A
Anonymous
Guest
Yesterday we joined the queue for swarm at 8:50, got last ride as we waited for front row both sides, queue till 9:30 so about 40 minutes which wasn't too bad.
Thorpe Fright Nights 2012
- Thread starter nadroJ
- Start date
Coasterfreck
Hyper Poster
Me and Thekingin64 met up yesterday at Thorpe with a fiend of mine and we went round as a group of five.
Thekingin64
Strata Poster
Everyone was at Thorpe yesterday! The queues were horrendous pretty much all day. I managed to do Passing twice (more on that in a bit) and E10.
Seemingly constrasting to everyone, I loved The Passing and I got lost bothe times I went through. First time I got lost was because coming out the rotating tunnel, I turned left and I was meant to go right so I was stood around for a bit really confused that I'd found a dead end. Eventually, I found where I had to go. The second time was somehow I managed to turn back on myself in the crawling tunnels. I knew something was up when I was heading back uphill! Ended up way behind the rest of the group when I finnaly got out the tunnels and because of this, The actors were picking on me being on my own.
The reason I went round twice was because apparantly when I was coming out of my first time round, The maze was being evacuated for some reason so even though I'd been round the maze fully when it was evacuated., I got a free go round! I found actors were a lot better second time round as well.
I was very dissapointed with E10. Mainly because of how short it was but the actors just didn't do anything to scare me. It was pretty funny as I was put into the small room with 2 girls and on of them was claustraphobic! Couldn't see which one it was but because I was the tallest in the room, one of the girls held my arm to make sure I was still there! This maze was definitly not worth the huge, slow moving queue it had. Plus, I was stuck in the queue in the rain without a coat.
Seemingly constrasting to everyone, I loved The Passing and I got lost bothe times I went through. First time I got lost was because coming out the rotating tunnel, I turned left and I was meant to go right so I was stood around for a bit really confused that I'd found a dead end. Eventually, I found where I had to go. The second time was somehow I managed to turn back on myself in the crawling tunnels. I knew something was up when I was heading back uphill! Ended up way behind the rest of the group when I finnaly got out the tunnels and because of this, The actors were picking on me being on my own.
The reason I went round twice was because apparantly when I was coming out of my first time round, The maze was being evacuated for some reason so even though I'd been round the maze fully when it was evacuated., I got a free go round! I found actors were a lot better second time round as well.
I was very dissapointed with E10. Mainly because of how short it was but the actors just didn't do anything to scare me. It was pretty funny as I was put into the small room with 2 girls and on of them was claustraphobic! Couldn't see which one it was but because I was the tallest in the room, one of the girls held my arm to make sure I was still there! This maze was definitly not worth the huge, slow moving queue it had. Plus, I was stuck in the queue in the rain without a coat.
Ethan
Strata Poster
Went all day yesterday with 7 friends...
- The Passing was awful. Had potential but was 'executed' poorly. No pun intended.
- At night, The Swarm fire effects look and feel great, was the last ride of the night.
- The Asylum was lacking more the most part, but the new hiding spot for the chainsaw-dude made it worth while. It was fab <3
Oh and Rush was wayy too short But overall it was a good day.
- The Passing was awful. Had potential but was 'executed' poorly. No pun intended.
- At night, The Swarm fire effects look and feel great, was the last ride of the night.
- The Asylum was lacking more the most part, but the new hiding spot for the chainsaw-dude made it worth while. It was fab <3
Oh and Rush was wayy too short
But overall it was a good day.
Thekingin64
Strata Poster
Agree about Swarm's fire. The light from it makes the whole area glow orange when it goes off. Great to watch from the final bit of Inferno's queue in the mountain.
Mysterious Sue
Strata Poster
Usually 9pm, although yesterday they closed Colossus at 8.45.
Also totally agree with the fire effect on Swarm being amazing! The flames are huge! They look even better from far away - from the top of Inferno's queue or from Stealth's station. FAB <3
Also totally agree with the fire effect on Swarm being amazing! The flames are huge! They look even better from far away - from the top of Inferno's queue or from Stealth's station. FAB <3
SaiyanHajime
CF Legend
If they're closing queues before advertised time, complain to guest services. It's not on. You expect that from **** amusements, not proper theme parks.
Swarm's fire... Is amazing, when it works. Often it doesn't? And its far too infrequent.
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Swarm's fire... Is amazing, when it works. Often it doesn't? And its far too infrequent.
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Nic
Strata Poster
^lol!
Can't really blame them too much for that when it's heaving. Wasn't there one year where they closed the queues at 10, and they were still putting people on the rides at nearly midnight?
Assuming that staff fill in their time sheets/clock in etc and just get paid for the hours they've worked, then the above example must've sent the park's staffing costs way over what they'd budgeted for. I know Merlin have been doing everything on the cheap lately, but it does make business sense. Plus, apart from the extra cash, it's not really fair to expect the individual staff members to work 2+ hours more than planned. Especially not at that time of night.
As a customer, If the park says it shuts at 9pm, then if I'm still in the park after that time at all, it's a bonus. If it's stupidly busy, then I expect the queues to start closing before that time. If they state that queues may close before park closing time (which I'm sure they do somewhere) then you can't really complain. If they state that a queue will close at a specific time, then close it before that though, that's just vile *glares at SpiteHawk*
Can't really blame them too much for that when it's heaving. Wasn't there one year where they closed the queues at 10, and they were still putting people on the rides at nearly midnight?
Assuming that staff fill in their time sheets/clock in etc and just get paid for the hours they've worked, then the above example must've sent the park's staffing costs way over what they'd budgeted for. I know Merlin have been doing everything on the cheap lately, but it does make business sense. Plus, apart from the extra cash, it's not really fair to expect the individual staff members to work 2+ hours more than planned. Especially not at that time of night.
As a customer, If the park says it shuts at 9pm, then if I'm still in the park after that time at all, it's a bonus. If it's stupidly busy, then I expect the queues to start closing before that time. If they state that queues may close before park closing time (which I'm sure they do somewhere) then you can't really complain. If they state that a queue will close at a specific time, then close it before that though, that's just vile *glares at SpiteHawk*
SaiyanHajime
CF Legend
The point of the whole "queues shut at x time" thing is so that guests know and there's no room for disappointment or anger. If the park shuts at 9, and it's 8:45, I might choose to run to Colossus to get a last ride. If it was 8:55, I wouldn't bother. If I got to Colossus and it was shut early, I'd be thoroughly pissed off. I experienced this at Six Flags Great Adventure, but being a crappy amusement park, they couldn't give and I should have known better. Parks with quality operations and care in customer service close their queue lines at advertised times.
Staff know that the time they finish work fluctuates. It's tough poopoo if a ride closes with a 2 hour queue, as unfortunate as that is for those working, it's part of the job. I appreciate the argument about running costs, but if it's an issue then parks should close earlier, because that would be better than going against something which was advertised. Also, the Merlin parks have reduced opening hours, not because people were staying long after, but because the parks were QUIET in the evenings - so what's changed? I bet there was one freak day where there was a LOT of breakdowns at Thorpe when their rides closed with 2+ hour queues. A better approach is to close early, but remain open longer on the day if turnout is high. Chessington do this, I'm not sure if the other parks do.
Staff know that the time they finish work fluctuates. It's tough poopoo if a ride closes with a 2 hour queue, as unfortunate as that is for those working, it's part of the job. I appreciate the argument about running costs, but if it's an issue then parks should close earlier, because that would be better than going against something which was advertised. Also, the Merlin parks have reduced opening hours, not because people were staying long after, but because the parks were QUIET in the evenings - so what's changed? I bet there was one freak day where there was a LOT of breakdowns at Thorpe when their rides closed with 2+ hour queues. A better approach is to close early, but remain open longer on the day if turnout is high. Chessington do this, I'm not sure if the other parks do.
Coasterfreck
Hyper Poster
When me and Thekingin64 were both last at the park (20/10/12) The Swarm's fire was going of with every train once it got dark.Joey said:
I agree with have to agree with this quote too.
Mysterious Sue said:
SaiyanHajime
CF Legend
Oh really? I'm glad they are more frequent... Because when I went on the first night of Fright Nights, one staff member said they are between once and 4 times an hour. :/
SaiyanHajime
CF Legend
Yeah, the fire wasn't working for GhosterForce.
FFS.
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FFS.
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Jordanovichy
Credit Whore 2016
Joey said:
I was annoyed there was no fire, you would think Thorpe would have made a particular effort for the Fright Nights to have it up and running. I am sure people will agree it is a great effect for The Swarm.
Mysterious Sue
Strata Poster
To be fair to them, I've been to the park four evenings this week and on 3 occasions there were loads of actors walking about the park (many more than in previous years) and the fab fire was working on Swarm. I don't know why it wasn't working on GF night. It was very disappointing.
There were actors in the dome and on the bridge I saw them when I went to the car.
Maybe the rain had something to do with them not walking around and the fire not being on.
But there was just no theming around the park at all, it was just like any other day at Thorpe. Was still good though, unlike many I actually like the park and the ride line up.
Maybe the rain had something to do with them not walking around and the fire not being on.
But there was just no theming around the park at all, it was just like any other day at Thorpe. Was still good though, unlike many I actually like the park and the ride line up.