Slammer

Slammer was a giant Sky Swat flat ride, which operated at Thorpe Park between 2005 until its official closure in 2017. It was one of only two Sky Swats in the world, the other having opened at Six Flags AstroWorld two years previously.

The ride was manufactured by S&S Power, the same company which built Rush, the giant swing which also opened at Thorpe in 2005.

Slammer provided a unique ride experience. Riders would sit on one of Slammer's two "swats" which featured four rows of six seats mounted at each end of the ride's main arm. Once the ride began the arm would be lifted 65ft up Slammer's vertical tower and, after being locked into place around its central pivot point, would begin rotating. This would cause riders at one end of the ride to dive towards the ground as the others were swung towards the sky.

Unfortunately, Slammer had a lifetime of problems starting with its delayed opening and continuing with excessive downtime. More than once the arm got stuck at the top of the tower - and in the most serious incident the ride's self-righting mechanism failed and riders were left stranded at a very uncomfortable angle before they could be rescued.

S&S officially discontinued the Sky Swat model in 2010. Slammer continued to suffer from extended downtime, with it completely removed from the park map in 2013. It reopened briefly in 2015, but Thorpe Park announced its official permanent closure in 2017. As of the end of the 2019 season, all signage has been removed but the remains of the ride still stands, its queueline now reused for the Living Nightmare Fright Nights scare maze.

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