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The Thorpe reliability thread - 2009 edition.

I've already said what I had to say about Thorpe in the Live topic.I could spend the rest of my life slagging the place off,but just can't be arsed anymore.

My opinion of Thorpe has always been low,but now it's at rock bottom.

That's all. :--D
 
Ok, can we not use this topic as an excuse to slate Thorpe.

Just let us know what's down and when and if possible, for how long.
 
I must have extraordinarily good luck. I visit Thorpe a few times a year, and the most breakdowns I've ever seen is about an hour on Stealth, and tn minutes on Rumba Rapids. Never these huge problems everyone else seems to face.
 
To be fair, I went to Thorpe around 10 times last season and Rush was the only thing ever down. Oh, and Stealth for the last hour of a day after a rollback.

Lets hope once Thorpe get over these early season teething problems, things will go back to usual, which is not to say perfect, rides will go down, but to normal levels.
 
yesterday Loggers, Slammer, Stealth, Banana boat and Tidal Wave were down. Zodiac was closed in the afternoon as well. Saw was running well, and only really stopped for sick cleaning duties. Inferno was on one train all day, but it was quiet, so didn't really matter. The railway also broke down around lunchtime. They were testing in the afternoon, but not sure if it re-opened... aparently there's a fuse problem so it keeps going down.
 
I think the main problem with Thorpe is the rides that they have, they have rides that break down in every single park.

Stealth well Top Thrill breaks down just as much from what people have said.
Slammer I think this is the only one of its kind still around now?
Rush has got better.
As its already been said Saw was not their fault.
Loggers is shut but thats not broken, there are other reasons why this is shut.

Yes they seem to have everything break at the same time, but Thorpe is small so everything can near enough be seen from one point.

I do think Thorpe need to improve but I have also been to Alton when all their big coaster broke down at the same time on a number of occasions. I have also been to Thorpe when nothing has broken down all day, Saturday was the worst I have ever seen it.

Thorpe now have a bad reputation and they really need to get on top of this.

Can not believe I am sticking up for them after everything that has happened lol.
 
^ TTD was running rather smoothly when I go now. One train after another. There were a couple of rollbacks, but other than that there was no issues and this was several three day weekends.

I think that Thorpe should at least say that they are sorry for the incovience (SP?). When the Voyage broke down at Holiday World when I went, the staff was about to give the park away to make us feel better. They even offered to give us a hotel room and free tickets for that next day. Cedar Point is even better than that. When any of there rides breaks and there are a small amount of people in the line, we got "fast pass" tickets for the ride. Hell, even Six Flags Great America does better than Thorpe and that is saying something.
 
Saw broke down for, oooh, five minutes today?

And then nothing else that has already been mentioned broke down. Oh, Det for all of two minutes.

It was great!

Oh, and they were raising and lowering Slammer today!
 
What is the reason for their reiability issues?

Somone must know, or at least have a convincing rumour?

They can't simply be unlucky. The appauling reliability is in no way an exageration.
 
^ Thorpe has gone down hill for reliability since the Thorpe Fire, so they must be plagued with bad luck :p

The atmosphere must have an affect as well. I mean, it's full of chavs, and rides get upset when they hear chavs are coming :p

Anybody have any news on Stealth? I heard rumours that it might open at the weekend, but as I said, it's just a rumour.
 
I really hate to quote South Parks but flicking through found this:-


"""I have just received a call from Mike Vallis, Divisional Director at Thorpe Park.

He has been entirely honest and open about Thorpe Park's start to the season and basically admitted that it had been one of the most difficult weeks he'd faced and that the park was a complete embarassment.

He has let his team know that the park was simply unnacceptable, and his goal now is to put all the maintainence and reliability issues the park has to bed and head into the future with a much better product.

They are to review the Thrill Chill event, as he believes it may do more harm than good for the overall product, and have spent many hundreds of thousands of pounds in an effort to get the rides to be more reliable.

He gave me detailed reasons for Stealth's current problems, and it appears NOT to be a stolen motor as has been rumoured!

He is aware the park's record is unnacceptable compared to other parks, and he clearly wants to take it forward. He believes Stealth is the iconic ride and that, whilst Saw is likely to be #1 this season, that Stealth is likely to remain the icon into the future.

Credit to Mr. Vallis for making the call himself, he has clearly realised the park can only make excuses for so long - and good look to him. """
 
Beans said:
He has let his team know that the park was simply unnacceptable, and his goal now is to put all the maintainence and reliability issues the park has to bed and head into the future with a much better product.
Click to expand...
This is encouraging.

The cynical part of me is concerned that this is simply corporate damage control, but I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt on this one for one simple reason. I've said that the problems stem from management apathy, and therefore improvements have to start with a change of attitude at the top.

Here's hoping that the park actually commit the necessary resources to fully resolving the problems. Having most of the rides running at the start of the season is one thing. Having every ride running reliably for the majority of the season is quite another. I want to see nothing less than every ride running with the same sorts of up-times we see in every other park in the UK. Lets hope that the improvements don't stop once the volume of complaints falls slightly.

I feel I've been extremely harsh on Thorpe this week, but with good reason. I've always said it has the potential to be a good park, but if the rides aren't working then the ride selection and theming mean nothing. I'm tired of constantly slamming the park for breakdowns and the problems that result from them. Lets hope that the park manages to turn itself around.
 
Mike Vallis seems to have his head screwed on right.

Although it has had an awful couple of weeks, and has had progressive reliability issues i want to point out a couple of things in it's defence here.

Firstly, Thorpe gets slammed for Chavs. There is nothing they can do about this really, i'm sure they'd love to have less Chavs stealing and vandelising.

Secondly, i feel that Thorpe Park is one of the only parks in the UK going for more thrills, less family orrientated. As thrill seekers we should appriciate this. Family rides are potentially cheaper and can attract a larger number of varied visitors.

a disclaimer:
i am not a Thorpe fanboy and i am not saying that all parks should be thrill parks. I believe balance is right and i think Thorpe gives balance to Chessy and Legoland in the south.
 
Although this is certainly a step in the right direction, I'm not going to hold my breath as I (and a lot of us) have been let down by Thorpe on many occasions. Hopefully they'll deliver but If this means they'll have to part with their money I doubt the tight fisted gits will bother.

I sincerely hope I'm proven wrong but in recent times Thorpe have just treated their customers like **** and they have lost my trust.
 
Mike Vallis was a dude when he was my boss, looks like he is the dude at Thorpe Park too! He is such a fantastic park operator though I bet he's feeling it a bit since Chessington was pretty much squeaky clean.
 
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