Thorpe Park

This past week we had good weather, so I decided to go to Thorpe Park, one of the amusement parks near London. I plan to go to 3 more parks while I am here.The park was very easy to get to. The journey was just short train ride of just under 40 minutes from Waterloo followed by a 15 minute shuttle bus run by the park.

Upon arriving at the park, I headed straight for the gate since I had a pass for the park. One of the first things you see upon entering the park is a board where they display the current waiting times for all the rides. This is a great idea that I think more American parks should use. These times were fairly accurate, never off by more than 10 minutes.

The first ride of the day was Colossus, a twisted mess of steel with 10 inversions. Yes, you go upside down 10 times on this ride. The wait was about an hour, but it was worth it. The ride was very smooth, although the speed throughout could have been a little higher, especially on the last 5 inversions. There was a hill in the middle of the ride that provided some nice airtime. Overall a good steel coaster, but not great.The next ride was Saw-The Ride. Again, a wait of around an hour. The gimmick of this ride was the drop that curved underneath itself, so it was greater than straight down. A straight drop is at 90 degress, this one was 100 degrees. I had been on a coaster similar to this (Fahrenheit at Hersheypark) before, so I knew what to expect, but the portion before the lift hill was the highlight of the ride. Some close shaves with saws and a surprise inversion with a water spray all in darkness or semi-darkness made for an enjoyable start to the ride, but the rest did not really live up to this.

Then it was time for lunch, which I finally had fish and chips, although I still want to get them from a greasy neighborhood place that serves them wrapped in paper. I think that may be the more authentic experience.

The third ride of the day was the tallest and fastest coaster in the U.K., Stealth. Basically a mini-version of Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey, this one topped out at a mere 205 feet and 80 mph. Just barely reaches its maximum angle of 90 degrees. Its American big brother tops out at 456 feet and 128 mph. It was a very short ride. You spend about an hour in the queue for a ride that lasts less that 30 seconds.

Then it was time for Nemesis-Inferno, the park’s inverted coaster. This was perhaps the best inverted coaster I’ve been on. The pacing was great, not too many inversions, didn’t feel too long or too short, lots of flying over pedestrian walkways, and close calls with the scenery or other parts of the ride. I wish I had the time to get more than just one ride, but with an hour wait, I did not have enough time.

Then it was time to tackle the parks to two smaller coasters. The first was Flying Fish, a small powered coaster that’s nothing special. I only rode it to get the coaster credit. Yeah, I’m one of the people who counts the coasters I’ve been on. At the end of the day I would hit 114 coasters.

The next one was X:\ No Way Out, an enclosed coaster whose gimmick was that the entire ride, besides being in the dark, was traversed facing backwards. An enjoyable ride, but nothing too special.

After that I went on Stealth one more time since it had a single rider's line, so my wait was shorter. Then it was time to leave and catch a train back into London.