My Trip to the UK: Part 5 (Chessington)
- Thread starter ThomVD
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Theme Park Superhero
DelPiero
Strata Poster
I find Drayton to be a good day out, the coasters are a bit **** but nothing too offensive, G Force isn't awful by any means and Shockwave is easily the best Stand Up I've ridden. Shame Stormforce was closed, one of the better rides for sure and the Pirates rip off was closed right?
You are wrong about Ben10 mate, boring as hell, like most of these family boomerangs are. Raik's theme massively elevates it to a worthwhile re-ride, something I wouldn't bother with on Ben10.
Looking forward to more awful opinions at Alton
You are wrong about Ben10 mate, boring as hell, like most of these family boomerangs are. Raik's theme massively elevates it to a worthwhile re-ride, something I wouldn't bother with on Ben10.
Looking forward to more awful opinions at Alton
ThomVD
Giga Poster
Day 3
I'm just going to do the first day in detail, and then cover the highlights and new rides on the second day more briefly.
Definitely the most anticipated day of the trip. I've been wanting to visit Alton Towers for years. I never thought that much of the coaster selection (apart from Nemesis obviously ), but I thought the "gothic" style of the park and just the general location and atmosphere seemed right up my alley. It was a very cold and rainy morning so the wait early in the morning was rather unpleasant, but nothing could harm the excitement we both had. Just as it turned 9 am, the gates opened. After getting our 2-day passes scanned by Mr Sanbrooke from Theme Park Worldwide, we entered Towers Street.
Needless to say, I was immediately impressed. Across the street you have the view over a big grassy field, a lake and then the Towers looming in the distance. Breathtaking. We made our way to Nemesis as a first ride. I loved how after you pass Mutiny Bay, you literally end up in the forest. It's very quiet and you almost forget that you're actually in a theme park. The light rain made the forest look even prettier and brought out the pleasant foresty smell as well. An occasionally look to the right provided gorgeous views over the valley and you could see structures all the way on the other side. This place is massive! Then you hear the roar of Nemesis testing in the distance, and after a long stroll you end up back in the "theme park" part. The Nemesis music starts playing and you can see the track wrapping around and through the Forbidden Valley. Such an impressive sight. Full of anticipation we went in the queue. This entire walk and build-up is possibly my favourite moment of the entire trip.
Nemesis
The entire station was empty so we just started in the front seat, as we figured it would get a much longer queue later (which never happened in either of the days). I really liked my first ride. Obviously with so much anticipation it always seems a tad underwhelming and it was the first thing in the morning too. But it was still very good. We re-rode in the back which I thought was a bit better. I think I've loved Nemesis more and more on every single ride during the two days though, so it would quickly grow to be one of my fave coasters.
I love the uniqueness of the layout and the lack of a proper first drop. So cool how it speeds up so much halfway through the corkscrew. And then the helix..... God, I love that helix <3 Probably my single favourite bit of positive Gs anywhere. The zero G roll afterwards is great too. And then the looping halfway through in the valley <3 I do feel the coaster ends a bit weak. The last corkscrew doesn't stand out like the first one and the last turn is rather slow. Overall it's amazing though. Beautiful, raw, crazy intense at parts and yet so re-ridable and it never gets old. It was also my #200, so yay!
<3
The Smiler
After three rides on Nemesis we wanted to do Oblivion because that was also open for the morning ERT. But since walking around the park took more time than expected it was getting past 10. We opted for the Smiler instead, because that only had a 20 minute queue and we figured it could get a lot busier later on the day. The X-Sector had a completely different mood than the other half of the park, but it didn't bother me per se. It was very lively and the Smiler looked mighty impressive from off-ride. The queue went pretty quickly but then, obviously, the coaster broke down. After about 15 mins it was working again but the queue was moving slow. This was probably the only real lengthy queue during both days.
The Smiler then... First ride was in the back row, in a middle seat. I actually enjoyed it, which surprised me. I didn't find it all that rough (definitely not glass smooth either!) and thought it was actually pretty good. James who sat on the outside seat found it very rough though. We re-rode on the second day, I got front seat left, and James got front middle. The first half was pretty much the same, just a bit more vibrate-y. But the second half seemed a lot rougher than the previous day. I think it definitely makes a difference if you sit on the middle seats or the outside seats, more than which row you sit in. Overall I still liked the coaster. I'll admit it's very flawed. It can be a bit rough, it's a tad repetitive (so. many. inversions!) and tedious. But it's also lengthy, complete (compared to the majority of the UK coasters which leave something to be desired) and intense. It's a mixed bag, but I still think it's more interesting than a lot of the other UK coasters. Two other things; The second airtime hill is actually pretty decent. And what's up with that obnoxious loud noise before you go up the lifthill? Blegh.
Rita
The most obvious thing to do is to ride Oblivion next, but since the Dark Forest gets busier during the day and Oblivion never seems to get a long queue, we opted for doing Rita and Thirteen first. Rita had a 10 min queue, which moved pretty quickly because of how short the ride is. It can also be said that Alton Towers has excellent operations. Everything ran with multiple trains and the staff were fairly quick. We got assigned to row 4 of Rita.
The launch was alright, but all I remember from the rest of my first ride was a very nasty rattle. I truly disliked my first ride on it. Strangely enough, James found it running better than ever. We discussed that and the Smiler and our different experiences on them for the remainder of the trip We did re-ride in the front the second day, and that was a lot smoother. I found that ride mildly enjoyable and the hills had some decent pops of airtime. It was just that first middle row ride that I despised. Still one of the worst coasters in the park imo.
Thirteen
I always thought Thirteen could be a fun little family coaster, even without the freefall gimmick. It had a 5 min queue and we got assigned to the front seat. I underestimated how horrendous those trims are... The first drop could've been fun but instead you get your lapbar slammed into your stomach due to the sudden trimming. Then, later, when it starts picking up a little bit of speed again, there's trim #2. It was still a little bit of fun, but it could be so much more. Frustrating really. Then the freefall drop was quite fab the first time. Overall it's a missed opportunity though. Something like Pegasus in Europa Park is far superior, even without the gimmick. That said, I love the whole atmosphere around the ride and its visual style/theme. That only makes me more annoyed that the coaster couldn't live up to that.
We took the Sky Ride towards Galactica but sadly it was closed due to a technical issue. We re-rode Nemesis (<3 <3 <3 ) and then walked back towards the next coaster we had yet to do.
Oblivion
This coaster gets so much hype from Brits, so I'm not going to make myself popular by saying this. But it's SO OVERRATED! After an annoyingly long walk through an empty queue, we first got on the second row. The car goes up quite slowly, but I've gotten over the "suspense" of dive coasters by now and the only thing that actually makes me a tad nervous is the holding brake. Strangely enough, this holding brake hardly even lasts a second, so I didn't even have time to get nervous. It doesn't have the floorless cars either. The drop is very good, but not as amazing as I thought it would be. Hell, I hardly even found it better than Baron's drop. It lasts a little longer, but I didn't get more of a rush from it. And then the coaster is over... We re-rode it twice (including the front), but I only got less and less impressed. I'd be surprised if there would be any other dive coaster that I will like less than Oblivion. Very disappointed. I feel that Baron does almost *everything* better, and I'm sure the same goes for Krake, Oblivion TBH and Valkyria. Not to mention the American dive coasters. It doesn't have much of a theme to help it along either. There's literally no reason to justify its absurdly short length.
We had lunch at the chicken place and then planned our next move. Logically, Spinball Whizzer was closest, but we noticed that the app said that Galactica was back open. We went there first just to be sure.
Galactica
Flying coasters have always intrigued me, so this naturally was my second most anticipated coaster in the park. I loved it and was so happy that I did. It's not forceful or doesn't do anything amazing, but it's just so much fun. It's totally a novelty thing and when I ride more flying coasters it will no doubt drop in my rankings, but I had such a good time riding it. Graceful, re-ridable, fun and not very intense. The exact opposite of The Smiler The VR wasn't on that day so we didn't get to try that, but it didn't really need it either. Obviously it's nothing incredible, but it's loads of fun and my second fave coaster in the UK. My fave bit was the part where you flip to your back.
Spinball Whizzer
Spinball was a complete walk-on, which seems to be rare, so we went there straight away. I'll start with the negatives. The ride really stands out. And not in a positive way. In such a beautiful park, a colour scheme and a traveling-ish look like Spinball has is just hideous. I hope they'll move it somewhere else at some point. Then the ride itself; It's a lot of fun. We got quite a good spin on both rides that we had on it. It's certainly an above average Maurer Söhne spinner. After I had ridden Winjas at Phantasialand, I had way too high expectations of the MS spinners that followed. Dizz, Spinning Racer and the one at Finland (Salama?) were all very disappointing so I had given up on the type. Now, I've found out that the UK does know how to make a decent spinner. The layout works well and it has a very out-of-control feeling as far as the spinning goes.
Hex
One of my most anticipated rides. Nothing could prepare me for how good it actually is though. It starts with entering the castle. Everything is so authentic and real. The smell <3 The first pre-show telling the story with the music in the background gave me goosebumps. The second room with its special effects gave me even more goosebumps. The actual madhouse made me explode of the goosebumps and just filled me with joy. Do I really need to explain this one? Best madhouse ever. Second best ride in the park. THE MUSIC <3 I'd still argue Villa Volta has a better story, and the music is on par, but everything else, Hex does better.
Runaway Mine Train
We were going to do the rapids next but it had a very long queue, so we went to the powered coaster instead. I did quite like the Katanga Canyon area, it's very picturesque. As far as the Runaway mine train goes; it's not as good as the one at Europa Park, but it's probably my second fave powered Mack. The way it interacts with the rapids and goes through the canyon is just very nice. It's nothing great, but it does what a powered coaster should do.
We ended the day with three rides on Nemesis, running quite a lot better than in the morning. We made our way to the monorail to go towards the hotel. The queue had the most hilariously annoying kid begging her mom for donuts, which amused the entire queue. The hotel, while not very big, was lovely. My fave bit is the elevators where it plays park music. Especially the Nemesis theme with the blinking light was epic. We had dinner in the roller coaster restaurant which is not quite as impressive as the one in Europa Park (we didn't even see any food go through the loops ), but still nice. What an amazing day!
Day 4
I'll keep this day short. We started our day with breakfast in this nicely themed restaurant.
Then made our way to the monorail for a much sunnier and even quieter second day. We started by checking off the last cred in the park we still had to do, Octonauts. It had a 30ish min queue for most of the previous day, and now we could just walk onto it. Then we made our way to Nemesis for more rides on that. So now the other new major rides we did the second day coming up:
Duel
I like how it's very horror-ish themed but has very uplifting (and fab) music. It's a very decent shooter; one of the better ones that I've done. I always find that I focus too much on the shooting and that I hardly notice all the effort put into the theming. I did beat James I like the surrounding area too. I have a thing for dark/horror-ish themed areas.
Congo River Rapids
The second river rapids on the trip. I liked how it went through the canyon, but other than that I found it pretty average. Not bad, but nothing stand-out either. It might have been because it was just us two in the boat, but we never got very wet. Still fun though.
We also rode the enterprise next to Oblivion, which had an extremely short cycle. What's up with the UK and poor cycles on flats? (Thorpe Park will continue the trend... )
Some of the high/lowlights of the second day then;
-After our second ride on Hex, we somehow ended up inside the Towers. Not sure if we were allowed to go in, since there was literally nothing inside, but it was still pretty fab. The entire group of people that got off Hex all seemed a bit confused as we followed each other up the stairs and then down later on. Nice little detour.
-Waiting over half an hour just to get a simple hot dog because a massive group of little kids that all decided to buy a hot dog and ordered them separately.
-Walking all the way across the valley from the Forbidden Valley to the Dark Forest. It was tiring, but so nice as well. The nearby gardens are so beautiful <3
-Just having such a chilled out time walking through the park, admiring the beauty of the scenery, hopping on rides without having to queue for it and enjoying the weather.
-Riding Nemesis over and over and over for the last hour of the day. We managed to get th13teen rides on it in a row (20 in total over the two days)! Front, back, whatever. It was running like a beast and a complete walk-on. Happiest hour ever. It never seemed to hint at getting us bored either. We also got a few re-rides on Galactica which thankfully decided to not close today. Nemesis worked its way up in my top 10. I find it very difficult to choose between Nemesis and Black Mamba. The latter has a better pacing, more consistent forcefulness (spread out over the ride but never gets as intense as Nemmy's best parts) and perhaps slightly better theming. But Nemesis' rawness, moments of brutal intensity and the fact that it's good in every seat (vs Black Mamba being such a front seat ride) made me forget about the slightly weaker ending and the couple of slower turns inbetween. Then there's the originality of Nemesis' layout. It's a close call but Nemmy wins it for me.
The park overall
I love this place. It might only have three rides that I loved with Nemesis, Hex and Galactica, but the park is stunning and massive. Such a pleasant place to stroll around. It's probably the closest to Efteling of any park I've been to when it comes to the part inbetween the ride areas. It both has its share of magic. I love how every area has a different mood and I love the music across the park. So much love <3 Have some photos.
Does anybody know what this random house is used for?
Thanks for reading! Next up is Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
I'm just going to do the first day in detail, and then cover the highlights and new rides on the second day more briefly.
Definitely the most anticipated day of the trip. I've been wanting to visit Alton Towers for years. I never thought that much of the coaster selection (apart from Nemesis obviously
), but I thought the "gothic" style of the park and just the general location and atmosphere seemed right up my alley. It was a very cold and rainy morning so the wait early in the morning was rather unpleasant, but nothing could harm the excitement we both had. Just as it turned 9 am, the gates opened. After getting our 2-day passes scanned by Mr Sanbrooke from Theme Park Worldwide, we entered Towers Street.
Needless to say, I was immediately impressed. Across the street you have the view over a big grassy field, a lake and then the Towers looming in the distance. Breathtaking. We made our way to Nemesis as a first ride. I loved how after you pass Mutiny Bay, you literally end up in the forest. It's very quiet and you almost forget that you're actually in a theme park. The light rain made the forest look even prettier and brought out the pleasant foresty smell as well. An occasionally look to the right provided gorgeous views over the valley and you could see structures all the way on the other side. This place is massive! Then you hear the roar of Nemesis testing in the distance, and after a long stroll you end up back in the "theme park" part. The Nemesis music starts playing and you can see the track wrapping around and through the Forbidden Valley. Such an impressive sight. Full of anticipation we went in the queue. This entire walk and build-up is possibly my favourite moment of the entire trip.
Nemesis
The entire station was empty so we just started in the front seat, as we figured it would get a much longer queue later (which never happened in either of the days). I really liked my first ride. Obviously with so much anticipation it always seems a tad underwhelming and it was the first thing in the morning too. But it was still very good. We re-rode in the back which I thought was a bit better. I think I've loved Nemesis more and more on every single ride during the two days though, so it would quickly grow to be one of my fave coasters.
I love the uniqueness of the layout and the lack of a proper first drop. So cool how it speeds up so much halfway through the corkscrew. And then the helix..... God, I love that helix <3 Probably my single favourite bit of positive Gs anywhere. The zero G roll afterwards is great too. And then the looping halfway through in the valley <3 I do feel the coaster ends a bit weak. The last corkscrew doesn't stand out like the first one and the last turn is rather slow. Overall it's amazing though. Beautiful, raw, crazy intense at parts and yet so re-ridable and it never gets old. It was also my #200, so yay!
<3
The Smiler
After three rides on Nemesis we wanted to do Oblivion because that was also open for the morning ERT. But since walking around the park took more time than expected it was getting past 10. We opted for the Smiler instead, because that only had a 20 minute queue and we figured it could get a lot busier later on the day. The X-Sector had a completely different mood than the other half of the park, but it didn't bother me per se. It was very lively and the Smiler looked mighty impressive from off-ride. The queue went pretty quickly but then, obviously, the coaster broke down. After about 15 mins it was working again but the queue was moving slow. This was probably the only real lengthy queue during both days.
The Smiler then... First ride was in the back row, in a middle seat. I actually enjoyed it, which surprised me. I didn't find it all that rough (definitely not glass smooth either!) and thought it was actually pretty good. James who sat on the outside seat found it very rough though. We re-rode on the second day, I got front seat left, and James got front middle. The first half was pretty much the same, just a bit more vibrate-y. But the second half seemed a lot rougher than the previous day. I think it definitely makes a difference if you sit on the middle seats or the outside seats, more than which row you sit in. Overall I still liked the coaster. I'll admit it's very flawed. It can be a bit rough, it's a tad repetitive (so. many. inversions!) and tedious. But it's also lengthy, complete (compared to the majority of the UK coasters which leave something to be desired) and intense. It's a mixed bag, but I still think it's more interesting than a lot of the other UK coasters. Two other things; The second airtime hill is actually pretty decent. And what's up with that obnoxious loud noise before you go up the lifthill? Blegh.
Rita
The most obvious thing to do is to ride Oblivion next, but since the Dark Forest gets busier during the day and Oblivion never seems to get a long queue, we opted for doing Rita and Thirteen first. Rita had a 10 min queue, which moved pretty quickly because of how short the ride is. It can also be said that Alton Towers has excellent operations. Everything ran with multiple trains and the staff were fairly quick. We got assigned to row 4 of Rita.
The launch was alright, but all I remember from the rest of my first ride was a very nasty rattle. I truly disliked my first ride on it. Strangely enough, James found it running better than ever. We discussed that and the Smiler and our different experiences on them for the remainder of the trip
We did re-ride in the front the second day, and that was a lot smoother. I found that ride mildly enjoyable and the hills had some decent pops of airtime. It was just that first middle row ride that I despised. Still one of the worst coasters in the park imo.
Thirteen
I always thought Thirteen could be a fun little family coaster, even without the freefall gimmick. It had a 5 min queue and we got assigned to the front seat. I underestimated how horrendous those trims are... The first drop could've been fun but instead you get your lapbar slammed into your stomach due to the sudden trimming. Then, later, when it starts picking up a little bit of speed again, there's trim #2. It was still a little bit of fun, but it could be so much more. Frustrating really. Then the freefall drop was quite fab the first time. Overall it's a missed opportunity though. Something like Pegasus in Europa Park is far superior, even without the gimmick. That said, I love the whole atmosphere around the ride and its visual style/theme. That only makes me more annoyed that the coaster couldn't live up to that.
We took the Sky Ride towards Galactica but sadly it was closed due to a technical issue. We re-rode Nemesis (<3 <3 <3 ) and then walked back towards the next coaster we had yet to do.
Oblivion
This coaster gets so much hype from Brits, so I'm not going to make myself popular by saying this. But it's SO OVERRATED! After an annoyingly long walk through an empty queue, we first got on the second row. The car goes up quite slowly, but I've gotten over the "suspense" of dive coasters by now and the only thing that actually makes me a tad nervous is the holding brake. Strangely enough, this holding brake hardly even lasts a second, so I didn't even have time to get nervous. It doesn't have the floorless cars either. The drop is very good, but not as amazing as I thought it would be. Hell, I hardly even found it better than Baron's drop. It lasts a little longer, but I didn't get more of a rush from it. And then the coaster is over... We re-rode it twice (including the front), but I only got less and less impressed. I'd be surprised if there would be any other dive coaster that I will like less than Oblivion. Very disappointed. I feel that Baron does almost *everything* better, and I'm sure the same goes for Krake, Oblivion TBH and Valkyria. Not to mention the American dive coasters. It doesn't have much of a theme to help it along either. There's literally no reason to justify its absurdly short length.
We had lunch at the chicken place and then planned our next move. Logically, Spinball Whizzer was closest, but we noticed that the app said that Galactica was back open. We went there first just to be sure.
Galactica
Flying coasters have always intrigued me, so this naturally was my second most anticipated coaster in the park. I loved it and was so happy that I did. It's not forceful or doesn't do anything amazing, but it's just so much fun. It's totally a novelty thing and when I ride more flying coasters it will no doubt drop in my rankings, but I had such a good time riding it. Graceful, re-ridable, fun and not very intense. The exact opposite of The Smiler
The VR wasn't on that day so we didn't get to try that, but it didn't really need it either. Obviously it's nothing incredible, but it's loads of fun and my second fave coaster in the UK. My fave bit was the part where you flip to your back.
Spinball Whizzer
Spinball was a complete walk-on, which seems to be rare, so we went there straight away. I'll start with the negatives. The ride really stands out. And not in a positive way. In such a beautiful park, a colour scheme and a traveling-ish look like Spinball has is just hideous. I hope they'll move it somewhere else at some point. Then the ride itself; It's a lot of fun. We got quite a good spin on both rides that we had on it. It's certainly an above average Maurer Söhne spinner. After I had ridden Winjas at Phantasialand, I had way too high expectations of the MS spinners that followed. Dizz, Spinning Racer and the one at Finland (Salama?) were all very disappointing so I had given up on the type. Now, I've found out that the UK does know how to make a decent spinner. The layout works well and it has a very out-of-control feeling as far as the spinning goes.
Hex
One of my most anticipated rides. Nothing could prepare me for how good it actually is though. It starts with entering the castle. Everything is so authentic and real. The smell <3 The first pre-show telling the story with the music in the background gave me goosebumps. The second room with its special effects gave me even more goosebumps. The actual madhouse made me explode of the goosebumps and just filled me with joy. Do I really need to explain this one? Best madhouse ever. Second best ride in the park. THE MUSIC <3 I'd still argue Villa Volta has a better story, and the music is on par, but everything else, Hex does better.
Runaway Mine Train
We were going to do the rapids next but it had a very long queue, so we went to the powered coaster instead. I did quite like the Katanga Canyon area, it's very picturesque. As far as the Runaway mine train goes; it's not as good as the one at Europa Park, but it's probably my second fave powered Mack. The way it interacts with the rapids and goes through the canyon is just very nice. It's nothing great, but it does what a powered coaster should do.
We ended the day with three rides on Nemesis, running quite a lot better than in the morning. We made our way to the monorail to go towards the hotel. The queue had the most hilariously annoying kid begging her mom for donuts, which amused the entire queue. The hotel, while not very big, was lovely. My fave bit is the elevators where it plays park music. Especially the Nemesis theme with the blinking light was epic. We had dinner in the roller coaster restaurant which is not quite as impressive as the one in Europa Park (we didn't even see any food go through the loops
), but still nice. What an amazing day!
Day 4
I'll keep this day short. We started our day with breakfast in this nicely themed restaurant.
Then made our way to the monorail for a much sunnier and even quieter second day. We started by checking off the last cred in the park we still had to do, Octonauts. It had a 30ish min queue for most of the previous day, and now we could just walk onto it. Then we made our way to Nemesis for more rides on that. So now the other new major rides we did the second day coming up:
Duel
I like how it's very horror-ish themed but has very uplifting (and fab) music. It's a very decent shooter; one of the better ones that I've done. I always find that I focus too much on the shooting and that I hardly notice all the effort put into the theming. I did beat James
I like the surrounding area too. I have a thing for dark/horror-ish themed areas.
Congo River Rapids
The second river rapids on the trip. I liked how it went through the canyon, but other than that I found it pretty average. Not bad, but nothing stand-out either. It might have been because it was just us two in the boat, but we never got very wet. Still fun though.
We also rode the enterprise next to Oblivion, which had an extremely short cycle. What's up with the UK and poor cycles on flats? (Thorpe Park will continue the trend... )
Some of the high/lowlights of the second day then;
-After our second ride on Hex, we somehow ended up inside the Towers. Not sure if we were allowed to go in, since there was literally nothing inside, but it was still pretty fab. The entire group of people that got off Hex all seemed a bit confused as we followed each other up the stairs and then down later on. Nice little detour.
-Waiting over half an hour just to get a simple hot dog because a massive group of little kids that all decided to buy a hot dog and ordered them separately.
-Walking all the way across the valley from the Forbidden Valley to the Dark Forest. It was tiring, but so nice as well. The nearby gardens are so beautiful <3
-Just having such a chilled out time walking through the park, admiring the beauty of the scenery, hopping on rides without having to queue for it and enjoying the weather.
-Riding Nemesis over and over and over for the last hour of the day. We managed to get th13teen rides on it in a row (20 in total over the two days)! Front, back, whatever. It was running like a beast and a complete walk-on. Happiest hour ever. It never seemed to hint at getting us bored either. We also got a few re-rides on Galactica which thankfully decided to not close today. Nemesis worked its way up in my top 10. I find it very difficult to choose between Nemesis and Black Mamba. The latter has a better pacing, more consistent forcefulness (spread out over the ride but never gets as intense as Nemmy's best parts) and perhaps slightly better theming. But Nemesis' rawness, moments of brutal intensity and the fact that it's good in every seat (vs Black Mamba being such a front seat ride) made me forget about the slightly weaker ending and the couple of slower turns inbetween. Then there's the originality of Nemesis' layout. It's a close call but Nemmy wins it for me.
The park overall
I love this place. It might only have three rides that I loved with Nemesis, Hex and Galactica, but the park is stunning and massive. Such a pleasant place to stroll around. It's probably the closest to Efteling of any park I've been to when it comes to the part inbetween the ride areas. It both has its share of magic. I love how every area has a different mood and I love the music across the park. So much love <3 Have some photos.
Does anybody know what this random house is used for?
Thanks for reading! Next up is Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
witchfinder
Giga Poster
^ I totally agree with you on Oblivion. Alton is my home park but I still can't stick up for it. Great drop, nothing else. It's basically a glorified drop tower!
Glad you enjoyed the park overall. It's a pale shadow of what it used to be in the 90s but it's still a great park when the queues are small...
Glad you enjoyed the park overall. It's a pale shadow of what it used to be in the 90s but it's still a great park when the queues are small...
DelPiero
Strata Poster
I'm glad you loved the park, it really is fab and knowing your love for Efteling, It's obvious you'd get on fine with Merlin's jewel.
However...
However...
Baron's drop is OK, but the hole on Oblivion is so small looking and the tunnel so long and the mist so misty that it's significantly better than Baron's.
The American Dive Coasters(I've been on SheiKra) are gash. This is due to the drops not being enclosed and their extended elements are drawn out and clunky. Both Baron and Krake's drops start to pull out too early, they have some fab bits to them and Krake is certaintly the better all round coaster but sorry, the drops are weaker on the newer models.
The theme incorporates fear of the unknown, obviously something which fails to work when you have ridden it numerous times or are a Coaster Enthusiast that's ridden hundreds of coasters. This theme, in 1998 worked, worked very well indeed, and scared numerous teenagers to tears in the station. Maybe it could do with a retheme, god knows to what, but it worked great when it was busy.
1998, prototype, park restrictions, choose one.
Yes! The MS spinners in both Merlin parks are fab, this one looks awful but I love a quick bash of these.
ThomVD
Giga Poster
Oblivion might've been great in 1998. But I don't think it holds up. I'm sure Vekoma loopers were also good for their time. Misty tunnel? There was hardly any mist when I was there. Baron has a far mistier tunnel. I also didn't get that much of a headchopper, but that might be seat-related. I literally didn't feel much difference than the drop on Baron aside from it feeling slightly longer.
Also, what's so strange about finding Villa Volta's story slightly better? Both have a good story really, I just find the one from Villa Volta a little more interesting. Hex is better at presenting the story though.
Also, what's so strange about finding Villa Volta's story slightly better?
Both have a good story really, I just find the one from Villa Volta a little more interesting. Hex is better at presenting the story though.
Coaster Hipster
Giga Poster
Congrats on your #200!
Nice read, well presented and structured and with interesting comments on the rides throughout. Glad you loved Galactica too
Nice read, well presented and structured and with interesting comments on the rides throughout. Glad you loved Galactica too
Hutch
Strata Poster
Yeah, Oblivion isn't that great! (*dodges tomatoes) What it does is good, but I have a more fun time on the other DMs.
I'm enjoying the report. I only did Thorpe and Alton a few years ago and I more or less agree with your opinions on Alton. Even though the coaster selection isn't that great outside of Nemesis (and yeah, I enjoyed it more and more after several rides; incredible ride), but the setting and atmosphere really elevate the park as a whole.
Looking forward to your Thorpe review.
I'm enjoying the report. I only did Thorpe and Alton a few years ago and I more or less agree with your opinions on Alton. Even though the coaster selection isn't that great outside of Nemesis (and yeah, I enjoyed it more and more after several rides; incredible ride), but the setting and atmosphere really elevate the park as a whole.
Looking forward to your Thorpe review.
JoshC.
Strata Poster
I get what you mean about Oblivion's layout, but the theme and style of it is great. So much suspense can be generated from it. Though if it is walk on some of that is lost I guess.
Interesting to see you liked Duel. So many Brits hate it purely for the fact it had the shooting element added retrospectively, but it is fun in its own right.
Interesting to see you liked Duel. So many Brits hate it purely for the fact it had the shooting element added retrospectively, but it is fun in its own right.
DelPiero
Strata Poster
I look at Oblivion in the same way as I do the Intamin Accelerators. Dragster is a total one trick pony, but it does it very well. Same as Oblivion, at the time it was unique and a huge thrill. Now only a fool would order a bog standard Accelerator /wave Ferrari Land, or a bog standard Dive Machine, but I find the original to have the best drop of the 4 I've ridden.
In regards to the story on Hex v Volta, what's a cooler story than being cursed and having one of your family suddenly, and mysteriously.. DIE! Then going mental and chaining a tree up while doing weird arsed experiments in a spinny room while strangers from Neverland come to gawp?
In all honesty I didn't follow the Volta story well, but I liked it.
I don't shoot in Duel anymore, I much prefer enjoying the sets.
In regards to the story on Hex v Volta, what's a cooler story than being cursed and having one of your family suddenly, and mysteriously.. DIE! Then going mental and chaining a tree up while doing weird arsed experiments in a spinny room while strangers from Neverland come to gawp?
In all honesty I didn't follow the Volta story well, but I liked it.
I don't shoot in Duel anymore, I much prefer enjoying the sets.
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jayjay
Giga Poster
In Thom's defence, he has the benefit of understanding Villa Volta. Hex is still better, so glad there's another fanboy <3
Yeah, I've decided the test of a shooter/dark ride is "can I put the gun down and still enjoy it?"
swalesuk011
Roller Poster
I love Oblivion maybe in part it was my first coaster I rode on opening year, going with school then me and my mate navigating public transport to get back to ride it again. Though I agree of its walk on you do loose the suspense from the queue line videos and the drop was more intense with the longer hold and him telling you to not look down.
As for villa volta I really enjoyed it but did struggle with the language barrier of getting the whole story though the boards helped.
Sent from my E6653 using Tapatalk
As for villa volta I really enjoyed it but did struggle with the language barrier of getting the whole story though the boards helped.
Sent from my E6653 using Tapatalk
Pink Cadillac
Giga Poster
It makes me very happy when non-UK enthusiasts fall in love with the Towers. Glad you enjoyed it so much. Seems like you did a lot of zigzagging!
TilenB
Strata Poster
This is where the people that constantly complain about the noise live in.
Does anybody know what this random house is used for?
I thought that was more in the gardens and still had ancient detritus behind it? Though it could be as this is along the old railway line.
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