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First Time Visit to Alton Towers and BPB

TheCoasterCruiser

Giga Poster
Hello everyone,

As some of you may know I run CoasterClub Denmark, and in may 2018 we went on a trip to the UK, visiting Thorpe Park, Alton Towers and Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

I had already been to Thorpe, but never visited the other two. - I had initially not planned to write a report of this trip, but now I actually feel like putting some of my thoughts down, both for my own sake to reflect properly, but also for you, as I thought you might want to hear what a first-time-visitor thinks of these parks. I did not really take any pictures, but I hope it’s still of interested to you.

So basically just a few thoughts here and there if you will.

Thorpe Park

As mentioned above, I have been here before and I don’t really feel like saying much about this place.
This park is proof, that it doesn’t matter how amazing your line-up is if the park lacks the atmosphere.
They have a really solid collection of coasters and I especially like Saw, Stealth and Inferno, but the park just lacks everything else for me. It’s not a park I would like to just hang around in, and that is a huge con for me.

I almost forgot, have to give a shout out to Derren Brown's Ghost Train. I hadn't seen any videos of it whatsoever, but we did it and I was a bit blown away.
The VR is VR, which doesn't impress me, but the different stations and especially the gift shop ending was so awesome, I jumped up in the air when the wolf came out or whatever it was. But it is a flawed attraction and I understand that the giftshop ending was something new, so I kinda understand why people didn't like it at first.

Alton Towers

Now this is park that I (like many) have been wanting to visit for ages, but it’s also a park that is past it’s prime as far as I can gather from fellow enthusiasts, so my expectations where set accordingly.

First off, I have to talk about the opening times though. The park was open from 10AM-4PM on this Saturday at the end of may (what). - Add staggered openings to that and we had ourselves a quite stressful day ahead. I think it’s pretty sad, that a park of this magnitude has come to this and it’s not really acceptable in my eyes. Anyways, we had to use the time efficiently and with guidance from an english enthusiast, we started the cred-anxiety filled day (never have Edvard Grieg’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King” fitted so well to a park visit).

As soon as we were let in, we walked (fast) to Wickerman and joined the queue outside the entrance straight away - It was testing at this point. It was beginning to dawn on me where I was and when the entrance opened and we started to navigate the queue, I started hearing the music… When the iconic snippet of “In the Hall of the Mountain King” suddenly played, I realized that I was finally at Alton Towers! It gave a really weird feeling, but in a good way and I seem to remember getting goosbumps right when I heard that piece of music, hidden in the excellent Wickerman score. That was a great moment. Anyways, on to the coaster itself! After about 30-45 minutes including a couple of breakdowns, we finally entered the pre-show room, which was pretty neat, but the real winner for me here is the station itself. That is one atmospheric coaster station! I adored the theming in here and it’s one of the best coaster build-ups I’ve experienced so far. And then, as we where a few feet away from the airgates… It broke down again. We were debating whether to come back later or wait it out at this point as there were a lot of coasters to do and very little time. We ended up staying and soon after that, they announced it was running again (shout out to the amazing themed announcement voice!). We were finally boarding the train and I ended up in the second to last car.

The coaster itself is pretty good, nothing amazing, but a few good moments here and there. I especially remember a spot upon exiting the Wickerman’s head, where you get dragged very violently down a right turn (I guess this was enhanced by sitting in the back of the train), I quite liked that!
We hit the breaks, go past the maintenance shed and into the turn into the station and then… It broke down again. We sat in that turn for about 5 minutes before it finally came back into the station and we where let out.

We quickly ventured towards Smiler and Oblivion. Well, as quick as we could… This park is HUGE as you probably know, only making our cred-run-esque visit all the more daunting. We joined the queue for Smiler and luckily it was only about 20 minutes. I got the front-row (which surely must be the best spot on this?) and off we went…
We had a great time riding it, but it’s not really my kind of coaster and it gets quite jolty in the last part.
I appreciate it for what it is, but it just isn’t me. Don’t really know what else to say here.

Following Smiler was Oblivion, which really just is a drop. A good drop I give you and I liked how it continued underground, but that’s it really. Short review for a short coaster ;-).

After this we went over to the Dark Forest area. Thirteen was not open, so we joined a 45 minute queue for Rita. I love Intamin Launch Coasters, but this one was surprisingly rough? It’s a fine coaster and it’s cool how you actually fly around some landscaping unlike Desert Race, but nothing special.

At this point a certain B&M was calling our names, so we took the cable car over the gardens below us and made it to the Forbidden Valley. And then it was time for Nemesis. Now this is a coaster that I have wanted to ride for many years. It has been ranked very highly among many enthusiasts through the years, so it was quite surreal to finally stand there beneath it. This ride really is something. Just standing in the queue admiring it all is quite extraordinary and it is much bigger in person!
Funny how you always picture how a coaster or a certain part of a park looks in your mind and then it’s just totally different in reality…
But yeah, I couldn’t help but have really high expectations for this coaster even though I tried to keep it down. After about 1 hour in the queue, it was finally time to ride this thing. I had waited a bit extra for the front-row, which to me was essential on this. I pulled down the smelly restraint, got secured and dispatched…
It was over in a blast, but what a ride! Did it meet my high expectations? No, that was probably impossible anyways. But it’s still a good ride, no doubt about it. The intensity of this thing is just crazy, especially the section with the helix into the insane zero-g roll. The whole thing is just an amazing piece of coaster history an engineering for that matter. It’s not one of my favorites, but I appreciate it for what it is. I would have liked to have had some more rides on it, but we were low on time and there were another coaster in the area that I was looking forward to!…

Air was my very first flying coaster, (that is if I don’t count a Zamperla Volare, which I don’t) so I was quite excited to finally ride one. Queue, board, dispatch.. You know the drill. I was pleasantly surprised with this! It was unique, fun and most of all really enjoyable.
Funnily enough our group was quite divided by this coaster though, some really like the flying position and some hate it. I personally really dug this coaster type and now I just can’t wait to ride some of the bigger ones out there!

Time was beginning to run out now, but we all agreed that we wanted to go back and check if Thirteen had reopened. Luckily it was open and after a bit of queue it was time for dispatch. I’m a big fan of Intamin as I really admire their constant innovations and this of course, was one of them, so Thirteen is actually a coaster I’ve wanted to ride for some time as well…
So after being trimmed to death on the first drop, we traversed a really uninspired section through the “Dark Forest” and then into the drop section - this part is impressive and the backwards section is fun as well, but it just does not hold up as an overall ride. What a shame.

Now the clock was really ticking and decisions had to be made. We knew we could only do 1 more ride and we still had 3 creds to go. But at the same time I had heard so many good things about Hex.

It was a tough one, but while some went for Spinball Whizzer, I went with my gut instinct and approached the entrance of Hex! The queue was beautiful and it felt like I was in for something special. Then the pre-show started and that’s when I realized that we were standing amongst a group of obnoxious, screaming kids. This naturally ruined the pre-show part for me, so when we were on the actual ride, it was a bit hard to enjoy. But I see why people like it and it’s definitely the best Mad-House I’ve done. I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more though, if had not been for those meddling kids!

Time was up and it was time to leave the park after a hectic day.
Overall I actually quite liked Alton Towers. The place has a special atmosphere to it, almost kinda mythical. And I actually think I can imagine how it was in it it’s prime and see why it’s such a special place to many. I for one know I wanna come back for a two day trip at some point, to really take it all in.

Next up, Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
 
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Benenen

Hyper Poster
So refreshing to see a trip report where someone is excited about Towers. I haven't had goosebumps from In The Hall of the Mountain King since about 2005 so it was nice to relive it through your eyes.
 

Matt N

CF Legend
So refreshing to see a trip report where someone is excited about Towers. I haven't had goosebumps from In The Hall of the Mountain King since about 2005 so it was nice to relive it through your eyes.
I still get goosebumps from it now, and I've been going for years!
 

Hutch

Strata Poster
It's easy to underestimate the size of Alton Towers, it's huge. My first/only visit was more on the relaxing side (fairly short queues apart from Smiler) but we were still there from opening till closing. I guess crowds can really affect your day there.

Glad you enjoyed it though. I still think it has one of the best atmospheres at any theme park.
 

FistedColossus

Hyper Poster
Great report, thanks for sharing.

Alton Towers/Merlin are a disgrace with their 4pm closing time. The place is absolutely huge and even on a quiet day you will feel rushed. It makes it more difficult to take your time and enjoy the beautiful Gardens and Towers.

I still love Alton Towers, it's such a unique park, but it's at an all time low. It's frustrating because we all know how incredible it used to be, and still potentially could be.
 
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