The aims, target audience and actions of all theme parks and park companies are largely influenced by past events, some more than others. Sometimes these events will only affect small aspects of the park, such as a ride closing or being rethemed, but occasionally they can change the future of the park and it’s owners forever. On 21st July 2000, a fire consumed two of Thorpe Park’s most beloved attractions, rapidly switching their market from family to thrill. Today we will be delving deep into this future-changing event, how and why it happened, and how it still affects the park today. Hop in for the ride!
Thorpe Park’s Family Era
From Thorpe Park’s earliest years through to 2000, it was a family orientated park, with the park’s only rollercoasters being X No Way Out, an indoor Vekoma Family Coaster, and the original incarnation of Flying Fish, the much-loved Mack Kiddie Coaster. Instead, the park was known for it’s family friendly darkrides and water rides, including Depth Charge, Tidal Wave and Wicked Witches Haunt, which was originally known as Phantom Fantasia. Thorpe Park’s thrill aspect we know and maybe love, maybe hate, didn’t exist at the park back then, and compared to other countries such as the USA, the UK’s thrill market was tiny, meaning it would have been near impossible for a full thrill park to thrive in the UK during the 80s and 90s. Even Alton Towers, the UK’s largest thrill park, was still partially family-orientated- although major coasters such as Nemesis and Oblivion were open at the time of the fire, a large proportion of the park was dedicated to families, with tamer rides such as Runaway Mine Train being the main attractions.
The Rides: One Destroyed, One Survives
Arguably two of the Thorpe Park’s most popular rides in the 90s were Wicked Witches Haunt, a ‘haunted house’ type darkride, and Mr Rabbit’s Tropical Travels, a calming outdoor boat ride. These two rides may have been located adjacent to one another, but they had very different themes and stories. Housed in a Tudor design show building and topped off with a large (and slightly intimidating) 3D witch guarding the entrance, Wicked Witches Haunt offered family friendly fear mixed with the fun aspect Thorpe Park was known for at the time, taking riders on a journey through various “horror” scenes, including a waltzing skeleton scene similar to Magic Kingdom’ s Haunted Ballroom Scene on the Haunted Mansion. The ride was originally known as Phantom Fantasia when it opened for the 1983 season, but after a large refurbishment in 1994, in which several new animatronics were installed, as well as a new soundtrack, the ride opened as the most recent version which stayed open until 2000.
Mr Rabbit’s Tropical Travels, known as Magic Mill from 1982 to 1995. Described by Thorpe Park’s 1996 map as a “colourful water-borne experience in magic surroundings”, this calming water ride was exactly that: a relaxed, relatively slow adventure through many beautiful flower gardens themed to a jungle environment, as well as large open books telling the story of Mr Rabbit and the Thorpe Park Rangers. The rethemed version of this classic boat ride opened as part of the second phase of the land’s transition from Central Park to Ranger County, and the addition of Thorpe Park’s original characters the Thorpe Park Rangers to the area.
Little did anyone know these beloved rides would soon face a tragic, fiery fate…
July 21st 2000- A Day That Changed the Future of Thorpe Park
Right at the start of UK schools’ six week summer break, the 21st July 2000 was another day of busy operation at the already popular theme park. Despite the crowds, everything was running normally, that was, until mid-afternoon that day.
At 3pm BST on July 21st 2020, witnesses reported seeing flames “billowing out” of the indoor section of Mr Rabbit’s Tropical Travels, and all 7000 visitors and employees in the park were evacuated swiftly and efficiently, with the last person leaving the park at 3:20pm. Up to 100 firefighters from 15 fire crews were on the scene as soon as possible, but they were unable to stop the fire spreading to several buildings nearby, including Sweet City, Amity Cove KFC and Wicked Witches Haunt, as well as completely consuming the darkride section of Mr Rabbit’s Tropical Travels, which had a timber frame, meaning the fire spread significantly faster than it would have otherwise.
When assessing the damage, Thorpe Park officials stated that the evacuation procedures the park had in place in case of an event like this went to plan, with “all persons accounted for”. It was concluded that, while the majority of the rides and buildings affected by the fire would reopen immediately or after parts had been rebuilt, Wicked Witches Haunt was damaged beyond repair and would not open again.
Repairs and Reopening- The Aftermath of the Fire
The next day, Thorpe Park reopened with a £2 decrease on ticket prices in a bid to encourage visitors back to the park. Operations occurred as normal with the obvious exceptions of the badly damaged Mr Rabbit’s Tropical Travels and Wicked Witches Haunt, yet no one could ignore the remnants of the massive fire that had occurred the day before. Due to fire damage Mr Rabbit’s Tropical Travels would not reopen until the following year, without the destroyed indoor section. As for Wicked Witches Haunt, both the façade and the inside of the ride were completely obliterated, and demolition started on the ride very soon after the fire.
To compensate for the loss of two rides, Thorpe opened a relocated enterprise on the former location of the bandstand area, which became a permanent attraction for the 2001 season, reopening as Zodiac. This would be the start of something massive for the park, a kind of thrill movement that would change the future of the park, and the entire UK theme park industry forever.
A Thrilling Time for Thorpe
The demolition of Wicked Witches Haunt was inevitable after the fire, however the lack of the ride left a heartbreakingly large empty space in the area. To fill the area, Thorpe opened Detonator in 2001, a mega droptower manufactured by Fabbri Group, which at 115ft, or 35m was the tallest ride in the park. The theme and name of Thorpe Park’s second major thrill ride would remain the same until 2014, when it was renamed as Detonator: Bombs Away to fit with the new Angry Birds Land that had come to the area.
In that same year the park announced Colossus, a new Intamin Custom Coaster, which would become famous for breaking the world record for the most inversions on a coaster at the time, tied with another Intamin in China, at 10. Opening in 2002, Colossus would be end the coaster gap that had been occurring at Thorpe since the opening of X: No Way Out, and was the first major thrill coaster at the park. We know now that it certainly wouldn’t be the last; in the next 10 years to now many more thrilling rides would open!
Mr Rabbit’s Tropical Travels continued to operate until 2001, when the well-loved water ride was removed and construction started on something big. Would it be a flat ride, similar to Detonator located nearby? A darkride, maybe? A coaster? Well, the latter option turned out to be true, when shortly after the opening of Colossus in 2002, the park announced they would already be building their second thrill coaster of the decade, a B&M invert with four inversions and a top speed of 47.8mph, which would make it’s debut in May 2003, nine years after the opening of Alton Towers’ version of the ride, Nemesis in 1994. We now know this coaster as Nemesis Inferno. A ride built on the site of a major fire, I wonder why it was called Inferno?
These two coasters would mark the beginning of a sort of thrill movement by not just Thorpe Park but by Alton Towers too, which also obtained several thrill coasters throughout the 2000s and 2010s, including Air, Wickerman and The Smiler. The park would continue to open ground-breaking and record-smashing coasters over the next two decades after the fire, with Swarm, the UK’s first B&M wing coaster, in 2012, and Stealth, the second tallest coaster in the UK. It’s no wonder that today, Thorpe Park is arguably one of the greatest thrill-based theme parks in the UK, along with Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Flamingo Land and Alton Towers, and many say that without the fire of 2001, UK theme parks like Thorpe Park wouldn’t necessarily have the amazing (and not so amazing, in some cases) thrill rides we enjoy today!
What is your favourite ride or attraction at Thorpe Park, whether it be operating or defunct? Tell me below and join the conversation!
Your articles are amazing. Thank you for your hard work.
It’s definitely worth a visit! 🙂
Interesting! Never heard of that park before
Love this Lily
If you enjoyed this post, check out some of my other articles delving deep into the history and rides of theme parks around the world, and consider subscribing to have all the latest theme park content delivered straight to your inbox!
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Photo credits:
@thorpepark1997to2003 on Instagram. An amazing Instagram account on which a former Thorpe Park employee posts photos he captured while working at the park, it really gives a great insight into what the park was like in the late 1990s and early 2000s!
Check it out here! https://www.instagram.com/thorpepark1997to2003/ Ginger Freckled Girl blog. With interesting posts about everything from lifestyle, to travel, to theme parks and coasters, her posts are a must read if you love to travel and visit theme parks! https://gingerfreckledgirl.wordpress.com/
Thanks for reading!
-Lily
Coaster Dreamers 
Thank you so much! I’m so glad you enjoy them. Sorry about the late reply -Lily 🙂