Hi Everyone!
Just stopping by to let you all know how my first trip went. I had an amazing time! However you may have heard Saw remained closed all day on Sunday (aside from opening for around 15 minutes at lunch time and then closing again!) Colossus was also shut for most of the day and didn't reopen until just before 16:00. A lot of rides weren't ready for opening. Stealth and Slammer didn't open at all.
My trip report:
Arrived - gates were pretty busy, but not unbearable!
Ran straight to Saw on opening and was in the queue at 09:30 for a few minutes, then it was announced the ride would not open and would open later...most rides seemed to be shut at this time and we struggled to find something to do... I don't remember the exact timings but I will list below what we did and the order:
1. Samurai - amazing ride and so much fun! The way the ride moves I found very relaxing and I love how you get a nice view into part of the Saw indoor ride area from on there.
2. Nemesis Inferno - queue time said 20 minutes, made the mistake of queuing for front row which was deceptively long queue (my fault as I didn't realise how much the queue snaked at the loading bay!)
3. X - Queued a fairly long time for this (35 minutes I think) and it didn't feel worth the wait. A pleasant rollercoaster and appreciated the theming, but wish the coaster would go a little faster for more thrills..
Came off X and was surprised to find DBGT was actually open and it was 11:30!...
4. Derren Brown's Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon - I was very impressed by this! Loved the whole facade for the train and the VR surprisingly felt very realistic to me. I was genuinely scared and loved the ending. Something very different for a theme park!
5. Rush - loved this ride! Another of my favourites. A ride which looks terrifying and once on not scary at all - just FUN! We waited 20 minutes for this.
6. Zodiac - Enjoyed this ride, something a bit different. It feels very strange to be in those little pods with no restraints!
We stopped and ate at unlimited pizza and pasta place. I thought it was an excellent deal as far as theme parks go for £10! I was glad I didn't eat all day as I got my money's worth..
7. The SWARM - queue said 75 minutes and only waited 35.. Very fun ride!
8. Detonator - waited 10 minutes. I loved this drop! It felt more fun than terrifying which I didn't expect. From the top of this drop I also noticed that Rumba Rapids had finally opened!
9. Rumba Rapids - 10 minute wait (more like walk on) and good fun!
10. Quantum - a ride which is a lot more fun than it looks! Waited less than 5 minutes.
11. Samurai again - Decided to ride this again because we loved it so much! This time the wing we were on seemed to spin upside down constantly and at one point we were suspended upside down for quite some time!! A much scarier ride this time around! It is funny how different the ride can be.
12. Colossus - this ride was quite frustrating as it kept closing down and opening back up quickly again. Wonderful ride and was surprised how much I loved it! Especially those last set of loops towards the end. Magical.
It was very hot on Sunday so unfortunately the queue for Tidal Wave stayed at 90 minutes even into the early evening and at one point climbed up to 120! The queue for Storm Surge was also very long. I wish I had got to ride Vortex. In hindsight I should have ran to that ride in the morning instead of Samurai when hardly anything was open as the queues for this stayed around 60 minutes all day.. I didn't have time for Angry Birds either, the day just flew in and we only wasted like 20 minutes eating, the rest of the time we were running around the park trying to get all the rides done.
I even managed to obtain a free Fast Track for Saw after only queuing for it for 15 minutes and getting close to the front of the queue...but sadly it never reopened not even when the park hours were extended to 18:30..
My memory is a little fuzzy as the day just flew in, if I remember anything else I will update.
Thank you all again for all your wonderful advice! It was invaluable. Overall I had a wonderful time and would definitely visit again if I am in the London area. Whilst leaving the park they were handing out apology letters which had a complimentary visit voucher to use between now and September this year plus two fast tracks...shame I probably won't make it back before the year is out... I would love to return and do Fright Nights some day! I am doing Halloween Horror Nights this year in Orlando so probably won't have enough money to do Thorpe too.