Thorpe Park closes popular ride for GOOD after nearly 40 years
A POPULAR ride at Thorpe Park has closed after nearly 40 years.
The Chertsey-based theme park’s Rumba Rapids was a river rapids ride where passengers would board a boat able to carry up to eight people at a time.
The ride originally opened back in 1987 as ‘Thunder River’ and was Thorpe Park’s first thrill ride, but has not been running since the end of the 2025 season.
Jack Silkstone, a theme park vlogger, posted a reel on Instagram announcing the news.
The post states: “After 39 years of soaking thrill seekers, Rumba Rapids at @thorpeparkofficial has now permanently closed.
“Join me as I take a trip down memory lane to look back at the history, rethemes and memories of one of Thorpe Park’s longest-running attractions.”
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Thorpe Park has shared the video to its Instagram story, as well as commenting on the video: “Thank you for helping us pay tribute to such an iconic ride!”
In an official statement, a Thorpe Park spokesperson told Sun Travel: “After nearly four decades of making a splash, Rumba Rapids at Thorpe Park has permanently closed.
“First opening as Thunder River in 1987, the iconic water raft ride has been soaking generations of thrillseekers ever since.
“While we don’t have plans to share just yet on what’s next, we’re always reviewing our line-up of world-class rides and attractions to make sure Thorpe Park remains the UK’s most thrilling theme park.”
Riders would begin at the highest point of the ride on a turntable belt before turning sharply and heading down a curve to make the boat spin.
The boat would then head into a tunnel with a waterfall effect, before exiting the tunnel and entering the wave section of the ride.
The riders would then pass under a bridge and pass a photo opportunity.
The Rumba Rapids was the park’s second-oldest ride at the time of its closure.
Taking to social media, several fans have expressed their sadness at the news.
One person commented: “Sad times. I always enjoyed going on this to have a break and a chill from all the coasters.”
Another person said: “End of an era, the soundtrack alone was ICONIC.”
Over the years the park has been rebranded a few times, including in 2002 becoming Ribena Rumba Rapids with the colour theming changing from yellow to purple and the ride got its own soundtrack.
In 2007, the partnership with Ribena ended and the ride became Rumba Rapids.
A decade later the ride was re-themed to fit in with the design of the Jungle area of Thorpe Park.
Thorpe Park also recently announced that they would be closing the waterpark after more than 35 years.
Instead, Amity Beach pool will be replaced with a new attraction called The Launchpad, which will be a recharge zone.
In other theme park news, an English seaside theme park has scrapped its entry fees and will soon have a huge new ‘showstopper ride’.
Plus, the European theme park you won’t have heard that’s revealed a huge £78million expansion plan and you can fly there for £14.