On Saturday 10th March 2012 the TPG team were invited to go to Thorpe Park's preview event of there new ride for 2012 The Swarm. In case you don't know much about The Swarm it’s a wing rider coaster by B&M featuring 4 inversions with 3 near misses where you are running away from the swarm as Thorpe Park would call it. Overall the whole land is fantastically themed; all of us at theme park guide think that this is the best themed roller coaster that the UK has seen for a very long time. The theming is on the same scale and level as Nemesis at Alton Towers and is a must ride for theme park geeks.
Ride Theme and area:
The Swarms theming is just fantastic when you enter the land you are greeted to a huge sign saying “the swarm” where you then pass over the bridge to enter the main land. Although the island may look small on the plans don’t be fooled by this the plaza area is huge, with a small shop themed as a emergency supplies store the park really has used this small amount of space to there advantage. After passing the small shop you come to the ride exit where we have the photo both called “missing persons” where you can buy your on-ride photo or DVD. The theming on the shop, game stand and the photo both all look fantastic so a big well-done to the Merlin studios on there fantastic work. After walking past the pay per play attraction and the shops we see the last of the inversions where the train goes over the station with a barrel roll. The theming on the corner before you go over the station is like a brick wall smashed to bits with track going though the wall! On the left of this inversion we have the fire truck which has a fire ball effect coming off of the roof. Sadly this effect was not turned on when we visited due to health and safety not passing it yet. When we finally come to the entrance of the ride we are greeted with a huge sign saying “The Swarm” which can be found below. To the left of the sign we have the huge plane which has water effects coming out of it which looks like it should be a fuel effect. The station theming is also a great feature as the control booth is theme as a huge police vehicle that has been turned over on its head whilst the rest of the station is themed as a huge open air church.
Ride Experience:
The Swarm is truly a fantastic ride and defiantly betas what we thought it was going to be like. When you leave the station a sensor trips a sound effect where a siren sound is started sounding the attack of The Swarm. Then you start the huge clime of the lift hill, although the lift hill may look slow it really isn’t! When you reach the stop of the lift hill you then face the “Thorpe Park Inversion” where you ether get whipped underneath the track or you get pulled over the track where you then do a drive loop into the first inversion and near miss where you come centimetres’ away from a plane wring creating a near miss feeling. To get the best view of this effect you must be sitting on the left hand side of the ride. After this you do a zero-g roll over a plane that has been cut in half where you then go into the inverted loop. After having the loop you then go into the banked turned where there are water effects that spray up to you depending on what side you are sitting on, this is where the plane is currently placed. After this section of the ride you then spin back up near the station where we face another near miss and another inversion where you almost hit a brick wall and a support all in around 3 seconds before being spun over the station then hitting the break run where you are then in the final section of the ride. Doing a quick helix then hitting the final break run. The ride in our view is just fantastic it will take your breath away, the whole ride experience made us speechless. Yes it’s not a worlds first but it’s very different to what the park has currently got! Overall we would give the swarm 5 out of 5 for theming and the ride experience.
