Okay, I have a bit of time and the patience to actually write a report now.
So Alton times.
I really hadn't been following the topic nor had I been following Th13teen. All I knew was to expect a fairly hefty queue for said ride and a long (and possibly wet) day.
So on the morning on the 20th, I pulled myself out of bed at 6, got myself ready and was out the house for quarter to 7 ready for the journey to New Street.
I had agreed to meet Tom (Rush) and his mate on the train when it got to New Street and so this was the general plan.
The bus was on time (my buses can be so unpredictable and usually come in 2s) for once, so I got to New Street in pretty good time despite the bus breaking down around the corner from the terminus.
Once I'd walked to New Street, I decided to pop into the Tesco and grab a rather apple filled breakfast and continue down to the station where I was greeted with lots of cancelled trains.
On first inspection, mine wasn't cancelled until I looked again and saw that it was. This baffled me as the train was en route as I had text Tom. After 20 minutes frantic staring at a board and asking lots of Cross Country people, the train was re-instated (I really don't know why it was supposedly cancelled in the first place).
The train arrived and I met Tom and friend of Tom on the train and off we went to Stoke. The train journey passed quickly (I moaned a lot about trains) and we were soon at Stoke. As we were about to get off the train, a rather excited Chinese man came up and said 'Alton Towers' 'Stoke' 'Yay'. He was really eager!
Anyway, we left the station and went to the bus stop and joined some form of queue along with a load of chavs. Eventually, the bus came and everyone attempted to get onto it. Another bus then came and me, Tom and Tom's mate jumped on this one and got a seat. Over excited Chinese man was on the one in front.
After a brief delay, the buses moved and we were on our way. Quick stop at the bus station and we were off. However, both buses stopped and a fair few people were sheephearded off the one in front to the one we were on (including the Chinese man) and our bus now became the Sardine Express. The Chinese man forced his way to the back of the bus where there was 1 seat whilst still saying 'Alton Towers' and 'yay'. It was rather amusing.
The bus then went straight to Alton without stopping again (apart from it really struggling to get up one of the hills around Cheadle) and we arrived much earlier than first expected.
The bus got to the park around 5 past 10 and we were soon in and on our way to the meet up after a quick wee break.
I obviously had to get my camera out for a quick photo of the Corkscrews:
We then met up with a rather sodden group of CFers and were soon on our way. Cheers to everyone already there for waiting for us - appreciated!
Straight over to Th13teen, were the rumors began to fly that the queue was 3/4 hours long. We arrived at 13 to see that the queue was out of the entrance and staff were trying to force people to go to the rest of the park and come back for 13 later! They said the ride had the longest queue in the park - well bloody obviously - it's brand spanking new and has been open a whole 30 minutes!!
We saw the unveiling of the new bins for the area much to a triumphant cheer from the group!
We were not out of the main queue for long and were soon on our way snaking around the back of the trees and in and out of freshly tarmaced cattle pens. The smell of new was certainly present.
While we queued we watched a spruced up Rita race around the track from a different perspective than normal.
And on we queued, by now we had been in the queue about 15 minutes and was doing surprisingly well with come quite considerable moves at times.
The queue just seems to meander around a lot, but I'm still really surprised that we were only in it for 70 minutes.
And on we queued - lots of sugar (thanks to all those that offered sweets and chocolates throughout the queue) and lots of entertainment (curtsey of furie)
It was then time for the balloons to appear. This was not a very fun game to be perfectly honest, but it at least passed a bit of the queue and the GP didn't mind being twatted with them either.
The ride experienced a brief spell of downtime, but was soon operational again.
By this point, we were already near to the station. This was quite a shock seeing as we hadn't been in the queue very long. My one comment on the queue is the bag drop. We walked straight into the air gates when we got into the station due to a massive gap. The majority of empty seats were being filled with single riders where it could've been filled by the wet people standing in the main queue.
Anyway onto the ride. I had spoiled it for myself so I knew what was coming, but regardless of this, I thought it was a very good family coaster and the indoor bit was surprisingly good. A good addition to the park me thinks!
I was as blind as anything and didn't realise John Wardley milling around the exit of the ride and was quite taken aback when members said he was knocking around.
I think a massive thanks to him for doing the interview for CF and posing for lots of photos is in order there. I didn't stand around the interview area, but appreciated it regardless.
Once those who had done the interview had finished we moved onto Oblivion after a mini wee break.
Oblivion would've had a nice queue of 10 minutes if it didn't break down for a while. At least we were in the dry in the station through the break down. Eventually it re-opened and we were on our way. By this time it was weeing it down again and the seats were soaked thanks to the car having been sat on the breaks for some time.
Oblivion, as always was awesome.
We left the ride to see that the on ride videos were working but soon made our way to furie who had kept our bags nice and dry.
It was at this point that we broke for lunch.
We saw the Chinese bloke from the train and bus again at this point staring at Oblivion with a bit of apprehension. Laughing times ensured much to the bemusement of furie and others.
As Tom had not been to Alton for quite some time, rather than lunch, we headed for another very wet ride on Oblivion (which was equally as good) before heading over the Courtyard for some dry times. Food was also consumed before we made our way over to Nemesis.
Nemesis also had a rather short queue which was nice as I'm also not the biggest fan of said ride. I sometimes find it a bit too intense, but not today. I had also noticed at this point I had somehow managed to catch my finger on something and blood (not Ribena) would not stop pouring out.
Following on from Nemesis, it was over to Duel. Duel was dry which was an added bonus, but was awkward to play due to said cut finger that was still bleeding. Yet, I still managed to get a rather high score on it.
Group photo was next on the agenda as people were beginning to leave us now.
Runaway Mine Train was next which ended up with me having a conversation with Nicky about Buffalo Bills. 2 laps later and we were on our way to Hex.
By this time, time was against us (for Tom) and Tom really wanted to get on Rita. So we informed people we were heading to Rita rather than Hex and may see them later.
Rita had a 15 minute queue which was nice and it felt a little more forceful than usual.
Once we had finished with Rita we met back up with furie where we had a quick chat before me and Tom headed for the entrance, Tom to catch his bus to the station and me to get my AP renewed.
I said bye to Tom before heading into the office where the renewal was done in a couple of minutes before heading out and having a quick look around Towers Trading. Brought another one of those canvas bags seeing as the one I brought in Feb was fairly dirty.
Once that was done, I phoned furie who informed me that the group were just getting on Th13teen again. I agreed to meet the group at Nemesis, so caught the Sky Ride over. Didn't know how long I would be waiting for the group so jumped on Nemesis single rider. Back row this time, same as the previous ride.
Made my way over to the Sky Ride and waited for the group, unfortunately by this time it was time for me to bid farewell to the group and make my own way home.
Wandered over to the bus stop to see the bus there (it was 15 minutes early) and it left at 20 past rather than half past. After a rather painful 40 minute bus journey (I was standing and my legs were killing me) I arrived back at Stoke.
I met up again with Tom who because had booked specific trains had to go via Uttoxeter to actually have a decent day at Alton. He was rather annoyed that the bus had left early and got to Stoke before the train was due to depart.
The train was PACKED! So another comfy journey (not) of sitting and standing in the door compartment was in order. The train got the New Street, I said bye to Tom again and I made my way home through a moist Birmingham and was soon home.
I'd like to say thanks to everyone who provided sweets and entertainment throughout the day.
I'd just like to say sorry for being a bit quiet and not really speaking to many people throughout the day as well.
Overall, a good day though!
Cheers to everyone that went and made it a good start to the season.