Changa
Mega Poster
After getting spited out of our first ride on opening day, we made our way back to give it another go and further justify our merlin passes! We were successful in getting on the new-ish ride, though I can't say we felt we got an experience worthy of the renewal....
...aaanyway, going through the order of the he day:
Oblivion - 7/10
After breezing through the queue, we enjoyed a quick back row ride and got exactly what we hoped for. I find it very hard to critique the ride's length when it is so finely distilled. You have a lot of anticipation, a great drop into a huge tunnel, and a great spectacle to watch from anywhere in the land. When it demolished the queue to the extent that you never have to wait that long for it, it's always a satisfying experience.
Smiler - 9/10
Now for the opposite, a long ride that is usually hampered by it's slow capacity and dreadful queueing experience. However, thanks to a pair of fast passes, we barely had to queue for it this time, so we had a blast! The layout is miraculous, the ride is incredibly long, and our second-half had one of the best duels with the following train I've experienced. Even if the layout was stretched out in a straight line, it would make for a fun ride. But the compactness and sheer entanglement of the track is still a marvel to look at and, coupled with the dueling, amplifies the experience to an incredible degree. No matter WHAT row you are sitting in.
Wicker man - 7/10
Another great ride that is hampered by an endless 70 minute queue. The pre-show is still as fun as ever, and the ride, while quite tame, offers some great moments of chaos and (thanks to our fortunate back-row assignment) airtime. It's a great looking, fun coaster that is being maintained spectacularly by the park.
Also, the operations on the day we went were incredible. Almost every train would be on lift before the previous had even hit the brake run, but we still had plenty of time to get ready thanks to how fast they checked the restraints. While the AT operations are generally quite weak, wicker man's team are doing an amazing job!
Nemesis Reborn - 6/10
After a cranky hour of queueing with a small but strong rainstorm an incredibly loud family screaming behind us. We finally redeemed our route and got on the ride. Almost getting the front row before a group in front kindly reorganising themselves to make space for us in row 3 (nothing wrong with what they did. It was a nice thing for them to do, and I was too tired to ask to wait), so the annoying family got rewarded with a front row ride and we were right in the middle of the train. This was, sadly, a very disappointing experience. Our last ride of the old iteration was a relentless front-row ride that exemplified the ride's god-tier status. However, in the middle it felt pretty forceless, and all of the lovely new scenery items that they've put in the various new gravel pits are blocked from view. Practically everything is blocked from view. We would have been better off with galacticas vr goggles. This has always been an issue with B&M inverts, and I am happy to be seen as a front-row snob for every invert as the lack of visuals or wind-rish are the most prevalent on inverts. But for Nemesis, it's especially problematic when the near-misses are what the ride is famous for, and have been doubled-up with the new scenery items. And despite all of the effort that has been put into the new track, new themeing, and new gravel; removing the front-row queue to add theming without having to extend the building outwards is detrimental enough to make the ride a net-downgrade for me. I would happily wait another 30+mins regardless of what I had already waited to guarantee a fun ride, instead of gambling on an 1-in-8 chance of waiting at least an hour for a ride that just isn't worth the wait.
As for the rest of it, the ride is perfectly smooth (except for the rattly last turn) and does feel like a new ride. The area theming is great (and worth the upgrade). The new queue layout is fun, though the queue fences are not comfortable, and the deforestation around the ride perimeter has made the area look a bit tacky. Finally, while the operations were quite slow, they seem to have worked out the operational kinks as there never seemed to be any half-loaded trains or engineers monitoring the ride while we were in the area.
Nemesis Sub-Terra - 3/10
Conceptually, this could be a great little 3-minute filler attraction that condenses the essence of Hex into a smaller, shorter, supplementary experience. However, the operations are so spectacularly bad and awkwardly structured that it is bloated into a 15+ minute queue to get into and out of a 1-2 minute, showscene. They seem to have trimmed both the main show and the introductory video down, presumably with the idea of this speeding up operations. But you are sat there for so long being ordered to stare at the phalanx screensaver while the poor ops in the other room are jumping on the harnesses to try and trip the sensors, that the extra footage would only be a blessing. If only they had a drop tower with individual harnesses, the rest of the "experience" might be salvageable.
After this, we tried to get one more ride in, but Alton manor was down all day, and both Rita and Thirteen broke down once we made our way over to the dark forest. So we left early feeling quite dejected after an awkward afternoon.
...aaanyway, going through the order of the he day:
Oblivion - 7/10
After breezing through the queue, we enjoyed a quick back row ride and got exactly what we hoped for. I find it very hard to critique the ride's length when it is so finely distilled. You have a lot of anticipation, a great drop into a huge tunnel, and a great spectacle to watch from anywhere in the land. When it demolished the queue to the extent that you never have to wait that long for it, it's always a satisfying experience.
Smiler - 9/10
Now for the opposite, a long ride that is usually hampered by it's slow capacity and dreadful queueing experience. However, thanks to a pair of fast passes, we barely had to queue for it this time, so we had a blast! The layout is miraculous, the ride is incredibly long, and our second-half had one of the best duels with the following train I've experienced. Even if the layout was stretched out in a straight line, it would make for a fun ride. But the compactness and sheer entanglement of the track is still a marvel to look at and, coupled with the dueling, amplifies the experience to an incredible degree. No matter WHAT row you are sitting in.
Wicker man - 7/10
Another great ride that is hampered by an endless 70 minute queue. The pre-show is still as fun as ever, and the ride, while quite tame, offers some great moments of chaos and (thanks to our fortunate back-row assignment) airtime. It's a great looking, fun coaster that is being maintained spectacularly by the park.
Also, the operations on the day we went were incredible. Almost every train would be on lift before the previous had even hit the brake run, but we still had plenty of time to get ready thanks to how fast they checked the restraints. While the AT operations are generally quite weak, wicker man's team are doing an amazing job!
Nemesis Reborn - 6/10
After a cranky hour of queueing with a small but strong rainstorm an incredibly loud family screaming behind us. We finally redeemed our route and got on the ride. Almost getting the front row before a group in front kindly reorganising themselves to make space for us in row 3 (nothing wrong with what they did. It was a nice thing for them to do, and I was too tired to ask to wait), so the annoying family got rewarded with a front row ride and we were right in the middle of the train. This was, sadly, a very disappointing experience. Our last ride of the old iteration was a relentless front-row ride that exemplified the ride's god-tier status. However, in the middle it felt pretty forceless, and all of the lovely new scenery items that they've put in the various new gravel pits are blocked from view. Practically everything is blocked from view. We would have been better off with galacticas vr goggles. This has always been an issue with B&M inverts, and I am happy to be seen as a front-row snob for every invert as the lack of visuals or wind-rish are the most prevalent on inverts. But for Nemesis, it's especially problematic when the near-misses are what the ride is famous for, and have been doubled-up with the new scenery items. And despite all of the effort that has been put into the new track, new themeing, and new gravel; removing the front-row queue to add theming without having to extend the building outwards is detrimental enough to make the ride a net-downgrade for me. I would happily wait another 30+mins regardless of what I had already waited to guarantee a fun ride, instead of gambling on an 1-in-8 chance of waiting at least an hour for a ride that just isn't worth the wait.
As for the rest of it, the ride is perfectly smooth (except for the rattly last turn) and does feel like a new ride. The area theming is great (and worth the upgrade). The new queue layout is fun, though the queue fences are not comfortable, and the deforestation around the ride perimeter has made the area look a bit tacky. Finally, while the operations were quite slow, they seem to have worked out the operational kinks as there never seemed to be any half-loaded trains or engineers monitoring the ride while we were in the area.
Nemesis Sub-Terra - 3/10
Conceptually, this could be a great little 3-minute filler attraction that condenses the essence of Hex into a smaller, shorter, supplementary experience. However, the operations are so spectacularly bad and awkwardly structured that it is bloated into a 15+ minute queue to get into and out of a 1-2 minute, showscene. They seem to have trimmed both the main show and the introductory video down, presumably with the idea of this speeding up operations. But you are sat there for so long being ordered to stare at the phalanx screensaver while the poor ops in the other room are jumping on the harnesses to try and trip the sensors, that the extra footage would only be a blessing. If only they had a drop tower with individual harnesses, the rest of the "experience" might be salvageable.
After this, we tried to get one more ride in, but Alton manor was down all day, and both Rita and Thirteen broke down once we made our way over to the dark forest. So we left early feeling quite dejected after an awkward afternoon.