A Look at New Attractions From 10, 20 and 30 Years Ago.
With excitement building for all the new attractions due to open this season we thought we would take a quick look back at some of the attractions that were opening around this time 10, 20 and 30 years ago.
10 Years ago – 2002
Thorpe Park – Thorpe Park’s first World Record breaking roller coaster, Colossus, opened. Featuring a record breaking 10 inversions, the opening of Colossus really started to put Thorpe Park on the world map, something that their new ride THE SWARM promises to do again this year.
Alton Towers – 2002 was also a big year for Alton Towers, with the opening of the World’s first B&M Flyer roller coaster. At a cost of £12 million, this was the first of a new generation of flying coasters that would give riders an experience unlike anything they had experienced on a roller coaster before.
Pleasure Beach Blackpool – Costing £1 million, the new white knuckle Spin Doctor ride was rather appropriately opened by PR spin expert Max Clifford. This new ride was made up of twin Fabbri Booster rides and spun riders “360 degrees through the air to heights of 120 feet at speeds of over 60 mph”. Spin Doctor only lasted a couple of seasons at the park being removed in the 2006 season.
20 years ago – 1992
Runaway Mine Train
Alton Towers – 1992 was a year of huge investment at Alton Towers with The New Beast, Runaway Mine Train, Haunted House and the re-themed river rapids ride, Congo River Rapids, all opening in the same season. This was only two years after the Tussauds Group had acquired the park, and it was soon clear to everyone that they had big ambitions for the park.
Thorpe Park – In comparison it was a year of smaller investments at Thorpe Park with two new boating attractions, the Hudson River Rafters & Viking Rowers, opening as well as the newly re-themed children’s ride area, Octopus Garden.
Unlike most of the Alton Towers additions from 1992 that are still at the park today, all of these Thorpe Park attractions have since been removed from the park.
30 years ago – 1982
Alton Towers – New for 1982 was Cine 360 and the Mini Apple Roller Coaster. Cine 360 was an immersive cinema experience in a domed building, where the film was projected onto a large 360 degree domed screen. The Mini Apple Roller Coaster was a small children’s roller coaster that stayed at the park for 14 seasons.
Magic Mill
Thorpe Park – For its fourth season, Thorpe Park added two attractions, both of which would be remembered as classics for many years after they closed. These were Magic Mill and Thorpe Farm. Magic Mill was a relaxing boat ride around landscaped gardens set to a soundtrack of classical music, which featured an indoor Dark Ride section full of musical animatronic animals. Thorpe Farm was a traditional working farm featuring familiar British farm animals, farming vehicles and machinery, that had its last season at the park in 2006.
