A truly fantastic ride. Admittedly, I
spent the entire first half of our day at Thorpe Park worrying about the
monster that was Colossus, but eventually i was persuaded (or rather
forced?) to ride it. And I am so glad I did. As for the bulky
restraints, they need to be that way! Did you not realise that the ride
loops 10 times!! If they weren't restrictive and heavy the riders would
fall out, and well...die.
All in all, great.
Alex
What can be said about
Colossus? Well, lets start with the one good point, the presentation.
The ride has a lovely theme, with much
of the ride buried under the paths and walkways that surround the ride.
A gentle waterfall cascades into a green, horrible pit of what was
probably at one time water.
The ride intricately wraps it's way
around the queue line giving perfect opportunities for photos and
videos.
Upon entering the station, the dramatic
music really helps to build up suspense, and a whispering voice
introduces the inversions to you. Before you know it you're taking your
seat, and have to literally scramble over the cars just to put your
belongings down, so a word of warning, if you're not an Olympic athlete,
don't even bother trying.
After the embarrassment of trying to
take your seat, the restraints lower. They are big, very bulky and
extremely uncomfortable.
The train then swiftly climbs the lift,
turns to the left, and speeds down the dull, airtimeless first drop.
*Bang* First case of roughness appears as your head smacks the
restraints at the bottom of the hill.
The loop is dull, and very vanilla.
Next is the no-airtime hill, where you
remain firmly plonked in your seat until the cobra roll begins.
*Bump* Next comes roughness moment one
through one thousand. The Cobra Roll is pure pain, intercepted by pure boredom.
The transition at the top kills all slight pace the ride had before it,
and kills you in the process.
Then, the Corkscrews. *Bang* Roughness
point 1001.
The dull turnaround once more breaks
the flow.
Then the much talked about in line
twists. Or, the most repetitive section on any coaster ever. Boring.
Then another dull turnaround, and another inline ends it. Thankfully.
So, Colossus is, in summary...
1. Nicely Presented.
2. Dull.
3. Repetitive.
4. Rough.
5. Repetitive.
6. Did I mention how repetitive it is?
1/5 (only because there is no 0)
Ben
An excellent ride and
everything Thorpe Park needed to break into the big league - a record
that could be trumped up no end, and they do it too!
The ride is brilliant,
if slightly short (850 meters), it feels blisteringly quick through the
mid section despite an unimpressive top speed of 48mph - nothing special
there, but it doesn't take much from the ride - good stuff.
A note about the
roughness: The track has nothing to do with it, the trains are stripped
down and modified hyper coaster trains, they weight nothing compared to
a weighty hyper or B&M train, so the wind resistance knocks the
train around more - making it seem bumpy, just like the Big One.
Harvey North
I was terrified when I first saw the
mighty cobra loops and relentless row of corkscrew twists that made up
Colossus. I actually wasn't looking forward to it (which is surprising),
but I couldn't really go to Thorpe Park and pass up the chance now,
could I?
When I pulled the restraint down, I was
glad it went really tight because it was only a matter of seconds and I
was flipped upside down for the first time. After that was over, I knew
that it was going to be great.
It continued with 4 more outstanding
loops that filled me with adrenaline, and then came the part I was
really dreading. I saw the four corkscrews that really terrified me, but
before I really had time to think about it, I was off, looking into the
vortex of turquoise, but the ride was so smooth it was unbelievable!
After the final twist, I turned to my dad and said. 'That was fun.' I
seriously thought I would hate every moment of it, but I felt like I was
flying! After reading the review about Air, I will definitely go on
that, because if a ride with a floor can do that to me, I don't know
what air will!
I think Colossus is the most fabulous
ride I've ever been on (and that includes Nemesis, Runaway Train and
Rock 'n' Roller Coaster).
Brilliant!
Helena
A fantastic coaster! The
excitement of riding builds up as you walk through the queue line and
once you begin your ride your not let down! The ride doesn't stop until
it hits the brakes!
Steven Boni
Some rides are great by default, and some are
clearly not. But for some rides, you have to look beyond just the ride
experience, and look at what that particular ride has done for its
respective park.
Take Colossus. Before 2000, even with Tussauds
having been in charge for a couple of years, Thorpe Park was an utter
joke really. The park's only real rides were Loggers Leap, and Thunder
River (unfortunately re-themed for 2003-not one of Tussauds better
pieces of work) and supposedly, X:\ No Way Out. Even when Tidal Wave
came, the park was seen little more than a glorified water park, as as
good as Tidal Wave was (and it was excellent), the park only had water
rides.
But in 2001, construction started on Project Odyssey,
aka, Colossus.
In preparation, 3 support thrill rides were
brought in to both add to the park as new rides, but also to soak up
some of the new huge crowds the park would be getting. A clever move was
to install them for the 2001 season, a year before Colossus, which meant
that more people would be coming to the park, and in the process see
Colossus under construction-what better way to advertise?
When the new ride opened, Thorpe Park entered
the big league. Through this ride, the park had brought in unbelievable
amounts of visitors, compared to what it had previously seen, and an
enormous amount of advertisement.
But now to the actual ride. Colossus is
brilliant. Despite what some people say, it really is. I have never
experienced any head bashing or roughness from Colossus, and I have been
on it 12+ times, in almost every place ranging from the extreme front
and extreme back.
The back is probably just as good as the front,
as the speed seems a lot faster (due obviously to the fact that it is
pulled down the drops, whereas the front is levered down).
The ride itself is great. The first drop is exhilarating,
then the tear drop vertical loop, a nice air time hill before ducking
under the shop, before literally erupting into the fantastic cobra roll,
one of the real highlights for me.
Following this is two corkscrews, taken at a
great speed, and then the photo is taken. A short respite on the
turnaround, before you look into 'the eye of the storm' confronting your
fear, as ahead of you, in a perfect circle, is the four inline twists.
These are beautiful, and are forceful yet fun. Fantastic.
For most, the ride may now seem finished, but
for those who have seen the pictures, the stats, or have been counting,
they will realise there is something else in store.
A final inline twist in the opposite direction
to the rest, just above the ground. Completely disorientated, riders go
straight onto the break run. What a finale- definitely the best I have
found.
This ride is sheer class, in every way. I have
been on Florida's rides including Kraken, Incredible Hulk, both Duelling
Dragons, and Montu all at the front, and most at the back as well- I am
a thrill junky, yet Colossus is still as thrilling as all of those,
something for a UK coaster, is amazing to find.
The theming is brilliant, there may not be a lot
of it, but it does the job well, and does not really need to add to the
ride. It also has a completely different feel to all other UK coasters,
and most in the world, and unless you have been on Monte Mayaka in
Brazil, it will be totally original.
And obviously, as I said before, it brought
Thorpe Park into the big league. As a record breaker, it brought in so
much more money than before, meaning that the park has been funded for
its more recent rides (the average-good Nemesis Inferno). It has set the
park up wonderfully, and when people say why they really want to visit,
Colossus, will often be the word on most peoples lips.
Excellent.
Oliver Cooke
Colossus is fantastic!
There isn't one thing I don't like about it. I especially like the
extended corkscrew!
Michael Joyce
This ride is like going over a Pebble
Beach, it's too rough please change the wheels and give it lap bars
instead of overhead. Going upside down 10 times is great but the last 4
inversions should of been over the water more. A real shame when it should
be really smooth, should of got B&M to build it.
James Culver
|