The Swarm
A wing coaster where your seat extends beyond the track - with near-miss obstacles timed to pass inches from riders.
Is The Swarm open today?
Yes — The Swarm is open right now, with a 10-minute queue (as of 20:02 UK time).
Typically 9 minutes at this hour over the last 28 days, ranging from about 9 minutes at its quietest to 43 at its busiest — about what this ride normally does at this time of day. Compare with every other ride →
How tall and fast is The Swarm?
The Swarm is a 38-metre (125ft) B&M wing coaster that reaches 62mph. Riders sit either side of the track with nothing above or below their feet, passing near-miss scenery at speed. The minimum height to ride is 1.4m. Check live Swarm queue times, updated every 2 minutes.
About The Swarm
The Swarm opened in 2012 as the UK's first wing coaster - a type of ride where seats extend out to either side of the track rather than sitting above or below it. Built by Swiss manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M), renowned for their smooth, precision-engineered coasters, The Swarm is themed around a post-apocalyptic alien invasion.
The near-miss elements are central to the experience: crashed aeroplanes, tilted helicopters, and fire towers have been deliberately placed along the ride path and timed so that they pass within what feels like centimetres of riders. Combined with the exposed wing-seat position - nothing above you, nothing below - the psychological effect is significant.
What to Expect
From the moment you sit down, the sensation is different. The track runs through the centre of each row but your seat extends out to the side, leaving you with an unobstructed view in all directions. When the train tilts into an inversion, you rotate around the track axis - a fundamentally different feeling from a traditional coaster.
The ride features five inversions including a zero-G roll and a flat spin. B&M's engineering makes The Swarm noticeably smooth - there is none of the physical roughness of Colossus. Speed and layout are more moderate than Stealth or Hyperia, making it an excellent introduction to inverting coasters for riders meeting the height requirement.
Tips for Riding The Swarm
- Take an outside seat. Both inner and outer wing seats are available. The outside seats - furthest from the centre track - give the most exposed sensation and the closest near-miss effects.
- Front row, outside right is widely considered the best single seat on the ride for experiencing all near-miss elements with the best view.
- Good for first-time inversion riders. If Colossus feels too intense, The Swarm's smooth B&M construction and clear sightlines make inversions less disorientating - you can see exactly what is coming.
- Queues are more consistent. The Swarm rarely hits the extreme waits of Stealth or Hyperia. Mid-morning is typically fine; check the live queue page to confirm.
- Look out for the theming. The queue line contains wreckage props and set dressing - one of the better-themed queue areas at Thorpe Park.
When to Ride The Swarm
The Swarm is the park's capacity king - a wide wing-coaster train and a duty cycle that keeps the queue flowing even on peak days. It shares a quiet corner of the park with nothing else major, so its queue builds later in the morning than the Amity-area headliners and drains earlier in the evening. If the midday crush has made Hyperia and Stealth unbearable, walking over to The Swarm is usually the highest-value move available - the posted wait is often half theirs.
Rain barely touches it, wind rarely closes it, and its queue is one of the most sheltered. On drizzly days when fair-weather visitors stay home, The Swarm plus Inferno re-rides is about as good as UK coaster value gets. Check where it sits right now on the live queue page.
Good to Know Before You Queue
Wing seating - nothing above or below you - makes The Swarm feel far more exposed than its stats suggest, and the near-miss theming (a wrecked fire engine, a toppled church, a billboard you are convinced you will clip) is the best in the park. The train threads straight through a mangled billboard and the ruined church tower that houses the station, and each side of the train gets its own set of close calls - devotees argue endlessly over left versus right, so ride both and pick a side.
The back row amplifies the first inverted drop dramatically - if you want The Swarm at its most intense, sit rear-outside. Fun history: for a few seasons after 2013 the back two rows ran backwards, a first for a B&M wing coaster. The Swarm is also the gentlest introduction to inversions among the big coasters here - the pacing is graceful rather than aggressive, making it a good stepping stone between Flying Fish and the heavy hitters.
See the current wait time for The Swarm
View Live Queue Times