I try to make my reviews as varied as possible so hopefully you'll be interested in reading at least...
I try to make my reviews as varied as possible so hopefully you'll be interested in reading at least one of my reviews!
Member since:08.06.2006
Reviews:57
Members who trust:57
Introduction ---------------- I love theme parks and have been to quite a few, not just in the UK but around the world! I'd heard good things about Thorpe Park so decided to visit it last year.
Where is it and how do I get there? ---------------------------------------------- Thorpe Park is in Surrey, about 20 miles from central London. The exact address is:
Thorpe Park Staines Road Chertsey Surrey KT16 8PN
From the M25 take junctions 11 or 13* and follow signs via A320 to Thorpe Park. Car parking is free. There are also bus and train stations nearby.
Price ------- Entry to Thorpe Park is pricey but there are ways of getting in cheaper. If you book online through their website thorpepark.co.uk you can make quite a big saving. Also it is easy to get money off vouchers from various places, I managed to get buy one get one free vouchers from Tesco.
Ticket Prices (buy on the day): Children Under 1 metre (go free) (1 metre - 11 years) £20.00 Thrill Seeker (aged 12+ years) £32.00 Family of 4 (2 Thrill Seekers + 2 Young Thrill Seekers) £88.00 Family of 5 (2 Thrill Seekers + 3 Young Thrill Seekers) £105.00 Disabled/Helper £16.00 Senior £20.00
You can also buy 'Fasttrack tickets' to join the queue of certain rides near the end. These are really expensive and I have never bought any:
Extreme - (Colossus, Nemesis Inferno, X:\No Way Out, Tidal Wave or Loggers Leap) £9.00
Ultimate (Unlimited Fastrack rides all day!) £50.00
Food & Drink ------------------ There are various fast food places around the park such as Pizza Hut,
Burger King & KFC. There are also places to buy drinks and snacks around the park, although I found it to be very expensive. For example, a normal bar of chocolate such as Cadbury Caramel costs 75p!
My Visits ------------ The first time I went to Thorpe Park I had a great time and didn't really notice anything bad about the place as I was enjoying myself too much. I went with my friend in October, it was on of the last days the park was open before closing for the Winter, and it was also Halloween so there were a few scary themed things going on. There was a scary show in the big building by the entrance which was on for most of the day and there were also fireworks later on in the evening, although sadly as we live so far away we had to leave to get home. The park was a little crowded although not that bad, I was expecting it to be much more packed as it was the last day for a few weeks. Everyone, staff and guests alike, was in a good mood and there was a great atmosphere. We managed to go on all the big rides we wanted to go on and a few of the smaller ones too. The queues weren't too bad, I think the longest we queued up for was 1 1/2 hours for Stealth, but it is the most popular ride and still quite new so I was expecting to wait about that.
The second visit was not so good, I visited on 21st August on a cold, wet Tuesday. I wasn't expecting big crowds as it wasn't a very nice day but it was quite busy nonetheless.
The staff all looked depressed, especially the ones working on the amusement stalls, you're working at a theme park, cheer up it could be worse! There were a few members of staff who looked happy, particularly a group of five entertainers called 'Fungineers' who walk round in bright orange with crazy hair wigs on their heads doing random things like jumping on grassy mounds and posing. I didn't really get it myself as although people stopped to look they weren't funny or anything.
The worst thing that happened was when we decided to ride Colossus. We joined the queue and it said the wait was 30mins which didn't seem that bad so we waited. After we'd waited about 45mins there was an announcement that the ride had broken down but they were trying to fix it. We decided to wait as we had waited long already and the ride would probably be fixed soon. After about half an hour it was working again, though after that the queue seemed to be moving really slowly. We soon realised that they had taken one of the trains of which had delayed the queue a lot and also there was a big backlog of fasttrack people to get through! They hadn't bothered to announce they had taken a train off. After queuing for 2 and a half hours (!) We finally got to the front. I stopped to watch the loading of one of the ride and saw there were 3 empty spaces that had just been left because of people sitting on their own, the staff didn't bother to try and fill the spaces and just sent the ride off - no wonder we were queuing for so long. On the contrary on Nemesis Inferno, a ride where the queue moves much quicker, the staff made sure every space had been filled.
The next ride we went on was X:\, we queued for fifteen minutes which wasn't too bad but then when we got near the front someone was sick on the ride and the ride got shut for half an hour.
We had a lot of bad luck that day but the fact that the staff were not doing their job properly and the park was poorly organised in places made it even worse.
Park Layout ---------------- The park is very compact, you don't have to walk much as everything is fairly close together. However, unlike most theme parks the areas don't really have themes eg Alton Towers has a prehistoric themed land and a scary themed land. The rides are sort of randomly placed as if not much though has been put into it before hand. They have land names as if they are trying to theme the park but there is not much actual themed scenery or rides near similar rides.
The shops weren't that good in my opinion, there was plenty of stuff like cowboy hats and expensive sweets but there wasn't much merchandise with Thorpe Park emblazoned on the side, I like to buy this kind of thing as a memento. They do have a great ride photo system, you can buy a normal ride photo for £6 from most of the big rides and you can also get it on a keyring, mug or t-shirt amongst other things. Each photo has a number so you can come back and buy it later if you want to think about it, you can also buy them near the entrance. Another feature I found useful at Thorpe Park is the lockers that they have dotted around the park for you to drop things off at. We were able to dump stuff like wet clothes, food and toys we won on the arcades to save us carrying them around on the rides.
The Rollercoasters -------------------------- My favourite type of ride is the rollercoaster. Thorpe Park has four grown-up rollercoasters in it. These are Nemesis Inferno, Stealth, X:\ and Colossus.
Nemesis Inferno is a lot like the Nemesis ride at Alton Towers, but in my opinion isn't quite as good. You sit in rows of four and sit with your legs dangling down while it takes you over loops and corkscrews. One difference I do like is that you enter a 'volcano' and it's heated and coloured red to look like hell! I give it 8/10
Stealth hasn't been around that long and only opened in 2006. The train is launched from 0-80mph in 2.5 seconds and then climbs a 62.5m tophat vertically. It then plummets back down again vertically. It looks really, really scary, the most frightening looking bit is when it launches up in the air, but the reality is it's so fast that you can't really see where you are until you are back down again! I like the fact that it's so
Pictures of Tussuads Thorpe Park, Surrey
Slammer
fast, I give this ride 9/10
X:\ is an indoor rollercoaster which goes backwards and is actually underground. The whole ride is in almost complete darkness and because you're going backwards you can't see what's going to happen next. I like the idea of this ride but it stops every few seconds and you have like a break where you're just sitting there for a bit which is a bit annoying, it would be better if it was continuous. 7/10
Colossus is the biggest rollercoaster of the park and the interesing thing about it is it does about 5 corkscrew type turns in the whole ride, and they are all together so that it feels like you are spinning. It looks pretty cool if you stand in front of that bit and watch it. Aside from the huge queue it usually has, I give it 8/10
The Water Rides ----------------------- There are three water rides at Thorpe Park, two log flumes and a rapids ride.
Tidal Wave is a log flume where you sit in rows of four with five rows in each boat. There is just one drop on the ride, an 85ft drop! The drop creates a huge splash, you have to watch it on the way out the ride or you could get wet again. The ride doesn't last very long, you literally go up the ramp then back down again. You get soaked to the bone on this ride, I've been on loads of water rides and this is definitely the wettest ride I've ever been on. I give this ride 7/10, I don't like getting wet so can't rate it any higher, to those insane people who do you'll love it!
Loggers Leap is the other log flume, this one you sit one person in front of the other in 'logs'. The log takes you round a few scenes and drops. The main drop on this ride is 50ft and you get a great view from the top. I give this ride 8/10
Rumba Rapids is the park's river rapid ride.Th The ride is nothing special in my opinion and too much like every other rapid ride. The colour scheme is a bit strange, purple and green. If you have children I bet they'll like it though. I give this ride 6/10
The Thrill Rides --------------------- Apart from rollercoasters and water rides there are lots of other 'scary' rides at Thorpe Park. I didn't go on all of these but here they are.
Detonator is a drop ride which lifts you up in the air really high (100ft) and then you plummet back down again! This is not really my favourite ride but I'd give it 7/10
Rush is a swing ride, doesn't sound very scary but it is! It is 'the world's biggest full throttle speed swing' There are two swings and on each you sit in a row of eight people back to back with eight others. It then lifts you forward and back in a swining motion. I felt really sick on this so can only give it an 7/10
Slammer is a similar ride to Rush, there are two 'paddle' shaped seating areas which you are strapped in to and then they flip over and over 360 degrees backwards and forwards around a centre axis. I didn't go on this ride so can't rate it.
Quantum is a magic carpet style ride where it spins you round and round. Unfortunately, both times I've visited Thorpe Park it has been closed!
Samurai is definitely an original ride, I don't think I've seen a ride like this anywhere else. You sit in rows of five on five seating areas with your legs dangling which are arranged in a windmill fashion. The ride then spins and you get thrown around 360 degrees. This ride made me feel ill and I couldn't wait to get off! I'm sure there's loads of you out there who'd love it but for me I can only give it 6/10
Vortex is a terrifying looking ride that I'm yet to be brave enough to go on! You sit in rows of four in a circle shape facing everyone else, on a pendulum type swing. The ride then swings you forwards and back and the circle also twists round!
Other Rides / Attractions --------------------------------- There are a couple of other rides and a show that I think deserve a mention!
Mr Monkeys Banana Ride is a swinging boat ride, it's not one of the scariest I've been on but if you have kids it'll be good fun for them. 7/10
Pirates 4-D is a really fun show about pirates in a big theatre. It is 3-D, you wear 3-D specs and it makes the things on the screen jump out at you! It is also 4-D in that at certain times during the show you get to experience things like the wind blowing in you face, I won't go into it too much as it will spoil it but it's really fun and had the whole room laughing. Shows are every half an hour and last for 15 mins. The queuing area isn't obvious, a big line formed out in the street along where everyone was walking which wasn't ideal, a proper queuing area would be better. 9/10
Storm in a Teacup is a spinning cups ride which you control how much it spins yourself using the wheel in the middle of the cup. The ride is almost identical to the one in sister park Alton Towers in that it has the same patterns and everything. 8/10
There are many rides for young children, but obviously I didn't go on them as I am not a young child and I don't yet have one!
Overall Impression -------------------------- A good theme park certainly, but there are many areas which need to be sorted out! Some of the staff don't seem to do their job properly and in bits the park looks messy. On the other hand there are some excellent rides which make it a park to visit at least once.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
excellent review, someone told me to go to thorpe park over chessington a couple of weeks ago, I wish id listened!!
aragorn01 07.07.2008 14:26
Excellent review - had all the information I would need in it - well done. I can only hope I become as good a review as you one day. I'm starting to get there thankfully now I have adapted the way I write reviews. Thanks for the fantastic info.
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Aug 23rd, 2007
(Aug 22nd, 2007)
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