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[2024] Thorpe Park: Hyperia - Mack Hypercoaster

I would have thought the CAPEX would be park specific, even if mainly to be traceable. Merlin have the financial firepower to finance 2 major projects at once in the UK easily, even with Minifig also on the cards.
 
Jb85 said:
Just seems odd one has allegedly had additional funding the other clearly has had cuts
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Both received extra money I am lead to believe, but the money came after work had begun on both. I would imagine the extra theming pieces supposedly seen for Nemesis were easy enough, but re-adding the pond and piping might have been seen as trickier during Hyperia construction. These (and probably Minifig) are transitional products from a Merlin point of view.
 
It might be that they return to add things in the closed season. I can understand with a late May opening that they might have made a decision to cut back and wait on anything that might have risked a delay.
 
Suspect that they’ve done absolutely everything possible to have it open by the May bank holiday for the simple reason that if you open it on the Friday that guarantees you 4 absolutely packed days, it obviously hasn’t turned out that way given the ride has gone down but that, I hope, explains the lack of finishing with the landscaping etc.
 
Apart from Disney/Universal, Florida/US park theming isn't amazing. The difference is it's built in from the start, it's part of the attraction, and it's developed alongside construction of the ride. TP can do great theming (Swarm, Amity area), and they had plenty of time. They just chose not to. Legoland/Paulton's know that theming IS the attraction.

Ask Disney. Great theming sell merch. And merch is very profitable.
 
So I was fortunate enough to get a couple of rides on Hyperia on Friday before it went bang. I wasn't too sure what to expect; I've always thought that it looked too short but what was there looked very good. And then before riding, I heard from a couple of different people who rode on the press evening that it was better than Voltron. Wow, ok, Voltron is mind blowingly good!

After waiting for the best part of 6 hours, my first ride was on the back row, excellent! The drop is just crazy, especially on the back row, you really get thrown over. The next thing I noticed however was just how shaky the ride felt, I wouldn't say it was rough but far from smooth and less smooth than any single ride I had on Voltron. Nevertheless, the rest of the ride up until the splash down trims was pretty relentless with good moment of airtime and hangtime.

My second ride was a dark ride towards the end of the day on row 1. Whilst in the queue you could visibly see that it had warmed up a hell of a lot from the morning. It was flying through elements now! This front row ride was pretty spectacular; it still dies a bit of a death after the trims but the sheer power from the coaster up until that point is immense.

I don't feel like I've ridden it enough times to have a favourite element, but I will say that it is a very good coaster and probably my favourite in the UK. It's nice to finally have a UK coaster that has airtime and hangtime. Those claiming it is better than Voltron however, well, it's just not. I do feel like there was some overhype following the Thursday press evening.

The coaster is too short, it perhaps doesn't feel as short when riding as it looks, however I wish that instead of the splash down trims the ride continued for a bit with some nice lower down airtime hills etc. Something similar to the ending of Kondaa.

As for the "theming" and landscaping. Let's be honest, it's a bit naff. The queue line fencing looks like, but much of the planting in the queue area is already dying as they clearly are not watering it. There isn't really any theming, and the styling all looks a little cheap. The inside of the station is so poor; a tin shed with some lights, smoke and a couple of theming objects. The fake splash makes no sense at all; it is not in the water and you can barely see it on or off ride; this will be an effect that goes in a year or so.

Poisson said:
It's falling to pieces in places, especially the BK cladding. The wiring in the area is hideous as well.

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To be fair, the white wires here were all for the pyro used during the opening ceremony. We saw them removing it at one point.

As for the downtime Hyperia is suffering now, what a shame for Thorpe Park and Mack Rides. Far from ideal, but these things can happen with new coasters. The lift didn't sound overly healthy on Friday, so I would not be surprised if it was related to that.
 
Rob said:
The coaster is too short, it perhaps doesn't feel as short when riding as it looks, however I wish that instead of the splash down trims the ride continued for a bit with some nice lower down airtime hills etc. Something similar to the ending of Kondaa.

As for the "theming" and landscaping. Let's be honest, it's a bit naff. The queue line fencing looks like, but much of the planting in the queue area is already dying as they clearly are not watering it. There isn't really any theming, and the styling all looks a little cheap. The inside of the station is so poor; a tin shed with some lights, smoke and a couple of theming objects. The fake splash makes no sense at all; it is not in the water and you can barely see it on or off ride; this will be an effect that goes in a year or so.
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All spot on, added to the general mess and some odd decisions (that lift motor should be in a shed for example) and it all feels cheap and had arsed.

I have only had 2 runs, Row 1 and 2 and need a few more to really rank it, but it's not the UKs best to me, let alone fighting with European heavyweights. Shambhala for example does everything and more, bar a stall, that Hyperia does. Batman GCE has a stall that makes Hyperias look weak.

It's an addition that suits Thorpe but not the one to put it back on the European map as a big player. It helps, but isn't the show stealer we all hoped for.
 
Poisson said:
All spot on, added to the general mess and some odd decisions (that lift motor should be in a shed for example) and it all feels cheap and had arsed.

I have only had 2 runs, Row 1 and 2 and need a few more to really rank it, but it's not the UKs best to me, let alone fighting with European heavyweights. Shambhala for example does everything and more, bar a stall, that Hyperia does. Batman GCE has a stall that makes Hyperias look weak.

It's an addition that suits Thorpe but not the one to put it back on the European map as a big player. It helps, but isn't the show stealer we all hoped for.
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I had similar feelings up until my back row ride in the evening. One of the most intense rides I've ever had on a coaster anywhere, which puts it well up there with the best in Europe for me.

I'm finding it difficult to rank tbh but it's at least top 20. Hoping to nip back to Thorpe after work later this week when it's back up and running.
 
Probably in the 20s for me at the moment. Hyperion at 20, Shambhala at 19, Zadra at 2 for the hypers above it.
 
Robinsonhtid said:
Anyone who thinks this is not their UK number one coaster is insane. 4 goes on it and gets better after every ride to me. Did not feel shaky on any ride I had, was so smooth..
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In your opinion.

Any criticism of it so far that I've seen is constructive and fair. Let's not hit the heady heights of disagreeing with anyone who dares to say anything negative about it after a whole 1 day of operation before dying.
 
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