Five Roller Coaster Hacks This National Roller Coaster Day

It's National Roller Coaster Day on Friday. Have you experienced all of our roller coasters? Did you know that with a few simple hacks, you can bring a fresh new experience to a roller coaster you might have been on loads of times before? Check out our five National Roller Coaster Day hacks on how to make the most out of your roller coaster experiences!

GET IT OUT YOUR SYSTEM

Theme Parks are social places. Don’t get us wrong, we salute the solo-riders who need their fix whether friends or family are available or not.

Most people tend to visit a theme park with a group of people because going on a roller coaster is a social activity. Think about it - you’re sitting in a carriage, usually in a compartment or row of four, all of you with the same goal, to be flipped, twisted and thrown around until you can barely think straight. When we come off a ride, the first thing we do is share in the experience. We ask each other what our favourite parts of the ride were, rip into our screaming neighbour and then cry with laughter at the expression on everyone’s faces in the ride photo.

Queue lines don’t have to be a silent march to this fantastic experience. They can be a fantastic ice breaker and a great way to meet like-minded people who are up for just as much fun as you. Get to know the people in front and behind of you because they’ll likely be on the same carriage as you.

We also encourage you to scream. Just go for it. Scream as loud and as proud as you can because when you think about it, there are very few places in everyday life where it’s completely acceptable to scream at the top of your lungs.

 

NIGHT FLIGHT

Roller coasters are great full stop, but have you ever ridden one in the dark? There’s a huge difference between riding a roller coaster in the day and at night.

Let use The Swarm as an example. One of The Swarm’s major characteristics are its near misses. When you come over the top of the lift hill and into the dive loop straight towards and fantastic piece of theming in the form of a crashed airplane. It’s terrifying enough in the daytime let alone at night when your senses are weakened. Suddenly that plane wing seems a lot closer and that burst of fire a lot hotter.

The perfect time to night time ride is over FRIGHT NIGHTS! Break up your visit with a mixture of terrifying mazes and sensational coasters for the ultimate FRIGHT NIGHTS experience.

 

MIX IT UP

Many people assume the best place to sit on a roller coaster is at the front, and we’d forgive you for thinking this. The best view, first out the station and over the top. Many people will queue for a longer period of time JUST to get on the front row.

Sitting in different places on a roller coaster train can give you very different experiences. Many people favour the back seats of a conventional gravity roller coaster. You tend to be ‘whipped’ over hills and around curves as the weight of the carriage in front pulls you forward.

 

VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF LIFE

Thorpe Park has seven awesome coasters which offer seven completely different ride experiences.

For our younger guests we have the Flying Fish, a fabulous introduction to the world of thrill seeking and still popular amongst many older guests.

At the other end of the coaster spectrum, we have Saw – The Ride, one of our BIG 5! A coaster based on the well-known horror film franchise with an equally horrifying list of ride elements: A beyond vertical drop, tight inversions and terrifying indoor section. On a coaster like this, you can easily experience 4.7gs, more than any coaster at the resort! Check out last week’s blog for some fab facts about our BIG 5!

Make sure you use the incredible variety of attractions to mix up your day and provide you with a range of thrills.

 

STEP OUT YOUR COMFORT ZONE

Many people are terrified of rides. The increased heart rate and influx of adrenaline flooding your body mixed with the psychological pressure of queuing in and amongst a ride layout, watching train after train hurtle past as you creep closer to your own terrifying experience. Believe it or not, it’s actually a good thing. 

The important thing to remember when attempting any ride that makes you shudder is that regardless of what we try to do to scare you and make you think you’re about to make a bad choice, it is completely safe.

What we really want you to do when you visit, what makes it all worth it for us is when you take on something you didn’t think you could do and conquer your fear.

Take Stealth for example - 0-80mph in a little under 3 seconds, hurtling up to 205ft in the air for a brief period of weightlessness and then plummeting back down straight towards solid ground all in around 20 seconds. Even hardcore roller coaster fans tell us that when they’re strapped into Stealth and they hear the countdown, it makes the hairs on the back of their neck stand on end.

Seize the day! There’s only one thing standing between you and an incredible memory. Overcome your fear and get in that seat. We promise you won’t regret it ;)

 

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Official Thorpe Park