360° of The Swarm for those who are missing it but want something more than a regular POV. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX1PExHEzO4

I'm liking this new trend of 360° roller coaster videos coming out. For those who can't get to parks in other countries its going to be a useful tool to keep going back and discovering the overall experience and surrounding area of coasters.

I love the 360 videos, especially as I can't get out to a lot of parks abroad. The 3 that I know of is an animated 360 of valravn, a 360 of Baron 1898, and obviously the swarm!

Thorpe Park today confirmed on facebook the intention to close Logger's Leap for maintenance for the entire 2016 season.

Must be some extensive maintenance if it's taking the entirety of the 2016 season..

Andy Mc wrote:

360° of The Swarm for those who are missing it but want something more than a regular POV. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX1PExHEzO4

I'm liking this new trend of 360° roller coaster videos coming out. For those who can't get to parks in other countries its going to be a useful tool to keep going back and discovering the overall experience and surrounding area of coasters.

I just watched it using my Google Cardboard. It's pretty cool, especially watching backwards from the front of the car. However, it did make me feel a little sick after a while.

Awww that's a shame about Loggers Leap - I love that ride. It makes me smile just thinking about it - a lot of nostalgia attached to it Still, if it's for the better then I'm all for it. It's a very old ride so I can imagine some extensive TLC is needed by now! I hope they never get rid of it. I hate Tidal Wave as it's too wet for me and I think Loggers is much more thrilling anyway.

Oh no... That means Rumba Rapids, Storm Surge and Tidal Wave are gonna' get extremely long queue during the summer, how long does the Storm Surge queue hold?

Storm Surge manages to consistently have a 45 minute - 1 hour queue regardless of weather, not sure how since it looks incredibly boring. As for Rumba and Tidal wave, both are extremely popular as it is, much more so than Loggers. That's probably why it's been decided to keep it shut for 2016, that and maintenance. Every time I went to Thorpe this year Loggers hasn't had much of a queue.

As Dan says, the other water rides tend to have massive queues. Loggers tends to reach around 20 mins when I usually go, presumably because it is quite out of the way with virtually nothing to "advertise" the ride before boarding it. I reckon Tidal Wave and Storm Surge get long queues because its the first thing you see when you leave the dome and its easy to get to respectively.

When I went to Thorpe Park during the summer Loggers Leap got a 75 minute wait, Rumba Rapids got 45 mins, Tidal Wave got 120 mins and Storm Surge got 125 mins. I think Storm Surge gets the large waits every day for a few reasons, A.) Bad Capacity, B.) You don't get very wet, to be honest, not a bit, C.) Very 'family' orientated and D.) Near the front of the park. Depth Charge also got 60 mins while I was there!!

Got to love Thorpe's FaceBook team! "Maintenence thingy"

Next year I am planning a day trip to Thorpe. Flying down from Edinburgh. What Airport is best to fly into and from there how easy is it to get to Thorpe park? Cheers :-)

If you can fly into Heathrow it would probably be better as its the closest airport to the park. It will be about a 15/20 minute taxi journey from Heathrow to Thorpe Park as its just a quick zip down the M25 and then a couple of A roads and your there. I unfortunately don't know how much that would cost.

Dom wrote:

If you can fly into Heathrow it would probably be better as its the closest airport to the park. It will be about a 15/20 minute taxi journey from Heathrow to Thorpe Park as its just a quick zip down the M25 and then a couple of A roads and your there. I unfortunately don't know how much that would cost.

Cheers! Will try use my Scottish charm to haggle a wee price!

There is a bus link from heathrow to Feltham train station, which is 2 short stops to staines. You can then chatch the thorpe park express ...

fitchy wrote:

There is a bus link from heathrow to Feltham train station, which is 2 short stops to staines. You can then chatch the thorpe park express ...

Cheers :-) It's looking like it's gonna be a Gatwick job though :-/ Flights are a bit steep just for the day down to Heathrow as Ryanair/Flybe and Easyjet don't fly to Heathrow. It's only BA that does it and I must have lost my wallet lined with Diamonds. Looking at potentially hiring a car for the day down there and driving up.....Anyone from London confirm how easy a drive it is (I've heard alot of horror stories with London traffic on the M25 with a simple journey turning sour with traffic jams)

sss1986 wrote:

fitchy wrote:

There is a bus link from heathrow to Feltham train station, which is 2 short stops to staines. You can then chatch the thorpe park express ...

Cheers :-) It's looking like it's gonna be a Gatwick job though :-/ Flights are a bit steep just for the day down to Heathrow as Ryanair/Flybe and Easyjet don't fly to Heathrow. It's only BA that does it and I must have lost my wallet lined with Diamonds. Looking at potentially hiring a car for the day down there and driving up.....Anyone from London confirm how easy a drive it is (I've heard alot of horror stories with London traffic on the M25 with a simple journey turning sour with traffic jams)

I would've said Luton as it is only a 40 minute drive from Luton to Thorpe depending on traffic plus easyJets flights from Edinburgh to Luton are reasonable.

RollercoasterGEEK100 wrote:

sss1986 wrote:

fitchy wrote:

There is a bus link from heathrow to Feltham train station, which is 2 short stops to staines. You can then chatch the thorpe park express ...

Cheers :-) It's looking like it's gonna be a Gatwick job though :-/ Flights are a bit steep just for the day down to Heathrow as Ryanair/Flybe and Easyjet don't fly to Heathrow. It's only BA that does it and I must have lost my wallet lined with Diamonds. Looking at potentially hiring a car for the day down there and driving up.....Anyone from London confirm how easy a drive it is (I've heard alot of horror stories with London traffic on the M25 with a simple journey turning sour with traffic jams)

I would've said Luton as it is only a 40 minute drive from Luton to Thorpe depending on traffic plus easyJets flights from Edinburgh to Luton are reasonable.

Perfect! :-) Thanks :-) Never been down to Thorpe before so looking forward to it

Gatwick over luton any day.... Its also pretty easy by train from gatwick

Gatwick- clapham junction 20 mins
Clapham to staines 20 mins on a fast train
The thorpe express

fitchy wrote:

Gatwick over luton any day.... Its also pretty easy by train from gatwick

Gatwick- clapham junction 20 mins
Clapham to staines 20 mins on a fast train
The thorpe express

Perfect - so many options to choose now :-)