Matt N
CF Legend
Hi guys. Yesterday, my dad, my sister and me went to Thorpe Park. And we had an absolutely fantastic day at the park! Now, this was our first time visiting the island like no other since May 2015, so I was excited to get back on the park's rides and ride some of the credits I had never ridden before. I was buzzing when we arrived and saw that wonderful coaster skyline! We got into the park at somewhere between 10:30am and 11am, so we crossed over the bridge and headed to our first ride...
Stealth
Stealth was only on a 10 minute wait, which is quite a rare occurrence for a ride like Stealth, so we decided to head there first. As predicted, we were on within 10 minutes, and... I really enjoyed Stealth, as usual! Even though the restraints are awful and there's a bit of a rattle at the bottom of the large drop, that launch is a great rush unlike anything else I've ever ridden! It's really intense, which I also find with Rita's launch, despite absolutely hating Rita! Anyway, Stealth was fun! I see Stealth in a similar sort of way to how I see Oblivion at Alton Towers, in that even though it's very short, it provides a great adrenaline rush! Stealth presently sits in the high end of my top 20 (#12, to be exact!), and it's my 2nd favourite at Thorpe! It's also the only Intamin thrill coaster I've ridden that I'd say I really like! My dad, however, didn't enjoy Stealth, as the restraints hurt his shoulders. On a random note, if anyone has ridden Kingda Ka, Red Force or TTD, are these anything like Stealth, out of interest? Anyway, after Stealth, we headed to our next ride, which was...
SAW: The Ride
When we reached Old Town, Saw was on a 40 minute queue, so we joined it. Now, full disclosure; I had never actually been on Saw until yesterday, despite having visited Thorpe twice before, in 2014 and 2015, respectively. When I was younger, the ride's theming scared me and my sister quite a lot, so we never wanted to go on it. But today, we finally went on it for the first time, as we were less scared by the theming this time! I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from Saw, as people who'd ridden it had said it was incredibly rough, but past Gerstlauer thrill coasters I'd ridden (The Smiler and Speed) had never had much more than a slight rattle and the odd jolt here and there. So, I boarded Saw, not entirely sure what to expect. The indoor section was good, and we were lucky enough to be on the car where the freaky doll (don't know its name as I've never watched the Saw movies) did its extended speech. It said some weird things such as "you are strapped into a mechanical device that will test your worth as a human being" and "live or die, make your choice", or something along those lines. I couldn't quite hear the whole speech, but it was a nice touch. Anyway, I personally liked the indoor section more than Smiler's, and the drop at the start under the daggers was a surprise, even though I knew it was coming! Now, on to the ride itself. My sister didn't particularly enjoy it, although I personally suspect that might be partly due to the theming and the indoor section, as she doesn't particularly like sudden loud noises. My dad loved it, and said it was his new favourite ride at the park. However... I wasn't personally a fan. Even though the layout was pretty mental, this was also part of the ride's downfall, in my opinion, as it meant that the ride was extremely rough; much more so than The Smiler and Speed. Even though this can be partly forgiven due to the fact that the ride is now nearly 10 years old, Speed is 3 years older, and that felt nowhere near as rough, in my eyes. Speed only had a slight rattle when I rode it. Some of the transitions were also a bit too jolty to be comfortable. I didn't personally find Saw as rough as I found Colossus when I last rode it, but it wasn't too far behind, in my opinion! So, in conclusion, I liked the indoor section on Saw, and the base layout is pretty good, but I found it a bit too rough and the transitions a bit too jolty to truly enjoy it, so it is my personal least favourite of the Gerstlauers I've ridden. In terms of Thorpe coasters, I'd rank it above Colossus, but below the others. The airtime hill provided some pretty good airtime, however, which was a pleasant surprise! So for me, Saw definitely isn't the worst coaster I've ever ridden, but it was a bit too rough for my liking, personally. I apologise if I'm being a bit harsh on Saw here, as I know some rides are intended to be rough and brutal, but I'm not really a fan of rough rides. After Saw, we decided to head to The Swarm, but a certain easy credit on the way there was on a 5 minute queue, and my coaster count was practically yelling from inside for me to ride...
Flying Fish
Now I don't often ride kiddie creds at theme parks, but as Flying Fish was on a 5 minute queue, and I'd never ridden it before, I decided to give it a go. A cred's a cred, after all. These Mack powered coasters are normally quite enjoyable from my experience of them, but I didn't remember Scorpion Express being anything overly interesting, and this is a clone of Scorpion Express, so I didn't have overly high expectations. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Flying Fish had slightly more of a kick to it than its sibling at Chessington, so for that reason, I rate it slightly higher, despite it being an exact clone of Scorpion Express. It was nowhere near as good as Runaway Mine Train at Alton, but I wasn't really expecting it to be, as Runaway Mine Train is much longer, is unexpectedly thrilling for a coaster that only reaches 22mph, and I have a real soft spot for it! It's an Alton classic! Anyway, Flying Fish was a pleasant surprise, and a new cred is always good, so it's a thumbs up from me! Also, you get some great views of The Swarm, which was our next ride...
The Swarm
The Swarm was on a 50 minute queue, so we joined it, as at the time, this was the lowest queue for a ride that we hadn't ridden yet today. It took slightly longer than 50 minutes, as the ride went down for "essential cleaning". It came back up quite quickly, however. I had really loved The Swarm prior to yesterday, and rated it very highly as my number 1 UK coaster, contrary to popular opinion. However, as I hadn't ridden it in 3 years, and many people had said about how forceless and slow it was, I was quite concerned that I'd massively overrated The Swarm when I'd ridden it before, and that I wouldn't enjoy it as much when I rerode it. However, those concerns were irrational, as I adored the ride just as much as I did before! I had two rides on The Swarm yesterday; one on the back row and one in row 3, and it definitely retained its place at #4 in my top 10, and its place as my favourite British coaster! The ride felt quite forceful, possibly even more so than it had done in the past. In fact, and feel free to criticise me for thinking this; I actually felt that the turn over the water in between the inclined loop and the corkscrew was on par with, if not greater than, Nemesis' loop in terms of force! As I said, feel free to berate me for that, but on both rides we had, that particular moment felt really forceful; definitely the ride's most forceful moment, in my opinion! The 127ft wing over drop was also great in both rows that we rode in, providing a different sensation in each row. The back row provided an awesome sensation of being pulled over, whereas the 3rd row provided some lovely, floaty hangtime! The seating position also makes The Swarm very unique compared to others I've ridden! Overall, I really love The Swarm, and it was just as good as I remembered it being! It was also just as smooth as I remembered; still the joint smoothest coaster I've ridden alongside Thirteen at Alton Towers and Mako at SeaWorld Orlando! I like rides that strike a balance between smoothness and thrill, and The Swarm does this really well, as do my other top coasters! In fact, I find that B&M in general often do this really well, which might well be the reason that 7 of my top 10 coasters are B&Ms! My dad and my sister also really enjoyed The Swarm, which was nice to see! Anyway, after we came off The Swarm for the first time yesterday, we initially headed over to The Jungle to ride Nemesis Inferno. However, when we got there, the ride had an 80 minute queue, while The Swarm had a 35 minute queue, and a reride on my #4 coaster sounded very tempting! I personally reckon we made a good decision, as while we were queueing to reride The Swarm, Nemesis Inferno broke down. Reriding The Swarm also meant that we had time to go over to The Jungle afterwards and see if Nemesis Inferno was working. However, the ride still had an 80 minute queue, and it was getting quite late, so we instead ended our day on...
Rumba Rapids
Rumba Rapids was on a 30 minute queue, but I don't think we waited anywhere near 30 minutes! So, we got into our boat quite soon after joining the queue and headed off down the river. Now, Rumba Rapids is probably the weakest rapids ride I've done, and I remember staying relatively dry on it in the past. As I expected, we again stayed relatively dry on the attraction. It's certainly not the wettest rapids I've ever done; that title goes to Bilge-Rats at IOA! But it was a nice, relaxing end to a great day at Thorpe Park.
So, in conclusion...
I personally really enjoyed Thorpe Park yesterday. It definitely isn't my favourite theme park, but I really enjoy it for what it is, and it was nice to be back after 3 years! The Swarm is still an absolutely fantastic coaster, Stealth was great, Saw was... not quite so great, but I'm glad I rode it, Flying Fish was a pleasant surprise, and we generally had a lovely day at Thorpe! The sun was shining, the rides were great, and even though the park was very busy, operations were quite good! Stealth was on 2 trains, Swarm was on 2 trains, Saw was running at least 4 cars, and queues moved relatively quickly on most rides. The crowds were also to be expected, as it was Mayday Bank Holiday weekend, after all. I unfortunately didn't get on Nemesis Inferno because for most of the day, the queue was either at 70-80 minutes or at a complete standstill because the ride had broken down. I didn't get on Colossus because I couldn't quite stomach waiting 70 minutes for my least favourite coaster! There are also some other things that I didn't get get on that I would have done if we'd had more time, but I left Thorpe Park satisfied with our day, and I think my dad and my sister did too! So, in conclusion, we had a fantastic day at Thorpe, and I hope you can all visit the island like no other some time soon.
P.S. Sorry for the lack of pictures and for bad writing. I also apologise for being a bit hard on Saw.
Stealth
Stealth was only on a 10 minute wait, which is quite a rare occurrence for a ride like Stealth, so we decided to head there first. As predicted, we were on within 10 minutes, and... I really enjoyed Stealth, as usual! Even though the restraints are awful and there's a bit of a rattle at the bottom of the large drop, that launch is a great rush unlike anything else I've ever ridden! It's really intense, which I also find with Rita's launch, despite absolutely hating Rita! Anyway, Stealth was fun! I see Stealth in a similar sort of way to how I see Oblivion at Alton Towers, in that even though it's very short, it provides a great adrenaline rush! Stealth presently sits in the high end of my top 20 (#12, to be exact!), and it's my 2nd favourite at Thorpe! It's also the only Intamin thrill coaster I've ridden that I'd say I really like! My dad, however, didn't enjoy Stealth, as the restraints hurt his shoulders. On a random note, if anyone has ridden Kingda Ka, Red Force or TTD, are these anything like Stealth, out of interest? Anyway, after Stealth, we headed to our next ride, which was...
SAW: The Ride
When we reached Old Town, Saw was on a 40 minute queue, so we joined it. Now, full disclosure; I had never actually been on Saw until yesterday, despite having visited Thorpe twice before, in 2014 and 2015, respectively. When I was younger, the ride's theming scared me and my sister quite a lot, so we never wanted to go on it. But today, we finally went on it for the first time, as we were less scared by the theming this time! I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from Saw, as people who'd ridden it had said it was incredibly rough, but past Gerstlauer thrill coasters I'd ridden (The Smiler and Speed) had never had much more than a slight rattle and the odd jolt here and there. So, I boarded Saw, not entirely sure what to expect. The indoor section was good, and we were lucky enough to be on the car where the freaky doll (don't know its name as I've never watched the Saw movies) did its extended speech. It said some weird things such as "you are strapped into a mechanical device that will test your worth as a human being" and "live or die, make your choice", or something along those lines. I couldn't quite hear the whole speech, but it was a nice touch. Anyway, I personally liked the indoor section more than Smiler's, and the drop at the start under the daggers was a surprise, even though I knew it was coming! Now, on to the ride itself. My sister didn't particularly enjoy it, although I personally suspect that might be partly due to the theming and the indoor section, as she doesn't particularly like sudden loud noises. My dad loved it, and said it was his new favourite ride at the park. However... I wasn't personally a fan. Even though the layout was pretty mental, this was also part of the ride's downfall, in my opinion, as it meant that the ride was extremely rough; much more so than The Smiler and Speed. Even though this can be partly forgiven due to the fact that the ride is now nearly 10 years old, Speed is 3 years older, and that felt nowhere near as rough, in my eyes. Speed only had a slight rattle when I rode it. Some of the transitions were also a bit too jolty to be comfortable. I didn't personally find Saw as rough as I found Colossus when I last rode it, but it wasn't too far behind, in my opinion! So, in conclusion, I liked the indoor section on Saw, and the base layout is pretty good, but I found it a bit too rough and the transitions a bit too jolty to truly enjoy it, so it is my personal least favourite of the Gerstlauers I've ridden. In terms of Thorpe coasters, I'd rank it above Colossus, but below the others. The airtime hill provided some pretty good airtime, however, which was a pleasant surprise! So for me, Saw definitely isn't the worst coaster I've ever ridden, but it was a bit too rough for my liking, personally. I apologise if I'm being a bit harsh on Saw here, as I know some rides are intended to be rough and brutal, but I'm not really a fan of rough rides. After Saw, we decided to head to The Swarm, but a certain easy credit on the way there was on a 5 minute queue, and my coaster count was practically yelling from inside for me to ride...
Flying Fish
Now I don't often ride kiddie creds at theme parks, but as Flying Fish was on a 5 minute queue, and I'd never ridden it before, I decided to give it a go. A cred's a cred, after all. These Mack powered coasters are normally quite enjoyable from my experience of them, but I didn't remember Scorpion Express being anything overly interesting, and this is a clone of Scorpion Express, so I didn't have overly high expectations. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Flying Fish had slightly more of a kick to it than its sibling at Chessington, so for that reason, I rate it slightly higher, despite it being an exact clone of Scorpion Express. It was nowhere near as good as Runaway Mine Train at Alton, but I wasn't really expecting it to be, as Runaway Mine Train is much longer, is unexpectedly thrilling for a coaster that only reaches 22mph, and I have a real soft spot for it! It's an Alton classic! Anyway, Flying Fish was a pleasant surprise, and a new cred is always good, so it's a thumbs up from me! Also, you get some great views of The Swarm, which was our next ride...
The Swarm
The Swarm was on a 50 minute queue, so we joined it, as at the time, this was the lowest queue for a ride that we hadn't ridden yet today. It took slightly longer than 50 minutes, as the ride went down for "essential cleaning". It came back up quite quickly, however. I had really loved The Swarm prior to yesterday, and rated it very highly as my number 1 UK coaster, contrary to popular opinion. However, as I hadn't ridden it in 3 years, and many people had said about how forceless and slow it was, I was quite concerned that I'd massively overrated The Swarm when I'd ridden it before, and that I wouldn't enjoy it as much when I rerode it. However, those concerns were irrational, as I adored the ride just as much as I did before! I had two rides on The Swarm yesterday; one on the back row and one in row 3, and it definitely retained its place at #4 in my top 10, and its place as my favourite British coaster! The ride felt quite forceful, possibly even more so than it had done in the past. In fact, and feel free to criticise me for thinking this; I actually felt that the turn over the water in between the inclined loop and the corkscrew was on par with, if not greater than, Nemesis' loop in terms of force! As I said, feel free to berate me for that, but on both rides we had, that particular moment felt really forceful; definitely the ride's most forceful moment, in my opinion! The 127ft wing over drop was also great in both rows that we rode in, providing a different sensation in each row. The back row provided an awesome sensation of being pulled over, whereas the 3rd row provided some lovely, floaty hangtime! The seating position also makes The Swarm very unique compared to others I've ridden! Overall, I really love The Swarm, and it was just as good as I remembered it being! It was also just as smooth as I remembered; still the joint smoothest coaster I've ridden alongside Thirteen at Alton Towers and Mako at SeaWorld Orlando! I like rides that strike a balance between smoothness and thrill, and The Swarm does this really well, as do my other top coasters! In fact, I find that B&M in general often do this really well, which might well be the reason that 7 of my top 10 coasters are B&Ms! My dad and my sister also really enjoyed The Swarm, which was nice to see! Anyway, after we came off The Swarm for the first time yesterday, we initially headed over to The Jungle to ride Nemesis Inferno. However, when we got there, the ride had an 80 minute queue, while The Swarm had a 35 minute queue, and a reride on my #4 coaster sounded very tempting! I personally reckon we made a good decision, as while we were queueing to reride The Swarm, Nemesis Inferno broke down. Reriding The Swarm also meant that we had time to go over to The Jungle afterwards and see if Nemesis Inferno was working. However, the ride still had an 80 minute queue, and it was getting quite late, so we instead ended our day on...
Rumba Rapids
Rumba Rapids was on a 30 minute queue, but I don't think we waited anywhere near 30 minutes! So, we got into our boat quite soon after joining the queue and headed off down the river. Now, Rumba Rapids is probably the weakest rapids ride I've done, and I remember staying relatively dry on it in the past. As I expected, we again stayed relatively dry on the attraction. It's certainly not the wettest rapids I've ever done; that title goes to Bilge-Rats at IOA! But it was a nice, relaxing end to a great day at Thorpe Park.
So, in conclusion...
I personally really enjoyed Thorpe Park yesterday. It definitely isn't my favourite theme park, but I really enjoy it for what it is, and it was nice to be back after 3 years! The Swarm is still an absolutely fantastic coaster, Stealth was great, Saw was... not quite so great, but I'm glad I rode it, Flying Fish was a pleasant surprise, and we generally had a lovely day at Thorpe! The sun was shining, the rides were great, and even though the park was very busy, operations were quite good! Stealth was on 2 trains, Swarm was on 2 trains, Saw was running at least 4 cars, and queues moved relatively quickly on most rides. The crowds were also to be expected, as it was Mayday Bank Holiday weekend, after all. I unfortunately didn't get on Nemesis Inferno because for most of the day, the queue was either at 70-80 minutes or at a complete standstill because the ride had broken down. I didn't get on Colossus because I couldn't quite stomach waiting 70 minutes for my least favourite coaster! There are also some other things that I didn't get get on that I would have done if we'd had more time, but I left Thorpe Park satisfied with our day, and I think my dad and my sister did too! So, in conclusion, we had a fantastic day at Thorpe, and I hope you can all visit the island like no other some time soon.
P.S. Sorry for the lack of pictures and for bad writing. I also apologise for being a bit hard on Saw.
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