Thorpe Park Discussion Thread

[the_bigg_cheese]

Yesterday we went to Thorpe Park, UK and after the security singled out certain members of our group, (the 6'7" Gambian in the basketball outfit) they then decided to pick an argument with the other members of the group who felt he was treated unfairly. It all kicked off with young children witnessing their mother being subject to common assault by the 'private security firm'. Then the white members of the group were told we could enter the park but not the black members, including the children. You can judge for yourself the type of people hired to be security when they are not licensed bouncers and they start physical contact with customers. The police were called, they reviewed the CCTV and said they would recommend the park would give us a refund as apparently we were 'trespassing' at this point. They are also asking Thorpe Park to investigate the manner in which the staff conduct themselves and enforce their policies. This was a family day out organised by a local Caribbean food company for people of all ages and races to enjoy. It ended up leaving a lasting impression in the minds of all those who witnessed the disgusting behavior of certain members of staff.

 

Has anyone else experienced this type of treatment from Thorpe Park Staff?

 

 

So your telling me no-one from your group did anything wrong.....no-one in the world would ever start an arguement for the "hell of it" particularily someone in an official role, there may be instances when security services are slightly hamfisted, but you have to remember that some of the stuff these people deal with is extreme at Thorpe Park (I was waiting in the Car Park for a friend of mine to finish working when I witness an Armed Robbery attempt on the cash trolley that was being moved down to the security offices).

 

What I seem to find common in situations like these (I work in a customer facing role, so see a lot of this) is that in a busy period, if you ask someone to do something and the other members of the group seem to think it is either because of Race/Age/Sex etc, voices will start to be raised, thus resulting in arguements happening, I can almost guarantee you that at least 1 person in your group raised their voices at one point or another.

 

I personally think Thorpe's Zero Tollerance approach is excellent, it is fairly uncommon to see major incidents inside the park, and after all, Thorpe is supposed to be a nice day out.

 

On the other hand though, if something was done wrong by the Thorpe Security staff, they will be dealt with, and I am sure you will be compensated for your trouble if you lodged a complaint, however if all you did was leave after argueing, then decided to post on a Theme Park Enthusiast forum which you have never posted on before just to complain, I have a funny feeling you never lodged a complaint with Thorpe or Merlin and probably are aware you or another member of your group may have done something wrong.

 

Just my .02p worth.

 

 

Hi Andrew,

 

The initial reason Thorpe stated that they searched a member of our group was that he appeared 'not to be able to walk in a straight line'. They extensively searched him and found nothing. The Police again spoke with him and did not charge or warn him, he had committed no crime, was perfectly 'straight' and there was no evidence of him breaking any laws. I am sorry you had to witness an attempted armed robbery, however these guys wear stab vests and get paid fairly well, compared to the Police and Army they have it easy.

 

You may well be right, when someone is singled out, others in the group may well not know what is going on. This is why we had lengthy discussions with several members of the security team before the incident started.

 

We have indeed lodged complaints about this although Merlin/Thorpe Park refuse to accept that the security are their staff as they are a private company. We may well get compensation but a token is nothing compared to seeing my friends and my children in complete and utter distress. You are also correct when you say voices were raised by members of our group, would you be perfectly calm when your partner has just been shoved by a member of staff who was not even involved in the ongoing discussion? Remember, this is all on CCTV which has been viewed and is currently with the Police. I understand the Zero Tolerance approach which is nice to hear when going on a family trip out, which is exactly what we were on.

 

What I completely fail to understand, is why after it had 'kicked off', when the police had turned up and everything had calmed down, my family and another white family were told we could enter the park, but not the black families, including their baby and young children who had absolutely no involvement apart from standing in the corner and crying.

 

The reason I joined this forum to discuss this topic was because the feeling we got from the police sergeant was that this wasn't the first time that something like this had happened. I am just saying what had happened and asking if anyone else had experienced anything else like this.

[AstroDan]

I too have had negative experiences arriving at Thorpe Park.

 

As much as I understand that, due to the direction the park has taken in the past decade, their target market is now young people - and that, being in London, this brings with it a number of very socially depressed areas - I still find the entry to the park disgusting for what is a theme park linked to Merlin Entertainments, who are keen to repeatedly state they are "second to Disney".

 

I arrived at Thorpe Park at around 9:10am on my visit, when the park was due to open at 9:30am. We had arrived so early to ensure we could rush to Colossus and Saw - The Ride, with minimal queues (as Colossus in particular gets horrid waiting times due to low capacity). Upon the barriers being raised at 9:25am, I had my Merlin Annual Pass ready for admission to the park.

 

I was requested immediately to join a queue of around 20 people for security and bag search. The rest of my friends waited adjacent. It took around 10 minutes for this process and, when the security guard had been through every inch of my wallet, bag - the lot, I was let through. They were not particularly friendly and took all my cards out the wallet, leaving them on the side for me to "re-pack".

 

By this point, we had lost any advantage we had hoped to gain from arriving at the park early, and i was thoroughly cheesed off. We actually went on to have a pretty good day at Thorpe, but it's the most awful first impressions to have to go through such rigorous security.

 

I don't know how they could get around it, but it's certainly an awful park to enter.

[snoflake15]

^ Strange because they let the Inbetweeners in with a car door without any problem.

[robbalvey]

So your telling me no-one from your group did anything wrong.....no-one in the world would ever start an arguement for the "hell of it" particularily someone in an official role, there may be instances when security services are slightly hamfisted, but you have to remember that some of the stuff these people deal with is extreme at Thorpe Park

 

Just my .02p worth.

Andy, I totally agree with you. I'm sorry, but I'm not buying the story. And to those of you who are complaining about the security at Thorpe Park. Don't.

 

Personally, I think the park NEEDS the added security. And if it means I have to go through a bag/wallet/anal raping/whatever check when I get to the park to make sure these idiot kids don't do something stupid, I'm actually ALL FOR IT.

 

Have to SEEN some of the white trash kids that have been going to that park lately???

 

As theme park and roller coaster enthusiasts, we should all be "better educated" about the parks we visit. No one here should be surprised by this procedure, and I for one actually welcome it.

 

If you're that turned off by it, or feel it's going to impact your day, I suggest two options:

 

1. Don't go to the park.

2. Purchase the FastTrack option to make your day a little less stressful.

 

We did option #2 on our last visit, and it made our day much more enjoyable.

 

Hope this helps.

Edited August 23, 2011 by robbalvey

[DJeXeL]

Love how people use TPR as Guest Relations when they need to complain about a park.......

[tiger01]

I don't know if any of you have been to the park lately...

 

 

I went to the park today and really enjoyed myself! I rode All the coasters! With fast track of course!

You can see the construction of the Swarm from the top of Stealth, the flying fish and Tidal Wave. It's still a load of mud.

[yrcrazy]

Hopefully going next week

[tiger01]

Be prepared to purchase fast track tickets. The best place to purchase them is near Nemesis Inferno opposite the banana swing ride. However everyone should be back at school and work so you should be fine.

[yrcrazy]

Unfortunately I am currently back at school so i'm going next weekend , should be fine , don't mind too much wait . I would just skip out SAW but the guys I am going with will be desperate to ride it.Last time I didn't go on SAW because of 3 hour ques but I guess it was pretty new then.

[ilrider]

It may be just me, but the layout looks dreadfully short.

 

Do we know if it's a B&M or an Intamin?

 

B&M.

[Neilfever]

Thorpe Park have released a statement to Thorpe Park Mania, in regards to Six Flags GA's wing rider and it's first inversion:

 

 

''Hi THORPE PARK Mania fans.

 

We hope you're all excited about the arrival of THE SWARM. We're having great fun building up to its launch and we hope you are too!

 

We wanted to write a little message to you all following the news that Six Flags Great America will also be launching a winged rollercoaster next year very similar to THE SWARM. Some of you may have noticed that when we say it's going to be very similar, it really is going to be VERY similar. When we set about designing and developing our winged coaster we had to make sure it had the THORPE PARK stamp on it. One of the ways we achieved this was by developing the unique inverted dive at the start of the ride that will be sure to kick-off your awesome apocalyptic flight in adrenaline-fuelled style! As you can imagine then, we were quite surprised to see that the new ride at Six Flags will also adopt the 'THORPE PARK Inversion'!

 

While we could be bitter about this, we would actually like to wish Six Flags Great America the best of luck with the 'THORPE PARK Inversion' and we hope that this is a start of things to come, that one day the 'THORPE PARK Inversion' will become famous in the rollercoaster world! We aim high!

 

Thanks again for all your support and we'll see you all at Fright Nights.

 

The THORPE PARK Team''

[MARK]

^Seems a bit juvenile to me... I don't see that rollercoaster element as their intellectual property. I've made plenty of coasters in No Limits with that first drop! Plus, we don't call the vertical loop the 'Six Flags Magic Mountain inversion'.

 

Once somebody thinks of it and puts it out there, anyone can use it in my opinion!

[A.J.]

Thorpe Park is acting childish.

 

Doesn't B&M design the ride? Thorpe's creative department handles the theming for sure, but doesn't Thorpe submit their land plot and budget to a bunch of companies and selects their favorite design for the job?

[ernierocker]

^This is what I thought as well. It's not like Thorpe Park actually designed that element and then B&M "stole it" for their design of X-Flight.

 

Thorpe Park is probably just pissed that their exclusive element isn't going to be exclusive anymore.

[ilrider]

After the dive, the two layouts are quite different, aren't they? That's like Gardaland getting upset Dollywood's wingrider has a traditional drop like Raptor's.

[Anything]

Thorpe Park have released a statement to Thorpe Park Mania, in regards to Six Flags GA's wing rider and it's first inversion:

 

 

''Hi THORPE PARK Mania fans.

 

We hope you're all excited about the arrival of THE SWARM. We're having great fun building up to its launch and we hope you are too!

 

We wanted to write a little message to you all following the news that Six Flags Great America will also be launching a winged rollercoaster next year very similar to THE SWARM. Some of you may have noticed that when we say it's going to be very similar, it really is going to be VERY similar. When we set about designing and developing our winged coaster we had to make sure it had the THORPE PARK stamp on it. One of the ways we achieved this was by developing the unique inverted dive at the start of the ride that will be sure to kick-off your awesome apocalyptic flight in adrenaline-fuelled style! As you can imagine then, we were quite surprised to see that the new ride at Six Flags will also adopt the 'THORPE PARK Inversion'!

 

While we could be bitter about this, we would actually like to wish Six Flags Great America the best of luck with the 'THORPE PARK Inversion' and we hope that this is a start of things to come, that one day the 'THORPE PARK Inversion' will become famous in the rollercoaster world! We aim high!

 

Thanks again for all your support and we'll see you all at Fright Nights.

 

The THORPE PARK Team''

 

What a ridiculous statement! B&M are just re-using the design and will have suggested it to them, I doubt Six Flags asked for it themselves!

 

Anyway, these things had better be intense and not as forceless as Raptor looks.

[Geauga Dog]

These wing coasters are becoming a pain. First there's the ongoing "first in America" bragging rights and now this. Who cares if X-Flight has the same beginning inversion as Swarm. It's as if Thorpe is acting like a spoiled brat. It would be different if X-Flight was on the same continent.

[Rollercoaster5000]

Merlin normally design their coasters' layouts. What happens is that they design a rough layout and send it off to the manufacturer who can make a few amendments to make the ride safer. This is what happened with Thi3teen anyway (John Wardley mentioned he devised Thi3'teen's layout at the Thi3teen evening and they sent it to Intamin). If Merlin/Thorpe did design the layout then I think they have every right to be upset and throw a hissy fit.. from reading the statement it does sound as though thorpe park designed the layout and added the dive at the start of the ride. Of course if B&M were the designers, then thorpe are being out of order.

[ImmelMatt]

Thorpe Park have released a statement to Thorpe Park Mania, in regards to Six Flags GA's wing rider and it's first inversion:

 

 

''Hi THORPE PARK Mania fans.

 

We hope you're all excited about the arrival of THE SWARM. We're having great fun building up to its launch and we hope you are too!

 

We wanted to write a little message to you all following the news that Six Flags Great America will also be launching a winged rollercoaster next year very similar to THE SWARM. Some of you may have noticed that when we say it's going to be very similar, it really is going to be VERY similar. When we set about designing and developing our winged coaster we had to make sure it had the THORPE PARK stamp on it. One of the ways we achieved this was by developing the unique inverted dive at the start of the ride that will be sure to kick-off your awesome apocalyptic flight in adrenaline-fuelled style! As you can imagine then, we were quite surprised to see that the new ride at Six Flags will also adopt the 'THORPE PARK Inversion'!

 

While we could be bitter about this, we would actually like to wish Six Flags Great America the best of luck with the 'THORPE PARK Inversion' and we hope that this is a start of things to come, that one day the 'THORPE PARK Inversion' will become famous in the rollercoaster world! We aim high!

 

Thanks again for all your support and we'll see you all at Fright Nights.

 

The THORPE PARK Team''

 

Dear Thorpe Park,

 

NO ONE is going to call it the "Thorpe Park Inversion" and this little backhanded hissy fit of yours is incredibly immature. Have faith in your ride. Remember your first drop dive goes under a downed airplane. Does SFGAm do that? No, so stop it.

[B&MIntaminGCI]

I think Flashback should be mad at Thorpe Park for stealing it's signature dive and twist drop that occurs during every part of the ride, if anything.

 

The inverted drop is different on Thorpe anyways, Thorpe's turns left and does a full roll and drops, while Six Flag's just twists right and drops right so it doesn't fully 180* invert.

[Wes]

I think the whole thing is supposed to be a little tongue-in-cheek....you know...british humour.

[RollerCoasterSmi]

Thorpe Park have released a statement to Thorpe Park Mania, in regards to Six Flags GA's wing rider and it's first inversion:

 

 

''Hi THORPE PARK Mania fans.

 

We hope you're all excited about the arrival of THE SWARM. We're having great fun building up to its launch and we hope you are too!

 

We wanted to write a little message to you all following the news that Six Flags Great America will also be launching a winged rollercoaster next year very similar to THE SWARM. Some of you may have noticed that when we say it's going to be very similar, it really is going to be VERY similar. When we set about designing and developing our winged coaster we had to make sure it had the THORPE PARK stamp on it. One of the ways we achieved this was by developing the unique inverted dive at the start of the ride that will be sure to kick-off your awesome apocalyptic flight in adrenaline-fuelled style! As you can imagine then, we were quite surprised to see that the new ride at Six Flags will also adopt the 'THORPE PARK Inversion'!

 

While we could be bitter about this, we would actually like to wish Six Flags Great America the best of luck with the 'THORPE PARK Inversion' and we hope that this is a start of things to come, that one day the 'THORPE PARK Inversion' will become famous in the rollercoaster world! We aim high!

 

Thanks again for all your support and we'll see you all at Fright Nights.

 

The THORPE PARK Team''

 

What a ridiculous statement! B&M are just re-using the design and will have suggested it to them, I doubt Six Flags asked for it themselves!

 

Anyway, these things had better be intense and not as forceless as Raptor looks.

 

Firstly it isn't a ridiculous statement, and from the evidence I see Thorpe should be angry, I would if I was one of the Thorpe team, because I know for one Thorpe really wanted to create something unique in the world and so they created what will probably be an awesome first drop, and now they have been denied this. I think people should hold B&M responsible for this.

 

They are too similar for my liking: they both start off with the same drop, both then have a zero g roll, X Flight has an Immelman and Swarm has an incline, they both then have a corkscrew/zero g type inversion and then an inline twist. Both are about 120 ft. Six Flags Great America asked B&M for a coaster and it seems B&M took Swarm, changed it ever so slightly and gave it to Great America for what: $5-8 million dollars less for a slightly longer coaster (I know theming and lanscaping etc. may make up for some of this).

 

FInally I wish people would stop commenting on how forceless Raptor is, I ever since riding it have been a massive Raptor fan, and I can tell you it is pretty forceful (not on a scale of Nemesis, but significantly more than Air). Raptor is not designed to be forceful, it is designed to be well themed, well paced and unique riding coaster. All of which it superceeds in.

[ImmelMatt]

What a ridiculous statement! B&M are just re-using the design and will have suggested it to them, I doubt Six Flags asked for it themselves!

 

Anyway, these things had better be intense and not as forceless as Raptor looks.

 

Firstly it isn't a ridiculous statement, and from the evidence I see Thorpe should be angry, I would if I was one of the Thorpe team, because I know for one Thorpe really wanted to create something unique in the world and so they created what will probably be an awesome first drop, and now they have been denied this. I think people should hold B&M responsible for this.

 

They are too similar for my liking: they both start off with the same drop, both then have a zero g roll, X Flight has an Immelman and Swarm has an incline, they both then have a corkscrew/zero g type inversion and then an inline twist. Both are about 120 ft. Six Flags Great America asked B&M for a coaster and it seems B&M took Swarm, changed it ever so slightly and gave it to Great America for what: $5-8 million dollars less for a slightly longer coaster (I know theming and lanscaping etc. may make up for some of this).

 

FInally I wish people would stop commenting on how forceless Raptor is, I ever since riding it have been a massive Raptor fan, and I can tell you it is pretty forceful (not on a scale of Nemesis, but significantly more than Air). Raptor is not designed to be forceful, it is designed to be well themed, well paced and unique riding coaster. All of which it superceeds in.

 

As has already been said, X-Flight is an entirely different coaster after the first two inversions. It's not something ever-so-slightly the same as The Swarm. It's also not like this affects Thorpe Park dramatically enough for them to do something like this. They're still the only ride in Europe with that kind of element. What do they care what we're doing across the pond? It's not going to affect their attendance and the lines are still going to be massive for Swarm, just like they will be for X-Flight and Wild Eagle. This is like if CP had complained to Intamin after SFGAdv announced Kingda Ka in 2004, and that actually WAS a case of "we just wanted ours to be more famous than yours".

[TPDave]

Firstly it isn't a ridiculous statement, and from the evidence I see Thorpe should be angry, I would if I was one of the Thorpe team, because I know for one Thorpe really wanted to create something unique in the world and so they created what will probably be an awesome first drop, and now they have been denied this. I think people should hold B&M responsible for this.

 

Hold B&M responsible for what? Being a company that needs to sell products? Using good design elements to win a contract? Thorpe have nothing to be bitter about, they have no IP over the element so they can't be pissed off that another client has chosen to use it.

 

Dave

[yrcrazy]

The 'Thorpe Park Inversion' , I mean seriously WTF.Arrogance