YAY Merlin!

[owenstreet7]

At the very least, there's signs and such - it's common sense. No problem with groups using single rider, but it doesn't require a staff member.

Rides management are AWFUL at Alton Towers, it is known.

...I'm also amused by the posts saying 'Thorpe had a good day and ran their rides' - this should be the norm; not the exception.

My issue isn't necessarily groups using it but it is groups insisting on being batched together.

I don't mind groups as long as they're happy to be split as the queue time can be longer than the main queue.

I'm not sure it's particularly clear on Hyperia as recently, there is confusion with single rider and fast track and I clarified it with a family behind me so they went into fast track straight after.

Staff on the entrance is something I've noticed for Europa Park on busier days where they're enforcing it as a single rider queue. It would certainly benefit Saw and Hyperia so groups know it might benefit them better to queue in the main queue or fast track if they want to ride together and in the case of Hyperia, going into the right queue line when the queue splits into fast track and single riders.

Although Thorpe Park is certainly a gem in the Merlin Parks in how it is run right now and I'd say it's something Alton Towers, Legoland and Chessington should aspire to.

 

[davidm]

"Single ride queue" - oh that's for us, we only want to ride it once.

/s

 

[Niles]

I guess yey, as it is opening but it took way to long. Hex re opens 11th oct at...12pm

 

[Niles]

With Legoland submitting a application for solar car ports Chessington have submitted one to upgrade their car parks. The Macaw grass car park will get new materials to help stabilise the ground, improve access, operational efficiency and circulation, as well as improving the existing drainage system. So hopefully it will not be as muddy.
View attachment 29296

Here is a look at the upgraded car park at Chessington, what was once a grass and sometimes muddy field has been tarmacked, with a geo-grid installed to create proper parking spaces. Hopefully this happens to the other grass field carparks.




Source

 

[Ollie]

I'm sure I heard their excuse for not building a proper car park was that it was protected land/green belt etc and they couldn't do anything with it. What changed or was I just misinformed?

Looks great though. It's been needed for years.

 

[Ollie]

Double post but had a really good day at Alton Towers today. Sun was shining, no downtime (besides a short one at the end of the day that was well communicated and up and running again within 10 minutes). Queues moved quickly and didn't end up waiting more than 30 minutes for any ride.

 

[JoshC.]

I did a Hyperia coaster climb this evening.

There was some chatter when it was made live about the cost being expensive (£120). It is, no beating around the bush. But it is worth it. My experience was about 3hrs all in, and included lots of time spent scaling the ride, time spent in the console and time spent around the turnaround outside the station, with lots of opportunities for photos, fabulous hosts and a great vibe.

Find attached a variety of photos (of me). I'll be doing a write up for Thorpe Park Mania in the coming days; look out for more photos and thoughts...

 

[Bentleya]

Great to read you enjoyed the experience @JoshC.;
It also looks like you had great weather for it to.

 

[Peet]

I'm redirecting this sub-topic from WTF Merlin to YAY Merlin, these look great:

Alton Towers

A true piece of history🎢💛 The iconic Corkscrew track on display has been restored to its original colours, bringing a little bit of Alton Towers Resort history back to life. The project was led by...

www.facebook.com

Real nostalgia for me (as for so many people) these were the first inversions I ever went through.

 

[Hixee]

Looks so much better than the purple. I like it!

 

[spicy]

It looks great, was also my first ever inversions and so glad to see them back in their original colour.

 

[Nicky Borrill]

I really lie it too, it's looks great. That's the shot now too, that famous shot that was on so much marketing material back in the day. Feels right in the right colour, never did when you snapped it in purple.

Kinda frustrating that they put the effort into painting this and not the actual running rides that need lots of TLC though. But I guess that's not for this thread.

 

[Hixee]

@Ian and I were invited along to the Preview Day at Thorpe Park yesterday. Lots of influencer types there in the beautiful weather getting all their glamor shots - of course, not so much Ian and me.

Credit where it's due to Thorpe - they were running everything pretty smoothly given the very light crowds. Stealth, Inferno and Swarm all running two trains (Hyperia only on one) with no stacking waiting to fill seats, letting us re-ride if the rows were empty, etc. We walked on to everything, and in the sunshine had a very relaxed and enjoyable day out.

Only disappointment, as such, was Ghost Train, which neither of us had done since the IP loss. Bit naff really, just all a bit too dark and a bit too loud - then perhaps we're just getting old. Would be surprised to see that plot not be cleared out in the next decade - they're stuck with a piece of hardware that's very hard to do very much with.

Anyway - yes - overall it was a very good day. Staff were all super chipper, and there was a good atmosphere given the park was so quiet. Probably did wonders for Thorpe from a social media perspective, so fair play.

Here's some photos - enjoy.

 

[Fleetwood_Mack]

Just booked a trip to Thorpe Park for the 21st April and I'm really pleased with the new (to me) RAP app and how easy it's been signing up to it and booking my pass. For my last visit in 2024 signing up for access was such a horrific faff with so much back and forth between me and the access team that I was dreading doing it again... but all you have to do now is sync your access card with the app and boom - you're in. Are the days of having to turn up to these places armed with a filing cabinet full of DWP letters, doctors letters and your blue badge finally gone?!

On the other hand - I've double booked on tickets due to their website glitching and giving me some kind of payment failed error message which turned out not to be the case. So let's see how they handle that

 

[Bowser]

@Ian and I were invited along to the Preview Day at Thorpe Park yesterday. Lots of influencer types there in the beautiful weather getting all their glamor shots - of course, not so much Ian and me.

Credit where it's due to Thorpe - they were running everything pretty smoothly given the very light crowds. Stealth, Inferno and Swarm all running two trains (Hyperia only on one) with no stacking waiting to fill seats, letting us re-ride if the rows were empty, etc. We walked on to everything, and in the sunshine had a very relaxed and enjoyable day out.

I was at this too, was easily the best ever visit to Thorpe Park... will be very difficult to visit on a "normal" day afterwards! Seeing the Hyperia station empty and trains going round half full was bizarre.