Thorpe Park ~ Summer Bucket List 2019

In an attempt to tick off as much on my summer bucket list as possible, at the start of June me and my man booked tickets to Thorpe Park. As the day drew nearer and mid July was upon us, the day itself turned out to be rather warm with just the right amount of sunshine to go on water rides without getting hypothermia but not so much that you look like a lobster by the end of the day.

Firstly, we took tickets from a promotional offer in a newspaper which had meant that we had two day tickets for two adults completely free, which was excellent. Having prepaid for the parking (£5) it was shaping up to be quite a cheap day out. Standing in the queue for the first ride, which was a timid roller-coaster in the shape of a fish, we decided that the whole waiting in line thing just did not cut it. Close to the end of term, there were thousands of children at the park on end of terms trips.

A quick look online and we learnt that there was a number of fast track passes available for a variety of rides and we picked a pass up for £12. This pass entitled us to 5 fast track rides which we figured between the two of us would equate to two rides. However, when we tried it out on the first ride, the ticket was not even scanned, in fact it was barely looked at, so we managed to fast track without actually losing any ‘credits’. Our wait time had been taken from 70 minutes down to ten for the Storm Surge tire ride. A glorified water slide, this ride was so much fun.

The next ride was Rumba Rapids, where again they did not seem to scan anything or even look much at us. This one was very relaxing though occasionally pretty jarring – the ride takes up to about 8 people so we were seated with three others. It was more relaxing than ‘rapids’ but we still left the ride refreshingly damp.

Picking the infamous Tidal Wave next, we were in for a complete soaking just before lunch. With waiting times of up to 90 minutes, we were beyond glad for our fast track passes, which were still yet to be scanned. They cut our waiting time down to 10 minutes and was the first and only ride that scanned our passes that day.

After a generous soaking, we then headed over towards Rush and Quantum to dry off a bit. However when we got there, Rush was super crowded and not included in our fast track pass, and Quantum was completely closed. Instead, we decided to play around on a banana boat. Super reminiscent of the rides I used to love as a child I just had to try it for the giggles. It was a very relaxing swing and we did not have to wait more than 5 minutes to get onto it. Score!

We punctuated the day with a classic fairground treat of a hotdog and fries which we picked up midway through our day. Surprisingly enough there were still lots of places to sit to enjoy the sunshine whilst we ate our food. After lunch it was time for a walk around and another ride on the glorified water slide but the second time was a lot more soggy because of a leak in the bottom of our boat.

With time ticking on, we decided to end the day on what had been our favourite ride – Tidal Wave. Still with wait times of 80 minutes, it was our fast track pass to the rescue. Even the fast track queue came with a wait of 20 minutes the second time around but still completely worth it. This ride was the only one that actually scanned our passes too on both occasions. The first time, they put only 7 people in a flume made for 20 so the spray from the tidal wave was more refreshing than anything else. However, on the second time around the flume was close to capacity (and lots heavier) which meant that everything and everyone become completely saturated. It was after the second tidal wave that we just had to call it a day and headed back to the car completely soggy.

I think on the day we visited, the staff were more concerned with the huge quantities of children and teenagers roaming around the park to really check we had the right passes, which worked out so well for us. As you can see from the chilled out vibe of the above, we were not at Thorpe Park for the adrenaline rushes of the roller-coasters, but rather for the refreshments of the water rides, on what turned out to be a beautiful day.

Do you like theme parks? Or are you more into water rides? Have you ever been to Thorpe Park? Let me know in the comments.