What's new

X:NWO lights on for a week

Sue Shaw said:
Anyone with kids like to comment?

Yes... Kids can't go on it because it's a 1.4M height limit. When my kids are tall enough to go on it, they'll be going on Stealth, Nemesis Inferno and Colossus instead... ;)

Rubbish, rubbish, rubbish ride. Lights on or not, it's the dregs of "thrill".
 
Sue Shaw said:
1.4m - that seems v. high for that kind of ride.
Is it because it's just a lap bar?

It's because it's ****, and they want to put off as many people as possible for as long as possible riding it :p

I'd like to say it's a Thorpe thing (Saw has a higher height limit than any other Eurofighter for instance), but it's always had that 1.4M limit. I think it's something to do with the potential forces with you sitting backwards and the lap bar. You need more strength to stop yourself from "flopping forward".
 
^ Aww, I spose that makes sense.

You're right though it is a crap ride. I can remember going on it years ago and thinking it was crap, and my view hasn't changed. :(
 
Sue Shaw said:
Did anyone notice the dummy torso on the rhs at one of the brake runs? It made me laugh so hard! Was it always there (maybe lit up in the dark with strobes or something?) or have they just thought, that bit of the ride's a bit lacking, I know, we'll nick something of saw and whack it up there?!! Just bizarre!

Nope they've been there ages. Well I say ages, they were added as part of the crappy "retheme" back in 2005/6/7, can't remember what year, but roughly then.

The did originally light up, as you can see here http://www.thorpepark.com/rides/x-no-way-out.aspx
 
They were OFF on Saturday, 25 September at around 3pm. First time I have ever rode it, but it was pitch black inside. I reported this on my website and Tweeted as such.

The only explanation I can offer is that the ops see a train of young males or another group of sturdy-looking people and they decide to whip the lights off as they are low risk of being sick? Whatever happened, I am relaly glad I got to ride it in the dark and even with all the block brakes it was a REALLY enjoyable ride. I reckon it'd be even more brilliant running on two trains and no brakes as people have said.
 
The only explanation I can offer is that the ops see a train of young males or another group of sturdy-looking people and they decide to whip the lights off as they are low risk of being sick?

I'm sure that's not the case - it's not an instant decision, because they advertise the lights being on, on a sign outside.
 
^ I see, well there most be some reason behind the trends in when it's on or off. I seriously don't see how it can make people more sick than many other rides anyway.
 
Nah, I don't think anyone believes that - even the general public.
14 years in the dark, and then one day Merlin comes along and goes
'ohh too many people are being sick, we better have the lights on!'.

Either kids nowadays have de-evolved a sense of balance, or it's an attempt to keep the public interested in a really old ride, where most of the features have stopped working due to poor maintenance. :roll:
 
Lee who used to do maintenence there always used to maintain that the inside of the shed was soaked in vomit.... so maybe there is a grain of truth in it?
 
Even if that were true, why are they randomly risking it by turning the lights on at seemingly erratic intervals?
 
Why don't they just tear down that horrible ride?! It would be much nicer with just an open field, a couple of trees and some benches there :) Or if they want to Thorpe could replace the ride with an awesome Mack indoor coaster in the same style as Euro-sat!!
 
It just needs TLC. Perhaps in the same way that LWV have done with their indoor coaster this year.

Imagine an egyptian pyramid theme with the entrance corridors being themed into a tomb with booby trap style theming and effects.

Remove the brake runs and have just two trains. Operating.
 
I'm torn now!
Rode X:\wtf with the lights off again yesterday (even though the sign for the lights on was still up outside!) and can't decide which I like best.

Having them on added a whole extra element to the ride, but having them off was much more creepy - especially after all the live action horror mazes (I kept expecting someone to leap out).

So here's my idea: if they could turn up the scare factor somehow then you wouldn't moan about all the mcbrs, as the stops would be a platform for other things to happen. I guess this was the original idea with the air, dummy torsos, laser noises and the moving back and forward. Maybe additional things could be added, such as stuff falling down, water, people leaping out - this would add more character to the ride! The rest of the track is actually quite enjoyable (when you are actually moving lol)
 
I think the ride does have the potential to be pretty decent - if it received some much-deserved TLC. But that's never going to happen, as this is Thorpe/Merlin we're talking about, not Europa-Park (who I'm sure would be able to turn it into something very special indeed, just by the addition of theming).

I reckon if it were run forwards, had the brake runs removed and had some theming/music/light effects (e.g. strobe) it could be a very enjoyable ride indeed.

One thing that does annoy me about X, though, is that the back of the train (i.e. the bit that leaves the station first) is already down the first drop before the rest of the train has left the lift hill.
 
Rode it with the walk-way lights on yesturday and the trains stacked, so we were in the X box for a while. Tbh its just as bland and akwardly crap that its funny. I prefer the florecent lights on to the walk-way ones I think.

They could easily do a Rockin' Roller Coaster meets the the Mummy type thing with it. Fog, Lights, Trains with speakers. The brake runs could be show scenes...

Though thats going to be akward now with a water ride themed to New England Hillbillys right infront of it...
 
Aaah, so once it gets dark they turn the safety lights off, but both me and my bffl thought it was alot better with the lights on wierdly! I didn't realise it was that big, and that second drop really gave me the belly feeling, but was really funny seeing the other car going round, and at the end there would usually be 3, was quite cool, but personally I think they should keep it dark with strobe lights and stuff, but now I kinda don't want it to go, or make it faster!
 
Top