Thorpe Park Resort, commonly known as Thorpe Park, is an amusement park located in the village of Thorpe between the towns of Chertsey and Staines-upon-Thames in Surrey, England, 20 miles southwest of Central London. It is operated by Merlin Entertainments and includes rides, themed cabins, live events and Stealth, the United Kingdom’s fastest rollercoaster. In 2019 Thorpe park was the UK’s third most visited theme park (1.9 million visitors), behind Alton Towers & Legoland Windsor. However, in 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the park only had a 125-day operation season, along with limited capacity, leading to massively reduced visitor numbers. Despite this, Thorpe park was the second most attended theme park in the UK in 2020, behind Alton Towers.
After demolition of the Thorpe Park Estate in the 1930s, the site became a gravel pit managed by Ready Mix Concrete (RMC). When the pits were expended, RMC regenerated the site for leisure, opening Thorpe Park as an outdoor activity park in 1979. It has since grown into one of the major theme parks in the UK.
Major attractions include a large water ride Tidal Wave, a number of rollercoasters including Colossus, Nemesis Inferno, Stealth, Saw – The Ride, The Swarm, The Walking Dead: The Ride and dark ride Derren Brown’s Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon.
