Thorpe Park Discussion Thread

P. 158: It's Official - Swarm BACKWARDS!
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Slammer at Thorpe Park traps riders

Postby nemesis-storm » Sun Mar 19, 2006 7:49 am

Slammer (S&S Fly swat) at Thorpe Park broke down yesterday trapping 41 riders.
It did a very similar thing last year

From http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/southern_counties/4822328.stm

Park closes ride after 41 trapped

The Slammer ride opened in 2005 and rotates 360 degrees
A theme park ride will remain closed until it passes stringent safety checks after it broke down stranding 41 people in freezing weather for nearly an hour.
Emergency services were called to Thorpe Park, Surrey, on Saturday when the Slammer ride came to a "controlled stop" at a 45 degree angle.

People on board were trapped until park staff could lower them to the ground.

A spokeswoman said on Sunday engineers were going over the 100ft-high ride "with a fine-toothed comb".

She said the ride was nearly full, with just seven empty seats.

"It is an incredibly sophisticated and sensitive piece of equipment," she said.

"Any minor issue will automatically result in the failsafe system shutting the ride down.

"It is perfectly safe to ride in the future. All our rides go through three hours of testing by our experienced engineering team before the park is opened each morning."

The Slammer can only be ridden by people over 1.4m (4ft 6in) - about 12 years old.

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Postby Ed » Sun Mar 19, 2006 7:55 am

This ride is so unrealible it's ridiculous!

On the same day one of the shoulder restraints didn't lock and the girl of 12/13 was screaming for the ride to be stopped as it going up into the air. The ride-ops were too busy dreaming to notice and she wen't round with only the lapbar secured.

Considering she was only about 12/13 she must've been petrified and I know people who saw her coming off the ride, and they said she was completely white and crying her eyes out with her friends trying to comfort her.

The ride has been a complete failure for Thorpe in-terms of reliability and it isn't even very comfortable to go on!


Collosus has also been very dodgy at the beginning of this year. The ride is running over 20 seconds slower than it should. And it's barely made it around the course on some runs. Not to mention it's stopped up the lifthill twice in 2 days leaving people stranded up there for over an hour.

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Postby Snuff » Sun Mar 19, 2006 8:28 am

Ed wrote:On the same day one of the shoulder restraints didn't lock and the girl of 12/13 was screaming for the ride to be stopped as it going up into the air. The ride-ops were too busy dreaming to notice and she wen't round with only the lapbar secured.

Considering she was only about 12/13 she must've been petrified and I know people who saw her coming off the ride, and they said she was completely white and crying her eyes out with her friends trying to comfort her..


Is that really totally possible to have the shoulder restraints not lock but the ride to continue. Had the girl not just imagined the restraints felt loose and decided she'd scream like a tosser?

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Postby Ed » Sun Mar 19, 2006 10:07 am

Slammer's restraints are wierd.

You have the lapbar which comes and locks over you from the side, not infront of you.

Also the shoulder restraints don't have to be down for the ride to test, this is because they are pull-down ones like on some Schwarzkopf coasters. The girl had pulled hers down it didn't lock properly in place and it then rose again and wouldn't stay shut where it was suppsoed to.

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Postby Rooey » Sun Mar 19, 2006 11:13 am

For all its problems and the grief this ride gets, i must say i really enjoy it ! :D

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Postby Cllins » Sun Mar 19, 2006 11:58 am

Ed wrote: Slammer's restraints are wierd


I think you’re missing one of the points of rides.
There designed to make you feel uneasy and feel like you’re going to fall out (It heightens the riders experience). I watched a program a couple of weeks ago and Stan Checketts from S&S was on about the fly swat. He was saying that they had designed the shoulder restraints on the ride to move to give the rider a sense of that they might fall out. I have noticed that they do that. The next time you do the ride pull the restraints down on your shoulders move you shoulders up & down and you will notice that they move. But the lap bar is what was holding the rider in securely (I bet you don’t even need the over shoulders restraints at the end of the day). I am no engineer and sure that there are failsafe on the ride to actually stop rider from falling out. Yes it must have been very upsetting for some of the riders tripped on the ride but I am sure they were safe. It announce me that some people can bad mouth something before they even try to understand what they bad mouthing.

My rant over

Nick “PS, I love the ride its great” Collins

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Postby Ed » Sun Mar 19, 2006 1:16 pm

I do get the whole having the open body restraints... I just don't like them! My restraints didn't move at all when I went on it and I would've freaked out if they moved!

Of course the ride is safe and with the lapbar you can't fall out. But for a member of the GP with NO knowledge of the ride at all I can see why was so freaked out.

I know what i'm bad-mouthing. And i've seen the program with the Sky Swat in thankyou very much.

Slammer is an un-realible piece of scrap metal that Thorpe should never have bought.

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Postby coaster1 » Sun Mar 19, 2006 1:40 pm

I'm still shocked someone bought one after Astroworld's problems.

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Postby N:IRocks » Sun Mar 19, 2006 1:48 pm

Uhh.. Guys, i was standing next to the ride when the Restraint Failure happened, she ran off the ride crying her eyes out. And from what i heard, From friends actually on the ride, her shoulder restraint was full up. But the lap bar was secured.

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Postby Canobie Fan » Sun Mar 19, 2006 1:49 pm

^^ Cant wait to ride it at SFNE in 4 weeks ::D

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