Thorpe Park
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- For the Lincolnshire village see Thorpe Park, Lincolnshire.
Thorpe Park is an amusement park in Chertsey, Surrey, England built in 1979 on the site of a gravel pit which was partially flooded to make a water theme park. It added its first thrill ride in 1987, the "Thunder River" water ride.
Contents
Park guide
Like many theme parks, Thorpe Park is split up into several distinctly themed areas.
Port Atlantis
Also known more commonly as "The Dome". This building contains such essentials as guest services, shops, toilets, lockers, a bar and staff areas.
Lost City
This area of the park contains the majority of the thrill rides, and is loosely themed around a pre-historic lost kingdom. Rides include:
- Colossus — a ten-inversion roller coaster from Intamin AG. In 2006, another identical ride was opened in China making Colossus the world's first, but not only, 10 looping roller coaster.
- Samurai — a Mondial Topscan moved to Thorpe Park from Chessington.
- Vortex — a KMG Afterburner.
- Quantum — a Fabbri Magic Carpet ride.
- Zodiac — a Huss Enterprise. This has now been replaced with a newer Enterprise from Drayton Manor.
- — housed within a very distinctive red and blue pyramid-shaped building resides the world's first (and only) backwards in-the-dark roller coaster, built by Vekoma.
- Rush — an S&S Screaming Swing, this was the worlds largest air powered swing, but Cedar Point, Ohio opened "Skyhawk" in 2006 which is a larger version with 80 ft arms and a capacity of 40 riders.
Calypso Quay
Calypso Quay is home to:
- Nemesis Inferno — a Bolliger & Mabillard inverted roller coaster, thought to include the familiar Nemesis (a popular roller coaster at Alton Towers) within its name for marketing purposes (A sign, when exiting the ride, invites riders to visit Nemesis at Alton Towers and refers to it as its "brother ride"). Themed as an escape from a giant volcano.
- Detonator — a drop tower in which riders are hoisted up 100 ft, with legs dangling, and launched down by pneumatics. This gives a comparable amount of airtime to freefalling from a tower twice as tall.
- Pirates 4D — a 3D cinema with water and vibrating effects in the seats.
- Ribena Rumba Rapids — A river rapids ride by Intamin, which was updated from Thunder River in 2002.
- Storm in a tea cup — this ride was rethemed to look worn down and damaged to fit with nearby Amity Cove's tidal wave theming.
Canada Creek
Themed around a Canadian creek, this area is home to:
- Loggers Leap — log flume.
- Slammer — an S&S SkySwat, at the back of the X:\ No Way Out pyramid.
- Canada Creek Railway Station — for the trains taking visitors to Thorpe Farm. This is currently the only method for visitors to reach the farm due to the waterbuses/ferries being removed since the construction of Stealth began.
- Rocky Express — Small ride for younger visitors.
Amity Cove
Themed around a 1950s American fishing village devastated by a tidal wave. The rides in this area include:
- Tidal Wave — a "shoot the chute" style ride from O.D Hopkins, on which you are carried in a 4 tonne reinforced GRP hull to a height of 85 feet over a 3 million gallon lagoon. The boat is then dropped down a track into the lagoon with an impact force of 1.5g, forcing 3 tonnes of water into the air. Most of this water either shoots straight up and lands back on the riders, or shoots forward in a long spray that reaches 'Pier 13' where spectators can stand, meant to represent a tidal wave.
- Stealth — Thorpe Park's newest roller coaster which opened in 2006. Stealth is an Accelerator Coaster designed by Intamin AG and features a hydraulic 80 mph (128 km/h) launch up a 205 ft top hat incline, a vertical drop and a large "airtime" hill.
Ranger County
Ranger County is themed totally around the "Thorpe Park Rangers" mascots, which are becoming more and more phased out of the park's identity as the years progress. The current rides consist of:
- Mr Monkey's Banana Ride — a small swinging ship type ride, themed to a banana.
- Chief Ranger's Carousel — containing figurines of the Thorpe Park rangers and references to past rides.
- Miss Hippo's Fungle Safari — Cars travel around a short track through figurines and shrubbery.
During the Fright Nights events in October, Ranger County also contains a themed maze, which most recently has been known as "The Asylum" since 2005.
Neptune's Kingdom
Themed around the mythical Neptune, this area is home to:
- Depth Charge — a four lane water chute ride.
- Neptune's Beach — two large paddling pools for small children with various fountains and an imitation sandy beach.
- Wet Wet Wet — 3 water chutes.
Octopus's Garden
A small aquatic-themed area with several small rides for very young children.
Thorpe Farm
The farm is reachable by the Canada Creek Railway (this is currently the only method of visitors reaching the farm due to the waterbuses/ferries being removed since the construction of Stealth began). Thorpe Farm features many live animals, such as sheep, pigs and goats. There is also a small gift shop and a restaurant present on the farm.
Timeline
- Pre-1987
- * A few attractions including the Cinema, Magic Mill, Waterbus services, Model World, Railway, Teacups, Nature Trails and Sunken Gardens.
- 1987
- * Thunder River water ride opened.
- * Space Station Zero opened.
- 1988
- * Palladium Theatre opened.
- 1989
- * Canada Creek area opened.
- ** Loggers Leap (largest log flume in the UK until 1993) opened.
- ** Rocky Express opened.
- 1990
- * Re-themed Space Station Zero into the Flying Fish.
- * Carousel Kingdom opened.
- * The Rangers Show opened.
- * Drive in the country opened.
- 1991
- * Fantasy Reef area refurbished.
- ** Depth Charge opened.
- 1992
- * Children's area refurbished.
- ** Viking Rowers opened.
- ** Hudson River Rafters opened.
- 1993
- * Calgary Stampede opened.
- * Virtual Reality Centre opened.
- * Magic Mill closed.
- 1994
- * Ranger County area opened.
- ** Carousel opened.
- ** Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride opened.
- 1995
- * Mr Rabbit's Tropical Travels opened.
- * Miss Hippo's Fungle Safari opened.
- * Drive in the country closed.
- 1996
- * X:/ No Way Out, the world's first dark backwards roller coaster opened.
- 1998
- * The Tussauds Group purchase the park.
- * Palladium Theatre closed.
- * Ranger Show closed.
- * Dare Devil Drivers opened.
- * Wet Wet Wet! opened.
- 1999
- * Pirates 4D, a 4D cinema attraction starring Leslie Nielsen opened.
- * Carousel Kingdom closed.
- * Viking Rowers closed.
- 2000
- * Tidal Wave, a Shoot the Chute made by Hopkins Rides, opened becoming the tallest ride in the park, at that time.
- * Dare Devil Drivers closed.
- * Bumper Boats closed.
- * On July 21 a major fire broke out in the centre of the park.
- ** This destroyed The Wicked Witches Haunt and Mr Rabbit's Tropical Travels rides, which both closed immediately.
- ** An enterprise was drafted in as a replacement.
- 2001
- * The Lost City area was established, with the enterprise (that was introduced in 2000) being rethemed and renamed Zodiac and Vortex (A KMG afterburner) as its first rides.
- * Thunder River closed, ready to be revamped into Ribena Rumba Rapids for the 2002 season.
- * Detonator, Mega Drop made by Fabbri, opened in calypso quay.
- 2002
- * Colossus, An Intamin roller coaster with a record-breaking 10 inversions, opened.
- * Safari High Dive show opened for one season.
- * Thunder River re-opened as Ribena Rumba Rapids.
- * Debut of the park's annual Halloween event, Fright Nights.
- 2003
- * Nemesis Inferno, a Bolliger and Mabillard inverted roller coaster themed around a tropical volcano opened.
- * Also Quantum, a magic carpet ride, opened.
- * Eclipse, a ferris wheel, opened.
- * A spiderman show was performed in the arena. This continued into 2004 and was replaced in 2005 by Stuntzmania.
- * Calgary Stampede closed, to make way for Samurai from chessington
- 2004
- * Samurai, a Mondial Top Scan, moved from Chessington, opened.
- * New Spiderman show opened.
- * Flying Fish closed at the end of the season to make way for Stealth in 2006.
- * Eclipse closed at the end of the season due to lack of riders. It was moved to Chessington and renamed 'Peeking Heights'.
- 2005
- * Slammer, an S&S Sky Swat, opened on March 27th, after being delayed due to technical issues.
- * Rush, the world's biggest air-powered speed swing, opened in the afternoon of 27 May.
- 2006
- * Stealth, an Intamin Accelerator Coaster which launches riders from 0-80 mph in 2.3 seconds opens with the park on March 15th. A 'Ride It First' competition was held with the lucky winner's experiencing Stealth before it opened to the rest of the guests.
- * Zodiac is replaced by another Enterprise, sourced from Drayton Manor.
- * StreetXtreme replaces Stuntzmania in the Arena.
Future developments
- 2007
- * The Flying Fish powered roller coaster returns to the park after being removed at the end of the 2004 season to make way for Stealth. Planning permission . has been granted and the ride's return is advertised on the latest edition of the park map. It will be located next to the lake, between Tidal Wave and Depth Charge. No rides will be removed for Flying Fish to be re-installed.
- * Refurbishment and retheme of the existing "X:\No Way Out" indoor roller coaster. This has been confirmed by staff working at Thorpe Park but no official confirmation, by way of planning application or press release, has been made. If the rumours are true, the trains will be altered to face forwards, and the theme may be a haunted mine. There is also talk of the ride closing before the end of the 2006 open season, but again this is unconfirmed.
- 2008 / 2009
- * A new roller coaster, said to be on the same scale as Nemesis Inferno, will open. This has been confirmed by park managers during educational talks. Thorpe Park's Medium Term Development Plan (MTDP) suggested that a wooden coaster cannot be built as the support structure would be too dense for Thorpe Park. The ride is likely to be made by Bolliger & Mabillard, who have produced other rides for Tussauds such as Nemesis, Oblivion, Air and Nemesis Inferno. It is likely to be either a "Flyer" or a "Floorless" model. Originally penned in for 2008, it seems the project has been put back a year to 2009.
- 2010+
- * Nothing is set in stone. Thorpe Park's Long Term Development Plan (LTDP) submitted in 2003 roughly outlines what the park would like to install beyond 2010. Attractions such as a new kids area, runaway train, haunted house, bobsleigh ride and another coaster are mentioned. However, this is a very rough outline from 2003, and it is extremely likely that plans have changed a lot since then.
References
See also
External links
- [Official site]
- [Official Stealth Micro-site]
- [SouthParks.org]
- [Thrill Factor]
- [Thorpe Park Guide at ThemeParks-UK]
- [Thorpe Park Mania]
- [Theme UK] — Information on Thorpe Park and Chessington World Of Adventures.
- [RCDB - information on roller coasters]
| Roller coasters at Thorpe Park |
|---|
|
Colossus -
Flying Fish -
Nemesis Inferno -
Stealth -
|
| UK Theme Parks: |
| Tussauds Theme Parks: |
|
Alton Towers |
Chessington |
Thorpe Park
|
| Other Parks: |
| Blackgang Chine | Blackpool Pleasure Beach | Drayton Manor | Dreamland Margate | Flamingo Land | Lightwater Valley | Oakwood | Robin Hill |
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