Photo TR: Thorpe Park 24/09/05

[nemesis-storm]

I’m not normally good at writing reports, but it here it goes …

 

As I had not been anywhere for a few weeks, I thought I would go to Thorpe Park by myself, get a few rides on the coaster’s & get a few pictures.

The weather forecast was good, so that was an added bonus.

 

I arrived at the park about 09:40 (The Park opened at 09:30) & headed straight for Colossus. As I was walking to the entrance for the coaster I could see Slammer (S&S Fly Swat) being tested still, they still had the water bottle dummies in it. Walking down the queue line I could see no one queuing as I got closer the to the station building I could see people inside. As with most parks, Thorpe has a dedicated queue for the front row. There was about six or so people in this line, so this was a chance not to be missed! About 3 trains came & went before it was my turn for the front row. By this time a lot more people had turned up, I got into my seat & the ride ops were calling for a another single rider. A guy walked past few people & took the seat next to me. I think he was surprised for 2 reasons, one being that he got on the ride so quickly & secondly he was on the front row. He was with a few mates & they all cheered as we left the station. I will not explain the whole ride but from the front row going through the inline twists is an awesome view & feeling. The ‘famous’ roar from the trains are back again on Colossus. The ride was pretty smooth compared to my later trip (more on that later.)

 

After getting off Colossus, I walked around to take a few pictures of the coaster & noticed Slammer had finished testing, the water bottles had been removed. I think Slammer is one of favourite ‘flat’ rides, so I headed over there straight away.

I think there were about 6 people in total waiting at each end. After a few minutes the gates opened, I walked onto the front row & was the only person on that row.

As the ride op’s were checking the very comfortable restraints on us all another ride op very eagerly told us all that this was the very first run of Slammer for the day. The ride is a little short in time but you get 3 rotations either way so... can’t complain. My go was over, but as I enjoyed it so much I ran around (There was no reason too) again and got on the ride again, but this time on the opposite as before. This was Slammers second go of the day. I prefer rotating forwards more that the backwards rotation, far more air time!

 

After taking a few pictures of Slammer I headed over to Nemesis Inferno

 

The time now was about 10:30, The queue time for Nemesis Inferno was about 15 minutes, as I was waiting in line for Nemesis, I was able to get a couple of pictures of the new Intamin coaster for 2006. I soon had my first go for the day on Inferno, as entering the final brakes I could see below that the queue has increased by double to about 30 mins. As I was on my own & Thorpe Park over the single rider queue I took this chance to get rides on the coaster. About 1.5 hour later I had been on a further 13 go’s.

 

I fancied a change of scenery, so I left Nemesis Inferno for a while. I then took some pictures of Inferno & headed over to look at the construction of the 2006 coaster.

 

Then I headed over to Rush (S&S Screamin’ Swing) to take a few pictures. Glancing at the information board it was stating the queue times for Colossus & Rush were 80 Mins, Nemesis Inferno was 40 Mins – obviously the park was getting a lot busier.

 

Only one arm of Rush was in operation, so 16 people at a time made the queue up to 80 minutes. I knew that Rush also had a single rider queue and entered this line, within only what seemed a 10 Minute wait I was on the ride. It’s not as good as Slammer in my view but is a good ride.

 

I then walked over to Vortex, had not been on this for this year, no single rider queue but I was prepared to wait the 30 minutes for it.

 

The time was now about 1 PM, I walked back over to Colossus to take a few more pictures of the coaster. The wait for Colossus was now down to 60 minutes, but again the single rider queue came to my rescue, after a 15 or so minute wait I was on. I seated in row 4, only a car behind the one I was in earlier in the morning. I know there are 2 trains & I may have been in the other train previously, but the ride was not all smooth (no at all very rough) ,there was a large amount of wheel squealing on most of the inversions and I felt the train seemed to ‘bounce’ at times too.

 

After the ride on Colossus, I walked around to Nemesis Inferno to take a few more pictures. Had some lunch at KFC & headed back over to Nemesis Inferno. The waiting time was about 30 mins, I was not too much of a rush to go on as I just eaten & so decided to wait in the normal queue. I also decided to queue up for the front row; this took the total waiting time up to about 40 minutes. You get such a great sensation from the front row it was worth the wait. After that go I had 4 more go’s waiting via the single rider queue line. The time was now 15:30 and chose to leave for the day.

 

Now a few pics

 

Colossus

 

 

Slammer

 

Rush

 

 

New 2006 coaster (Taken on Saturday & no sign on the top hat being lifted) - Spot the worker !

 

 

There is load more pictures from Saturday & other Thorpe Park pictures I have taken are on my flickr page.

 

Paul 'I hope I've not bored you all too much' Chapman

[FishyFish]

Nice!

 

Now that I've popped my coaster cherry, Thorpe Park (along with Alton Towers) is on my 'to do' list.

 

Plus, having seen that they're getting a Gerstlauer Eurofighter coaster, like the one at Bobbejaanland, to keep Megafobia company next year, Oakwood looks like it might be worth the lengthy drive too.

 

One of the few good things about getting into this lark at my age is that EVERYTHING is new to me!

[Erik Johnson]

Is that new coaster the Humdinger? Looks like a nice park, thanks for posting!

[nemesis-storm]

Is that new coaster the Humdinger? Looks like a nice park, thanks for posting!

 

Yes it'a humdinger of a ride

 

Please don't let them name it that!

 

Yeah I think the park is picturesque in places.

 

Paul 'Glad you like the TR' Chapman

[verticalzero]

Great Pic's, thanks for posting. I live 35 mins away and I enjoy going here rather than driving 3 hours to Alton Towers.

 

Does "Colossus" still slow down and make a squeeling sound when going through the Cobra Roll..?

 

Give it more grease so it can fly round the track.

[nemesis-storm]

Does "Colossus" still slow down and make a squeeling sound when going through the Cobra Roll..?

 

Give it more grease so it can fly round the track.

 

Yeah was making the squealing sounds on the cobra roll. It's also making an roaring sound too in places like when it's in the vertical loop and the section between the loop & cobra roll.

 

Paul 'Shall I post more pics? Chapman

[Inferno Insane]

Sounds busy for Thorpe for a weekend :o. Nice Photos, some nice shots/Angles and nice weather also.

 

Single rider queue works so well at Thorpe, Just so easy to reride if you in the mood. I never found SRQ to works very well on Colossus due to the 2 seats across and the ride op's normally pair people up, Inferno on the other hand as its 4 across works a dream and many times get lots of spare seats which mean lots of rides 8).

 

 

Nice to hear Colossus sounding like it dose a underground train squealing round the lost city , Do wish they took a bit more care with it sometimes

 

No single rider queue but I was prepared to wait the 30 minutes for it.

 

There is SRQ for Vortex its infront of the hotdog stand, But is mostly closed or never works well. So normaly is best to queue.

[nemesis-storm]

Sounds busy for Thorpe for a weekend :o. Nice Photos, some nice shots/Angles and nice weather also.

 

Yeah the park really got busy during the day. The fine weather & the various special offers for park entry did'nt help.

 

To give you some idea how busy the park was, the queue for the rapids at one time was the whole length of the queue line & outside down to almost the teacups !!.

 

Glad you liked the photo's

 

There is SRQ for Vortex its infront of the hotdog stand, But is mostly closed or never works well. So normaly is best to queue.

 

Thanks for that I did kind of wonder if there was a SRQ there, I'll bear that mind for future trips.

[viking86]

Nice trip report! I was in Thorpe park earlier this summer with 8000+ school children in the park. The lines were massive! Rode Colossus once in car 6 after waiting 20-30 mins with fastpass. I didnt like the ride at all as I hit my head pretty hard into the restraints in the bottom of the first drop because of the vibrations. Its also the noisiest coaster Ive ever heard, it sounds like a car crash. Nemesis Inferno was alot of fun, and Slammer was awesome! Like you said, the forwards rotations are the best. I just love the feeling you get going over the top. Rush is a fun ride, but rather tame.