Thorpe Park Trip Reports

[Mattgwise]

Quick report on today.

Park obviously fairly busy due to bank holiday weekend but have seen it busier. Longest queue I saw was 80 mins for Saw The ride.

Ride reliability was not great today. Tidal Wave didn't even open, Samurai had issues and was closed virtually all day (See Samurai Thread). Slammer was closed from 5:15pm, Storm Surge broke down, Saw The ride either broke down or had cleaning to be done for about half hour, sadly no one was informed in the queue due to the speakers being still dead for second year in a row. (surely this could have been sorted in the closed season!)

Colossus team were dreadful today although some of it was the ususal restraint not locking on larger people problem resulting in not 2, 3 or 4 but 5 restraint rechecks at one point, They seriously only managed to dispatch 8 trains in nearly 30 minutes at around 5pm, resulting in queue with a fasttrack ticket taking 40 minutes from the joining point!!!!

I was impressed with the changes on X and the ride seemed more worthwhile, faster and forceful without the stops on Blocks 1 and 2, although heard people saying "why have we stopped/" on third block as it stops for quite some time.

The park could have done with staying open another hour though as didn't get on as many rides as planned to.

I went to collect my complimentary fasttrack tickets from a previous complaint last year and as I was about to show the email and give my details, the guy said not to worry and that he believed me so gave me the tickets without me having to give the details. Fantastic as they are still sitting there and waiting for me for next time as well

(Not so good) Ride Count from 11:30 til close

X x1

Nemesis Inferno x1

Quantum x1

Stealth x1 (fastracked)

Saw The Ride x1

Colossus x1 (Fasttracked - although took 40 minutes)

Rumba Rapids x1

Swarm x1

Wow, one of my lowest ride counts, but was with some very slow people who liked to stop for photos, snacks and cigarettes etc!

[TPJames]

One word from today's thorpe park trip, WOW

Today I was totally expecting it to be really busy as yesterday was apparently packed. We arrived at 10am to go straight in and went straight to swarm. It was a 10 minute queue, which in reality was 5, however we had a great ride on it and got the fire! After swarm we headed towards saw and decided to do rush. This was walk on and we suspected that the queues would get longer as the day went on. Great ride but not as good as I remember it to be. We then decided to do the new X. the ride itself is really good now and the fact that it doesnt stop on the block breaks makes it even better. It was walk on and I have to say that it is a big improvement. Next, it was over to saw. A 10 minute queue was in reality 5 minutes but the ride itself was good. We sat on the front row and when we were going up the lift I was so scared! After a good ride on that, we were suprised the queues weren't getting longer. We did samurai which had a 5 minute queue and got a suprisiling bad spin. Shame. We then did slammer which was a 5 minute queue. We decided to 'freefall' on it and although it was really scary it was a great ride. Off to loggers leap next, we got straight on and the ride is good, I didn't get wet but my friend got soaked! After that we headed towards nemesis inferno, the queue was 5 minutes and we had finally decided that today was an empty day. We were really suprised as we thought it would have been really busy. Nemesis inferno is great but makes me really dizzy. After nemmy inferno, we decided to head over to the detonator. Once again, a 5 minute queue was ahead of us. We deicded to repeat it again as we loved it. Detonator is really scary but a great experience! We then went over to stealth, it had a 15 minute queue but in reality this was 5 minutes. I haven't been on stealth in ages and I loved it! After that we decided to head over to lunch, we had a quick game of battle beam on the way I was really bad and lost 3-0 to my friend! We ate lunch at Burger King and then decided to do rumba rapids. We waited 10 minutes for this but I love the ride and they finally had the water jets back on! After that we headed over to Colossus, this had a 5 minute queue and we were extremely pleased. After a quick spin on Colossus we headed over to saw. Unfortunately it was broken so we decided to do samurai again! The wait was 5 minutes and this time we had a much better ride. I really do love samurai. Saw was reopened so we deicded to head back and wait 10 minutes for it. Once again it was really good! We then decided that we would go down into the lost city. We rode rush again. This time it seemed much worse than the first. I don't think it was swinging as high. We then did quantum twice as there was no queue and he let us stay on! We then did zodiac which I was regretting as I felt really sick after!' Vortex awaited us next with no queue. This was not a good idea after zodiac as I came off feeling even more sick than before! We decided to then head over to stealth and do it again. This time we waited about 10 minutes for the front row seats. The front row is much better than any of the rows and I highly reccomend it! We then did tidal wave which I really did not like as I got drenched! Afterwards we decided to do detonator as the final ride of the day.

Time in park:

10-4:30(we left really early but did not matter as we had done everything)

Key points:

Saw broke for a period of time

Saw queue being advertised as 45 minutes when in reality it was 5 minutes.

No mist or lights in inferno tunnel

All rides on 2 trains and great quick dispatching made queues short

Tidal wave is a stupid ride to do

Ride count:

Detonator X3

Stealth X2

Saw X2

Nemesis inferno X1

Colossus X1

Samurai X2

Slammer X1

Rush X2

Quantum X2

Loggers leap X1

Tidal wave X1

x X1

Swarm X1

Vortex X1

Rumba rapids X1

Total ride count:21

[TPJames]

I thought the report was a bit brief to be honest- I was in a rush

We were suprised at how quiet it was aswell. I guess I am just lucky that we had such a good day! Wish I would have stayed until closing time though as we could have got on nearer 30 rides! I did tidal wave in the pouring rain last year so it didn't make much of a difference but this experience was much worse

I reccomend you have a stab at those flat rides. Detonator is certainly the best followed by samurai and slammer. Then rush and zodiac and finally quantum and vortex. I reccomend you have a go as you will love them! They are really great, especially samurai slammer and detonator

[TPJames]

I'm not very good with things that spin - also I can't even do Mr Monkeys banana ride!!! I have done Detonator though and although it scared the poop out of me I did enjoy it - weirdly more so the first time (I couldn't hear the countdown = deaf as a post!) - second time the countdown was quite loud and I thought I was going to have a heart attack - but it's one of those rides that (with me anyway) you are going up and then start thinking "what the heck am I doing" then feel a bit hyper afterwards

I never hear the countdown on detty that's why the wait at the top scares me so much!

Just to say, samurai was much better at parking yesterday and was really quick to go down!

[Whiteknuckle]

Had a trip to Thorpe yesterday, took ym Mum, and met some friends who travelled over from South Wales.

Park was a bit busier than I thought it would be for a monday, with NI, Colossus, Swarm and Stealth (when it was running) on one train operation. As afore mentioned, Stealth was down for the majority of the day, but saw it operating when we were over at Rush. Luckily, as we collected our bags after the ride, the announcement came on saying the ride has ceased operation, "phew"

Saw, the ride seemed very rough yesterday, unless I just caught a bad car. Most of the rides were near enough walk on, the longest queue we found was for Swarm's reversed seats, and did take a while with just one train running.

Weather was cloudy but dry, and did actually warm up a fair bit in the afternoon. Got there for opening, meeting our friends about half hour later, and left about quater hour before closing.

Ride count

Swarm.4

Stealth.1

NI.1

Colossus.1

SAW.1

Logger's Leap.1 Got drenched

Samurai.1 Did'nt get off the platform where we got on

Rush.1

Flying Fish.1

X.1 Vast improvement, but prefered going backwards

Slammer.1

KFC.1

Tidal Wave was shut all day.

Edited May 21, 2013 by Whiteknuckle

[Coaster]

^ Sounds like a good day, but one train operation is poor even on quiet days in my opinion. They can afford to run two, so they should do so.

[dragon2000]

Don't know what is happening with Stealth this year too. It seems to shut down at least twice a day at the moment.

[TPJames]

^ Sounds like a good day, but one train operation is poor even on quiet days in my opinion. They can afford to run two, so they should do so.

Yes, on empty days they only run the coasters on one train resulting in 30 minute queues anyway.

Don't know what is happening with Stealth this year too. It seems to shut down at least twice a day at the moment.

Visited on Sunday, was open and running the whole day!

Just to add on, a great trip report! Strange though as samurai seemed to be running very well on Sunday and tidal wave was open all day! Goes to show how things can change in a matter of seconds! I guess it was just a good day for me at thorpe, only ride which broke was saw and that was only for 10 mins. I can't actually wait to go back again!

[Whiteknuckle]

Just to add, some of the lights on the indoor section on SAW were'nt working, so you could'nt tell where the drop was, as you could'nt see the swinging axes. Man, did my stomach go

[TPJames]

Just to add, some of the lights on the indoor section on SAW were'nt working, so you could'nt tell where the drop was, as you could'nt see the swinging axes. Man, did my stomach go

Yep, same with me. The axes on saw weren't working and also the water effects on swarm went working along with the mist and lights in the tunnel on nemesis inferno!

[Coaster]

Typical thorpe - effects fixed at the start of the season then broken by mid season.

I've always thought that the drop on Saw should have lights that are timed to switch off before the drop rather than staying on.

[TPJames]

I hope they get fixed again as the rides are really downgraded without them! Let's just hope they are fixed soon.

[coaster_monkey]

First visit to the park... thankfully, unlike last year - I'm pretty much game for a second trip and who knows I could go all crazy and plan a third. Good going for Thorpe so far. OR maybe the fact I haven't had a holiday for 2 years - the weather is ****e to do anything else in this country Thorpe Park is all I have?

First thing first - The Swarm is... amazing. A wonderful coaster and easily one of the better 'coasters I have ridden.

The park itself looks quite cute this year. Perhaps not much happened over the closed season but unlike last year I found the place to be in a better state than before. Apart from weathered attractions the general feel of the place was on par.

My first gripe is Atlantis. The hell happened to this place? Turned into a teenyboppers paradise with terrible music that make you want to stick toothpicks in your ears. Compared to my first visit some 14/15 years ago Atlantis is truly a shadow of its former self. Something needs to change and I'm suggesting we *could* start with not trying to appeal to clubbers.

I visited the park on an off peak day, I wasn't expecting the place to be empty but not rammed. However, to run one train operation on major rides (notice there's only really two major rides there... I'm not asking for much) is a big let-down to customer satisfaction in regards to value for money. When you spend most of your day queuing and only being able to ride just 4 rides twice - I'm struggling to understand the 48£ price tag.

Not everyone wants to go on ride, after ride after ride, some people like to hang around, grab a bite - sit down and have a 'day out'. So, when you do decide to ride being faced with a 40 minute queue with just one train operation is a bit frustrating.

Not a big moan there, but I do feel as if I'm echoing what a lot of people are saying.

Quick ride breakdown:

The Swarm x2. Fantastic. Amazing. Didn't bother with the whole backwards ting, front seat just took my breath away - and THAT'S what a good thrill ride should do.

Colossus. =( Was quite frankly the love of my coaster life. Now I wouldn't be bothered if I missed it completely on my next visit.

THORPE - just put some new f**king trains and give it a clean!!!

N:I. Wasn't expecting much from this, but year after year it just surprises me. The track needs a clean, though.

Stealth x2. Front row gets me every time. However, for such a simple coaster it packs a lasting punch.

Saw x2. Only even bothered to look at Saw because my girlfriend loves it so much. I'm seriously considering leaving her, it's a terrible ride.

Rush. Ran well and all day I think. First time I've witness that.

Detonator x2. Will never get bored of it shame it isn't popular enough to warrants a second tower.

SooOoo, that was it. Even on a quiet day I'm quite appalled with how many rides I managed. I didn't bother with Tidal Wave because I know what grey skies mean. Vortex last year and the year before that let me down, I heard NO screams coming from that so I didn’t bother.

Samurai - I would have ridden it but... y'know, some people just can't stomach flats so I had to miss that out.

X... uhm... well... yeah.

Most effects were working bar Saw... which didn't bother me the effects haven't really been working since day one - the 'thrilling' part is never switched on. I'm amazed how much heat you feel from the fire ball that gets blasted up towards you on Swarm.

Finally...

Please Thorpe Park. Colossus was your major attraction that put you on the map - show it some f**king respect!

[jammydodger]

My first gripe is Atlantis. The hell happened to this place? Turned into a teenyboppers paradise with terrible music that make you want to stick toothpicks in your ears. Compared to my first visit some 14/15 years ago Atlantis is truly a shadow of its former self. Something needs to change and I'm suggesting we *could* start with not trying to appeal to clubbers.

Yeah, the last time I went, they were playing thrift shop on depth charge!

[Mattgwise]

Just got back from Thorpe Park. Was a brilliant day despite the awful heavy rain pouring down for most of the day.This meant minimal queues. Longest I queued all day was about 20 minutes for Nemesis Inferno and Saw. Stealth was on 1 train so may have been about 30 minutes but had a priority pass from previous visit so didn't queue. Later on in the day got to walk on all rides and even stayed on for rerides on Rumba and Detonator.

Think I now prefer rainy days to sunny days when it is so much quieter

Storm Surge was initially closed but reopened later on, Saw closed briefly about 1pm and Slammer closed twice temporarily but was a strange situation as both times the ride was operating normally with guests and queue line closed, then nothing happened for 10 mins and it reopened again. All other main coasters ran perfectly from what I saw with two trains and quick dispatching (amazing how much quicker things are without fastrackers)

Was strange to see almost all rides closed and shut down by about 6:02pm.

Ride Count from 12pm to 6pm:

Colossus x 1

Stealth x1

Saw x3

Nemesis Inferno x3

Detonator x4

SIAT x2

Rumba Rapids x3

Swarm x2

X x2

Slammer x2

Samurai x2

Vortex x2

Rush x7

Quantum x1

[dragon2000]

Saw closed briefly about 1pm and Slammer closed twice temporarily but was a strange situation as both times the ride was operating normally with guests and queue line closed, then nothing happened for 10 mins and it reopened again.

This happened last week while we were in the Saw station - usually it's when they add another car onto the track. They say 'Saw has temporarily ceased operation', close the queue, send round a few empty cars so everyone currently on the ride can get off and some of the cars stop in the inside section of the ride. Then they re-open with the additional cars 'Pleased to announce we are back in operation!'.

Reckon this happened with Saw?

I know Slammer sometimes closes for a short while for inspections during the day.

[coastercameron98]

Right then trip report time, I just got back from my visit today and its fair to say queues were brilliant all day. Towards the end of the day all the rides were near enough walk on because everyone gave up and went home most likely because of the heat. But anyway first ride of the day was X and it was amazing so much better than the original but needs more smoke or less light as its too easy to see where you go and without the blocks its fantastic. Next ride was Tidal Wave was so refreshing, and about a 10 minute queue when I went on. Straight to Colossus after that the ride crew were a bit slow today with a lot of families with smaller children who couldn't go on and people who were too big. Anyway skipping straight to the ride count otherwise id be here forever.

Colossus - 1

Nemesis Inferno - 3, one of which front row

Detonator - 3

Rumba - 1

Tidal Wave - 1

Loggers - 1

Stealth - 1

Quantum - 2

Samurai - 1, never again

X - 2

Vortex remained closed all day as did Slammer and Storm Surge reopened part way through the day but got 90 minute queues so didn't bother. Samurai's zeroing was slow today, saw closed due to someone bringing up their lunch, Stealth broke but no idea what for, tidal got stuck first thing this morning as well.

[Coaster]

Park was quite busy throughout today, there was no major drop in queues at any point in the day (I had been told 3pm).

Ride operation was fairly good on most, apart from The Swarm which as per usual this year was dismal

[Gino.]

A brief report from my visit yesterday:

The park was quite busy, with [seemingly] a large majority of people staying up until closing time at 6pm. I wasn't able to get all of the major rides done. The day started with The Swarm labelled as 'closed', however it was shortly running again. Nemesis Inferno was closed for approximately 30 minutes in the morning due to 'cleaning'. Stealth had queues of 70 minutes at 5.15pm. The longest queue time was 2 hours for The Swarm at around midday. Colossus was exceptionally rough when I went on for the second time at the end of the day. It was also the first time I had ridden the Swarm, and I managed to ride the front row on the right hand side - it was amazing.

Ride count:

Colossus - x 2

Nemesis Inferno - x 2

X - x 1

Rumba Rapids - x 1

Tidal Wave - x 1

Loggers Leap - x 1

The Swarm - x 1

Depth Charge - x 1

[EC!]

I last went on the Ice Cream shoot , and I have to say the shear amount of time I went on stealth, lets say put me of coasters for the rest of the day as I had a banging headache and I took like 6 or Han30's paracetamols.... which knackered me out so I cant exactly remember how well the day went I just remember my ride count lol!

Stealth x22

Nemesis Inferno x 1

Mr Monkeys Banana Ride x1

Storm Surge x1

Samurai x1

Loggers x2

Saw x 2

X x3

Swarm x1

Depth Charge x1

Quantum X1

Rocky Express x 1

SO overall apart from the fact that I was so tired I could barely remember anything I had a good day

[Han30]

Oooer Ethan - sorry that the paracetamol tired you out - you should have done what I did and got a mahoosive coffee at lunch time - I had no sleep the night before and it woke me up (after the effects of Stealth wore off!)

[BigBobJones]

Arrived at Thorpe at 10:30.

Sign outside apologising for Slammer and Saw being closed. Well Saw was working, Stealth was not.... These new signs are really worth the money when they always display incorrect information....

Walked on to Rush, walked on to Saw (refused the instant re-ride as it was rough as old boots), went to Nemesis Inferno, advertised queue of 5 mins but on one train operation and a queue down the stairs I knew otherwise, walked straight on to Rumba Rapids, Stealth still closed. Got our capsules filled, post mix no right, but no change there.

Went to The Swarm 65 min queue forwards and advertised 5 backwards and the cattlepen completely full with added and one train operation turned around and went to the Flying Fish (no queue) got a coffee as the coke tastes foul, well the coffee ended up in the bin as this was even worse, then went home at 11:30.

[Coaster]

Haven't done a TR for a while now.

Went to Thorpe today, time in park 10am - 3pm.

The park was fairly busy today for a weekend in September, however we still managed a fairly decent ridecount in the time we had on park. We also took some time to look at the construction of the Fright Nights horror mazes, although unfortunately I forgot my camera!

RIDECOUNT:

Stealth x2

Nemesis Inferno x1

Colossus x1

The Swarm x1

X x1

The Swarm x1 (Forwards)

Logger's Leap x1

One niggle I had was that at about quarter to eleven Colossus had quite a long delay to put the second train on - do it at the start of the day!

Very much looking forward to Fright Nights now.

[Sawyer]

Does seem a little odd to wait until then to put it on, it's quite close to the start of the day still, so as you say may as well put on at the start of the day.

Other than that, your ride count doesn't seem too shabby in the slightest.

[Coaster]

Fright Nights AP Preview Evening.

6:30 - 10:00pm

RIDE/MAZE COUNT:

My Bloody Valentine x1

The Asylum x1

Cabin in the Woods x1

The Blair Witch Project x1

Nemesis Inferno x1

X x1

Rush x1

The park was relatively busy.

Please see the Fright Nights topic to see what I thought of it