Thorpe Park | Hyperia | Mack Hyper Coaster | 2024

[witchfinder]

Or maybe it's just to ensure they sell more walks for the other rides too.

The cynic in me says it's this. You shouldn't have to prove you have the courage for it by doing a shorter ride first. Ultimately they aren't going to refund you if you bottle out anyway, so it shouldn't matter if you've done something like that previously or not.

 

[Dar]

So, assuming you've been struck with inspiration and an insatiable desire to climb Hyperia's lift with no previous climbs and no pass, you're looking at almost £280 for the climb!
Hyperia lift - £120
Colossus/Swarm lift - £56 (with a pass)
Thorpe silver annual pass - £99

I admire their skill in plucking a perceived value out of thin air, and not only have it stick, but have desperate thoosies defend their right to get fleeced!

The really sad part is that I'd almost definitely be willing to pay £120 to climb Silver Star, Voltron, or get a tour of Taron or Fly, but merlin have so thoroughly value engineered their offering that I already feel wrung dry just from walking in the gate and don't want to give them any more money after!

 

[JoshC.]

When the park put out a "register your interest" sign up for Hyperia coaster climbs, the response was huge. I've been made aware that if everyone who responded to that ended up actively choosing to do it, there would be a 4.5 year waiting list.

So a mixture of a high price, some form of pre-requirement plus needing an Annual Pass takes the potential load off of needing a waiting list, which would probably have been met with a worst reaction than what's currently happened. Maybe those 3 things were a little unnecessary, maybe the price is a tad too high, but the park put those measures in place to allow a smooth introduction to the VIP extra.

I expect that at some point, they'll loosen those prerequisites, and maybe tweak the price (in the mid-term future) so the jump between other climbs and Hyperia's is not quite so steep.

I also know they had some concerns that if people did Hyperia as their first climb, they might freak out, not be physically fit enough, etc. Seems a bit overkill given Blackpool don't require it for Big One, but I wonder if that's just Merlin's H&S at play

 

[Nicky Borrill]

When the park put out a "register your interest" sign up for Hyperia coaster climbs, the response was huge. I've been made aware that if everyone who responded to that ended up actively choosing to do it, there would be a 4.5 year waiting list.

So a mixture of a high price, some form of pre-requirement plus needing an Annual Pass takes the potential load off of needing a waiting list, which would probably have been met with a worst reaction than what's currently happened. Maybe those 3 things were a little unnecessary, maybe the price is a tad too high, but the park put those measures in place to allow a smooth introduction to the VIP extra.

I expect that at some point, they'll loosen those prerequisites, and maybe tweak the price (in the mid-term future) so the jump between other climbs and Hyperia's is not quite so steep.

I also know they had some concerns that if people did Hyperia as their first climb, they might freak out, not be physically fit enough, etc. Seems a bit overkill given Blackpool don't require it for Big One, but I wonder if that's just Merlin's H&S at play

I don't have an issue with their prices. If we don't like the price we don't have to pay it. If there's a high demand for it still, at this price, I'd put it up further myself.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not paying it, not something I want to do enough to spend £120 on it, but I'd never look down my nose at anybody that does. I can guarantee we 'all' spend money on things that others would consider a waste! Instead, I'll waste my money on fast tracks the next time the park is busier than I expected.

 

[Jamesss]

How many days per week are they doing these climbs?

Because if there is such demand, surely they should be running them as close to every day as they can.

 

[JoshC.]

How many days per week are they doing these climbs?

Because if there is such demand, surely they should be running them as close to every day as they can.

They are running them as often as they can. There's no exact number as it fits around the engineering schedules for the ride, which vary, plus them doing VIP experiences elsewhere.

I know at some points, they're doing 2 a week, other weeks, they simply can't offer it. But they haven't artificially reduced the number on offer

 

[Graeme]

I also know they had some concerns that if people did Hyperia as their first climb, they might freak out, not be physically fit enough, etc. Seems a bit overkill given Blackpool don't require it for Big One, but I wonder if that's just Merlin's H&S at play

It might be the steepness as well. The Big One is 30-degrees, whereas Hyperia is apparently 47-. Makes a big difference even when you're just sitting in the trains, and would probably be quite a lot more difficult to climb on foot.

 

[spicy]

Yeah it’s a clever way of basically asking if you are fit enough to be able to do it without asking any awkward questions whilst potentially selling a few extra climbs in the process.