The Swarm (Thorpe Park)

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The Swarm
The Swarm dive drop

The Swarm dive drop

Data
Location Thorpe Park
(Chertsey, Surrey, United Kingdom)
Type Steel - seated
model Wing Coaster
Drive type Chain lift hill
Manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard
costs £ 20,000,000
opening March 15, 2012
length 775.1 m
height 38.7 m
Max. speed 92 km / h
Trains 2 trains, 7 cars / train, 1 row of seats / car, 4 seats / row of seats
elements Dive drop ,
zero-g-roll ,
inclined loop ,
corkscrew ,
inline twist
Inversions 5
Theming Disaster scenario

The Swarm (spelling: "THE SWARM") is a steel roller coaster of the Wing Coaster model by the Swiss manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard in Thorpe Park, England . The system is the manufacturer's second wing coaster and the first in the United Kingdom . Construction work began in May 2011 and the lift opened on March 15, 2012.

The 775 meter long route reaches a height of 39 meters and has five inversions . During the 85-second journey, the trains accelerate to a top speed of 95 km / h and experience a vertical acceleration of 4.5  g .

history

Planning and announcement

Planning for The Swarm began in secret in 2010. Internally, the track was given the code name LC12 . On January 31, 2011, Thorpe Park submitted a building application to the Runnymede District Council . The document detailed how the park intended to build a roller coaster, code-named LC12 and an apocalyptic theming. On March 30, 2011, the application was approved by the municipal council in a majority vote.

On August 1, 2011, Thorpe Park officially announced the track as The Swarm . A redirect to the domain theswarm.co.uk was created on the existing website LC12.net . The website had more information on the theming that would deal with an apocalyptic war.

Construction and opening

At the time of the announcement, construction was already in progress. The rails closed on November 18, 2011. Shortly afterwards, the system was adapted to the clearance profile of the trains. On January 17th, a train completed the entire route for the first time.

On March 15, 2012, The Swarm opened to the public. In January 2013 Thorpe Park announced that at the beginning of the season, the last two rows of each train would be rotated against the direction of travel for the first time on a Wing Coaster. The park is marketing this conversion under the slogan " THE SWARM - Brave It Backwards " - "THE SWARM - defy it backwards". The park also announced that it would place a destroyed billboard along the route through which the trains would pass. Since 2016, all rows have been facing forward again.

Trains

The Swarm has two wing coaster trains from Bolliger & Mabillard. Each train has seven rows of seats, each with four seats, two of which are on the left and right of the rail. The last two rows of seats are arranged against the direction of travel. Lap bars are used as restraint systems, which additionally hold the passengers in their seats with an integrated vest. The theming of the trains is reminiscent of the eponymous extraterrestrial beings. A row of red LEDs is attached to the side of the train .

journey

The corkscrew extends through the inclined loop.

The train begins its journey in the station building, which is designed as a partially destroyed church. After leaving the station building, he is pulled up the 38.7 meter high chain lift. Once at the top, the train completes the world's first dive drop . The train then drives under the wing of a crashed aircraft and passes through the Zero-G Roll, which is 30.7 meters above the ground . Then he drives through the hole in a destroyed billboard and then climbs the inclined loop . The train then drives through a curve close to the ground with a crashed helicopter in the middle, the rotor blades of which are slowly turning. This is followed by a corkscrew that extends through the inclined loop. After leaving the corkscrew, the train drives past a destroyed fire engine, which is particularly staged with fire and water effects. The train then passes a keyhole element typical of Wing Coaster in the form of a partially destroyed church tower. Finally, the train crosses the station building and crosses an in-line twist before it is decelerated to walking speed by eddy current brakes and then after a short left turn drives back into the station building. After the ride, passengers can purchase an onride video for which they were filmed during the ride, similar to the Saw - The Ride roller coaster located in the park .

Theming

The fly over over the station building

The site is designed as if it had been largely destroyed as a result of a major catastrophe. The journey thus represents the flight through this catastrophe scenario, which includes, among other things, a destroyed airplane, an ambulance overturned, a fire engine half in the water and a helicopter that has crashed.

marketing

The lift hill with the station building themed as a destroyed church in the foreground

At the end of April, Thorpe Park started its marketing campaign for the project called "LC12" at the time, by hanging posters in the park with the words "The end is coming" and the website LC12.net was put online. On the website there were vague references to the theming of the new attraction and a countdown to August 1, 2011. A few days before the countdown was over, Thorpe Park posted a video on its Facebook page stating that war was approaching.

On January 25, 2012, reports appeared that an incident had occurred while testing The Swarm . The legs of two dummies broke off when the train passed an object that was too close to the track. The Daily Mail speculated that the incident was a publicity stunt.

In March 2012, the park announced that it had signed a contract with You Me at Six to produce the world's first single for a roller coaster. On March 18, 2012, a few days after The Swarm opened , the song named "The Swarm" was available for download on iTunes . In the UK single charts, the title climbed to number 23.

reception

The Swarm received a largely positive response from the media. Nick Sim from the Theme Park Tourist website praised the ride and the theming. He said the trains completed "a series of incredible elements in one compact stretch". The roller coaster just barely met his immeasurable expectations, mainly due to the short ride. He rated the track with four out of five possible stars.

Joanna Churchill of the British newspaper Daily Mirror tested the train with the seats rotated against the direction of travel and concluded that “the train is a new adrenaline-releasing experience that is simply not suitable for cowards”. She wrote that her "blood pressure and heart rate went through the roof," but that there was hardly time to process what happened before she was back on solid ground.

In the “Best Roller Coaster Poll” roller coaster ranking, The Swarm placed 68th out of 365 roller coasters when it opened. Compared to the other Wing Coasters recorded in 2012, the railway did not do badly: X-Flight in Six Flags Great America came in 58th, Wild Eagle in Dollywood in 87th and Raptor in Gardaland in 113th the Golden Ticket Awards 2012 and 2013 empty.

Web links

Commons : The Swarm  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Duane Marden: Swarm - Thorpe Park. RCDB.com, accessed November 5, 2013 .
  2. ^ A b c Thorpe Park's New £ 20m Development Is No April Fools. ( MS Word ; 782 kB) Thorpe Park, March 31, 2011, accessed on October 31, 2013 (English).
  3. ↑ New coaster crashes into Thorpe Park! (No longer available online.) Park World Online March 15, 2012, archived from the original on November 10, 2013 ; accessed on October 31, 2013 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.parkworld-online.com
  4. ^ A b Thorpe Park: "Fencing Plan & Details Plan & Elevations". (PDF; 1.0 MB) Runnymede Borough Council, January 27, 2011, archived from the original on September 30, 2011 ; accessed on November 5, 2013 .
  5. ↑ a b Thorpe Park: Toilet Block Plan & Elevations. (PDF; 2.0 MB) Runnymede Borough Council, January 27, 2011, archived from the original on September 30, 2011 ; accessed on November 5, 2013 .
  6. ↑ Application for Planning Permission. (PDF; 845 kB) Runnymede Borough Council, January 31, 2011, archived from the original on September 30, 2011 ; accessed on November 5, 2013 .
  7. ↑ a b Weekly notice of applications registered by Runnymede Borough Council for the period ending: 09/02/2011. Runnymede Borough Council as of November 30, 2011, archived from the original on September 30, 2011 ; accessed on November 5, 2013 .
  8. ↑ a b Thorpe Park - THE SWARM. Thorpe Park, August 1, 2011, archived from the original August 8, 2011 ; accessed on November 5, 2013 .
  9. ↑ Thorpe Park: War is coming ... Video on Facebook, August 1, 2011, accessed November 5, 2013 (English).
  10. ↑ LC12. Thorpe Park, August 1, 2011, archived from the original August 2, 2011 ; accessed on November 5, 2013 .
  11. ↑ Thorpe Park: Track is complete ... let the theming begin ..... THE SWARM - Developers Diary, November 18, 2011, accessed on November 5, 2013 .
  12. ↑ Thorpe Park: Now that the track is complete, we are conducting the clearance testing to re-inforce all previous safety measures. THE SWARM - Developers Diary, November 23, 2011, accessed November 5, 2013 .
  13. ↑ Thorpe Park: THE ATTACK IS UNDERWAY! The very first test run of THE SWARM! THE SWARM - Developers Diary, January 17, 2012, accessed November 5, 2013 .
  14. ↑ Nick Sim: Confirmed: Thorpe Park to reverse seats on The Swarm roller coaster for 2013 season. Theme Park Tourist, January 22, 2013, accessed November 5, 2013 .
  15. ↑ The Swarm. Thorpe Park, accessed November 5, 2013 .
  16. ^ Thorpe Park: Station Building - Plan & Color Elevations. (PDF; 2.5 MB) Runnymede Borough Council, January 27, 2011, archived from the original on September 30, 2011 ; accessed on November 6, 2013 .
  17. ↑ a b c Thorpe Park: Site Sections BB CC. (PDF; 1.7 MB) Runnymede Borough Council, August 2, 2010, archived from the original on September 30, 2011 ; accessed on November 6, 2013 .
  18. ↑ a b c Thorpe Park: Features A&B, Queue Line Kiosk & Entrance Feature - Plan & Elevations. (PDF; 2.1 MB) Runnymede Borough Council, January 27, 2011, archived from the original on September 30, 2011 ; accessed on November 6, 2013 .
  19. ↑ Thorpe Park: Block Plan as Proposed. (PDF; 1.8 MB) Runnymede Borough Council, August 2, 2010, archived from the original on September 30, 2011 ; accessed on November 6, 2013 .
  20. ^ Thorpe Park: Theming Feature C - Plan & Elevations. (PDF; 2.1 MB) Runnymede Borough Council, January 27, 2011, archived from the original on September 30, 2011 ; accessed on November 10, 2013 .
  21. ↑ LC12. Thorpe Park, archived from the original on May 10, 2011 ; accessed on November 10, 2013 .
  22. ↑ Thorpe Park: War is coming ... Video on Facebook, July 27, 2011, accessed November 10, 2013 .
  23. ↑ UK amusement park redesigns roller coaster after dummy passengers lose limbs. news.com.au, January 25, 2012, accessed November 10, 2013 .
  24. ↑ Martin Fricker: Test dummies have limbs ripped off on new £ 20m rollercoaster ride. Mirror, January 25, 2012, accessed November 10, 2013 .
  25. ^ Charles Walford: The rollercoaster that costs an arm and a leg: Thorpe Park's new £ 20m ride The Swarm has urgent redesign after dummies return from test run with limbs snapped off.Daily Mail, January 25, 2012, accessed November 10, 2013 (English).
  26. ↑ You Me At Six Write Official Single For The Swarm At Thorpe Park. Thorpe Park, accessed November 10, 2013 .
  27. ↑ 2012 Top 40 Official UK Singles Archive. Official Charts Company, March 31, 2012, accessed November 10, 2013 .
  28. ↑ Nick Sim: Review: The Swarm Roller Coaster at Thorpe Park. Theme Park Tourist, March 18, 2012, accessed November 6, 2013 .
  29. ↑ Joanna Churchill: The Swarm: Thorpe Park ride's got a sting in its tail for thrill seekers. Daily Mirror, April 16, 2013, accessed November 6, 2013 .
  30. ↑ Mitch Hawker: Steel Roller Coaster Poll 12 Year Results Table (1999–2012). Best Roller Coaster Poll, accessed November 10, 2013 .
  31. ^ Issue Archive. Golden Ticket Awards, accessed November 10, 2013 .

Coordinates: 51 ° 24 ′ 20 "  N , 0 ° 30 ′ 55.5"  W.