Photo TR: Thorpe Park 10/15/05

Hey, I do have an excuse! I've been actually doing schoolwork. I know, a college student that actually does work. What's wrong with me? Anyway, onto the report. I'm such a dork that I had copious notes. But I don't have any patches, nor do I belong to any sort of coaster assosiation...yet...so I'm still safe. But from my notes written afterwards, my TR:

It has some interesting themeing to it. It wasn't as detailed as a Disney park but was more detailed than say a Paramount or a Six Flags. It was somewhere in the middle. It had some AWESOME names for the rides too. A lot of the European parks do, but the UK especially. Sadly, however, the park had a lot of flat rides that I don't really care to ride, but had three coasters and one new flat ride which was INCREDIBLE, to which I'll talk about later.

Logger's Leap: My first ride of the day. It's a log flume in their Canadian section, which is just hysterical. Ok, first off, the music is country. But not bluesy country, like Dolly Parton country. And the recorded announcements were "Hillbilly" voice overs. For Canada. The Logger's leap, as we left, the recording said, and I quote, "Hang on, this is the wildest ride in the Wilderness!". I think I've heard that before... but I digress. It was a pretty basic log flume, with giant arrows in the ground and a totem pole and a double humped drop as the final drop. Wasn't all that bad.

Nemesis: Inferno: First coaster of the day and best coaster of the day too. It's one of the better coasters I've ridden period. I was really impressed. It was very smooth and the transition from segment to segment was paced very nicely. Ascetically, it looked pretty cool. They say it's supposed to be a volcano, but it looks more like a giant sand mound. lol. It also had very cool looking interlocking corkscrews. It was definitely my favorite coaster, but not my favorite ride there. That comes later...

Colossus: Cool name, not too hot on the coaster. It's the middle one of the three for me. It really was too much, to be honest. It, also, was not very kind to my head, it was a rough one. Not as rough as some rides I've been on, but rough enough to not make me want to go on it again. It was also the case that it was plagued with "technical problems" all day. It completely shut down 5 different times throughout the day. That's just not good ride operations. :?

X:\ No Way Out: Or as I had gotten accustomed to calling it, X whatever: What the F. Because that was my reaction throughout the entire ride. The little whispering noises around you on the lift hill, of which I could have sworn one of the things being whispered to us was "It places the lotion in the basket", but I digress. Then we go down this nothing of a drop and one turn then...we completely stop. Not a trim break, not a slow down, I mean complete stop. It had no point and it kept stopping as apart of the coaster. The special effects were not all that special. As in, it was an air and water blast at one stop, some noises, and moving backwards and forward at the third one. It might have been a decent coaster if I didn't stop every five seconds. It also gave me a headache like no other.

Detonator: A simple drop tower. As a matter of fact, a very simple drop tower, like the kind you will find at your local county fair. So, moving on.

Rush: Saving the best for last. This ride is absolutely AWESOME! I can't wait for these to start moving to the states. First off, the ride sounds EVIL. It's the most intimidating sounding ride I've heard. The air releasing and pulling the cables for the swings makes a big "pfffffffff" and groans when it goes. As for the ride itself, it's intense without being overly frightening or bodily taxing.The best part with when the swing gets to full...um...swing and goes to about a 95-100 degree angle at full swing. So, yes, you're looking straight down at the ground when you're on your backswing. It's also about 3 g's when you swing back, so that's pretty intense. But it's such a great ride and I really hope that there will be more and more as time goes on.

I didn't ride much else. Like I said, there were a lot of flat rides that I don't ride. I did make some observations, like

* The really cool themeing to their Shoot the Shoots called Tidal Wave, which included a sunken into the water load area

* The awesome music in the queue lines

* Same goes for really awesome and mildly creepy audio stings when the rides are dispatched, especially the coasters. When Colossus was dispatched, there were a bunch of whispering people saying "The Power of Ten" and "Colossus" and finally, as the train was leaving, a groan of a beast awaking. On Nemesis: Inferno, the lighting when the train dispatched changed from white to fire red and there was this wind chime/music box music.

* One fluke in the musical ideas was the use of the Beetlejuice theme for Rocky's Express, in the Canada section. The Beetlejuice theme...in...Canada?

* Their "Project:Stealth" for 2006 isn't really all that stealthy...seeing it's the tallest structure in the park. For all my friends in the states, it's a mini Kingda Ka. Not as tall nor as fast, but exactly the same layout.

Stuart "Better late than never" Newsom

And now their MOVING the dirt! Be still my heart! Ok...enough of that

Let's get a close up of that dirt...oooh...ahhhh...

Now THIS is a true construction photo. Oooooh, look at the dirt. It's so brown. Not only is it dirt, it's British dirt.

Just flies right under the radar, totally unnoticeable. But, it's still under construction, so this being a construction photo, I have to add one more thing.

Project: Stealth. Yeah, I know, it's so hard to see. It's just so stealthy...

And finally, the totally rocking dispatch area. Also, apparently, B&M got painting tips from Jesse James to help with their wheel covers.

But also in the line were these things. Um...what? lol. Which would Usher be, the hero or the villain?

From the line, ticking off many a local Brit, for this shot of the most of the layout. It was not the easiest coaster to photograph, that's for sure.

Interlocking corkscrews=pretty. I'm a geeky coaster photographer, I'm allowed to say that!

First coaster of the day! Now, how does the giant "volcanic" sand mound become the sequel to an alien thing...in another park.

Logger's Leap or every American Western stereotype placed in Canada

Now, that's a sight to behold when you first enter any park

Hurray! I'm here!

Park in the mists

On my way from the train station to the Park. BTW: I was on the upper deck of the double decker bus.

More pictures!

And this fountain person looks on. Does it bother to help the people beside him, screaming in pain (or pleasure if you're into that kind of thing)? Noooooo, he, or she can't really tell, just drools.

Followed by his brother the corkscrew of pointing and laughing (can you tell I didn't like this coaster too too much?)

The corkscrew of anal rapeage

The rattling straightaway

The cobra roll of head cracking pain

Ah, Colossus. It certainly brought back memories...of Drachen Fire.

X:\ What The F...I mean One Year Left...I mean No Way Out.

I had to get my picture taken with the true star of Thorpe Park. Of course, I have this totally weird look on my face. I was trying to figure out how to work my ginormous camera.

But the sign totally ripped off Stargate. And now I've shown I'm far more of a geek than anyone could have possibly imagined...

Rush...HERE'S the good stuff. Best ride in the park, hands down, no questions. I rode this at least 10 times, thanks to the single rider line. I cannot wait till more of these come to the states.

Samurai...again again, ahhno. lol. Sence a pattern here. Ok, so I am a flat ride snob!

Slammer...again, ahhno. The only way you'll be flipping me around upside down again and again and again is on a coaster. However, it was pretty cool to watch.

Vortex...don't have much to say about it seeing I didn't ride it. I'm not the biggest flat ride fan and so I looked at it an went ahhhno.

And finally some random stuff... I take a lot of pictures, I know. I've got some camera made videos as well, short things, but they're a little big for the forums, and I don't know how to compress them more. Oh well. ...jk.

To finish up the pictures, me being a geek and giving Nemesis: Inferno a big thumbs up!

Another Ahh! moment, but this one a good one. I can never find these things in the States anymore. It used to be every park we went to had one, but Hershey, BGW, and PKD must have sold theirs.

Ahhh! Can't escape my summer job!!! I did actually do this can I womped all over the 7 year olds going at the same time. Am I proud of that? Heck yes!

Coolest...KFC...EVER! Yes, this really is a KFC.

Now how did THAT happen! It looks a little painful, really.

Um...yeah...The sign really speaks for itself.

After that meal, I took the TPR plan of exercising it off, DDR! But wait this isn't DDR, or it's British equivalent Dancing Stage. It's EZ2Dancer. DDR with less foot motions AND hand motions. It required more coordination than I really had.

It can't be a British park without a nice helping of Fish and Chips. Mmmm mmm good! Enough carbs to make Dr. Atkins roll in his steak filled grave.

Tidal Wave Kersploosh! I love to take pictures of Shoot The Shoot kersplooshes.

Cool TR!!!

I wanna go now!!!!

Nice Photo TR! I really think that the US should get a huge Screamin Swing. But I mean, what's the difference between a regular Screamin Swing and Rush?

---Brent 8)

Well, from what I know, Screaming Swing is only 4 people on one swing. Rush has 2 swings of 16, allowing 32 people at a time. It's also that Screaming Swing is currently an upcharge attraction in the states, Rush is a normal attraction. This version is what's coming to Kennywood and possably Cedar Point, I believe, so they're starting to spread. And that's a good thing.

Good job--I'm looking forward to checking this place out in June 2006 (especially Nemesis). I'm not big on flat rides, either (especially if they resemble spinning tea cups), but Rush looks like fun, and I actually survived Tomb Raider: Firefall at PKD with only slight queasiness.

BGW has the same music problem in their Canadian section (Fort New France)--lots of banjo pickin' coming over the PA. I'm convinced that they built this section because 1) every park needs its "Frontierland" and 2) they needed an excuse for a log ride. But I believe it's justified for the Three Rivers Smokehouse (last day of the season for baby back ribs is tomorrow, folks--I'll be there, if I can shake this head cold that's been bugging me all week).

Nice TR! I pretty much agree with you about the coasters, but I found Rush to be rather tame compared to other swinging rides like KMG Afterburners (24 seat version). Its a shame you didnt try Slammer because I thought it was awesome. Best non-coaster ride in the park for me

A good TR, but I got to disagree with you regarding Colossus.

Yes it's a bit bumpy & some vibrations in places

I can understand it having 'technical issues' would affect how you feel about the ride, I've been on many a coaster that's broken down & has made me less impressed of that coaster. Air at Alton Towers comes to mind

But theres no 'head banging' on Colossus, so comparing it to a sucky Arrow coaster is a bit mean :shock:

Paul 'Colossus does have 10 inversions remember' Chapman

X No Way Out is THE reason I'm going to the UK next year! Well, that and Fish & Chips...

dt

But theres no 'head banging' on Colossus, so comparing it to a sucky Question Arrow coaster is a bit mean Shocked

Colossus isnt rough, but it was vibrating like crazy when I rode it this summer and that caused my head to hit the restraints, which are NOT very soft. My ears hurt for a week!

That British dirt is unlike anything I have ever seen before. Marvelous, just marvelous.

Excellent photos.

Colossus was pretty darn rough on Tuesday. Probably the roughest ride I've ever had on the thing! Still managed to enjoy it though, especially at night.

I have been on the Screamin Swing at Knott's and if it wasn't an upcharge attraction, it would be the best ride in that park, hands down.

Well, looks like you had fun. I gotta get out there one day.