Days out near London – Thorpe Park

If your kids have a love for coasters and thrill rides, Thorpe Park is the place to head to. My boys are 11 and 14 and it did not disappoint. Among the line-up is Stealth – the UK’s fastest coaster, Colossus – the world’s first ten looping coaster and SAW – The Ride – the world’s first horror-movie themed coaster.

There’s also Swarm, which even if you’re not going on the ride, you need to wander around the approach to it to take in the alien invasion theme. There are crashed out vehicles, a destroyed billboard and sirens – and it really is impressive. There is even a fake news report. It’s all very cleverly done and the ride is super-fast. We also liked Stealth – great for adrenaline seekers. Saw was also a hit – with jump scares while you are queuing and animatronics too which reference the films.

We were keen to try the newest attraction Ghost Train – one of the UK’s longest immersive experiences. No spoiler alerts but to give you an idea, you’ll be walking into spooky crypts and then into the compartment of a Tube train. There’s lots of chaos and shouting. Live actors entertain and scare the hell out of you, and multisensory effects add to the atmosphere. It’s quite effective and there is a surprise ending, which is awesome. But if you’re claustrophobic Ghost Train won’t be for you. Overall, we felt there could be more to it. Worth noting is the Last Call cafe at the end, which is themed and actually really lovely!

Thorpe Park is well equipped for hot days with a beach area and water rides. Tidal Wave was my favourite where you plunge down an 85ft drop and get absolutely drenched, and I liked the more gentle Rumba Rapids.

For younger visitors, there are rides such as a magic carpet flight on Quantum, a tea cup ride and bumper cars.

It was a busy Saturday when we visited and as such there were long queues for some rides. You can upgrade to a one-shot Fastrack on the day from £10 per person per ride but if there’s a group of you, it soon racks up the cost. And Fastrack for the day costs from £50 for ‘Adrenaline Fastrack’ for the most popular rides. We did download the app, which helped reduce queuing times. Stealth was perhaps the worst for a queue with a 1hr30 to 2 hour wait, while Swarm we pretty much walked straight on.

You also have the option of staying overnight. As well as the Shark cabins, there are new themed rooms based on Swarm, Nemesis and Stealth where you can have Unlimited Fastrack on your second day for the ride that corresponds with your chosen room plus one hour Fastrack on all rides between 10am – 11am on the second day.  This can work out reasonable valuable with rooms from £79pp, which includes two day park entry.

Overall, our day out at Thorpe Park was a lot of fun and a great destination for families with teens as well as mixed groups of ages.

www.thorpepark.com tickets from £34pp when booked in advance online, on the day park ticket price from £64pp.

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