Thorpe Park facts for kids

For other uses, see Thorpe Park (disambiguation).

Quick facts for kids
Thorpe Park Resort
Attractions

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; 46 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)
Total	26
Roller coasters	7
Water rides	4

Thorpe Park Resort, often called Thorpe Park, is a super fun amusement park in Surrey, England. It's owned and run by Merlin Entertainments. The park has lots of exciting rides, a cool hotel, and special live events. One of its most famous rides is Stealth, which is the fastest rollercoaster in the UK!

Thorpe Park used to be a gravel pit. This was a place where they dug up sand and stones. In 1979, it was turned into an outdoor activity park. Since then, it has grown into one of the biggest theme parks in the UK.

Some of the most popular attractions include the huge water ride Tidal Wave. There are also many thrilling rollercoasters like Colossus, Nemesis Inferno, Stealth, Saw – The Ride, The Swarm, and The Walking Dead: The Ride. You can also find the spooky dark ride Derren Brown's Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon. Other fun spots include Amity Beach, a water play area, and a special land themed around Angry Birds. If you want to stay overnight, there's the Thorpe Shark Hotel right at the park! A new maze attraction called Black Mirror Labyrinth opened in 2021.

Park History

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

The land where Thorpe Park now stands was once a gravel pit. This was after the Thorpe Park Estate was taken down in the 1930s. A company called Ready Mixed Concrete Limited owned it. After they finished digging for gravel, they filled part of the site with water. In 1975, the Water Ski World Championships were even held there!

Ready Mixed Concrete then created a new company, Leisure Sport Limited. They spent £3 million to turn the 400-acre site into a park. It was for water sports, fun activities, and history displays.

Lord Louis Mountbatten officially opened the park on May 24, 1979. Besides lakes and parkland, it had cool features. These included a copy of a Stone Age cave and a Celtic farm. There was also a Norman castle and a Viking camp. You could also see old water vehicles and aircraft.

In the early 1980s, Thorpe Park started to become a theme park. They added permanent rides and attractions. New rides opened throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Space Station Zero was the park's very first rollercoaster. It opened in 1984. The last big ride opened by the original owners was "X:\No Way Out" in 1996.

In 1998, The Tussauds Group bought Thorpe Park. They quickly added major attractions. These included Tidal Wave in 2000 and Colossus in 2002. Nemesis Inferno opened in 2003, and Stealth in 2006.

In 2007, Merlin Entertainments took over running Thorpe Park. They aim to attract teenagers and young adults. This is why they added rides like Saw - The Ride and The Swarm. Later, in 2014, Merlin also started to attract families. They added new areas like Angry Birds Land and the park's hotel.

On February 20, 2019, Thorpe Park announced that Loggers Leap was permanently closed. This log flume ride opened in 1989 but had been closed since 2015.

On February 25, 2020, Thorpe Park announced a new live action attraction. It was based on the TV show Black Mirror. This maze, called Black Mirror Labyrinth, opened in 2021. Its opening was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rides and Attractions

Rollercoasters

Name	Type	Opened	Territory	Manufacturer	Fun Facts
The Swarm	Wing Coaster	2012	Swarm Island	Bolliger & Mabillard	This was the UK's first winged coaster. It was also the first winged coaster with an upside-down 'wing-over drop'. From 2013 to 2016, the back two rows faced backwards! You must be 1.4m to 1.95m tall to ride.
SAW -The Ride	Euro-Fighter	2009	Old Town	Gerstlauer	This ride has a 100-foot drop that goes beyond straight down (100 degrees!). It's based on the SAW horror movies. It was called the world's first horror movie themed rollercoaster. You must be 1.4m tall to ride.
Stealth	Hydraulic Launched Coaster	2006	Amity	Intamin	This coaster is 205 feet tall! It goes from 0 to 80 mph in just 1.9 seconds. It's the second tallest and fastest coaster in the UK. It has a cool 1950s drag racing theme. You must be 1.4m to 1.95m tall to ride.
Nemesis Inferno	Inverted	2003	The Jungle	Bolliger & Mabillard	This B&M inverted coaster opened in 2003. It's named after Nemesis at Alton Towers. It has a volcano theme and was the first inverted coaster with interlocking corkscrews. You must be 1.4m tall to ride.
Colossus	Steel Sit down	2002	Lost City	Intamin	When it opened, it was the 'world's first ten looping rollercoaster'! This record has now been beaten. It has a lost civilization theme. You must be 1.4m to 1.95m tall to ride.
Walking Dead: The Ride	Steel Sit down	1996 (2013) (2018)	The Dock Yard	Vekoma	This ride is inside a pyramid in the middle of the park. It's based on The Walking Dead (TV series) show. On busy days, live actors are part of the exit! It was once called X and then X:\No Way Out. You must be 1.4m tall to ride.
Flying Fish	Steel powered coaster	1984 (1990) (2007)	Amity	Mack Rides	This is a powered coaster. It first opened in 1984 as an indoor ride called Space Station Zero. It moved outside in 1990. It reopened near Amity Beach in 2007. You must be 0.9m tall to ride.

Flat Rides

Name	Type	Opened	Territory	Manufacturer	Fun Facts
Timber Tug Boat	Rockin' Tug	2017	Old Town	Zamperla	This ride moved from Weymouth Sea Life and opened in 2017. You must be 0.9m tall to ride.
Lumber Jump	Frog Hopper	2017	Old Town	Zamperla	This ride also moved from Weymouth Sea Life and opened in 2017. You must be 0.9m tall to ride.
King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems	Dodgems	2014	Angry Birds Land	Bertazzon	These bumper cars were added in 2014 for Angry Birds Land. You must be 1.1m tall (or with an adult over 1.3m).
Rush	Screamin' Swing	2005	Lost City	S&S Worldwide	This huge swing ride goes up to 40 mph! It's the only ride of its kind in the UK. You must be 1.3m tall to ride.
Samurai	Top Scan	2004	Old Town	Mondial	This ride used to be at Chessington World of Adventures Resort. It was repainted when it moved to Thorpe Park. You must be 1.4m tall to ride.
Quantum	Magic Carpet	2003	Lost City	Fabbri Group	This is a large magic carpet ride. You must be 1.2m tall to ride.
Zodiac	Enterprise	2001	Lost City	HUSS	This HUSS Enterprise ride opened in 2001. It moved from Drayton Manor Theme Park. You must be 1.1m tall to ride.
Vortex	Afterburner	2001	Lost City	KMG	This KMG Afterburner ride opened in June 2001. You must be 1.4m tall to ride.
Detonator: Bombs Away	Drop Tower	2001	Angry Birds Land	Fabbri Group	This drop tower is 35m tall! It goes down at 45 mph. It was renamed 'Detonator: Bombs Away' in 2014. You must be 1.3m tall to ride.
Rocky Express	Sea Storm	1989	Old Town	Mack Rides	This is a family-friendly spinning train ride. You must be 0.9m tall to ride.
Mr Monkey's Banana Ride	Pirate Ship	1994	The Jungle	Metallbau Emmeln	A small banana-themed swinging ship ride. You must be 0.9m tall to ride.
Storm in a Teacup	Teacups	1986	Amity	Mack Rides	This is a classic teacups ride. It has been sponsored by Tetley since 2011. You must be 1.1m tall to ride.

Water Rides

Name	Type	Opened	Territory	Manufacturer	Fun Facts
Rumba Rapids	River rapids ride	1987	The Jungle	Intamin	This ride opened in 1987 as Thunder River. It's one of the oldest rides still at Thorpe Park.
Storm Surge	Spinning Rapids Ride	2011	Amity	WhiteWater West	This ride lifts you 19.5m high and then spins you down a spiral slide! It used to be in Florida, USA.
Tidal Wave	Shoot the Chute	2000	Amity	Hopkins Rides	When it opened in 2000, this was the tallest water ride in Europe! You must be 1.2m tall to ride.
Depth Charge	Water slide	1991	Amity	NV Aquatic	This was the first four-lane dinghy waterslide in the UK.

Other Attractions

Name	Type	Opened	Territory	Manufacturer	Fun Facts
Derren Brown's Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon	Dark Ride	2016	The Dock Yard	Various, including Intamin, Simworx and Figment Productions	This is a multi-sensory virtual reality dark ride. It was made with the help of Derren Brown.
Angry Birds 4D Experience	4D Cinema	2014	Angry Birds Land	Simworx	A 4D cinema showing the Angry Birds movie.
Amity Beach	Beach Area with Pool and Waterslides	1979	Amity		This water play area was originally called "Fantasy Reef".
Jungle Escape	Escape Room	2019	The Jungle	Rogue Productions/ Thorpe Park Resort	An escape room where you solve puzzles to escape The Huntsman.
Black Mirror Labyrinth	Maze Attraction	2021	Old Town		A maze that uses cool technology and tricky environments.

Park Areas (Territories)

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

Amity
The Dock Yard
The Jungle
Lost City
Swarm Island

Port and Basecamp is where you enter the park. It has the turnstiles, a bridge, and a big dome.
Amity (once called 'Amity Cove') opened with Tidal Wave. It now has Stealth, Depth Charge, Wet Wet Wet, Amity Beach, and Storm Surge.
The Jungle has Nemesis Inferno, Rumba Rapids, and Mr Monkey's Banana Ride. You can also find restaurants here.
Angry Birds Land is themed like the Angry Birds video game. It has Angry Birds 4D, King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems, and Detonator: Bombs Away.
Old Town is at the back of the park. It includes Saw - The Ride, Rocky Express, Timber Tug Boat, Black Mirror Labyrinth, and Lumber Jump.
Lost City is home to Colossus, Rush, Quantum, Vortex, and Zodiac.
Swarm Island is the area around The Swarm rollercoaster.
The Dock Yard is the area outside Derren Brown's Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon. It also has The Walking Dead: The Ride rollercoaster.

Port and Basecamp

This area is where you start your adventure at Thorpe Park! It has the entrance gates and a bridge. This leads to a large building called 'the dome'. Inside the dome, you'll find 'The Infinity Restaurant', an arcade, a cafe, and shops. There are also guest services, first aid, and photo spots.

The dome used to be called 'Port Atlantis'. It had an underwater theme, but most of that has been removed.

The Dome stays open even after the park closes. This is for guests staying at the Thorpe Shark Cabins. They can enjoy food and entertainment there.

Amity

Amity looks like a 1950s American fishing village. It's themed as if a tidal wave hit it! This area opened with Tidal Wave in 2000. It was once called 'Amity Cove'. In 2006, Stealth was added, themed as 'Amity Speedway'.

Later, rides from the old 'Neptune's Beach' family area moved here. These include Depth Charge, Wet Wet Wet, and the Amity Beach outdoor water park.

Rides from the old 'European Park' area also moved to Amity. These are Flying Fish and Storm In A Teacup. In 2011, the water ride Storm Surge was moved here from Florida, USA.

The Jungle

The main rides in The Jungle are Nemesis Inferno and Rumba Rapids. Nemesis Inferno is an inverted coaster set inside a volcano. Rumba Rapids is a fun river rapids ride. This area used to be called 'Calypso Quay'. It now also includes parts of the old 'Ranger County' family area. This includes Mr Monkey's Banana Ride.

In 2019, Jungle Escape opened. This is an escape room game. It's in the building that used to house the I'm a Celebrity... Maze.

Angry Birds Land

Angry Birds Land opened in May 2014. It's themed like the popular Angry Birds video game! Here you can find Angry Birds 4D, a 4D cinema. There are also King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems (bumper cars). And don't forget Detonator: Bombs Away, a thrilling drop tower ride.

The Dock Yard

This area is mainly the entrance to Derren Brown's Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon. This is an indoor dark ride. It also has The Walking Dead: The Ride, an indoor rollercoaster. The area has some buildings and decorations from an old children's area. These include a large shop and carnival games.

Lost City

The Lost City is themed like the ruins of an ancient city. The Colossus rollercoaster is the main attraction here. It opened in 2002. The area first opened in 2001 with Vortex and Zodiac. In 2003, Quantum, a magic carpet ride, opened. More rides have joined since then. Rush, a huge swing ride, opened in 2005.

Old Town

The main ride in Old Town is Saw - The Ride. This rollercoaster has a 100-foot drop that goes beyond straight down! It's themed like a spooky warehouse from the Saw movies. The flat ride Samurai moved here from Chessington World of Adventures in 2004.

Timber Tug Boat and Lumber Jump are children's rides. They moved here from a SeaLife park. This area is also home to the new Black Mirror Labyrinth experience. Old Town has a Burger King and other food places.

This area used to be called 'Canada Creek'. It was the home of the Loggers Leap log flume. That ride opened in 1989. It had a Canadian forest theme, but most of that is gone now. Rocky Express is the only ride left from 'Canada Creek'.

Loggers Leap has been closed since 2015 and was confirmed to be permanently closed in 2019. Another ride, Slammer, is also closed permanently.

Swarm Island

Swarm Island is the area around The Swarm rollercoaster. This ride opened in 2012. The area was built on land taken from the surrounding lakes. It's themed like a scary disaster zone! You'll see a crashed plane, damaged emergency vehicles, and a destroyed church. The ride station is even inside the church!

Park Records

Nemesis Inferno was the first inverted coaster with interlocking corkscrews.
The Swarm was Europe's tallest Wing coaster when it opened.
Saw – The Ride has a very steep drop. It was marketed as the world's first horror movie themed rollercoaster.
Colossus held the world record for the most inversions (loops) on a rollercoaster in 2002, with 10! Now, The Smiler at Alton Towers has more.
Stealth is the UK’s fastest roller coaster. It launches from 0 to 80 mph in just 1.9 seconds! It's also the UK’s second tallest roller coaster, at 205 feet.
Rush was the world's largest screamin’ swing when it opened in 2005.
Tidal Wave was Europe’s tallest water ride when it opened.

Events

Thorpe Park holds several fun events throughout the year:

Oktoberfest (September - Early October): The park offers live music and entertainment. You can also enjoy German food and drinks. Rides stay open late, and some even have Bavarian-themed music!
Fright Nights (October - Early November): This is Thorpe Park's biggest Halloween event! The park stays open late, and there are scary mazes, shows, and spooky areas. Actors in costumes roam around the park.

Thorpe Park has also held other unique events like Zombie Hunt and GameFX.

Fright Nights

Fright Nights is Thorpe Park's famous Halloween event. It's been running since 2002. The park stays open until 10 pm, and you can explore many temporary Halloween attractions. There are also actors dressed up to scare you! Guests usually go through the scare mazes in groups. Sometimes, you can even pay extra to go through a maze alone!

In 2013, Fright Nights got a new horror movie theme. This was thanks to a deal with Lionsgate Films. Many old attractions were replaced with new ones based on horror movies.

In 2014, when the Thorpe Shark Hotel opened, they even had an overnight scare experience. Live actors would try to scare you while you were in your bed!

In 2017, Fright Nights changed again with a Walking Dead theme. Two new Walking Dead attractions opened.

In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, only two mazes were open. But many new scare zones were added! These included The Swarm: Invasion and Creek Freaks Unchained. There were also roaming actors called The Crows.

Hotel

You can stay overnight at the 'Thorpe Shark Cabins'. These are 90 rooms made from shipping containers. They are connected to the main dome building. The hotel entrance looks like a shark's head! It's made from old park signs.

The hotel first opened in 2013 as 'The Crash Pad'. Thorpe Park bought it the next year and renamed it the Thorpe Shark Hotel.

Thorpe Park had plans to build a bigger, permanent hotel. It would have had 250 rooms. They even got permission in 2014. But they decided to extend the Shark Hotel's permission instead.

Images for kids

Thorpe Park Lake in July 1979, the year the park opened to the public
The Swarm rollercoaster
SAW - The Ride
Stealth rollercoaster
Nemesis Inferno
Colossus rollercoaster
The Walking Dead: The Ride
Flying Fish rollercoaster
Rush ride
Samurai ride
Quantum ride
Zodiac ride
Vortex ride
Detonator: Bombs Away
Rocky Express
Storm Surge ride
Tidal Wave ride
Depth Charge water slide
Derren Brown's Ghost Train
Amity Beach

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