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Colossus opened 20 years ago today! To celebrate its successful opening on what was a moderate Thursday in March, where the ride welcomed 7000 guests, we have taken a quick look back at the ride that put Thorpe Park on the map! https://thorpeparkmania.co.uk/articles/09-03-2022/20+Years+of+Colossus (This was heavily inspired by @Mark9's original 10 year article, which currently isn't on the main TPM site, but can still be viewed here!)

Its amazing how when I wrote about Colossus in 2012, I spent more time discussing Thorpe Parks history than Colossus itself. Maybe it's important to realise the sea change that this ride was. I can't imagine visiting Thorpe in the future without hearing that lift hill noise as the train disengages at the top or the odd shuffling noise the train makes as it travels the circuit. But then in 2008 it was unfathomable to imagine Alton Towers without the sound of Corkscrews motor echoing over the valley. And that was 14 years ago.

Great article 😊 100% agree about the decade of consistency. Colossus is the one that’s always just ‘there’. TP’s backbone. The most “rollercoaster” rollercoaster they have. There’s something about it, love it or not, that just delivers every time, and even though it had the inversion record I think it’s always been good enough / wild enough for people to see past that. While Colossus may not be the best coaster at Thorpe, I think a lot of people would be sad to see it go. I don’t really ride Colossus much anymore tbh because of the throughput, but it wouldn’t be Thorpe without the unmistakable CHHTCHTCHT every few minutes, and a walk down “heartline avenue” 😂 which actually is a brilliant part of the park (especially if they’re going to tart it up) There’s been talk of theming repairs taking place soon. Could this signal Colossus is here to stay for a while?

It felt like the park found a specific niche for itself. Big, loud and fun. It described itself as Johnny Knoxville if he were a theme park and knew exactly what it wanted to be. The park was always busy and was an incredible day out. Even the fright nights was one of the best, debuting the first roaming actor team which were the clowns. Saw was the only IP they had and it was an absolute blast and the mazes were unique to their own original design. My memories of visiting back then are always positive whereas now it’s hardly the same feeling I get and my passion for visiting has massively gone down. The park doesn’t ever know what it wants to be and most of it looks like it’s being left to die out.