Thorpe Park and Chessington! April 11th 2019!

So it did take me longer than usual to get back to Thorpe Park at the start of a season; but I finally got down to the Island Like No Other last week! And also my second visit to Chessington of the season in a very in the moment decision half way through our day! I was again joined by Amy (from my Madrid trip) as we took the drive down the M25 to Chertsey. Nothing new has been added to Thorpe Park for the 2019 season, but it's always great to get back on their great coaster lineup!

We arrived at the park for opening around 09:45. The parks opening hours for the Easter Holidays was at the time and still are until the end of next week 10:00-18:00. Not as good as some foreign parks, but for a UK park their opening times are always one of the best. One of the best things about going to a Merlin run theme park with Amy is that she has a RAP (Ride Access Pass) If you don't know what a RAP pass is; its basically a pass that allows guests that have disabilities or issues that affects them queuing to skip the line and not have to stand around in long queues. However to make this fair for standard guests; when you use this pass, however long the queue is; for example 45 minutes. You can not use this pass again for 45 minutes. Therefore this doesn't mean you're getting a free 'fast track' You just don't have to physically stand in the queue line for the ride; which is really good!

So after getting that we headed for our first ride of the day and my first ride at Thorpe Park of the season! Stealth!

Stealth is a Intamin Accelerator rollercoaster that takes you 0-80mph in 1.9 seconds; and to a height of 205 foot! Stealth is one of my top rollercoasters in the UK and when it opened it really was a massive statement ride. The speed, force and height makes this a really really good adrenaline boost that woke us up in the morning. And with Stealth only having a ten minute queue at the start of the day, by the time we got to our next ride we was able to use Amy's RAP again! Winning. Next up was a ride on the better of the Nemesis'! Inferno! Nemesis Inferno is a B&M Inverted coaster that opened at the Island Like No Other in 2003 and has got better year after year.

Inferno stands at the height of 95.2 foot, travels at a speed of up to 47.8mph and goes through 4 forceful and fun inversions. Inferno really is now one of them coasters that gives you pins and needles in your legs when you hit the break run! And when all the theming features are working like they was on this visit, its a great cool down on a warm day too! (which it was not on this day unfortunately) Using the RAP Pass we did escape standing in a 60 minute queue as well; and the staff member only put 15 minutes down on the pass! Which once again meant when we got round to our next ride we didn't have to stand in the queue once again. Before jumping on our next coaster we made the most of a pretty much walk on queue for Samurai! Thorpe Parks Mondial Top Scan flat ride. The cycle was long and intense on this day and is always on of my top flat rides in the UK! After jumping off Samurai, we saw that my top coaster at the park the Swarm only had a 30 minute queue! So we walked across the park, which is only about 10 minutes (so much better than the massive effort of Alton Towers) over to Swarm Island to get on the B&M Winged coaster.

The Swarm is always one of my go to rides every time at Thorpe Park! I don't think I have ever had a bad ride on the beauty. And its amazing at night! Cant wait for fright nights to return... However today again was no different and we had a amazing front row ride. The Swarm stands at 127 foot tall and takes in 5 inversions. The ride is so smooth and intense; a great ride for Thorpe Park to have! Once again we did not have to queue and once again skipped a over hour queue for the ride! And this time the staff member didn't even mark the RAP pass, so we could use it straight away again afterwards! We had already done my top three coasters in the park and it was only just over a hour into park opening! On the way back over to lost city and the Saw area, we headed to the Walking Dead the ride to escape the zombie hoard in the safe zone! The Walking Dead the Ride was new to the park last year as a re theme to the former X rollercoaster.

The Walking Dead the Ride for me is a improvement on X; and it features great theming, on ride effects and great atmosphere in the entrance and exit corridors. The ride itself may not be massive and thrilling; yet the theming and overall experience is actually really fun. Especially for horror fans. And for the first time in many visits the ride didn't actually have a queue! Which was good for Amy's sister who was too scared to ride and didn't have to wait long for us! At this point we was all starving and there is only one place to go when you want to stuff your face! Pizza and Pasta Buffet. Oh did I eat a lot. I knew I was going to end up spending god knows how much money on new pin badges so I filled myself up for the day. After this; it was only around 12 and we only had 2 more coasters at the park to do, so we headed on over the see Jigsaw. Saw: The Ride is a very hit and miss ride for me... I really do enjoy it, however it really does bash you about a bit to much at times.

Saw: The Ride is a Gerstlauer Eurofighter rollercoaster that stands at 100 feet! Saw has a great inside section to the rollercoaster that features a indoor vertical drop and also a inversion! The ride does peak at this point at times though. The ride from the main drop does try to break your skull as much as it can; and on this visit it pretty much did. Ouch. As it was only 1 after getting of Saw we had basically done all we wanted at Thorpe Park so we decided we was going to go and spend the afternoon at Chessington World of Adventures to go ride their coasters! (as I did try and fail to do this on opening day) But just before we left; due to having the RAP pass we did decide to jump on Colossus mainly due just to say we had done all the coasters that day. Plus I obviously had not ridden Colossus this season as of yet. However I really am glad we did!

Colossus does get a bad reputation for being rough, however the ride we got was actually quite good. Well I thought so. Amy and her sister did not... I was quite lucky. As we was a odd number I managed to get onto the front row with a single guest! And for me this was actually quite smooth and enjoyable! Even if I was crushed and in pain from the restraints. But that comes with being six foot six. But for me going through them ten inversions actually felt good! I come on not feeling beat up and with a headache. Unlike Amy. So after this surprisingly good ride; we headed to the shop to buy some pin badges and headed for the exit. We jumped in the car, headed down the M25 and parked up at the extremely busy Chessington World of Adventures car park. 2 parks in one day. Why not. Its on the way home anyway. The park was very very busy and even though we did give ourselves 4 hours until park close to get at least their 4 coasters done, it was looking doubtful with over a hour queue for pretty much every ride. There was so many small kids everywhere! Not a fan. But we headed to guest services to get Amy's RAP to hopefully help cope with the huge crowds. RAP pass in hand we headed to Vampire! Which was celebrating its 29th birthday on the day. Happy Birthday Vampire! But we quickly turned straight back around when even the RAP queue was over 30 minutes... So instead we headed for a lovely float around the story of the Gruffalo! I love this little ride.

So we sat down in our little boat and floated through the Gruffalo story line. I always love a ride on this dark ride when visiting and think its one of the best dark rides in the UK. And I enjoyed this ride even more when I got Amy soaked in the fountain room at the end! And if you read my Madrid blog you know how much Amy loves getting wet. Even if its hot; which it really was not on this day! After our magical boat ride on the Gruffalo River Adventure we headed for our first coaster of the day at Chessington! And that was Rattlesnake. Thankfully we had the RAP Pass as this family coaster had a hour queue...

Rattlesnake is a Maurer Rides Wild Mouse standard coaster that features lots of sharp corners and drops; which especially if you're on your own in the back of the car like I was really throws you about. And Amy definitely crushed her sister quite a bit. Its a fun ride; but really not worth a 70 minute wait like it was. But thanks to RAP we didn't have to! And the staff member only put 30 minutes on the pass meaning we didn't have to wait long to use it again! However we was nice and lucky; while we waited to use the RAP again on a major ride like Vampire and Dragon's Fury; Scorpion Express only had a 15 minute queue. So therefore we jumped in the queue for the family powered coaster. The only ride we didn't do at Thorpe Park was the Flying Fish which has the same layout as the Scorpion Express. So to make up for not riding the Fish we thought we might as well have a ride on the classic Mack powered coaster.

The theming on this small family ride is actually really good; and on one of the helix's is a giant scorpion figure which shoots water on the rides! And on this ride me and Amy did get a tad moist! So while we was moist we headed other to get a ride on Tiger Rock! Tiger Rock was not open when I visited on opening day so I did want to get back on the classic log flume!

You don't normally get that wet on Tiger Rock... However on this day, we actually got really b****y wet! Was shocked. Not as shocked as seeing Amy in the front of the log. A new woman! We did skip a 90 minute queue using the ride access pass as well! And once again the staff member did not write on the pass! Was turning into quite the lucky day. Was quality. So after this we thought we would finally go and ride on of the two major coasters at the park. So we walked over to gloomy wood and got in the RAP queue for Vampire. We only waited about 20 minutes! Considering the main queue was 75 minutes; we cant moan!

Vampire is always a fun ride. Obviously its not no big intense B&M inverted coaster. But it is a great family thrill ride with some really good elements. Vampire is a classic Arrow Dynamics Suspended coaster that reaches speeds of up to 45 mph in its 2,200 feet of track. So after riding Vampire we only had the one coaster left to get on in the park. And after we had ridden that we would have done all of Thorpe Park's and Chessington's coasters in one day! (minus the fish...) But before we completed this task Amy and her sister dragged me over to the new attraction for 2019!... Room on a Broom... The attraction was having technical difficulties on opening day so I didn't get to experience it! However with RAP in hand and a 70 minute queue to skip we gave it a go.

The attraction is a re theme of the classic attraction that was Hocus Pocus Hall; and was actually done quite well. But if I actually had to wait in that 70 minute queue for this attraction... Would have wanted to end it all... However the attraction is a really good interactive experience for kids. Just if you are a grown human and the queue is over 15 minutes. Don't waste your time. Please take the advise. So as the day was coming to a end, we went over to the major ride at the park; Dragon's Fury. Fury is easily my top ride at Chessington as one of the main reasons for visiting the park.

Dragon's Fury is a Maurer Rides Spinning Coaster. The same as Tarantula at Parque de Atracciones ( Which is still the much better ride) However we got such a good ride on Fury on this day! Me and Amy sat on the same side and put her very small and skinny sister on the other side of the car. And f**k me did the car spin. I have never come off Fury so dizzy before! Probably the best ride I have ever had on the spinning coaster. Despite Fury only being 50 foot fall it does pack a great punch; and still is the best coaster at the park. Then to be fair it doesn't have much competition.

Overall we had a great day. Mainly due to the RAP pass allowing us to get on every roller coaster at both parks! Despite this, operations at both parks was top notch and the atmosphere was great. Thorpe feels much more happy and up beat this year and I enjoyed my time we was there much more than I did last year. I don't think The year of the Walking Dead at the Island last year helped the atmosphere. But so far everything seems very well at the Island Like No Other. And despite Chessington being extremely busy, the park and staff handled it really well. All the staff was great and I look forward to getting back when its a little bit quieter.

Overall it was a quality 9/10 day!

Thanks for reading! :)