Hey all, I have been looking around the net and I have noticed that as early since the 80's rides have had ORP but I have been wondering how was it done back then before digital cameras? did they have to pay before to get your photo or did someone have to take it manually and how long did they take?

Thanks Mr Fish

From what I'm aware, ORPs have always been taken automatically at Thorpe. There's an obvious different in quality, which is to be expected really.

I'm not sure if I'm correct in saying this, but I think at one point, you did have to give your address, pay upfront, and then have your photos posted to you with 7-10 days. Again, as time went on and technology improved, I think you were able to collect them on the day, after a short wait (which I'd assume is longer than we currently have to wait).

I do have a couple of ORPs at home from the late 80s / early 90s of Loggers Leap and Dragon River (now Dragon Falls) at Chessie which I haven't scanned up yet (when I pop home from uni for the weekend in about 3 weeks time, I can do it then), which show how they were quite different to nowadays. For example, in some Loggers Leap ORPs, you can make out the Hudson River Rafts in the background; a boat ride from the lake which Loggers surrounds. The Dragon River ORP had a sign next to the boat, which showed the name Dragon River, along with the park logo and the year.

Hopefully that sheds a bit of light, though I expect some other members know / understand it more than what I do.

This is the earliest ORP I currently have uploaded, which I *think* is from 1996 or 1997. Pretty sure you could get these quite quickly after your ride, but you can see the difference in quality: