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[2024] Thorpe Park: Hyperia - Mack Hypercoaster

Thameslink Rail said:
Just confirmed on the new map

Thorpe Park: General Discussion

Final off-season Sparkle update: This looks really cool! I love colossus’s new sign (it’s actually been one of my most anticipated fixes) But they kind of just painted the bit that’s meant to be wood yellow? Couldn’t they paint it the same reddish-brown as the colossus sign for colour...
towersstreet.com towersstreet.com
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Wow that’s wild. So means I’ll probably be able to take my son this year… except he then can’t go on any other rollercoasters 🤡
 
What determines height restrictions for rides, is it purely based on the harness style or other factors? And if so why wouldn't manufacturers always aim for the lowest restriction?

Particularly odd that Saw is 1.4m whilst Rage at Adventure Island is 1.2m when they're essentially the same ride.
 
Bowser said:
What determines height restrictions for rides, is it purely based on the harness style or other factors? And if so why wouldn't manufacturers always aim for the lowest restriction?

Particularly odd that Saw is 1.4m whilst Rage at Adventure Island is 1.2m when they're essentially the same ride.
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I might be wrong but it just seems like Thorpe have been insistent on their big coasters being 1.4 over the years. Like you say there’s no reason why Saw should be 1.4 when Rage isn’t
 
As we all know, instead of using age restrictions (which are hard to police on attractions) min. height limits are often used another way to restrict younger audiences from less suitable content (like TWD) but in cases like Stealth & Swarm... I'm not sure why they wouldn't also be brought down to a 1.3m (unless anyone knows specifically why the 1.4m is enforced here?)

Also... recently read this comment on the passholder group where Thorpe confirm there has been a change of plan for the viewing area:

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There basically is no reason why Saw or Walking Dead are 1.4. The restrictions seem to act as a pointless barrier to families. Walking dead is a kiddie coaster themed to horror for some reason that I don't understand. Whack them both down to 1.2 and with Brake Run at 1.3 you open the park up to a far wider audience.
 
Matt.GC said:
There basically is no reason why Saw or Walking Dead are 1.4. The restrictions seem to act as a pointless barrier to families. Walking dead is a kiddie coaster themed to horror for some reason that I don't understand. Whack them both down to 1.2 and with Brake Run at 1.3 you open the park up to a far wider audience.
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Yeah, i jest but i can't realistically take my son to go on Hyperia and not let him go on all the other rides he can see so instead we won't visit for another 3+ years which is a shame. Fair enough if there's a valid reason but i don't see what it is....

Same with Swarm and Mandrill Mayhem in fact. Exact same harnesses so the only factor i can think of is they're determining what they deem to be too intense for children? (In which case you could argue it's denying accessibility to adults of that height if its for any reason other than safety).

It is what it is, just would be curious to know the reasoning.
 
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So if this viewing area is no longer happening, would it be safe to assume that the “splashdown” has been shelved as well then? Considering in jack silkstones latest vlog shows that part of the lake already filled back in and Reed’s plates all the way along the concrete barriers?
 
BooMT said:
As we all know, instead of using age restrictions (which are hard to police on attractions) min. height limits are often used another way to restrict younger audiences from less suitable content (like TWD) but in cases like Stealth & Swarm... I'm not sure why they wouldn't also be brought down to a 1.3m (unless anyone knows specifically why the 1.4m is enforced here?)

Also... recently read this comment on the passholder group where Thorpe confirm there has been a change of plan for the viewing area:

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Pretty disappointed at this news. If it's been fully axed, this might just become the next 'Air's Tunnel'.
 
BooMT said:
Someone else may be able to provide more clarity but didn't we see the splashdown section in photos when it was added with all the necessary hardware? It's not beyond the realms of the possible that I'm imagining this though! 😂
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Probably should have elaborated more! I meant if the viewing area has been scrapped then regardless of whether or not the hardware was fitted, it’d now be pointless to use it as there would be no viewing platform.
 
With or without a viewing area you'll see the watersplash. They have to include it to justify the brakes.
 
Hyperia being 1.3m is an interesting, and slightly unexpected, choice! It is a great choice that helps open the park up a little more to those under the magic 1.4m mark, but I’ll admit that I wasn’t expecting it.

When I was young and working my way up to 1.4m, I (rightly or wrongly) always assumed that a higher height restriction equalled a more thrilling and intense ride. I was raised mostly on a diet of Alton Towers theme parks-wise, so this made sense to young me; 0.9m opened up RMT (I’m too old for Octonauts to have been an option…), 1.2m opened up Thirteen and Sonic Spinball (as it was then known… and again, I’m too old for Wicker Man to have been available when I first hit 1.2m…), and 1.4m opened up Nemesis, Oblivion, Air et al.

If Hyperia, the UK’s tallest and fastest coaster, is 1.3m and the rest of Thorpe’s coasters are 1.4m, then I wonder if it would look odd to some people… or perhaps I’m just overthinking it. It is a great move to open the park up to a slightly wider demographic, as I said previously!
 
I think the height restriction will be a secondary factor in deciding to ride or not. I don't think anyone will see it running, be afraid, and then be comforted by the height restriction and make the decision based on that. The confusion will be, as it always has been, when they get off Walking Dead and realise how crap it is.
 
Matt.GC said:
I think the height restriction will be a secondary factor in deciding to ride or not. I don't think anyone will see it running, be afraid, and then be comforted by the height restriction and make the decision based on that. The confusion will be, as it always has been, when they get off Walking Dead and realise how crap it is.
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Oh, I agree. I was more thinking that it might seem strange to people that all of Thorpe’s smaller, ostensibly “less intense” coasters have higher height restrictions than Hyperia, the new coaster that’s the tallest and fastest in the UK. And as I said, I know I’m probably overthinking it.

I do hope that lowering Walking Dead back to the 1m mark and giving it a slightly less scary theme might be on the agenda in the not-too-distant future. I completely agree that a 1.4m height restriction and the horror theme was a confusing choice for that ride hardware.
 
Matt N said:
When I was young and working my way up to 1.4m, I (rightly or wrongly) always assumed that a higher height restriction equalled a more thrilling and intense ride.
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I was the same. And did still wonder if it was a factor but logically it makes no sense for a park to deter people from riding if they're able to.

As ever i use the example of Storm Chaser at Paultons which is arguably more intense than any ride at say Chessington yet has a measly 1m restriction.
 
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