I just have had a crazy idea that Storm Surge has been placed in the wrong area. I think they should of put Storm Surge right next to Depth Charge and get rid of Neptune's Beach and Wet and Wild. This could have lead to Depth Charge having a refurbishment and have theme of sliding down a mountain with the submarine on top (like Typhoon Lagoon). Additionally they could of themed Storm Surge the same so that it doesn't look bare. It could have been so much better and they could of left X to be more inviting to customers and left more room for another family ride.

I totally agree. A little theming would not go amiss, especially if it was blended in to hide that ugly scaffolding like support structure. This,at help wig the agonizingly boring lift hill climb that takes longer than the actual ride.

Storm Surge needs to go. It was an absolutely hideous addition to the park (water ride in Britain?! ) and looks completely out of place. It baffles me why the park even purchased it anyway. It deserves to be on the scrap heap.

In the last ten years as they grow and develop  merlin stopped caring about theming and guest experience. Look at the newer dungeons, the theming looks so false. Storm surge caters for family audiences which means more potential for the park to increase profits.

From a perspective of the park, it is a large ride and the demand for it is huge, it often has 45 min queue on a fairly quiet day, so if people are prepared to queue up that long for it, then it is popular. I wouldn't even queue up for most coasters of 45 mins!

bensaund wrote:

From a perspective of the park, it is a large ride and the demand for it is huge, it often has 45 min queue on a fairly quiet day, so if people are prepared to queue up that long for it, then it is popular. I wouldn't even queue up for most coasters of 45 mins!

I've queued over an hour for storm surge (not intentionally) and I agree it may not be the best, but certainly attracts a queue

jackandylan123 wrote:

Ilovecoasters wrote:

bensaund wrote:

From a perspective of the park, it is a large ride and the demand for it is huge, it often has 45 min queue on a fairly quiet day, so if people are prepared to queue up that long for it, then it is popular. I wouldn't even queue up for most coasters of 45 mins!

I've queued over an hour for storm surge (not intentionally) and I agree it may not be the best, but certainly attracts a queue

it doesn't really attract a queue, it just has a horrendously low throughput…

It has a capacity of about 700 riders per hour.

That means in a 90 minute queue, there are still about 1000 people in the queue. It has a low throughput, but people still queue even if it is long ...

I voted for storm surge, although it's a new ride, I think it's an awful ride. The ride has an awful capacity and always has a slow moving massive que. I feel that the ride has been miss placed as it's in the middle of the park and just looks a mess. I think it would of looked better at one of the edges of the park.

Although I do think that Slammer will be the next thing to leave in the next couple of years because of it's down time and unpopularity, I really hope it doesn't! Slammer is one of my if not my favorite flat ride in the park. I love it how I can just ride it any time of the day because it never really has a que. When the ride is open the ride has hardly any downtime throughout the day compared to some of the other rides in the park. It's just unfortunate that when the ride has problems, it has major problems taking it ages for Thorpe to get parts for the ride.

Ilovecoasters wrote:

Family rides:
Loggers leap
Tidal Wave
Storm Surge
Depth Charge
Rumba Rapids
X
Quantum
Teacups
Flying Fish

There's plenty for all at thorpe lets keep it that way

Not great if it's cold and you don't want to spend the day constantly soaked. Tidal Wave is also too tall for lots of people.

I voted for Zodiac. I don't know why but I feel it just doesn't fit in with the 'Nations Thrill Capital' slogan.

altontowerscrazy wrote:

I voted for Zodiac. I don't know why but I feel it just doesn't fit in with the 'Nations Thrill Capital' slogan.

Totally agree with you there. These rides were surely thrilling and exciting back in the day when they were installed, probably at the height of technology. They're ok as family rides but they certainly don't fit in the modern theme park. At least Thorpe Park has hidden enterprise behind greenery and bushes unlike Alton Towers where it's stuck between two great rollercoasters....

I always thought TP was aimed at young adults, hence "nations thrill capital". I remember reading in the Tidal Wave that Samurai came from CWOA on a trade because they wanted CWOA to be aimed at families at TP for young adults. That's why I voted Depth Charge, boring, old and waste of space. Families aren't going to go TP, they will travel 2 mins further to Legoland.

If TP need to have rides for the young uns then the new island should be for young children and then clear out all the space were depth charge is for a new amazing coaster, first impressions and everything.

First reaction to your idea of a kid's island:
"That sounds brilliant"
Then I thought:
"But it will just end up being the horrible part of the park where the old rides go to die"

I'm not trashing your idea, just saying what will happen to it with Thorpe in control.

A family island might start off great, preferably with a total refurb of Neptune's Beach, Depth Charge living there, and a family coaster if it fits.

Here's my problem:

They have this land that they made and never intend to refurbish, and a decent family attraction that's been left in the main park (Quantum for example) starts to get rough and rusty. Instead of getting a nice new one, Thorpe dump it in the kid's land and stick a shop in it's place.

Also, it's worth thinking that even thrillseekers who go to Thorpe still go on Depth Charge if there's not too much of a queue

Ilovecoasters wrote:

First reaction to your idea of a kid's island:
"That sounds brilliant"
Then I thought:
"But it will just end up being the horrible part of the park where the old rides go to die"

I'm not trashing your idea, just saying what will happen to it with Thorpe in control.

A family island might start off great, preferably with a total refurb of Neptune's Beach, Depth Charge living there, and a family coaster if it fits.

Here's my problem:

They have this land that they made and never intend to refurbish, and a decent family attraction that's been left in the main park (Quantum for example) starts to get rough and rusty. Instead of getting a nice new one, Thorpe dump it in the kid's land and stick a shop in it's place.

Also, it's worth thinking that even thrillseekers who go to Thorpe still go on Depth Charge if there's not too much of a queue

Thats true, Thinking about it , it would get kinda neglected as its off the main park.

Its reasons like this that ive always said, Alton Towers is my favourite theme park, but Thorpe has the better rides. With the exception of Swarms island, the park doesnt have the look and atmosphere of AT (and I hate the layout), but it does have the rides to make up for it, and being the adrenaline junkie I am, I would choose Thorpe is given the choice (Although haven't been of The Smiler yet  which looks like it could easily compete with Thorpes rides, well maybe not Stealth)

The problem with Thorpe is is doesn't have the right balance, they went from family to thrills in a very short space of time. Now they are trying to do somewhere in the middle.

So saying "Zodiac was good in its day" is true, but it is still good for younger guests who are only 1.2 and can't go on anything else at the park. As for depth charge, I only went on it last year for the first time and it was such fun, I have not enjoyed myself so much in ages, maybe because I came down so fast I didn't stop on the mat at the end and hit the fence.

It is down to personal preference, I know the Banana boat is rubbish compared to the one at Chessington, but I have been on it loads of times when with younger people who don't want thrills. This is an example of how the balance at Thorpe is so far off, people only want the big rides and nothing else.

One day last summer on one of the hottest days of the year (Saturday), I had two children to take out for the day, one of them was only 1.2. Did I got to Legoland and join the 2 hour queues? Chessington for their 90 mins queues?

No I took them to Thorpe. We got there at 10:
-X 2 times
-Zodiac X 2
-Tea cups
-Flying fish X 3
-Rumba
-Banana boat
-Loggers X 2
-Quantum X 2
-Storm surge
-Rocky express
-Would have done Tidal but it was on a 2 hour queue

Filled up our drinks capsules 3 times, had chips for lunch and left the park by 2PM and I spent less than a fiver + petrol.

No way on a busy day would I take younger kids to Legoland or Chessington, many people forget that Thorpe does have a reasonable good selection of family rides, but they are forgotten because of the bigger rides.

The ride to remove is depth charge. Removing all that space would make room for a nice big coaster. Afterall that was a possible plan for the location of saw. Not only that but is really old out of place terrible through put and basically a big slide.

sw7nutter wrote:

The ride to remove is depth charge. Removing all that space would make room for a nice big coaster. Afterall that was a possible plan for the location of saw. Not only that but is really old out of place terrible through put and basically a big slide.

I know thrillseekers would like a nice, large coaster right at the front in place of Depth Charge, but I might point out that Thorpe Park have spare space on islands to use up on coasters before such a thing is necessary.

However I agree that someday it will happen.

I love depth charge!

Depth Charge is more of a sign of where Thorpe Park used to be. They are trying to market it as a place for thrills, so you expect Thrill rides. I also feel that they made a bad choice in putting  Storm Surge in the park. It is kind of pointless considering they have Rumba Rapids. But saying that and having a chance to look at things more, Maybe Depth Charge shouldn't go. Flying Fish is still in the park and to be honest, i still ride that every time i go in the park. I can't actually imagine Thorpe Park without Flying Fish