Over the last two years my daughter and I have been doing the Madam Tussaud's group of theme parks that have included Legoland, Alton Towers, Chessington and now Thorpe Park. Its become something of a quest to these parks together and she wanted bragging rights at school as her class mates have only done Alton Towers.

We had a BOGOF voucher as had all the other visitors it seems. We got there early in the morning only to be faced a queue just to buy a ticket. As we waited it was hard not to escape a high arch that catches your attention. You gulp and think, that cannot be a ride. That’s your first sight of Stealth.

It took about 20 minutes of queuing to purchase a ticket, including finding out that the person in front of me just wanted to know which rides were closed that day. Something he could have read on the notice board or on the website. There were two rides closed on the day of my visit (Rush and Slammer). I doubt there is a day at Thorpe Park when all rides are operating.

Once you have your ticket you can enter the park. Some people in groups are asked to go to another line to be searched by security.

Once we entered the parks we wanted to get on the main rides. Unlike Alton Towers that has single rider lines for many of the top rides, not so with Thorpe Park. Its wait patiently unless you have paid extra for some sort of fast-track passes. Its hard to find advice on any strategy to beat the lines. I have done Disney Florida, where you wait less during lunch time and the parks get quieter in the afternoon. Not so here.

Colossus is a multi faceted rollercoaster that has loops, corkscrews, and is high as well. We waited for nearly 45 minutes to get on.

X-No way out is a dark, backwards rollercoaster with some stops and start. I found this one rather tame and disappointing.

Nemesis Inferno is another top coaster ride and we waited for about 40 minutes to get on.

From Nemesis we decided to tackle Stealth. By this time the wait lines for Colossus was over 2 hours, but Stealth was about 45 minutes. The ride has an Americano theme with 50s music playing on a loop. However whilst we queued the ride broke down. The music kept on playing and no one bothered to announce on the tannoy what was wrong or how long the disruption will be. Remember this park is owned by a company that runs some of Britain’s biggest theme parks.

We could see the some men with spanners were fixing something. Some people left, but we stayed on until the ride was fixed. In total we waited for 90 minutes to get on and no one updated the people waiting. But wow, what a rush. That archway is daunting when you look at it. When you set off at high speed and up the archway, twisting as you go on high and over. Its over quickly but this is a world class ride. It reminded me a little of the Superman ride at Magic Mountain , but that fires you up and then goes backwards to the beginning.

Samurai is a fast, high whirling ride with another long wait time. Tidal wave is a water ride with a gigantic splash guaranteed to drench you. However Rumba rapids was a disappointment.

Detonator is similar to the Ice Blast/Playstation ride in Blackpool but it’s the reverse as you come crashing down from a great height.

Time Voyagers is a new 3D type film that was rather good.

There are also a range of rides for the little ones, including a beach play area, plenty of places to eat. The park is more compact than Alton Towers but there is a range and depth to the rides.

But its the queuing that is a problem. You have to prepare to wait a long time for ride after ride. There were also too much queue jumping going on, and it did not help that they had no attendants at the entrance of the rides who could put a stop to this and also some young kids messing around. Its no point putting up a sign with a mobile phone number to ring if you spot anti social behaviour or queue jumping. Thorpe Park is run by a major entertainment company they should know better and need to make improvements to the park.