Alton Towers21/04/05

I just got back from Alton Towers and omfg did it rule! [lol]

I got there about 10:30 today and when pulling into the car i noticed the car park was about 1/4 full. Usualy when i go the main car park is completly full and we go into the top section car park...anyway. With this good omen of hardly any cars we proceeded to the monorail. Anyone who has been Alton Towers that the monorail gives you a glimpse into how the queues are going to be. As the train went over the forbidden valley it was literaly a case of spot the person, there was zero people there. No queues, nothing. To be honest i almost had a heart attack of excitement at this point [lol]

The first thing to do when you get to Alton Towers, for me anyway, is check the queue boards

Rita - 30 mins
Nemesis - 0 mins
Air - 0 mins
Oblivion - 0

Again at this point i nearly passed out with joy, there was no one there [lol] We of course headed straight to Rita, and the feeling of going up past Hex was strange, for some reason i thought i was going to turn the corner and Rita wouldnt be there, but sure enough she was...sitting there dominating the new Ug-Land skyline. I wasted no time in getting in the queue line and after seeing it get launched i was damn impressed. We waited roughly 20 mins before we just got under the station when the enevitable happened and Rita broke down. I guess it was down for 10-15 mins and a cheer went up when it was fixed. I got into the station and i can tell you i was excited [lol] I'd never ridden and Intamin rocket and didnt know what to expect. I strapped myself in allowing for the restraint to be a bit looser than i might have wanted and then the countdown began...however the christmas tree lights wernt working. All of a sudden Rita just took off and what seemed like a ridiculous speed. The launch is so freeking awesome, your literaly slammed into your seat begging to go faster and faster, after the launch the ride wasnt to spectacular imo. I failed to get any airtime on the back seat but that may have just been me. Overall Rita's launch was so so awesome, but the rest of the track wasnt much.

After Rita we headed over to Oblivion, which was broken down at the time so we didnt bother. We then decided to go on Spinball Whizzer, however the queue for that was still quite long and we also didnt bother [lol]

After some food over in Merry Ol England we decided to hit the Log Flume. I decided this we be a good time to get an onride as the Ops were just lying around the place looking board. THe log flume is still as bumpy as hell, even with the re-tracking done last year. Theres also a huge duck in the tunneled drop which makes the most bizzare noises, little kids would be terrified i would imagine. The last drop was fun and the camera managed to survive the soaking we got, due to the large weight of my farther sitting in the back [lol] Then after the Flume we decided we would go on the Runaway Mine Train, this is usualy one of these rides that has 40 minute queue although the ride is crap, but today of course it was a walk-on. I again found this a good time to whip out the camera and get some onride footage from the back seat. We didnt have to sit near a group of chavs though, which dumb down the expierence but still its a not bad ride with some high g forces in places.

After that we headed over to Duel, which i must say has been improved alot since i last went on it. Lots more things added and some of the annoying things taken out. And of course I won with a score of 62,510 [lol]

After Duel we headed to the Forbidden Valley and straight onto Nemesis. Again Nemesis queue was a walk on and we literaly got straight into the station and sat down. Nemesis is still as awesome as it used to be offering those high gs and totaly disorientating inversions. It was so fun we decided to ride it twice. After Nemesis we went on Air...i was expecting at least a 10 minute queue for AIR, but guess what...its was a walk on. Air isn't a bad ride, not my favourite but still and fun ride when there is no queue. We then opted to go on Nemesis again over AIR, which was really a costly mistake. Nemesisi broke down just as we were about to board, and the situation was not helped by a bunch of loud mouthed Welsh kids shouting out that the track has fallen down.....yeah, this kid was an arsehole. We waited about 20 minutes for a Mechanic before we finaly got on the ride, which had seemed to be soured by the long wait we had to expierence.

We then took the skyride back to Ug-Land with the promise of ridding RITA again, however the queue had grown to about 45 minutes and i didnt feel like waiting, so we went on Corkscrew instead....what can i say about Corkscrew...not much [lol] Fun, but painful ride.

After Ugland we decided to go back to the X-Sector, where Oblivion had re-opened. They have change the queues for this year and made us walk round the entire queue path to get to the entrance. They also made a continuous fence on both sides of the queue, to stop you changing side. Oblivion is still the same old Oblivion it used to be. Going around the corner and seeing no track in front of you is still disconcerning, but not really that terrifying anymore. I had also luckily had my restraint really quite loose and with a little push upwards as you go over the edge, pure floater airtime was acheived...it felt nice whilst it lasted...which really wasn't that long [lol] We repeat rode Oblivion 3 times as there was again no queue at all, no one was even coming in the queue line.

Once our fun ended we decided to go check out the Spinball Whizzer queue, which luckily was now really short, about a 5 minute queue. So i did manage to get my ride on SW aswell, and still the S bend always fools me and delivers some nice airtime [lol]

And that is pretty much my entire trip to Alton Towers today, i managed to get on every single coaster so i was quite happy, i couldnt be bothered with Ripsaw and Submission...and other flats rides, they just didint seem that fun anymore [lol] Plus i didnt want to get cold and wet. Which also reminds me the weather today was awesome, i really picked the right day. I dont think my day could have been any better today and rate my visit 9/10 (wasn't happy with all the breakdowns.

I would also like to apologize for spelling and grammar errors in this post [lol] There will be a video coming soon!

[gouldy]

Ya jammy get! I love it when its empty, to go when its empty, you have to go during school time, obviously . I'm going again soon for a friends birthday, we're going on a tuesday and its a school day so there shouldn't be many people there then either. Glad you had fun though, can't wait for the video [:)]

Bloody all hell! I'm jealous now! Get the vids up man!!!!!

[Dirk_Ermen]

woohoo, sounds like it was terible fun, mom told me it might me possible for me to go in the juni vancation [:)] So Are then the Q's also short? [:D]

All sounds good for my trip tommorrow then!
Cool report, again looking forward to any footage to come...

Originally posted by Dirk_Ermen

woohoo, sounds like it was terible fun, mom told me it might me possible for me to go in the juni vancation [:)] So Are then the Q's also short? [:D]

It depends really. I think June will be just before the school-trip-busy-period. So you should be lucky and enjoy a quiet park.

[gouldy]

Yeah, depends when in June you actually go. Towards the start of the month, it probably won't be very full, but by the end of the month, that is when the park starts to fill up as everyone thinks "lets go to Alton Towers before the summer holidays rush". So yeah, try and go at the start of June if you can.

Actualy this is the worst time you can possibly go. Why? you say. This is because all the schools finish there exams and as a result they all go to Alton Towers and other theme parks. There will literaly be hundreds of coaches each and everyday, and each coach carries 60+ people? That time is honestly nightmare time, plus it is all kids....thousands and thousands of them

Anyway, i have recorded the vid onto my PC, in ridiculous extreme high quality. I mean its 4.89 GB and 25 minutes long... lol

Yay, cant wait to see that video Edge. Well my school is going to alton towers on June 9th to celebrate end of our 2nd batch of GCSE exams, bring on year 11, actually no dont. But at this time my school is one of the only ones to have had all the exams completed i think, others shouldnt be there until about mid june or towards the end. At the moment alton towers have said there are no other schools booked on the day that my school is going so if you go then [:D] it wouldnt be extremely busy!!!! But then i dont know if you would want to go when the whole of my year is running around the park. All 200 and something 14 and 15 year olds, with quite a few chavs and people thinking they are hard. But then if you did go on this day you would get some extra entertainment, all the "tough" guys in our year pi$$ing themselves when seeing nemesis, Ripsaw and Oblivion. It is halarious when you get to the top, and me and one of my best friends who are like 2 of the smallest people in the year have our hands up and everything, and then there are all these cahvs with eyes closed, hands gripping the bars etc. Anyway i have gone off topic now

Sounds like you had a good time edge, i really really cant wait for this vid [:D]

[gouldy]

Friggn' hell Edge! 5GB for a 25 minute video, what the hell is the screen res!? 10,000 x 7,000 or something!? I take it you're going to cut that down before you jabb it on the net

Originally posted by The Edge
No queues, nothing. To be honest i almost had a heart attack of excitement at this point

I have done this at several parks and felt the same way...almost had a heartattack. Especially when it happens at CP, IOA or any other park where I want tons of rides. (however, I do like crowds, they add a TON to the fun factor of a ride. Riding alone is fun, but not quite the same)


Good review.

if must be just you edge, i got major airtime on the back of rita, only on the first hill mind, but it was still good, how many clicks up did you get? i mean how many above what it should have been?

I always have 2 clicks above my waste before i ride, same with Rita, i honestly didnt feel any airtime, i was expecting it but it never came...Riding Oblivion with more than 2 clicks is simply awesome. If you push up into the seat just as the chain releases at the top, you manage some awesome floater air all the way down

I love oblivion. Everytime I ride it as we travel up the lift hill I get that awful "oh my god" feeling in my stomach! I didn't think rita was that brilliant -apart from the launch- either.. PS your Video is great!