The Walking Dead Roller Coaster Opening This Spring

Thorpe Park is making some major adjustments within their park starting with the debut of new roller coaster. The often overlooked X;\ No Way Out coaster will figuratively come back from the dead themed as “The Walking Dead: The Ride”.

“The Walking Dead: The Ride” will replace the former “X: No Way Out” coaster this Spring. The ride will take guests through an elaborate pre-show and ride experience, recreating iconic scenes and sets (such as the prison tower) from the popular Walking Dead tv show. The new ride will combine real physical effects with new digital effects and mix those with the special effects lighting and even scents to create a new terrifying experience.

Thorpe Park reps say that the experience still isn’t over when guests get off the ride, so hopefully there will be some sort of walk through haunted house or scare zone component at the end.

The park has introduced a storyline for the attraction:

“Thorpe Park Resort is overrun by Walkers and there is but one goal: survive. Making it to the sanctuary of the Safe Zone is vital for salvation. Located at the center of the Island, navigate your way to the safety of the indoor bunker – but be warned. All signs point to an imminent invasion of Walkers, so keep your head down and move quickly for your best chance of staying alive.We will see you at the Safe Zone…For the first time ever, experience The Walking Dead: The Ride. Those who ride…survive!”

Thorpe Park’s John Burton, who spearheaded the ride’s creative direction, said he watched nearly all of The Walking Dead‘s 107 episodes twice in preparation of recreating the show’s environments for the coaster. He went on to say:

“It’s a 15 out of 10 on the scare scale. We are combining physical and digital effects because it is going to be dark, so we are going to make the most of that. The darkness acted as a canvas for us. We have incorporated the latest in special effects, lighting, smells and even touch elements to create a terrifyingly unique atmosphere.”

Besides the storyline, the park also released some intense concept art for the new attraction.

The Walking Dead returns to AMC for the latter half of its eighth season this Sunday, February 25th, and The Walking Dead: The Ride is expected to debut around Easter.

The former X coaster is a Vekoma Engima coaster that was originally built in 1996 as “X:\ No Way Out”. It was unique as it was the only indoor coaster that ran backwards at the time of it’s opening. As of 2018, it is the oldest continuously operating roller coaster at Thorpe Park. The ride is 41 feet tall and reaches speeds in excess of 27 MPH. However, even though the ride was a family friendly attraction, the new experience has an age limit of 13.

Below are the proposed plans for the ride submitted to the Runnymede Borough Council Planning Portal. As you can see, there will be quite a bit of changes to the entrance and exit of the ride starting with a new watchtower entrance and queue.

For Walking Dead fans who don’t enjoy the heart pumping thrills of a coaster, there are other Walking Dead events at Thorpe Park. Earlier this month, Thorpe Park announced 2018 will be “The Year of The Walking Dead”.

The park will host a series of terrifying unmissable events throughout the 2018 season – including:

Apocalypse Weekends: Grab your map and brace yourselves as you join the campaign to rid the Island of its zombie infestation and protect the Safe Zone at all costs. Execute your assignment, annihilate the dead and receive an exclusive Apocalypse Weekends pin badge, PLUS a free ticket to return to the park! Runs select weekends in May and June.
Summer Lates: A series of vibrant events, including live music, beach parties and riding into the sunset! Runs every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in Summer.
The Walking Dead Living Nightmare Extreme: a intense live action maze open from May 25 to June 3.
Zombie Hunt: Battle for survival on the wooded outskirts of the resort. This attraction is open from July 21 to September 3.
Fright Nights: The park’s Halloween event will be themed to The Walking Dead. The event runs from October 6 to October 31.

Thorpe Park opens for its 2018 season on Friday, March 23rd. For more information including tickets, visit the official Thorpe Park website by clicking here.

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