Matt Busby - Reviews

Probably my favourite ride at Thorpe Park, I've been a big fan of this one since I first rode it on it's opening year. The theming is cool and they have made changes to the audio over the years which ...

Probably my favourite ride at Thorpe Park, I've been a big fan of this one since I first rode it on it's opening year. The theming is cool and they have made changes to the audio over the years which has kept it fresh each time I've visited. I like that this ride has a slightly different feel depending on which side you sit, and the first drop is totally different depending on that. It feels a little too short but in the off season that's no real issue as you can board it again almost immediately after getting off. I don't find the restraints particularly uncomfortable while in motion, nor do I find the ride to be bouncy as some others have. The inversions are all pretty good, and the roll over the station is one of my favourite elements of the ride. However, the wait to get back to the station at the end can often feel a little jarring and you start to notice the tightness of the restraints here.

Colossus is one of my favourite UK coasters. It's now in its 20th year of operation and yes, it's a little rickety now. But it's a fantastic coaster overall with some excellent inversions and that hea...

Colossus is one of my favourite UK coasters. It's now in its 20th year of operation and yes, it's a little rickety now. But it's a fantastic coaster overall with some excellent inversions and that heartline roll at the end is one of my favourite parts of any coaster. The queue times can sometimes get a little high as it's the first coaster you really come to in the park, but it's always worth it. It's definitely worth queuing for the front on this one as the further back you sit, the more it's going to bang your head about, and the leg room is much more adequate in the front seat!

I have quite fond memories of when this ride was known as X. It's a much smaller coaster than others in the park but the theming when it was X was really interesting, and the ride itself had a cool fe...

I have quite fond memories of when this ride was known as X. It's a much smaller coaster than others in the park but the theming when it was X was really interesting, and the ride itself had a cool feel to it. As The Walking Dead however, the theming feels a little flat. The entrance to the ride now has a large cattle pen outside with nothing really happening, you then enter a room where a slightly cringey video plays and then walk through some more corridors with absolutely nothing happening (besides struggling to see where you're actually going) and then you arrive at a station where you're obviously supposed to feel some urgency but the atmosphere just feels a little lacking. The ride itself is decent, I'm a fan of dark rides so that's a plus for this, however I feel the ride itself was much better as X. Overall it was a bit disappointing as The Walking Dead, which is a shame as I felt X was a decent little ride. Big step backwards for me, personally.

I've visited Thorpe Park numerous times since Saw was first installed. The first of which was 10 years ago in 2012. Coming away from that visit Saw was one of my standouts and favourite rides. However...

I've visited Thorpe Park numerous times since Saw was first installed. The first of which was 10 years ago in 2012. Coming away from that visit Saw was one of my standouts and favourite rides. However, having just visited in 2022 I think it's slammed itself all the way down to my least favourite ride in the park. On Thursday morning, when we arrived, it was closed. It remained closed until roughly 2pm that day, when it opened we made our way over to it as I've got very fond memories of it. We queued for about 45 minutes, the longest queue of the day (admittedly because I expect everyone rushed to it when it opened) and this was okay. I do love the outside theming leading up to the ride itself. The BIG con here for me is somewhere in the time since I last visited in 2018, Saw seems to have become VERY rough. I don't remember ever experiencing any particularly bad roughness beyond the natural bit you'd expect from a ride of it's design, but this time I honestly felt like my brain was going to ooze out of my ear. I only rode it twice over the two days we were there, whereas usually it was a 4-5 times a day ride for me. On the 2nd day we were at the park it was once again closed as soon as the park opened. We went away and rode Colossus, came back and used our fast track to board quickly. I'm glad we did this because it felt just as rough despite being on the back row this time, and shortly afterwards it had broken down again. I didn't bother trying to ride a 3rd time but every time I opened the app it seemed it was closed. A pity, what was once an excellent ride now feels to me as though it's maybe had it's day. Exceptionally rough these days and seemed to be broken down more than it was operational.