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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

GooseOnTheLoose said:
The closure of Rumba Rapids in September is a mixture of impending weather changes and the need to increase available staff hours.

Rumba Rapids is a staff intensive ride, eating up a considerable amount of staff hours. As the park transitions to Fright Nights, it needs all of the available staff hours it can to assign to scare attractions and other operational areas.

Although Fright Nights doesn't start in September, staff training and the most intensive parts of set up will.

It's budget management, not budget cuts.
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This is a factor in why I'd support a year round replacement for Rumba Rapids with either a dry attraction or a water ride that is less energy and staff intensive.

The operating season for Rumba Rapids has reduced significantly over the last two seasons and got even shorter this season than last. In 2023, it ran from start to the end of season.

I'd also say that with the weather, there is just as much cause to open Rumba throughout the season than it is to keep it closed as it can be warm one day and stormy the next.

I'm surprised it opened this year with no significant changes however I'd be surprised if it opens in 2026 (or even beyond 2026).
 
owenstreet7 said:
This is a factor in why I'd support a year round replacement for Rumba Rapids with either a dry attraction or a water ride that is less energy and staff intensive.

The operating season for Rumba Rapids has reduced significantly over the last two seasons and got even shorter this season than last. In 2023, it ran from start to the end of season.

I'd also say that with the weather, there is just as much cause to open Rumba throughout the season than it is to keep it closed as it can be warm one day and stormy the next.

I'm surprised it opened this year with no significant changes however I'd be surprised if it opens in 2026 (or even beyond 2026).
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Rumba is by far the weakest Rapids in the UK, Adventure Cove Rapids has at least decent theming and some water effects. And Congo is much better now to also say don't underestimate how wet Congo can get you it can be a soaker sometimes
 
Hid said:
One of the problems with Rumba and all Rapids in the UK is they are the 2nd most dangerous ride since it is very unpredictable what the boats will do. In combination with UK high safety standards and no restraints its Safety inspection nightmare.

Also Rapids are incredibly staff intensive being one of the most costly rides to run.
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Whats the 1st most dangerous?
 
I understand the concern about replacing a family ride, in a park with very few family friendly rides, however it is never very busy, whenever I have gone it is always a walk on, even now mid summer with blistering heat it is only a 20 min queue.

I would like it to be replaced with a family / family thrill coaster, whilst it may not be as available I think more families can enjoy it as it is much less dependant on whether (it doesn't need to be hot) and it would probably be more desired as many people don't want to get wet
 
flyingguitar said:
I understand the concern about replacing a family ride, in a park with very few family friendly rides, however it is never very busy, whenever I have gone it is always a walk on, even now mid summer with blistering heat it is only a 20 min queue.

I would like it to be replaced with a family / family thrill coaster, whilst it may not be as available I think more families can enjoy it as it is much less dependant on whether (it doesn't need to be hot) and it would probably be more desired as many people don't want to get wet
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With the Rumba land and possibly Treasure Island, I think you can fit in a wooden rollercoaster such as Joris en de Draak at Efteling (dueling could be fantastic) and a flume along the lines of Catapult Falls at Seaworld San Antonio which surprisingly doesn't take up as much room as Rumba Rapids. If it's an out and back woodie, it would take advantage of the Treasure Island area and not take up much of Rumba's space.

With Joris being 1.1m and Catapult Falls being 42 inches which is roughly 1.05m - you'd have two 1.1m rides with high capacity in replacement for one that cannot run reliably throughout the year

One of which has a USP which could complement along with eventually replace Tidal Wave and the other a solid family thrill ride that could theoretically replace Flying Fish in the line up.

At the same time, this would actually offer something for the thrillseekers, those who are not tall enough for Hyperia and those who are not quite brave enough to ride Hyperia. That's my thoughts on what they could do with Rumba.
 
Out of curiosity, which Saturday in September is likely to be quietest at Thorpe Park out of the 13th, the 20th and the 27th?

I was pondering a nice September trip to Thorpe, and had provisionally pencilled in the 27th in my mind. I thought that the further from summer and the school holidays I get, the quieter the days at Thorpe are likely to be.

However, I’m wondering if that would be the best of the 3, as you are starting to get towards Fright Nights type season by the 27th. FN seemingly doesn’t start until 3rd October, but I wondered if crowds crept back up again towards the end of September in anticipation.

What do any Thorpe regulars think?
 
Matt N said:
Out of curiosity, which Saturday in September is likely to be quietest at Thorpe Park out of the 13th, the 20th and the 27th?

I was pondering a nice September trip to Thorpe, and had provisionally pencilled in the 27th in my mind. I thought that the further from summer and the school holidays I get, the quieter the days at Thorpe are likely to be.

However, I’m wondering if that would be the best of the 3, as you are starting to get towards Fright Nights type season by the 27th. FN seemingly doesn’t start until 3rd October, but I wondered if crowds crept back up again towards the end of September in anticipation.

What do any Thorpe regulars think?
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I'm going to be blatantly honest with you Matt

You're going to be very surprised - Last Saturday was very quiet by Summer Saturday standards and the queues were like 20-45 minutes for most rides including Hyperia.

Next weekend and the weekend after will be very busy because it's the very end of the school holidays but it calms down to a typical Saturday for the next few weeks until Fright Night afterwards.

With this, I mean that you'd get 45 minute queues average for the big coasters, slightly more for Hyperia and you won't wait long for the flats, that's about 10-20 minutes, maybe longer on some.

I'd say you've chosen a good Saturday to go in my honest opinion. If you can make weekdays, you'd get walk on pretty much on almost every ride bar Hyperia which has a queue of up to 40 minutes off peak.

Enjoy your visit to Thorpe Park 😊
 
spotweld said:
Will Inferno ever get retracked or is it scrap?
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Probably scrapped, I should think, but hopefully not for a long time.

Matt N said:
Rather than thrills, I think the mistake they made at times in the mid to late 2010s was going too niche. For something that cost so much money, Derren Brown, as a 13+ VR horror ride, had much more niche appeal than a big coaster or a more universally appealing dark ride. Ditto with The Walking Dead; putting that theme onto a Vekoma junior coaster was a spectacular own goal, in my view, but even putting that aside, a 13+ zombie themed horror ride is going to have quite niche appeal. Things like Black Mirror, albeit less so, were also quite niche in appeal.
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Yes, quite. Big thrills aren't a problem, but the tone became unappealing for some. I always think that central complex of buildings (Ghost Train/Walking Dead) would be better used as a family dark ride about a voyage around the world's oceans.

I still think Thorpe could do with a really big family-thrill ride. If they had something like Troy or Wodan (although technically "Extreme" on RCDB), that would add an appeal they don't currently have, without wasting the park's potential as a "thrill park". The sheer scale of those rides would still not be possible at Chessington.
 
East Coast Mariner said:
Yes, quite. Big thrills aren't a problem, but the tone became unappealing for some. I always think that central complex of buildings (Ghost Train/Walking Dead) would be better used as a family dark ride about a voyage around the world's oceans.

I still think Thorpe could do with a really big family-thrill ride. If they had something like Troy or Wodan (although technically "Extreme" on RCDB), that would add an appeal they don't currently have, without wasting the park's potential as a "thrill park". The sheer scale of those rides would still not be possible at Chessington.
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I'd totally agree that it's the horror tones that were a bit jarring.

I totally agree, an airtime focused non inversion coaster that appeals to both family-thrill as well as the thrillseekers would be fantastic.

Even Megafobia fits the bill - I'm pretty sure they can do 25m and break the UK height record now that's closed.
 
KolonelKlink said:
And you thought the AI slop on the entrance banner was bad; here’s what’s apparently made it onto the on-ride photo paper frame:


From: https://x.com/coasterizzy/status/1957134715283972196?s=46&t=OuG-53CJRHzzDVEPmDXGSg
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Yikes... I'm not against them using generative AI at all, but if they do, they should at least check its output!

Use generative AI by all means, but this is why you should not implicitly trust it; generative AI is best used as a supplementary tool to human input, not as a 100% correct replacement to human input. When you try and implicitly trust what it churns out, stuff like this slips through the net... it is not infallible!
 
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