Thorpe Park Resort

[Dan]

As featured on SouthParks News; Last night, THORPE PARK Official launched The Walking Dead: The Ride at a special VIP launch event. SouthParks were invited along to take a look at the Island’s headline attraction for The Year of The Walking Dead.

Will you be heading to the Island to try The Walking Dead: The Ride when it opens this Saturday 31st March?

[Chris]

I think they have a done a really good job from what they had to work with.

For the first time in the rides history, a stopping scene on one of the brake runs makes complete sense now.

Love the number plate on the van!

Here's our footage from last night. Spoilers.. obviously.

[youtube]hCW-TX9mH8A[/youtube]

[Ladyofthelake]

Having had the chance to experience the ride during the press night, I have to say I was plesantly surprised by it. The level of theming inside is fantastic with Easter eggs for fans of The Walking Dead and also a few nods to X:/ No Way Out.

The pre-show sets up the story for the attraction nicely, and is just the right length for what it needs to be. One of the things that I did have some questions about prior to experiencing it was just what would happen with the long corridors inside the building, however the way they have been themed really makes you feel like you are making your way through the tunnels in the safe zone.

I won't say anything more as I don't want to spoil it for anyone, however I will say that Thorpe have done a good job and the interior has been completely transformed. It's going to be interesting to see what the public make of it when it opens.

[Justin]

Just to add, they are a very good company to deal with. I usually pay via PayPal and I've had no issues.
As mentioned above, PayPal will give you a confirmation of how much it will cost in sterling before you purchase. If you purchase via your credit/debit card then conversion rates are usually added after and appear separately on your statement.

[MakoMania]

Seems to be getting mixed reactions to say the best. Lots of people commenting that it isn't as scary as advertised, which is true.

Still don't understand why they slapped a horror brand onto a family coaster. The branding and the ride itself just don't match.

[wamdue]

On this idea that using IP is a bad thing, I dont agree! I've not seen any of the Saw movies, but Saw: The Ride, is a good ride.

IP is more about marketing than the quality of the ride, and yes it helps alot with the themeing as well, but the trade off is you have to pay for that IP, and you never have full ownership of it, but this is a park with a "I'm a Celeb..." experience, so Thorpe Park is somewhere that uses IP alot.

[wamdue]

It's not a big name thrill ride of course, but I still enjoyed it. I hope they put something worth while in its place, but it's never going to be a big draw by itself.

[Dom]

I'm about to do a very spoiler full review so only read if you want spoilers

Spoiler

As i'm sure many of you have seen, the entrance to The Walking Dead The Ride is the watch tower and the whole queue is now outside, so will just say its quite slow batching. Once you actually enter the building it becomes different to everything you know when you enter the building. The pre show is literally right there and its a short pre show. Its direct and straight to the point about where you are and builds the tension very well. Its definitely one of the better scenes in the whole attraction. You then get told to go through a door and through the normal X queueline which has had a lick of paint and some signs to point out different areas of the so called safe zone. It also sets up the transit system which I actually like the idea of. As you get to the transit system (coaster) the theming picks up again with a load of hints to Walking Dead and the awesome number plate. The station now looks like a loading bay. Then you load onto the train and head into the transit system. I'm not going to lie, the first bits of theming you see are cheesy and a bit oh is that, but then it all changes from the second half. The moment you hit the brake run, its like its gets this lease of life and it turns into something actually quite cool. The reintroduction of the brake run with the screens is just brilliant and like others have said, makes sense to the story. The armoury scene is pretty cool and the aftermath of it is awesome. The last brake run before the depart station made me laugh though because the way a zombie is laced with the strobes it makes it look like she is dancing. Once you leave the transit system, its a case of going through the corridors again and they added a dark corridor bit with bits of string hanging down. There were no actors on the first run, but one on the second run and even then it wasn't that great. Its a really hit and miss retheme but overall it actually works

[Dan]

So, this is the current state of ride availability at Thorpe Park:



Having looked at the weather conditions for the park, it doesn’t seem to be anywhere near bad enough for that many attractions to be closed.

[Kenton80]

Does anyone know what time the annual pass office is open during the week? 

[Justin]

I've just had a look and it just states that it is open normal hours throughout the season. I would say though that it is likely to be open an hour before the park opens its gates and a little after, but I can't be sure.

[Kenton80]

I've just had a look and it just states that it is open normal hours throughout the season. I would say though that it is likely to be open an hour before the park opens its gates and a little after, but I can't be sure.

Thanks Justin

[DeadJack5]

I don't know if this was noted but Thorpe Park have updated their events page featuring the dates for their events.

https://www.thorpepark.com/events

[JamieDeath]

My quick review/summary:

TWDTR is where we headed straight away (so to avoid the inevitable queues later on in the day). We were near the frontish of the queue, about 4 or 5 batches went in before problems started, we were told some 'essential maintenance work' needed to be carried out - this resulted in about a 20 or so min delay. A few more batches went through, and then fire alarms started sounding, telling everyone to evacuate (with the theme of the ride you wouldn't have known straight away if this was part of the experience or not), after a while the ride hosts etc were evacuated from the building and we were stuck waiting until they had got the all clear to let people back in (took about 40mins). So overall didn't really give a very good first impression of the ride/good start of the day. As for the ride itself...

Spoiler

I was actually really impressed. The pre-show at the beginning I thought was a bit naff and just felt really fake and lacking atmosphere, but whatever it does the job. The queue line walk is the same old thing, except you are just walking straight to the dispatch instead of waiting, the ride host did a nice jump scare at us as we turned the corner to the loading area. I thought the ride was really good, great synced effects throughout the entirety of it, really impressed with the brakes used during the part where they are trying to 'restore the power' and you jolt forward a few times and break. The ride experience is on a complete new level to what it was like with X, and imo better than XNWO (and I'll admit I hated the idea of this whole Walking Dead re-theme thing). The end show I would have missed if I wasn't paying attention (after reading from online), but is a pretty nice idea. I also liked the pitch black tunnel bit you walk through on the way out, adds to it a bit. 

What does annoy me though is the throughput of this is absolutely terrible. The trains are sitting empty most of the time, whilst waiting for people to get batched and see the pre-show etc. I think the next batch should be sent through as soon as the pre-show finishes and to keep sending people through and so to make use of the inside queue, as at the moment it seems they wait for everyone to have boarded the trains before sending people into the pre-show.

The problems with the fire alarm and 'essential maintenance' were unacceptable, especially for a ride that isn't even new. I guess (well hope) they are just teething problems, but it is quite a simple ride and issues like this shouldn't really be happening.

[JamieDeath]

Visited last Sunday (Easter), thought I'd give a quick summary on my thoughts.

Went on TWDTR first - review posted in the other ride thread.

The rapids have definitely been worked on, and have greatly increased in speed and roughness. You actually get quite wet now! They just need to add some themeing or maybe slap some TWD IP on it to draw in the masses.

I was really impressed by park operations - two trains running on everything, I think Colossus started out with just the one but they added a second later on which dramatically shortened the wait time. Although the apps queue times and the actual queue times for everything seemed to be completely out of sync, not to sure what was going on there.  Rush was also running on both arms, which I think is a first for me to see, although, whenever I went to try get on it, it had broken down.

Unfortunately, unbeknown to me, Easter Sunday was Traveller's day, and as the day went on more and more turned up, and it seemed the only reason they were there was to cause fights/destroy stuff. It's a shame with the park only being open a few weeks and having been cleaned up, for them to be going around trying to cause as much carnage as possible. The poor ride attendants were having to put up with a lot from them too. A couple of them jumping over air gates for Stealth - seriously wtf? Security were there trying to do as much as they could but they were greatly outnumbered. Oh and on the subject of Stealth, the audio is completely out of sync now, and the last green light bulb still don't work?? Come on. At the end of the day we tried to get the bus back, but it was surrounded by travellers 'rushing them', trying to smash the windows, opening the emergency exit doors etc. We did get on one luckily, and the driver just had to drive with them clinging on from the outside in the end, a few of them were in the bus fighting with each other. 

DBGT: Not really a fan of the new changes. The VR was working well for me (I think, unless for the second VR scene there was something wrong which is why I didn't like the changes).

[Justin]

I took a ride on TWD:TR today and I must admit, from a person who has not watched a single episode, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I actually think I prefer it to Ghost Train which I do feel is very tired and tedious ride now. There are some very nice effects, especially towards the end of the WD ride, however, I do feel the transition to the Mega Store shop could be improved as it didn't feel right!

[Dan]

I experienced The Walking Dead: The Ride for the first time today, and I have to say I’m quite impressed with the changes Thorpe have made.

This post may contain some minor spoilers so if you’re trying to avoid any until you ride it for yourself, please skip through

The entrance is very impressive, but the queueline itself is quite bland and uninspiring. As has already been mentioned, all of the queueing is now done outside of the building, so it does seem to be very slow moving at times. We queued 60 minutes for it at the end of today but it felt like quite a bit longer.

The pre-show itself is simple enough and does the job, and you then make your way through the old indoor queueline, which I have to say is very well finished off and really adds to the experience.

The biggest surprise, for me, is how much they’ve done with the actual ride experience. I was initially concerned that it would be underwhelming after all the light and sound that made X fun for what it was, but I’m actually really impressed with what they’ve achieved. It also felt a lot faster to me, which I believe is down to the fact that they first couple of MCBR’s have been either turned off, or had their sensitivity reduced, which allows the train to carry its speed much better along the circuit. The addition to the last MCBR, which you now stop on, is very well executed and adds another positive onto the experience.

After disembarking the train, we encountered a couple of actors in the old baggage collection area, and the level of immersion is maintained until you exit the building. I did notice that the old chevrons on the wall are still there in one spot, but I’m not sure if that’s just to help people with their way out of the building. Either way, the majority of guests won’t notice them.

I’ll be honest and say that I wasn’t overly hyped for TWD:TR, but it is a pleasantly surprising experience, although not one I would queue more than half an hour for in future.

[Dan says hi]

Downtime:

So far this season, Quantum has been closed all season, presumably waiting for a new part. Also, Rush has been closed lots and seems to have been closed most of today and The Walking Dead seems to have had quite a bit of downtime as well!

[Adam W]

Went to Thorpe yesterday and the ride was shut pretty much all day. Apparently they've been having a lot of issues with animations on the screens hence the extensive downtime in the past few days. Slightly annoying considering I've been twice now and both times it's been shut all day :/

[AltonOperator]

Visited last Sunday (Easter), thought I'd give a quick summary on my thoughts.

Went on TWDTR first - review posted in the other ride thread.

The rapids have definitely been worked on, and have greatly increased in speed and roughness. You actually get quite wet now! They just need to add some themeing or maybe slap some TWD IP on it to draw in the masses.

I was really impressed by park operations - two trains running on everything, I think Colossus started out with just the one but they added a second later on which dramatically shortened the wait time. Although the apps queue times and the actual queue times for everything seemed to be completely out of sync, not to sure what was going on there.  Rush was also running on both arms, which I think is a first for me to see, although, whenever I went to try get on it, it had broken down.

Unfortunately, unbeknown to me, Easter Sunday was Traveller's day, and as the day went on more and more turned up, and it seemed the only reason they were there was to cause fights/destroy stuff. It's a shame with the park only being open a few weeks and having been cleaned up, for them to be going around trying to cause as much carnage as possible. The poor ride attendants were having to put up with a lot from them too. A couple of them jumping over air gates for Stealth - seriously wtf? Security were there trying to do as much as they could but they were greatly outnumbered. Oh and on the subject of Stealth, the audio is completely out of sync now, and the last green light bulb still don't work?? Come on. At the end of the day we tried to get the bus back, but it was surrounded by travellers 'rushing them', trying to smash the windows, opening the emergency exit doors etc. We did get on one luckily, and the driver just had to drive with them clinging on from the outside in the end, a few of them were in the bus fighting with each other. 

DBGT: Not really a fan of the new changes. The VR was working well for me (I think, unless for the second VR scene there was something wrong which is why I didn't like the changes).

Oh god that's terrible. That'd have really annoyed me. I can't believe there's people that think that's ok