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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

LF22 said:
Were you there when Hyperia opened? What a shambles! There were SO many people and security came down and decided a plan of action but it didn’t help as everyone still pushed and shoved and ran. Surely they should just have the cattle pen fencing out for anyone that would like to queue/wait to see if it will open. It would be much fairer and safer.

It was the right decision for us to wait as we only waited 20 mins in the actual queue (around 40 mins for them to finish testing in the big crowd). The queue then jumped to 2.5 hours!

We tried to wait at the end of the day to see if we could get a ride in the dusk but at exactly 6pm it went down because of the wind. They did eventually get 2 more trains out but then had to stop again. 45 mins later they made an announcement that they weren’t going to attempt reopening.

Im sure I’ve read before about them walking you to another ride in that circumstance but no such luck today!
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I think they handled Hypetia opening day pretty well they knew it would very popular so constructed a temporary line from Entrance to Hyperia I remember that day well. It was well organised unlike some opening Towers was charging of the bulls and Europa Parks Voltron opening was handled poorly having blocked off path allowed for bottle neck and lots of pushing
 
LF22 said:
Were you there when Hyperia opened? What a shambles! There were SO many people and security came down and decided a plan of action but it didn’t help as everyone still pushed and shoved and ran. Surely they should just have the cattle pen fencing out for anyone that would like to queue/wait to see if it will open. It would be much fairer and safer.

It was the right decision for us to wait as we only waited 20 mins in the actual queue (around 40 mins for them to finish testing in the big crowd). The queue then jumped to 2.5 hours!

We tried to wait at the end of the day to see if we could get a ride in the dusk but at exactly 6pm it went down because of the wind. They did eventually get 2 more trains out but then had to stop again. 45 mins later they made an announcement that they weren’t going to attempt reopening.

Im sure I’ve read before about them walking you to another ride in that circumstance but no such luck today!
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I arrived at Hyperia just before 2pm, and I did see it test with the water dummies spilling everywhere. I did notice it took an oddly long time for us to enter the actual queue when it opened… the disorganisation you describe would explain that!

I think I was a bit later than you (I saw it test from near Stealth after finishing a Burger King lunch and made a rushed beeline!). By the time I crossed the threshold of the entrance, the advertised queue time was 110 minutes, and from when the ride opened at around 2:10pm, I waited roughly 80 minutes in single rider (if you add on the time I watched it test for before it opened, this probably increases to 90-95 minutes; I was on the ride at about 3:30pm). As mentioned in here earlier, the ride briefly shut for wind for about 10-15 minutes, so I had that added element of jeopardy!

This is where I learned that Apple Weather is complete rubbish, because when Hyperia shut for wind while I was waiting for my first ride, Apple Weather said that gusts were 26mph, yet when I queued for a reride later on and Apple Weather said gusts were 36mph, Hyperia operated the whole time with only vague threats of “potential closure”… go figure!

I was a little luckier than you in reriding later on, though. I got on for a reride at about 5:50pm/5:55pm, and I was originally thinking of reriding something else and coming back to Hyperia at the very end… it sounds like I made the right call going straight there at just gone 4:30pm, even if I did wait 75 minutes in single rider for the reride! They were making vague threats about shutting while I was in the queue, but these never amounted to anything in my time around there.
 
If they do that with a full queue line most of the water ends up on people queuing. Sometimes the staff either forget or decide thy don't care and open the queue before emptying the water dummies. Last time I was there I had a near miss as I was just ahead the splash zone, if we'd arrived a little later we'd have got soaked
 
John said:
If they do that with a full queue line most of the water ends up on people queuing. Sometimes the staff either forget or decide thy don't care and open the queue before emptying the water dummies. Last time I was there I had a near miss as I was just ahead the splash zone, if we'd arrived a little later we'd have got soaked
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The queue wasn’t open yesterday, thankfully. Everyone was outside.
 
Said soaking incident was caught on camera:

Thorpe Park: General Discussion

Some of the posts have been moved from the previous Thorpe thread to this one to create a single general topic (my fault when we did the tidy up the other week!). Merging the two topics in one would create a bit of a mess with previous discussion. The team aren't able to read every single post...
towersstreet.com towersstreet.com

It was amusing as a spectator, had I been in the firing line with no waterproof jacket it would have been much less so!
 
BooMT said:
People visiting the park today are reporting that you must now be fully ambulant to ride Hyperia. There is a thread discussing this on Facebook: Here
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Wonder if that's been made following the Stardust Racers incident?

Will be interesting to see if Blackpool Pleasure Beach have to update Icon as well.
 
Last edited:
I question the validity of this claim.

I saw a lady in a wheelchair come up the lift to ride Hyperia yesterday, and all the ride host asked her was if she could walk unassisted in the event of an evacuation. Seeing as this has always been a requirement for as long as I can remember, nothing had changed as of yesterday.

Unless this has very rapidly changed today, it certainly wasn’t the case yesterday.
 
BooMT said:
People visiting the park today are reporting that you must now be fully ambulant to ride Hyperia. There is a thread discussing this on Facebook: Here
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That is true, announcements are being made on the tannoy that guests must be fully ambulant to be able to ride.

From what I understand, nothing has been said yesterday so it's heavily speculated to be fresh guidance likely in response to Stardust Racers.

The signage has also been updated for those with limb differences too so they're stricter for those with certain missing limbs that was allowed before.
 
Matt N said:
I question the validity of this claim.

I saw a lady in a wheelchair come up the lift to ride Hyperia yesterday, and all the ride host asked her was if she could walk unassisted in the event of an evacuation. Seeing as this has always been a requirement for as long as I can remember, nothing had changed as of yesterday.

Unless this has very rapidly changed today, it certainly wasn’t the case yesterday.
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Being in a wheelchair doesn't mean a person isn't fully ambulant either.
 
What would the definition of being “fully ambulant” be, out of curiosity?

I thought that using a wheelchair meant you didn’t qualify as ambulant, hence why they use non-ambulant RAP.
 
Matt N said:
What would the definition of being “fully ambulant” be, out of curiosity?

I thought that using a wheelchair meant you didn’t qualify as ambulant, hence why they use non-ambulant RAP.
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I'm wording this in the best way possible but I'm not entirely sure what Merlin or Thorpe may mean however I've seen an ambulatory wheelchair user ride Hyperia today so it's likely this isn't a hard "unsuitable for wheelchair users" restriction but more of a nuanced rule based on their mobility.

Ambulatory wheelchair users can walk occasionally for short distances or on some days but will still need to use their wheelchair at times which varies from person to person and mobility can also vary from day to day.
 
owenstreet7 said:
I'm wording this in the best way possible but I'm not entirely sure what Merlin or Thorpe may mean however I've seen an ambulatory wheelchair user ride Hyperia today so it's likely this isn't a hard "unsuitable for wheelchair users" restriction but more of a nuanced rule based on their mobility.

Ambulatory wheelchair users can walk occasionally for short distances or on some days but will still need to use their wheelchair at times which varies from person to person and mobility can also vary from day to day.
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Not even sure it's that. I imagine you need to be able to fully brace yourself (neck, back, legs etc) because of the extreme forces of the ride. If you can't brace yourself then you could get severely injured or worse....
 
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