3Dimensions
Mega Poster
For the second year running I went to Thorpe Park with my college, I would've got there maybe a few minutes earlier as the coach broke down nearby a Macdonalds (which was a lifesaver as I hadn't had much food or drink as all the shops were shut before the coach left) but there was also terrible traffic on the M25, after leaving at about quater to eight we arrived and entered the park at half 11 (the student ticket pricing seems to have gone down by 50 pence I think).
As the park had already been open for an hour, queues did seem pretty big. My first ride was Colossus and was my longest wait for the day - about 30 mins. I only got onto the middle of the train but seemed smoother than it did last year; but the trains are still incredibly difficult to get into. The track looks absolutely disgusting compared to other rides; even Nemesis Inferno looked much prettier and that is only a year or so older.
Me and my friends then went over to ride Saw but they were adding another car and the full queue line was in use so we decided to get some fastrack (not my decision :? ). As we chose the Extreme fastrack our first ride was Nemesis Inferno, we would've boarded quicker but the main fastrack queue was closed so we had to share the exit with the disabled access customers - there was many people using this so there was a long wait. It took a while for the ride ops to notice there was a large queue of fastrack customers (there was eight of us, plus many more behind us as time went on). By the time we were on, it was raining; but after being on the front seat in the rain last year it didn't seem too bad - this time it was in the back and i was suprised how different of an experience it actually is. The ride seemed much more forceful and was incredibly fun; I haven't been on any other B&M coasters apart from those at Thorpe Park and Air, so I'm still amazed at how smooth the ride is.
Next on our fastrack was X, which was my first ride since 2012; so until now I haven't experienced the update. The ride flows at a much faster pace but the trains are still small (and are apparently from a different manufacturer - I managed to get a front seat view). There are still the brake sections on the coaster but it is just a simple slowdown instead of the extended 'rocking' in the darkness. The sound in the buiding is brilliant, instead of the previous soundscape, instrumental trance music was played. As I am not really a trance listener I could not tell if this park's own original soundtrack. What suprised me even more was the quality of the sound - it boomed right through the main building but not too loud to hurt your ears (like the crossbow section on Saw) and the sound quality was great. The new lasers look great too, especilly in the lift hill - as the hall is lit up in a huge array of colours it feels like a totally different ride. This was a great suprise to me and I even enjoyed it more than Saw!
Next my friends wanted to go on Tidal Wave (as it was next on the fastrack), I decided to give it a miss as it was already raining, cold and soaked. Plus I had been on it a few times before so I couldn't really be bothered to walk all that way through the queue - even if it was the fastrack queue. Obviously, they went off soaked and shivering - glad I missed it. Afterwards we all went on Storm Surge due to the convience of them already being soaked - and it being right next to Pier 13. This was my first time being on Storm Surge, being the heaviest and oldest in the group (11st 12lbs on the day) probably meant that my boat of 4 spun more than the others. It was quite a fun ride but I would only do it again if there was no queue (or a 10 minute queue like we had) and I was again with a group of friends.
After everyone dried off from Tidal Wave with the heaters, we then went off to have lunch. Luckily the Pizza Hut Buffet was still open - it was £9.99 for unlimited pizza and drinks - works out better than spending £2 on a bottle of coke (although I did see you could get 2 bottles of Oasis for £2 at shops). Most of the others went to KFC.
We then regrouped and then sprinted to Colossus to use up the last of our fastrack. The fastrack seats were once again right at the back of the ride, I actually hurt my neck due to the infamous head banging. Although, it was better than queueing again! It might seem stupid riding Colossus straight after lunch but luckily none of us were sick.
We then went on Swarm and Stealth which had very small queues. I didn't go backwards (again) as the queue for that seemed quite long. For the first time I sat on the right side for Swarm which seemed much more intense. being higher on the first drop added much more of a thrill and it is suprising how much more you interact with the near misses - no wonder there is a maximum height limit - but it could be due to the restraints as well as the vests that hold you in are incredibly tight - I probably wouldn't want to do a 'marathon attempt' on this ride. Stealth was good fun as usual, even in the rain. The longer queues were all shut off which meant we only had a 20 minute queue the first time, and a 5 minute queue the second (although we rode Swarm (we only rode this once which was mentioned once as well as Saw (below)). During the first time it was still raining - which didn't actually hurt (although I did have my hood up - which fell down due to the spped!) as much as I thought it would have. Riding Swarm in the rain actually hurts more. The second time it was sunny (it stopped raining just as we got on Swarm) and was much more enjoyable, and I actually noticed more of a view of the surrounding area).
Thinking that the queue would be short (it was reported that it had a 5 minute queue on the boards); we went over to Saw again. As the queue extended right past the queue path, we decided to sprint over and get 8 fastracks (the price had increased by 50 pence so it was a wopping £40 altogether - which meant we spent £128 on fastrack as a group). We got to the ride with 5 minutes before the deadline - which does seem incredibly cruel as we had to pay for our fastrack - not something you'd expect in Disney - especially when the fast pass system is free (or at least was when I last went to DLRP 5/6 years ago). For the first time ever I got onto the second car which didn't seem as fun. Sure you get Billy's 'speech' but it really ruins the intensity and flow of the indoor section (and especially the awe from the effects) but most of my friends hadn't even ridden this yet. I sat on the front far right and got the inevitable headache and more neck pain. One of the ride ops wanted me to say to someone on the other side 'Don't worry it's only Slammer' and said it would be 'worth my time' but I couldn't be bothered to.
It was after this we went on Stealth for the second time.
Our last ride was Detonator, which has been slightly rethemed with a new sign and a fibreglass 'bomb bird' on the grassy area next to the queue line. I couldn't remember if the music had changed or not. For the first time I was able to hear the countdown. Maybe this is part of the Angry Birds land theming to make the ride more family friendly - I still screamed on the way down. This is still the scariest ride in the park.
We weren't able to go on any more rides as the coach left at six. I probably would've gone on more rides, preferably Rush, Vortex and Logger's Leap but no one in my group wanted to - they hated the sound being osciallated from Rush's air tanks.
Samurai was closed as well as Slammer. Slammer was spinning today but was not open to the public - it was marked off with benches. It shows that the park is still trying to reopen this. My friends saw Samurai being tested but saw 'something fly into the river and explode'. When I first saw it, it was in the loading position and the last ime it was in the highest position. The red disc in the middle was not on the ride.
It was a very good day, went on all the rollercoasters I wanted to, I wouldn't have gone on X if it wasn't for my friends but I'm glad I did; but you won't find it special at all unless you went on it during the days of No Way Out.
As the park had already been open for an hour, queues did seem pretty big. My first ride was Colossus and was my longest wait for the day - about 30 mins. I only got onto the middle of the train but seemed smoother than it did last year; but the trains are still incredibly difficult to get into. The track looks absolutely disgusting compared to other rides; even Nemesis Inferno looked much prettier and that is only a year or so older.
Me and my friends then went over to ride Saw but they were adding another car and the full queue line was in use so we decided to get some fastrack (not my decision :? ). As we chose the Extreme fastrack our first ride was Nemesis Inferno, we would've boarded quicker but the main fastrack queue was closed so we had to share the exit with the disabled access customers - there was many people using this so there was a long wait. It took a while for the ride ops to notice there was a large queue of fastrack customers (there was eight of us, plus many more behind us as time went on). By the time we were on, it was raining; but after being on the front seat in the rain last year it didn't seem too bad - this time it was in the back and i was suprised how different of an experience it actually is. The ride seemed much more forceful and was incredibly fun; I haven't been on any other B&M coasters apart from those at Thorpe Park and Air, so I'm still amazed at how smooth the ride is.
Next on our fastrack was X, which was my first ride since 2012; so until now I haven't experienced the update. The ride flows at a much faster pace but the trains are still small (and are apparently from a different manufacturer - I managed to get a front seat view). There are still the brake sections on the coaster but it is just a simple slowdown instead of the extended 'rocking' in the darkness. The sound in the buiding is brilliant, instead of the previous soundscape, instrumental trance music was played. As I am not really a trance listener I could not tell if this park's own original soundtrack. What suprised me even more was the quality of the sound - it boomed right through the main building but not too loud to hurt your ears (like the crossbow section on Saw) and the sound quality was great. The new lasers look great too, especilly in the lift hill - as the hall is lit up in a huge array of colours it feels like a totally different ride. This was a great suprise to me and I even enjoyed it more than Saw!
Next my friends wanted to go on Tidal Wave (as it was next on the fastrack), I decided to give it a miss as it was already raining, cold and soaked. Plus I had been on it a few times before so I couldn't really be bothered to walk all that way through the queue - even if it was the fastrack queue. Obviously, they went off soaked and shivering - glad I missed it. Afterwards we all went on Storm Surge due to the convience of them already being soaked - and it being right next to Pier 13. This was my first time being on Storm Surge, being the heaviest and oldest in the group (11st 12lbs on the day) probably meant that my boat of 4 spun more than the others. It was quite a fun ride but I would only do it again if there was no queue (or a 10 minute queue like we had) and I was again with a group of friends.
After everyone dried off from Tidal Wave with the heaters, we then went off to have lunch. Luckily the Pizza Hut Buffet was still open - it was £9.99 for unlimited pizza and drinks - works out better than spending £2 on a bottle of coke (although I did see you could get 2 bottles of Oasis for £2 at shops). Most of the others went to KFC.
We then regrouped and then sprinted to Colossus to use up the last of our fastrack. The fastrack seats were once again right at the back of the ride, I actually hurt my neck due to the infamous head banging. Although, it was better than queueing again! It might seem stupid riding Colossus straight after lunch but luckily none of us were sick.
We then went on Swarm and Stealth which had very small queues. I didn't go backwards (again) as the queue for that seemed quite long. For the first time I sat on the right side for Swarm which seemed much more intense. being higher on the first drop added much more of a thrill and it is suprising how much more you interact with the near misses - no wonder there is a maximum height limit - but it could be due to the restraints as well as the vests that hold you in are incredibly tight - I probably wouldn't want to do a 'marathon attempt' on this ride. Stealth was good fun as usual, even in the rain. The longer queues were all shut off which meant we only had a 20 minute queue the first time, and a 5 minute queue the second (although we rode Swarm (we only rode this once which was mentioned once as well as Saw (below)). During the first time it was still raining - which didn't actually hurt (although I did have my hood up - which fell down due to the spped!) as much as I thought it would have. Riding Swarm in the rain actually hurts more. The second time it was sunny (it stopped raining just as we got on Swarm) and was much more enjoyable, and I actually noticed more of a view of the surrounding area).
Thinking that the queue would be short (it was reported that it had a 5 minute queue on the boards); we went over to Saw again. As the queue extended right past the queue path, we decided to sprint over and get 8 fastracks (the price had increased by 50 pence so it was a wopping £40 altogether - which meant we spent £128 on fastrack as a group). We got to the ride with 5 minutes before the deadline - which does seem incredibly cruel as we had to pay for our fastrack - not something you'd expect in Disney - especially when the fast pass system is free (or at least was when I last went to DLRP 5/6 years ago). For the first time ever I got onto the second car which didn't seem as fun. Sure you get Billy's 'speech' but it really ruins the intensity and flow of the indoor section (and especially the awe from the effects) but most of my friends hadn't even ridden this yet. I sat on the front far right and got the inevitable headache and more neck pain. One of the ride ops wanted me to say to someone on the other side 'Don't worry it's only Slammer' and said it would be 'worth my time' but I couldn't be bothered to.
It was after this we went on Stealth for the second time.
Our last ride was Detonator, which has been slightly rethemed with a new sign and a fibreglass 'bomb bird' on the grassy area next to the queue line. I couldn't remember if the music had changed or not. For the first time I was able to hear the countdown. Maybe this is part of the Angry Birds land theming to make the ride more family friendly - I still screamed on the way down. This is still the scariest ride in the park.
We weren't able to go on any more rides as the coach left at six. I probably would've gone on more rides, preferably Rush, Vortex and Logger's Leap but no one in my group wanted to - they hated the sound being osciallated from Rush's air tanks.
Samurai was closed as well as Slammer. Slammer was spinning today but was not open to the public - it was marked off with benches. It shows that the park is still trying to reopen this. My friends saw Samurai being tested but saw 'something fly into the river and explode'. When I first saw it, it was in the loading position and the last ime it was in the highest position. The red disc in the middle was not on the ride.
It was a very good day, went on all the rollercoasters I wanted to, I wouldn't have gone on X if it wasn't for my friends but I'm glad I did; but you won't find it special at all unless you went on it during the days of No Way Out.