Thorpe Park

Thorpe Park, to be found twenty miles from Central London, is famed for its water rides in much the same way as its rival Alton Towers is known for its innovative roller coasters. Considered the thrill seeking elder brother to Chessington World of Adventures in many ways, Thorpe Park is the third most popular theme park in the United Kingdom, and it is widely considered to be one of the best in Europe. It has certainly come a long way in the thirty years since 1979, when it was built on the site of a gravel pit. The pit was flooded with the intention of creating a water-based theme park, and it is this theme that informs a lot of the park’s most popular rides.

A little known fact about Thorpe Park is that until 2007 it was owned by the Tussauds Group, famous mainly for the popular London waxwork attraction Madame Tussauds. Bought in 1998 by the group, who already owned Chessington World of Adventures, it was part of a strategy which played on the two attractions’ close proximity, using Chessington as a family-orientated theme park with gentler rides while Thorpe Park became the destination for thrill-seekers. Such a distinction, with Thorpe having a more adult-orientated reputation, is made clear even today, with a ride soon to be opened based on the extremely gory horror movie Saw.

Although Thorpe Park has a reputation as a park for aficionados of the water ride, its most popular ride at the present time is the water-free roller coaster Colossus. Opened in 2002, the ride is still co-holder of the world record for the most inversions on a roller coaster, with ten in a full circuit.

There is a feel of innovation around Thorpe as a theme park in general. The company has developed systems to make queuing less vexatious, which have included a pager-style device that beeps to let people know when their slot on a particular ride was in place. This was achieved by assigning every guest a certain time slot for each ride for which they bought a ticket, and successfully cut the amount of queuing necessary.

There are a number of rides aside from Colossus at Thorpe Park which hold records. The ride X:\ No Way Out for example, which is said to be based on the idea of being trapped inside a computer virus, is the first and only roller coaster to go backwards in the dark. Also featuring some of the tallest water rides in Europe, Thorpe is very much a park for the thrill-seeker, so if you do have younger children with you it may not be the right choice for you.

If visiting Thorpe Park in the future, you may well be able to combine the enjoyment of the theme park with your accommodation. The company has applied for planning permission for a 250-room hotel with conference facilities and health club among other attractions. This will be linked to the theme park by a special boat service.