Hampton Court and Thorpe Park - what are like?

[Lizzy Lemon]

Just booked a camp site for the Spring Bank Holiday weekend in Buckinghamshire. Thinking of going to Hampton Court and Thorpe Park with my Tesco vouchers,which will make a dent in my Virgin holidays pot of vouchers,but it will only cost £30 in vouchers for these two days out so I think it will be worth it.

Has anyone been and what are these places like?

 

[mandymouse]

Sorry I've never been Wendy, but just wanted to say, it sound like fun and have a great time

 

[Madjock]

I haven't been to Hampton Court but Thorpe Park is great especially for big thrill rides. Stealth is probably the best ride I've ever been on. If you or your party are not keen on big rides or if you have younger children Chessington would be a better bet.

Before using your vouchers check out Lastminute.com, they often have reduced or 2 for 1 tickets for theme parks and I've saved lots with them before.

 

[brightspark]

Dh and I (33 years) went to Thorpe Park last year, using nectar points...
There are some really great rides, although when we were there (during the summer) 2 of the big rides were shut. Water ride is VERY wet... and the roller-coasters are awesome!

We felt that we have now been spoiled by WDW! It just didn't compare... it seemed dirty and old! The queues were long, which is normal at any theme park... but 2x we queued for ages (3/4 of an hour) only to finally be told the ride was broken down please come back again later.

We were glad that we didn't pay cash, with some of the big rides shut it felt not such good value for money, but having said all of that we had a really fun day out! At what it's costing you in vouchers I would say 'go for it' but remember it's not WDW!!!

 

[Dimplenose]

I live 10 minutes away from Hampton Court (and not much further from Thorpe Park for that matter) and I think it is wonderful. I can easily spend 6 hours there as it's like visiting two different palaces (the Tudor and the Stuart). They have guided tours with costumed guides included in the price and audio tours. I have only done the adult ones but there are special audio tours aimed at families - also during school holidays there are often extra events especially aimed at the children. The gardens are beautiful and the maze is also included in the full ticket. I love the tea room but it might get a bit expensive for a family to eat there. If you are driving it costs £3.50 to park all day but the car park isn't huge. Have a look at their website

http://hrp.org.uk/hampton

I haven't been to Thorpe Park for a while but it is certainly one of the better British theme parks although my children prefer Chessington which isn't much further away.

Libby

PS If you go to Hampton Court there is a Bluebeckers restaurant (I've not eaten at this branch but it's supposed to be good) nearby for a meal or you will be less than 10 minutes away from Kingston if you want to book a Tony Romas meal (or TGI Fridays, Frank and Bennys etc).

 

[Chilly]

I like Thorpe Park but it can't compare to Disney. You will get very wet on the water rides and it has 3 so you need it to be a sunny day or take a change of clothes. It also has a little fake beach bit.

 

[Lizzy Lemon]

We will only have two full days and DH wants to go to Windsor as well. Think we may leave Thorpe Park as we are heading to WDW in October so save the rides till then (anything to postpone having to be brave on a rollercoaster!) just think the boys will not be impressed with going to two Stately homes in one weekend.

 

[Minniespal]

we may leave Thorpe Park as we are heading to WDW in October so save the rides till then (anything to postpone having to be brave on a rollercoaster!)

You'll certainly get your coaster quota at IOA

 

[AnitaCB]

I took Sophie and Emily to Hampton Court last year and they loved it. Sophie was doing a project on Henry VIII which was the reason for our visit. There were booklets they could take around which had fun questions they had to find the answers to around the place and they got to choose a small prize at the end. The gardens are very nice, the maze is ok but small, but the actual building itself is really interesting with loads to see. I'd recommend it.

Anita
xx

 

[fizz13]

Think you're right to miss Thorpe Park out, its badly organised, the lines are always huge and their express pass doesn't work nearly as well as disney fastpass and it just lacks something, i much prefer Chessington for the kids. Now if you were going to Windsor, why not go to Legoland instead? Still big lines but a lot of fun and well maintained.

 

[Lizzy Lemon]

Claire - we have already visited Legoland a couple of years ago, just wanted to visit somewhere we've not been before.