Matt N

Thorpe Park is 2.5 miles away from me as the crow flies, 4.8 miles travel distance.
 
How often do I visit? Ehhhh, more than enough. Usually once every couple of weeks on average I'd guess, sometimes a bit more. More recently, I've been spurred to visit slightly more regularly as I can pop in for a couple of hours, get some rides on Hyperia via SRQ, and then go home.

I currently live in Stratford and my local park is technically the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. But there's no rides unless you count one of the Tube Lines or the Elizabeth Line. So actually my local park is actually Chessington. I've not visited this year as all the things said about it this year makes it sound like it's on the verge of closing down. 

After 5 rides today, it's certainly my top UK coaster and even high up in my European rankings to. We really are lucky to have this in our own country and for many of us down the road. 
 
It's a great coaster in any row TBF which is rare.

The Thirteen crew smashing it I see. Kinda glad that the most accessible of the Towers coasters has a capacity that high.

Even with 2 staff batching from the queues to the stairs yesterday, it was still a bit of a mess unfortunately.
 
Staff weren't making it clear at points which stairs to go up which meant some from RAP went up single rider, which then caused issues when they got to the station.  
 
At points they weren't filling up the main queue on the stairs meaning they then fill the station with the SRQ.
 
Also saw a couple hop over the fence from the SRQ on the stairs to the main queue. Shame they didn't make that fence a bit taller.
 
Ops in the station were great as always though - was getting through about 700 - 800 an hour. 

Train One, refurbished and back on track.
having been working on this train for over a year, this train has only it's original chassis, everything else has been renewed, even the bodyshells and seat moldings. One could have not have failed to realize the degradation of the foam on the restraints, which resulted in concaves developing on the underside caused by the effects of human perspiration; now the comparison with train two which remains in use emphasizes that. Some of the new rotating joints are harder to move for the moment.
 
Train three is now off track and undergoing refurbishment.
 
This work does conflict with the remarks of another rider yesterday, who insisted that they had seen a report which stated that Stealth "is to be removed at the end of the season", really? this work proves that Stealth is here for a good few years yet.
 
 
 
 

Finally been on Hyperia - and wow, what a bloody ride.
 
I can not actually believe we have this thing in the UK. It’s a monster.
 
You really can see it from everywhere.  I particularly like the view of the lift hill as you walk down the path towards it from Inferno‘s direction.
 
The ride may be short in duration, but I was out of my seat for 6 - 8 business days on my first ride alone. I mean even just going through the stall, you’re airborne for about 20 minutes.
 
The seat’s only purpose is to support your ass while you climb the lift - after that, you’re up against the lap bar until the gift shop.
 
The first drop just doesn’t let up, and gives some very weird and different airtime.
 
It’s also FAST throughout. Of course I knew it was >80mph before riding, but until you get on there you really don’t think about how fast that actually is.  Even through some of the higher points of the ride, which look quite slow off ride, you’re flying (literally) through them at huge speed.
 
I can honestly say I was speechless the first time I hit the brakes.  It’s so unique and just something totally different for us here in the UK.
 
Unfortunately the plaza and queue are a bit of a mess, and clearly unfinished. Hopefully this is something that will be sorted before next season, because it would really level the ride up even more.  Also the speed at which the train comes back to the station could do with some work to help with waiting times.
 
I’m very impressed.  An excellent ride which is perfect for Thorpe.  It’s fantastic to have that new ride buzz at Thorpe again!
 
I can’t wait to see it lit up for Fright Nights. It’s encouraging to see the permanent lights already there!

Galactica having a theoretical throughput of 1,500 an hour is just so hysterically optimistic.

Excellent news! Hopefully the extension of hours rather than cutting hours like Alton Towers are is a sign of Thorpe Park doing well this year!

My only concern, though, is that there may not be demand for it. I remember Thorpe Park doing 8pm closes back in August 2019; I went to one of them, and the park had completely emptied out before 6pm. It was brilliant for repeat riding, but a damning indictment of the demand for late night openings… those 8pm openings were quickly dropped shortly after my visit.
 
This is a positive sign on the whole, though! I don’t know if anyone else agrees, but overall, it does seem to me like Thorpe Park is the most prosperous UK Merlin park this year. The Hyperia buzz could be partially contributing to this, but it doesn’t seem like Thorpe has the general air of negativity surrounding it that Chessington and particularly Alton Towers currently have.

Similarly to you I’ve always found the back to be smoother, and the inside seats to be smoother as well.
 
Front row outside seat is just god awful these days. But I guess it fits the theme better than it ever has before 😂

From my personal experience, I don't really find a difference with what row I sit on. I find different trains to be rougher than others though, I imagine that depends on which ones have recently been serviced, and had wheels replaced etc...

Opening hours have been extended until 9pm on the last 2 Saturdays of August (24th and 31st) 
 
Great to see - especially at a time when hours are being cut on a weekly basis at Towers at the moment... 

Can you name a single ride that runs flawlessly every day, for its entire existence? 

My apologies for bumping this thread, but as I posted in it with university woes at an earlier stage, I feel I should offer an update…
 
I’ve had my final degree award confirmed this morning… and I got a First Class Honours, with my final award mark being 82.85/100!
 
That means I am now a degree graduate, with a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Gloucestershire!
 
My journey through university has not been plain sailing, but I’m happy I did it, and I’m pleased and relieved to finally have a degree!

I've noticed different hosts have different ways of batching too which really influence the single rider wait time. 
 
For example, if the back row needs filling and the next group in the main queue is a group of 4, some hosts will just stick 2 single riders on the back row, where as some will call down the queue for the next group of 2. 

Single rider can vary due to a number of factors, but generally I have found on 4/5 attempts it has been between 20 and 30 mins from about 2/3 of the final straight towards the stairs, but on one occasion that same amount was over 40 mins. It seems to have been quiet pre 12 on my visits before getting longer. 

Wow well done Matt, that’s fantastic!!
Congratulations! 🍻 
 
Well done for sticking at it and achieving that First - amazing.

My apologies for bumping this thread, but as I posted in it with university woes at an earlier stage, I feel I should offer an update…
 
I’ve had my final degree award confirmed this morning… and I got a First Class Honours, with my final award mark being 82.85/100!
 
That means I am now a degree graduate, with a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Gloucestershire!
 
My journey through university has not been plain sailing, but I’m happy I did it, and I’m pleased and relieved to finally have a degree!

Having done the ride in the front, back and middle, it is without a doubt a stunning ride. Operations seemed very good yesterday. 
 
It’s a shame the splashdown looks messy at the moment, but hopefully this is something that can be sorted sometime. 
 
The moments of floater, ejector and hang time on this ride are simply immense IMO. 

Me too on the "event" which was a little frustrating at times, so yes, I have finally ridden Hyperia. I think it is an outstanding roller coaster with some unique tracking. I do like the restraint.
No doubt many will make adverse comments but it is what we have, it is great, and it cannot be changed, enjoy it.
 
I don't think one can compare it to other rides, it is unique, in my opinion.

Only one train at the moment 🫥

Haven't decided yet after 4 rides, but it's very very good!

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!)

They're aiming to open it tomorrow on 1 train...
 
 
All the confidence. 

There is now work underway to hoist or rescue the train in some capacity:
Hopefully this means that they can clear the stall, test it again and reopen promptly!