TR: Thorpe Park 30/03/2009

[robinschroder]

This afternoon I decided to head over to Thorpe Park for a second attempt at getting my Saw credit, after having been thwarted on its somewhat infamous public opening day. Fortunately I was in luck this time!

 

I thought it was a pretty good ride overall - it certainly felt like there was a lot to the ride even though it's actually fairly short. The secret bits - which I won't spoil here - were really great, as was the trademark Eurofighter lift hill and drop. The inversions and their transitions weren't exactly B&M smooth, but neither was the ride particularly badly rough. There was pretty good airtime on the airtime hill too, which was a big plus (although the restraints made it tricky to fully appreciate) as well as when coming off the MCBR. It's probably Thorpe Park's best coaster now from the point of view of it being a really fun, well-themed ride with a few hidden twists. It bodes really well for Alton Towers' SW6 in terms of attention to detail and overall ride experience! They load 2 trains at a time in the station - I actually preferred my rides on the front train because it felt like the pace was kept up more (although, that said, having now read some spoilers, I don't think a key piece of theming was running as it should have been! So maybe stick with the second train like everyone else's advice suggests!).

 

When I headed over to Stealth - which I was pleased to see up and running on this visit - the trains were often really struggling to make it over the top-hat. I joined the queue and kept my fingers crossed... Lo and behold, when it came to my turn we launched, neared the crest of the top-hat - but it quickly became apparent that we weren't going to make it over, so we rolled back! It was all over pretty quickly (much like the actual ride when it does what it's supposed to) - but definitely a fun experience! Plus now I too get to be a member of the exclusive Intamin Rocket Rollback club, if that exists. The train came to rest about a train's-length from the station. An engineer was called, and when he arrived he gradually brought our train back into the station. We all had to get out, the train was sent around empty (and it cleared the top-hat easily) and then everyone (well, most people) got back on. This time, we really zoomed over the top-hat which gave some excellent airtime a la Xcelerator (especially as I was sat right at the back); most unlike any other ride on Stealth I've ever had. I guess we must have had a slight over-speed launch... I seem to remember reading something along the lines that the launch system bases the next launch's power on what was required for the previous one, hence why they send half-filled trains around on Dragster when it re-opens, gradually opening up the rows further back once they're happy with the launch tolerance. (Maybe I'm wrong?)

 

All in all, a great (short) visit! Apologies for the lack of pictures today, although other TPR members have already done a most excellent job of documenting the ride and the park this season - nice one!

 

P.S. There seemed to be lots of rumours circulating of Lindsay Lohan wandering around the park with a VIP pass... Not really of much interest!

[Shockwave]

^Glad you got on it this time Robin!

 

I'm gonna try again in May sometime, so I can get it done next time around.