Stealthyrose
Roller Poster
Good afternoon :--D
In June I was lucky enough to win tickets to Alton towers for myself and 3 friends through Kellogs Krave Tweet When U Eat competition on Twitter, I was so over the moon I nearly emailed them back saying they clearly had the wrong person! :shock:
I planned it for Monday July 1st as it was the best day for all of us, and I figured a weekday would be quieter, right? (more on that later..).
Unfortunately at 6 in the morning as I was getting up ready to go, one of the group dropped out so we were left as a group of three which is a little awkward at theme parks as there is always one unlucky sod left out on rides and photos. We arrived 20 mins before the park was due to open but my heart dropped when I saw that car parks A through F were already full, and the queue for the monorail was well over 45 mins long. Turns out it was a school training day, and most of the exams the teens take in the UK had finished so they didn't have to be in school.
We made the lengthy walk to the entrance where we found the pre paid kiosk and gave the winning letter in. It took 15 mins for the member of staff to figure out how to print off our tickets, once she had finally done it we were redirected somewhere else to pick up our Smiler fast tracks. I was very down at this point, we had lost valuable park time and the park was packed.
After a swift breakfast of a £6 cheese toastie and a visit to the fast track office (which took a further 20 mins) we were on our way to the X sector. The queues for the smiler were already 3 hours long, so we headed to oblivion and waited a tiny 10 minutes for a 'warm up' ride before heading to the mental new Smiler.
The first thing I will say about the Smiler is that it is absolutely fantastic to watch :shock: it is a mass of steel yet it is so beautiful. Watching the trains duelling was spectacular, and everyone in the queue line couldnt take their eyes off it. The staff were also a sight to behold too, wearing yellow jumpsuits with striped socks and goggles, very mad!
We located the fast track entrance and made our way through the mass of mesh and steal towards the building. Inside the building was not pleasant, it was very dark and enclosed, and the flashing 3d lights/effects on the walls gave me a slight headache.
spoilers ahead
The ride itself was awesome :--D I loved the surprise dive drop in the inside section at the start. I was very surprised at how long the ride was, and how the 2 halves were completely different! I found the second half better than the first, there was a lot more air time and we were constantly alongside the other train which was amazing to watch. The last few inversions/corners were quite uncomfortable though, there was a crunch and I banged my head, thrown about in my seat a bit then suddenly the ride had stopped. It was much like the terrible ride on SAW but only for that last few seconds.
I was very impressed with the Smiler, I had reservations about getting so hyped up over a new ride after Th13teen and The Swarm didn't turn out to be 'all that'. We loved it so much we queued 2 hours to ride it again at the end of the day. I barely noticed the time as I looked up at the duelling trains and mass of track.
As I mentioned before, the park was absolutely rammed that day. Queues to get food were just as bad as some ride queue lines so we went without. We managed Oblivion a couple more times because it had the lowest queue time in the park, we also waited an hour (an hour too long) for Th13teen as one of the group had never been on it and we wanted to see her face when it....you know :wink:
With only an hour left until the queues closed we bought fast tracks for Nemesis and Air, both I enjoy very much and didn't want to miss. Then of course at 17.25 we ran like the clappers across the park to join the Smiler queue again.
A great day as always but very busy! I am very gutted I didn't pick up on it being an off school day. The queues to get fast tracks were nearly 40 mins long which sort of defeated the point of fast tracks, it was that busy!
Hoping to go again at the end of season where the queues are ten mins ( apart from the Smiler, which will of course be 50000000000 minutes
In June I was lucky enough to win tickets to Alton towers for myself and 3 friends through Kellogs Krave Tweet When U Eat competition on Twitter, I was so over the moon I nearly emailed them back saying they clearly had the wrong person! :shock:
I planned it for Monday July 1st as it was the best day for all of us, and I figured a weekday would be quieter, right? (more on that later..).
Unfortunately at 6 in the morning as I was getting up ready to go, one of the group dropped out so we were left as a group of three which is a little awkward at theme parks as there is always one unlucky sod left out on rides and photos. We arrived 20 mins before the park was due to open but my heart dropped when I saw that car parks A through F were already full, and the queue for the monorail was well over 45 mins long. Turns out it was a school training day, and most of the exams the teens take in the UK had finished so they didn't have to be in school.
We made the lengthy walk to the entrance where we found the pre paid kiosk and gave the winning letter in. It took 15 mins for the member of staff to figure out how to print off our tickets, once she had finally done it we were redirected somewhere else to pick up our Smiler fast tracks. I was very down at this point, we had lost valuable park time and the park was packed.
After a swift breakfast of a £6 cheese toastie and a visit to the fast track office (which took a further 20 mins) we were on our way to the X sector. The queues for the smiler were already 3 hours long, so we headed to oblivion and waited a tiny 10 minutes for a 'warm up' ride before heading to the mental new Smiler.
The first thing I will say about the Smiler is that it is absolutely fantastic to watch :shock: it is a mass of steel yet it is so beautiful. Watching the trains duelling was spectacular, and everyone in the queue line couldnt take their eyes off it. The staff were also a sight to behold too, wearing yellow jumpsuits with striped socks and goggles, very mad!
We located the fast track entrance and made our way through the mass of mesh and steal towards the building. Inside the building was not pleasant, it was very dark and enclosed, and the flashing 3d lights/effects on the walls gave me a slight headache.
spoilers ahead
The ride itself was awesome :--D I loved the surprise dive drop in the inside section at the start. I was very surprised at how long the ride was, and how the 2 halves were completely different! I found the second half better than the first, there was a lot more air time and we were constantly alongside the other train which was amazing to watch. The last few inversions/corners were quite uncomfortable though, there was a crunch and I banged my head, thrown about in my seat a bit then suddenly the ride had stopped. It was much like the terrible ride on SAW but only for that last few seconds.
I was very impressed with the Smiler, I had reservations about getting so hyped up over a new ride after Th13teen and The Swarm didn't turn out to be 'all that'. We loved it so much we queued 2 hours to ride it again at the end of the day. I barely noticed the time as I looked up at the duelling trains and mass of track.
As I mentioned before, the park was absolutely rammed that day. Queues to get food were just as bad as some ride queue lines so we went without. We managed Oblivion a couple more times because it had the lowest queue time in the park, we also waited an hour (an hour too long) for Th13teen as one of the group had never been on it and we wanted to see her face when it....you know :wink:
With only an hour left until the queues closed we bought fast tracks for Nemesis and Air, both I enjoy very much and didn't want to miss. Then of course at 17.25 we ran like the clappers across the park to join the Smiler queue again.
A great day as always but very busy! I am very gutted I didn't pick up on it being an off school day. The queues to get fast tracks were nearly 40 mins long which sort of defeated the point of fast tracks, it was that busy!
Hoping to go again at the end of season where the queues are ten mins ( apart from the Smiler, which will of course be 50000000000 minutes
