Thorpe Park is a theme park in Thorpe village, between Chertsey and Staines-upon-Thames in Surrey, England, about 20 miles southwest of central London. It opened to the public on 24 May 1979, built on a site of former flooded gravel pits whose lakes still weave through the grounds today. What began as a leisure park grew through the 1980s and 1990s into one of Britain’s major thrill-ride destinations.
The Tussauds Group bought the park in 1998 and pushed it further into record-chasing coaster territory, and Merlin Entertainments has operated it since 2007 under a long-term lease from current owner LondonMetric Property. In 2019 Thorpe Park drew about 1.9 million visitors, ranking it the UK’s third most-visited theme park, and its lineup now spans everything from the world-first ten-loop Colossus to the record-setting Hyperia.
Stats at a Glance
- Location: Thorpe, Surrey, England
- Operator: Merlin Entertainments
- Opened: 24 May 1979
- Size: About 410 acres
- Annual visitors: About 1.9 million (2019)
- Signature attraction: Hyperia (Mack Rides hyper coaster, 236 ft tall, 80 mph)
The Ride Experience
Thorpe Park built its reputation on coasters that chased records rather than just height. Colossus, an Intamin steel coaster that opened in 2002, became the world’s first roller coaster with ten inversions and held the global record for most inversions until The Smiler at Alton Towers overtook it in 2013. Stealth, an Intamin launch coaster from 2006, rockets riders to 80 mph in under two seconds up a near-vertical spike, while Bolliger & Mabillard’s The Swarm (2012) and Nemesis Inferno (2003) add wing-coaster and inverted-coaster thrills respectively.
The park’s newest headline ride, Hyperia, opened on 24 May 2024 — exactly 45 years after the park itself — as the UK’s tallest and fastest roller coaster, standing 236 feet tall and reaching 80 mph across more than 3,200 feet of Mack Rides hyper-coaster track.
From Gravel Pits to Resort
Thorpe Park’s lakes are a legacy of its original use as gravel extraction pits; once quarrying finished, the flooded workings were landscaped into the water features that still shape the park’s layout. Under Tussauds Group ownership from 1998 and Merlin Entertainments management since 2007, the site expanded from a family leisure park into a coaster-focused resort, adding on-site hotels and positioning itself alongside Merlin’s other UK parks like Alton Towers and Chessington World of Adventures.
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Roller Coasters at Thorpe Park
Every Thorpe Park coaster ThrillZing has covered — stats, ride experience and history for each:
Thorpe Park in the News
Stories from our daily theme park news roundups that mention Thorpe Park, newest first.
Thorpe Park FAQs
When did Thorpe Park open?
Thorpe Park opened to the public on 24 May 1979, on a site of former flooded gravel pits in Surrey.
Who owns and operates Thorpe Park?
Thorpe Park is owned by LondonMetric Property and operated by Merlin Entertainments, which has run the park since 2007.
What is Thorpe Park’s tallest and fastest ride?
Hyperia, a Mack Rides hyper coaster that opened in May 2024, is the UK’s tallest and fastest roller coaster at 236 feet and 80 mph.
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Photo: Suntooooth / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.