Thorpe Park theme park near London

Short overnight breaks are available for those who want to turn their visit into a longer experience.

Options include:

• Thorpe Park Shark Cabins
• Themed Rooms
• Partner hotels (such as Holiday Inn)

All the hotels (including partner hotels) offer options to bundle your Thorpe Park tickets together with your hotel stay, and most include breakfast as well as use of the hotel's facilities.

The Thorpe Park website clearly takes you through your various Short Break hotel options and deals.

Can you buy a 2-day ticket?

If you want longer at Thorpe Park you can book an overnight stay + 2 days' park entry. Rates are reasonable with prices starting from just £70 per person for 2024.

Booking two separate day tickets would cost you almost as much as this without the hotel.

How long will I need at Thorpe Park?

You can easily do Thorpe Park in a full day. But you'll want to get there at opening at 10am to fully make sure you get the most out of your day, including queuing time and time for lunch. An overnight stay at the Thorpe Park Resort or partner hotel will make your whole experience more relaxed and leisurely.

Island Return Guarantee (Rainy Day Free scheme)

Like Chessington and other theme parks, Thorpe Park have a policy that means should your day out be disrupted (i.e. rides closed) for an hour or more by inclement weather (wind, heavy rain, storms, etc), you can return FREE on selected dates. ​See the Thorpe Park website for full details.

What age is Thorpe Park most suitable for?

Of the three Merlin theme parks just outside London (the others being Chessington and LEGOLAND), Thorpe Park is probably the one aimed at the slightly older age range - older children (8 and over) and adults.

That's not to say there isn't enough to entertain smaller children, but Thorpe Park does have a bias towards the bigger, more thrill-seeking rides than the other two. As usual, minimum height requirements apply for for some rides; the cut off point to access many of the rides is 1.2 m. Happily, children under this height can enter the park for FREE.

What age can a child visit Thorpe Park on their own?

No child or children under the age of 12 will be admitted to Thorpe Park unless they are accompanied by an adult aged 18 years or over. Children age 12 and over are allowed to visit the park on their own.

Rides at Thorpe Park

Thorpe Park have developed their rides over a number of years and now have over 30. As always, the most popular rides typically have the longest queues.

Scariest ride

Saw - based on the infamous horror movie franchise.

Upside down ride

Zodiac, a gravity defying spinning ride.

Suitable rides for little kids

There are a few actually, despite the park's reputation for 'older kids': King Pigs Wild Hog Dodgems, Flying Fish, Mr Monkeys Banana Ride, Angry Birds 4D...

All-time classic

The original and iconic roller coaster, it has to be... The Flying Fish (originally way back in the 80s "Space Station Zero").

What are the queues like at Thorpe Park?

Like any theme park, queues are so variable and depend entirely on season, time of day, day of the week, etc.

Tips for avoiding queues:

• Ride your favourite ride first. Early morning queues are typically shorter than by lunchtime
• Start at the left side of the park and work your way to the right side: do Stealth, the Swarm and Nemesis Inferno, etc later in the day.
• Eat your lunch not at lunchtime! A hard one but if you can eat avoiding the 11.30-2.30 rush for lunch, you'll avoid queues in restaurants if eating there, and take advantage of smaller queues while others might be eating theirs.
• Decide what your maximum wait time is and try to stick to it. If it's 40 minutes, aim to use those wait time boards to your advantage and come back later when it's a bit quieter.
• Take advantage of the beginning and ends of the days when it's quieter. This can especially be true at the end of the day as many leave by 5pm and Thorpe Park often has later opening until 7pm. (With the exception of later opening for Fright Nights in October - the park is open until 9pm but it does get busy at these later hours).
• Use the Thorpe Park App to help plan your day. With it you can get directions to your favourite rides and attractions, up to date queue times, the latest deals on food and drink and much more.
• Consider purchasing the Thorpe Park Fastrack system if you really want to avoid the worst of the queues.

Food and drink at Thorpe Park

Vibes Bar & Kitchen is a gastropub serving favourites including hand battered cod and chips, succulent fresh salads and veggie/ vegan options.

Can we take a picnic?

Yes you can. If you want to save a bit of money there are plenty of benches to sit on and picnic areas too.

Water refill points are dotted around the park.

Is Thorpe Park suitable for disabled visitors?

The whole park is wheelchair and pushchair friendly. Thorpe Park have a Accessibility Day Planner: a personalised Accessibility Plan for your visit. They like you to fill in an accessibility form 7 days before your visit.

There is a full accessibility guide for Thorpe Park available online.

Opening times

Thorpe Park is open all year round, 7 days a week from 10am to 5, 6 or 7pm depending on the time of year (see website for details).

Also open until 9pm for Fright Nights for most of October and early November.

Address and location

THORPE PARK Resort
Staines Road
Chertsey
Surrey
Thorpe Park is just 20 miles from Central London. If driving, use junctions Junctions 11 or 13 of the M25.

If you drive there is a parking fee on-site except for Premium Merlin Pass holders.

Thorpe Park from London by train

Regular South Western Trains run from Waterloo direct to Staines, which is the recommended railway station for travelling to Thorpe Park Resort. Approximately 5 trains run per hour to and from London Waterloo, with a journey time of between 30 to 50 minutes.

Use the banner below to look up train times.

Long-running options for 2 for 1 at Thorpe Park that have now been around for many years include:

Kellogg's long-standing Merlin attractions - adults go free

One adult or child goes free when you buy an online ticket (there are no longer separate adult and child tickets, all tickets are the same price).

Simply buy one of the qualifying cereal boxes with the offer printed on, then use the unique 10 digit code to select your chosen attraction and pre-book at the discounted price. Once you have booked you can then download or print the tickets to take with you on the day.

These offers usually run for a couple of months during the summer, but run our typically before the school holidays.

Also valid at LEGOLAND Windsor, Chessington World of Adventures, Warwick Castle, SEA LIFE, Alton Towers, Madame Tussauds, Shrek's Adventure! London, The London Dungeon (and other UK Dungeons), and the London Eye, amongst others.

2for1 theme parks and attractions with National Rail

See our page Railways 2 for 1 offer for more information about this excellent permanent offer when you travel by train.

Tesco Clubcard offers

You can convert Tesco Clubcard points into vouchers to get money off theme parks such as Thorpe Park. Typically £5 in points will equate to £10-worth of vouchers.

Other vouchers

Other promotional vouchers for Thorpe Park can be found by searching around, both on and off line such as 50% off deals, just check the expiry dates.