Octopus: n. A cephalopod having a soft body with eight long tentacles.

In Short:

Thorpe Park's kiddie area, Octopus Garden offers entertainment for the younger guests.

Statistics:

Opened: 1992
Manufacturer: Various
Area: Octopus Garden
Ride Type: Various
On Ride Photo: No
Official Rating: Young Thrills

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TTP Review:

Octopus Garden is the kids' area at Thorpe Park. It caters for the very young, and gives a chance for parents to take a break from the other more hectic areas.

You can tell that it has been created for children, by the nature and atnosphere of the area, and the bright colours on all the paintwork. The themeing is done well too - in one area there's a dragon emerging from the ground! Octopus Garden does what it's supposed to do well. The children are entertained, with rides being not overly thrilling. There are 6 (formerly 7, before Slippery Serpent was removed in 2010) rides in the Octopus Garden, so there's plenty of variety. Not all of them may be operating at one time - but ride operators can open any of them if you ask.

This area may have been given a low mark here, but it's being compared with the other mighty rides in the park. The area could also be a little bigger - 6 rides for a whole day out isn't huge. Kids may be better off going to Thorpe's sister Park, Chessington World of Adventures, for a more family friendly day out. What's there, though, is nice for toddlers.

Positives:

• Nicely themed self-contained area for little ones.

Negatives:

• It's a fairly small area, and at any one time only 2 or 3 rides will be operating.
• Rides are old, and show their age.
• You can't help but feel that these guests would be better off at Chessington or Legoland...

Your Reviews:

"Any parent in their right mind would not take a 2-5 year old to Thorpe, because thats not what Thorpe is for. The valuable space taken up by this lot of junk could potentially be used for a great flat ride. Get rid of Octopus Garden!"
Charliy, Sutton, UK.

"I loved this as a child! I'm too big to go on all the rides now though, ah well, the extreme rides are awesome as well!"
Richard, Kent, UK.

"Tatty, faded, tired looking rides and skeleton staffing levels make this area really look and feel like an afterthought. I don't think it's too much to ask to give a decent small area to kids. It's not like us bigger kids don't have a whole list of other awesome rides to choose from."
Dan, UK.