An island like no other, Thorpe Park Resort is the ultimate destination for thrill seekers featuring some of the UK's most popular roller coasters and is home to over 30 thrilling rides, attractions and live events. This description from its website is enough invitation for readers to go and visit this adventure theme park.
And we did! Not just one but two days full of adventure and excitement, mostly for our children (and the mothers, too). Last summer of 2016, we joined three other friend families (17-strong contingent) to Thorpe Park Resort. It is a 2-hour journey from Peterborough so we had to make an early morning start to be able to arrive before the theme park opens.
Day 1 photos were taken with a micro four thirds camera (older version of https://amzn.to/2MCIyl6) attached with the standard kit lens (https://amzn.to/2YCwumk).
Day 2 photos were taken with another micro four thirds camera (older version of https://amzn.to/2YE2cQ1) attached with the standard kit lens (https://amzn.to/2YCwumk).
Day 1
Despite the early wake-up, long journey and a long queue at the ticketing office the children are still buzzing as soon as we came out of the big dome and into the theme park. And what better way to start their day than race each other in the Depth Charge - a 40 feet ride down a four-lane super-slide!
As the theme park was pack full of people, the order of the day was the long queue to get to the rides. You will not notice it when we did Storm in a teacup. But it was evident in Storm Surge, the sky-high spinning water ride. Climbing aboard a life raft, we went round a twist and lost control as we spiral down a 64-foot descent!
Still in AMITY Village, we headed out to check the popular wet and wild thrill ride, the Tidal Wave - which promises a drenching to the riders as they experience a super-soaking splash as they plunge 85 feet in the waters below. The older children were excited to try it but we decided to do it the next day instead.
Nearby AMITY village is THE JUNGLE where you can find the Angry Birds Land. While there we took a quick break and rested our feet as we sat back and watched Angry Birds 4D Experience. We enjoyed high tech movie theatre surrounding and became part of the action as our rumbling chairs catapulted us through a fast-paced adventure as the Angry Birds attempted to get their precious eggs back from the dastardly King Pig.
Then we had another round of family ride, this time getting into King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems. We went bump to bump with Red and the gang while battling each other and the Bad Piggies in this fun-filled classic with an Angry Birds twist.
It was a long day of travel and excitement but sad to go as we still had to find the Holiday Inn hotel where we were staying. In the hotel, after a quick change we all had a relaxing dip at the swimming pool.
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| Avoid as it will break your wallet! |
Day 2
The second day was met with the same excitement as the previous day. The older children with their mothers were very eager to try the Tidal Wave experience but we reserved it for last. We stuck to AMITY and THE JUNGLE villages as it was more family friendly and the children are still quite short for the more exciting rides. I think some of the others in our group went to try the other 'more' exciting rides not for the fainthearted.
We did the I'm a Celebrity maze which was fun and gave us lots of nervous laughs. Unfortunately, photography was now allowed (because celebrities!) but if you want to know what we did check out this maze review from Digital Spy in 2015. The review was right though about the long queues especially on that day! But we persevered.
Our family enjoyed a ride down the park's rapid river, the Rumba Rapids! Another long queue but it was worth it.
We then let the children let off steam in Angry Birds Land's Heavy Hitters where they try to knock each other down while balancing in a beam. My younger son won over his best mate, but just!
And the day's finale was of course the Tidal Wave! The photos here did not do justice on how exciting the ride was but there were videos I took so watch this space. And the smiling faces of the soaking wet mothers and children after the ride? Priceless!
So long... farewell
Alas, all good things come to an end. We had to say goodbye rather reluctantly to Thorpe Park promising to come back soon (but never did *sigh*).
We then head off to Poole, Dorset for our next set of travel adventure in the county. It was almost night time when we arrived after a two-hour drive and we went straight to the famous Sandbanks to check out the beach and we got ourselves a little treat from the brightly shining full moon!
