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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

djtruefitt said:
To be fair Thorpe love to remove rides that are broken for a while off that app, I guess so it looks like more rides are open than they really are.
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I agree although that seems to be UK Merlin generally so wouldn't look too much into it

Although their rapids seems to be that problematic that they can't run it throughout the year reliably anymore...
 
Skyscraper said:
Speculation time (so please don't come at me like an angry mob 😛)... Both Rumba Rapids and Zodiac have been removed from Thorpe's app. Could that be a sign that their days are numbered? 👀

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My memory isn't what it was, but I am fairly sure the Rapids (well, the label at least) went off of the app when Thorpe closed last year.
 
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Got thinking about the aging flats at the park. Surely within the next few years thorpe will, god forbid, have to actually open a brand new ride to replace some of their flats.

Rush has practically no power anymore and lasts about 20-30 seconds - would a refurb extend its life and improve its cycle, or would you guys wanna see a replacement?

Zodiac and Samurai are also very unreliable these days
 
Dhev123 said:
Rush has practically no power anymore and lasts about 20-30 seconds - would a refurb extend its life and improve its cycle, or would you guys wanna see a replacement?
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Rush is my son’s favourite ride there so I hope it stays! Did the cycle used to be longer? The queue tends to be pretty grim as it is due to the loading (mostly down to the incompetent public) so perhaps that’s a deliberate choice rather than an issue with the ride?
 
Bowser said:
Rush is my son’s favourite ride there so I hope it stays! Did the cycle used to be longer? The queue tends to be pretty grim as it is due to the loading (mostly down to the incompetent public) so perhaps that’s a deliberate choice rather than an issue with the ride?
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Rush is completely knackered. Go to Liseberg and ride Uppswinget and you'll see the difference. There should be more to the ride than four disappointing half-height swings.
 
Yeah Rush used to be the best flat they had. The cycle is too short now and you barely get any swings, I usually do Vortex instead of it now. Dentonator used to be much better too, I think it used to accelerate you down as well as dropping.
 
Bowser said:
Rush is my son’s favourite ride there so I hope it stays! Did the cycle used to be longer? The queue tends to be pretty grim as it is due to the loading (mostly down to the incompetent public) so perhaps that’s a deliberate choice rather than an issue with the ride?
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I have a feeling it is down to how Thorpe maintain and operate the ride to be honest

Uppswinget isn't much newer than Rush and it's running more efficiently than Rush does as in it's a longer and more powerful cycle.

I'd also argue it is also down to slow operations, a bad habit of leaving seats empty (no single rider queue or callbacks) and the use of fast track.

With this being a model where installations are happening all the time, as long as S&S and Merlin have a good working relationship - I'm sure Rush can be refurbished or given a like for like replacement (even if it's bigger).
 
sillyrooster said:
Yeah Rush used to be the best flat they had. The cycle is too short now and you barely get any swings, I usually do Vortex instead of it now. Dentonator used to be much better too, I think it used to accelerate you down as well as dropping.
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Yeah Detonator used to have hydraulic pistons at the top, but they were removed a few years back.
 
Rush is utterly woeful now but let's not pretend it hasn't always been an extremely short ride, it's just that it used to spend almost the entire cycle trying to launch you out of your seat and now it has less airtime than a playground swing

In about 2007 they had an A4 laminated sign in the op cabin stating a target throughput of 630/hr - that's about a cycle every 3 minutes. I don't think it gets close to that nowadays
 
Think the Intamin Sky Jump model would work really well there (potentially on the old Slammer site). Fits the fearless valley theme well, and is a different experience to Detonator. As for Rush, believe its always had a short cycle, however Thorpe do have a lot of aging flats on site that need to be looked at. Was thinking one of the floorless Huss enterprises would be a good upgrade to Zodiac. Think something like the Poseidon model on the Huss website.
 
Matt N said:
Nobody is saying that parks other than those owned by Merlin don’t exist in this country, but I do think having Merlin own the country’s top 4 most attended theme parks has had a uniquely stifling effect on other parks and hasn’t allowed for truly fair and open competition between parks in the way that other countries have.
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Although I think there is a bit of chicken and egg to this, if it wasn't for the Tussauds group ownership, would Chessington and Thorpe have grown as much as they did? Drayton Manor maintaining their growth from the 90s into the 2000s and they could have been a competitor to Chessington, but the growth of the Tussauds annual pass offering discounted access to three theme parks, a castle and a waxworks that then added Legoland and Dungeons/Sealife with the Merlin additions, likely drove footfall to CWoA especially.
 
djtruefitt said:
Having done the new version of Rush at Busch Gardens I would love to see rush replaced with one, and with Thorpe not really having a height limit they really could build a massive one somewhere
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Definitely. It seems to have a 48 inch (just over 120 cm) height restriction. Keeping the height restriction at 120 cm would be beneficial for younger people who want greater thrills.
 
Bowser said:
Rush is my son’s favourite ride there so I hope it stays! Did the cycle used to be longer? The queue tends to be pretty grim as it is due to the loading (mostly down to the incompetent public) so perhaps that’s a deliberate choice rather than an issue with the ride?
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pre covid It would usually do around at least 7 full height swings, now it's lucky to even do 1
 
Zeock said:
Definitely. It seems to have a 48 inch (just over 120 cm) height restriction. Keeping the height restriction at 120 cm would be beneficial for younger people who want greater thrills.
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That is one thing I've noticed about Rush is that Thorpe have gone for a 1.3m height requirement instead.

I'd have thought Rush would be one of their more accessible thrill rides which a lower height requirement could work.

Although in comparison, Liseberg's one is 1.4m which seems high especially in comparison to their US counterparts.
 
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