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The Swarm (roller coaster)

Operating roller coastersRoller coasters in the United KingdomRoller coasters introduced in 2012Roller coasters manufactured by Bolliger & MabillardRoller coasters operated by Merlin Entertainments
Steel roller coastersThorpe Park roller coastersUse British English from September 2015Wing Coaster roller coasters
The swarm, sign
The swarm, sign

The Swarm is a steel roller coaster located at Thorpe Park in the United Kingdom. The Swarm was the world's second Wing Coaster model designed by Swiss roller coaster manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard and the first one located in the United Kingdom. Construction commenced in May 2011, and the coaster opened on 15 March 2012. From 2013 until 2015, the last two rows of each train faced backwards, while the first five rows faced forward. This was restored to the original configuration for safety reasons in 2016. The 2,543-foot-long (775 m) ride stands 127 feet (39 m) tall and features four inversions along with a heavily-banked left turn. Riders experience speeds of up to 59 mph (95 km/h) and 4.5 times the force of gravity. A marketing campaign for the ride dubbed LC12 - The End is Coming began eleven months before The Swarm opened to the public. It has generally been well-received, ranking highly amongst other winged roller coaster designs.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article The Swarm (roller coaster) (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

The Swarm (roller coaster)
Staines Road, Borough of Runnymede

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Phone number Website Nearby Places
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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 51.405555555556 ° E -0.51541666666667 °
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Address

Thorpe Park

Staines Road
KT16 8PN Borough of Runnymede
England, United Kingdom
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Phone number
Merlin Entertainments

call+441932577131

Website
thorpepark.com

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Nearby Places

Thorpe Park

Thorpe Park, formerly also known as Thorpe Park Resort, is a theme park located in the village of Thorpe between the towns of Chertsey and Staines-upon-Thames in Surrey, England, 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Central London. It is operated by Merlin Entertainments and includes rides, themed cabins, live events and as of Spring 2024, Hyperia, the United Kingdom's tallest and fastest rollercoaster. In 2019 Thorpe Park was the UK's third most visited theme park (1.9 million visitors), behind Alton Towers and Legoland Windsor. However, in 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the park only had a 125-day operation season, along with limited capacity, leading to massively reduced visitor numbers. After demolition of the Thorpe Park Estate in the 1930s, the site became a gravel pit but in the early 1970's partially of that gravel pit got flooded creating a unique water based theme for the park and with the intention of building a leisure attraction on it. Thorpe Park resort was built on that gravel pit in 1979 which was partially flooded so it allows guest to view Thorpe Park as an island. It has since grown into a major theme park in the UK and one of the top 10 theme parks in Europe. Major attractions include Tidal Wave, a large water ride; Ghost Train, a dark ride; as well as a number of rollercoasters including Colossus, Nemesis Inferno, Stealth, Saw – The Ride, The Swarm, The Walking Dead: The Ride, and as of Spring 2024, Hyperia.

Colossus (Thorpe Park)
Colossus (Thorpe Park)

Colossus is a steel roller coaster at Thorpe Park in Surrey, England, and the park's first major attraction. It was built by Lichtenstein-based manufacturers Intamin and designed by Werner Stengel as an adaptation of Monte Makaya in Brazil. Colossus was the world's first roller coaster with ten inversions; an exact replica, called the 10 Inversion Roller Coaster, was later built at Chimelong Paradise in Guangzhou, China. It retained its title of having the most inversions on any other roller coaster in the world until The Smiler at Alton Towers took the record in 2013.Manufacturer Intamin used a similar train style to their Mega Coaster models, which are exposed by removing the sides of the train. This caused problems as riders could lift their legs outside of the train whilst it was in motion. For a brief period in 2002 and 2003 the ride was equipped with metal bars on the sides of the train to prevent this. During 2003 the trains were fitted with new style restraints to prevent riders from doing this and the metal plates were removed.The roller coaster is located in the Lost City area, in the south-east of the park. The ride is formed of a vertical loop, a cobra roll, two corkscrews and five heartline rolls. The ride's rough theme is the ruins of a recently unearthed Atlantean civilization. The music for the ride and surrounding area was composed by Ian Habgood. During planning and construction, Colossus was known as Project Odyssey.