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Alton Towers | Toxicator | Huss Top Spin | 2025

The commitment to detail and authenticity is just astounding. What can't Merlin do!?
 
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Rode it the other day and, well, it's a top spin. It looks good at night and they've designed it so that each side is very similar (unlike the wall vs fire side of talocan), but it's still just a top spin, which isn't my favourite ride. Does it announce if its going to do a different cycle? All i heard was "initiating program alpha" or something like that. How many other ride cycles are there?
I think the fountains need a bit of tuning too, as I remember riding ripsaw and them coming very close to your head, but they're nowhere near now.

Also they missed a trick by not calling the limited edition beer in-toxicator.
 
Rollercoaster David said:
I think the fountains need a bit of tuning too, as I remember riding ripsaw and them coming very close to your head, but they're nowhere near now.
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I believe I heard the fountains are pretty low on purpose right now to avoid any wetness for riders while it's still rather cool, and they'll go higher on warmer days, so that people don't avoid riding it on cooler days out of fear of getting wet.
 
Boodangy said:
I believe I heard the fountains are pretty low on purpose right now to avoid any wetness for riders while it's still rather cool, and they'll go higher on warmer days, so that people don't avoid riding it on cooler days out of fear of getting wet.
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That's right, they said that was the case during the media event.

But they're WAY too low now, I think is David's point. On Ripsaw and other TS rides, when it's set to winter mode (this isn't new) you still have that 'will it, won't it' fear when being lowered towards them. That just doesn't look to be the case right now.
 
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I still don't quite get the reasoning behind bringing back a topspin in Forbidden Valley. To me, the theme is just a bit... lacklustre. A poor man's X-Sector contender or something. No architectural depth, no intrigue within the detail. Yep, the lighting packages are alright (so, good for a few nights a year) and that's probably the saving grace.

But, Ripsaw looked miles better in the daytime and was way more of a spectacle with the way it was positioned for onlookers. Am I pessimistic? Probably. But, I'm already beginning to miss the classic Forbidden Valley of yesteryear 😂
 
Sandman said:
I still don't quite get the reasoning behind bringing back a topspin in Forbidden Valley. To me, the theme is just a bit... lacklustre. A poor man's X-Sector contender or something. No architectural depth, no intrigue within the detail. Yep, the lighting packages are alright (so, good for a few nights a year) and that's probably the saving grace.

But, Ripsaw looked miles better in the daytime and was way more of a spectacle with the way it was positioned for onlookers. Am I pessimistic? Probably. But, I'm already beginning to miss the classic Forbidden Valley of yesteryear 😂
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it's a great flat ride and it's great they've added it imo, as long as this isn't the only one being added within the next few years D:

Ripsaw was missed = they brought in a new version finally, hopefully it's the first of a few?
 
I hadn't realised until I saw it that it's sideways on as you see it from the path. This may just be my dislike of change, but I'd have put it the same way around as Ripsaw - this type of ride is always better for spectators than riders.

I won't pretend I'm thrilled with it - but we needed Flat rides and visually, it's a decent addition to the area.
 
Will said:
I hadn't realised until I saw it that it's sideways on as you see it from the path. This may just be my dislike of change, but I'd have put it the same way around as Ripsaw - this type of ride is always better for spectators than riders.

I won't pretend I'm thrilled with it - but we needed Flat rides and visually, it's a decent addition to the area.
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It's the floorless... As in people facing both ways. Putting it in that orientation would be terrible for half the riders. Plus, any spectators wanting to see their friends, if they end up on that side, would be out of luck too.

I think the orientation alone, makes it better than Talocan, especially given Talocan's fire isn't working half the time these days. But the orientation and the raised platform really make it quite a spectacle, especially at night. With Talocan, it's a lucky dip, if you're sat facing out it's fantastic, but if you're sat facing the wall, it feels like you've been put in the naughty corner for a timeout, and it does detract from the experience quite a bit.

As David pointed out, it's also cool that they've made the on ride experience identical, whichever side you sit, too. Any sequence done in one direction, is then mirrored in the other direction. No lucky dip, no good side, bad side.
 
Nicky Borrill said:
It's the floorless... As in people facing both ways. Putting it in that orientation would be terrible for half the riders. Plus, any spectators wanting to see their friends, if they end up on that side, would be out of luck too.
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Which is my biggest bugbear with Talocan, all but once I've found myself on the wall-facing side. It's actually incredibly frustrating.
 
Not sure if it's been mentioned anywhere yet but the fountains seem to be at full force now. Rode it today and almost got a fountain direct into my face. Had to duck so that it sprayed my head instead. Also, the path below also gets a good soaking from the rotating gondola hitting the fountains.

Otherwise, very good ride on a good cycle. Glad it has the modern updated restraints though. Don't care too much for the floorless aspect but the new style restraints are so much friendlier to tall people like me.
 
I did Toxicator for the first time over the weekend. I shared a few thoughts in my trip report from the Saturday, but I’ll give a few slightly more in-depth thoughts here.

Let me start with the theming and presentation…
Presentation
On the presentation front, I think it overall looks really nice. To give a few more refined thoughts:
  • I was unsure on the platform prior to the ride’s opening, but I have to say that it does make the ride look really dominant and visually striking; that platform absolutely towers above the area!
  • Theming-wise, I think they’ve done an excellent job. There are some really nice little details around the area and queue, as well as in the underpass, and I also really like things like the audio and the toxic waste tanks (?) on either side of the ride. Yes, it might not quite match the grandeur of something like Talocan (from what I’ve seen of that one), but it’s better themed than 95% of flat rides out there, including any of the ones that used to populate Alton Towers in years gone by, so I’d consider the theming we have on Toxicator a big win!
  • As with anything designed by John Burton, there are quite a few Easter eggs, or “nods to the past”. Maybe not as many as on some of his other work, but I did notice a couple of “Can you cut it?” references, as well as a reference to 1997 somewhere.
  • I would say, though, that the platform is a double edged sword. I say this because while I think it makes the ride look really dominant, it does maybe sacrifice some practicality in that when the ride is in operation, it seems to leak water everywhere. I’m not sure if this is intentional or a design flaw arising from the ride’s placement on top of a platform, but there was a bit of the queue that I noticed people not standing in because the ride was raining water into it during operation, and the underpass is difficult to walk under for similar reasons.
But on the whole, I would give the park top marks for presentation on this one; the ride looks great thematically!

Let me talk about the ride now…
The Ride
Now prior to Saturday, I had never actually ridden a Huss Top Spin before. I never did Ripsaw when it operated, and I also never did Rameses Revenge either, so this was a new ride type for me! I’m not a great lover of flat rides in general, but I had heard people say that Ripsaw “wasn’t as bad as it looked”, so I wondered if I might like Toxicator.

Unfortunately, I’m sorry to say that the ride really wasn’t for me at all. I really hoped I might like it or not dislike it that much, but unfortunately, I would say it was right down there with Air Race at Drayton Manor and Samurai at Thorpe Park as one of the most vile flat rides I’ve ridden, and I would it was my least favourite thing I rode all weekend at Alton Towers. I’m aware this is quite strong criticism, so I feel I should back up my stance with reasons. My reasons for disliking the ride so strongly are two fold:
  • Firstly, it has a fair amount of slow and very sustained upside down hangtime. I can take brief or fast hangtime to a point (e.g. the inversion on Swarm’s dive drop, or Smiler’s indoor inversion), but the really slow and sustained kind of hangtime where it just leaves you hanging upside down for ages and ages is the kind that I absolutely hate. Toxicator seemed to have loads of it, unfortunately, and that turned me off it for sure.
  • Secondly, I found the flipping a bit too violent for my liking. I’m not someone who’s averse to going upside down by any means (I’m absolutely fine with it on coasters), but Toxicator seemed to flip over and over in a ridiculously violent fashion that I just did not find remotely enjoyable. It made me feel a bit queasy, if I’m honest, and I just found the flipping too violent and jerky for my liking.
I’m sorry if that’s controversial. I know many, many people love these Huss Top Spins, and rate Toxicator and also the likes of Talocan really highly, but that experience just was not for me at all. In a park like Alton Towers, where there are loads of great rides to pick from, it’s not a ride I see myself rushing back on any time soon.

Wetness-wise, I didn’t get as wet as I feared I might. I got a bit of spray on my legs, but nothing overly terrible; it dried quite quickly, even on an overcast morning like Saturday. I can imagine the spray might be nice on a hotter day!

I really want to be excited by Toxicator, and I do think the park should be applauded for building a new flat ride, but my experience on it over the weekend reminded me why I have little to no personal excitement for the idea of new flat rides at Alton Towers. I’m just not a massive fan of them in general, and the types I do really like (namely drop towers and S&S Screamin’ Swings, to name a couple… mainly things that offer notable airtime and don’t really spin!) are types of ride that Alton Towers can’t build due to height restrictions. I get that the park lacks flat rides, but I struggle to muster up an awful lot of personal enthusiasm for any hypothetical flats that Towers might build in the future, and Toxicator has definitely not changed that, I’m afraid.

One other thing I would say, which I admit is perhaps slightly picky, is that if the park builds any more flat rides in the coming years, I hope they go for something that the park hasn’t had before. As much as Toxicator is a brilliant visual piece and looks really cool, I get the overriding impression that many people see it as “Ripsaw in a different colour”. While Toxicator is a new ride, the fact that it’s effectively a revival of a ride from 1997 does only add to the impression that Alton Towers isn’t really progressing and hasn’t done much that’s meaningfully new in years. Curse and Nemesis Reborn were brilliantly executed projects, but they were refurbishments and/or revivals of old staples rather than meaningfully new things, and I feel that Toxicator kind of has this feel to the casual visitor as well. I don’t think Toxicator being a Top Spin was necessarily a bad thing per se, as the ride type does offer many really cool aspects, but I do hope that future flat ride additions to Alton Towers offer something the park has never had before rather than simply being similar “revivals” of Enterprise, Submission, Blade et al. My fear is that the casual visitor might lump Toxicator in with the likes of Curse and Nemesis Reborn as being a refurbishment or revival of the old rather than properly new blood, and I feel that Alton Towers is maybe at that point where it could do with some properly new blood ride-wise.

I hate to leave negative reviews, so I’ll try and be somewhat balanced and diplomatic with my summary. In summation, I would say that Toxicator is an excellent ride visually, and I will give them top marks for presentation. The ride really does look brilliant! I will also applaud them for trying to fill the flat ride gap in Alton Towers’ lineup. And if you like flat rides more than I do, I’m sure you’ll really enjoy the ride itself! But I’m afraid that the ride experience was not for me at all, and it’s probably a one and done within the sphere of Alton Towers for me; I don’t see myself rushing back on it any time soon. I’m sorry to leave a negative review, but I feel obliged to be 100% honest whenever I review things, and that is how I honestly felt.

Here are a couple of photos I took (I didn’t take many, as I didn’t spend very long in the queue):
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Its great to hear you calling the flipping violent tbh. I rode Talocan for the first time in April and oh wow I fell in love. Definitely my favourite ride at Phantasialand, hoping Toxicator has a similar intensity to it.

Theres something really amusing and fun about doing 4-5 roly-polies in quick succession 😂
 
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