One problem with thrill rides is they can quickly go from a big draw attraction to standard fare pretty quickly. It happened to Ramesea's Revenge at Chessington, it happened to the Playstation/Iceblast (or whatever they're now calling it) at Blackpool, and I think this is another case in point.

When this ride first opened it was new and innovative, and it was worth a trip to Thorpe Park to try it if you lived near by. Nowadays there are rides like this at travelling funfairs, and several smaller parks around the country, plus theirs the superior outwards facing version in the form of Maelstrom at Drayton Manor. Luckily for Thorpe Park this hasn't affected them to much. To say they've added a few more rides since adding this one would be a major understatement.

It's interesting to see a ride that not that long ago was a big draw, and a type of ride still advertised as a big attraction at some parks almost relegated to filler status here. Of all the rides like this I've been on this definitely has the nicest theme. The paintwork and surrounding decoration fit into the lost city area of the park very well.

I've been on fairground versions of this ride that have been run on a more intense setting, but I prefer the setting like it is on this version. I think having the pods spin faster on the big swings like they do at fairgrounds takes away a lot of the excitement as you loose a lot of the being lifted out of your seat feeling on the big swings. I think the best version I've tried is the Fireball at Pleasure Wood Hills. It still has the excitement of the big swings, but it runs faster at the beginning spicing up a duller part of the ride cycle.

This is still a great ride, it fills in a nice gap between family thrill rides and the more extreme white knuckle rides. It's not one I'd always try as the queue can get a bit long for this ride, but it's still one I'd want to try on a quiet day.