Thorpe Park – Our First Trip

As you will know if you have been following Hex Mum, we are Thorpe Park Ambassadors so we decided on my 40th Birthday that it would be a nice idea to visit Thorpe park as I have not been since my 10th birthday and the children were very keen to go.

We had great plans to set off early to get there for the 10am opening, unfortunately this didn’t happen as I had lots of presents to open and it was the Easter Holidays, so no-one ever wants to get up early.

We eventually arrived at lunchtime, there were no queues to get in, as I suspect everyone plans to arrive as soon as it opens! We managed to park quite near to the entrance, and we were off…

It is certainly very different from the Thorpe Park I remember from 30 years ago!

With such a large family, we need to take into account each age group and make sure everyone gets to go on what they would like, the smallest visitor is Viggo at 0.95m, so according to the website there are 10 rides he can go on, which is plenty for him.

The two boys were quite keen to go on Rocky express – a dizzy train ride, they loved it, and Kaide thought it was quite cool too, Neva and I rode with the two youngest and they had great fun.

Next, we had a little look round, the Colossus looked like great fun, but the waiting time was 100 minutes so we gave that one a miss.

Eowyn loves Pirate ships so we made our way to the Banana boat, which is basically the same but in the shape of a banana! They all came off saying it was great, I stood and watched them with Viggo, I used to love this kind of ride, but I think I went on them a bit too much when I was younger and I am not so keen anymore!

Next stop, Kaide, Neva, Eowyn and Xene rode the teacups, whilst Lochlan and I queued for Nemesis Inferno, apparently that was his present to me, to celebrate my special day!

The turnaround time on Nemesis is pretty quick and because you get on the ride, out of the sight of everyone, it is very difficult to judge when you are actually riding, so Asa gave up trying to guess which one we were on, but Eowyn kindly demonstrated how we both would be seated!

I am a lover of fast rides that go upside down, much more than things that continually spin, so this was perfect for me, the waiting time went quite quick, but, like any big ride, it was over too quickly.

It was the middle of the Easter holidays, so it was very busy, many of the rides that we wanted to try had long waiting times and with two smallish children, it wouldn’t have been fair to make them wait around for us.

When I was younger I remember going on some rapids, but I could never think where it was, as soon as I stepped onto the turntable to get on the ride, it all came back to me, and it was real, not just some random dream…

As there are only 8 seats on the ride, Asa took the six eldest children whilst I sat with Viggo and watched, he is big enough to go on, but I wanted to decide for myself AFTER I had watched the others.

As the ride is dictated by the water, there is no pattern to who gets wet, or who bumps, a few riders previously had got absolutely soaked, others it didn’t even splash, when the Morrisons got near to where we were standing, they hit quite a big bump and Tyrus flew off his seat, luckily landing on Asa, so we decided that Viggo probably wasn’t quite up to it yet, but typically, when I went on with the children it was a very gentle ride and we had no bumps and no-one got wet!

But Tyrus and Viggo were quite happy watching the planes going overhead

Next the children wanted to try another Water Ride, so off to the Tidal Wave, where we were guaranteed to get a little wet! Whilst we were on the ride Tyrus and Viggo sat in their pushchairs just far enough away from the spray to get a little sprinkle, and to watch the HUGE wave…

 

We got absolutely soaked, now I know why I saw people in Thorpe Park waterproof ponchos!

By this point it was getting quite late, so you really do need to get there early to ensure you get to go on everything you want to, and probably try and go when it isn’t the school holidays!

Tyrus loves fast things and doesn’t have any fear, so the rollercoaster X was perfect for him, so much that he went on with dad and then waited a further 20 minutes (something most unusual for Tyrus ) to go back on with mum!

Obviously it wasn’t amazing weather so the beach area and water chutes were not open, but I think it will be perfect for the little ones when the weather gets warmer, we missed so many cool rides, the entire family are trying to plan when we will next visit.

If you would like to try Thorpe Park for yourself, why not head over to our family days out and travel blog Big family Little Adventures where we have a family ticket to give away.