Han30

Thorpe, Chessie and Legoland are all under 30 miles from where I live but I’m closer by a few miles to Legoland which is the hardest to get to out of the 3 by public transport (I don’t drive). I barely visit Legoland - once a year, maybe 2 at a push. I went on opening day of Minifigure Speedway and don’t have an urge to go back there anytime soon (too damned busy/hilly!)

Just remembered another one I had a good few years ago where Thorpe switched rides around - I distinctly remember people going down Depth Charge in a singular swarm seat (with restraint). Pretty sure Rumba boats were going down Storm Surge and boats from Storm Surge were on Rapids.

I can see why a lot of people rate it so highly - it is in my top 3 UK coasters. However I have only ridden it once on opening day so it’s hard to gauge - I feel like I need a decent amount of rides on it and front and back etc to come to that conclusion. I was very much wowed by it and look forward to (hopefully) another ride in a couple of weeks (if it’s working!)

This made me laugh so much 🤣🤣 that’s some anger directed at a coaster - ”flaky bast**d had me howling 😭🤣

Went today for opening day and had one of the best days at Thorpe in a long time. There was just a great energy there, guests seemed happy, staff were brilliant. It’s the first opening day I have attended for a coaster at Thorpe and I’m glad I went. Of late I have become quite critical of Thorpe and wasn’t even hugely excited for Hyperia despite following the construction but seeing it for the first time in person flying around the track was awesome. Then - riding it - wow!! It’s only my second hyper coaster and my 70th cred (which is crazy low for an old gal like me 🤣). Honestly I was blown away by the entire ride experience. Was great to see people on the trains coming out of the station genuinely excited then returning clapping and cheering - to be a small part of that was fab and I’ve sort of gone from not wanting to continue with my pass once I’m out of my 12 months to really wanting to keep it. I think Hyperia will make a massive impact on the park for a long time to come and it feels that this is exactly what Thorpe Park have needed for a good few years

I have a monthly one for £20.99 which started Aug last year. I took a year off from parks the year prior and before that I had a Merlin pass since 2013 - started with Merlin Membership standard pass then they phased out the pay monthly ones so I moved to Platinum. The year before I took a break I had a Gold annual pass which never scanned and was a pain at Thorpes turnstiles. I now have platinum pay monthly and when I’m out of my contract I will either move to a Gold monthly pass or take some more time off. Back in 2002/2003 I had a Tussauds off peak 2 park pass for Chessie and Thorpe on off peak days - cost £35 and got a lot of use out of it. I live in Surrey so am only about 25 miles from Thorpe, Lego and Chessie but don’t actually visit a huge amount currently

That’s pretty p1ss poor! Anyone know what’s going on with Scorpion Express while I’m here? I’ve not visited Chessie yet this year and honestly don’t feel a need to - except maybe for the sea lions…..and capybaras….and the lorikeets only if they don’t crap on me 🤣

I visited DLP in 2000 and always wanted to go back - 23 years later and I’ve not yet returned. Other than that I went 11 years not visiting Thorpe Park - I had a pass in 2001/2002 and visited a fair amount then life happened. Back then I wasn’t a huge thrill seeker (Tidal Wave was my limit) but I was an enthusiast and followed the construction of Colossus then was too scared to ride it when it opened 🤣. Fast forward 11 years to 2013 and I revisited and finally put my big girl pants on (with the help of some awesome members on here) and beat my fear of heights and/or puking on some poor unsuspecting person sat next to me (god bless motion sickness meds)

I’m actually kind of gutted about this - I love water rides and haven’t ridden Viking River Splash in years as it’s always been closed with the exception of 2021 where it had an absolutely massive queue (so I think that popularity isn’t necessarily an issue?). My only criticism of it is it can be incredibly rough and I wouldn’t feel comfortable taking a child on as it hits those side with such force at time that you really have to brace yourself.

I’m quite partial to a bit of Rage (adventure island)

Call me harsh but I think anyone caught doing this should be swiftly kicked out - it shows zero respect and makes the place look awful.

I remember pre covid going on tiger rock with a friend who had to leave the station to go to the loo - it was a busy day with a queue of well over an hour - I assumed and had no issue sharing a boat with others but they just stuck me in one by myself which is ridiculous. I love Paultons Park and I hope it continues to excel as it has been doing in recent years but this country needs more competition when it comes down to theme parks. Merlin I feel are far too complacent because they have the monopoly and in turn it feels like they really don’t care if guests have an enjoyable day or not. It’s seems to be all about £££ It does seem at the moment that Chessington doesn’t have the best reputation in terms of ride availability and ride reliability - Jumanji area looks decent enough. The fact they have a soon to be opening B&M coaster (something I never thought I’d see) is brilliant but it’s not great if majority of the other big rides aren’t available. I only visited Chessington twice last year and the last visit was unbearable - one of the worst days I’ve had at a theme park (thankfully I was with a friend, her little boy and her partner so the company was fab). Hopefully things will improve but only time will tell

It’s late and I’m waiting for my meds to kick in so I had a gander - I don’t use tik tok or Snapchat and had no idea who she is. Apparently she’s a 15 year old YouTuber/Tik tok thingy thing - loads of followers, don’t know why - seems you can get famous from not doing a whole lot these days. Wow I sound like a miserable old cow 🤣

*New for 2023* Rollback reimagined

I love your Stealth stories 🤣

In general I would say the offering by Merlin for dark rides isn’t great but I LOVE Hex. Also really like Flight of The Sky Lion and Bubbleworks (not so keen on Gruffalo). I wish there were more dark rides to chose from - something like Symbolica at Efteling would be pretty cool to have

I’ve only just seen this! Reminds me a bit of my younger sister who considers the flying jumbos something of a breakthrough for her personally. I took her to Chessie 3 years ago with my nephews and she wouldn’t even go on Scorpion express or the log flume. My niece and I went on Rameses and my sister looked genuinely concerned 🤣🤣. Also I’m creasing at the term “digestive evacuation” - brilliant! Speaking of stealth, my younger sister had a job that she had to drive sort of near to Thorpe and asked if I’d ever done “that big white tall arch thing”

Have a fab meet everyone! If it wasn’t for the heat I would have loved to have joined but alas, I can’t function in this weather

If you are timed out for an hour you can still use main queues in between - for example if you are timed out for 60mins and another ride only has a short wait then you can use the main queue on that ride before using your ride access pass again. You can use your ride access once the time out has passed to go to the next ride using the pass. Hopefully that makes sense

It really is grim and needs some TLC. The graffiti aswell is disgusting - I saw one a couple a months ago with a phone number and to call for sex?! It was there on my following visit a few weeks later. I haven’t been to Thorpe since May and I’ve developed a strong disliking of the place - the word skanky seems too nice to describe it

I would be up for a catch up - you free before 22nd July at all? It’s been ages since I last saw you

You really haven’t missed out with Storm Surge - it’s pretty naff, your feet get absolutely drenched, it takes forever to get to the top - and then you end up bobbing around at the end for what seems like an eternity!

Stealth 17 times Saw 9 times one Summer Night event years ago - I had a wicked headache after that 🥳 And X around 10 times in a row also during Summer Night event

I went in BML last week - end of the day and it was just me and the people I was with. Have done is 4-5 times now having gone with people who hadn’t experienced it before. I guess it’s ok but my main gripe like others is that (a bit like DBGT) you only really need to do it once plus it is taking up a decent sized space which has previously house fright night mazes. On a side note I love the music played in that area and also the uniforms that the staff/actors wear - I want one of the jackets 👌

@Matt N blimey that was a pretty vivid and detailed dream! The only theme park related one I can remember was going to Thorpe on a really windy day and Stealth had blown over so it was essentially flat - it still had a big queue which confused me!