Hyperia

Beating the record held by Blackpool's Pepsi Max Big One for thirty years, Hyperia opened at Thorpe Park as the UK’s tallest rollercoaster in time for the park’s 45th anniversary on 24 May 2024. With a maximum speed of 80mph, it is also the country’s fastest.

It is the first new rollercoaster to be built at Thorpe Park since The Swarm, which opened twelve years prior in 2012, meaning it was a much anticipated and much needed new investment.

Hyperia was manufactured by Mack Rides and is one of the firm’s Hypercoaster models, although it features a tightly packed track layout rather than the more traditional swooping out-and-back often seen on other installations.

There are some incredible elements, with an outer banked airtime hill, Immelmann, downward dropping barrel roll and stalled dive loop helping to deliver an astonishing amount of negative G forces: the park claims riders will experience 14.8 seconds of airtime while onboard.

The first three-quarters of the ride delivers thrills aplenty, with the various elements nicely put together despite being delivered in quick succession. There’s a variation in pace, with plenty of upside-down hang time that really helps give the impression of just how high up riders are.

A splashdown effect comes near the end, partially disguising trim brakes which aggressively slow the train down for the final couple of hills and turn into the station. While very necessary (tackling those elements at full speed would be painful!) it is a slightly disappointing end to the experience, which feels way too short. The train has so much energy it could have easily managed to navigate a longer track here.

The trains themselves feature lapbar only restraints, which are both comfortable and enhance the feeling of floating free as the coaster soars through the layout. Unfortunately while one of Hyperia’s trains is ultra-smooth, the other train rattles along the track like a dodgy shopping trolley. It can be especially uncomfortable in the back seats of each car (even numbered rows) and is definitely not something you would hope for from a brand new rollercoaster. If this can’t be sorted out, Hyperia will be as rough as Colossus in a few seasons.

Another major disappointment with the ride, considering how much promise there was in the original plans, is the ride area itself. Rather than a beautiful lakeside plaza, the area looks like a muddy building site with some dirty water in the middle. Clearly the budget ran out, but it doesn’t give the impression of a world-class attraction or that much care has gone into making the surroundings nice. Just a couple of weeks after opening, a lot of the new plants and trees already looked wilted and half dead.

What theming there is does not deliver either: its abstract at best with vague nods to wings and flight, although I’d guess most guests would be hard pushed to understand the river goddess theme unless they’d read the Thorpe Park website or paid particular attention to queueline screens.

Overall Hyperia is a great and much needed new addition to Thorpe Park’s coaster lineup, although it feels like a missed opportunity to create something really special. Like a teenager losing their virginity the rollercoaster promises a lot, starts well but lacks finesse, doesn’t last long and leaves their rider a little unsatisfied but wanting another go. The gamble over rough vs smooth train doesn’t help, meaning some rides live up to the promise of Hyperia as Thorpe Park’s golden goddess while others are more akin - like the colour of the track's lower half - to diarrhoea brown disappointment.

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