I also attended The Swarm opening day yesterday with Robin, I didn't know you were there Craig!
The Swarm area is themed much better then other areas in the park but its a shame they use that same block paving everywhere now lol! Anyway there is only one way to get to the Swarm Island which is behind Depth Charge so its well tucked away from the rest of the park. If you come out of the Dome and go right then thats the quickest way! The queue line is very compact and most of it is under the inline twist, it takes a good 5 minutes to walk through if its fully open like today!
My first ride was on the left hand side which I thought was very forceless. It really feels slow over the zero-g rolls. I went on again but on the right hand side and it felt like completely different ride, much more forcefull. It might of been that it was warming up as I got there just after opening. I rode it a good 10 times today in different seats, it seems to feel faster the further back you sit, the different seats make it very re-rideable. Out of left and right I prefer the right because you flip over at the top of the lift hill and you get really close to the near misses and the water around the helicopter helix!
The Swarm might not be the sort of coaster that makes you go "WOW" when coming off and its quite short but its a quality addition to the park and far better then some of the gimmicky rides Merlin have put in over the last few years. The Swarm is easily the most smooth and most quietest B&M I've been on, its night and day if you compare it to the Furius Baco trains
On walking around the park I noticed they have removed the Stealth single rider queue and turned it into a Disabled access instead
Few photos of the day below, enjoy!
I'm here at Thorpe Park for The Swarm opening day!
The Swarm is tucked away in its own island so you have to walk behind Depth Charge to get to it quickly!
Live music was playing all day plus there was quite a few scarey actors walking about
Ride entrance. Queues were walk on to 15 minutes for the whole day! The queue line is huge and it can take a whole 5 minutes to walk it all!
This is where they tell you to go left or right. There is also a front row queue before this point.
Station is like a bombed church!
582 rollercoasters done
There is a few near misses!
The Swarm had a Manta type water effect but it didn't really work that well. No fire yet.
The Swarm area.
New skyline.
View from Stealth.