is an Amusement Park in Chertsey , Surrey , England built in 1979 on the site of a gravel pit which was partially flooded to make a water theme park. It added its first Thrill Ride in 1987 , the ''Thunder River'' water ride.
Like many theme parks, Thorpe Park is split up into several distinctly themed areas.
Also known more commonly as 'The Dome'
This building contains such essentials as Guest Services, shops, toilets, lockers, a bar and staff areas.
This area of the park contains the majority of the thrill rides, and is loosely themed around a pre-historic lost kingdom. Rides include:
- Colossus - a ten-inversion roller coaster from Intamin AG. In 2006, another identical ride was opened in China making colossus the worlds first but not only 10 looping roller coaster.
- Samurai - a Mondial Topscan moved to here from Chessington .
- Vortex - a KMG Afterburner.
- Quantum - a Fabbri Magic Carpet ride.
- Zodiac - a Huss Enterprise. This has now been replaced with a newer enterprise from Drayton manor.
- - housed within a very distinctive red and blue pyramid-shaped building resides the world's first (and only) backwards in-the-dark roller coaster, built by Vekoma .
- Rush - an S&S Screaming Swing, this was the worlds largest air powered swing, but Cedar Point, Ohio opened "Skyhawk" in 2006 which is a larger version with 80 ft arms and a capacity of 40 riders.
Calypso Quay is home to:
- Nemesis Inferno - a B&M inverted rollercoaster, thought to include the familiar Nemesis (a popular roller coaster at Alton Towers ) within its name for marketing purposes. Themed as a giant volcano.
- Detonator - a Drop Tower in which riders are hoisted up 100ft, with legs dangling, and launched down by Pneumatics . This gives a comparable amount of airtime to freefalling from a tower twice as tall.
- Pirates 4D - a 3D cinema with water and vibrating effects in the seats.
- Ribena Rumba Rapids - A River Rapids ride by Intamin, which was updated (with sponsoring from Ribena) from Thunder River in 2002.
Themed around a Canadian creek, this area is home to:
- Loggers Leap - log flume
- Slammer - an S&S SkySwat, at the back of the X:\ No Way Out pyramid.
- Canada Creek Railway Station - for the trains taking visitors to Thorpe Farm. This is currently the only method for visitors to reach the farm due to the waterbuses/ferries being removed since the construction of Stealth began.
During the fright nights around halloween, Canada Creek also becomes home to the 'Hellgate' horror maze (previously '3D Freakshow').
Themed around a 1950's American fishing village devastated by a tidal wave. The rides in this area include:
- Tidal Wave - a 'shoot the chute' style ride from O.D Hopkins, on which you are carried in a 4 tonne reinforced GRP hull to a height of 85 feet over a 3 million gallon lagoon. The boat is then dropped down a track into the lagoon with an impact force of 1.5 G , forcing 3 tonnes of water into the air. Most of this water either shoots straight up and lands back on the riders, or shoots forward in a long spray that reaches 'Pier 13' where spectators can stand, meant to represent a tidal wave.
- Storm in a tea cup - this ride was rethemed to look worn down and damaged from the tidal wave
- Stealth - Thorpe Park's newest rollercoaster which opened in 2006. The ride is built by Swiss designers Intamin and features an 80mph (128kmph) launch up a 205ft hill and a vertical drop.
Ranger county is themed totally around the 'Thorpe Park Rangers' mascots, which are becoming more and more phased out of the park's identity as the years progress. The current rides consist of:
- Mr Monkey's Banana Ride - a small swinging ship type ride, themed to a banana.
- Chief Ranger's Carousel - containing figurines of the Thorpe Park rangers and references to past rides.
- Miss Hippo's Fungle Safari - Cars travel around a short track through figurines and shrubbery.
During the Fright Nights events in October, Ranger County also contains a themed maze, which most recently has been known as 'The Asylum' since 2005.
Themed around the mythical Neptune, this area is home to:
- Depth Charge - a four lane water chute ride
- Neptune's Beach - two large paddling pools for small children with various fountains and an imitation sandy beach (swimming costume required).
- Wet Wet Wet - 3 water chutes (swimming costume and no boats required)
A small aquatic-themed area with several small rides for very young children.
The Farm is reachable by the Canada Creek Railway (This is currently the only method of visitors reaching the farm due to the waterbuses/ferries being removed since the construction of Stealth began). Thorpe Farm features many live animals, such as sheep, pigs and goats. There is also a small gift shop and a restaurant present on the farm.
- Pre-1987
- ---A few attractions including the Cinema, Magic Mill, Waterbus services, Model World, Railway, Teacups, Nature Trails and Sunken Gardens.
- 1988
- ---Palladium Theatre opened.
- 1989
- ---Canada Creek area opened.
--Loggers Leap (largest Log Flume in the UK until 1993 ) opened.
--Rocky Express opened.
- 1990
- ---Re-themed Space Station Zero into the Flying Fish.
- ---Carousel Kingdom opened.
- ---The Rangers Show opened.
- ---Drive in the country opened.
- 1991
- ---Fantasy Reef area refurbished.
--Depth Charge opened.
- 1992
- ---Children's area refurbished.
--Viking Rowers opened.
--Hudson River Rafters opened.
- 1993
- ---Calgary Stampede opened.
- ---Virtual Reality Centre opened.
- ---Magic Mill closed.
- 1994
- ---Ranger County area opened.
--Carousel opened.
--Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride opened.
- 1995
- ---Mr Rabbit's Tropical Travels opened.
- ---Miss Hippo's Fungle Safari opened.
- ---Drive in the country closed.
- 1996
- ---X:/ No Way Out, the world's first dark backwards roller coaster opened.
- 1998
- --- The Tussauds Group purchase the park.
- ---Palladium Theatre closed.
- ---Ranger Show closed.
- ---Dare Devil Drivers opened.
- ---Wet Wet Wet! opened.
- 1999
- ---Pirates 4D, a 4D cinema attraction starring Leslie Nielsen opened.
- ---Carousel Kingdom closed.
- ---Viking Rowers closed.
- 2000
- ---Tidal Wave, a Shoot the Chute made by Hopkins Rides, opened becoming the tallest ride in the park, at that time.
- ---Dare Devil Drivers closed.
- ---Bumper Boats closed.
- --- On July 21 a major fire broke out in the centre of the park.
-- This destroyed The Wicked Witches Haunt and Mr Rabbit's Tropical Travels rides, which both closed immediately.
-- An enterprise was drafted in as a replacement.
- 2001
- ---The lost city area was established, with the enterprise (that was introduced in 2000) being rethemed and renamed Zodiac and Vortex (A KMG afterburner) as it's first rides.
- ---Thunder River closed, ready to be revamped into Ribena Rumba Rapids for the 2002 season
- ---Detonator, Mega Drop made by Fabbri, opened in calypso quay.
- 2002
- --- Colossus , An Intamin rollercoaster with a record-breaking 10 inversions, opened.
- ---Safiri High Dive show opened for one season.
- ---Thunder River re-opened as Ribena Rumba Rapids.
- 2003
- ---Nemesis Inferno, a Bolliger And Mabillard inverted rollercoaster themed around a tropical volcano opened.
- ---Also Quantum, a ' Magic Carpet ' ride, opened.
- ---Eclipse, a Ferris Wheel , opened.
- ---A spiderman show was performed in the arena. This continued into 2004 and was replaced in 2005 by Stuntzmania
- ---Calgary Stampede closed, to make way for Samurai from chessington
- 2004
- ---Samurai, a Mondial Top Scan, moved from Chessington , opened.
- ---New Spiderman show opened.
- ---Flying Fish closed at the end of the season to make way for Stealth, an Intamin rocket coaster opening 2006.
- 2005
- ---Eclipse was removed from park and moved to Chessington, renamed Peeking Heights.
- ---Slammer, a S&S Skyswat opened, albeit not at the start of the season.
- ---Rush, the world’s biggest air-powered speed swing, opened 27 May after successful testing.
- 2006
- --- Stealth , an Intamin Accelerator Coaster which launches riders from 0-80mph in 2.5 seconds opened.
- --- Zodiac was removed and replaced with another Enterprise, sourced from Drayton Manor.
- --- Stuntz Mania show replaced by StreetXtreme in the arena
- 2007
- ---Refurbishment and re-theme of 'X:\No Way Out'
- ---Re installation of the 'Flying Fish' ride. This ride will be located to the right of the 'Tidal Wave' ride
- 2008
- ---The park's fourth major rollercoaster is due to open. Though little is known about this ride, it is thought that it will be in the area that is/was occupied by Loggers Leap. In 2006/2007 land reclamation from the lake will begin. It is rumoured that the ride will be on the same scale as Nemesis Inferno and talk amongst staff at the park may suggest a Flying Coaster, like Air at Alton Towers.
- 2010/2011
- ---Treasure Island kids corner which would include 3 flat rides.
- 2011/2012
- ---A Fantasy Island/Runaway Train ride and play zone.
- 2012/2013
- ---A Haunted House ride.
- 2013/2014
- ---A Bobsleigh Ride south of the Dome.
- 2016/2018
- --- Unknown. Possibly the removal of X:\ No Way Out for the installation of a LIM (Linear Induction Motor) coaster.
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