Theme
The ride is set in a 1960s New England fishing village which has been hit by a tidal wave, named "Amity Cove". The surrounding area has a high level of detail to carry this theme. The ride's queueline is host to a number of partially ruined buildings, including a bathroom with a leaking shower, a toilet and a house with a boat stuck in its roof. The station is built at an angle to give the impression that the building has been damaged by the wave. The area's New England setting is only rough, as Storm Surge is set in Virginia.
Upon leaving the ride, guests are led through a building, named "Pier 13", situated directly in front of the splash pool and above the track. As the boat hits the water, the wave travels straight towards this building and often continues on to the pathway behind. Two windows of the Pier 13 building have no perspex, presenting another opportunity for riders to get wet.
Around the splash pool are several effects, such as a damaged gas tank which fires a large flame approximately every 10 minutes, a giant water tower which periodically releases a torrent of water, and the sound of an organ coming from the spire of a supposedly submerged church. As of 2006, the gas tank no longer operates because the cylinders that were used to fuel the flame were removed to make way for the construction of Stealth. The other effects are also currently nonoperational and have been out of order for several years.
Amity Cove also features a comical, fake radio station, named WWTP radio, that plays on a loop through speakers in the area. The radio show is hosted by the fictional character "'Big Bob' Jones" and plays music from the era, for example Elvis Presley and The Beach Boys. The show also features comical news reports, parodic advertisements and fictional competitions.
Read more about this topic: Tidal Wave (Thorpe Park)
Famous quotes containing the word theme:
“It seems to me that upbringings have themes. The parents set the theme, either explicitly or implicitly, and the children pick it up, sometimes accurately and sometimes not so accurately.... The theme may be “Our family has a distinguished heritage that you must live up to” or “No matter what happens, we are fortunate to be together in this lovely corner of the earth” or “We have worked hard so that you can have the opportunities we didn’t have.””
—Calvin Trillin (20th century)
“This is certainly not the place for a discourse about what festivals are for. Discussions on this theme were plentiful during that phase of preparation and on the whole were fruitless. My experience is that discussion is fruitless. What sets forth and demonstrates is the sight of events in action, is living through these events and understanding them.”
—Doris Lessing (b. 1919)
“And God-appointed Berkeley that proved all things a dream,
That this pragmatical, preposterous pig of a world, its farrow that so solid seem,
Must vanish on the instant if the mind but change its theme ...”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)