Life’s A Rollercoaster | Thorpe Park 2017

“Just close your eyes and enjoy the rollercoaster that is life” Zayn Malik.

Last Monday I had the pleasure of spending the day at one of my favourite theme parks Thorpe Park, with my best friends Emily and Chantal, and it was one of my favourite days out of this year so far with fun all round as we enjoyed rollercoasters, KFC and a pit stop at Bicester Village on the way home.

Thorpe Park is located in one of my favourite counties Surrey, (another bonus as to why it’s one of my favourite theme parks) and it’s just an hour away from where the girls and I live. We began our drive down to Thorpe Park at the early but not too early time of 8am, ready to arrive for when the park opened at 10am. We made it in good time so we stopped off at McDonalds first so Chantal could get some breakfast.

We had a bit of a dilemma as we arrived at the park as our tickets were scanning through on the machines as invalid, so we couldn’t get through the barriers. Thankfully our situation was resolved in minutes as the staff members helped us by manually scanning our tickets and letting us through the entrance.

As per usual our first ride of the day was Rush, a giant swing like ride which is terrifying yet fun. Chantal was freaking out a little before the ride started which made me feel more scared than I usually would, so whilst we were swinging back and forth up in the air I really couldn’t wait to be back safely on the ground.

Our second ride of the day was Colossus which is a ten loop rollercoaster and I question why I go on it every time. For the whole duration of the ride your head just bangs constantly on each side of the seat, it’s so painful and I felt so sorry for my poor little head afterwards, it really took a bashing. The rides not even so fun to make it worth the head bashing but still, I know I’ll probably go on it again when the girls and I next go to Thorpe Park.

Look at that loop.

My favourite ride of the day was definitely the rollercoaster SAW, which is obviously based on the film of the same name. SAW has always been one of my favourite rides at Thorpe Park as it’s just so exciting and thrilling, I love everything about the ride, from the theme to the speed to the twists, turns, sudden drops and high climbs. This ride has such an element of surprise as even though I’ve been on it so many times the first drop always seems to come out of nowhere for me which is so exciting. It’s so good that as the ride comes to an end I’m already buzzing to go on it again. Seriously I could spend my whole day on SAW, it’s such a fun ride.

The best rollercoaster ever!

Another favourite rollercoaster of mine is The Swarm although my experience wasn’t so great this time as I had to sit next to a complete random stranger and it was so awkward. Like how am I supposed to enjoy the ride fully with someone I don’t even know sat next to me? It’s not really possible. Regardless, the ride itself was amazing as ever as when you’re on The Swarm you literally feel like you’re flying, even though it’s pretty speedy and of course has the element of excitement all rollercoasters have, I find it a pretty relaxing and calm ride as you get to feel the cool breeze on your face and admire all the beautiful surrounding views of Surrey. I genuinely find it such a peaceful ride and if I could have a replica in my garden to enjoy whenever I pleased I so would.

Pretty pretty views. Obvs I didn’t take this photo whilst on The Swarm – I’m not that skilled a photographer buuuuut this is the view on leaving Thorpe Park. So gorgeous.

One of my favourite things about the day was the fact that the girls and I went on a few rides we usually don’t and Chantal and I also experienced Derren Browns Ghost Train for the first time ever. I’m not going to lie, I was a little disappointed with the Ghost Train as I was expecting it to be a lot more scary and interesting than it actually was. I’m not in a rush to go on it again as once you’ve done it once you don’t really need to a second time, but I would definitely recommend it if you haven’t been on it before so at least you know what it’s like.

Emily and I also went on Depth Charge, a water slide style ride which I used to go on all the time as a kid and literally haven’t been on in years. I forgot how much of a fun ride it is and I would definitely go on this again, it’s one of those rides you could go on three times in a row and enjoy it equally every time. I’m so glad Emily and I went on Depth Charge together!

Happy after Depth Charge.

The ride I was most nervous for was Stealth, as I haven’t been on it in absolute years and the last time I did I got my necklace caught in the overhead seat belt which was a little scary. I mean obviously I was fine but it was enough to put me off for a while. Stealth is also an incredibly fast ride, going from 0-80mph in just two seconds, so I have an irrational fear that my eyes are going to pop out of my head when it sets off. Silly and totally impossible I know but even so, I can’t help feeling a little concerned. It took a lot of encouragement from the girls to get me on this ride but legit I am so glad they persuaded me because I enjoyed it so much. It’s literally the quickest ride ever as it goes so so fast, taking you up and over into an almost vertical drop and before you can so much as blink it’s over, but my word is it exciting. We actually ended up going on it twice and our second time on Stealth was our last ride of the day. Typically for me I got into trouble when leaving the ride, as rather than buying the official ride photo of the girls and I, I took a sneaky picture of the screen instead. The sales assistant demanded I delete the photo which I did obediently and to be honest it’s not so much the end of the world I had to as it wasn’t the most flattering photo of myself I’ve ever seen. I mean how could it be? I’m on a rollercoaster going 80mph, even a Victorias Secret model would struggle to look good in that situation.

The girls and I went on so many rides at Thorpe Park, we got through them all super fast as the queue times were so short and the distance between rides isn’t far at all. The park was open for 5 hours and in that time we managed to do everything we wanted to do, we even managed to do our favourite rides SAW, Stealth and Rush twice. What more could we ask for?

The girls and I left Thorpe Park feeling content as ever, having really enjoyed our day there. On the way home we decided to take a quick detour to Bicester Village, a designer shopping outlet with shops such as Burberry, Pandora and Ralph Lauren. Everything retails cheaper at Bicester Village and I was so impressed at the price of some of the Pandora charms with some being just £10, to call it a bargain would be the understatement of the century. I didn’t buy anything as I’ve really been enjoying saving my money lately and wanted to keep at it, however I am so happy I got to experience the Village as I’d never been before but virtually everyone I know has! Now I can finally stop feeling left out! I’m definitely planning on going back to Bicester Village at some point to treat myself, a day there with the girls before Christmas would be perfect.

I really loved spending quality time with my best friends at Thorpe Park and I had one of my favourite days of the year so far with my favourite people at one of my favourite places. All of the favourites!!! I had so much fun at Thorpe Park and it was super cute to round up the day with a little venture to Bicester Village.

What a wonderful day!

Have you ever been to Thorpe Park? What’s your favourite theme park? Let me know in the comments below.

Thank you for reading,

love,

Jennie.

♥