Yesterday Thorpe Park submitted planning permission to Runnymede Borough Council to remove The Slammer from the park. This follows on from Thorpe Park’s recent submission to change Amity Beach into an entertainment area (these plans haven’t made it into Runnymede’s November planning committee meeting so I expect we’ll see them discussed in December.
The planning permission submitted yesterday sees the park ask for permission to finally demolish Slammer (see the full application here). The details of the planning permission are pretty simple. Thorpe Park wants to remove the slammer (during this closed season) and that’s it. There’s no plans submitted to replace it with anything.
The Slammer was a fly-swat style ride made by S&S and opened in 2005 before closing in 2017, by which point it was the last remaining S&S fly-swat ride operating in the world. Whilst I never got to ride it reports were that it was generally an uncomfortable experience so maybe it’s not a great loss!
Since 2017 it has been left at the park and general tidying up of the trees around the Black Mirror queue line meant that during the 2024 season it was possible to get some good views or it with some photographers even showing trees growing through the base of the ride.
Leaving it for so long is a weird decision by the park especially when you could see it from the shiny new Hyperia area.
Thorpe Park haven’t submitted planning permission to build anything new in that location but it’s a great time for speculation.
At the end of the 2023 season Thorpe Park closed the Black Mirror attraction and used that building (which is next to The Slammer) for Dead Beat, a scare attraction at Fright Nights 2024.
What if the 2025 season is the last year for Dead Beat and follows that building being demolished and an attraction taking that space?
It’s worth noting that the Dead Beat building is effectively the back of The Walking Dead (formerly known as X/X No Way Out) so this would need to be carefully managed…or maybe it’s time for that ride to leave too? The coaster isn’t terrible but it’s been around a long time and The Walking Dead as an IP is…well…dead (in my opinion). Clearing Slammer, Black Mirror, The Walking Dead and maybe even Storm Surge could leave a pretty sizeable space for something?
Or maybe they’ll extend that building and create a dark ride which Thorpe Park hasn’t really had since we lost Wicked Witches Haunt in a fire (an absolute classic ride!) – I’m not counting Ghost Train as a dark ride…because it’s awful!
In summary, it’s great to see The Slammer finally being removed by Thorpe Park and it’s highly likely this planning permission will be granted and I’d love to see something come to this space for the 2026 season and for Thorpe Park to keep building on the success of Hyperia.
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