Samurai At Thorpe Park
Samurai opened at Thorpe Park as the sole new ride for the 2004 season. It sits in the site that had been occupied by the Calgary Stampede ride. Some confusion emerged with regards to the location of this ride in relation to Thorpe Park's themed "lands". Calgary Stampede was a Canada Creek ride yet Samurai was painted and themed to match the Lost City rides, similar to Vortex. This decision sparked discussion of a "three areas" system for Thorpe Park where the existing themed areas would be condensed into three larger themed areas, which would probably be the Lost City, Amity Cove and Calypso Quay areas of the park. Subsequent installations in Canada Creek seem to have dispelled this rumour.
Samurai's arrival at Thorpe Park met with mixed reactions. The move had been long discussed on fan sites but few saw it as more than a fantasy. When the move was announced, many fans were disappointed to see Chessington lose one of its best (if not the best) rides. There was further controversy when it emerged that Samurai was to retain its name at Thorpe Park, despite not fitting the style and theme of the area. There have also been suggestions that since its move to Thorpe Park it has been run on less intense settings and the use of manual control has been all but abandoned, to the disappointment of enthusiasts. Although during Fright Nights, the settings on Samurai were raised on some occasions, comparisons to other Top Scan rides around Europe, particularly on the travelling fair circuit, show that even at Chessington the ride was already running well below its maximum speed and intensity.
There were rumours that the Samurai was to be integrated into the Canada Creek area and re-themed for the opening of the new
SAW: The Ride roller coaster opening in 2009, however this did not occur. Instead, the blue fences around the ride(seen in the above photo) were painted red to fit in better with the roller coaster. As well as this, the ride received a queue extension so that it could cope with the increased number of visitors in the area of the park.
Read more about this topic: Samurai (ride)
Famous quotes containing the words samurai, thorpe and/or park:
“I am the scroll of the poet behind which samurai swords are being sharpened.”
—Lester Cole, U.S. screenwriter, Nathaniel Curtis, and Frank Lloyd. Prince Tatsugi (Frank Puglia)
“Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his friends for his life.”
—Jeremy Thorpe (b. 1929)
“Borrow a child and get on welfare.
Borrow a child and stay in the house all day with the child,
or go to the public park with the child, and take the child
to the welfare office and cry and say your man left you and
be humble and wear your dress and your smile, and don’t talk
back ...”
—Susan Griffin (b. 1943)