Thorpe Park facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Thorpe Park Resort

Location	Chertsey / Staines / Surrey, England, United Kingdom
Coordinates	51°24′17″N 0°30′47″W / 51.40472°N 0.51306°W / 51.40472; -0.51306
Status	Theme Park and Hotel Closed
Opened	24 May 1979; 45 years ago (1979-05-24)
Owner	Merlin Entertainments
Operated by	Merlin Entertainments
General manager	Unoccupied (Divisional Director)
Slogan	An Island Like No Other
Operating season	Mid/Late March – late October/early November
Attendance	1.9 million (2019)
Area	490 acres (2.0 km2; 200 ha)
Attractions
Total	26
Roller coasters	7
Water rides	4

Thorpe Park Resort, commonly known as Thorpe Park, is an amusement park located in the village of Thorpe between the towns of Chertsey and Staines-upon-Thames in Surrey, England. It is operated and owned by Merlin Entertainments and includes rides, a themed hotel, live events and Stealth, the UK's fastest rollercoaster.

After demolition of the Thorpe Park Estate in the 1930s, the site became a gravel pit managed by Ready Mix Concrete (RMC). When the pits were expended, RMC regenerated the site for leisure, opening Thorpe Park as an outdoor activity park in 1979. It has since grown into one of the major theme parks in the UK.

Major attractions include a large water ride Tidal Wave, a number of rollercoasters including Colossus, Nemesis Inferno, Stealth, Saw – The Ride, The Swarm, The Walking Dead: The Ride and dark ride Derren Brown's Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon. Other smaller attractions include a water area called Amity Beach and an Angry Birds themed land. It also has on-site accommodation, the Thorpe Shark Hotel. The new attraction that was due to open in 2020 is Black Mirror. Due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, this attraction is now due to open in 2021.

History

Thorpe Park Lake in July 1979, the year the park opened to the public

The demolition of the Thorpe Park Estate in the 1930s saw the grounds transform into a gravel pit, originally owned by Ready Mixed Concrete Limited. When the pits were expended, RMC flooded part of the site. In 1975 the Water Ski World Championships were held on the site. RMC established a subsidiary, Leisure Sport Limited, to operate a 400-acre park for water sports, leisure and heritage exhibitions, at a cost of £3 million.

The park was officially opened to the public by Lord Louis Mountbatten on the 24th May 1979. In addition to lakes and parkland, the park featured a replica Stone Age cave, Celtic farm, Norman castle and Viking camp as well as ancient water vehicles and aircraft.

In the early 80s, the park redeveloped into a theme park with permanent themed rides and attractions. New attractions were opened throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Space Station Zero was the park's first rollercoaster, opening in 1984. The last large attraction opened by the park's original owners was "X:\No Way Out" in 1996.

In 1998, The Tussauds Group bought the park. From the outset the park started opening key attractions such as Tidal Wave in 2000, Colossus in 2002, Nemesis Inferno in 2003 and Stealth in 2006.

In May 2007, Blackstone Group purchased The Tussauds Group for US$1.9 billion and the company was merged into Merlin Entertainments, who took over operation of Thorpe Park. Dubai International Capital also gained 20% of Merlin Entertainments.

On 17 July 2007, as part of the financing for the Tussauds deal, Merlin sold Thorpe Park, to private investor Nick Leslau and his investment firm Prestbury under a sale and leaseback agreement. Although it is owned by Prestbury, the site is operated by Merlin based on a renewable 35-year lease.

The target audience for the Resort is Teenagers and Young Adults, adding rides such as Saw - The Ride and The Swarm for example. In 2014, Merlin decided to also target a more broad-family based market with new attractions such as Angry Birds Land and the park's onsite hotel.

On 20 February 2019, the official Twitter account of Thorpe Park confirmed the permanent closure of Loggers Leap, a log flume that opened in 1989 but had been closed since 2015.

On the 25 February 2020, Thorpe Park announced the addition of a live action Black Mirror attraction, named Black Mirror Labyrinth, which was scheduled to open in 2020, but was postponed until 2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Rides and attractions

Rollercoasters

Name	Picture	Type	Opened	Territory	Manufacturer	Additional Information
The Swarm		Wing Coaster	2012	Swarm Island	Bolliger & Mabillard	The UK's first winged coaster, opened in 2012. Was the first winged coaster to feature an inverted 'wing-over drop'. Between 2013 and 2016, the rear two rows were modified to face backwards. Height Limit 1.4m. Max Height Limit is 1.95m
SAW -The Ride		Euro-Fighter	2009	Old Town	Gerstlauer	A custom Eurofighter featuring a 100 degree 100 ft drop. Themed around the SAW movie franchise. It was branded as the world's first horror movie themed rollercoaster. Height Limit 1.4m.
Stealth		Hydraulic Launched Coaster	2006	Amity	Intamin	An Intamin hydraulic launch coaster, 205 ft tall and accelerating from 0 - 80 mph in 1.9 seconds. It is the second tallest coaster in the UK and also the fastest. It has a loose 1950s-era drag racing theme. Height Limit 1.4m. Max height limit is 1.95m
Nemesis Inferno		Inverted	2003	The Jungle	Bolliger & Mabillard	B&M inverted coaster opened in 2003, named after Nemesis at Alton Towers. It has a loose volcano theme and features the first interlocking corkscrews on an inverted coaster. Height Limit 1.4m.
Colossus		Steel Sit down	2002	Lost City	Intamin	Opened as the 'world's first ten looping rollercoaster' (record now beaten by The Smiler with 14) and has a loose lost civilization theme. Height Limit 1.4m. Max height limit is 1.95m
Walking Dead: The Ride		Steel Sit down	1996 (2013) (2018)	The Dock Yard	Vekoma	Located at the centre of the park in a pyramid. Based on the The Walking Dead (TV series) franchise. On peak days, the ride's exit also includes live actors. Previously known as X and originally X:\No Way Out. Height Limit 1.4m.
Flying Fish		Steel powered coaster	1984 (1990) (2007)	Amity	Mack Rides	Powered coaster. Opened in 1984 as an indoor coaster named Space Station Zero. It moved outdoors in 1990, in the location now occupied by Stealth. It reopened next to the Beach in 2007. Height Limit 0.9m.

Flat rides

Name	Picture	Type	Opened	Territory	Manufacturer	Additional Information
Timber Tug Boat		Rockin' Tug	2017	Old Town	Zamperla	A Zamperla Rockin' Tug that was relocated from Weymouth Sea Life and opened in 2017. Height limit 0.9m.
Lumber Jump		Frog Hopper	2017	Old Town	Zamperla	A Frog Hopper ride that was relocated from Weymouth Sea Life and opened in 2017. Height limit 0.9m.
King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems		Dodgems	2014	Angry Birds Land	Bertazzon	Dodgems ride added in 2014 for Angry Birds Land. Height limit 1.1m (with guardian over 1.3m).
Rush		Screamin' Swing	2005	Lost City	S&S Worldwide	An S&S Worldwide screamin swing. It has a max speed of 40 Mph. This is the only ride of its type in the UK. Height limit 1.3m.
Samurai		Top Scan	2004	Old Town	Mondial	Top scan ride, formerly at Chessington World of Adventures Resort under the same name. The ride was repainted when it moved to Thorpe Park. Height limit 1.4m.
Quantum		Magic Carpet	2003	Lost City	Fabbri Group	Large magic carpet ride. Height limit 1.2m.
Zodiac		Enterprise	2001	Lost City	HUSS	HUSS enterprise that opened in 2001. Relocated from Drayton Manor Theme Park where it was known as Cyclone. Height limit 1.1m.
Vortex		Afterburner	2001	Lost City	KMG	KMG afterburner ride that opened in June 2001. Height limit 1.4m.
Detonator: Bombs Away		Drop Tower	2001	Angry Birds Land	Fabbri Group	35m tall drop tower. Originally named 'Detonator' and was added following the Thorpe Park fire and was intended to be temporary but was then decided to be made permanent. It was later renamed 'Detonator: Bombs Away' for the opening of Angry Birds Land in 2014. Max speed 45 Mph. Max G-force 5.5 . Height Limit 1.3m.
Rocky Express		Sea Storm	1989	Old Town	Mack Rides	Family friendly spinning train ride. Height limit 0.9m.
Mr Monkey's Banana Ride		Pirate Ship	1994	The Jungle	Metallbau Emmeln	A small banana themed swinging ship ride themed to one of the Thorpe Park Rangers. Height limit 0.9m.
Storm in a Teacup		Teacups	1986	Amity	Mack Rides	A teacups ride. In 2011, Tetley sponsored the ride and the sponsorship remains to this day. Height limit 1.1m.

Water rides

Name	Picture	Type	Opened	Territory	Manufacturer	Additional Information
Rumba Rapids		River rapids ride	1987	The Jungle	Intamin	It opened in 1987 as Thunder River and is one of the earliest remaining rides at Thorpe Park. It was sponsored by Ribena from 2002 until 2006 but in 2007 the sponsorship was removed.
Storm Surge		Spinning Rapids Ride	2011	Amity	WhiteWater West	The ride has a 19.5m lift and spins riders down a spiral chute. Originally located at Cypress Gardens , until Merlin acquired the park and made it Legoland Florida.
Tidal Wave		Shoot the Chute	2000	Amity	Hopkins Rides	When the ride was opened in 2000 it was the tallest water ride in Europe. The ride has had many sponsors including Dr Pepper and Oasis (drink). Height requirement 1.2m.
Depth Charge		Water slide	1991	Amity	NV Aquatic	Opened as the first four lane dingy waterslide in the UK.

Other attractions

Name	Picture	Type	Opened	Territory	Manufacturer	Additional Information
Derren Brown's Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon		Dark Ride	2016	The Dock Yard	Various, including Intamin, Simworx and Figment Productions	Multi-sensory virtual reality dark ride created in collaboration with Derren Brown.
Angry Birds 4D Experience		4D Cinema	2014	Angry Birds Land	Simworx	4D Cinema showing the Angry Birds 4D movie. Replaced Pirates 4-D and Time Voyagers.
Amity Beach		Beach Area with Pool and Waterslides	1979	Amity		Originally named "Fantasy Reef".
Jungle Escape		Escape Room	2019	The Jungle	Rogue Productions/ Thorpe Park Resort	An escape room where you take on various challenges to escape The Huntsman.
Black Mirror Labyrinth		Maze Attraction	2021	Old Town		A maze using cutting-edge technology & sensory-defying environments.

Territories

Since 2016, Thorpe Park is zoned into eight 'island territories'.

• 

  Amity

• 

  The Dock Yard

• 

  The Jungle

• 

  Lost City

• 

  Swarm Island

• Port and Basecamp includes the turnstile entrance, bridge and dome.
• Amity (originally 'Amity Cove') opened with Tidal Wave and now includes Stealth, Depth Charge, Wet Wet Wet, Amity Beach and Storm Surge.
• The Jungle contains Nemesis Inferno, Rumba Rapids, Mr Monkey's Banana Ride and a street of restaurants.
• Angry Birds Land is sponsored by the Angry Birds video game. Attractions in this area include Angry Birds 4D, Detonator: Bombs Away and King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems.
• Old Town is located towards the back of the park and includes Saw - The Ride, Rocky Express, Timber Tug Boat, Black Mirror Labyrinth and Lumber Jump.
• Lost City contains Colossus, Rush, Quantum, Vortex and Zodiac.
• Swarm Island opened as the plaza for The Swarm.
• The Dock Yard (previously named 'The Depot' and 'Thorpe Junction') is the plaza immediately outside Derren Brown's Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon and includes the nearby The Walking Dead: The Ride rollercoaster, previously known as "X" and "X:\ No way out".

Port and Basecamp

The 'Basecamp' area contains the turnstiles and bridge where guests enter the park. This leads to 'the dome' which acts as a hub for the park, which houses 'The Infinity Restaurant' (formerly Fin's Bar and Grill), an arcade area, a café, toilets, lockers, the Island Gift Shop, guest services, first aid, photo points and staff areas.

The dome was previously known as 'Port Atlantis' with an underwater Atlantian themed interior. Much the scenery and underwater effect went missing since Merlin's acquisition of the park and was removed altogether after the building's change of name.

The Dome remains open outside park operating hours to provide entertainment and dining facilities for guests staying at Thorpe Shark Cabins, including a breakfast buffet.

Amity

Amity is set as a 1950s-era American fishing village hit by a tidal wave and opened with Tidal Wave in 2000. It was previously named 'Amity Cove', as still named on themed signage. The area was expanded in 2006 with Stealth, set at 'Amity Speedway' racetrack. It later took on attractions from the former 'Neptune's Beach' family area, Depth Charge, Wet Wet Wet and Amity Beach outdoor water park.

It also includes attractions from the former 'European Park' area, Flying Fish and Storm In A Teacup. Flying Fish was originally located beside Tidal Wave but moved following construction of Stealth to its present location nearer to The Swarm. In 2011, the raft water ride Storm Surge was re-located from Cypress Gardens in Florida, USA, before it was rethemed into Legoland Florida. Storm Surge was built on the former site of the Octopus Garden children's area.

The Jungle

The area's main attractions are Nemesis Inferno, a Bolliger & Mabillard inverted coaster set in a volcano, and Rumba Rapids a river rapids ride. The area was previously named 'Calypso Quay', the area now also includes part of the former 'Ranger County' family area, including Mr Monkey's Banana Ride a small swinging ship ride, as well as shopfronts and restaurants from the former 'European Park' area.

In 2019, Jungle Escape an escape room experience opened in the building formerly housing the I'm a Celebrity... Maze.

Angry Birds Land

Angry Birds Land opened in May 2014 and is themed to the Angry Birds video game. Attractions include Angry Birds 4D a 4D cinema, King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems a dodgem ride and Detonator: Bombs Away a drop tower ride.

The Dock Yard

This area is primarily the plaza for Derren Brown's Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon an indoor dark ride and also contains The Walking Dead: The Ride an indoor rollercoaster. The area has no major themed features, other than buildings and scenery remaining from 'Octopus's Garden' (a since-closed children's area) which was later themed to Amity such as the Megastore, various buoys and a carnival game that resembles a cargo ship.

Lost City

The Lost City theme is that of ruins of a recently unearthed Atlantean civilisation with the Colossus roller coaster as the main attraction opening in 2002. The area first opened in 2001 with the Vortex and Zodiac rides as the only attractions. In 2003 Quantum, a magic carpet ride opened. More attractions have since joined the rides line up with Rush an S&S Screamin' Swing which opened in 2005.

Old Town

The main ride in this area is Saw - The Ride, a Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter with a 100ft, 100-degree beyond vertical drop. The ride is themed to the Saw movie franchise and is set in a derelict warehouse/sawmill. the flat ride called Samurai was relocated from Chessington World of Adventures in 2004. Timber Tug Boat and Lumber Jump were children's attractions relocated from the Weymouth SeaLife Adventure Park and Marine Sanctuary. The area is also home to the brand new 2021 experience Black Mirror Labyrinth. Old Town includes a Burger King and a food outlet and a small indoor hub/events space.

The area was previously named 'Canada Creek' and was the plaza for Loggers Leap log flume, opened in 1989. When it opened it was one of the tallest log flumes in the world. It had a loose Canadian forest theme, although this has mostly been lost through redevelopments and resembles more of a Western town theme. Today the main attractions listed in the area sit outside the plaza. Rocky Express, a small Mack flat ride, is the only attraction remaining from 'Canada Creek'.

Logger's Leap has remained nonoperational since 2015 and its permanent closure was confirmed in 2019. This area also was home to Slammer a S&S Sky Swat flat ride, which also still stands but is not operating (SBNO) the ride was also confirmed to be permanently closed.

Swarm Island

Swarm Island is the plaza area for The Swarm, a Bolliger & Mabillard wing-rider rollercoaster, opened in 2012. The area was built on land reclaimed from the surrounding lakes. The area is themed as the scene of an apocalyptic disaster/alien invasion with a crashed plane, various damaged emergency vehicles like a helicopter and fire truck, a destroyed church and other destroyed structures. Many of the areas facilities are based within these structures, such as the ride station being housed in the church, the shop being housed in an old war container and the ride operating room being based in a wedged police truck.

Records held by the park

• Nemesis Inferno is the first inverted coaster to feature interlocking corkscrews.
• The Swarm opened as Europe's tallest Wing coaster.
• SAW - The Ride has the steepest drop not controlled by brakes and was marketed as the world's first horror movie themed roller coaster. While the park claimed it had the world's steepest drop on any roller coaster this isn't true as Steel Hawg at Indiana Beach had opened the previous year with a 111° drop. It now features the ninth steepest drop behind The Monster at Adventureland, Mumbo Jumbo at Flamingo Land, Timber Drop at Fraispertuis City, Cannibal at Lagoon, Crazy bird at Happy Valley (dongli), Green Lantern Coaster at Warner Bros. Movie World, Takabisha at Fuji-Q Highland and TMNT Shellraiser at Nickelodeon Universe
• ‘’Colossus’’ held the world record for the most inversions on a rollercoaster on opening in 2002 with 10 inversions, now the record is held by The Smiler at Alton Towers resort.
• ’’Stealth’’ is the UK’s fastest roller coaster, launching from 0-80 in 1.9 seconds. many places such as signage on the ride say 0-80mph in 2.3 seconds although this is actually incorrect as the rides launch was modified to accelerate faster in the off season of 2013. Standing at 205ft, it is also the UK’s second tallest roller coaster (behind the Big One at Blackpool Pleasure Beach).
• ’’Rush’’ was the world's largest screamin’ swing on opening in 2005.
• ’’Tidal Wave’’ opened as Europe’s tallest water ride.

Events

As of 2020, Thorpe Park run the following events:

Oktoberfest (Sept - Early Oct) which the park offers live entertainment (music and roaming actors) at the Island Festival Centre (By Derren Brown's Ghost Train) and German food and drink offerings around the park. Rides and attractions are open until late and select rides have Bavarian themed music/ride announcements to fit with the Oktoberfest theme.

Fright Nights (Oct - Early November) which the park offers a range of Halloween entertainment: including horror mazes, shows, scare zones and roaming actors. On top of this, rides and attractions are open until late.

Furthermore, in recent years, Thorpe Park has held a range of unique events such as Zombie Hunt (2018), GameFX (2019), and many more.

Fright Nights

Fright Nights, formerly "Fright Nites" is Thorpe Park's terrifying annual Halloween event and also its largest Halloween event in the UK. It's an event that has been running at Thorpe Park since 2002, celebrating Halloween with the park staying open until late at night, as well as operating a range of temporary Halloween attractions. Roaming actors in costume or with make up can also be found around the park. During Fright Nights, the park stays open until 10pm, with a range of scare mazes available for guests, who normally enter in groups of 8-10. "Face it Alone" has sometimes been available as an upcharge, where a guest enters unaccompanied and must sign a disclaimer before entering.

In 2013, Fright Nights was relaunched with a horror movie theme, courtesy of a three-year contract with Lionsgate. All of the pre-existing Fright Nights attractions were removed with the exception of The Asylum and SAW: Alive to make way for new horror-film themed attractions.

In 2014, when the Thorpe Shark Hotel opened, Thorpe Park decided to do an overnight scare attraction that involved live actors terrorizing you while you are in your bed. Before the experience began you were led to the back of the hotel where an actor would read you some scary stories.

In 2017 Fright Nights was reinvented with a Walking Dead theme. The addition of two Walking Dead attractions coincided with the season 8 premier of the show. SAW Alive, The Big Top and Platform 15 remained in operation from previous years, with Containment returning as an upcharge attraction.

In 2020, restrictions put into place due to the COVID-19 Pandemic meant that only two mazes operated: Platform 15 and Roots of Evil, both of which took place primarily outdoors. This led to a wide selection of scare zones introduced for the first time to Fright Nights, with The Swarm: Invasion located on Swarm Island, Creek Freaks Unchained in Old Town, The Fearstival Arena in The Dockyard, The Howling of LycanThorpe High in Lost City (on the site near Zodiac and Rush typically used for a scare maze), and Terror at Amity High returning for its third year on the Stealth Plaza. The Crows were also added as roaming actors dressed as scarecrows, based in a few main locations but found anywhere around the park, including interacting with other scare zones.

     – Previous Fright Night attraction.      – Current Fright Night attraction.

Hotel

Guests can stay over on-park at the 'Thorpe Shark Cabins', comprising 90-rooms converted from shipping containers with a link to facilities in the adjacent Dome. The accommodation takes its name from its shark head entrance feature built from recycled park signage.

The hotel initially opened in 2013 as 'The Crash Pad', run by external company Snoozebox. The temporary development was purchased by the park the following year and rebranded as the Thorpe Shark Hotel.

Thorpe Park had originally been planning to build a permanent 250-bed hotel as far back as 2006. This would have been located on the opposite side of the lake, on the site of former excavation works, featuring a lakeside bar, health club and restaurant.

The development was pitched again following the installation of 'The Crash Pad' to "test market conditions". The park received planning permission to construct the permanent hotel in 2014, with construction planned to begin in 2016 and an opening in 2018. However, the hotel was never constructed and the Shark Hotel's planning permission was extended by 10 years instead.

Gallery

Main gallery: Thorpe Park Resort at WikiCommons