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Thorpe Park: General Discussion

I was always under the impression that maximum height was more of a guideline than a hard limit like it is with the minimum height restriction; it’s certainly less strongly enforced than minimum, from my experience.

My dad is nearly 6’7”, so likely over 2m tall in shoes, and he’s managed to slouch his way onto Thirteen with a 1.96m maximum height restriction for the entire time it’s been open without being height checked once. He’s also ridden Swarm and Stealth countless times and only been height checked on either once or twice. One time, I remember they height checked him on Swarm, he was clearly over, and the batcher just let him go on anyway, which suggests that they definitely aren’t as strongly enforced as minimum heights, on the whole.
 
I've seen a few people turned away from The Swarm before for being too tall, so it might just depend on the merge host.
 
Yep I will say with maximum height limits it's something that's been getting enforced more in all parks lately, never really used to get turned away but swarm regularly turn me away now having ridden it hundreds of times with 0 issues or discomfort, took me it out of 6 attempts to sneak on Kondaa once, black mamba for example is always a turnaway too, would have been to energylandia by now but I notice they have a low max height limit on every coaster despite if the manufacturer cares or not.

But yea at thorpe it's stealth, swarm and colossus are the ones with max height restrictions but colossus is the only one I can't physically fit on but I do usually avoid stealth as it is a shoulder and chest crush if they do allow me.
 
The one exception I find where they have enforced it very strongly on all my experiences is Spinball Whizzer. I don’t think I’ve ever been on Spinball with my dad in all the years I’ve been visiting Alton Towers.

I can’t vouch for Mandrill Mayhem, as I’m the only person in my family who’s ridden it and I’m far below 1.95m even in shoes (I’m under 6ft in shoes, let alone 1.95m!), so I’m not even close to the sort of height where I’d be flagged for measuring.
 
As a fellow freak of nature, I did realise on recent Thorpe trips that they’ve placed some 2M height measure sticks at merge points that weren’t ever there before.

As others said, never had issues before but now getting a ride on Swarm is like trying to break into Fort Knox!
 
That’s interesting to hear. My dad rode Swarm without issue in August, although that’s admittedly the first time he’d been to Thorpe since 2021.
 
Nothing to do with "clearance" and everything to do with H&S. Especially with any over-shoulder restraints, but mfrs have to test/certify various body types/heights, and probably over a certain height it's just not worth the cost.

Remember: "Keep your arms and legs inside the car and attached to your body at all times"
 
Mandrill Mayhem is the same as swarm is now unfortunately, they regularly height check and turn me away, fortunately I had an hour hotel ERT once when I was able to stay on for the whole hour but a couple hours later they weren't having it and same on my last visit.

Just one of those you have to research before going and accept the risk.
 
Once again, we have had to remove a number of posts concerning so-called “family friendly” days. This has been discussed countless times over the years and we as a team have said before about how any further discussion will be removed.

Thank you.
 
Burbs said:
Once again, we have had to remove a number of posts concerning so-called “family friendly” days. This has been discussed countless times over the years and we as a team have said before about how any further discussion will be removed.

Thank you.
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Very sorry to do this but I do think it would be useful if the dates could be posted as a sticky somewhere. It would involve no discussion but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to acknowledge an event that the parks themselves actively respond to.
 
Bowser said:
Very sorry to do this but I do think it would be useful if the dates could be posted as a sticky somewhere. It would involve no discussion but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to acknowledge an event that the parks themselves actively respond to.
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If the park actively respond to it then any information can be found through other channels if individuals wish to seek it out. We however are not allowing that or any further discussion on this forum.

Let’s please get back to discussing Thorpe Park. :)
 
Swiftly changing the subject, Lift Hills and Thrills was doing a Q&A on his Instagram story recently and one of the things that has been bought up multiple times is speculation about Tidal Wave's future. It has been suggested this could get the chop in future years to be replaced by the next investment.

Admittedly Tidal Wave has had downtime with late opening and one boat operations over the last week lately however it is still a rather popular ride.

It does seem to be seasonal in nature with popularity with lower queues most of the year although I think it's one of the higher capacity rides on park when on two boats.

I however wouldn't support Tidal Wave going without a replacement water ride going in the park of some form.

I'm thinking Rumba Rapids is more likely to get the chop sooner and will take the Tidal Wave speculation with a grain of salt as I don't think Tidal Wave's time is up quite yet as it is more reliable than Rumba.

If it is true, I'm thinking it could be connected to the developments at the beach that seems to be taking place this year. 🤔
 
The maximum height
owenstreet7 said:
Swiftly changing the subject, Lift Hills and Thrills was doing a Q&A on his Instagram story recently and one of the things that has been bought up multiple times is speculation about Tidal Wave's future. It has been suggested this could get the chop in future years to be replaced by the next investment.

Admittedly Tidal Wave has had downtime with late opening and one boat operations over the last week lately however it is still a rather popular ride.

It does seem to be seasonal in nature with popularity with lower queues most of the year although I think it's one of the higher capacity rides on park when on two boats.

I however wouldn't support Tidal Wave going without a replacement water ride going in the park of some form.

I'm thinking Rumba Rapids is more likely to get the chop sooner and will take the Tidal Wave speculation with a grain of salt as I don't think Tidal Wave's time is up quite yet as it is more reliable than Rumba.

If it is true, I'm thinking it could be connected to the developments at the beach that seems to be taking place this year. 🤔
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The removal of Tidal Wave would be a massive blow in my opinion. Get rid of Rumba or Storm Surge, fine, but Tidal Wave is just one of those rides that I think really defines Thorpe.

It’s in a central location, is a fantastic focal point and it was Tussauds’ first major investment and arguably the start of Thorpe’s changing identity from a family park to a thrill park. It has an entire area built and themed around it, which remains one of the best themed areas in the country, even 24 years later. It can be enjoyed by non-riders just as much as riders and I think there’s something very special about it. I was gutted to lose Loggers Leap, but that was more because of my own fondness for that ride. Tidal Wave however is a really important part of the Thorpe Park landscape and it’s one of those rides that I really think the park should try and keep open, and invest whatever is reasonably practical in order to keep it open.
 
Enter Valhalla said:
The removal of Tidal Wave would be a massive blow in my opinion. Get rid of Rumba or Storm Surge, fine, but Tidal Wave is just one of those rides that I think really defines Thorpe.

It’s in a central location, is a fantastic focal point and it was Tussauds’ first major investment and arguably the start of Thorpe’s changing identity from a family park to a thrill park. It has an entire area built and themed around it, which remains one of the best themed areas in the country, even 24 years later. It can be enjoyed by non-riders just as much as riders and I think there’s something very special about it. I was gutted to lose Loggers Leap, but that was more because of my own fondness for that ride. Tidal Wave however is a really important part of the Thorpe Park landscape and it’s one of those rides that I really think the park should try and keep open, and invest whatever is reasonably practical in order to keep it open.
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I completely agree, Tidal Wave is one of those rides that needs to stay. It defines Thorpe Park equally as much as Hyperia and Stealth.

I've always thought Tidal Wave is a safe ride and was incredibly surprised to see this touted as a ride to be removed by Sean.

At the time of Loggers Leap going, I thought that was a safe ride at the time of closure. I was very disappointed to see it close and being left to rot after repeated promises to reopen it.

Amity is built around Tidal Wave and losing it would be a massive blow for the park if it was to go. I'd argue that it'd be the biggest blow for the park as it's a centerpiece ride that's enjoyed by riders and spectators.

I don't think the park goers who enjoy water rides such as Loggers Leap and Tidal Wave would be very happy if Thorpe Park and Merlin was to remove Tidal Wave with no new flume-style ride in the park. There's a lot of people who go to parks who enjoy water rides the most or equally as much as the coasters.

I'm hoping that this is complete baseless speculation and that Tidal Wave will stay long term with the park investing into it. It had a new viewing bridge this season so I am quite optimistic that it's 100% safe especially with Rumba's reliability issues being apparent.
 
The Big Mack said:
Drayton and seaside parks are amusement parks after all. :p
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I appreciate a good old ribbing of Drayton Manor Park and Zoo more than most, but I have to give credit where it is due here.

There are four consistently themed areas for Drayton Manor Park and Zoo, and every ride sitting within in these areas is appropriately themed and fits the land. More so than the miss-matched patchwork seen at Alton Towers and Thorpe Park.

Adventure Cove, Frontier Falls, Thomas Land and Vikings.
 
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