How fast are Thorpe Park's operations?

How fast are Thorpe Park's operations? We timed all 5 of the park's major roller coasters to see how long it took each train to leave the station. In this video, we analyse the operations at Thorpe Park by comparing the ride's theoretical capacity with its real world capacity, gathered by timing each ride.
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VIDEO TIMELINE
00:00 Introduction
00:42 The Swarm
02:04 Colossus
03:02 Stealth
03:59 Saw: The Ride
05:05 Nemesis Inferno
05:51 Recap
07:06 Thorpe Park VS Alton Towers
08:15 Conclusion

[@Fishul]

"let's start with the park's newest roller coaster, The Swarm opened to guests in 2012" :^ )

[@coasterbot]

Yep ha ha

[@KubabHelped]

of course!

[@Tommo1983ful]

I know, absolute joke. What they playing at. I won't be going again until a new coaster l.

[@Gruff.]

If you feel sad that thorpe hasn't put a coaster in for 8 years you should fell even sadder for chessington for not having a new coaster for around 17 years

[@realpandagaming8762]

@@Gruff. well I mean the train was changed to scorpion express in 2014 but that’s not a new coaster technically

[@Simba-mg6jc]

It is worth noting that in 2017 Colossus had to be re-programmed so that it no longer has a rolling block station and Intamin’s projected capacity was only calculated for when it opened which did have the rolling block station. - I believe the park’s actual target throughput for Colossus is 1,000 guests an hour, which is a lot more realistic than Intamin, but also more realistic with the reprogramming.

[@rollercoasterman8114]

what is a rolling block station? I've never heard of them before.

[@joshuaellisakass122]

@@rollercoasterman8114 yeah neither I wanna know now

[@joshuaellisakass122]

What’s a rolling station?

[@ironagent45]

@@joshuaellisakass122 Basically its when the train in the station and the train waiting on the brake run or off-load station move forwards at the same time. Usually the train in the station will have to move out onto the lift hill before the over train can move. Instead, in a rolling block set-up, both trains move forward at the same time allowing for faster load times. Its one of those things that's really hard to explain in text form but when you see an animation it makes sense.

[@joshuaellisakass122]

@@ironagent45 so kinda like a spinball wizzer and dragons fury?

[@TheDutchRevolution]

Damn that transition at 08:06 is sweet, very well done!

[@coasterbot]

Thank you! 👌

[@harveyb1963]

With Thorpe being such a flat ride heavy park, I think a look into the operations of the parks major flats would also make a pretty cool video. I'm bigging myself up slightly because I am absolute lightning when I host Rush

[@Matt-op1zd]

Thorpe Park has shocking operations. I went on Monday last week, everything was packed and I thought it was really poorly managed. I decided out of curiosity to time Colossus’ dispatch. 6 minutes 26 seconds on my one ride because it hurt my head too much to ride again 😂😂

[@m1rockster562]

Would be interesting to see a repeat of this at different time of the year. Especially during fright nights when rides like colossus and inferno have 4 staff kn the load platform

[@coasterbot]

I agree that would be cool! :)

[@ollieocrouch324]

I actually really like these videos. I thought I wouldn’t going in but it’s fascinating to actually possible gain a bit of respect for ride crews as I often just sulk the lines too long

[@coasterbot]

Thanks that means a lot. Yeah ride crews deserve a lot of respect! :)

[@lazlostuff]

whats interesting is how much this differs to taylor's video on the same subject back in 2018, generally the times were a bit better than the ones in this video. i hear a lot of people say that thorpe park can be hit or miss, which is probably true for a lot of parks anyway. great video btw!

[@Lukas_Kramer]

Looking forward to the Europapark version of this :-P

[@coasterbot]

Me too, I'd love to make that video!

[@123Nickfish]

Nah, video would be too short xD

[@JamiesonComedy]

What an utterly phenomenally well put together video. Great job, the effort put in along with the graphics are incredibly impressive.

[@coasterbot]

Thank you that really means a lot. I'm super happy with the way this one turned out :)

[@JamiesonComedy]

@@coasterbot A brilliant series and each one will enhance the next.

[@ashtonmurphy6754]

Been waiting for this and it’s a good time because I’m going to Thorpe park soon

[@coasterbot]

Have a great time, thanks for watching :)

[@ashtonmurphy6754]

@@coasterbot thank you 😊

[@theme_parkmad]

Loving these operation videos, they’re very interesting to see and find out how quick the queue actually moves 🎢

[@themedup5961]

Haven’t watched it yet but when I was there it was crap for operations

[@coasterbot]

It can be hit and miss for sure.

[@iceandfood3570]

For me it was a average of 7 mins 6 seconds timed 3 trains throughout the day also running 1 train

[@AmityAmaan]

Love this video as Thorpe Park is my home park, this was really informative, thank you!

[@mcfly824]

Let's be honest, Thorpe park's operations are shocking. For the main amusement park of the UK's capital city, nemesis and colossus have regularly been on one train ops on busy days, and they aren't maintenance-heavy rides that cause downtime. The past few times that I have been are under different crowd levels, yet the queue times were 70+ for all major rides with frequent downtime. Thorpe really needs to get their act together if people can't ride 6 rides for £50 in a 7 hour day, even with perfect timing.

[@george5924]

The amount of people that went back when Harry said "Does Stealth" when they thought he said "The Stealth" just me? ok.

[@maxplays8185]

Nope it was me as well

[@willshimmons6516]

This video is everything I needed today! Thanks Harry

[@coasterbot]

No worries, thanks for watching :)

[@Tommo1983ful]

I went to towers the other week, was blown away at hour good the operations were.... Good job guys.

[@Themepark_hannah]

I love this series

[@coasterbot]

Thank you! :)

[@me-myself-i787]

3:40 A ride as short as Stealth should not take so long to cycle. I'm glad Thorpe has improved this stuff in recent years. Today, the queues were all really short (except Ghost Train). I'm not sure if this is due to great operations or low attendance. It is insane that back then, Thorpe Park's operators achieved a capacity on the park's biggest rides comparable to the theoretical maximum capacities of S&S Freespins or RMC Raptors. This is the biggest thrill park near the biggest city in the world's 5th largest economy. It's good that they're stepping up their game.

[@CurvedGD]

Coaster bot’s fore head is big “Video needs knowledge” Coaster bot: “it’s big brain time”

[@randombeans]

Love your videos! I clicked so fast on this video!

[@coasterbot]

Thanks that means a lot :)

[@ManhattanNL535]

These dispatch times, my heart xD. Gonna be fun when I ever visit thorpe park xD

[@kronckers]

I think it'd be good to get a large sample set, say multiple samples of each ride in the same day, and then again a few days over the year. This would give you good average figures and reduce any biases from day to day delays or how busy the park is on a certain day. This way you could accurately compare parks. I'd also suggest a second percentage made from more realistic theoretical figures, them you could reduce biases from Manufacturers quoting entirely innaccurate estimates (looking at you Intamin). The series is excellent so far and I'd love to see what it could become with many samples of data over many visits to create extremely accurate figures :)

[@coasterbot]

Thanks for the kind words. It would be great to get a much larger sample set. As you said, perhaps batches of 10 throughout the day on a handful of days throughout the year. Sadly it's not that practical, especially for a simple video like this ha ha. Merlin have the capacity data for their rides on an hourly basis, so doing something super accurate seems pointless in a way. I do want to work on a better system for theoretical figures, but it's pretty hard to gauge what 'good' operations should be when rides are so different.

[@keithtempleman705]

Can you do one on Chessington World of Adventures? Vampire, Dragon's Fury and Rattlesnake?

[@coasterbot]

I'll consider it in the future - it would be an interesting video for sure!

[@mcrclaire]

Colossus' tight trains really destroy those ops. In my last few visits I've never seen a train dispatch without people being removed first. 🙃

[@coasterbot]

Yeah the Colossus trains are terrible

[@petermc7098]

Hello There, this was a great operations video and it was a great to see a decent as well as thorough and we'll detailed analysis of the theoretical capacity and comparing it to the real world capacity of operations. Cheers Peter :-)

[@coasterbot]

Thanks Peter, that means a lot. I'm glad you're enjoying it :)

[@petermc7098]

@@coasterbot Hello There, you're welcome, well deserved. Cheers Peter :)

[@petermc7098]

​@@coasterbothello there, you should definitely do some of this video series again, especially now that Project Exodus is opening up next year and the good thing is single rider queues are being introduced to "Saw" and "Stealth", the operations have improved now. Hopefully you can do some more UK and European as well as worldwide theme parks. Cheers Peter :⁠-⁠)

[@petermc7098]

@coasterbot P.S. where's the link to the Liserberg operations Video?

[@petermc7098]

You should definitely do one for Chessington too as it would be an interesting comparison.

[@TheWolfXCIX]

The pacing on this video is much better than the Alton Towers one, good work. Love the comparisons at the end too.

[@coasterbot]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! :)

[@Nerdchacho]

Incredibly interesting. I know some-one in Continuous Improvement that would be interested in this....

[@bandmfanboy]

What I learned today: Thorpe Park gets no new coasters. What I reconfirmed: B&M has great operations and Intamin keeps overpromising.

[@coasterbot]

Legit

[@basictransportenthusiast4386]

Oh sick, Coaster Studios brought back operations videos

[@coasterbot]

Hi, yes, Coaster Studios here

[@zakb5757]

Is this off ride footage shot by you? It’s very high quality. If it is, what camera setup do you use?

[@adamm981]

I was recently at Thorpe park and operations were quite lacklustre. I found that staff were quite slow at directing people and loading guests, still had a great time despite this though!

[@KundenZentrale]

great video! way better than the ones off CS. how many trains where meassured for each coaster?

[@coasterbot]

Thanks! There were 2 in Colossus, Nemesis Inferno, the Swarm and Stealth; then 7 on Saw: The Ride :)

[@KundenZentrale]

@@coasterbot well, that isnt scientific really... think it sould be a couple more than 2 to get a good average, but other than that good video

[@coasterbot]

Oh sorry I didn't realise that's what you meant. As I said in the video, we recorded about 10 dispatches for each coaster, so 10 trains. I thought you meant how many trains were running on each ride.

[@KundenZentrale]

@@coasterbot your good bro. sounds pretty accurate then. keep up the good work!

[@tomrycroft]

I don't care that it's too slow, I congratulate Swarm on that statistic# Edit: And Saw, these rides are legends

[@drbreadpirealt562]

Sweet

[@jonathanadams7219]

1:30 "2 Minutes and 13 Seconds" relates to The Big One at Blackpool Pleasure Beach

[@me-myself-i787]

Wow. The Swarm costed $20 million and yet only has a theoretical capacity of 1100 pph and a realised capacity of 756 riders per hour. Although, I've heard lots of the money went to the theming. They used a real decommissioned airplane and helicopter.

[@notablesquid968]

I went a few weeks ago and on every ride I would be so close to getting on and then they would decide to sanitize the seats.

[@K3SNE]

I went to Thorpe park today lol

[@mattnewman4287]

Out of interest, Harry, how did you calculate the new theoretical throughput for Saw with 7 cars as opposed to 8? Did you just multiply 1,000pph by 7/8? (I know that would equal approximately 888pph, but I wondered whether you may have rounded to the nearest hundred?) Another great operations video though, Harry! I love how you time proper throughputs and compare to the theoretical as opposed to just time waiting in the station; it really gives you a good idea of how well each ride is shifting the queues compared to what they could feasibly be attaining! I’m very much looking forward to the Liseberg video; can you give any indication as to when it might be out? Or are you unable to at present?

[@coasterbot]

I modelled dispatching Saw with 7 trains compared to 8, assuming the same dispatch time as 8. You end up waiting for another train to enter the station before you can load both trains, which reduces the overall throughput. Thanks, it means a lot. That's the whole point right, to give an indication of how well rides can deal with queues! The liseberg video will probably be out in a month or so, sorry! I could just pump out these videos over the next few weeks/months but I'd rather mix it up. :)

[@mattnewman4287]

@@coasterbot Ah right; thanks Harry!

[@Connor-kz5tx]

I remember after the incident at Alton towers in 2015, Thorpe really pushed taking your time when loading/dispatching etc. They probably still push that today as they really don't need any more negative press 😂 Source; I worked there x

[@Fluster]

interesting

[@henriaasi2102]

Are any vlogs coming soon? They are my favorite videos!

[@coasterbot]

Yeah we have a few in the bag, I'll get started on them now that this video is out :)

[@danlastname9002]

I think it's important to also consider park stats and other landmark attractions throughout the park. For example, Rush's theoretical capacity from S&S is about 750 guests per hour, but Thorpe's target is actually 549 guests per hour. Translating this to other rides throughout the park (Colossus' target is around 900pph), the figures do start to make more sense.

[@harveyb1963]

I think that figure is due to the fact that loading on rush is a nightmare for hosts with all the reshuffling and the fact the compressors take an absolute age to reach the pressure needed to release the bars. A PERFECT hour on Rush has the potential for 600 but that would definitely be a one off :/

[@danlastname9002]

@@harveyb1963 I never found it to be much of a nightmare to be quite honest. So long as it's a busy day, reshuffling isn't a problem. I've been hosting it before with minimal dwell time but even then we only just scraped about 500. The compressors are nerfed. If running on one swing, two compressors, Rush *can* reach about 300, 320 riders per hour maybe, but because of the restraint system, when running on two swings and two compressors, the ride sees an awful amount of downtime between cycle end and restraint release - sometimes upwards of 30 seconds.

[@saneksuntimesgood]

when i went in july 2021 all the ride's seats were filled (without covid restrictions)

[@alanm4072]

Everytime I have been to Thorpe Park, Nemesis Inferno has been one of the slowest moving queue on park with very bad operations. They oversell fast track and their dispatch wasn't quick at all

[@cubes6055]

I have to admit the day you went operations on the swarm must have been bad because it has such a quick throughout usually with a train leaving every 1:20 or so

[@tommycarvalho4112]

Do a '' how fast are Blackpool pleasure beaches operations? ''

[@coasterbot]

We hope to in the future! :)

[@tommycarvalho4112]

@@coasterbot Thanks so much for responding!!

[@LeoElso]

Big fan of this series. The Thorpe Park experience can vary so much, I felt like on quiet days they would run stellar multiple train operations whilst on busy days I've seen Nemesis and Colossus run with only one train... The threshold from Walk/in to 60 min seems wafer thin! And it's funny, I've always perceived Saw as being the most efficient, but that's probably because the line seem to always be moving because of all the small trains.

[@coasterbot]

Thanks! You're definitely right. It can be hit or miss. Sometimes it's great and other times it's not so good.

[@jamesweston6964]

me and my gf went to thorpe park on 10 july, but colossus broken at the start of the day, stealth was closed most day,

[@ChillaxeMake]

The swarm's operations are 69% efficient everyone: oh, that's bad me: noice

[@coasterbot]

Wowie

[@pr0xr920]

You missed flying fish 😂😂

[@MylesHSG]

Been twice this year. Both times the Nemesis Inferno operations were so slow! Considering the ease of the old style B&M otsr it's really a let down.

[@antonytsai6611]

thorpe needs to speed up dispatches all the rides stack and that is expected for saw but for all the other rides it is quite slow and is agonising especially colossus swarm and inferno

[@ryzmodz]

Ah you only ride Colossus if you want a headache anyway

[@iceandfood3570]

Plus a 70min queue because it’s running 1 train 7min dispatches and constantly breaking down

[@coastercountdowns6769]

You’d think swarm would have the highest because it always has the shortest queue probably just the time of day

[@coasterbot]

Yeah I think because it's on its own island the queue time fluctuates quite a lot :)

[@capzay2021]

69%!? Hehe nice

[@C41VE]

UK NEEDS AN RMC HYBRID COASTER

[@LeoElso]

Very unrealistic but I would say Blackpool could be the best candidate for it... Even more unrealistic but hear me out: RMC conversion of The Ultimate at Lightwater Valley

[@UwePieper]

They really seem to aim for those 69%. nice.

[@coasterbot]

Ha ha 👌

[@marcussheen]

Operations were pretty tragic on my last visit. Colossus is a horrible ride to operate with the heavy restraints, poorly designed station and not helped by the changes made to the trains since opening. But yeah, Intamin have form on totally overstating capacity, whereas on a well operated B&M you can actually beat the theoretical capacity (example: Nitro at Six Flags Great Adventure)

[@coasterbot]

They can be hit and miss to be honest. During our visit was operations were pretty good, but I have certainly seem them worse.

[@ewant7954]

Thorpe Park could have much faster throughputs and reach their full throughputs however when going faster, staff moral is down as they work much harder and the park don’t fully staff their load platforms for most of the year. Their rides can operate higher but the park don’t think it’s worth it. Also the colossus throughput isn’t optimistic. With staff moving fast they could do that but the ride is harder to load because of guests

[@harryjs2000]

5 new big coasters from 2002-2012 0 new big coaster from 2012-2022 😔😪😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[@coasterbot]

I mean the first three were to establish Thorpe as a thrill park, so that makes sense. Hopefully they get a new coaster soon :)

[@supremefan]

In the US Universal Studios has the best ops I've seen followed by Disney, Cedar Point.. on the other end Busch Gardens and Six Flags are by far the worst!

[@lozetheridge4634]

so therefore, TP cannot exceed expectations like ATR did on some rides.

[@mikewalker4950]

Safety is number 1 priority.... Where’s Crazy Russian Hacker?

[@jamesjones7180]

Should do the same test at the end of the day it's alot faster so they get home quicker joke!!

[@coasterbot]

Ha ha love this

[@themeparkkieran4573]

Colossus is slow because the restraints and people having issues with them

[@LucaGiacobbe]

Would love to see a sequel to these videos once we go back to normality and masks aren’t required on rides

[@coasterbot]

I'd love to make a sequel! I had plans to go back and try and count every individual person in the train for each dispatch to get a more accurate figure. As you said, once things return more to normal it might be worth giving that a go! :)

[@luca_mania]

69% ;))

[@SpikePBB]

I knew before watching that Thorpe's throughputs would be garbage.

[@coasterbot]

Honestly Thorpe's operations aren't too bad on the grand scheme of things. I'm looking at data for other parks which are much worse.

[@SteveAndAlexBuild]

So Colosuss can theoretically pulverise 1300 guests per hour 🤣 not that that will ever happen , you’re lucky to see 1 train when it’s not broke. 🙄😆🧱👍🏽

[@coasterbot]

This is it man, I wonder what proportion of the time it runs just one train!

[@SteveAndAlexBuild]

@@coasterbot . Too much , it needs a re vamp or a bull dozer 💪🏼🧱👍🏽

[@coastermotion6468]

Clicked the fasters i could

[@coasterbot]

Too kind

[@quentk8886]

Hello! I’m not sure if you are interested in doing videos like this for US parks, but if you are I am at Kings Island a lot and would be willing to help get data. I sent a DM on Instagram

[@rhuridking]

The operations are nearly as fast as me clicking on this video when I saw that it came out.

[@harveyb1963]

The park aims for about 750 ph on Colossus now... Not looking good.

[@coasterbot]

That doesn't surprise me

[@ASTER-IX]

surr e y

[@XboxgeorgebeanRollercoasters]

69 nice

[@maartenkruijff4293]

So in general horrible operations! But Merlin parks are known for this! Compared to Phantasialand or Europapark those numbers are weak!

[@coasterbot]

Genuinely I don't agree, the Merlin parks I've been to don't have awful operations. But that's what this series is all about, trying to get a more scientific way to observe operations! I'd love to make a video about Phantasialand because from my experience the operations there weren't great, but perhaps I was wrong! Europa Park definitely has great ops though!

[@maartenkruijff4293]

@@coasterbot yeah I have only done the UK parks 1x each but Heide park a couple Of times and when you have to agree that for both parks in the UK wait times of 60+ min for the coaster is normal and for both Phantasialand and Europapark its not. Today on a Sunday Taron was at 30-40 min running 4 trains and FLY 40-50 min running 3 trains. You can’t disagree with the fact that both Alton and Thorpe have on average one of the longest que times of the Parks in Europe (except Disney)

[@maartenkruijff4293]

@@coasterbot and check the videos from Coaster Studios on both parks operations, dispatch times

[@LeoElso]

​@@maartenkruijff4293 Saying "Thorpe and Alton have the longest wait times in Europe" when Parc Astérix is sitting right there...

[@maartenkruijff4293]

@@LeoElso snap shot right now of the times, Alton as multiple coasters like the Smiler at 70 min and Asterix longest time is 50 min and most on 40-45. Plenty of sites now show the times in parks all over Europe.

[@Xtreme16420]

Thorpe park are lacking

[@Truthteller2341]

Very slow

[@iou7447]

first