Hyperia: The roller coaster that's just too short.

Hyperia's unique wave turn that turn into an inversion

After much anticipation, I finally got to experience Hyperia at Thorpe Park. I was definitely hyped for the ride as I had heard many positive reviews and a lot of praise. But did Hyperia live up to these standards? Well, yes and no. Let’s take a deeper look.

Statistics and layout:

Hyperia at Thorpe Park is their new for 2024 Mack Rides hypercoaster. This coaster is their first new roller coaster in 12 years, so naturally, there was a lot of hype around this ride. It is also the tallest and fastest coaster in the UK, standing at a height of 71.9m and reaching a speed of 128.7 km/h. Hyperia is home to three inversions. And here we reach one of the first big letdowns of this ride: the track length.

Hyperia has a length of 995.4m. It isn’t that short until you realize that you are flying through a layout at over 100 km/h. The total ride duration from drop to the brake run is 40 seconds, which is ridiculously short. However, it does manage to pack a real punch during those 40 seconds.

So let's take a look at the layout of Hyperia. You start your ride by taking an outer-banked turn out of the station. Then you ascend the lift hill, which has some of the best views I have ever had on a coaster.

Hyperia's stall

Afterwards, you have your 180° twisted drop. I expected a bit more from this drop, if I am completely honest. It did get better throughout the day and I unfortunately didn’t get the chance to have a back-row ride. This means that I didn’t get the best seat to experience the drop. From the rides I had, I wasn’t blown away. But I am sure that this drop in the back would have been way better. I definitely still prefer the drop on Kondaa and the Ride to Happiness, which both have stronger airtime.

After the drop, you go into an Immelmann, which did surprise me with some good airtime.

Next, you go into what I think is the best element of the ride, and one of the best elements on a coaster: the outward-banked airtime hill that turns into a Barrel Roll Downdrop. This element had me out of my seat from start to finish. It was truly amazing!

Then you go into a Stalled Dive loop, which is fine but nothing too insane.

This leads us to the splashdown, which wasn’t working, and the trims. These trims are also one of the big letdowns. These trims slow you down an awful lot. It completely kills the momentum of the ride.

The last element is another, smaller, outward-banked airtime hill. Because of the trims, you take this element at a slower speed. It does give some mild airtime, but it could definitely be better.

At last, you take a final turn into an airtime hill that leads into the brake run.

So that’s Hyperia’s layout for you.

Strenghts and weaknesses:

I definitely think that Hyperia has certain strengths and weaknesses.

It already has a very strong rattle, which is way more prominent than Voltron's rattle, in my opinion. It is also, as mentioned before, way too short. And the forces are a bit lackluster, especially in the front part of the train.

But all negative things aside, Hyperia also has a lot of positives. It has some good airtime moments dotted throughout the ride. That outer bank is just a work of art. I really like the presentation of the ride and it looks amazing on the skyline. It packs a punch and gives some amazing views of the park and the surrounding area.

Hyperia's surroundings:

The area around the ride is also presented very well. It is very clean and it carries Hyperia’s theme throughout. It has the golden accents dotted throughout, which gives the area a majestic look. Hyperia itself isn’t that heavily themed, even compared to some other coasters in the same park, which I do think is a missed opportunity.

Amazing operations:

Another thing that I like to note is the operations. These are truly incredible. They were dispatching the trains even before the other train had hit the brake run, which is very impressive. They were trying to break their own capacity record multiple times. I do not know if they succeeded, though.

Conclusion:

So is Hyperia really as good as everyone says? I definitely think that people overhype this coaster a lot, partially because it is new and because it is so different from all other rides in the UK. But I still think that Hyperia is an amazing coaster and another majestic creation by Mack Rides. Is it a top 10 coaster in the world? No. Is it a lot of fun and very enjoyable? Hell yes! And after all, that is what a coaster is about.

You can also watch the review on my YouTube channel: