie]

Good ol' Colossus <3

 

[Martyn B]

There's some rumours doing the rounds about Thorpe adding one of these this year:

I think some people have been putting 2 + 2 together, because Thorpe said this on their FB page recently:

Ready for your first clue about our plans for this year? Well here it is....

Are you brave enough to experience the evolution?

And, GYPB's Evolution was for sale (plus Camelot's version also becoming available). It's not unlike Thorpe to get an old second hand flat (Enterprise and Samurai), but I think these are a little too old.

"Are you brave enough to experience the evolution?" could be something to do with the revamp for X:/NWO rumour...?

 

[marc]

It's x being done up, but they might also get a flat ride on The Swarm Island to attract people there. That's what I've heard anyway but there are so many stories going round.

 

[Martyn B]

So, this whole Swarm backwards thing seems to be doing the rounds, and the latest 'clue' given by Thorpe only enhances it:

"Beware A Catastrophic Killer Which Attacks Rebels Defying Submission"

The first letters from each word spells out 'backwards'.... obviously this could be to do with X as well, but...

 

[marc]

X will be going forwards but I do have a nasty feeling they could be doing something to Swarm as a number of other B&M's are having seats and trains turned round.

 

[Nic]

There was also the one that was something about "...a sting in the tail"

I really hope its not Swarm, but nothings been said to rule it out yet.

 

[marc]

Yes that's the one that made me think Nic that it could happen.

 

[nealbie]

Why not Inferno?

After all, it's a Batman that is being given the backwards treatment. Plus it makes more sense to do it (if at all) to an older ride.

 

[ECG]

After all, it's a Batman that is being given the backwards treatment.

I think that's it Neal. Japan is going with the B&M hyper & Great America is changing the original Batman, so it won't set Thorpe apart enough to follow suit with Inferno.
Swarm is rapidly becoming the norm as more & more parks start installing B&M wing coasters. Hell, many feel it was surpassed from the get go by Wild Eagle or shortly after opening by X-Flight. "Putting a sting in the tail" will surely set it apart from all the others & give it something that even Gatekeeper can't outdo. Say what you want about Thorpe, but you have to admire the fact that they try not to just set themselves apart from all the other parks in the UK & Europe, but also compete for worldwide attention.
Besides, we all know that this reverse seating trend was started by CoasterForce. :wink: :lol:

 

[BBH]

Batman is going backwards, but that's been talked about for awhile, and the coaster is 21 years old, so they've had time to prepare it. There's no way B&M can pull up the new chassis with less than 18 months' notice.

 

[SaiyanHajime]

All I can think about is the vom... It's not as if the park is inexperienced in dealing with excessive vomit as a direct cause from a backwards roller coaster. I cannot remember ever riding X:/ and not seeing or smelling vom in the exit corridors.

And then, the impracticality of having any special seats on a roller coaster. Front rows cause enough trouble as it is, especially on Swarm with it's stupid over-complicated system. Look at loading trouble Skyrush and the B&M Hypers with similar seating have.

The inconvenience to staff is huge. And with that comes reduced efficiency and thus longer queues both in line for Swarm, and customer services.

It's cool 'en all, especially so on Batman at Six Flags Great America, because that specific Batman is THE oldest of them. And I like how it sounds so ridiculous we didn't entertain it for a second until Hollywood Dream's changes were confirmed. It's cool that parks keep surprising us with stuff we never thought possible. I disagree with ECG, it's not about setting apart at all in the case of Thorpe at least, because Thorpe is not in competition with any park which is doing the same or any park with a wing rider, except maybe PortAventura by a long stretch. A very long stretch. Is it the result of a crap 2012? That's all I can conclude. A need to advertise something new this season, and with so much already invested in Swarm, they need to make that ride work in the eyes of the public. I'm not convinced it does right now.

Don't know how I feel about it. But it is very Merlin... By that I mean impractical with no consideration for past, present or future.

 

[Screaming Coasters]

Swarm seats running backwards? Ridiculous rumour that I'm not going to entertain further

Care to entertain it now?

If this does happen, it will be interesting to ride a "big" coaster backwards. I can't imagine it slowing down operations in any way, its just a reversed seat, no different to doing two sides of Dragons Fury.

 

[Ben]

^It would be different in terms of the fact you'd need a separate queue.

Not saying I think this is the World ending operations problem some do, but, yeah, it isn't the same.

I could kind of see this happening. I can imagine it being quite fun on Swarm. Not on Batman, omg, I'd rather die.

 

[SaiyanHajime]

Swarm seats running backwards? Ridiculous rumour that I'm not going to entertain further

Care to entertain it now?

If this does happen, it will be interesting to ride a "big" coaster backwards. I can't imagine it slowing down operations in any way, its just a reversed seat, no different to doing two sides of Dragons Fury.

Fury is a special case because the cars don't stop in the station, which conveys the urgency of listening to the attendant and moving quickly to sit where you're told. Also, the fact that the seat arrangement is 50/50 and that it spins makes the backwards seats less special.

With a full train with only 4 seats backwards, people are going to see them as special and want to wait extra to ride. On Swarm they'd have to combine the back row queue with the stupid front row queue system they have outside, I guess. One benefit of the weird system on Swarm is it prevents people making their mind up in the station and causing a cluster and there's (almost) always a member of staff to guide and arrange people. "We're going to wait for front row!" "You can't I'm afraid, there's a separate queue for it you had to join outside..." "Oh..." I think the fact they need those extra staff is pretty stupid myself, must be like a grand a week lost because of an overcomplicated design. If you look at Inferno, or even Colossus, they don't have this issue. There was no issue to be solved.

If they don't combine the back row queue with the front row queue thing, or build a separate one (haha, ha, as if), then they will have a problem in the station with people asking to wait extra to ride.

Granted, it'll never be as bad as SkyRush, but Merlin should be going out of their way to improve operations, not damage them even by seconds, because they add up.

 

[Martyn B]

The thing is, whilst these clues *can* point towards this Swarm rumour, they can also point to the X rumour too.

 

[CoasterCrazy]

^Maybe, X seems the more likely candidate for the alteration, since it's in just a dire need of renovation; perhaps the clue suggests the ride, rather than the changes. We could see a regeneration and possibly a retheme. Swarm is just...too new, and is too young to be tampered with, especially as for me, it is by far the best ride in the park.

It would be easy to covertly transform X, but The Swarm island really needs another attraction, like Saw Alive was with Saw.Otherwise it's not an 'area' as such.