Matt N
CF Legend
Hi guys. Sorry to bore you all with another of my trip reports, but I've just come back from a school trip to Thorpe Park. And it was... an experience, to say the least! The day started with a 2.5 hour bus journey from Gloucestershire to Thorpe Park. We arrived at about 10:30am, but due to our teachers needing to retrieve tickets and Thorpe's school procedures, we didn't get in until around 11:30am. There must have been at least 10 other schools at Thorpe today, as they had switchbacks prepared especially for the school groups, with staff members giving every student a list of school offers. I think that one of the staff members may even have been CF's very own @nadroJ, but she looked busy giving other people offer slips as well as me and we were being rushed along by our teachers. We then got through the turnstiles and headed into the park.
The initial plan of me and the people I was with was to head to The Swarm... but we were greeted with a 75-80 minute queue, so we decided to head back later for that one. We wandered around aimlessly for a bit before getting in the 40 minute queue for...
Rush
Now, I had never ridden Rush before, so I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from it. It looked a bit like a pirate ship at first glance, but I had a feeling that it wouldn't ride anything like one. So me and my group got onto Rush after about 40 minutes, as the sign out front predicted... and we really liked it! I personally loved the sensation of speed and the feeling of the wind rushing against your face, which added somewhat of an element of forcefulness to the whole ride experience! It was quite a short cycle, but it was certainly sweet! One of my personal favourite flat rides, out of my rather limited selection! Another plus was that it provided a nice breeze for everyone in the queue below! My group seemed to agree with me as we got off Rush and headed for Old Town to ride Saw. However, it had a 90 minute queue, so we instead got into the 40 minute queue for...
Samurai
Samurai was yet another new experience for me! It looked a bit tame from off-ride, but Samurai proved to me that looks can be deceiving! It was really quite intense once I was on it, winching me from one direction to another in a series of intense spins! It was running a lovely long cycle too, with some nice views of Saw! I definitely preferred it out of it and Rush, but some others in my group didn't seem so sure. On a side note, since when has Samurai played really haunting music during the ride cycle?
After Samurai, we decided to have our lunch. We had been advised to bring packed lunch, but most of our group ate from Burger King in Amity Cove. Me and a couple of others didn't, though. The queue for food was quite big, so lunch used up about half an hour to an hour of our day overall. After lunch, we decided to try and queue for Stealth, but quickly realised that the queue was 90 minutes and decided to see if anything else had a shorter queue. Alas, everything else major, including all the coasters, was at at least 90 minutes. So our group hung around for a bit before trying to queue 50 minutes for the dodgems in Angry Birds Land, but we changed our minds shortly after entering the queue. We then hung around for a little bit longer before looking at the queue time board and seeing what we thought was Saw on a 60 minute queue. So we rushed over to Old Town again to ride Saw... but it was on an 80 minute queue when we got over there. However, we just decided to get in line in the end:
SAW: The Ride
When we entered the queue for Saw, it looked visibly longer than when I had ridden it in May and it seemed to move more slowly, as well. I still had some enthusiasm left over, despite not being a fan of Saw, but a lot of the people in my group seemed quite fed up by this point. The reason that the queue seemed to be moving more slowly may have been that the queue line shop was open and that many people were buying from it. As I was very, very hot by this point, I bought a Diet Coke and a Magnum to keep me cool and occupied in the long queue. Some others in my group did the same. We then waited for another long period of time before reaching the station. It was now nearing the time that we had to meet back at the fake tyre by Stealth (our school's meet up point), but I was confident that we would get on with adequate time to spare. So I handed my bag into the baggage hold and lined up for a row. However... the ride then broke down. One person in my group left the queue at this point in order to be back to the meet up point in time, and I swiftly reclaimed my bag and followed. Some of my group waited a bit longer, but they also followed about 5-10 minutes later as the ride did not reopen.
So that ended our day at Thorpe Park. While I did only get on two rides, it's better than nothing (as Alton Towers' social media team would say
) and it was good getting on some of Thorpe's flat rides for the first time. I also still had a nice day despite the lack of riding done. So we headed back to school after a nice, albeit very busy, day at Thorpe Park. I may not have gotten on everything I wanted to, but I still had a nice day.
P.S. Sorry for long report. I also apologise for boringness and lack of detail.
The initial plan of me and the people I was with was to head to The Swarm... but we were greeted with a 75-80 minute queue, so we decided to head back later for that one. We wandered around aimlessly for a bit before getting in the 40 minute queue for...
Rush
Now, I had never ridden Rush before, so I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from it. It looked a bit like a pirate ship at first glance, but I had a feeling that it wouldn't ride anything like one. So me and my group got onto Rush after about 40 minutes, as the sign out front predicted... and we really liked it! I personally loved the sensation of speed and the feeling of the wind rushing against your face, which added somewhat of an element of forcefulness to the whole ride experience! It was quite a short cycle, but it was certainly sweet! One of my personal favourite flat rides, out of my rather limited selection! Another plus was that it provided a nice breeze for everyone in the queue below! My group seemed to agree with me as we got off Rush and headed for Old Town to ride Saw. However, it had a 90 minute queue, so we instead got into the 40 minute queue for...
Samurai
Samurai was yet another new experience for me! It looked a bit tame from off-ride, but Samurai proved to me that looks can be deceiving! It was really quite intense once I was on it, winching me from one direction to another in a series of intense spins! It was running a lovely long cycle too, with some nice views of Saw! I definitely preferred it out of it and Rush, but some others in my group didn't seem so sure. On a side note, since when has Samurai played really haunting music during the ride cycle?
After Samurai, we decided to have our lunch. We had been advised to bring packed lunch, but most of our group ate from Burger King in Amity Cove. Me and a couple of others didn't, though. The queue for food was quite big, so lunch used up about half an hour to an hour of our day overall. After lunch, we decided to try and queue for Stealth, but quickly realised that the queue was 90 minutes and decided to see if anything else had a shorter queue. Alas, everything else major, including all the coasters, was at at least 90 minutes. So our group hung around for a bit before trying to queue 50 minutes for the dodgems in Angry Birds Land, but we changed our minds shortly after entering the queue. We then hung around for a little bit longer before looking at the queue time board and seeing what we thought was Saw on a 60 minute queue. So we rushed over to Old Town again to ride Saw... but it was on an 80 minute queue when we got over there. However, we just decided to get in line in the end:
SAW: The Ride
When we entered the queue for Saw, it looked visibly longer than when I had ridden it in May and it seemed to move more slowly, as well. I still had some enthusiasm left over, despite not being a fan of Saw, but a lot of the people in my group seemed quite fed up by this point. The reason that the queue seemed to be moving more slowly may have been that the queue line shop was open and that many people were buying from it. As I was very, very hot by this point, I bought a Diet Coke and a Magnum to keep me cool and occupied in the long queue. Some others in my group did the same. We then waited for another long period of time before reaching the station. It was now nearing the time that we had to meet back at the fake tyre by Stealth (our school's meet up point), but I was confident that we would get on with adequate time to spare. So I handed my bag into the baggage hold and lined up for a row. However... the ride then broke down. One person in my group left the queue at this point in order to be back to the meet up point in time, and I swiftly reclaimed my bag and followed. Some of my group waited a bit longer, but they also followed about 5-10 minutes later as the ride did not reopen.
So that ended our day at Thorpe Park. While I did only get on two rides, it's better than nothing (as Alton Towers' social media team would say
) and it was good getting on some of Thorpe's flat rides for the first time. I also still had a nice day despite the lack of riding done. So we headed back to school after a nice, albeit very busy, day at Thorpe Park. I may not have gotten on everything I wanted to, but I still had a nice day.P.S. Sorry for long report. I also apologise for boringness and lack of detail.
