Just to add a bit of variety to this forum here's yet ANOTHER Thorpe trip report!
Me and my mate Nick fancied a heavy night somewhere and after minimal though decided central London was the answer.... we booked ourselves into a youth hostel in the Bayswater area (£6 for the night- can't go wrong) and proceeded to have one of the most random nights ever. Met some Australian bird who was travelling round Europe and invited her out for the night, to which she obliged, hit a few bars and then a few clubs, brilliant night, which ended in four of us squeezed into the back of one of those 'tuk tuk' style things (basically an Indian guy on a bike pulling a carriage intended for 2 people). With four of us in it the poor guy must have been exhausted. Needless to say we were screaming at him to "put his **** back into it" and when we passed a bus stop with people waiting by it (baring in mind we're being pulled along by some little Indian guy at about 2 miles an hour) couldn't resist the opportunity to shout 'BUS W*NKERS!' ala the Inbetweeners at them. We ended up legging it from the tuk tuk guy when he said he wanted £30 for the journey and ironically ended up on a bus ourselves to get back to the hostel.
Anyway, following morning after 3 hours sleep and after Nick had thrown up in the shower we stumbled out of the hostel, still half cut and after a cheeky McMuffin meal we hopped on the underground towards Waterloo, our destination: Thorpe Park!
We got to the park at about 12.30, and were disappointed to see the car park was **** heaving, and just to put the icing on the cake, the LED signs at the entrance were reporting that Stealth was currently unavailable. **** brilliant.
For some reason, the normal ticket offices were shut and we had to purchase our tickets at the annual pass porta cabin place. £40.80 a ticket?! Yeah, what the ****.... I had no idea it was this much now (when did they put it up?) We were saying we remembered when Thorpe was £15 to get into.... anyway, we had a BOGOF voucher and the park was open till 8pm, so £20 for a day out didn't seem to bad.
After getting out tickets we headed over the bridge towards the park and noticed Stealth tearing over the crest of its phallic shaped top hat (is that the right terminology?- there's still a little bit of geek left in me
). Anyway, we figured if it had just opened the queue shouldn't be too long. Unfortunately it was, the entire queue was full, but thankfully the single rider line only had about 5 people in it so opted to use this. We were on within twenty minutes. I saw A-Kid working on the station, I don't think he recognised me though. This ride is one hell of a hangover cure, it's still as fun as I remembered it. The stupid fat bird who was next to me started whinging when we hit the break run saying "Is that it?! That was ****, I thought it would do more than that" to which I turned to her and said "What exactly were you expecting it to 'do' love? You've been queueing for the last God knows how long watching the bastard go round" She wasn't too impressed and very kindly used a four letter word to respond. Amusing stuff.
Anyway, we both agreed Stealth was still great fun, and feeling invigorated and cleared of our hangovers decided to head to the pub for a few jars. Refuelled we had a quick go on Detonator (well, we had to queue for half an hour). When did they start taking your photo on this? Detonator still remains the only ride in England that scares me, such an adrenaline rush and such fun- love it, made for a pretty embarrassing photo though, it looked like I was trying to squeeze out a turd whilst someone had my balls in a clamp.
After Det we fancied a go on Nemesis Inferno but didn't fancy the 70 minute queue so opted to see if we could get on as single riders again. Nick shouted at the guy in the station "can I go on there mate" pointing at a free seat on the back of the train to which the guy shrugged and said "yeah all right". So on Nick went and I stayed at the exit waiting for the next spare seat, only to be told by the jumped up little tart working in the station that single rider wasn't in operation and I would have to queue normally. Even when I said my mate had literally just been let on she didn't say she was interested. She was obviously a **** lesbian. Nick emerged at the end of the ride with a huge smile on his face when he heard I hadn't been allowed on and assured me he had thoroughly enjoyed his ride. Bastard.
After that disappointment we avoided Saw's 80 minute queue and decided to check out the new Saw Alive thing (I think it's new anyway) they have- it was alright, not brilliant but worth doing. The actors were quite good, except for one of the birds that (presumably unintentionally) grabbed my bollocks and pulled me across one of the rooms. All part of the experience I guess! I did find however the ride was too dark; I know they're trying to make it as scary as possible but the darkness was so much that you couldn't see any of the theming which was a shame as they had clearly put a fair bit of effort into it. Oh well.
After this we laughed at how Colossus (which is looking old and more rickety than ever) had a queue that was reported to be "at least" two hours. Two hours to go on that piece of ****? **** that.
We decided we wanted more beer and some dinner, so headed back to the pub (bar 360 or whatever it's called). I wasn't impressed with the fact they have put their beer prices up (£3.75 a pint now) but were pleased to see you could buy 4 pints and pay £3 a pint which wasn't too bad. We were also dead impressed with the food (2 meals for £12) and very nice meals at that.
Refreshed and slightly merry again we headed to Saw (which due to the rain now only had a 30 minute queue). I'd forgotten how much I like this ride. It's brilliant. Anyone who disagrees is mad. The theming, the ride itself, everything about it is fantastic. My favourite ride in the UK by quite some way. Brilliant stuff, put a huge smile on my face and a brilliant addition to Thorpe.
We decided to give the new ride (Storm Surge?) a miss as it boasted a HUGE queue all day, not really worth it for a fairly basic looking water slide.
We had a quick go on Slammer, X No Way Out, the Rumba Rapids (sharing a boat with some absolutely 24 carrat, Tesco finest jailbait- lovely) and Vortex as they all had minimal queues before riding Nemesis again (via the normal queue). For some reason they had taken one of the trains off so the queue did move quite slowly. Glad I rode it again though as it remains a very fun ride. I will always have a soft spot for it as it's the ride that made me interested in Roller Coaster in the first place, I'd have probably never found this place if it weren't for it! I did notice that several of the wheel guards were missing, anyone know why?
After that we had an hour left so decided to whore Saw as we were in agreement it was the best ride there by far. It's extremely re-ridable and I genuinely love it. We also saw Chris (Infernus) in the operating booth- I did not at him but not sure if he recognised me.
Before long it was 8 and the park had shut so we headed to the car park to meet Nick's girlfriend who was giving us a lift home. Since when do they charge for parking at Thorpe?! Cheeky as ****!
Brilliant day over all, I've missed Thorpe and it was great to go back. No doubt the new coaster next year (I did have a snoop around and had a view of the construction area from the top of Detonator but not too much seemed to be going on) will just cement Thorpe as the brilliant park that is it. Should be good!
But yes, brilliant day overall, great fun at a great park.
On a side note, when we were at the pub, Nick and I were discussing the outrageous entry prices and mentioned, surely if Thorpe got rid of the all the BOGOF vouchers and simply lowered the entry price (to say, £22) they would make more money and people would be happier to pay the lesser rate? Everyone with half a brain cell would take a BOGOF voucher with them so Thorpe are only technically making £20.40 per guest. I know these vouchers are a form of advertising, but even still..... Just a thought.
Thanks for reading!
Me and my mate Nick fancied a heavy night somewhere and after minimal though decided central London was the answer.... we booked ourselves into a youth hostel in the Bayswater area (£6 for the night- can't go wrong) and proceeded to have one of the most random nights ever. Met some Australian bird who was travelling round Europe and invited her out for the night, to which she obliged, hit a few bars and then a few clubs, brilliant night, which ended in four of us squeezed into the back of one of those 'tuk tuk' style things (basically an Indian guy on a bike pulling a carriage intended for 2 people). With four of us in it the poor guy must have been exhausted. Needless to say we were screaming at him to "put his **** back into it" and when we passed a bus stop with people waiting by it (baring in mind we're being pulled along by some little Indian guy at about 2 miles an hour) couldn't resist the opportunity to shout 'BUS W*NKERS!' ala the Inbetweeners at them. We ended up legging it from the tuk tuk guy when he said he wanted £30 for the journey and ironically ended up on a bus ourselves to get back to the hostel.
Anyway, following morning after 3 hours sleep and after Nick had thrown up in the shower we stumbled out of the hostel, still half cut and after a cheeky McMuffin meal we hopped on the underground towards Waterloo, our destination: Thorpe Park!
We got to the park at about 12.30, and were disappointed to see the car park was **** heaving, and just to put the icing on the cake, the LED signs at the entrance were reporting that Stealth was currently unavailable. **** brilliant.
For some reason, the normal ticket offices were shut and we had to purchase our tickets at the annual pass porta cabin place. £40.80 a ticket?! Yeah, what the ****.... I had no idea it was this much now (when did they put it up?) We were saying we remembered when Thorpe was £15 to get into.... anyway, we had a BOGOF voucher and the park was open till 8pm, so £20 for a day out didn't seem to bad.
After getting out tickets we headed over the bridge towards the park and noticed Stealth tearing over the crest of its phallic shaped top hat (is that the right terminology?- there's still a little bit of geek left in me
). Anyway, we figured if it had just opened the queue shouldn't be too long. Unfortunately it was, the entire queue was full, but thankfully the single rider line only had about 5 people in it so opted to use this. We were on within twenty minutes. I saw A-Kid working on the station, I don't think he recognised me though. This ride is one hell of a hangover cure, it's still as fun as I remembered it. The stupid fat bird who was next to me started whinging when we hit the break run saying "Is that it?! That was ****, I thought it would do more than that" to which I turned to her and said "What exactly were you expecting it to 'do' love? You've been queueing for the last God knows how long watching the bastard go round" She wasn't too impressed and very kindly used a four letter word to respond. Amusing stuff.Anyway, we both agreed Stealth was still great fun, and feeling invigorated and cleared of our hangovers decided to head to the pub for a few jars. Refuelled we had a quick go on Detonator (well, we had to queue for half an hour). When did they start taking your photo on this? Detonator still remains the only ride in England that scares me, such an adrenaline rush and such fun- love it, made for a pretty embarrassing photo though, it looked like I was trying to squeeze out a turd whilst someone had my balls in a clamp.
After Det we fancied a go on Nemesis Inferno but didn't fancy the 70 minute queue so opted to see if we could get on as single riders again. Nick shouted at the guy in the station "can I go on there mate" pointing at a free seat on the back of the train to which the guy shrugged and said "yeah all right". So on Nick went and I stayed at the exit waiting for the next spare seat, only to be told by the jumped up little tart working in the station that single rider wasn't in operation and I would have to queue normally. Even when I said my mate had literally just been let on she didn't say she was interested. She was obviously a **** lesbian. Nick emerged at the end of the ride with a huge smile on his face when he heard I hadn't been allowed on and assured me he had thoroughly enjoyed his ride. Bastard.
After that disappointment we avoided Saw's 80 minute queue and decided to check out the new Saw Alive thing (I think it's new anyway) they have- it was alright, not brilliant but worth doing. The actors were quite good, except for one of the birds that (presumably unintentionally) grabbed my bollocks and pulled me across one of the rooms. All part of the experience I guess! I did find however the ride was too dark; I know they're trying to make it as scary as possible but the darkness was so much that you couldn't see any of the theming which was a shame as they had clearly put a fair bit of effort into it. Oh well.
After this we laughed at how Colossus (which is looking old and more rickety than ever) had a queue that was reported to be "at least" two hours. Two hours to go on that piece of ****? **** that.
We decided we wanted more beer and some dinner, so headed back to the pub (bar 360 or whatever it's called). I wasn't impressed with the fact they have put their beer prices up (£3.75 a pint now) but were pleased to see you could buy 4 pints and pay £3 a pint which wasn't too bad. We were also dead impressed with the food (2 meals for £12) and very nice meals at that.
Refreshed and slightly merry again we headed to Saw (which due to the rain now only had a 30 minute queue). I'd forgotten how much I like this ride. It's brilliant. Anyone who disagrees is mad. The theming, the ride itself, everything about it is fantastic. My favourite ride in the UK by quite some way. Brilliant stuff, put a huge smile on my face and a brilliant addition to Thorpe.
We decided to give the new ride (Storm Surge?) a miss as it boasted a HUGE queue all day, not really worth it for a fairly basic looking water slide.
We had a quick go on Slammer, X No Way Out, the Rumba Rapids (sharing a boat with some absolutely 24 carrat, Tesco finest jailbait- lovely) and Vortex as they all had minimal queues before riding Nemesis again (via the normal queue). For some reason they had taken one of the trains off so the queue did move quite slowly. Glad I rode it again though as it remains a very fun ride. I will always have a soft spot for it as it's the ride that made me interested in Roller Coaster in the first place, I'd have probably never found this place if it weren't for it! I did notice that several of the wheel guards were missing, anyone know why?
After that we had an hour left so decided to whore Saw as we were in agreement it was the best ride there by far. It's extremely re-ridable and I genuinely love it. We also saw Chris (Infernus) in the operating booth- I did not at him but not sure if he recognised me.
Before long it was 8 and the park had shut so we headed to the car park to meet Nick's girlfriend who was giving us a lift home. Since when do they charge for parking at Thorpe?! Cheeky as ****!
Brilliant day over all, I've missed Thorpe and it was great to go back. No doubt the new coaster next year (I did have a snoop around and had a view of the construction area from the top of Detonator but not too much seemed to be going on) will just cement Thorpe as the brilliant park that is it. Should be good!
But yes, brilliant day overall, great fun at a great park.
On a side note, when we were at the pub, Nick and I were discussing the outrageous entry prices and mentioned, surely if Thorpe got rid of the all the BOGOF vouchers and simply lowered the entry price (to say, £22) they would make more money and people would be happier to pay the lesser rate? Everyone with half a brain cell would take a BOGOF voucher with them so Thorpe are only technically making £20.40 per guest. I know these vouchers are a form of advertising, but even still..... Just a thought.
Thanks for reading!
