Thorpe Park Resort — Attraction in Borough of Runnymede

Surely one of Europe’s worst theme park.

First of all, about the hotel. It’s surely the cheapest looking hotel I’ve encountered in my life. The rooms are small and hideous. There was mold in our bathroom, we found what seemed to be the remains of chewing gum in our sheets. The shower floods the entire room because of how the room is conceived. Plus, because of how small the room is, the humidity level is awful. We woke up the morning with humidity dripping from the door, and the whole floor was wet. Finally, the sound isolation is nonexistent. You can hear people walking (making the whole “hotel” shake). You basically have the failing too be sleeping in a cheap hostel for broke teenagers.

We also had to go to the reception twice because everything that was given to us was wrong : the fast tracks were for the wrong date, and the team had forgotten to give us the scare mazes access. What a loss of time.

And time was something we needed, even if we had two days in the park. The lines were atrociously long : the operations are the slowest I have ever seen in any theme park. The employees chat all the time and take forever to load and unload the different coasters and attractions, especially on The Swarm, Detonator, Rush, and many more. Furthermore, they sell way more fast tracks than what the attractions can handle.

This situation was even more unacceptable when it comes to Hyperia. The brand new (for a few months now) coaster was running with only one train during our whole trip for technical reasons. The line never went below 130mn. We’ve entered the line when it was written 160mn and finally waited 210mn.

This last issue demonstrates another one : the waiting times, at the entrance of the rides and on the app, were never accurate. So it was like planning a game of “It says 30mn, will we wait 15mn or 60mn ?”.

Furthermore, all the rides were down at least one time during our trip, when it was not several times and sometimes for a few hours. Some rides actually never opened the second day.

We came to Thorpe Park specifically for the Fright Nights, and what a disappointment it was. All the scare zones and shows were as cheap as a fun fair ghost train : costumes that seem to have been bought at a local megastore, actors doing the same thing all the time, dubstep music with school dance choreographies on a cheap stage, actors wearing their coke bottle or stopping their acting to chat with their colleagues in the mazes. Very often, it was not even possible to say if some people were simple guests wearing costumes or actors from the Fright Nights. I’m not going to start on the “IT 4D experience” : half of the effects don’t work, and the only thing scary is the length of this experience.

When it comes to the mazes, 2 are descent, but Survival is clearly just empty dark hallways with people wearing the same outfits and makeup, screaming at you (this is not « intense », it’s just empty). For the 4th one, we don’t know since we were not able to do it because of the lines. We even had to buy a ticket to do one of the mazes the first day, because we knew it would not be possible to do the 4 ones on Saturday. So, we paid a short break, and did only 3 mazes, but only because we paid a ticket. We asked the team if it was possible to exchange and do the mazes on our first day because it was less crowded, they refused.

I mean, the 4th person we asked refused, because another particularity of the workers, especially when it comes to guest relations, is to know nothing and to never have a precise answer (which also seems to be the case for the customer service through email).

I usually don’t talk about ride quality because it’s a whole other subject, and each park has its budget, but let me just say that the ghost train is another one of the irrelevant and boring experiences (one of the actors even hit my friend on the forehead by mistake during the final scene with dancing nuns).

Only a few good points : some employees were nice, and the food was descent (only fastfood,...

Say it with me: W.O.W! Thorpe Park is the name but certainly FUN is the main aim!!

Went this week Tuesday and haven’t been to the resort since year 9 for a school trip (where we very had little time to explore due to having to stay in groups and was very busy- July). But enough of this….

The fury of Nemesis Inferno, the speed of Stealth, the anticipation of SAW, the darkness of the Walking Dead (literally 😂), the twisted rush of Colossus and the avant garde of Swarm, the thrill of Rush, the fun (and wetness) of Tidal Wave amongst other rides I went on are why I personally have concluded (and always did) that Thrope Park is the best amusement park the UK has to offer.

Rides I went on: Nemesis Inferno (twice) Stealth, Detonator, Swarm (twice), Colossus, SAW, Samurai, Walking Dead: the ride (twice), Tidal Wave, Rush and Vortex

If I spoke about these rides individually we would be here all day but honestly some special mentions:

Nemesis Inferno. It’s in the name as to just how fast and furious this ride is. Ran to this ride when the park first opened as I got there for 10 am. Sat at the front for the first ride and near the middle for the second and honestly both times were super fun but when I sat in the middle it seemed to be even more furious than when I was at the front!

The G-force on your neck and that adrenaline rush is a must to experience this ride- beginners and thrill seekers alike!

SAW. I mean it literally came, “saw” and conquered. One of the more darker themed rides based on the hit film series “Saw”, it was absolutely brilliant! For those wanting to ride this one all I will say is that at the beginning there’s a completely unexpected surprise at gets your heart pumping in true ‘Saw’ fashion and my gosh that death drop when you get to the top of the ride and all the spins and turns- MAGNIFICENT! Just an absolute ride. Will say it is a bit more bumpy on the neck due to its speed so definitely wouldn’t recommend for younger children or those who are getting into amusement rides. But if you’re visiting Thorpe park be sure to literally RUN to ride this one!!

The Walking Dead: the Ride. Not as dramatic as some of the other rides in the park in terms of death drops or the speed however this ride is indoor, in the dark with a few spooks along the way. Before entering there’s a video played about the walkers at Thrope Park, then a very long dark!! tunnel which leads the ride- so not recommended for young children/those who are scared easily. Also didn’t have live actors which I personally think is better because it’s scary enough as is! The ride itself is still whippy and fast and well thought out. Love the storytelling of the ride, executes the theme pretty well! If you’re going on this ride be sure to bring a friend because it really dark in the walk to and from the ride!

Tips: Coming to thrope park alone or in a smaller group has its perks. Came alone to thrope park and was able to get on rides faster due to ‘Single Rider’ queues which is another queue next to the main where those riding alone or in a smaller group line. For example: SAW has a wait time of 65 mins however due to me being alone I was able to ride within a matter of 30 mins. To be honest, the queues weren’t as timely as it can get so the whole day moved really quickly

Get to the park early, before 10, to enjoy rides and have more time to go on the bigger rides. Got to the park before 10 and was in within a matter of 10 mins where the first ride I went on was Nemesis Inferno. Best choice as I was one of the first on the ride early in the morning before the queues got to the expected 1hr+ mark for the bigger rides.

Hotter days, drink lots of water! Tuesday was particularly hot however there are lots of water refill stations around some of the bigger rides which was helpful and great for accessibility for everyone

DOWNLOAD THE APP!!!! ITS EXTREMELY HELFUL!!!!

Don’t walk but RUN to Thrope Park and soon a new additional- Project Exodus will take centre...

Visited on a weekend in September - after Oktoberfest and before Halloween days, with 2 kids 13 and 9. We are theme parks enthousiasts. We stayed at the shark cabins but I won't rate them here.

We had very mixed feelings around Thorpe park. I will start with the negative points

First of all. The park is too LOUD. The music volume is so high that in some places (like near the ice cream shop from Stealth) that you can't even discuss with others and have to move elsewhere In some places of queuing lines this is the same. Music is good (fortunately) but at the end of the days it puts you in a higher level of tiredness and raises agressivity as you always have to scream.

The maintenance of the rides is problematic. We had way too many ride stops / breakdown on those 2 days. B&M suspended coasters are reliable machines, so how do you manage to get them stopped on the start of a Sunday like that ? Come on ...

The queue lines are terrible. I will speak specifically of the one for Hyperia. Not an inch of protection against rain or sun. Barriers are too high to let people seat - which is good in a way but then please put some things to make people seat from time to time. You just have few screens trying to keep you motivated for something you will wait way too long ... Also putting a shop and water is nice but then put toilets too !

And last big negative point - I know I am not gonna make friends here. Hyperia ... Why but WHY did you took the choice to have a coaster with such a small capacity / slow dispatch ?? While we were waiting 90 minutes, 3h away from there Ride to Happiness was marked at 35 minutes. Same day same weather. Waiting that much just lowers the experience. Is the first drop fantastic ? Hell yes. Are the other elements great ? For sure. But the seats are already vibrating. And as soon as some clouds are out warning messages reminds that it could close due to weather. Seriously ? We were not visiting on a special date and I can't even imagine what it can be in summer or for Halloween. That was a huge deception for us.

Parc Thema is good but nothing more. Some elements look very old and some places are dirty (so many chewing gums ...)

A last thing - food was very bad everywhere and too expensive but this is unfortunately what we were expecting.

On the other hand there are other great elements that balanced the experience there

First, the employees. All super nice, super smiling and making their best of the dispatch. Kudos to the ladies at the vibes kitchen !

People were also much more respectful than the usual - especially that close to a big city. British people are our #1 favorite co visitors now 😊

The park information on the website, the fact that you can easily chat with someone online, the system that lets you warn about anything bad happening in the queue. This is just fantastic. Imagine Parc Astérix with such a system !

And finally we had a lot of fun on the other coasters. Stealth is a great experience. And comfortable. The swarm is a beautiful machine and the integration in the Thema is great. A little short but "as usual" for wing coasters unfortunately Nemesis is so powerful ! And the layout is great.

We found Colosseus very very fun to ride and smoother than expected for such an old ride.

Saw was way too hurtful.

Dark rides are fun but could be much more enhanced, especially the walking dead. Just two actors at the end and all those corridors where nothing happens, what a pity. There is a big potential here !

The other rides are fun too (the high thrill ones) and this is nice to have such a diverse offer on them 😁

So overall we will probably come back again if we are nearby but we won't specifically come again. This park is as close as Phantasialand for us and the choice is...