[2024] Thorpe Park: Hyperia - Mack Hypercoaster

[Smiley]

The theming is very disappointing. Been at AT the last couple of days (alas, Nemesis down), but the theming gets better all the time - CBeebies, Walliams St, Nemesis, Wicker Man, Smiler all stand out - not Disney/Universal quality, but they could if they wanted.
If you're not going to go "all in" Wardley-style with a great story and great theming with new rides like Hyperia, why bother??

 

[tech]

I mean, I'm kinda upset about the cabling for this speaker. Granted I may be OCD because it's my profession, but has no one heard of containment??

Needed to send some of the Thorpe team on secondment to AT, we'd have soon showed them how to staple gun some hessian over that thing

 

[Poisson]

Yes Towers can be very budget but at least they try (usually, Nemesis queue needs some work)

Hyperia feels like they CBA

 

[Enter Valhalla]

Does Hyperia have much airtime? Just curious because it doesn’t look like your typical hyper coaster type layout.

 

[Matt N]

Does Hyperia have much airtime? Just curious because it doesn’t look like your typical hyper coaster type layout.

Those who’ve ridden suggest that it has quite a bit, or quite a bit of negative g-force, at least. Many of those who’ve been on it suggest that all 4 big elements on the ride (the first drop, the Immelmann, the outerbanked inversion and the stall) all offer considerable negative g’s, and even the two elements after the trim still offer fair negatives.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

Does Hyperia have much airtime? Just curious because it doesn’t look like your typical hyper coaster type layout.

It depends how you define airtime vs weightlessness. If you're only going for the traditional lift out of your seat as you're going over a hill (not inverted), it has two airtime moments in quick succession with each other. The final element, after the the splashdown trim, and then the hill into the brake run.

 

[Poisson]

No. It has some very small amount of floater airtime but it's not an airtime machine as such.

 

[Matt N]

I haven’t ridden it, but I think the answer to whether it has much airtime depends on how you define airtime.

I could be wrong, but from an outsider’s view, it looks to have a lot of elements that emphasise negative g-forces of some description, but not much traditional straight airtime aside from the one hill at the end and maybe the first drop. And perhaps the drop out of the Immelmann, too.

Would anyone who’s ridden it agree with that, or am I wrong?

 

[RicketyCricket]

Ejector on the first drop, floater out of the immelman, and then I'm not sure what it is you'd call over the outerbank but you're mostly out of your seat. Then the last couple of small airtime hills are a bit disappointing depending on where you're seated.

Sounds good on paper but it's not elite airtime like you get on an RMC or Intamin for example.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

Ejector on the first drop, floater out of the immelman, and then I'm not sure what it is you'd call over the outerbank but you're mostly out of your seat. Then the last couple of small airtime hills are a bit disappointing depending on where you're seated.

Sounds good on paper but it's not elite airtime like you get on an RMC for example.

I'd describe all of them as being pulled out of your seat, but I wouldn't call them airtime.

 

[Matt.GC]

Does Hyperia have much airtime? Just curious because it doesn’t look like your typical hyper coaster type layout.

Pulled against your restraint on the first drop, but not viciously so, and over quite quickly as it decends that drop fast. Nice sustained floater over and all the way down the Immelmann. The outer bank inversion is excellent and hard to explain, kind of floater that's extended by inverting. Similar with the stall, which makes you feel weightless before inverting so quite sustained. Felt slightly ejected like the first drop through the wave turn. Felt reasonably ejected on the final camel back in to the final brakes.

It's designed for airtime and does a bloody good job of it. Just such a shame it feels so very very short. It's not an RMC or a woodie, and it's not a traditional hyper either, and if it was either of those, it wouldn't get away with being as short as it is. Such wasted potential, as with that layout language they were really onto something there. I'm sure someone will better it soon enough by offering a full layout.

 

[Matt N]

On a slight side tangent, what is the Single Rider Queue like on Hyperia? Does it tend to offer a notable advantage over the main queue, or is any significant advantage potential negated by it being quite busy? Does it get busy, or is it usually quite quiet?

I’m going next month, and I was pondering whether I could potentially use it for a reride if my parents and grandad allow me to reride and they don’t want to go back on. I wouldn’t want to only have 1 ride on Hyperia if possible, but I obviously wouldn’t like to bet on what queue times will be like during August.

 

[RicketyCricket]

On a slight side tangent, what is the Single Rider Queue like on Hyperia? Does it tend to offer a notable advantage over the main queue, or is any significant advantage potential negated by it being quite busy? Does it get busy, or is it usually quite quiet?

I’m going next month, and I was pondering whether I could potentially use it for a reride if my parents and grandad allow me to reride and they don’t want to go back on. I wouldn’t want to only have 1 ride on Hyperia if possible, but I obviously wouldn’t like to bet on what queue times will be like during August.

If the whole single rider queue is full to the ride entrance you're looking at about 90 minutes, so it's about the same as the main queue, if not longer.

Generally though it's about 45 mins to an hour.

 

[Bowser]

if my parents and grandad allow me to reride and they don’t want to go back on

If you don’t mind, how old is your grandad who will be riding Hyperia?

 

[Matt N]

If you don’t mind, how old is your grandad who will be riding Hyperia?

He’s 71. He’s already been to Alton Towers within the last year and loved all the rides there, and he’s expressed desire to visit a theme park that isn’t Alton Towers at some point, so we thought we might ask him if he wanted to come with us!

 

[Shaggy_Dog_]

I’m going next month, and I was pondering whether I could potentially use it for a reride if my parents and grandad allow me to reride and they don’t want to go back on.

You don’t just say to them “I want to get some more rerides in so let’s split up for a bit and I’ll call you when I’m done so we can meet up again“?

 

[Bowser]

He’s 71. He’s already been to Alton Towers within the last year and loved all the rides there, and he’s expressed desire to visit a theme park that isn’t Alton Towers at some point, so we thought we might ask him if he wanted to come with us!

That's brilliant, always inspiring to hear things like that and gives me hope of decades more riding!

 

[Alix]

Your grandad is lucky @Matt N . My dad is a similar age and had to give up coasters 30 years ago due to vertigo. Such a shame as he got me into coasters in the first place and now can’t even do Curse as the trommel would make him ill for days.

I’m really hoping it’s not hereditary - I still have so many creds to get!

Edit to get back on topic: SRQ for hyperia always looks busier than the main queue whenever we’ve been.

 

[Matt N]

You don’t just say to them “I want to get some more rerides in so let’s split up for a bit and I’ll call you when I’m done so we can meet up again“?

Based on other recent theme park visits with my parents, there’s a chance that they might get to a point in the day where they don’t want to ride anything else, but are happy to stay for longer and let me go off on my own for a bit.

As for why I wouldn’t just inform them I was going off for more rerides, we’re going on a visit as a group, and I wouldn’t want to just get my ride in on Hyperia with them and then abandon them for more. We should enjoy the day together as a group, and I wouldn’t mind seeing my grandad’s first reactions to the other delights of Thorpe Park!

That's brilliant, always inspiring to hear things like that and gives me hope of decades more riding!

Your grandad is lucky @Matt N . My dad is a similar age and had to give up coasters 30 years ago due to vertigo. Such a shame as he got me into coasters in the first place and now can’t even do Curse as the trommel would make him ill for days.

I’m really hoping it’s not hereditary - I still have so many creds to get!

Edit to get back on topic: SRQ for hyperia always looks busier than the main queue whenever we’ve been.

He had his first proper theme park visit to Alton Towers last year, and he absolutely loved it, possibly even more than he expected to! He says he rode a roller coaster called the Wild Mouse at Butlin’s in Bognor Regis when he was 15, but other than that, he’d never visited a theme park or ridden a roller coaster before last year. For all the time my late grandmother was alive, she was very anxious and absolutely loathed the idea of theme parks and anything of that ilk, so he never went to any until after she died.

He doesn’t seem to suffer from doing the rides at all, surprisingly. He even seems to cope fine with the more intense ones like Smiler and Nemesis; they were two of his favourites at Alton!

The only problem he faces at Alton is that he’s as blind as a bat in any kind of darkly lit situation, so he does have to have his hand held and be guided through some of the darker queues and stations at Alton (e.g. Wicker Man’s pre-show, Curse’s indoor queue line and station, Smiler’s indoor queue line).

 

[Bowser]

He had his first proper theme park visit to Alton Towers last year, and he absolutely loved it, possibly even more than he expected to! He says he rode a roller coaster called the Wild Mouse at Butlin’s in Bognor Regis when he was 15, but other than that, he’d never visited a theme park or ridden a roller coaster before last year. For all the time my late grandmother was alive, she was very anxious and absolutely loathed the idea of theme parks and anything of that ilk, so he never went to any until after she died.

His first "proper" rollercoasters being the likes of Nemesis and Smiler at age 70 only make this anecdote more delightful! Sounds like he will enjoy Hyperia as much as you