The Swarm. When it was built I was absolutely desperate for Thorpe Park to build an airtime coaster. Instead, we got yet another inverting coaster and I was disappointed. Many years have passed and Th...
The Swarm. When it was built I was absolutely desperate for Thorpe Park to build an airtime coaster. Instead, we got yet another inverting coaster and I was disappointed. Many years have passed and Thorpe Park now does have an excellent airtime machine. So what can be said about The Swarm?
The Swarm sits as quite an imposing looking coaster at the front of Thorpe Park. The whole area is themed well and feels like a distinct zone of the park. I wish they would do a bit more with this area, however, as it feels isolated from the rest of the park. Especially now that Hyperia has made the opposite corner of Thorpe Park the place-to-be.
The apocalyptic theming is well done. I find the 'legalize aliens' signs amusing. But overall I strongly do not enjoy the Gritty British Apocolypse vibes. It is absolutely the last theme I would ever choose for something that I am trying to *enjoy*.
I don't think I have ever queued more than 5 minutes for The Swarm tbh. A combination of good luck, good timing, visiting on quiet days and the location within the park means that (in my experience) it's quite easy to avoid queueing for it. I think if I did have to queue for a long time, the police sirens and soundtrack would be quite annoying after a while.
I can never understand why in such a rainy country they didn't cover the station. Gotta feel bad for the ride ops on rainy days. The station itself is quite cool, especially with the inline roll that goes over it.
The ride itself. Simply put - its ok, but a bit boring. It feels like it doesn't DO much. The first drop is quite fun but it doesn't really excite me as much as it should. After that you get a fun feeling of flying as it goes through its inversions and helixes. I typically grey-out a little bit on the outer seats around the helix. To be honest though - I don't really find this fun.
Another review mentioned the feeling of 'is that it?' when the ride hits the brakes. This is spot on. Without fail, when it hits the brakes, I find myself a bit underwhelmed. The fact that the brakerun is significantly higher than the station, and then it just slowly goes round a downhill turn and sits in block brakes before hitting the station really doesn't help.
Overall the ride is graceful and swoopy. A combination of its constricted layout and the gradual nature of the elements for the wing coaster make it a bit dull overall. Meanwhile, I find Nemesis Inferno to be a similar but much more all-out full-throttle experience.
So The Swarm, while a fun experience and being a high-quality coaster - isn't necessarily the most thrilling coaster.
If it wasn't themed to an apocalypse, it would do well being themed as the 'introductory' thrill coaster at Thorpe Park IMO. That said - would I actually use this coaster to introduce people to coasters - no...I'd probably go for one of the other, better, coasters at the park tbh.
