Interestingly, John Wardley and head staff from Alton Towers have implied that there will be some changes made to Nemesis when it reopens in 2024. Wardley said that there will be “a few surprises”, and Alton Towers’ Head of Guest Excellence said that there are “more details to be revealed” about Nemesis’ retrack.
So my question is; what would you like to be changed?
Personally, I do think that there is some room for improvement thematically and narratively speaking on Nemesis, when viewed from the standpoint of a themed attraction. What’s there is very good, but there’s not a whole lot there in terms of actual theming and narrative-building tools apart from the monster. I’m aware that the pit plays a big role in the ride, and I concede that the pit is incredibly impressive, but I do think that Nemesis’ actual narrative is not overly clear to the first time rider unless you do your research and know the “Nemesis story”.
I’m not saying that they need to put everyone in a preshow room and play a video, but I do think that Nemesis in its current form lacks some of the finer details that make themed experiences like Wicker Man so delightful. Wicker Man, even excluding the pre-show which very explicitly communicates the narrative, has the huge fire-breathing structure, the banners throughout the queue, the wicker structures, the rune charts, the smoke-filled tunnels, the lovely themed station, and the little details strewn through the queue and area. These things all help to indirectly build a strongly conveyed narrative, and I think that if Nemesis had some similar little details added in the area and throughout the queue, I think it would do wonders for the ride’s narrative-building and help to convey the theme more clearly.
Talking more specifically about specific elements, I would personally quite like to see the station interior get an overhaul. Given that the exterior of the station is the monster itself, I always found stepping into quite a plain metal box for the station interior slightly odd.
Personally, I’d really love it if the station were rethemed to be more like you were “entering the belly of the beast” so to speak. My thought was that they could theme the walls to be similar to the exterior, and have mangled tentacles and things on the walls to make it look like you were really inside the monster. They could even play a looping soundtrack that plays sounds to represent the monster’s breathing or heartbeat, and they could pump in smells and use some themed lighting (something like what’s on Wicker Man) to build up the atmosphere.
But what would you guys like to see changed? I’d be keen to know!