Seeing as I'm first back, I'll kick off the report.
It was hammering down with rain on arrival. I joined the queue for Annual Pass renewals at 09:15. Half an hour later after moving about 20 places, I decided to opt out and do it at lunch time.
Our first port of call was Storm Surge, the new ride.
I think the ride looks temporary and out of place place where it is. Maybe once they've finished doing all the ground work, it will look better.
The queue for it was enormous already, so we took a few photos and headed to Inferno.
First breakdown of the day occurred as we were in the station. There was a problem with the front row restraints. 10 mins later, the ride was operational again.
Aside from the rusty dripping water ruining my "posh" coat (and Thorpe's excellent customer services agreed to pay for the dry cleaning), the ride was superb in the rain. It glided through the track like a hot knife through butter. Really enjoyable ride.
Met up with Ewan and Jack at this point. Good to see Jack again, it's been a long time! Mysterious Sue also arrived.
Stealth was next, which I sat out so I could take a few photos and video. I meet Tim at this point. We wandered around the park snapping away. We bumped into Erol which was a lovely surprise.
At lunch, a few of us tried the kebabs. They were delicious. I really recommend them. Whenever Vadge and I have lunch together, she ends up crying. This was no different - "Cup o' Soup" was the highlight. We also stacked up our kebab boxes which was childish.
Vadge and I tried to renew our Annual Passes at the AP hut, but the queue was still enormous. We then queued fro 30mins inside the dome and got ours there. Again, a long queue. They could have sped it up by asking people to fill out the forms as they queued. However, I now own a Premium Pass. Go me! Oh, and the family in front of us each have a photo of me in the background of their Annual Passes :lol:
We met up again at Storm Surge, which now had a monstrous 90 min queue. We avoid it.
New ride or not, it's not worth a 90 min queue, so we tried out the Saw Alive maze.
I found it rather scary, well jumpy. The content wasn't scary, but the jumping out was. I was leading the group so I must have shat myself about 5 times. It's ok, I guess but not something I'm in any hurry to do again.
Saw had broken down at this point, as had Colossus. Slammer was next up, which I sat out. Willy was pushed by Stone Cold in the bushes much to everybody's amusement. The rain at last had started to relent. Colossus and Saw were operating by the time the others had finished on Slammer.
I'm getting a bit mixed up here, but I think we did Rush. Great ride and one of my top three flat rides in the UK.
A couple of people rode Colossus. Me, Vadge, Willy and Stone Cold minced about instead calling Mysterious Sue's voicemail about 10 times.
We also did X:/No Way Out because Leigh (A-Kid) was opping. I found a mobile phone which I handed in, how honest of me! XNWO had the lights on which was a first for me. I really enjoyed it with the lights on but only for the novelty factor. It's still a turdy coaster.
Finally the group split up. One lot went to ride Stealth, the others did Loggers. I went to guest services to hand in the phone and bitch about my coat.
It was FAR too busy at the park today, I know everybody is excited about the new season and want to get their fix, but the park seemed under prepared. From what I was told, the newly-trained Colossus staff were only running it to half capacity. The staff I did interact with were friendly and polite as usual.
Several of the food shops were shut - Crust, KFC, Fish & Chips, Burger King near Slammer, as were a couple of the smaller outlets. The queue in the Glasshouse/360 bar was out of the door and take a look at this queue for the snack shop near Colossus.
Breakdowns did occur but they were sporadic and not down for long. Samurai was closed for most, if not all, of the day. Tidal Wave wasn't open. Inferno, Colossus, Saw all suffered from temporary breakdowns. I also heard that Storm Surge had broken down but didn't see it with my own eyes.
From what I heard (and yes, it is hearsay), that they were expecting 6,000 today and 10,000 turned up. I think that these events should be pass holders only, no guests. The park was simply too busy and unprepared to cope. The annual pass queue outside at 5pm was still massive.
All in all, it was a good day. I enjoyed the rides I went on and it was great to catch up with fellow CFers. I don't think I'll rush back to Thorpe if it's likely to be that busy again. I enjoy the park more when it's quiet and less stressful.
It was hammering down with rain on arrival. I joined the queue for Annual Pass renewals at 09:15. Half an hour later after moving about 20 places, I decided to opt out and do it at lunch time.
Our first port of call was Storm Surge, the new ride.
I think the ride looks temporary and out of place place where it is. Maybe once they've finished doing all the ground work, it will look better.
The queue for it was enormous already, so we took a few photos and headed to Inferno.
First breakdown of the day occurred as we were in the station. There was a problem with the front row restraints. 10 mins later, the ride was operational again.
Aside from the rusty dripping water ruining my "posh" coat (and Thorpe's excellent customer services agreed to pay for the dry cleaning), the ride was superb in the rain. It glided through the track like a hot knife through butter. Really enjoyable ride.
Met up with Ewan and Jack at this point. Good to see Jack again, it's been a long time! Mysterious Sue also arrived.
Stealth was next, which I sat out so I could take a few photos and video. I meet Tim at this point. We wandered around the park snapping away. We bumped into Erol which was a lovely surprise.
At lunch, a few of us tried the kebabs. They were delicious. I really recommend them. Whenever Vadge and I have lunch together, she ends up crying. This was no different - "Cup o' Soup" was the highlight. We also stacked up our kebab boxes which was childish.
Vadge and I tried to renew our Annual Passes at the AP hut, but the queue was still enormous. We then queued fro 30mins inside the dome and got ours there. Again, a long queue. They could have sped it up by asking people to fill out the forms as they queued. However, I now own a Premium Pass. Go me! Oh, and the family in front of us each have a photo of me in the background of their Annual Passes :lol:
We met up again at Storm Surge, which now had a monstrous 90 min queue. We avoid it.
New ride or not, it's not worth a 90 min queue, so we tried out the Saw Alive maze.
I found it rather scary, well jumpy. The content wasn't scary, but the jumping out was. I was leading the group so I must have shat myself about 5 times. It's ok, I guess but not something I'm in any hurry to do again.
Saw had broken down at this point, as had Colossus. Slammer was next up, which I sat out. Willy was pushed by Stone Cold in the bushes much to everybody's amusement. The rain at last had started to relent. Colossus and Saw were operating by the time the others had finished on Slammer.
I'm getting a bit mixed up here, but I think we did Rush. Great ride and one of my top three flat rides in the UK.
A couple of people rode Colossus. Me, Vadge, Willy and Stone Cold minced about instead calling Mysterious Sue's voicemail about 10 times.
We also did X:/No Way Out because Leigh (A-Kid) was opping. I found a mobile phone which I handed in, how honest of me! XNWO had the lights on which was a first for me. I really enjoyed it with the lights on but only for the novelty factor. It's still a turdy coaster.
Finally the group split up. One lot went to ride Stealth, the others did Loggers. I went to guest services to hand in the phone and bitch about my coat.
It was FAR too busy at the park today, I know everybody is excited about the new season and want to get their fix, but the park seemed under prepared. From what I was told, the newly-trained Colossus staff were only running it to half capacity. The staff I did interact with were friendly and polite as usual.
Several of the food shops were shut - Crust, KFC, Fish & Chips, Burger King near Slammer, as were a couple of the smaller outlets. The queue in the Glasshouse/360 bar was out of the door and take a look at this queue for the snack shop near Colossus.
Breakdowns did occur but they were sporadic and not down for long. Samurai was closed for most, if not all, of the day. Tidal Wave wasn't open. Inferno, Colossus, Saw all suffered from temporary breakdowns. I also heard that Storm Surge had broken down but didn't see it with my own eyes.
From what I heard (and yes, it is hearsay), that they were expecting 6,000 today and 10,000 turned up. I think that these events should be pass holders only, no guests. The park was simply too busy and unprepared to cope. The annual pass queue outside at 5pm was still massive.
All in all, it was a good day. I enjoyed the rides I went on and it was great to catch up with fellow CFers. I don't think I'll rush back to Thorpe if it's likely to be that busy again. I enjoy the park more when it's quiet and less stressful.
![P1030[01]_13-03-11.jpg](http://www.coasterforce.com/nic/P1030[01]_13-03-11.jpg)
![P1032[01]_13-03-11.jpg](http://www.coasterforce.com/nic/P1032[01]_13-03-11.jpg)
![P1029[01]_13-03-11.jpg](http://www.coasterforce.com/nic/P1029[01]_13-03-11.jpg)
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