Colossus Partial Retrack (Thorpe Park)

[FogZog]

Indeed, but I still can't get over the fact that there still lacks any sort of logical connection between the entrance and the center of the park. There's the Dome - great. There's the main street of sorts, that begins by Tidal Wave or thereabout - great. But why the heck is the path out of the dome not leading to the main street? Why do you come out there onto a veranda, with a view of the water slides? A fence right in front of you, a three-meter drop onto a paved area that also seems to be fenced off, and the park proper aaaaalll the way back in the distance. The right way to reach the park is to take a sharp left, follow the veranda about a quarter of the way down the edge of the dome (past the restaurant), then follow a narrow and featureless path that looks like the delivery backroad of any other park, but it just happens to lead in the right direction.

Seriously, the front of that park needs some serious work, and phase 1 needs to involve the generous application of at least one wrecking ball.

This! I'm always so confused walking into Thorpe. They seriously don't have an indentity right now. + I miss all that Atlantis theming they used to have in the dome

 

[Berksfan]

Considering all the work going on with repaints it’s a shame they couldn’t make zodiac a bit more exciting again. They just posted a video of it on twitter and it’s such a downgrade of what it once was.

 

[I'veGotFourB&MsInMyGarden]

Considering all the work going on with repaints it’s a shame they couldn’t make zodiac a bit more exciting again. They just posted a video of it on twitter and it’s such a downgrade of what it once was.

I think they said Thorpe's Sparkle Project is a 3 year thing. Given how it currently looks I'd be surprised if we didn't see a bit of a glow up in the next few years. If they painted it blue and gold and added theming to make it look like the original that'd be cracking. That's assuming they're not planning to remove it, as we know Merlin has a bit of a rocky relationship with these Enterprise rides.

 

[Niles]

Work continues with Samurai back in red.

Source

 

[Sozzy42]

That was quick. It was still blue 36 hours ago!

 

[spicy]

Samurai is almost back to its Chessington colours

 

[Nitefly]

Samurai is almost back to its Chessington colours

If I’m honest I think this was a bogus move. It clashes hard with the surroundings.

It’s a bit like when you first decorate a room as a noob and buy a bunch of stuff that in isolation all looks cool - but when you bring it all together, it looks too ‘busy’ and like a bunch of things have been placed together in a mish-mash way.

 

[FogZog]

If I’m honest I think this was a bogus move. It clashes hard with the surroundings.

It’s a bit like when you first decorate a room as a noob and buy a bunch of stuff that in isolation all looks cool - but when you bring it all together, it looks too ‘busy’ and like a bunch of things have been placed together in a mish-mash way.

I think it fits much better next to Saw.

 

[JoshC.]

I saw it in person yesterday.

Being totally honest, it doesn't make any difference to how it fits in with the area. It suits Saw, but now clashes with Hyperia.

I'm the grand scheme of things, it was a bit of an unnecessary repaint in my mind. But I guess it's good to get unnecessary things.

 

[spicy]

True it is unnecessary and may not suit the area but for pure nostalgic reasons I love it.

I remember as a kid coming round the corner in Mystic East and being in absolute awe and terrified of it, i'd never seen or ridden anything like it and it was my first 'proper' thrill ride. So just for the nostalgia I love seeing it back in it's Chessington colours. Shame it only lasted 4 years in Mystic East as it suited that area so well.

I'm sure someone at Merlin must have similar nostalgic reason as to why they have repainted it in the original colours as it won't mean anything to probably 90% of TP visitors and as has been said it is pretty unnecessary..

 

[Tonkso]

Samurai @ Chessington World of Adventures

In 1998, Chessington's original thrill ride, Magic Carpet, was coming to the end of its serviceable life. Rameses Revenge had set the benchmark for thrills a couple of years earlier, so the park wanted to follow up with another attraction that was equally as exciting but different from the Huss...

www.attractionsource.com

A reminder of just how good it looked at Chessington. I'd have been 11-12 back then so I definitely remember being quite intimidated by it too.

 

[spicy]

Samurai @ Chessington World of Adventures

In 1998, Chessington's original thrill ride, Magic Carpet, was coming to the end of its serviceable life. Rameses Revenge had set the benchmark for thrills a couple of years earlier, so the park wanted to follow up with another attraction that was equally as exciting but different from the Huss...

www.attractionsource.com

A reminder of just how good it looked at Chessington. I'd have been 11-12 back then so I definitely remember being quite intimidated by it too.

It looked huge at chessington being at the very top of the incline of the path and you had to walk uphill to get to it. Looked great with all the trees surrounding it too.

Going to look absolutely tiny now with Hyperia behind it

 

[Nicky Borrill]

Do you want to know something weird... I've never, ever, ridden Samurai!

I'd ridden The Beast at fanny island so many times, even worked on it in the early / mid noughties, and I absolutely hated it. So I've just never bothered with Samurai.

 

[Fleetwood_Mack]

How's Samurai been running the past few years? I haven't been on it since 2014/2015 but back then it was barely worth riding. You sort of just... moved around a bit. No force whatsoever. Flamingo Park in Hastings had a top scan briefly (maybe around the same time) and I remember stumbling off that because it was doing such long, intense cycles. I seem to remember riding one at Winter Wonderland one year too, which was somewhere in the middle in terms of intensity... but still miles apart from (how I remember) Samurai.

The paint job is... fine... but I'd love to hear that it's had some proper TLC somewhere along the line since my last trip and is back to its best in terms of how it rides. I feel the same about Colossus. It's all well and good painting it but I'm still going to be in pain sat on the brake run because my leg has cramped up and there's literally no space to move it. Faded paint is the least of its problems

 

[Howie]

Samurai @ Chessington World of Adventures

In 1998, Chessington's original thrill ride, Magic Carpet, was coming to the end of its serviceable life. Rameses Revenge had set the benchmark for thrills a couple of years earlier, so the park wanted to follow up with another attraction that was equally as exciting but different from the Huss...

www.attractionsource.com

A reminder of just how good it looked at Chessington. I'd have been 11-12 back then so I definitely remember being quite intimidated by it too.

I'm also reminded of how good it used to ride at Chessington. My first ever ride on it, or any Topscan for that matter, which would have been in 2002, was shocking!
There was no build up, it went from a standing start to full-on, full speed, mental spin mode in a matter of seconds. It was ferocious. I likened the experience to being launched upwards on a shot tower, but with all that extra spinage going on. Mental it was. One of those true wtf moments in my goonhood, up there with riding Blitz Bahn at Toverland for the first time. 'What the fuuuu........'
Sadly, no ride on it since, either at Chessie or Thorpe, has ever been that wild. Which makes me think that that first ride was probably one of those occasions back in the day when the operators had more freedom to control the ride's intensity and was probably running it a wee bit faster than he or she was supposed to. I believe that happened far more frequently back then; see also Rameses Revenge and Ripsaw.

 

[Tonkso]

Yeah, I remember it too. I remember the dizziness after, one of those epic defining moments in any enthusiasts story. I totally get the Blitz Bahn point to, similar feeling without the intensity.

Nicky, we have a mission for you this season.

 

[Nicky Borrill]

Yeah, I remember it too. I remember the dizziness after, one of those epic defining moments in any enthusiasts story. I totally get the Blitz Bahn point to, similar feeling without the intensity.

Nicky, we have a mission for you this season.

Thankfully, if the restraints are as tight as I remember Beast's being, then I don't think I'd fit in it yet, couple more stone to lose first!!!

 

[Matt N]

This might be a controversial opinion, and I apologise if it is, but I rerode Samurai last year for the first time in a number of years… and I found it absolutely vile! It was really jolty, it had loads of that horrible slow hangtime that made me feel stuff moving around in my stomach, it span and flipped horribly… I’m sorry to be negative, but if I’m being honest, I have to say that I absolutely hated it, and it would be right down there with Air Race at Drayton Manor as one of the most vile flat rides I’ve ever ridden!

I grant you that I don’t have a particularly strong stomach for flat rides, particularly of the spinning variety, but I needed a good sit down after that ride on Samurai…

I’d remembered quite liking it when I first rode in 2018, but I didn’t like it at all in 2023, unfortunately…

 

[Crazycoaster]

I honestly think Samurai was the best before they built Saw. It backed up onto the lake, had those trees behind too. Outer row 3 and it would feel like you were about to be flung into the lake. Saw spoiled the sightlines you’d briefly get.

 

[spicy]

I'm also reminded of how good it used to ride at Chessington. My first ever ride on it, or any Topscan for that matter, which would have been in 2002, was shocking!
There was no build up, it went from a standing start to full-on, full speed, mental spin mode in a matter of seconds. It was ferocious. I likened the experience to being launched upwards on a shot tower, but with all that extra spinage going on. Mental it was. One of those true wtf moments in my goonhood, up there with riding Blitz Bahn at Toverland for the first time. 'What the fuuuu........'
Sadly, no ride on it since, either at Chessie or Thorpe, has ever been that wild. Which makes me think that that first ride was probably one of those occasions back in the day when the operators had more freedom to control the ride's intensity and was probably running it a wee bit faster than he or she was supposed to. I believe that happened far more frequently back then; see also Rameses Revenge and Ripsaw.

This video (In poor 1999 video quality) shows how hard it was run at Chessington, I don't think it has ever spun as fast as this at Thorpe Park.