- News all the latest
- Theme Park explore the park
- Resort tour the resort
- Future looking forward
- History looking back
- Community and meetups
-
ℹ️ Heads up...
This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks. - Thread starter Burbs
- Start date
- Favourite Ride
- Shambhala (PortAventura Park)
- Favourite Ride
- Taron
- Favourite Ride
- Journey to the Center of the Earth
- Favourite Ride
- Shamballa
- Favourite Ride
- Shamballa
- Favourite Ride
- Taron
- Favourite Ride
- Shambhala (PortAventura Park)
- Favourite Ride
- Shambhala (PortAventura Park)
- Favourite Ride
- Shambhala (PortAventura Park)
Thorpe Park: General Discussion
djtruefitt
TS Team
My advice is avoid hyperia at the start of the day, firstly the whole park heads there first, so unless you fancy a run you will be far back, and secondly so many times I’ve been it’s either opened late or opened and then broke.
My advice is go and enjoy the golden hour across the park and get other stuff done that will get busy, like saw or colossus or go do stealth and inferno and then do hyperia later when it’s definitely opened and it will have a queue anyway.
My advice is go and enjoy the golden hour across the park and get other stuff done that will get busy, like saw or colossus or go do stealth and inferno and then do hyperia later when it’s definitely opened and it will have a queue anyway.
Matt N
TS Member
I always find Saw and Colossus a reliable starting point myself. Even post-Hyperia last August, I got on Saw and Colossus relatively quickly by doing those two first.
Alternatively, Stealth and Inferno are also a relatively good starting point, not least because you can often sneak in a walk-on ride on Detonator while you’re there!
Definitely don’t go to Hyperia first, though. I’d also historically have avoided Swarm early on, but I don’t know if that might be less of a bad bet post-Hyperia.
Alternatively, Stealth and Inferno are also a relatively good starting point, not least because you can often sneak in a walk-on ride on Detonator while you’re there!
Definitely don’t go to Hyperia first, though. I’d also historically have avoided Swarm early on, but I don’t know if that might be less of a bad bet post-Hyperia.
owenstreet7
TS Member
The only time I may recommend Hyperia straight away is by Single Rider
The SRQ is a lot quieter in the first two hours from experience this season and it builds up from about 12pm onwards when the large groups start clogging up the queue.
Towards the end of the day is also a fantastic time for Hyperia laps as well for Single Rider.
The SRQ is a lot quieter in the first two hours from experience this season and it builds up from about 12pm onwards when the large groups start clogging up the queue.
Towards the end of the day is also a fantastic time for Hyperia laps as well for Single Rider.
Zeock
TS Member
That's interesting, as by mid-afternoon (you already alluded to this), the SRQ seems to be no more quiet than the main queue from my experience.
Mattie boy
TS Member
I guess its a case of in the mornings you like to ride in your groups, the afternoon you don't mind going alone. That's how we usually do it and see it at any park that offers SRQ
LF22
TS Member
Thank you - we had a great day and managed 12 rides in total which isn’t bad for a Saturday in the summer holidays!!
We took your advice and steered clear of Hyperia until lunch time and then did 2 rides in the afternoon. We were front row on the first ride and it was great! The second time was noticeably rougher. We were both disappointed there’s no splashdown. Why on earth didn’t they get it to work?
They need to do something about colossus. It was so rough and uncomfortable - we both came off with headaches. I am never doing it again as I had the same experience last year but thought it was because we were at the back. How can they allow people to queue for so long for it when it’s so unenjoyable? Makes me so cross!! Looking at the photos after, everyone looked in pain! My son says it needs to become Colossus Reborn!
We took your advice and steered clear of Hyperia until lunch time and then did 2 rides in the afternoon. We were front row on the first ride and it was great! The second time was noticeably rougher. We were both disappointed there’s no splashdown. Why on earth didn’t they get it to work?
They need to do something about colossus. It was so rough and uncomfortable - we both came off with headaches. I am never doing it again as I had the same experience last year but thought it was because we were at the back. How can they allow people to queue for so long for it when it’s so unenjoyable? Makes me so cross!! Looking at the photos after, everyone looked in pain! My son says it needs to become Colossus Reborn!
Mattie boy
TS Member
See now oddly we think colossus has been smoother for us this year so far... we are back next month for more so will see how she has faired this season
LF22
TS Member
I went on full of optimism! It soon rattled and bashed that out of me after we left the lift hill unfortunately. Fingers crossed you have a better experience!
owenstreet7
TS Member
Colossus is one of those coasters where it's smoother towards the front and rougher towards the back.
Problem is that the batching procedure the park seems to use is to batch odd numbers to the back and even to row 2 and behind. This means the single riders have to suffer the most.
Although that said, Saw is not redeemable in how rough it is, although it's no Turbo...
P.S. Turbo is the worst rollercoaster known to man
Matt N
TS Member
See, I used to hate Colossus, but it’s actually been perfectly fine the last couple of times I’ve done it.
It’s never been an absolute favourite of mine and I don’t think it ever will be, but on my last couple of rides, it hasn’t been overly rough at all and has, dare I say, been perfectly enjoyable! It’s certainly smoother than Saw across the park, anyhow, and perhaps controversially, I dare say my recent rides on it have been smoother, more comfortable and more enjoyable than my recent rides on Smiler (something I would never have said 5-10 years ago, when Colossus was my vowed worst coaster ever and Smiler was in my top 10!).
Granted, it’s only my 5th favourite coaster on park, and a good peg behind Hyperia, Stealth, Inferno and Swarm (in that order), but I think that speaks more to the strength of Thorpe’s coaster lineup than anything else. Colossus is not a bad ride, and has definitely grown on me in recent years; of the 137 coasters I’ve ridden, it now sits within the tail end of my top 50 (#45 in my list currently!), and in the higher part of my 6/10 rating tier. I would have been horrified at such a high placement a few years ago, but I have been enjoying it a lot more on my recent rides!
It’s never been an absolute favourite of mine and I don’t think it ever will be, but on my last couple of rides, it hasn’t been overly rough at all and has, dare I say, been perfectly enjoyable! It’s certainly smoother than Saw across the park, anyhow, and perhaps controversially, I dare say my recent rides on it have been smoother, more comfortable and more enjoyable than my recent rides on Smiler (something I would never have said 5-10 years ago, when Colossus was my vowed worst coaster ever and Smiler was in my top 10!).
Granted, it’s only my 5th favourite coaster on park, and a good peg behind Hyperia, Stealth, Inferno and Swarm (in that order), but I think that speaks more to the strength of Thorpe’s coaster lineup than anything else. Colossus is not a bad ride, and has definitely grown on me in recent years; of the 137 coasters I’ve ridden, it now sits within the tail end of my top 50 (#45 in my list currently!), and in the higher part of my 6/10 rating tier. I would have been horrified at such a high placement a few years ago, but I have been enjoying it a lot more on my recent rides!
How many coasters have you been on because what I can say there are many weaker than the Smiler and Colossus out there. Some truly God awful rides like Condor, Volare, Bandit and Coaster Express
Matt N
TS Member
I’ve ridden 137 coasters in total. Among those 137, Colossus currently ranks at #45 and a 6/10 for me, but used to rank an awful lot lower. Smiler currently ranks at #81 and a 5/10, but used to rank higher.
I don’t disagree that there are much weaker coasters than both. My current least favourite coaster is Tyrolean Tubtwist (it wasn’t rough, but I’m not a great lover of spinning rides at the best of times and it spun so much that it made me feel more vile than any other coaster), closely followed by the two sides of Steeplechase at Blackpool (they just provide searing hip pain, needlessly sharp braking and a weird, uncomfortable riding position with little to no thrilling output). Other notable lowly ranking rides for me are Infusion at #134 (absolutely vile, with so much headbanging), Hero at #130 (it’s not as rough as I was expecting, but I’m not a great fan of flyers at the best of times and the whole setup is nothing short of grotesque), a spate of wild mice and spinning mice (I don’t like the harsh laterals on these at all) in the 130s and 120s, and Grand National at #121 (it’s got a cracking layout, with some brilliant airtime, but it was so violently rough last time I did it that that was a significant deal breaker).
If you’re interested, here is my exhaustive ranking list on Captain Coaster of all 137 roller coasters I’ve ridden: https://captaincoaster.com/en/tops/192
Feel free to sneer at my tastes and ask about any rankings you’d like me to justify!
Only one I disagree with is infusion being below Hero I think Hero is worse and at least infusion looks nice over the water
Matt N
TS Member
Hero was by no means comfortable, and I did find the cars and general setup absolutely grotesque, but it wasn’t quite as rough as I anticipated.
Infusion, on the other hand… wow, that thing is a headbasher!
To steer things back to Thorpe Park: I completely agree on Hyperia’s splashdown @LF22. It had such promise as an idea, but has been a complete damp squib in terms of execution; even when it worked, it was nigh on pointless as it was hidden behind a 7ft fence!
Incidentally; what were operations and dispatches like, if you don’t mind me asking?
