Trip Report: Thorpe Park - 24th, 26th and 28th August 2015

[Coasterfreck]

So I have been very busy recently so haven't been able to post for quite a while due to a mix of personal issues, family issues, college issues and so forth, but over the last five days I have been to Thorpe Park three times 24th, 26th and 28th August, over the course of these three days most of the time with the exception of part of the day of the 26th when I was with a friend I was soley on The Swarm, but here is a trip report which cover the three days.

On the 24th the park was very quite due to the weather, so I managed to completely obliterate my previous record of 36 rides in a day, by riding The Swarm a whopping 86 times! I am pretty sure a lot of my friends and family on my facebook think I am actually married to Swarmie, but as it is my all time favourite rollercoaster I was quite happy just riding it all day, I am pretty sure as well that the ride staff also thought I was mad for doing that amount, and three of the ride staff were working on Swarm on all three of the day that I was in the park.
Ride Count:
The Swarm: 86

On the 26th I was with a friend and the weather was far worse than the 24th, the park started to get lakes of water which wasn't particually fun, but I managed to get onto the first public train of the day on Swarmie which was at 2:45 due to it suffering from "technical difficulties", when it opened it was only on one train operation so to be able to get 11 rides on it was pretty good going, while my friend was with me we also rode Colossus, X and Inferno.
Ride Count:
Colossus: 2
X: 1
The Swarm: 11
Nemesis Inferno: 1

Yesterday 28th I was again at the park on my own for there Summer Nights event in which the park is open from 9:30 to 6:00pm, and then if you have an orange Summer Nights wristband you can ride the rides till 10pm, which meant that I had a good number of rides in the dark in a less busy season, I managed to ride Swarmie 47 times during the course of my 12 and half hours that I was on the park.
Ride Count:
The Swarm: 47
Colossus: 4

Here are some pictures I took during Summer Nights:

 

[Ben]

Re: Trip Report: Thorpe Park - 24th, 26th and 28th August 20

Not to be rude, but why on Earth do you feel the need to ride Swarm so much...?

 

[Coasterfreck]

Re: Trip Report: Thorpe Park - 24th, 26th and 28th August 20

Swarm is my all time favourite coaster it has never got old or boring even after 386 rides, it's smooth and forceful at the same time.. It's got a great layout, which is so easy to re-ride and it feels different in each seat. Personally it's just far superior over the other coasters and rides in the park.

 

[Zac]

Re: Trip Report: Thorpe Park - 24th, 26th and 28th August 20

How much of the time were you on Swarm to get that many rides on the 24th?

 

[Ben]

Re: Trip Report: Thorpe Park - 24th, 26th and 28th August 20

Yes but still, why?

 

[cjbrandy]

Re: Trip Report: Thorpe Park - 24th, 26th and 28th August 20

Swarm is a great ride- in moderation. Personally I get bored of re riding The Swarm when it is a walk on due to the fun but fairly short and tame layout whilst I don't get bored of Stealth's intense launch and I certainly never got bored of Shambhala when I was at PA.

 

[Darren B]

Re: Trip Report: Thorpe Park - 24th, 26th and 28th August 20

In all seriousness, I can't imagine how many rides you'd be prepared to take if you found an actual world class coaster. I managed 4 rides in a row on Swarm once, I couldn't manage a fith as I was falling asleep.

Out of interest, what other theme parks have you visited?

 

[Coasterfreck]

Re: Trip Report: Thorpe Park - 24th, 26th and 28th August 20

How much of the time were you on Swarm to get that many rides on the 24th?

On the 24th I basically never left The Swarm island from 9:30am to 6pm except from about 10 minutes for lunch.

Yes but still, why?

Because it gives me a feeling which no other coaster does even Nemesis hasn't given me the same feeling!, and I love it.

In all seriousness, I can't imagine how many rides you'd be prepared to take if you found an actual world class coaster. I managed 4 rides in a row on Swarm once, I couldn't manage a fith as I was falling asleep.

I did Nemesis 10 times back in July when I went to Towers for my first time, but to me Swarm is better than Nemesis.
I'd do as many rides as I can do on any rollercoaster that I can ride.

Out of interest, what other theme parks have you visited?

I've done all of the rollercoasters at; Alton Towers, Pleasure Beach Blackpool, Chessie, Legoland (including Jungle Coaster) and Devon's Creely.

 

[jj23w]

Re: Trip Report: Thorpe Park - 24th, 26th and 28th August 20

Swarm smooth no it's not it vibrates a hell of a lot and is forceless. The 2 far superior rides in the park to this are Stealth and Saw I'd rather go on Stealth all the time.

 

[Coasterfreck]

Re: Trip Report: Thorpe Park - 24th, 26th and 28th August 20

Swarm smooth no it's not it vibrates a hell of a lot and is forceless. The 2 far superior rides in the park to this are Stealth and Saw I'd rather go on Stealth all the time.

It's all subjective really; Saw, is a very rough coaster in my books with a surprisingly dull layout, which actually surprised me and made me not enjoy the coaster. Stealth doesn't hold a candle to it's sister Rita at Towers and I feel that it is a waste of time queuing for 30 seconds of ride. I haven't had one bad ride on Swarm, the forcefulness depends on a number of factors: Side, Row and also the weather, on the 24th and 26th Swarm was much more forceful due to the weather. Towards the back of the train the first drop has a lot of force, and after the zero-g the inclined loop and the turn around also pack a forceful punch.

 

[jj23w]

Re: Trip Report: Thorpe Park - 24th, 26th and 28th August 20

I went on the 26th and found Saw and Stealth runnin at there best.

 

[Darren B]

Re: Trip Report: Thorpe Park - 24th, 26th and 28th August 20

How much of the time were you on Swarm to get that many rides on the 24th?

On the 24th I basically never left The Swarm island from 9:30am to 6pm except from about 10 minutes for lunch.

Yes but still, why?

Because it gives me a feeling which no other coaster does even Nemesis hasn't given me the same feeling!, and I love it.

In all seriousness, I can't imagine how many rides you'd be prepared to take if you found an actual world class coaster. I managed 4 rides in a row on Swarm once, I couldn't manage a fith as I was falling asleep.

I did Nemesis 10 times back in July when I went to Towers for my first time, but to me Swarm is better than Nemesis.
I'd do as many rides as I can do on any rollercoaster that I can ride.

Out of interest, what other theme parks have you visited?

I've done all of the rollercoasters at; Alton Towers, Pleasure Beach Blackpool, Chessie, Legoland (including Jungle Coaster) and Devon's Creely.

I said 'world class coaster', not Nemesis.

If you love Swarm so much I suggest you save up your pocket money and get yourself over to Holiday World, you really will cum in your pants there! Thunderbird literally makes Swarm seem like an underwhelming ride on Flying Fish.

 

[Jarrett]

Re: Trip Report: Thorpe Park - 24th, 26th and 28th August 20

^YES. Thunderbird is amazing! <3

Though honestly, this whole "extreme marathoning" (as someone who habitually does it on Skyrush and I dubbed it) thing that seems to have stirred up a discussion on this TR is actually quite a common thing in the States. We have a retired minister at Kings Island who has 22,000 rides on Diamondback (one of which was with me), a woman with 3,000 rides on GateKeeper (moved to Sandusky just to be able to continue this, and yes, I took a lap with her at CoasterMania), a guy with 11,000 on Millennium Force, and I have a this friend named Emily that doesn't keep a total count but holds the record for the most Skyrush laps in a day at 104. These enthusiasts do travel but for the most part are known for their obsessive riding of their number ones and are usually well-known in their local circles. Not heard of it internationally before but it's actually pretty common in the US.

Not sure if that's what you're going for (just a different way to enjoy the hobby, nothing wrong with it at all) but if it is, I look forward to hearing about your Swarm endeavors! I'm partially guilty myself, considering how half my KI time is spent marathoning Banshee to up my total ride count. But great report! Glad you enjoy Swarm! Keep on riding!

 

[Ben]

Re: Trip Report: Thorpe Park - 24th, 26th and 28th August 20

^At least Swarm is slightly less turd than Banshee I'll give him that!

But yeah, Thunderbird <3<3<3

I just can't understand how people get enjoyment out of the same coaster over and over and over. I'd rather go home and watch Netflix once I've been on it once or twice.

 

[Ben]

Re: Trip Report: Thorpe Park - 24th, 26th and 28th August 20

^At least Swarm is slightly less turd than Banshee I'll give him that!

But yeah, Thunderbird <3<3<3

I just can't understand how people get enjoyment out of the same coaster over and over and over. I'd rather go home and watch Netflix once I've been on it once or twice.

 

[cjbrandy]

Re: Trip Report: Thorpe Park - 24th, 26th and 28th August 20

^ What are Banshee's flaws? I know Jarrett loves it and others like it but Ive heard quite a few people say it's not that great.

 

[Darren B]

Re: Trip Report: Thorpe Park - 24th, 26th and 28th August 20

^One of the trains dishes out quite a 'different' ride. Ben got that train and wasn't so impressed. I like Banshee, it's one of the best Inverts out there. However, and Ben will tell you the same thing, Inverts are Inverts, and they're not up there as a world class ride type; No matter how good some of them are. When we plan trips we plan them around RMC's, Hypers, woodies & Dive Machines. Inverts never get a consideration, hence why me and Ben still haven't bothered to seek out Monster, Katun or Oz Iris & Black Mamba (for me).

 

[Coasterfreck]

Re: Trip Report: Thorpe Park - 24th, 26th and 28th August 20

I said 'world class coaster', not Nemesis.

If you love Swarm so much I suggest you save up your pocket money and get yourself over to Holiday World, you really will cum in your pants there! Thunderbird literally makes Swarm seem like an underwhelming ride on Flying Fish.

If I was to save up money it would take me about 5 to 6 years before I'd even have enough to do the theme parks in America. But from everything I've seen of Thunderbird it does look fantastic.

^YES. Thunderbird is amazing! <3

Though honestly, this whole "extreme marathoning" (as someone who habitually does it on Skyrush and I dubbed it) thing that seems to have stirred up a discussion on this TR is actually quite a common thing in the States. We have a retired minister at Kings Island who has 22,000 rides on Diamondback (one of which was with me), a woman with 3,000 rides on GateKeeper (moved to Sandusky just to be able to continue this, and yes, I took a lap with her at CoasterMania), a guy with 11,000 on Millennium Force, and I have a this friend named Emily that doesn't keep a total count but holds the record for the most Skyrush laps in a day at 104. These enthusiasts do travel but for the most part are known for their obsessive riding of their number ones and are usually well-known in their local circles. Not heard of it internationally before but it's actually pretty common in the US.

Not sure if that's what you're going for (just a different way to enjoy the hobby, nothing wrong with it at all) but if it is, I look forward to hearing about your Swarm endeavors! I'm partially guilty myself, considering how half my KI time is spent marathoning Banshee to up my total ride count. But great report! Glad you enjoy Swarm! Keep on riding!

Being 14 rides away from 400, my next goal that I am hopefully wanting to reach is my 500th ride on Swarm this season. I have recently started to become more well known by the ride staff on Swarm, to the point when some of the ride staff ask me "what number are you upto now?" which is quite entertaining.

 

[Ben]

Re: Trip Report: Thorpe Park - 24th, 26th and 28th August 20

Yeah, what bae said about Inverys just generally being a bit poo is spot on, hence the European ones being really far down our to do list)

It wasn't the rattle that people go on about that bothered me so much (it does rattle because those trains suck and the restraints suck and dig in to me and are just really restrictive) it was more just it didn't do anything.

It's big and fast but there's no force to it so you just go through the motions and it ends. If you compare it to fab Alpengeist which is basically the same thing, it really falls short.

 

[jonny9403]

Re: Trip Report: Thorpe Park - 24th, 26th and 28th August 20

Swarm may be good but stealth and neme are better

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