Thorpe Park v. Alton Towers!

georgiac

Hi, we are going to Thorpe Park and wondered how it compares to Alton Towers?

We have been to Alton Towers a few times and love it but are heading further afield for us.

Size of park wise? As we have a family member who can't walk too far.

Scary ride wise?

and all round fun value?

We are also planning to do Chessington so any info. wwould be very helpful, thanks

SimbaSimon

I've been to both and I feel they are 2 of the best theme parks we have in this country.

Size: Thorpe Park is probably about the same size ride wise but is much more compact. You can walk from one side of the park to the other in a short amount of time, compared to Alton Towers which can be a good half hour walk from one side of the other.

Scary: Plenty of fairly big rides, Nemesis Revenge, Colossus, Saw and Stealth are the biggest rollercoasters. Haven't been to the Saw maze yet but would imagine thats fairly scary.

All around, its one of the best and certainly up there with Alton Towers. It does lose points on theming however, Alton Towers is fairly well themed for all the rides and Thorpe Parks newest rides (Saw) is good but some of them are just standard rollercoasters really.

Chessington - Don't waste your time unless you have lots of little kids. They may enjoy it, older teenagers/adults will not.

susancs

We have Merlin passes and been to AT, Thorpe Park, Legoland and Chessington several times over the past year. Thorpe Park is really for teenagers upwards and has little apart from the beach area in summer for younger children. Chessington is nice because it has the zoo area, sealife centre and rides. I personally like Chessington the best as it has a good selection of rides, never seems to be as busy when we go as the other parks and the animal bit is nice-love the baby animals and farm bit. Both Thorpe Park and Chessington are not as spread out as AT and Legoland. Thorpe Park and Chessington are not that far away from each other and we drop our teenage daughter and friend at Thorpe Park and carry on with our 9 year old to Chessington. We then return to collect the teenagers.

irstaroo22

I love thrope park, some really good rides and whenever I have been it seems less busy than Alton Towers

balimar

Thorpe isn't good if you are under 140cms.

mum26

I think Chessington is worth a visit even if you don't have young children, it's a pleasant park with some great themeing. The zoo and sealife centre are a nice addition. The rides are not white knuckle but they are good fun

Sharon87

SimbaK2K wrote: »

I've been to both and I feel they are 2 of the best theme parks we have in this country.

Size: Thorpe Park is probably about the same size ride wise but is much more compact. You can walk from one side of the park to the other in a short amount of time, compared to Alton Towers which can be a good half hour walk from one side of the other.

Scary: Plenty of fairly big rides, Nemesis Revenge, Colossus, Saw and Stealth are the biggest rollercoasters. Haven't been to the Saw maze yet but would imagine thats fairly scary.

All around, its one of the best and certainly up there with Alton Towers. It does lose points on theming however, Alton Towers is fairly well themed for all the rides and Thorpe Parks newest rides (Saw) is good but some of them are just standard rollercoasters really.

Chessington - Don't waste your time unless you have lots of little kids. They may enjoy it, older teenagers/adults will not.

It's Nemesis Inferno

Well I love Thorpe Park, just as much as Alton Towers, I love the fact it's so compact, easily walk between Saw and Colossus in a few minutes. Stealth is the scariest rollercoaster I've been on, think RITA at Alton Towers, but goes up instead of round and round.

Saw rollercoaster is the best rollercoaster I've been on in my opinion, well that's a tough competition, but it's up there with Pepsi Max Big One and Air.

If it's a warm day I suggest you go on Tidalwave, you will get SOAKED! There's also a log flume in the far corner of the park, hidden away very well I didn't notice it was there till about my 4th visit!

Foodwise - got some good branded and unbranded places. They have a bar near the entrance that serves good food, bit pricey though.

I want to go Thorpe Park again now... aint been in about a year! :eek: I've got the annual pass as well!

trippy

We also have Merlin passes and would agree that AT and TP are the two best theme parks. I like them both the same; AT is a nicer park as the grounds are lovely but TP is more manageable and on a quiet day you can get on more rides as they are closer together. I also think Stealth knocks the pants off Rita so TP slightly has the edge for me.:D

Chessington is good for when we go as a family but I'm bored rigid of Legoland now as there's nothing for adults there IMHO.

georgiac

Thanks for all the advice up to now.

I can't wait to try Stealth and Saw now.

We are going to TP next Tuesday and Chessington on Wednesday.

I am sure the queues will be horrendous but because of the passes we'll treat it as a reccie for a quieter time.

It sounds like TP is more like Blackpool Pleasure Beach than Alton Towers in terms of size?

*manda*

Sharon87 wrote: »

Foodwise - got some good branded and unbranded places. They have a bar near the entrance that serves good food, bit pricey though.

We usually eat there- they often do a 2 meals for £10 promotion- and with the merlin pass you get another 20% off! It's not half bad food either and they do some healthier options too. They also show the grand prix which is handy for OH!

I agree with others- TP is as good as AT for scary rides- just smaller park size. Makes it much easier to get from 1 side to other.

It does get hugely busy though, plan the rides you reallly want to go on for 1st thing or last thing. There are usually a few others you can get on quickly- ribena rapids, no way out usually have much shorter queues. Saw has always been 90+ when we've been- and that's out of peak season as we both hate queues. Needless to say we haven't done it yet as I'm not spending that long in a queue!!

Chessington is good fun, bit more laid back, some good rides- the newer one is particularly good (Can't remember name) and queue times tended to be shorter than TP in our experience. Definitely better for younger kids though

georgiac

Thant sounds goood, we usually take a picnic and eat in the queue!

Pretty uncouth, but means the time goes quicker and we don't have an hour of the day in a restaurant.

But may be tempted at those prices.