MattyMoo

I went to Alton yesterday (21st) - unfortunately, being that we'd booked accommodation there was no flexibility with the date, as the weather today was far far better than yesterday! Me and my mate were utterly drenched by the end of the day, because of the wind the weather changed so quickly from sunshine to chucking it down! We left about 4:30 as we were shattered, cold and wet - still had a good day though! A few points from the day: Highest queue I saw was Sonic Spinball at 65 minutes, think I saw Smiler peak at 50 at one point. Smiler opened late due to technical difficulties (I was concerned we weren't going to get a ride at all for my only trip to AT for the year when it didn't open on time!) We rode Blivvy instead which was good. Next we ventured to Dark Forest... Both Thirteen and Rita weren't open, probably due to the weather... so we endured some pain on Sonic instead! No "Choo choo" by the ride op on Mine Train, bad times Didn't bother with the mazes in the end, I noted it was £14 for two, and was only bothered about the Sanctuary... so guessed that would probably be £9 by itself, combined with the aforementioned drenchedness, we gave it a miss! Nemesis certainly felt more intense in the wet. And I prefer it muchly over Inferno... Staff were nice and friendly considering the weather! (Especially staff in CBeebies land - we had to go and have a look as it was new, and have to say we were quite impressed with In The Night Garden ) As it was so dead, Air was on one station operation and as said previously, queues were mostly non existent all day Saw the Ancestors as soon as we arrived, which was a nice touch and added to the magic! We ended up riding the Smiler at about 3:30pm. The weather was nice when we started queuing in the 15 minute queue. By the time we got on - it really wasn't. It wasn't just raining, it was hailing - and as I said on Facebook, we weren't smiling by the time we got off Ouch ouch ouch! Still, one off the bucket list I guess! (Before anyone says, yes I KNOW there are announcements saying you don't have to ride due to weather, yada yada...). Was so cold and wet (and must've been holding on for dear life!) as I had pins and needles in my hands for a good few hours on and off afterwards! Still, I'm pleased with my Smiler TV remote cushion for £14 in the sale - the £9 umbrella isn't the best mind you Get Set Go Treetop Adventure will always be Squirrel Nutty to me Was funny eating doughnuts and then lunch surrounded by pairs of beady eyes of the Alton ducks eyeing up your food! Does anyone REALLY pay £16 for premium parking? I witnessed people that had bought Fasttrack yesterday - maybe those are the same people that buy premium parking..!

By the sounds of things, they run out of those 9 hours before the mazes open

Your/you're is the biggest one that gets my proverbial goat around here That and dropped apostrophes. Anyway - back to discussion about Reserve and Ride... did people seriously queue (in real life, not virtually) for 4 hours for SAW Alive? That's a horror story in itself without even entering the maze. Precisely why I stay away at peak times, I wouldn't queue 4 hours for anything.

Yes can't see X being removed/touched after the rebranding and improvements! I'm going with just some sort of refurb for the arena too.

Vampire - so true. That station, and tunnels into it scared the crap out of me when I was younger (in the 90s ). It's still rather imposing now to be honest

I'm still a scumbag that doesn't have a Merlin pass, so put me down as a maybe for now! I do need a Winter Wonderland fix. Mmmmm Mulled Wine....

Sorry Ruby - I really don't like Rita, it's the uncomfortable offspring of the beautiful (and much adored by me) Stealth! I tolerate it at Alton Towers but don't enjoy it. You're right though, it's not up there with Colossus in terms of uncomfort!

Ahem, that's on purpose, it's all part of the "theming"...!

As long as you are fine with queuing it's up to you Ruby - Won't be as busy as next weekend (or the weekend after) but if you've been already, you could go and just do the stuff you want to do again!

I can. You only have to glance at daytime television to see adverts for claiming for compensation for whatever stupid reason you can think of. Decided to throw yourself off the top of a ladder at work? Not your fault, there was no sign telling you not to. OK, I jest a bit to make my point, but unfortunately that's the blame culture we live in.

I think it should be a blanket policy to avoid confusion/arguements/all of the above. Doesn't bother me having to walk all the way round again to ride, as I'm not bothered if I ride something once or ten times, I've been on before anyway I can't say I'm fussed about ride counts, I find that an increased ride count has a detrimental effect on my wine count, which could result in me having to E-Stop in the toilets.

How INCREDIBLY short sighted was it installing the Fish in it's new location and then moving it again in a few years time - especially considering the Fungle site has been derelict for ages.

Duelling Top Spins with 2nd Detty Tower in the middle. From a reliable sauce.

I can't make this one unfortunately, but will try and make the Christmas meet up!

Yes I spotted this when I visited on the 21st! RIP Creaky Cafe.

How about getting a permanent "Rock Rage" at Thorpe in that place....? Or would it be too "Vortex"-y? Or perhaps they could brand it as the evil offspring of Vortex...

It was definitely on one train last Tuesday 16th FYI

Cheers Fred - I was a little miffed that one of the ride ops insisted it had always been the case with a minimum of 15 riders when I 100% knew that was a lie

Just in case anyone wondered - that video is exactly the program that Ramases operated on Tuesday (2nd cycle has more spins).

Ummmm - the operators definitely did on Tuesday - made sure the back row got particularly wet. Was good fun!

I prefer Fury too - they are both rough to me, but Spinball seems rougher! Not my kind of ride to be honest

As mentioned in my trip report - I went on Tomb Blaster twice with my girlfriend yesterday - first go, gun didn't work at all. 2nd go, my gun worked but the laser didn't, which made it a touch difficult! Couldn't complain too much as it was walk-on!

As I say - it's not half term week, and it's not a weekend - so really you should expect everything to be 0-15 minute queues, 30 at a push! I don't think there would be much difference between Monday/Tuesday, except I guess with Monday there is more chance of people taking it off to make a long weekend from work. Either way - I would anticipate it being quiet! Air was only using one station from memory - Smiler was full capacity... I can't honestly comment on anything else unfortunately. What I have found though, is a screen cap of queue times from 22nd October last year at around 11am when we were there. Spinball must've had some downtime or something...

Towers seem to have no problem showing 0 minutes anyway

Yep, the finale is the best I've seen it for some time. Good work. Shame that some of the animatronics in a number of scenes are dead though. Still love the Bubbleworks theme music - and the finale music!