Rush (Thorpe Park)

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Rush is a ride at Thorpe Park in Chertsey, Surrey. It is S&S Power's 'Screamin' Swing', and was the biggest one in the world. It was the Parks new ride for 2005.

[edit] Construction

Rush replaced Eclipse, a large ferris wheel which was moved from Thorpe Park to Chessington World of Adventures due to lack of interest. It took just over 3 months for Thorpe Park to decide what ride to put in its spot. Construction started for Rush in April 2005, and was set to be the worlds largest swinging ride, until Cedar Point, Ohio had their swing SkyHawk built.

[edit] Ride Opening

Eventually the ride finished construction, and opened with a height restriction of 1.3m The rides Grand Opening was a disappointment to riders. Rush had been testing all day, and finally opened at midday in May 2005, only for it to be closed again after 4 rides. It tested for over 1 hour, and reopened again. As the ride has two swings which swing in opposite directions, it is thought the ride needed to close due to the swings falling out of sync, which is why the ride mostly only worked in one swing operation, whereby can only hold 16 people per ride.

However, as of the 2006 season, the problem seems to have been resolved with one-swing operation being reserved for qiet days in the park.

[edit] Criticisms

The ride has been criticised for many reasons. Firstly it has been said that it is the ride in the park with the highest numbers of Emergency Stops. Riders have also accused Thorpe Park of chosing wrong colours for the ride or building it in the wrong location of the park, as the 'Lost City' area does not quite go with the gold and black colour of the ride.

The two large air tanks that power the ride were thought to be moved or decorated after the ride was built. They have been called ugly and do not fit in with the ride.

The noise of the ride has also been criticised, although many people enjoy the air tanks 'swooshing' sound.

I am a RUSH Operator and it is not "the ride in the park with the highest numbers of Emergency Stops" you hardly ever E-stop RUSH because it cuts the power and it will keep swinging until it looses it's momentum this means if it is E-stoped at full swing it could take 45 minutes for it to stop.