The Walking Dead: The Ride

An indoor coaster through a post-apocalyptic world - parts in complete darkness, parts through illuminated horror scenes.

Is The Walking Dead©: The Ride open today?

The Walking Dead©: The Ride is currently closed as of 20:02 UK time. This is normal outside opening hours, and also happens for weather or short technical stops during the day. Check the live status above through the day — it updates every couple of minutes.

Typically 7 minutes at this hour over the last 28 days, ranging from about 6 minutes at its quietest to 30 at its busiest Compare with every other ride →

About The Walking Dead: The Ride

The Walking Dead: The Ride is an indoor roller coaster themed around the AMC television series. The ride moves through a decaying, post-apocalyptic world with zombie figures, survival camp scenes, and moments of complete darkness interspersed with sudden illuminated horror scenes.

It is one of the most atmospheric rides at the park - the combination of darkness, sound design, and Walking Dead set pieces creates a sustained sense of dread that outdoor coasters rarely achieve.

What to Expect

The ride is significantly less physically intense than the park's outdoor coasters - the layout is gentler, the speeds are lower, and there are no major drops or inversions. The experience is driven by atmosphere: the transition from darkness to sudden lit scenes, the audio design, and the quality of the Walking Dead theming.

Unlike the coasters outside, this one is fully weather-proof. On a rainy or cold day, the queue for The Walking Dead: The Ride is shorter relative to other rides, making it a smart strategic choice. The coaster itself is physically mild, but it still carries the full 1.4m minimum height - most likely because of the horror content rather than the forces - so it is not appropriate for younger visitors regardless of how gentle the track is.

Note: strobe lighting effects are used during the ride.

Tips for Riding The Walking Dead: The Ride

• Good for rainy days. Fully indoor, weather has no effect on operations. Queue times tend to drop relative to outdoor rides when the weather is poor.
• Physically mild for a coaster. No inversions and gentle forces, but it still requires the full 1.4m and the horror theming is intense. Note both before bringing younger riders.
• Strobe warning. Strobe lighting effects are present throughout. Those sensitive to strobe effects or photosensitive epilepsy should not ride.
• Good atmosphere in the dark sections. Unlike SAW, which uses horror imagery, this ride uses darkness and sound design as its primary scare tools - the sudden transitions are effective.
• Usually shorter queues. With lower maximum throughput than the large coasters, this ride builds queues but rarely to the extreme levels of Stealth or Hyperia. Check the live queue page for current wait times.

When to Ride The Walking Dead: The Ride

This is the queue that weather builds. As Thorpe Park's only fully indoor coaster, The Walking Dead soaks up crowds the moment rain starts - a wait that sat at 10 minutes all morning can triple during a shower and fall back just as fast when the sun returns. On dry days it is one of the park's more modest queues; on wet school-holiday days it can surprise everyone by posting the longest wait on site.

Play it accordingly: in fine weather, ride whenever you pass; if the forecast shows an afternoon band of rain, ride it in the morning before everyone else has the same idea. The park weather page next to the live queues makes the call easy.

Good to Know Before You Queue

The coaster underneath the zombies is a family-scale ride - it spent years as the sci-fi themed X - so the physical intensity is mild: no inversions and forces closer to Flying Fish than Stealth - though it still carries a 1.4m height minimum for its scare content. The scare content is another matter. Long stretches run in near-total darkness with sudden lights, screams and walkers close enough to feel, and the pre-show sets a genuinely unsettling tone. It is the classic "brave nine-year-old or nervous adult" litmus test.

If you are visiting during Fright Nights, expect live actors added to the experience and the queue to run long after dark. Anyone on the fence about horror should try this before committing to Ghost Train, which is a step up in sustained dread.

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