Speeding Steaks
Once upon a time there was a big hole. �Oh,� said the big hole. �Why Oh Why Oh Why?�
Nothing of much interest happened to the hole for the next few years, apart from getting filled with water and becoming a dumping ground for buildings that had been made too small to live in.
Then the hole�s three parents � R, M and C � thought they could make the hole�s life better by adding the letter X. Unfortunately it turned out that then all the hole�s friends also starting saying �Why Oh Why Oh Why?� This was the third age of the hole.
Eventually, the hole began to outgrow the single letter X:\YOYOY stage and R, M and C found they could take care of it no longer. Its new parents were much more experienced in dealing with holes, but even they couldn�t keep watch over it all the time. Inevitably, this was the time that the hole had a bit of an accident and ended up badly burnt. However, rather than leaving it with its scars, the hole�s new parents decided to pay lots of money to make it better.
Thus, the forth age of the hole: Along came large piercings called Odyssey and Calypso, expanding its group of friends and making it popular with the trendy kids.
The hole�s parents weren�t happy that they�d done enough for their hole yet though. They knew that if it was to have the brightest possible future it would need something to make it stand out from all the other holes and their piercings. They knew that polite society would look unkindly on them if they went too far, but they saw a way through: Their hole was to get a double-size piercing nicknamed Project Stealth.
It�s always nice to start with a good story, don�t you think? Sometimes though the story doesn�t turn out to be as good as it was originally, due to the embellishments and tenuous links you try to include in it.
Let�s take Amity Cove by way of an example. Originally, Amity was home to a single ride at Thorpe: Tidal Wave. It was surrounded by a great story about a coastal town that had been devastated by a tidal wave. The surviving residents had just heard of an imminent second wave and their only chance of survival was to be evacuated by boat. A great story that fitted the ride magnificently.
However, it got a bit odd a couple of years later when the Tea Cup ride ended up in Amity too. There was little explanation as to why: perhaps the survivors were met by WI ladies handing out cups of tea?
The story has been stretched even more with the addition of the latest ride: The long suffering Amity residents are now on a day out at the Amity Speedway, apparently oblivious to the giant Tidal Wave looming over their heads.
Luckily, Thorpe Park is a theme park, not a novel. It�s easy to forgive the dubious story linkage when you are confronted with the theming and atmosphere of the area carved out for Stealth, their new rocket coaster.
Yesterday was opening day, both for the park and for Stealth. The morning dawned well with the park looking in a more (but not completely) finished state than on Saturday. With the exception of Slammer and Tidal Wave, all the main rides were ready for their season debut: Stealth was due to open at exactly 2ish.
It’s Coming!!
Slammed
Colossus stuck half way up
Queue jumpers, as seen from the Inferno exit path (they jumped from the queue)
Putting the new giant screen to good use: the �10 Dancing Heads experience.
Well OK, it was alright standing and watching but itchy feet syndrome was definitely starting to kick in.
Getting nearer
There go the competition winners
The queue - not too bad being alongside the lake
Appropriately themed signs
Nemesis has red waterfalls, Stealth has a toxic green pond
Single rider queue … although you need to get a wristband from Guest Services first
Only two front seats per ride? Never!
Loading instructions: we’re about to ride a washing machine
The home of what you want to ride
It didn�t take long to get to the front of the queue and onto the ride itself. Considering it was only on one-train operation, the throughput was not too bad at all.
I�ve not yet had the pleasure of Dragster, Kingda Ka and the like, so the whole Top Hat concept was new to me. However, I rode Rita: QoS at Alton Towers last year, so I�ve experienced the Intamin launch before. Admittedly on paper Stealth is a little faster, but that�s not something you really notice on the ride. Stealth�s launch is in the same league as Rita�s, with the same sort of smooth-but-intense acceleration.
Going up the side of the tower is pretty quick and I didn�t really notice how high we were climbing. That soon changed as the train crested the top hat, revealing an incredible view towards the M3 and far beyond. I think this will look amazing in the dark during April�s late night opening.
The dive back down provides a similar �I�m about to smack head first into the ground� sensation to the one yielded by Slammer.
Near ground level the train pulls out and into position to fly over the giant airtime hill which provides a spectacular finale. Tidal Wave comes in as a bit of a head chopper just before the second ride photo is taken (the first having been captured during the launch). Worries about the position of the brakes on the downward part of the hill appear unfounded: there�s bags of airtime.
In short: it�s good. Very good. Very very good. I�d find it very difficult to directly compare it with a multi-element inverting full circuit coaster because it�s so different, but it�s definitely a winner.We headed straight back around to try out the front seats. The queuing system is similar to Rita, with the front row queue separating from the standard one at the bottom of the steps up to the station platform. Even though the queue was at the bottom of said steps and they were only running a single train, it took about 45 minutes to board the front car. This gave Margaret just about enough time to text a couple of people to let them know she�d just ridden Steak. She commented on it being a rare experience.
The front seats are definitely worth queuing for � the unobstructed view over the top hat is breathtaking. The transition between the horizontal and vertical is a touch smoother too, with less possibility for back-jarring and so more rides.
Stealth had a great first day in operation: it was the most reliable ride in the park. I�m crossing my fingers that it doesn�t encounter any Kingda Ka like problems, because it will be a huge crowd puller in the summer. Undoubtedly it will suffer from huge queues on peak days, but that should make for shorter waiting times on the other rides.
The next few weeks (perhaps with the exception of the Easter holidays) will be the time to ride. At the moment it�s silky smooth, but how long will it be before it picks up the trademark Intamin roughness and has its cars retro-fitted with Meccano?
Even the ducks came for a look. Three cheers for Thorpe!
