Thorpe Park |"The Swarm"| B&M Wing Coaster

[tks]

I think we'll have to start calling it the "forced landing in a puddle helicopter".

 

[Martyn B]

There's nice pics of the Swarm over at UKRides. Nothing new really, just nice to see it from different angles/areas of the park;

http://www.ukrides.info/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3467

 

[Ethan]

Than Inline <3

 

[D1993]

Im sure they will mess up things a bit.
I mean, the first photo I saw of the helicopter looked completely brand new, but then I also saw photos of it in the water and it had black scorch marks all over it and looked run down.
Im sure this is the case with everything else .....
If I worked at the park, I would just plonk everything down, then run around with a flamethrower and burn things and bash things and get a whole bunch of guys to go around breaking things ...
Haha.....

 

[EnigmaHyena]

I'm gonna be honest, I'm not really losing sleep over how the vehicles look, but the copter would look better if it was positioned in a sort of 'nose-dive angle' (or on it's side) with smashed windows. I'm pretty sure this is a perfect excuse for Thorpe to just neglect it and let it rot so then it'll look more damaged.

Can't wait to see this big tangled wad of B&M track lingering in the skyline in person. Maybe the chavs on the Chav Bus will move on from "Oh my dayz iz dat Stelf?!" to "Oh mah dayz bruv iz dat da coaster dat cutz ur armz off?!" when the bus pulls into the car park...

 

[Danzibarr]

There's nice pics of the Swarm over at UKRides. Nothing new really, just nice to see it from different angles/areas of the park;

http://www.ukrides.info/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3467

I was on the tour with UKrides, and I've gotta say that after being pretty sceptical from seeing pics before hand, I was majorly impressed with how it's looking. The plane looks far less 'plonked' in person and the fire engine looks like it's gunna be an interesting near miss, especially with the fire and water effects on/behind it. I'm excited now!

We weren't allowed to take pics close up to it, although here's a cheeky zoom.



Other bits that were confirmed:
- The brake under the wing is a trim but is likely not to be used. B&M install it as a precaution, and it operates if it detects the train is travelling too fast, although so far it's not been kicked into action at all throughout any of the testing.
- The station isn't having a roof so will be open to the elements.
- When it opens, it will double the total number of 'effects' used in total throughout the park. Fire, water and smoke are all being used (although we already knew that?).. And as a sidetrack, Tidal Wave's fire effect won't be running again this year, but they've done some work to the structure and hope to have it running again in 2013.
- They're hoping for 1100/1200 pph on Swarm (apparently Raptor gets about 700pph), and will run two trains 'hopefully' all year.
- You won't get the choice of right/left riding, the queue will be managed in a similar way to Air.
- They've opted for a front row queue as opposed to a single rider.

Lots of other interesting facts throughout the day, including the fact that Colossus was originally planned for Chessington but they couldn't get the planning permission.

And the most exciting/devasting news of the day was finding out that Saw was originally planned to be a GCI woodie. To make it worse we got to see the plans, it looked fantastic. Station fly-by and fly-under, a tunnel shared with the flume and millennium flyers! It was shelved when Merlin took over. The man showing us around suggested that Tussauds were more about quality attractions and that when it switched to Merlin they had more of a "Let's get rides in quickly" attitude. Hence we got Saw. Boo.

 

[Smithy]

Pissed at not getting a choice at which side to ride, the two experiences must differ massively and I'm not wasting an hour at a time queuing and then hoping to get on the right side.

 

[peep]

^Possibly, it really depends on how busy it'll get. But if it means it works in the same way Raptor's queue works then it should work out ok, as long as the section where it splits is of a decent width so single riders etc can squeeze through.

I reckon all the wingrider queues will work like this.

 

[Danzibarr]

^Possibly, it really depends on how busy it'll get. But if it means it works in the same way Raptor's queue works then it should work out ok, as long as the section where it splits is of a decent width so single riders etc can squeeze through.

I reckon all the wingrider queues will work like this.

No single riders on this one. Just a front row queue.

 

[oriolat2]

^Possibly, it really depends on how busy it'll get. But if it means it works in the same way Raptor's queue works then it should work out ok, as long as the section where it splits is of a decent width so single riders etc can squeeze through.

I reckon all the wingrider queues will work like this.

No single riders on this one. Just a front row queue.

That, I don't like. A single rider line can do wonders to any coaster (in terms of capacity).

 

[bob_3_]

You sure it's not just gonna be like air? Where only one side will operate a single rider queue?

It's not the best as people queuing for single rider will see empty seats go on the other side (you'll notice this frustration if you ever experience a long single rider queue on air,) but it.s just not fresable to incorporate a split, esspecially if you have to consider there'll also be a disabled entrance, fastpass/priority entrance etc.

We'll see how it pans out i guess and these kind of desicions are subject to change based on feedback from guests and ride attendants who will have to deal with disgruntled single riders everyday.

I'd imagine a big backlash, esspecially if every other ride in the park has a plade for single riders. Feel sorry for the ride staff who will get the force of it, when its not their fault.

 

[Rob]

^ Single rider on air should work efficiently, if you have ever noticed, even number groups go to station 2, odd number groups go to station 1, so, the side with even numbers, ever seat is filled, the side with odd numbers, all the spare seats are there. Obviously this forumlae is a load of crap, as any group of 3 and group of 5 together fill all seats, and, it also means that if you come in an odd number group, you get a shorter queue time, as station 1's queue is shorter.

As for the split station, I take it the Intamin Wing Rider central hub that can be walked over does not exist on B&M's? This is kinda a pain for loading then, I forsee badly managed queues ahead, I mean, dual loading on Saw is cocked up at the best of times....


And sorry, just had to pick up on this:

When it opens, it will double the total number of 'effects' used in total throughout the park.

....so double 0 is?

 

[SaiyanHajime]

^Possibly, it really depends on how busy it'll get. But if it means it works in the same way Raptor's queue works then it should work out ok, as long as the section where it splits is of a decent width so single riders etc can squeeze through.

I reckon all the wingrider queues will work like this.

No single riders on this one. Just a front row queue.

Peep just meant that when they call for "any 1's?" down the queue, there's enough room for them to get past.

 

[Ben]

^ Single rider on air should work efficiently, if you have ever noticed, even number groups go to station 2, odd number groups go to station 1, so, the side with even numbers, ever seat is filled, the side with odd numbers, all the spare seats are there. Obviously this forumlae is a load of crap, as any group of 3 and group of 5 together fill all seats, and, it also means that if you come in an odd number group, you get a shorter queue time, as station 1's queue is shorter.

In ten years, I have literally never seen them do this at the split. Ever. It's always just a load of people to the left, a load on the right. So, either you're like, wrong, or it's so infrequent we can just pretend it doesn't happen.

I think it's a bit gash you can't choose the side, but, 99% of people won't CARE, so, I'm sure if you ask, they'll let you go down a certain side.

 

[oriolat2]

I think it's a bit gash you can't choose the side, but, 99% of people won't CARE, so, I'm sure if you ask, they'll let you go down a certain side.

People won't care the first time they ride. But once they are done with one side they are likely to be eager to try to the other one.

 

[dominoes]

I don't really mind which side I go. I know there is a "good" side, but as long as I go on both sides, then I'm happy. Choosing which side wouldn't have been practical (probably).

 

[Ben]

I think it's a bit gash you can't choose the side, but, 99% of people won't CARE, so, I'm sure if you ask, they'll let you go down a certain side.

People won't care the first time they ride. But once they are done with one side they are likely to be eager to try to the other one.

... really?

Have you seen the sort of people that go to Thorpe?

The GP will hardly realise there's a difference between sides (lets face it, there won't be THAT huge a different)

 

[nadroJ]

I don't understand how you wouldn't be able to choose though? Like UC said, the queue has to split at some point because of how the trains/seats sit off of the track. So surely you can actively choose which side you want to ride? Or am I missing some crucial detail here? Maybe they meant that there wouldn't be two completely separate queues for each side of the train or something? I don't know, I just assumed it would work the same as on Raptor.

 

[tks]

On Raptor the queue guy directed you to one side or the other, presumably to even out loading and stop overcrowding on one side of the train.

I don't see a problem in being told where to sit. The ride isn't going anywhere for some time so there's plenty of time to try to the different sides, back/front etc.

 

[EnigmaHyena]

I think it's a bit gash you can't choose the side, but, 99% of people won't CARE, so, I'm sure if you ask, they'll let you go down a certain side.

People won't care the first time they ride. But once they are done with one side they are likely to be eager to try to the other one.

... really?

Have you seen the sort of people that go to Thorpe?

The GP will hardly realise there's a difference between sides (lets face it, there won't be THAT huge a different)

This.

I don't think I've ever heard anyone at any theme park I've been to say anything about sides/seats/rows...perhaps a few chavs bragging about riding Stealth front row at most.

Obviously we'll be able to choose where we sit during the sensible time, i.e. midweek when it's DEAD.