Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
lots of rides for all ages, lots of places to eat and drink |
| Disadvantages: |
some rides have long queues, not all rides working |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
yes |
Living in Surrey I have visited Thorpe park and Chessington World of Adventures many times. When I was a kid Thorpe park was always quite tame and had only a few roller coasters and scary rides suitable for older people, Chessington World of Adventures was the adults theme park and had rides such as Ramasees Revenge which would spin you three hundred and sixty degrees before dropping you sixty feet into a large jet of water. Recently however there has been a switch in many of the rides and it seems that Thorpe Park is now the larger of the two parks and houses more of the 'scary' rides. I'm not sure why this change occurred but I have been to both quite recently and I must say that Thorpe Park is much better.
I went to Thorpe Park during the school holidays, probably not the best time to visit a theme park to be honest, due to the large numbers of children that are there and the lengthy queues. Saying this though I did have a great time. The main attractions did have large queues up to forty-five minutes long, but the time passed quickly and many of the other rides had only small queues, which was great.
There was a large variety of rides to go on., rides for young and old. If you are after roller coasters and rides which are genuinely going to make you scared and get the adrenaline pumping then Thorpe Park is definitely the right place to come and there a many new rides which have just been installed. I would say that it is of a similar standard to Alton Towers, which I visited last summer. In addition to the fast paced rides which will get you're head spinning there are a number of more relaxed rides and a large number of rides for the younger children too.
Rides to get the adrenaline pumping:
DETONATOR - a 100ft sheer drop, you sit around a central pole and are lifted to the top where you can see nice views of the surrey countryside. There is a countdown from five to one and then you a dropped the 100ft to the floor below. Here everyone queuing can see you facial expression which can be hilarious, grown men almost reduced to tears. Great ride. *****
STEALTH - this is a new ride. It is designed like a racetrack and the roller coaster accelerates you forwards from 0 to 80mph in under 2 seconds which is a real buzz. You are then propelled up to a height of about 150ft before accelerating back to ground level again and around the remaining tack. This is a good ride, but it only lasts about a minute. ****
NEMESIS INFERNO - an inverted roller coaster which you ride with you're legs dangling below you. There are many drops and corkscrews and the roller coaster itself moves pretty fast. Another good ride. ****
TIDAL WAVE - you'll definitely get wet on this ride. It is a sort of giant log flume design, but holds many more people and the wave it produces is huge and will soak you right through. This ride is best on a sunny day as that way you know you will dry off, although they do have drying machines which you can step into and gusts of hot air dry you off. If you don't fancy going on the ride yourself you can always just stand and watch the huge waves at the bottom as they fly towards you and soak everyone and everything! Great ride *****
RUSH - this ride is designed like a pendulum swing and flies one way and then back the other. It is ok but does get rather boring after a while ***
SAMURAI - one of the rides brought across from Chessington World of Adventures. It is like a giant G-Star that flies in all directions. The queues for this ride are always very long so I suggest that if you want to go on it go early as the queues will only get longer as the day goes on ****.
VORTEX - another swinging pendulum ride that gives you a feeling of an empty stomach. I really liked this ride though ****.
SLAMMER - over 100ft tall, this ride has lots of G-force and allows you to free-fall from the top to the bottom at tremendous speed. The queues for this ride are also very long, but it is well worth the wait. *****
COLOSSUS - this is a very traditional roller coaster, with many corkscrews. The queues are not long at all so you can go on it over and over again ****.
X:/NO WAY OUT - backwards roller coaster in the dark. Didn't really find this ride to be worth the queuing. The only striking feature is that you ride backwards, but the point of it bemuses me - apparently it is supposed to be an experiment or something?! I was confused. **
More chilled out rides:
TIME VOYAGERS ***
FLYING FISH ***
RUMBA RAPIDS - very relaxing river ride. I was surprised that this ride went on for so long, it takes about 8 minutes to
travel around the rivers course. Beware though you'll get wet! *****
QUANTUM ***
DEPTH CHARGE - good fun. 40ft tall structure which you have to walk to the top of before travelling down a four lane slide in an inflatable dingy. If you want to you can race which is always fun. ****
In addition to the roller coasters and scary rides there are also many rides aimed at the younger children. This is good because many of the other rides have height restrictions and you have to be over 1.3 or 1.4m tall to ride most of these. There is no limit on the smaller rides.
As you come through the main entrance next to the depth charge ride there is an open air swimming pool with a man-made beach. As far as I know this is open all year round and anybody in the park can use it. I didn't go for a dip though.
It is important to note that Thorpe park is quite a large theme park and so you're visit will include lots of walking.
Food and drink at Thorpe park:
There is a wide variety of places to eat and drink inside the park and there are many healthy options which is quite rare for a theme park. However, like all theme parks food tends to be overpriced.
Opening Times:
Vary but typically 10am-6pm. Check the website.
Address:
THORPE PARK
Staines Road
Chertsey
Surrey
KT16 8PN
Web: www.thorpepark.com
Admission Prices:
Website Park
Adult £24.00 £32.00
Child £16.00 £21.00
Family (4) £78.00 £88.00
Family (5) £92.00 £105.00
Senior £20.00 £24.00
Disable/Helper £16.00 £20.00
Definitely purchase you're tickets from the website it is a lot cheaper!
My personal opinion of Thorpe Park is that it has become one of the best theme parks in the country - challenging Alton Towers for the crown. There are so many great rides to choose from and many places to buy gifts and purchase refreshments. The queues are long for some of the rides, but you do expect this when you visit a theme park, especially during the school holidays. It is a fantastic place for a family day out and if you buy you're tickets online you can get the whole family in for under £80.00 which isn't too bad I suppose. Hope you enjoy Thorpe park as much as I did.
Thanks for reading.
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