Thorpe Park Ranger Mr Monkey’s very own ride is a bright yellow banana shaped swinging ship ride.

Location: Rangers County



Official Thorpe Park Description:

From the 1994 park map “Also new is Mr Monkey’s Banana Ride. Join Mr Monkey for a really swinging experience.”

From the 1995 park map “Swing along like you’re in the jungle on this giant ride.”

From the 2000 Thorpe Park website “A fabulous swinging-banana ride for children and big kids alike with a delightful jungle theme.”



The Ride:

Mr Monkey’s Banana Ride opened in 1994 as part of the first phase of Rangers County, the new park area that was home to Thorpe Park’s mascots The Thorpe Park Rangers. It is a 30ft high, bright yellow banana shaped swinging ship ride made by Metallbau Emmeln, with a large model of Mr Monkey standing tall above it. As well as the large Mr Monkey model there is a normal sized model near the entrance to the queue line. Both of these models are now painted to wear the later yellow and green Safari style uniform.

When the ride first opened it was one of the tallest things in that part of the park, which made it look quite impressive hence the fact that Thorpe Park referred to it as being a “giant ride” in their 1995 park map. The ride area was also originally quite open so that guests could clearly watch whilst the ride was in motion. However since then the construction of newer rides such as Detonator and Nemesis Inferno have dwarfed this once “giant” ride and even the surrounding trees have now almost overgrown the ride.  

Despite the fact that the ride is smaller than most swinging ships, including the Black Buccaneer at Chessington World of Adventures, it is still great fun for children of all ages.



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