I barely remember the last time I went to Thorpe Park, it was potentially Fright Night about 3 years ago but it’s been a hot minute, that’s all I know. When Coca-Cola gave me the opportunity to go back for some screams, I certainly wasn’t going to pass that up. *This is a paid partnership with Coca-Cola
For any readers who may not have heard of Thorpe Park before, it is a theme park in Surrey owned by Merlin Entertainments. There’s rides suitable for all ages, a themed hotel, live events and the attraction is home to the UK’s fastest rollercoaster, Stealth. Open from 10am-8pm, visitors pay between £33-55 depending on where you buy your tickets for a day visit. However, thank to Coca-Cola, visitors are able to enter the park at a discounted price of 50%. All you need to do is bring your empty plastic bottles for your reward. Full details available further down my blog post.
Being the Thorpe Park alumni we are, we scoped the grounds first for food (of course) but also to get an idea of what the queue times were on the rides we were set on going on. There’s just under 10 restaurants in the attraction but we opted for fish and chips, although neither of us got fish! Priced at £7.50 for a battered sausage, chips and a drink, you really can’t go wrong (and don’t forget the gravy sauce!).
After devouring our not-fish and chips and lining our stomachs for the gravity defying rides we would inevitably be going on, there was only one ride I was desperate to experience and that was the Derren Brown Ghost Train. Every time I’ve been since it launched, it’s been shut for one reason or another but finally, in August school holidays 2019, I walked past expecting a wait time of one hour plus but nooo, 30mins – winning! I can’t say much as I don’t want to give it away but it’s basically what you would expect from a Fright Night ride, using virtual reality. It’s all very clever.
I’m also a sucker for any gravity defying ride that makes my stomach feel all kinds of ways, so you’ll find me every time at the square of rides next to the dome – home to Quantum, Zodiac, Vortex and Rush.
Then we tried our luck on one of the carnival games and un-surprisingly failed so having not secured the Pikachu toy I wanted, I drowned my sorrows in doughtnuts. The best ones being found opposite the Ghost Train ride but ask for not too much sugar or you’ll end up crashing like me when you get home.
You’ll be able to find refreshments and vending machines all around the park, as well as refill stations for your soft drinks should you buy one of the refillable cups – like the girl in the pink top is kindly modelling for me. This is something that definitely wasn’t available the last time I was here, so it’s great to see changes being made to help the current environmental climate.
I’d say you’d typically spend about 4 hours in Thorpe Park quite easily however, definitely factor in for much longer queue times during the holidays. We arrived at around 11am and there were queues for tickets and bag checks on our way in but on our way out at 4pm all these queues were completely empty – it may even be worth coming in the late afternoon and riding until the park closes at 8pm. Whatever you do, make sure you hit that pic’n’mix on your way out!
Now what you’ve all been waiting for, how to save 50% on your ticket to Thorpe Park fun. Outside the park to the left of the ticket stalls you’ll be able to find Coca-Cola’s Reverse Vending machine and this is the key.
Coca-Cola has teamed up with Merlin Entertainments to offer 50% off in exchange for your plastic bottles! Here you can recycle any of your bottles of Coca-Cola, Fanta, Oasis or Smartwater that resemble the ones pictured on the machine and once you put your bottle in to get crushed the machine will dispense your 50% off voucher. This vending machine is outside the park so why not bring all your bottles for vouchers for everyone! You can use the vouchers at any of the Merlin attractions listed below:
Thorpe Park Resort / Alton Towers Resort / Chessington World of Adventures / LEGOLAND Windsor Resort / London Dungeons / SEALIFE / Madame Tussauds and many more!
In this day and age it’s honestly impossible in my opinion, not to recognise that global warming is very real and a huge issue. I mean, we’ve all seen this crazy weather right? Plastics make up a huge amount of solid waste and take centuries to break down in landfill or end up in the ocean harming wildlife. By recycling your bottles, you can help them be used to make new products rather than using resources to find raw materials.
So why not do a little good and your bit for saving the planet whilst being rewarded with a day out of fun! Thank you to Coca-Cola and Merlin Entertainments for letting me be involved with in an important campaign and putting my Coca-Cola obsession to great use.
Terms & Conditions
Voucher valid for one person only, for one attraction. Valid until 17.10.19 at Alton Towers Resort, Thorpe Park Resort, Chessington World of Adventures Resort and The LEGOLAND® Windsor Resort and until 31.03.20 at all other participating attractions.
About Coca-Cola Great Britain:
Coca-Cola Great Britain is responsible for marketing 20 brands and over 80 products to consumers across Great Britain. Led by Coca-Cola, one of the world’s most valuable and recognisable brands, the company portfolio includes Fanta, Sprite, Dr Pepper, Oasis, glaceau vitaminwater, glaceau smartwater, Schweppes, Appletiser and Honest. All of the packaging Coca-Cola Great Britain uses is 100% recyclable and the company is committed to double the recycled plastic in all of our bottles to 50% by 2020 and will source all of this extra recycled material from within the UK.
COCA-COLA, DIET COKE, COCA-COLA ZERO, COKE ZERO and COCA-COLA ENERGY are registered trademarks of The Coca-Cola Company.
About Merlin Entertainments plc:
Merlin Entertainments plc is a global leader in location-based, family entertainment. As Europe’s Number 1 and the world’s second-largest visitor attraction operator, Merlin now operates over 130 attractions, 20 hotels and 6 holiday villages in 25 countries and across 4 continents. Merlin’s purpose is to deliver memorable experiences to its 67 million guests around the world, through its iconic brands and multiple attraction formats, and the commitment and passion of its c.28,000 employees (peak season). www.merlinentertainments.biz
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