Stealth - 2006 Intamin Accelerator Coaster located at Thorpe Park Resort in Chertsey, Surrey UK!
Just beyond the small tsunami battered seaside town of Amity Cove lies Amity Speedway – an adrenaline fuelled haven for thrill seekers and speed demons alike frequented by those thirsty for nothing but pure unadulterated speed brought out by the race!
Amity Speedway harbours a secret weapon though! One which will has drawn race drivers and the general public from all around to come and experience it for themselves, and that’s Stealth!
Added to the Thorpe Park Resort back in 2006 as part of a two coaster deal with roller coaster manufacturer Intamin has fastly become the resort’s most iconic signature ride.
This is represented by the fact that out of all the resort’s promotional artwork and materials released to date there is always one very distinguishing feature, and that’s a massive white tracked airtime hill looming above the logo and it’s surrounding counterparts.
*Image credit Coaster Gen.
The Experience!
For those who have yet to visit the Thorpe Park Resort based just outside the small and historic town of Chertsey in Surrey, Stealth makes up one part of a headline line up of five major coasters, however out of all five it’s fair to say that Stealth has by far become one of the resort’s most popular and this is equalled only by one other coaster within the resort – The Swarm.
Standing at 205 ft tall this fantastic Intamin Accelerator Coaster remains the UK’s fastest roller coaster to date and also remains the second tallest in the UK as well with the title of tallest being taken by The Big One at Blackpool Pleasure Beach!
The ride itself takes riders from standing still to 80 mph in meer matter of seconds (1.9 seconds to be exact).
Throughout their brief experience riders are thrust through the perfect mixture of speed, height and adrenaline fuelled euphoria as they rocket down Stealth’s launch after hearing those iconic words “3, 2, 1, Go Go Go!!” reaching an eye watering, pulse shattering 80 mph!
They are then thrust vertically up a 90 degree incline to a total dizzying height of 205 ft, before plummeting back down a decline of the same descent and finally riders pop over a small airtime hill giving a brief feeling of weightlessness before hitting the ride’s brake run.
The Whole ride experience lasts around 25 seconds from start to finish, however although it maybe short it’s by no means less thrilling or enjoyable.
So what did we think of it?
We have to admit that when we first walked under the brake run and into the ride area itself the sheer scale of the height the top hat occupies had us shaking at the knees a little (and let’s be clear here, we don’t intimidate easily by any stretch of the imagination), however like all first time riders we knew that in order to conquer our fears we would have to cast all doubt and inhibitions aside in order to claim this ride cred for ourselves and see what all the fuss was about.
What we can say is that after bravely taking our seat and looking down the long stretch of launch track in front of us we truly started to question our actions and kept asking ourselves “what the hell are we doing?”
Before we had time to answer that question however we were off and it’s fair to say that no amount of watching Stealth off ride will do the sheer velocity of the launch you experience any kind of justice at all!
In the brief time it took to rocket down the ‘speedway’ we barely had time to savour the true ferocity the acceleration provided before we were flying upwards towards the peak (and in our personal opinion the true highlight) of the ride!
This is when you truly realise just how high up you really are! The views from the top of the top hat were simply breath taking (or maybe that was just the after effects of the launch? we just don’t know! haha!).
It is indeed a mere matter of seconds however before you are plummeting back down towards to the ground again and at this point we realised just how forceless the descent actually is?
What you do however get is some absolutely fantastic floater airtime at the top of the top hat and the further back you are seated on the train, the more intense the airtime is.
Once reaching the bottom of the drop you glide over the small airtime hill after the drop and finally glide into the brake run with a very satisfying whirring sound!
It’s definitely fair to say that after riding Stealth for the first time there was in our opinion only one word which could accurately describe just how the whole experience had made us feel, and that word was of course “AGAIN!”.
*Image credit Coaster Gen
Now make no mistake, Stealth is far from being the best coaster on resort, however what it is is by far one of the most fun!
Stealth clearly has one objective, and that’s speed! Pure, undiluted, jaw dropping nerve shredding, eye watering SPEED!!
In this the ride itself achieves this very well, and with the added amount of G-force you experience throughout the ride as well it’s very fair to say that this truly is an absolute must for any first time visitor to Thorpe Park Resort!
Although this addition to the back catalogue of Intamin’s Accelerator coasters may not be the fastest however or the tallest, it’s definitely by far one of the most iconic and as such we feel truly honoured to have such a great ride within driving distance (around 3 hours and 45 minutes to be exact haha!).
Stealth is of course the only one of this type of standard layout which we have yet ridden (we have of course ridden Rita, however that’s a whole different experience entirely) however other more thrilling additions such as the goliath 450 ft tall Kingda Ka located at Six Flags New England and Top Thrill Dragster located at Cedar Point are of course top of our list of rides to get in the future as well.
Would we recommend riding it?
Of course!
As previously mentioned there are two major roller coasters we would definitely recommend ensuring you ride when visiting Thorpe Park for the first time if visiting in the busier season and those are Stealth and The Swarm!
Although both are very different experiences in themselves, Stealth is definitely one of the most thrilling at the park.
If it’s speed, intensity and thrills you’re after then Stealth is the one for you!
So what are you waiting for? Get yourself down to Amity Speedway and hop into the driver’s seat in 3, 2, 1, Go Go Go!!
