Matt N
CF Legend
18th August 2018
Hi guys. Sorry to bore you with another of my trip reports, but my family and I went to Alton Towers today on the way home from a lovely holiday in the Lake District; we're there tomorrow, too! We left our house in Ambleside at around 9:45am, so we arrived in Alton at about 12:30pm. By the time we got into the park, it was nearly 1pm, so we got into the queue for our first ride...
Wicker Man
I was excited to get back on Wicker Man; my last ride on it was the day after it officially opened, and let's just say it was a rather extended Wicker Man experience, lasting around 4 hours overall! Thankfully, we only waited around an hour for Wicker Man today, so everyone in my family was in higher spirits boarding the train. Me and my mum sat in row 3, and it was awesome! The ride felt like it was running a little faster; even the not-so-boring corner carried a decent pace through it! It also felt like there were one or two more moments of airtime; albeit not overly strong airtime, in my opinion. But still good airtime, because any airtime is good airtime, if you ask me! Overall, today's ride on Wicker Man reaffirmed what I previously thought of it! It still sits in my #10 spot, and is still my favourite wooden roller coaster! I did find it strange that I actually thought the ride was better towards the front, as many prefer the back! So a great start to our first Alton Towers day! After a pleasant surprise on Wicker Man, we headed down through Gloomy Wood and into Forbidden Valley for our next ride...
Nemesis
I really wanted to reride Nemesis, as I hadn't been on it since July 2017. I was interested to see how it would ride after going on rides like Icon and reriding The Swarm in May 2018. Me and my dad rode Nemesis in row 2, and you know what; I think that was one of the most intense rides I've ever had on Nemesis! For the first time ever, I actually greyed out in between the helix and the zero-g! It was amazing; it just felt utterly relentless! The ride was also extremely smooth, with only one or two points where it rattled a little! These didn't detract at all from the ride experience for me, however. All in all, I was very surprised with Nemesis today, so much so I'd probably say that it has swapped places with The Swarm and reclaimed the #5 spot for me! It's very, very close, in my opinion, but that ride today just decided it for me! It was absolutely fantastic; one of the best rides I've ever had on Nemesis, in my opinion! After a ride on the wonderful Nemesis, we wandered over to our next ride...
Oblivion
I have to say that Oblivion is definitely a ride that has grown on me a lot as the years have gone on! When I first came off it back in 2013, I remember being a bit underwhelmed, but now, I love it! It's such a rush plummeting into that tunnel at 68mph, and despite the fact that many dismiss Dive Coasters as one-trick-ponies, you've got to admit that Oblivion's trick is one very well executed trick! Like Nemesis, the ride has also aged extremely well, in my opinion, providing an extremely smooth ride! All in all, even though there are bigger, better Dive Coasters out there, I still have a soft spot for this classic; my personal 4th favourite coaster at Towers! After Oblivion, we headed to our final ride of the day...
Spinball Whizzer
As our day at Towers was winding to a close, me and my mum got into the 35 minute queue for Spinball Whizzer, which is surprisingly short for Spinball! In my opinion, Spinball is quite a good family coaster, but I remembered the ride being quite rough from previous rides on it, so I was interested to see what it was like. When I rode it, I personally found it to be very jolty, and I think my Mum did, too! There was a lot of spinning, but the jolting kind of detracted from it, in my opinion. I still had good fun, but my Mum didn't seem too keen when we came into the brake run. So overall, I personally find Spinball to be a good, fun family coaster, but I do personally prefer the Mack Rides spinning coaster, like Cobra's Curse at Busch Gardens Tampa. After a fun ride on Spinball, my family decided to head back to our hotel and end our first day at Alton Towers...
So, in conclusion...
Me and my family had a wonderful day at Alton Towers, and I can't wait to be back on park tomorrow! It is definitely still my favourite park, and it was very interesting to go back after going to Blackpool Pleasure Beach and Drayton Manor! Nemesis and Wicker Man both really surprised me, and Oblivion and Spinball Whizzer were both good, too! Tomorrow, I'm hoping that I can get some of the stuff done that I didn't do today, and possibly have some rerides on some of my favourite attractions at the park! So thanks for reading today's report, and stay tuned for another one tomorrow!
P.S. Sorry if this report isn't as detailed as others I've done or if I've written it badly. Also, sorry for long post. (D'oh, I did it again!)
Hi guys. Sorry to bore you with another of my trip reports, but my family and I went to Alton Towers today on the way home from a lovely holiday in the Lake District; we're there tomorrow, too! We left our house in Ambleside at around 9:45am, so we arrived in Alton at about 12:30pm. By the time we got into the park, it was nearly 1pm, so we got into the queue for our first ride...
Wicker Man
I was excited to get back on Wicker Man; my last ride on it was the day after it officially opened, and let's just say it was a rather extended Wicker Man experience, lasting around 4 hours overall! Thankfully, we only waited around an hour for Wicker Man today, so everyone in my family was in higher spirits boarding the train. Me and my mum sat in row 3, and it was awesome! The ride felt like it was running a little faster; even the not-so-boring corner carried a decent pace through it! It also felt like there were one or two more moments of airtime; albeit not overly strong airtime, in my opinion. But still good airtime, because any airtime is good airtime, if you ask me! Overall, today's ride on Wicker Man reaffirmed what I previously thought of it! It still sits in my #10 spot, and is still my favourite wooden roller coaster! I did find it strange that I actually thought the ride was better towards the front, as many prefer the back! So a great start to our first Alton Towers day! After a pleasant surprise on Wicker Man, we headed down through Gloomy Wood and into Forbidden Valley for our next ride...
Nemesis
I really wanted to reride Nemesis, as I hadn't been on it since July 2017. I was interested to see how it would ride after going on rides like Icon and reriding The Swarm in May 2018. Me and my dad rode Nemesis in row 2, and you know what; I think that was one of the most intense rides I've ever had on Nemesis! For the first time ever, I actually greyed out in between the helix and the zero-g! It was amazing; it just felt utterly relentless! The ride was also extremely smooth, with only one or two points where it rattled a little! These didn't detract at all from the ride experience for me, however. All in all, I was very surprised with Nemesis today, so much so I'd probably say that it has swapped places with The Swarm and reclaimed the #5 spot for me! It's very, very close, in my opinion, but that ride today just decided it for me! It was absolutely fantastic; one of the best rides I've ever had on Nemesis, in my opinion! After a ride on the wonderful Nemesis, we wandered over to our next ride...
Oblivion
I have to say that Oblivion is definitely a ride that has grown on me a lot as the years have gone on! When I first came off it back in 2013, I remember being a bit underwhelmed, but now, I love it! It's such a rush plummeting into that tunnel at 68mph, and despite the fact that many dismiss Dive Coasters as one-trick-ponies, you've got to admit that Oblivion's trick is one very well executed trick! Like Nemesis, the ride has also aged extremely well, in my opinion, providing an extremely smooth ride! All in all, even though there are bigger, better Dive Coasters out there, I still have a soft spot for this classic; my personal 4th favourite coaster at Towers! After Oblivion, we headed to our final ride of the day...
Spinball Whizzer
As our day at Towers was winding to a close, me and my mum got into the 35 minute queue for Spinball Whizzer, which is surprisingly short for Spinball! In my opinion, Spinball is quite a good family coaster, but I remembered the ride being quite rough from previous rides on it, so I was interested to see what it was like. When I rode it, I personally found it to be very jolty, and I think my Mum did, too! There was a lot of spinning, but the jolting kind of detracted from it, in my opinion. I still had good fun, but my Mum didn't seem too keen when we came into the brake run. So overall, I personally find Spinball to be a good, fun family coaster, but I do personally prefer the Mack Rides spinning coaster, like Cobra's Curse at Busch Gardens Tampa. After a fun ride on Spinball, my family decided to head back to our hotel and end our first day at Alton Towers...
So, in conclusion...
Me and my family had a wonderful day at Alton Towers, and I can't wait to be back on park tomorrow! It is definitely still my favourite park, and it was very interesting to go back after going to Blackpool Pleasure Beach and Drayton Manor! Nemesis and Wicker Man both really surprised me, and Oblivion and Spinball Whizzer were both good, too! Tomorrow, I'm hoping that I can get some of the stuff done that I didn't do today, and possibly have some rerides on some of my favourite attractions at the park! So thanks for reading today's report, and stay tuned for another one tomorrow!
P.S. Sorry if this report isn't as detailed as others I've done or if I've written it badly. Also, sorry for long post. (D'oh, I did it again!)
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