Thorpe Park Resort

SpinballEdders · Sat Mar 17, 2012 8:36 pm

The queues for me were:

90 Mins (front row right)
70 Mins (front row left)
20- 30 Mins (row 2 left)
30 Mins (Row 4 Left)

an excellent solid ride though, the only cons I have are with the cattle pen queues and the ride length. But to see a Amazing themed B&M is not common, and I'm glad Thorpe has one

Sat Mar 17, 2012 9:03 pm

Have to agree with AstwoDan,
The Swarm is greatly themed, and supplies a great first drop. But after that...it just seemed to lack any real fibre for me. It's great in appearance, I look at it and I want to love the ride as much as I love the theming but the ride is just a lot like Air, smooth but slow.
I also think if not already planned that they should build a walkway across to Stealth as during the season it will get tedious having to walk to it from the 'main park' via a side path near Flying Fish.
All in all it is worth a couple of rides, but once people realise it's not as intense as marketed (shades of th13teen, which was originally marketed as a horror ride but is now known as a family grade ride.) they will leave the area. I know it was opening weekend but I noticed colossus and Nemesis having 30 mins+ queues at times on Friday, but Swarm never getting above 5 minutes.
All in all, it's okay, but going for the on-ride experience, after the main drop it's mediocre. The theming is impeccable and I really wish I liked it more, I want to like it, but it just doesn't deliver. It's Merlin having the size but not knowing what to do with it. Quantitiy not Quality ride wise, but theming is great on the eyes :

Modification: Oh, and what do I see when I first approached the area...trim brakes on the first drop?!?!?

Sat Mar 17, 2012 9:20 pm

Is anyone thinking the single rider setup is going to cause problems in peak season?

djtruefitt · Sat Mar 17, 2012 9:33 pm

They dont have a single rider on Swarm. Infact they have now removed single rider from Stealth, now replaced with a disabled enterance (slightly strange when they have a disabled lift), and they have replaced it on the flying fish with a First Plaice (Thorpes words, not mine) queue - front row queue.

Sat Mar 17, 2012 9:35 pm

Finally... wrote:I also think if not already planned that they should build a walkway across to Stealth as during the season it will get tedious having to walk to it from the 'main park' via a side path near Flying Fish.

Somewhere in the topic somebody quoted someone from the park saying that this was planned (through the Sunken Gardens) but it was scrapped.

It will only be built as access to the 2015 coaster and then access between Swarm and 2015 will also be built to connect the whole thing in a loop.

djtruefitt · Sat Mar 17, 2012 9:58 pm

I quite like it at the moment being away from the main park, which does make it seem more realistic, rather than some themed areas which just mix in with each other. However there is still plenty of building work going on behind Swarm and you can see that it will join on to the main park at some point, next to the queue enterance there are gates which go in the right direction towards Stealth. I imagine when they add the next ride next to Swarm they will conect it all up.

SpinballEdders · Sat Mar 17, 2012 10:03 pm

bit off topic but it was really great to hear the entrance music being played at the entrance once again, as well as various other music playing throughout the park from which I have not heard in a while

Sat Mar 17, 2012 10:36 pm

I don't see why they would have to destroy Sunken Garden to get a bridge across.

There is plenty room to the left of it for an entrance to a bridge across.

Dormiens-Dave · Sat Mar 17, 2012 10:42 pm

CoasterCrazyChris wrote: I don't see why they would have to destroy Sunken Garden to get a bridge across.

There is plenty room to the left of it for an entrance to a bridge across.

Guessing the space to the left will connect to Island number 3 that will connect to Island number 2 (Swarm) and create a new loop in the park

Sat Mar 17, 2012 10:44 pm

Dormiens-Dave wrote:
CoasterCrazyChris wrote: I don't see why they would have to destroy Sunken Garden to get a bridge across.

There is plenty room to the left of it for an entrance to a bridge across.
Guessing the space to the left will connect to Island number 3 that will connect to Island number 2 (Swarm) and create a new loop in the park

That is exactly what is apparently planned - according to something I read in this thread.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sun Mar 18, 2012 8:51 am

Well YMAS's 'The Swarm' is out now. Has anyone else purchased it?

Sun Mar 18, 2012 10:10 am

I really enjoyed my rides on The Swarm yesterday. It seems to have a perfect balance between intensity and the "floaty-airy" feeling. This meant that most of the elements had a really unusual sensation which was just really fun. The theming was also sensational with so much detail in what's there. A few things I would complain about were the front row queue, which just seemed to bring problems when loading into the station, at one point there was such a backlog of people with front row that there wasn't anyone there not queuing for front row, leaving the whole of one side of the train empty. Of course it's early days for this system so things do need ironing out, but it still seemed like a very bizarre way to do it.

As for a comparison to Raptor, The Swarm is a much better ride experience, but I felt the landscaping on Raptor was significantly better, where it is nestled really nicely in the area.

It's also quite hard to imagine that a coaster with this level of detail and ride quality is in Thorpe Park. Every year I visit it just seemed to look more tired and ageing. Pretty much all the other coasters felt rougher to me, especially Saw which was really not pleasant. It just felt quite a bit more depressing to visit. It's a shame I liked The Swarm so much as it means I'll be wanting to ride again, which involves visiting Thorpe...

Sun Mar 18, 2012 10:57 am

I got the song earlier. I had a pound left on my account, and there wasn't anything else I wanted, so I thought I'd buy it!

I really can't wait until I go to Thorpe Park this year (if I do). The Swarm looks great! I think the theming looks amazing!

Sun Mar 18, 2012 11:51 am

Just posted by CF. Great video, and the helicopter blades are now spinning...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1-gU1udfhY&feature=g-all-u&context=G2af1fe1FAAAAAAAAAAA

Sun Mar 18, 2012 11:57 am

At Thorpe now and done Swarm. It was fun but not even close to being UK number one ride.

Sent from my HTC Desire HD A9191 using Tapatalk

Sun Mar 18, 2012 12:07 pm

SpinballEdders wrote: But to see a Amazing themed B&M is not common, and I'm glad Thorpe has one

Nemesis Inferno?

SpinballEdders · Sun Mar 18, 2012 12:15 pm

Charlee wrote:
SpinballEdders wrote: But to see a Amazing themed B&M is not common, and I'm glad Thorpe has one
Nemesis Inferno?

Inferno amazingly themed? don't make me laugh :P

AdrenalineAlex · Sun Mar 18, 2012 1:26 pm

Inferno isn't as badly themed as everyone makes out. Anyway, I'm going tomorrow so obviously I'll be able to nab a few pictures and such and I'll post them in here along with my review

Sun Mar 18, 2012 1:45 pm

SpinballEdders wrote:
Charlee wrote:
SpinballEdders wrote: But to see a Amazing themed B&M is not common, and I'm glad Thorpe has one
Nemesis Inferno?
Inferno amazingly themed? don't make me laugh :P

You're right, there's no themeing there at all.

Dormiens-Dave · Sun Mar 18, 2012 1:46 pm

Walk 20 yards to the right and take that photo again