How Busy Is It Going To Be?

[Mark9]

Right, so instead of endless topics asking us how busy the park is going to be, instead here is a rough guide to the kind of business the park/s should be expecting this season. It's not set in stone and remember business can be effected by weather, ride reliability, mount of trains/cars on the rollercoasters, amount of staff working on things, fastrack etc etc etc!10am - 5pm Weekday. Likely to be very empty, particularly in term time. Queue time should be minimal (Unless your name is Stealth and you have a stupid system where you can only load 4 in the first, 8 in the second and then you end up rolling back anyway etc etc) 10am-5pm Weekend. Will be emptyish, however likely to be long queues for Saw, Colossus, Stealth and Nemesis Inferno.10am-6pm. Busy but not so bad. Queues for the coasters could reach 45/60 minutes, whilst the rest of the flat rides should be a max of 30 minutes. June and July are when schools start rolling in, so between 11-3 the park will be very busy.9.30am-6pm. Should be busy. Queues for the coasters could reach 60/90 minutes and the rest of the rides queues will be between 20/40 minutes. Fastrack will be in operation.9.30-7pm. Expected to be busy. Queues should be similar to 9.30-6.00 close except the last hour should be quite empty.9.30-8.00 Again should be busy. At least you have a long day to get on quite a few rides. 10.00am-10.00pm Will be busy. Last year wasn't as bad as previously however if it ever hits peak capacity, queues will be up to 2 hours for the rollercoasters and between 45/90 minutes for the flat rides.Remember guys, read this guide to help if you beat the queues without wasting money on Fastrack. Also use the park well. Head to Stealth and Inferno instead of Saw and Colossus. Do rides whilst they look empty instead of following the majority of the crowds.

[StevenX]

I thought Colossus had been closed for the past few days (according to the site ticker anyway)?

We're going tomorrow so hopefully it will be open :-)

Not sure, but it was running yesterday all day with 2 trains. The only things which were closed were Slammer, Slammer and that weird Neptune's beach thing at the front. Oh, and SAW Alive - which I'm led to believe is now only operated over Fright Nights? If true, that's very poor show.

[c1hrisin]

Very poor show is the reason its closed until fright nights!

[Weeksy]

Any idea what the general dates are for half term this year? Just so I can avoid the park then

[c1hrisin]

I think it is the 27th of October until the 4th of November

[Dodge2002]

Majority of schools are having an extra 2-3 days off, so 24th - 4th. Obviously all times dates are decided by local councils, so its hard to say anything definitively. 12th 19th 22nd and 23rd are probably your best days to go.

[diddiyo]

Hello,

my gf and I will be visiting a friend in London soon and we'd like to check out Thorpe Park since we've never been.

These are the only two days we can make it, and as far as I can tell they are also the last two days of the season:

Sunday 04.11., 10:00 am - 9:00 pm

Monday 05.11., 10:00 am - 5:00 pm

I assume the crowds will be lighter on Monday since that's the first day of school, correct? 7 hours should be enough to cover all rides I hope.

[Ryan]

Hey! The Sunday is a Fright Nights day so will be busier, but not ridiculously busy. All information regarding Fright Nights can be found here: http://thorpepark.com/frightnights/. The Monday is last day of the season and a school/work day for most people so it will be relatively quiet, you'll easily be able to get on everything.

It depends on whether you want to do Fright Nights or not. The Sunday Fright Night day will be busier but this event might interest you, whereas the Monday normal day will be a lot quieter.

[diddiyo]

Hi,

ok I think we'll just do Monday 05.11. then. Very much looking forward to it.

Thanks!

[JJ99]

Anyone local know if the schools have a teacher training day on 5th Nov? Hence the decision to open?

[Dodge2002]

Some schools might have an inset day that day since its firework night. It's hard to tell, every single school decide its inset days internally, so while one school may have it off, another might not.

[Craaig]

Just out of curiosity, in school termtime in mid April (after the Easter hols this year), does the park tend to be busy? I just thought it could be because it's pretty early in the park's season, with the Snoozebox too, and it'd be nice if we could get there for 2 fairly quiet days (looking at booking a Snoozebox room for a few people). Thanks guys

[pluk]

Should be dead, that's the sort of time I usually go and most things are walk on.

[Craaig]

Awesome, thanks for that. I'll look into booking up when I get some money through..

[pluk]

Although don't quote me on that if it turns out to be packed! Random busy days do happen without warning and if the park is geared up for a quiet one and loads of people turn up it can get chaotic quite quickly as there's not the staff in place to cope. You should be fine though. Good luck!

[TPJames]

Just out of curiosity, in school termtime in mid April (after the Easter hols this year), does the park tend to be busy? I just thought it could be because it's pretty early in the park's season, with the Snoozebox too, and it'd be nice if we could get there for 2 fairly quiet days (looking at booking a Snoozebox room for a few people). Thanks guys

I just went after the Easter hols had ended last year on a Wednesday, and the park was absolutely empty! Absolutely everything was 0 mins except swarm which peaked at 10 mins during the day! However, it was pouring with rain so maybe that's the reason why the park was so empty...

I will be visiting again around that time this year aswell, because the park is so much quieter and you can get on your desired rides over and over again

[JAMMYD777]

Hey everyone. I'm planning on taking all of my friends for an end of exams trip to Thorpe but I'm not sure which date would be best. Obviously we would like to get the most amount of rides done as possible so which would be better out of:

Sunday 17th March

Sunday 24th March

Sunday 31st March

Many Thanks

[JoshC.]

Hey everyone. I'm planning on taking all of my friends for an end of exams trip to Thorpe but I'm not sure which date would be best. Obviously we would like to get the most amount of rides done as possible so which would be better out of:

Sunday 17th March

Sunday 24th March

Sunday 31st March

Many Thanks

Sunday 31st is Easter Sunday I think. Bank Holidays tend to be a bit unpredictable in my opinion, with some being quiet and some being busy, so I'd say avoid that as it's not worth the risk really if you're going with people who don't visit often / visit rarely.

I don't normally do Sundays so I can't really give much more insight to be honest. The 17th is during Open Weekend, which again could mean it's quiet or busy, but likely relatively quiet. The 24th seems like a pretty good date if I'm honest, though the 17th shouldn't be too bad either. Both those dates are 10am-6pm, so even if it is a bit busy, you should get everything done easily!

As I say, I don't normally visit on Sundays - so others may be able to be a bit more helpful.

Hope this helps though.

[TPJames]

It depends when you want to go really- sometimes you can visit on a Sunday and the park is absolutely empty!

I would suggest going on the 24th though, because it is in the middle of the school term(although it is a sunday) and it is not close to the opening.

In my opinion, I would rule out 17th because this is the park's opening week and it will proabably be packed. Also Sunday the 31st is bang in Easter so you may not want to go then. It is up to you really...

Although I said this, I think you may want to consider the 31st aswell because that is easter sunday and the park is likely to be less busy. So overall I reccomend either the 24th or 31st of march.

Hope this helped

[Coaster]

In my opinion, I would rule out 17th because this is the park's opening week and it will proabably be packed.

Last year the park's opening weekend wasn'y actually that busy on the Sunday, The Swarm only got up to 70 minutes if I remember rightly but stayed at 30 mins for the majority of the afternoon. (Bear in mind that it was brand new!)

[AJ]

31st I predict to be packed due to it being bank holiday and Easter holidays for some boroughs so that's a no really.

17th will be relatively quiet but also a fair few enthusiasts who have the closed season blues so wouldn't be as quiet as the 24th I would of thought which is in between the 2 'special' weekends

[Fred]

First two weekends definitely.

Does thorpe have gypsies on easter sunday like the other parks?

[Glitch]

First two weekends definitely.

Does thorpe have gypsies on easter sunday like the other parks?

Well Sundays in general their are normally few gypsies around the park as their are some sites near by and on Sundays staines is swarmed by them

[RideAddict]

Sometimes I manage to park on the hard-standing, after weaving my way through past the gravel (really hate that). However, in the days when you used to drive in through the gate and slip through the gap (keep in the far right lane) and park immediately on the hard-standing without going via the gravel car park, I was once caught. They scanned my pass and knew exactly where I had parked, so I had to go and move. But how do to they know this? Binoculars? Clever spyers? My pass isn't linked to my car details, so how?!

On full days when it is heaving and doing my head in, I park in Penton Hook Marina, near the mini roundabout and residential area. It says private yes, and I've done it a few times without being questioned or having notices put on my car.

[Emma1980]

I'm guessing its common sense really - during the off peak times which is term time for schools, Uni's, college and generally people at work will be quiet - which is why I only ever go on a week day and book a day off work, chuck my girl into nursery as usual and head off to TP for the day!

I don't think I'd ever go on the weekend or in a school holiday now I've been spoilt with going on a off peak week day..... I would always recommend that over any weekend.... and risking it being mega busy and being disappointed!

[RideAddict]

I like your style, drop your girl off at nursery and let her play, whilst you go and play in the bigger park!

I would go more during the week if it wasn't for work commitments, but when I'm off work I try to make time for visits to any park, especially as I'm only about 20 minutes from Chessington.