Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras, a new event introduced at Thorpe Park for the 2022 season, is the first event in the theme park's calendar. Taking place for a month in mid-Spring, in 2022 it runs from 19th May to 19th June.

During the event the park is filled with the sights and sounds of Mardi Gras celebrations from around the world, and features stages with live music, a parade, characters roaming the park wearing colourful costumes, Louisiana vibes and pop-up stalls offering a variety of street food.

The main Mardi Gras hub is in Angry Birds Land, with a main stage hosting live music acts at various times throughout the afternoon. Bunting in the event's green, yellow and purple colour scheme hangs above visitors' heads and the stage itself is decorated with a large colourful mask backdrop. Elsewhere in the park there's a mini stage opposite Nemesis Inferno and a live DJ booth beside Storm in a Teacup.

Unfortunately, while there is more live entertainment laid on for Mardi Gras than there has been for years at Thorpe Park, it is still relatively easy to miss most of it, with the stages empty for large periods during the day. More reliable are the food stalls brought in to temporarily boost the park's own offerings, serving up food such as crocodile burgers, fried shrimp, mac & cheese, Jambalaya, Louisiana loaded fries and New Orleans baked spaghetti together with numerous alcoholic beverages.

One of the headline attractions is supposedly a Mardi Gras Parade which takes place three times a day at midday, 2pm and 4pm: In reality this is by far the most disappointing part of the event. The parade is tiny, with a small number of costumed characters walking beside a pedal cart and one single vehicle float. While the characters themselves are enthusiastic, the overall ambition of the parade is underwhelming and generally rather embarassing for what is supposedly a "world class" theme park.

To give the park their due, it is nice to see a brand new Spring event launched at Thorpe Park, but the event needs to see vast improvement in many areas if it is to become a regular annual fixture. Potential cultral appropriation aside (real Mardi Gras is a celebration culminating on Shrove Tuesday marking the start of Lent and the beginning of the countdown to Easter), it has the elements to make a great fun addition to Thorpe's calendar. Live entertainment is always welcome, and the themed food is a nice feature not often seen.

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