06-06 Thorpe Park Major Thrills

First of all here is a shout out to D-Day. Remember all who lost or risked their lives that day so that the rest of the world can live in freedom.

Cloudy and cool today but no rain is forecast. We head for the Park that is only about 10 minutes away from our hotel. We flash our Merlin Passes and we're in the gate and heading for their newest roller coaster, The Swarm.



This is the most beautifully themed coaster ever. A town looks like it has been destroyed and there is a plane crashed that the coaster track dives underneath.



In the queue line there are TV monitors with the news on about the destruction of the town of Staines (the real name of the town where this Park is).

The ride vehicle is just like Gardaland's new coaster - 2 people sit on either side of the track in ski lift seats, level with the track, 28 people to a coaster train.



The first drop starts twisting and turning downward immediately after the top of the lift hill and the front seat riders slowly turn upsidedown as the rest of the train catches up to it. That's the top of the lift hill on the left and the riders at the front are almost upside down and those at the rear are still sitting upright as the train starts its plunge into the first drop under the plane.



Enough about Swarm, but it is the best ride in the park.

0-80MPH in 2.3 seconds. That's the claim of our next coaster, Stealth.



The coaster is catapulted like a jet fighter along a straight stretch of track and then rises straight up, over the top, and twists back down to the station. Short ride but it gives you an idea of the forces involved in taking off from an aircraft carrier.



Chicken sandwich and a baked potato for Karen and BBQ Ribs for Pat for lunch as it started to pour down rain. When we were finished the rain was finished. Nice timing.



We found a Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Dispenser. Hmm.



The first roller coaster in the world to do 10 inversions was Colossus in this Park. Sing along...Dizzy, I'm so dizzy, my head is spinning.





THAT ride took us almost an hour to get on because the other coaster next door, SAW the RIDE, was down.

So everyone who got off of Colossus went over and got in line for SAW and THAT took us 75 minutes to get through because it was down again while we were in line. Makes you wonder why would we even get ON a ride that keeps breaking down.

Because it is a great ride. The first drop is 115 degrees into a bunch of spinning saw blades. Who wouldn't want to go on that?



We had just about exhausted all of their coasters so we stopped for a bit and had an ice cream.

We decided that The Swarm deserved one last ride from us. Again we took the front seat and enjoyed that first drop through the airplane carcass.



We left at 6pm, found some dinner, and then took a 45 minute stroll outside our motel down the Thames River.