First trip in 6 years to Thorpe Park 29/05

[Chessiekid]

So yesterday I took my first trip to Thorpe Park since April 2010, it was a last minute thing and booked the night before as me and my pals had decided whilst in the pub it was something we should do as we all had a day off.

 

Drove down to the park for about 9.50, once we arrived I saw the entrance area was pretty busy. I was expecting a busy day having known college kids had just finished there exams and school trips. waited around outside the entrance for a about 10 minutes, noticed the massive screen, that was cool, defiantly an improvement over what was there before. I also like the new branding, much better then those big head guys and the promotion of pissing and having sex behind bushes.

 

Headed straight through the dome noticed the queue board, nice to see they want to bring the themed areas back and its a great start actually made me really excited about the day if I'm honest.

 

Because none of us had been in so long and had hadn't been on The Swarm we decided that heading there first was probably best. Took a brisk walk down by Depth Charge and followed the path up to the entrance of the ride. Was really impressed by the scale of everything and was really nice to see so many effects working, made a massive contrast to the last times I had visited where on other rides with effects were just left off or hadn't been maintained. We walked through the queue, which was pretty standard, some nice videos and such but wouldn't want to be stuck in it. At the bag section the fella at the front directed us to the right hand side. On a side note I noticed the same staff throughout the day manning every position, when I was working at Chessington we were constantly changing positions and rides. Is this common practice at Thorpe, seems a bit unfair on staff if I'm honest.

Anyway headed past the control box and took up a row at the back, this decision was made as I had heard from various places this would be the best place to sit. Was also surprised to see 4 attendants on the platform and later in the day operations defiantly benefited from this. The ride itself was great really enjoyed the first drop after the lift and easily my favourite UK ride.

 

Next up was Stealth, I had ridden Kingda Ka  few summers ago so was really excited to back onto another Intamin Accelerator. Queue was short and we queued about 5/10 minutes. Again operations seemed really slick, I was impressed. Although I had just recently left working In a park where getting 400 PPH on major coasters was seen as good  so my expectations might be quite low. Had a great ride on Stealth, I had forgot how much of a punch that ride leaves.

 

We wanted to get the coasters done because we could notice the park was starting to fill up, we hit Nemesis Inferno. Queue board said 15 minutes was more like 25, I know how hard it is to keep accurate queue times though so I wont criticise that. The ride itself was good, nothing amazing was good to get back on it though. Again it was good to see effects working, stealth also had all its effects working other then one launch light that was out.

 

We made the walk up to the Saw and Colossus area of the park, we noticed Colossus was on 45 minutes and was on one train. Could only see that the queue was going to get bigger during the day so we took the decision to get it done. Once we entered the queue we walked up the first part and saw the rest of the queue which was at the bridge. at which point we agreed that being the weakest coaster in the park that waiting that long on one train was not worth it. We exited the queue and saw the queue sign had been changed to 75 minutes, a much more accurate representation of the queue I imagine.

 

Next on our list was Saw. A ride I actually rated quite highly last I had rode it. Queue was advertised at 40 and was probably what we waited. Again great to see all the indoor effects working properly makes for such a great ride. That first drop into the spikes is amazing! Rest of the ride was okay, defiantly getting rougher as it ages and that jolt at the bottom of the main drop is disgusting.    

 

having done all the big coasters but Colossus by about 11.15 we went to check on the Ghost Train. had a little look round the shop and the ride area. Looks interesting will obviously have to reserve my judgement till its open. Not thrilled by the VR stuff though. I'm a Celebrity was close to this area and had a 30 minute queue, the through put was awful on this, who decides that 200 or so people an hour is acceptable? The ride itself was pretty terrible if I'm honest. The actors try hard and it looks pretty but fails miserably at doing what its supposed to do, entertain. The challenges are just rushed and just seem pointless. That wind tunnel bit is a joke.

 

Had lunch at Burger King, not really much to comment on there. Headed to Rumba Rapids next, waited 10 minutes for this. Was exactly how I remembered it, not the most impressive of rides and could really do with some touch ups. I did find it quite entertaining albeit not that wet. After Rumba we went and cycled the flats, Detonator, Samurai, Rush and Vortex. Got them done in about an hour an a half. Detonator and Rush were good. Vortex and Samurai however are showing their age and could probably do with replacing, as long as they are actually replaced.

 

After flats we took a ride on X, again something a little new for us. Was an interesting idea, I was almost expecting ID scanners and some bouncers as we walked into the platform area. The 2 per row rule was strange, must be annoying for attendants to enforce. Having operated Black Bucaneer I know how annoying rules like that can be. Still X was actually quite good the lasers and stuff were pretty good and the ride itself now makes for a great family ride.

 

After X we took a look at the queue board to see what we wanted to do next, must say I really do like the branding on these. saw Stealth was 15 minutes so headed to it. Same again really, I really enjoy the launch its great and operations seemed good. After our re ride on stealth we headed over to Colossus which was still posted as 75 minutes, we had a look over the bridge anf noticed the queue came up to the queueline kiosk. We assumed this would be like 45 minutes or so, which it was. Got into the station and the ride got stuck on the lift . initially I assumed someone had got their phone out or something, then I saw the engineers had arrived so expected the worse. Wasn't to bad we got a priority pass for something else and worked to our benefit I also got a geeky look at the transfer track area  

 

We used our priority pass at The Swarm avoided a 60 minute queue and got on near the front. Although it was frustrating to see rows going empty because of improper batching and a large bag queue to reclaim property, glad we didn't have any. After The Swarm it was about 4.20 so we decided Saw should be our last ride as Colossus was still down at this point. Headed to saw and it started to rain quite badly, it made what was probably a 40 minute queue about 20 minutes as a lot of people gave up and left. Whilst heading up the lift of Saw I noticed Colossus was cycling, I clocked my watch and noticed it was 4.50 so after saw we made a quick exit and was able to get into a 10 minute queue for Colossus. Colossus was average we got on near the front which if I remember correctly always made for the better ride. Still really rough and if Thorpe Park ever do decide to remove one of the big coaster I can see this one being the first to go.

 

Overall actually had a really good day. IMO has come on leaps and bounds from what I remember, was nice to see full capacity on all the rides other then Colossus (which I assume was because the other train was having issues), I guess that should be expected though. Was also really great to see almost every effect turned on and working. Wasn't too disappointed with not being able to get on Ghost Train, it was however a little annoying Slammer was closed, I really like that ride. One thing I do want to mention is the clientele at Thorpe is awful isn't it? I know there headed in a more family direction the sooner they can get to this the better. The amount of disrespect I saw for staff and property was awful and in no way justified.

 

So yeah top marks Thorpe Park really enjoyed my day, defiantly better then visits I had back in 2009/09 when it wasn't uncommon to expect half the coasters to be closed and 2 hour queues on major rides.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ryan]

Wow great trip report! It's always interesting to see comments from people who haven't been in a while, glad you had a good day