Thorpe Park Trip Reports

[Coaster]

Sunday 8th June 2014

RIDES CLOSED: Quantum

The day got off to a bad start when, despite the fact that the day before visiting I had recieved confirmation from Thorpe that Annual Passholders would be let in early, this did not happen due to a Triathlon inside the park! I'm sorry, but events like these should not get priority over paying customers/passholders visiting the park.

Also, I had been told (not by Thorpe) that the entrance music was back but there was no music playing, and then at the end of the day it was the chavy music playing parkwide (including the entrance).

The park was very busy, but queues for the rides weren't as huge as I was expecting considering that the cars were out on the grass when I looked from the top of Swarm.

The plan was to go to Slammer first as it had been closed for nearly a year, but it was stuck at the top and staff were stood outside the entrance. Therefore, we started off with Colossus, which was on one train (a second train was added later), then Saw and over to Inferno. I can't remember the order of the other rides so I'll get onto the ridecount. Needless to say, Slammer opened after a short bit of downtime in the morning and we had plenty of goes on it as it ran without problems all day.

RIDECOUNT:

Slammer x7

Colossus x3

The Swarm x2 (One backwards, still just as rubbish as I remembered it apart from the first drop).

Nemesis Inferno x2

X x2

Dodgems x2

Stealth x1
Vortex x1

Rumba Rapids x1

TOTAL: 21

HIGHLIGHTS:

- Getting back on Slammer!

- Despite the obvious rush job they were, the Dodgems are great fun.

- Colossus and Inferno were flying by the end of the day,

LOWLIGHTS:

- The queue on The Swarm which really should have taken about 10 minutes max took 30. The staff are so slow on that ride!

- Friend wouldn't go on Tidal Wave lol!

- Chart music playing in a lot of places around the park again, such as in Lost City.

Angry Birds Land is also open and on the appearance side it is rubbish. The Dodgems look like they have come straight from a fair (actually, fair dodgems look better as they don't have such a hilarious half-arsed attempt at a theme), the graffiti on the buildings downgrades them and the signage is awful. However, the Dodgems are actually really fun and the staff interaction was great, announcing which side won and counting down. I did not try out the 4D cinema as I will be saving that for a rainy day.

Detonator on the other hand looks ridiculous, they have taken a perfectly good looking thrill ride and made it look stupid. Either theme it to Angry Birds properly or leave it alone!

Thanks for reading, comments welcome as always.

[Mitchada04]

Did the park open at 10 as advertised though? If so then the triathlon event which they also held last year didn't effect what paying guests would have known as it is only advertised that the park opens at 10.

The entrance music does play but maybe that was off due to the triathlon. Who knows.

Good to see Slammer still working though

[Rebecca_Wingate]

I am heading to Thorpe for my birthday in just over 2 weeks with a BIG group of people a good old 20/25 of us and I was wondering if anyone would give me any advice on guiding and handling a large group of people considering Thorpe park mania do gatherings every so often! it would be much appreciated if I could have some advice soon rather than later this is the second gathering I have had with my friends and I kept on loosing people *(I have the brain of dory ) XXX thanks guys       

[alexander]

I am heading to Thorpe for my birthday in just over 2 weeks with a BIG group of people a good old 20/25 of us and I was wondering if anyone would give me any advice on guiding and handling a large group of people considering Thorpe park mania do gatherings every so often! it would be much appreciated if I could have some advice soon rather than later this is the second gathering I have had with my friends and I kept on loosing people *(I have the brain of dory ) XXX thanks guys

Establish what EVERYONE wants to do and get them done first, if a ride is like 50 minutes but so is all the other major coasters just queue it or you'll spend more time walking around looking for a shorter queue and actually waste more time you could've spent queuing.

[Cal]

I am heading to Thorpe for my birthday in just over 2 weeks with a BIG group of people a good old 20/25 of us and I was wondering if anyone would give me any advice on guiding and handling a large group of people considering Thorpe park mania do gatherings every so often! it would be much appreciated if I could have some advice soon rather than later this is the second gathering I have had with my friends and I kept on loosing people *(I have the brain of dory ) XXX thanks guys       

 

Make sure you book online, at the moment Thorpe park are doing a deal if you book online with a group more than 10 you will get free fast tracks for the Swarm! Have fun  

[paige]

I am heading to Thorpe for my birthday in just over 2 weeks with a BIG group of people a good old 20/25 of us and I was wondering if anyone would give me any advice on guiding and handling a large group of people considering Thorpe park mania do gatherings every so often! it would be much appreciated if I could have some advice soon rather than later this is the second gathering I have had with my friends and I kept on loosing people *(I have the brain of dory ) XXX thanks guys       

 

Well, Peaj does a head count for everyone as we're walking into a queue, so you could try that I guess. Also, ensure you know exactly who's coming and make sure they inform you if they're going to be late or delayed for whatever reason, so you can start the day and just meet them later. Also, if you aren't all travelling together, establish a meet point so everyone can find eachother at the start... it can be awful to start the day with a load of confusion etc. Oh, and make sure you ALL STICK TOGETHER... Nothing's worse than losing someone at a place like Thorpe, especially if it's busy! But yeah, have fun!

 

 

 

I highlighted the key points in bold, mostly so I look like I know what I'm talking about.

[pognoi]

For any further info just PM him. 

Maybe because I'm small and young and annoying I found it hard, but it can be quite a challenge to handle large numbers!

 

BTW went today. Just a casual trip with a mate, but look at the size of Rush's '5 Minute' queue.

 

Just a little shout out to FrightNights04 for joining me in the afternoon! Really made my day bud.

[TPJames]

Visited today and it was very busy. Opened at 9:30am though which was good. The whole X queueline was also full and slammer went up to 70 minutes. Most rides went over an hour queue time. The Dodgems were also great fun and was my first time on them. Stealth and vortex were down all day and most rides broke down at least once during the day.

Slammer- 2

Samurai- 2

Saw- 2

Quantum- 2

Colossus- 1

Dodgems- 1

Nemesis- 2

Loggers leap- 2

Detonator- 2

Rush- 1

X- 1

Swarm- 1

[Coaster]

Visited today and it was very busy. Opened at 9:30am though which was good. The whole X queueline was also full and slammer went up to 70 minutes. Most rides went over an hour queue time. The Dodgems were also great fun and was my first time on them. Stealth and vortex were down all day and most rides broke down at least once during the day.

Slammer- 2

Samurai- 2

Saw- 2

Quantum- 2

Colossus- 1

Dodgems- 1

Nemesis- 2

Loggers leap- 2

Detonator- 2

Rush- 1

X- 1

Swarm- 1

That is very poor indeed for such a busy day!

Also, 70 minutes for Slammer? 

I've never seen it above 20!

[EC!]

Visited today and it was very busy. Opened at 9:30am though which was good. The whole X queueline was also full and slammer went up to 70 minutes. Most rides went over an hour queue time. The Dodgems were also great fun and was my first time on them. Stealth and vortex were down all day and most rides broke down at least once during the day.

Slammer- 2

Samurai- 2

Saw- 2

Quantum- 2

Colossus- 1

Dodgems- 1

Nemesis- 2

Loggers leap- 2

Detonator- 2

Rush- 1

X- 1

Swarm- 1

School kids??

[TPJames]

School kids??

There were certainly a few school trips but there was a lot of adults aswell. The queue boards were completely wrong though, samurai was '5' minutes and we waited 30, and loggers was '40' and we waited 0. I'm not sure if there was a problem with the system but it was certainly very busy and it didn't help that most rides broke and stealth and vortex were closed all day.

[pognoi]

Samurai is always 5 or 15. I've never seen it otherwise, from what I recall... No matter what day you visit now, It'll be busy. Infact, I found that our MOS trip was quieter then a normal school day wednesday. I guess end of term rewards and trips mean everyone goes on weekdays.

[planenut]

Yesterday, I.e. Sunday.....

 

Now I know why I have always avoided going to TP on a Sunday.

Bad news for me, Stealth did not open; Slammer did not operate, something to do with the P.A. not working; Two early rides on Nemesis Inferno before the queues quickly got to beyond 45 minutes; Colossus far too busy; I actually like the latest lighting effects in X; the Angry Birds dodgems finally got a test by me and they are pretty good, "nice and clean since the rains", really, they are still clean at the moment.

Then, I left the park by one oclock, it was really busy and as many coaches as on a weekday.

[Worthy9992]

Vortex opened around 4:45 to 5 ish

[Mattgwise]

Went today with the school I work in. Was relatively quiet for a school day which was nice as we were expecting it to be busy. Some things about today:

 

• All rides except Stealth open. Saw that Storm Surge and Saw closed a couple of times for short periods of time
• Tidal Wave splash almost reaching the rocks on the grass area opposite which was rare. Guess the wind direction was in favour of the splash.
• No entrance Music. Silent at admissions.

[InfernoMartin]

Friday 18th July 2014 - Trip Report

 

RIDES CLOSED ALL DAY: Slammer (sadly D: ) Tidal Wave ( Although it apparently resumed operation about an hour after I left)

RIDES THAT OPENED LATE: Loggers Leap ( opened around 1pm) SAW - The Ride ( opened around 20 mins late)

 

Went with some of my friends on a school trip, was expecting the pack to be packed but somehow the queues were very short, most rides were 5 - 15 mins for the first hour of the day. We went to depth charge's office and attempted to buy a Full Throttle fast track but they were sold out so the kind lady gave us a alternative and to pay £20 for 4 major coasters instead of 5 so we had Stealth, Saw-The Ride, Swarm and Nemesis Inferno. ( We didn't pick Colossus due to the roughness and it was a good job as it was breaking down a lot today!) These didn't start till 1pm so we raided the flats.

 

Anyways after that we decided to head for Rush, 3 of my friends went on this and me and my other friend queued up for Colossus as it was only a 5 minute queue, however when we got into the station it had to be evacuated due to technical difficulties so we joined our friends on Rush. I have to say it was running perfectly today, both swings in operation and perfectly in Sync I think it was really Rush's day today it also stayed open all day with not a single breakdown =D

 

After this we went to Vortex which yet again was a 5 minute queue, like Rush this was running very well, just very juddery at start up. We stayed on 2 more times as the queue line was empty. We then rode Quantum, zodiac which were both good. After this we went to slammer to find 2 members of staff saying it is closed for essential maintenance and two engineers were at the top all day trying to fix it, it did test a few times but failed to open while I was there. We then went on Samurai which was on a very good cycle and parked perfectly. Before we stopped off at Pizza Hut for lunch we did detty which was amazing.

 

After Lunch it was time to use the fast tracks on the coasters it went fine for 2 out of 4 coasters. Our first one was Saw but we were at the front and they stated that it had a running breakdown, luckily the staff were very informative and just stated that the running breakdown was just to add the 8th car as engineers had finished working on it. Next was Inferno and all went smoothly there except the slow loading, we had to wait around 3 mins outside the station waiting for the other train to be dispatched. Next was Stealth, again we were near the front of the queue and it ceased operation due to a fail launch, most likely due to the heat. After 10 minutes the engineer had fixed it and it was all running smoothly again, it was my first ever time on Stealth it was just breathtaking. Lastly, we did Swarm which was also quite good but I preferred Stealth.

 

After the coasters we went on Rumba Rapids and Vortex again, sadly after this it was time to leave

 

RIDE COUNT: 

 

Rush x 4

Vortex x 6

Zodiac x 2

Quantum x 5 ( More intense than I remember it )

Mr Monkeys Banana Ride x 1

Detty x 1

Samurai x 2

Swarm x 1

Saw The Ride x 1

Nemesis Inferno x 1

Stealth x 1

Loggers Leap x 1

Dodgems x 2

Rumba Rapids x 2

Storm In A Teacup x 3

 

Total: 31 ( I believe I went on a few more than this but I can't remember them all)

 

Pros:

Rush, Samurai and Vortex running amazingly

Friendly Staff ( especially on Saw)

Short Queue Times

A lovely atmosphere in the park

Amazing and helpful staff at the depth charge fast track office place

 

Cons:

Slammer and Tidal wave closed all day

Some rides opened late (  mainly Loggers)

Quite a bit of queue jumping

Hot Weather

Colossus breaking down lots of times during the day.

Lack of vending machines working

 

Overall, quite a good day out, had fun with my friends and the rides that were open were quite reliable. Sadly I came off with a headache after Saw due to it being quite rough we had car 1 which wasn't exactly smooth. I also had to applaud how quick the engineers come once called about a ride breaking down, they were the in seconds to fix stealth!

 

Thanks for reading my trip report sorry its a bit long

[planenut]

Friday 18th July 2014 - Trip Report

 

Thanks for reading my trip report sorry its a bit long

Good report, thanks for taking the time to write it up.

[OldFarmerDean]

Slammer was actually operational in the afternoon, I'm not sure how long it lasted for though again. Loggers leap broke about half 1 for a little bit. And tidal wave did open about 4ish.

Considering it was supposed to be busy there weren't really many queues over an hour, and don't think I managed to queue over 15 mins, got a great ride count!

Summer nights was equally as good although did lack atmosphere, but I guess I'd rather have it quiet... With regards to the wristbands we were told to collect them from fast track booths in the park, and that they didn't have any wristbands at advance ticket collection which was a bit odd. Great to see the staff in general having a good time on summer nights though aha

 

EDIT: And also having a lot of hate for the more intense samurai this year as I didn't enjoy it so much in comparison to it being smooth last year... had an absolute belter of a ride, not sure what setting, but row 1, and swear I spent most of the ride upside down for crashing face down towards the floor. highlight of my day!

[Coaster]

Wednesday 23rd July 2014 - Ridecount

 

Slammer x4

X x3

Stealth x2

The Swarm x1

Nemesis Inferno x1

Rush x1

Tidal Wave x1

Loggers Leap x1

Rumba Rapids x1

Dodgems x1

Angry Birds 4D Experience x1

 

Breakdowns:  Saw, Samurai.  (Colossus opened late and was on limited capacity, Slammer also opened late).

 

 

The park was quite busy but not as busy as I was expecting.

[Tom]

Overall today I saw Stealth, Flying Fish, Rumba, Vortex, Samurai, Slammer, Detonator (?), Colossus, and Saw down at one point or another; pretty poor although didn't affect my day too much.

 

Colossus was hilarious as it shut down a few times and reopened on one train probably about 1ish - Within minutes the fastrack queue was huge and main queue back to the second tunnel.

[Cal]

Colossus was on 1 train all day this time last week, and also had a very quick shut down in the morning. Not very good as it's a busy time, hopefully it will have it's other train back soon  

 

 

Overall today I saw Stealth, Flying Fish, Rumba, Vortex, Samurai, Slammer, Detonator (?), Colossus, and Saw down at one point or another; pretty poor although didn't affect my day too much.

 

Well that's probably the most amount of shut downs I've seen for one day. I've noticed that Vortex has had quite a few shut downs/downtime recently.

[Kerfuffle]

Forgot to do a trip report of when I went on Thursday, so this is it

 

RIDE COUNT

Saw - The Ride: x2 (Front row x1)

Colossus: x2 (Front row x1)

Loggers Leap: x3 (Perfect weather for it...and my friend and I got SOAKED every bloody time! )

Detonator: Bombs Away!: x1

Nemesis Inferno: x2 (Heck the mist was great in the current weather! )

Stealth: x2 (Front row x1)

King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems: x2

Angry Birds 4D Experience: x1 (...and as I speak, my Smiler bear now possesses a pair of 3D glasses! )

X: x1

THE SWARM: x2 (Front row x1)

Slammer: x2

Samurai: x1

Rush: x1

 

ITEMS BOUGHT

1x Nemesis Inferno drinks can

1x Angry Birds wallet (Red)

1x bottle of Dr Pepper

 

Overall, the firm highlights of the day are not just getting completely ANNIHILATED by Loggers, but also the excellent ERT we got that morning! (hence the front row rides on SAW, Colossus and Stealth)

[Mitchada04]

So went with a friend yesterday and it was a really good day, hardly any queues! They were a Stealth newbie which I haven't had in a few years so inevitably, after spending since January convincing them they have to go on it, we headed straight there at ERT, first train of the day, front row. The reaction was priceless Especially as the "3,2,1 go go go" wasn't working so the launch was a serious surprise! They loved it though, so we went straight on to back row afterwards and ended up doing it 5 times. Not bad considering I was only expecting to do it once!

 

Once all the rides had opened, we didn't see any of them go down (minus Storm Surge but that's more of a celebration), once everything had settled queues were no longer than 20 minutes and by 5 everything was pretty much walk on! (Even when they took a train of the coasters for Summer Nights). We were tempted to stay for Summer Nights but as we got on so much during the day and the heavens opened at 6:50 we decided not to bother.

 

RIDE COUNT!:

 

Stealth: 5

Swarm: 4 

Inferno: 3

X: 3

Colossus: 2

Rush: 2

Saw, Vortex, Slammer, Samurai, Loggers, Zodiac, Banana Boat, Rocky, Rumba, Dodgems, Detonator: 1

[TPJames]

Visited today, was quite disappointed and not many pros I can find about the day.

Anyway I have a ridecount for you and no queue peaked over 90mins which was decent:

Rush x2

Nemesis

Detonator

Stealth

Vortex x2

Slammer x5

Quantum x3

Rocky express

Angry birds 4D

Rumba rapids

The swarm x2

Total: 20

Pros:

-Angry birds 4D was fun and had nice effects but felt a bit repetitive

-Slammer was OPEN the majority of the day and managed to get on it 5 times, currently my fave ride on park will hate to see it go.

-Managed 20 rides which is decent for a summer day.

-Sunken gardens are really calm and peaceful and a nice place for a relaxing break, don't want them to be removed.

-Park opened early at 9:30 and ERT started before 9:20 as it was open when I arrived.

Cons:

-Storm surge was 80mins and was dropping massives of water on guests on the path.

-Stealth, Saw, Loggers and the Dodgems all had CONSIDERABLE downtime during the day.

-Slammer took at least 10minutes per loading and when it got had engineer checks around 3pm a 60minute queue formed to get in the queue(luckily we were at the front!)

-Queue time boards were way out, zodiac stated 20mins but my friends waited 60mins.

-Samurai was down ALL DAY.

-Kids rides were way too long; banana boat, teacups, quantum(due to ridiculous slow loading) and fish all 30mins. Depth charge 60mins.

-Thorpe park bus was ridiculous, don't appreciate waiting in a cattlepen to get on a bus when there are 3 buses lined up infront of me all empty and not moving anywhere.

-All of rumba rapids effects were off making it even more dull.

I think that's about it

[Mitchada04]

The park is meant to open at 9:30 over the summer and all weekends I believe with ERT starting at 9:15. Samurai's been down the last few days. And it's good to hear that rides like teacups and banana boat are getting queues as it shows there's more of a diverse demographic on park. Your Day could have been worse, on Monday Saw stalled and Inferno opened for 15 minutes in total with Samurai also down all day.