Thorpe Park, Surrey
IF you are looking for extreme thrills, lots of fun and a proper soaking, then follow in our footsteps to Thorpe Park.
If you have a family of teenage daredevils, or younger funseekers like my two, then you are definitely guaranteed a packed day of fun, laughs and stomach somersaults along the way.
The park is definitely an extreme day out, and was the perfect opportunity for Joseph to try out some ‘proper’ rollercoasters – as the boys like to call them.
Joseph was above the minimum height for all the rides, but we decided to avoid its new extreme terror rollercoaster, Saw – The Ride, as it is not recommended for children under 12.
Joseph chose to ride Stealth instead but I half expected him to leave the queue as we watched countless screaming people taking off along the track.
He decided to give it a go and took his seat in the ride, which went from 0-80mph in under two seconds, before climbing a massive 205ft in the air and coming back down again.
While Joseph got off the ride looking rather pale, he was grinning from ear to ear with his achievement.
Other extreme rides included Detonator, which took us up to 100ft, where we sat for a while before being dropped at 45mph with a force of 5.5G’s back to the ground again.
At 1.3m tall, Josh was not big enough to go on a number of the rides, but this didn’t stop the fun as there were plenty of others with minimum height restrictions of 1.3m, 1.2m and 1.1m.
There is even a special area for even younger children, so they don’t miss out on the fun either.
We all got on the Flying Fish which Josh thought was great as it went quite fast and had a number of tight turns, all of which was ridden three times in a row before the man controlling it brought us to a stop again.
Although there were a wide range of coasters to go on, it was definitely the water rides the boys loved the most.
They didn’t stop laughing on all of them, particularly as it always seemed to be me who was sitting in the wrong place at the wrong time and got off totally drenched.
We rode Loggers Leap, an amazing log flume ride, as well as the Rumba Rapids, which tossed us around like a cork along a river.
We then raced each other down the four-lane 40ft slide, Depth Charge, aboard individual inflatables before getting soaked at the bottom.
Although you will probably get wet on all of them, if you want to guarantee a soaking then take your seat on Tidal Wave – it’s amazing.
After riding a heart stopping 85ft plunge on one of he UK’s tallest log flumes, the ride creates a huge wall of water which eventually falls again – on the occupants of the ride, as well as many bystanders.
If you are not brave enough to get on then there is always the Soak Zone, where you can watch the ride before getting drenched by the wall of water it creates.
My two thought it was great and waited time and again for the spray of water until they were in need of a change of clothes from the car.
If you do go near the zone then be careful. I saw one woman waiting to take a photograph of her children in the zone, only for the water to travel a bit further than expected, miss the children and totally drench her instead.
Another experience the boys thought was great was the 4-D movie, Time Voyagers. The short film was brilliant with plenty of moments that made us jump, and even some water thrown in along the way.
I would definitely recommend a day out at Thorpe Park - we all thought it was great.
I would only suggest that you measure up the kids before you leave, so there are no disappointments with the height restrictions, and pack plenty of spare clothes and shoes in the car – you’ll need them!
JOSEPH'S VERDICT:
Thorpe Park was brilliant. There were some massive rides and I went on Stealth. It was fast. It travelled to 80mph in less than two seconds and you could feel your face going all funny. It was the biggest rollercoaster I have ever been on.
I liked the Splash Zone from Tidal Wave and got so wet that mum had to take me back to the car to get changed.
I really liked the water rides and we kept on laughing because mum always seemed to get the wettest.
The Time Voyagers film was also really good.
JOSHUA'S VERDICT:
I liked Thorpe Park because when we got there we saw this water slide and it goes about 150ft in the air and then it turns around and then comes back down really fast and then the water splashes over this big roof.
I liked the 4-D film because there was this space craft and there were these two robots. One was controlling the space ship and the other was telling us about the story and there was a scary bit when this big eel came out. It splashed water at us in some parts.
FACTFILE:
DIRECTIONS: Thorpe Park can be found in Chertsey, Surrey, 20 miles from London. It is signposted from junctions 11 and 13 of the M25. It is also accessible by train with regular services from Waterloo to Staines.
OPENING TIMES: At 9.30am or 10pm, and closes at either 5pm, 6pm, 7pm, 8pm or 10pm, depending on when you want to visit, so check out the website before you leave.
ENTRANCE: Gate entrance is £35 for adults, £21 for children, £92 for families of four, and £115 for families of five. You can save up to 20 per cent off ticket prices by booking on line. On line prices are £28 for adults, £18 for children, £82 for families of four, or £97 for families of five.
FURTHER INFORMATION: Visit www.thorpe
park.com or call 0871 663 1673.
* Visited May 2009
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