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Thorpe Actually Works: The Ride

nealbie

CF Legend
Yes, you read it here first! Thorpe Park can actually be a decent theme park, albeit only when there is no-one there to see it do so. (This is why I believe it has such a bad rep. :wink: )

Got to the park at about 11, to find a dead park and see Saw working, with people on it! Out of courtesy I waited for Ben, but the longer I had to wait and the longer I watched Saw running, the more chance I thought we had of it breaking down!

After much conversation about how the bus system fails, "as if by magic" Ben arrived! :roll:

Got in the park and immediately noticed that everything was open that Thorpe said would be, the weather was fab and at this point we hadn't been accosted by the new black!

We naturally went to Saw, hoping that after a combined 7 trips in less than a week, we could finally get our first ride. However! As we got the island, all was quiet, there were no trains on the track and we thought that it had once again decided to break on us! First thoughts that sprang to mind were "where's Ollie? He's bound to be somewhere jinxing it!"

But, as we were just about to begin an immense bitchfest at the nearest member of staff we could find, a train came tumbling out of the hole in the side of Pirate Falls: The Warehouse and an immediate running session to the entrance followed.

Whoring was to follow, with 4 rides done in 15 minutes. Best seat unquestionably the back row on the left hand side. I don't see all the fuss about getting the second car, once you've done it once it really doesn't matter.

Both of us were most impressed with the ride, especially the indoor job which is fantastic! Jazz hands in the station was also a highlight! :p

Leaving the area we noticed Logger's still didn't have any water in, then Ben said something about Beans saying it was shut for a reason and she knew. So we joked about the magical B&M flyer that was going to appear in a couple of days, with Saw only being a front to detract attention. :wink:

Visits to the other rides followed, all of which were open (except for Det which needed a reset so it was down for 5)! Believe it or not, Thorpe IS a great park when everything is up and running. Granted, it would have been ace if Stealth was open, but lol-ing at why it wasn't was also great fun!

Another 2 rides on Saw followed Inferno, Det and the Rapids (which now soak you in the first half of the ride, only to disappoint you after the tunnel). Also closer inspection of the track after the first drop highlighted a Lewis Hamilton-esque problem of flat-spotting! This is undoubtably the cause for the vicious banging at the bottom of drop.

All of the other rides around the park were done, and Ben decided he was going to litter by Tidal Wave, not once but twice! That KFC bottle was a determined piece of rubbish wasn't it? This was made especially bad as it was the only piece of litter floating around and really badly stuck out like a sore thumb!

Returning back to Saw to beat Vadge's 11 rides, we did a bit of goon spotting from the top of the hill by Colossus's loop. Before returning to the island, we stopped off at Samurai (which was on its best setting, giving the best ride I've ever had on it at Thorpe!)

Then, quite randomly in the station we both said to each other, "Is that Erol?!" Much "EROL!" shouting was had, but he couldn't turn around because of the restraints. After that ride we went round again with him and whoever he was with (whos name escapes me).

Breaking through the pain barrier, we managed to get our count up to 12, with much cheering when we returned to the station having beaten Vadge! :)

To put it bluntly, we managed to get one great day at Thorpe, which pretty much cancelled out the poor showing from the park in the past week. It makes me very hesistant to return so as not to spoil the memories of it. The only thing that wasn't having a good day was Guest Services: The Ride, which was alarming quiet :lol:


Ride Count:-
Saw x12
Det x3
Inferno x2
Everything else open x1 (ie- all bar Stealth, Slammer, Logger's & CCR)


Great day, Ben has all the pics, depending on how much he wants to do his essay they may be up shortly.
 
Of course you got on Saw because I wasn't in the park. :roll:
At this rate the whole universe would of ridden before me and I was meant to have gone on it two days before it opened to the public. :(
 
SchumacherFerrari said:
As we got the island, all was quiet, there were no trains on the track and we thought that it had once again decided to break on us! First thoughts that sprang to mind were "where's Ollie? He's bound to be somewhere jinxing it!"

Indeed Ollie :lol:
 
Our day was similar, we got to the park 30mins before opening, Steve got his nice new gold annual pass. queued and headed over to Saw, couldn't be bothered to run for it, its a lot further than Stealth. Queued for about 5mins, bumped into Ewan on the way up to the ride. We got on and the ride decided to kaput for about 5 mins, they had to get us off and put us behind the gates again, and we waited. Though it was for back row and one of the ops said it made no difference and he said he knows best. Well ****ing hell you don't know **** all about views!

Eventually got on and round, and enjoyed it, and some of you saw my facebook status update saying got on it and saying Rage was better. But in the end of the day, I say its on par. Went round the rest of the park, soaked on rapids. did Quantum for the first time ever and regretted it!

Ride count:
Saw X 8
Samurai X 1
Inferno X 2
Rapids X 1
Storm in a Cup X 1
Depth Charge X 1
Quantum X 1
Rush X 1
Colossus X 1

We took it easy and filmed an ep of The New Black
 
Pah, Saw is blatantly better than Rage.

Picture time!

The day started at... no, not Colossus... not even Saw. It started at STAINES train station. With a lot of waiting for a "every 20 minute bus" to take 40 minutes to leave >.<... but, I don't have a picture of that, so, he's Colossus!
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Uh, the photos skip here apparently, to Inferno! Which was running really well on its one train!
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Det! It broke! But, only for two minutes! The park was on good form today, with no-one there to see it!
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So, as I say, we rode Inferno! Looking seesxxxxyyyy
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Where we said "OH HAI" to Mr Camera who is sporting a new mohican
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Then went over to the beach, which they were PAINTING! Colossus, Inferno, the things people RIDE they don't paint, but the once-a-year BEACH they bloody paint?!?!?! HUH?
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Vortexing it followed, and then Colossus! Actually quite smooth and fun! My best ride on it for years, actually!
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This shock was added to by... NEW FENCE!!!!
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Tidal Wave was open!
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We were tempted to ride... but didn't! Reason follows...
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Watching it, we had our problem with this cup! I put it on a fence, and then it blew into the water. Thinking we were litterers, Neal fished it out. Of course, I, idiot, put it on the floor, where it blows over, and then rolls into the water again... It was a had-to-be-there-moment, but, trust me, FUNNY!
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In case you forgot the name of the ride!
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Awww, Stealth... shut :(
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UH, this cattlepen is now officially RIDICULOUS
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I suppose we should have a photo of what this visit was FOR, right?
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What do I spy...?
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Yay, Colossus slightly less sucking!
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Saw... just mind the rust!
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What's this ride called? OH hahah, fnnnnaarr
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I LOVE SAW'S EXIT PATH (spoilers, maybe...)
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y19/Fryb/IMG_4247.jpg

This part impress me long time
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y19/Fryb/IMG_4248.jpg

Samurai! This was on an EXCELLENT cycle today, made me very dizzy!
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Colossus, cause it's slightly less than sucky still!
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Uh, for what I thought of Saw, see the topic on it. CBA to repeat myself.
 
see... THIS is why I actually quite like Thorpe. Sounds like you had as much fun yesterday as we did on mon. Pkus, I'm not bothered about you doing it 12 times. As I said in my TR, I could've done it more... but had a headache, and was still recovering from being in a teacup with Chris! So ner :p
 
Good days at Thorpe?

Oh, on weekdays :lol:

Last time I had a good weekend at Thorpe was closing day last year where there was no frustration whatsoever...

It's kinda cheating having a good day when the park is empty ;)
 
Ben said:
Watching it, we had our problem with this cup! I put it on a fence, and then it blew into the water. Thinking we were litterers, Neal fished it out. Of course, I, idiot, put it on the floor, where it blows over, and then rolls into the water again... It was a had-to-be-there-moment, but, trust me, FUNNY!
IMG_4209.jpg

HAHAHAHAHA! Such memories!

Never before have a seen a cup with such determination to be a piece of litter on Tidal Wave! :lol:
 
It just upset me being THE only piece of litter in an other wise crystal clear and blue pool of water!

The Zodiac one was much more naughty though >.< We was proper chavs on that right... OOoooooOOOpppss...!

Vadge said:
Pkus, I'm not bothered about you doing it 12 times. As I said in my TR, I could've done it more... but had a headache, and was still recovering from being in a teacup with Chris! So ner

Pffffft. You're just jealous of that one extra ride on which my entire body was numb from riding it so much and I couldn't feel a thing! Yeah. I was out of it by then, that coaster beat me senseless!
 
SchumacherFerrari said:
Best seat unquestionably the back row on the left hand side.

Haha, I said to peeps on Sat that it would be one of the best seats on the ride (seats on the outside seem better on Eurofighters) :D


Sounds like you had a good time. Just makes me more jealous though. I also found Collosucks less evil on Sat, more of a vibration now than rough.
 
Ben said:
It just upset me being THE only piece of litter in an other wise crystal clear and blue pool of water!

The Zodiac one was much more naughty though >.< We was proper chavs on that right... OOoooooOOOpppss...!

SSSSSSSHHHHHHHH!!!

Don't tell everyone bluds! :lol:
 
Vadge said:
As I said in my TR, I could've done it more... but had a headache

I still have a headache from it and it was 2 days ago! :(

Going back to the first post - that's what Thorpe has been like 95% of the time i've been to it. So on the CF Live day, i didn't really get why everyone was bitching as much as they were - days like that were the exception for me, days like Monday (for Vadge and me) and Yesterday (for you guys) have been my normal experience of Thorpe most of the time.

I'm impressed by the 12 goes on Saw in one day, as i said, still have the headache from monday now and we only went on it 6 times!
 
I'm impressed by the 12! At 6, Ben and I were both half dead! The only reason for carrying on was his total (but random) determination to beat Vadge! :lol:
 
Ollie said:
Of course you got on Saw because I wasn't in the park. :roll:
At this rate the whole universe would of ridden before me and I was meant to have gone on it two days before it opened to the public. :(

Lol, well stay away between 27th and 29th March. :lol:

Nah I am joking Ollie, sure you'll manage get on it soon enough.

Cheers for trip report SchumacherFerrari, was a good read. :)
 
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