Name changed so I can try & post a photo in a bit. Buddymofo -we saw you & your dd too, and it made us all smile - you looked fab! And congrats adizzylass, what lovely news!
- Who was in your group and how old are the children?
Me, Dh, ds (11) and dd (8)
- Have you been to THORPE PARK Resort before, if so, when?
No, never
- What was your, and your family's, overall experience of #MyFirstCoaster Day?
Overall, much better than we would have expected. We were there from 10:15-5:45, and hardly stopped at all, but everyone had a great time. The DCs haven't stopped talking about it, and have been planning their next trip! Even though we only went on one big ride, we really enjoyed watching them all - the parks is well laid out to make the most of the views of the rollercoasters, which is fun in itself. The view coming onto the island is very cool!
It was cold - and as a fan of water rides, my bum was wet through most of the day, and took over an hour to warm up when we got home ( we did try the speed dry things, but they hardly touched the edges!) dd had waterproof trews, and that was defn a good plan!
- What were your/your DCs highlights of the day?
Ds- nemesis inferno and x. He didn't go on inferno until 5:15, having been working up to the idea all day, and it really was a great first grown up roller coaster - smooth, exciting but not too scary, and no big build up of atmosphere/tension in the queue, which would have put him off. And, as we were going on so late, only a 5-10 min queue, so no time to decide to back out!
Dd - quantum (which she went on 7 times - cast iron stomach!) and x.
Me & Dh- nemesis, x, and depth charge. The latter was great as it was a ride we could really all enjoy as a family, and was a lovely level of thrill for all of us. We also like the practicalities - staff were friendly and helpful, park was reasonably small and easy to navigate, and queues for the family rides were generally very short (x was the exception, but queue was well managed). I also really liked how well groups were accommodated so that you didn't feel any pressure to split up as a family to fit onto spaces in the ride - again, the staff managed this well.
I was also impressed that the food options were standard BK type places - it felt less of a rip off than theme park food usually does (legoland, I'm looking at you...). We took a picnic but if I went again, I'd defn buy the food.
We counted up and think we went on 27 rides (many being multiples of the same ride) which felt like a pretty good result.
Cons: there were a lot of rides either out of action, or where the rides closed for part of the day - nemesis, x, the big rubber ring one all got closed at various points in the day, and we went on tidal wave & got stuck as the ride glitched - which meant we were sitting, soaking, strapped in for 10-15 mins or so. The staff were really, really great & helpful, but it didn't feel like a one off! Lots of the rides also didn't have the cameras working all the time - it was a challenge to get our free photo! If I'd have paid full price, I'd have been frustrated I think.
- Overall, would you recommend THORPE PARK Resort to your friends and family if it came up in conversation? If so, why? If not, why not?
Yes and no. There was more for the under 1.4 than I expected and , at least this early in the year, the lack of queues for these rides means you can really make the most of them. But I wouldn't recommend TP for kids under 1.4 at the entrance price - you'd feel like you were paying for rides you couldn't go on. That said, dd is desperate to go back once she hits 1.4m now, and I did think there was more for young pre-teens than I would have expected - I would previously have thought of it for 14/16+ and I would certainly think 11/12+ now. Unlike some other posters, I didn't feel the teenage groups were a problem - we were next to one enthusiastic swearer at one point, but otherwise they all seemed polite, happy groups. As someone else said, I'd be happy for the DCs to go unaccompanied when they're a bit older. It felt very safe and well controlled.
From all of us, a big thank you for the tickets. It's something we wouldn't have considered for our two at this age, and has really changed our mind. We did post on Twitter, but I don't think I signed up for doing anything on fb - if I did, feel free to give me a prod