Thorpe Park History Pre Theme Park

The real Thorpe Park History starts here, unlike Chessington who had there Zoo and built a theme park around the zoo (well mainly) Thorpe Park has lost nearly all of its originality from opening in 1979. However even though Thorpe never closed to become a theme park, for over 10 years they were playing catch up with the rivals from down the road. But how did it start? There are more moments in Chessington