The Hyperia rollercoaster, now the UK’s tallest at 236 feet, has opened to the public the first time.
Following invited press and preview events earlier this week, the Mack Rides-manufactured Hyper Coaster is now open to the public.
Queues exceeding four hours were seen, as the Surrey theme park extended its opening hours.
As the queue closed at 20:00, the wait time was still listed as being some three hours and 40 minutes.
Operation of its two, 20-seat trains saw capacity of circa 700 riders per hour on opening day, some way off the theoretical 1,000-plus figure.
Hyperia is also claimed to be the UK’s fastest rollercoaster at 81 mph, but this has not yet been indecently verified.
Stoppages
The £18 million ride has been met with largely positive praise from theme park enthusiasts and influencers.
It suffered several short breakdowns on Friday, including temporary lift hill stoppages.
Hyperia is the first major thrill ride conceived by Merlin Entertainments’ senior creative lead, John Burton.
It is billed as the UK’s “most weightless” rollercoaster, for its claimed moments of lifting riders out of their seats.
Thorpe Park earlier reversed its decision on fast-track – or paid queue-advancing – for the ride.
Previously announced as being available only to those buying other products, limited fast-tracks for Hyperia were being sold at £20 each.
Hyperia has a 1.3 metre height restriction for riders, the lowest of Thorpe Park’s thrill-level rollercoasters.
Planning objections
The ride’s construction was delayed by about two months following the Environment Agency (EA)’s concerns over flooding.
In June 2022, the EA said that planners needed to prove that either the rollercoaster would not be situated in a flood zone, or that all other potential locations were of greater risk.
The EA recommended that planning permission be refused on that basis, and a stand-off with the local authorities ensued.
The UK government was eventually required to decide over the planning application.
In Greek mythology, Hyperia was the daughter of the river god Inachus, although no story or theming link to this has been made by Thorpe Park.