Gabriella Blogs: Thorpe Park

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So after writing the blog post A List Of Things I Want to Do In My Life one of the things listed on it was to go to Thorpe Park. Well, at the weekend I finally went which means I have completed one of the things from my list! If you want to have a look at the blog post I will link it here-
http://gabriellagabble.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/a-list-of-things-i-want-to-do-in-my-life.html

I stayed near the Olympic Park in London Stratford at the weekend to visit my boyfriend who lives in Essex and we had decided to do something different from the usual shopping trips we have made whilst I visit London. We got the tube to Waterloo which was about £5.00 return ticket using a Rail Card on the tube for the whole day. To get to Thorpe Park we then got a train from Waterloo Station which was another £5.00 return ticket using the rail card again.

It was a lot easier than I had imagined to getting to Thorpe Park as once reaching Staines train station there was a shuttle bus which took you to Thorpe Park and included a return journey back to the train station later on in the day which was about £3.00 each per person which I thought that it was very cheap.

After seeing the Inbetweeners at Thorpe Park in one of the TV episodes it made me really want to go and I am glad I did. However, comparing it to Alton Towers which is another theme park in Staffordshire, Thorpe Park is a lot smaller in comparison. Despite it being smaller it does have some good rides which are very different from the ones in Alton Towers.

Thorpe Park is also located near some lovely scenery.

I would really recommend if you do go to Thorpe Park or Alton Towers or other Merlin attractions such as; Legoland Windsor Resort, Warwick Castle and many more. I would definitly get a 2 for 1 voucher because the whole day without them could become really expensive.

My favourite ride at Thorpe Park was: The Swarm.

The Swam is a Wing Coaster which features rows facing backwards and forwards. I went on the ride twice because I loved it so much but I faced forwards both times.

Reserve N Ride.

When I visited Thorpe Park it was on one of the days when they were trailing a new concept which is
a new system which allows you to book a time slot to ride The Swarm from your smartphones for free so you don't have to stand waiting in the queue. Thorpe Park website explained the system as 'No Queue Guarantee in the future'. I think the weekend I went was the last weekend of the Trail for this new system. If you want to understand this system more or interested in it visit the website as it explains it further: http://www.thorpepark.com/prices/reserve-and-ride.aspx

The pictures below are what you have to do to reserve your ride. When the counter reaches 00.00 that is when you are allowed to ride and is valid for an hour which gives you plenty of time to get back to the ride if you have been queuing for a different one.

The photograph below shows a barcode where the person at the ride who works there checks it in so you are then free to start queuing which didn't take long at all which was really good.

In my opinion I think the Reserve and Ride is a fantastic idea because despite it being a new ride I was able to go on it twice which with the other rides at Thorpe Park I could only go on them once because of the long queues. I think more rides should offer this brilliant new system.

I have also linked a Youtube video of The Swarm ride this Youtube Video isn't mine I just thought I would share it for you to have a look at.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeYjtROGSz8

The next ride which I really liked was The Stealth. This one was the first ride my boyfriend and myself went on and was fairly quiet when we started to queue early morning. I wish we had been able to ride this a second time but time just seemed to fly by for the whole day.

The other rides which I really enjoyed included, Nemesis Inferno, Detonator, Colossus, Saw-The Ride and Loggers Leap. The other rides which took over an hour to queue for was Colossus and Saw-The Ride. I think these would really benefit from the Reserve and Ride system maybe in the future.