Celia Mae

Paris! Because mini breaks are awesome!

With ghostly looking lighting

This is the church in Madeline. Although the outside doesn't look as spectacular as St Augustin or Notre Dame, it is much grander on the inside

View to the Concorde

St Augustin

With a mini version of the tower roof inside the tower roof. ROOFCEPTION

Arc De Triomphe 

Was a long way to the top

Worth it for the views though! And, like many things in Paris, free for 18-24 year olds! 


Because Mickey is everywhere

IT's just a gorgeous place to walk about

Army museum 

The Grand Palais plus crazy french junctions!

2nd floor of the Tower

Oh yay. The Euros are on. So planned that...

Let's look this way instead then.

Just love the structure of it!

And the football, obviously.


Bridge of padlocks.

New addition!

Louvre

Another free attraction for 18-24s

The shpinx. Yup, THE sphinx. He's the one

Thought Milo might have been bigger.

Woo Mona Lisa. This is the pure definition of overrated.

The opposite painting was quite spectacular though

Notre Dame

And the hunchback!

Iron Man is also everywhere

The very odd Grand Arch

This view was amazing though! Perfectly straight down to the Arc De Triomphe!


Trying to be artsy at the Louis Vuitton Foundation!
Now no mini break would be complete without some cred hunting!

Hello Asterix!

This was really good fun!

Wacky lift hill

And dual load and offload! This is what these rides can be like. Not Storm Surge.

Surprisingly this purple monster isn't the entrance to the ghost train but more the exit. The ride itself is good fun, some decent scare tactics but nothing to shout home about.

This however was an excellent Mad House. The preshows were fun and the water one was fab. The mad house itself was like others, but cleverly used screens with the motion to make it feel like you were going sideways on a boat at points.

It's Europe so there was of course a boat ride which was one of the better ones I've done

Little Monorail type ride. This village bit you can see here has no rides. A few shops, a meet and greet but it was a lovely little walk through. As were two other sections of the park. It's a real shame Merlin and other parks want to cram rides in everywhere instead of having these little sections. It's nice to just wander about in a well themed area. Makes me sad Haunting in the Hollows isn't better. 

Another example here.

With an indoor bit that they used during one of the kids shows as part of the story.

It's the little things that I love about European parks.

Little things.

Moving on. Goudrix. Not great, not bad.

Looks filthy. Clean it up ta.

Or scrap it.

New for this year is another well themed Disko that can so easily be produced. 

Throw in some pyro and water effects and boom.

Nice themed entrance

And you get yourself a relatively cheap but good investment! 

There's also a huge Bobsleigh, a bumpy splash thing that just looked painful

A log flume and a rapids which seem mediocre till cray cray tunnel

This pure cred with a good themed queue

This really ugly out of place flat

And the two shout home about rides.

Really hard to photograph as it's hidden, Zuess is a superb woodie. Proper old school with speed, rattle, harsh turns and ridiculous speed throughout.

And then this. Oz'iris! In this photo you can see a little fountain show taking place which had some score from HTTYD playing alongside. 

It really is a baby Montu, but better.

It's stunningly beautiful


The station building is amazing

The first drop without the predrop is crazy in back row.

The pacing is superb!

Length brilliant! Forces on point

Indoor queue gorgeous! There's so much more to it than this photo.

The elements of the ride portrayed on this wall for you geeks (not the best photo ever)

And this guy in the middles. Sums the ride up brilliantly. Well themed, but with a sense of humour and fun about it. 
 
Oz'iris, people said when it was being built could it beat Nemesis. Unsure, but it's possibly the closest thing I've ridden that could. I don't think I've quite loved a ride this much in a long time. Definitely my favourite new ride since Manta, and it could beat that. I will have to seriously rethink my top 10 later this year.
 
Parc Asterix overall is a well themed park with a sense of humour and fun about it. All the staff seemed lovely, efficient, and happy to help. On Oz'iris they were running around unbuckling seatbelts before the train had fully stopped so when the bars were released all belts were undone. I've never seen anything like it. There are a few areas of the park that need work, but that's the case with many parks. Recent investments show they're heading the right way and will no doubt sort out other areas in need. My only real niggle with the park, where's the ride merch??? Loads of Asterix stuff, but no seperate ride merch  Park rating: 8.5/10
 
Oz'iris: 9.5/10

Next trip: Belgerand Part2
 

Hey nerds,
I know I promised a part three of my disappearance blog AGES AGO but it's been a while so I'm just going to dump a load of Scarefest pictures and pictures from other stuff I've been up to since the end of last year here for anyone who's interested

The welcome posters were fabulous... Spot the mistake?
 
Compulsory trip Nemesis photos:


Spooky!

 
The Towers all lit up

 
No lights on the Smiler

 
Scarefest + scarecrows...

 
Morning welcome dance from the Alton Ancestors




 
Spotted!

 
Duel had an actual queue!

 
 
Shrek's Adventure... But I was more amazed by this!

 
Went to the Olympic Park, which is soon to get a slide so I hear down the side of this monster... 


 
Soho

 
Winter Wonderland



The sky above Winter Wonderland  (taken from the London Eye)
 






I love all the lights at Winter Wonderland 
 
Thanks for putting up with my dodgy photography, will have a few more photo dumps for you soon!

Hey nerds,
I know I promised a part three of my disappearance blog AGES AGO but it's been a while so I'm just going to dump a load of Scarefest pictures and pictures from other stuff I've been up to since the end of last year here for anyone who's interested

The welcome posters were fabulous... Spot the mistake?
 
Compulsory trip Nemesis photos:


Spooky!

 
The Towers all lit up

 
No lights on the Smiler

 
Scarefest + scarecrows...

 
Morning welcome dance from the Alton Ancestors




 
Spotted!

 
Duel had an actual queue!

 
 
Shrek's Adventure... But I was more amazed by this!

 
Went to the Olympic Park, which is soon to get a slide so I hear down the side of this monster... 


 
Soho

 
Winter Wonderland



The sky above Winter Wonderland  (taken from the London Eye)
 






I love all the lights at Winter Wonderland 
 
Thanks for putting up with my dodgy photography, will have a few more photo dumps for you soon!

Hey nerds,
I know I promised a part three of my disappearance blog AGES AGO but it's been a while so I'm just going to dump a load of Scarefest pictures and pictures from other stuff I've been up to since the end of last year here for anyone who's interested

The welcome posters were fabulous... Spot the mistake?
 
Compulsory trip Nemesis photos:


Spooky!

 
The Towers all lit up

 
No lights on the Smiler

 
Scarefest + scarecrows...

 
Morning welcome dance from the Alton Ancestors




 
Spotted!

 
Duel had an actual queue!

 
 
Shrek's Adventure... But I was more amazed by this!

 
Went to the Olympic Park, which is soon to get a slide so I hear down the side of this monster... 


 
Soho

 
Winter Wonderland



The sky above Winter Wonderland  (taken from the London Eye)
 






I love all the lights at Winter Wonderland 
 
Thanks for putting up with my dodgy photography, will have a few more photo dumps for you soon!

I got back from a trip to Italy ab out 3 weeks ago. Personally, I think the trip could've been better. This was down to several reasons;
1. The people on it were eh
2. The people running it were rubbish
3. We were 20 minutes from Cinecitta world at one point AND WE DIDNT VIST WHY
buuuut it's sop picturesque I can't really complain too much
Anyway, here's a little collection of pictures and talk through my 5 day trip to Naples and Sorrento and Capri (no sun).
Day 1.
So we spent most of the day travelling but when we arrived in the evening a group of us (there were 40 people on this trip) decided to have a quick look round Sorrento's centre. There really isn't very much, but you get some nice views and architecture here and there.
(this was also a brilliant opportunity for me to get used to my new camera and see what it's like in the dark. The whole trip was basically a chance for me to play with it, as I was given the title 'officially official photographer of the trip guy')


You see right across the bay to Naples. Bare in mind it was very very dark, I couldn't even make out Vesuvius with my naked eye, so I sort of jumped when I saw the photo because it was like a ghost mountain.
Day 2.
Spent most of the day on the Amalfi coast, which is so stereotypiucally Italian you wouldn't believe it.

god h8s u lol



One thing very visible in Italy is the amount of stray pet animals you see. There were wild hot dog dogs. It was absolutely terrifying.


favorite shop of the whole trip tbh


One of the Michelangelo's crypt churches. It's pretty cool but unfortunately my lens was too small to take a picture of the entire structure so I had to take the photo through my friends phone XD
Day 3.
So today we visited Pompeii and Vesuvius. Again my camera's lens wasn't wide enough to take any good photos at the crater of Vesuvius, but yeah the Pompeii photos are alright.


It's not very clear from the pictures but it's mentally windy up at the top. It's a weird sensation, your head is absolutely freezing from the wind yet your feet are quite warm from the rocks.

There were some pretty fun rock formations at the top to take arty pictures with. Played around with the shadows and focus a lot up here; this one is probably my favourite.

After our traditional at every foreign country we go to we have to get a McDonald's at least once meal, we continued into Pompeii, where you're immediately greeted by a bunch of rock people who were caught in the blast, giving you a '15 minutes into Pompeii and chill and he give u dis look' glare.

The ruins were pretty cool to run around. I could see a themed area looking amazing with something like this at a big park like Universal, or maybe even Towers?




A couple cool facts: Pompeii was purposefully built in the shape of a fish, for strategic reasons. Whilst a lot of it is uncovered, archaeologists still reckon about 1/4 of it is under dirt, however after recent excurvations costed so much and actually caused damage to a lot of the artifacts, the excavations have stopped and the site is now being preserved. Also, the roman building technique of this entire city has a particular name which meant 'whatever' or, 'random', but I can't remember the name of the technique in Italian. But it's the reason for some of the structural collapses, and the reason why any of the buildings are prone to just falling over if they decide to.
day 4
We spent the whole day at the island of Capri. Really beautiful place, clearly the inspiration for some of the scenes in How to train your dragon.

probably my favourite picture of the trip. I borrowed someone else's lens for this, and oh my it's just so picturesque and look how blue the water is and the rocks are all so cute I want to hug them

clear httyd resemblance

and from above (with someone elses lens again)

18 people were sick on the boat trip around the island of Capri. I'm proud to say I was not, one of those 18.

Stray dogs everywhere!

Italy just does have the greatest ice cream.


Day 5.
The last day on our trip we were given 6 hours of free time to do whatever. Unfortunately from our hotel the nearest theme park was a 2 hour drive away and no one else wanted to give it a go.
I didn't take any pictures that day because I wasn't expecting to go anywhere particularly picturesque, but anyway, here's a couple from the evening pizza making thingy we did.




After pizza we did some bowling. I broke my all time high score of 27 and got 72!
Only those who went to Guildford know how much of an achievement that is for me.

Aaaaand then we congo lined all the way home.

Oh yes, and kinder bars. I lived off them for the week. You can buy pakcs of 48 for €7 so I was like buying 200 a day. They are great. Just yum.
Sorry for long non rolly toasty post, here's an Italian potato.

Sup nerds,
I have to start this one by saying sorry. This blog is for me to apologise for the delay in writing the rest of my disappearance blog, as I'm afraid my laptop has lost all ability to connect to WiFi... Typical. And the last part was gonna be the best one too...
So part three will have to wait until I go home from university for Christmas, sorry! Got loads of great photos (especially of Scarefest) so I promise it will be worth the wait! I hope.
Cheers, see some of you at the Christmas meet! (Might have even written the entry by then, who knows.)
Bye!

Hey again nerds!
I kinda went AWOL for a bit. I'm sorry. I disappeared somewhere around July but I'm back again! And I have so many blogs to catch up on... So I'm gonna try and smoosh them all into one
So late July I went to Holland with cadets to do my 100-mile hike. Owch, my god it was painful. But so rewarding

This year I did it as a member of the British military contingent, so we had to stay on this camp with the 5000 other military personnel from all over the world. On the first day they raised the flags of every country that had sent a contingent.


This was the entrance to the camp, which was the starting line for each day of the march. Each of the four days we walked a 40-kilometre (25-mile) circuit, which ended in the same place, apart from the final day where we finished in the centre of Nijmegen town. Every day the route was lined by people who lived in the surrounding areas who came to watch, who handed us sweets and food and freebies and things. They really help so much. I've done marches before where no one is watching at all, and it DRAGS so long.
Summer Nights was good. Of course it was, a quiet park is always good. Not sure about the music at that night's Island Beats, I can't remember who it was but it was someone who had been raved about, but ended up from the sound of it like just one guy rapping over the top of other people's songs. I enjoyed the atmosphere created by hearing the pop music all over park, it was very relaxed.
In August I attended the TPM meet at Oakwood. Unfortunately I was ill the whole weekend but still had fun! Was great to meet fellow TPMers from all over the country! Rides at Oakwood were great too, especially Megafobia (my first ever woodie!) The night rides were good, but the fireworks and water screen were slightly disappointing. Maybe at some point I'll get to see the Alton Towers fireworks display and see how it really should be done.

Megafobia!
Megafobia and water screen in the dark
The rest of August I worked full time, until the 28th, where I moved house.
Then two weeks later I moved out of home and into university So yes, life has been very chaotic.
Anyway, the rest of my catch up will be in another blog coming soon, so yeah! Speak soon!
I'm back, did you miss me? (Sherlock fans please get the reference so I don't sound like a prat )

"Twas on a warm summer night in 2015...when the thunder of suitcase wheels signalled the return of the (not-so) wealthy CoasterDude back to his getaway - Alton Towers. As the journey neared its end, a mysterious force was suddenly present in the road. CoasterDude impatiently demanded at the heavens why his journey had been interrupted. With a menacing demeanor, a thought reminded CoasterDude of work and college. CoasterDude cruelly dismissed his troubles and instructed his family to head back to the Towers. Scorned, the force screamed a curse; "For every branch of the Old Oak Tree that fell, a random turn of events will occur...""
Friday 3rd July was to be no normal trip to Alton Towers. Not for a day, but for a whole weekend! At around 2:10pm we set off and by 4:30pm we were outside Splash Landings...

...complete with its own mine shaft!!!

After checking in we made a break for our rooms...but not before I was distracted by the sight of the hotel's main attraction - the waterpark (which I would later find out that it had far less than my expectations).

"Later that very same night, a ferocious storm raged...and then one mighty bolt of lightning SEVERED a single branch from the Old Oak Tree..."
"...and true to the mysterious thought's prophecy, a random turn of events will eventually occur..."
Day 1:
Following the first night (complete with a pretty impressive thunderstorm), a lift ride to the hotel lobby was made accompanied by the theme tune to none other than Captain Pugwash and we were to cover the few miles to arrive at The Towers...but not on foot. The solution? MONORAIL! *cue the famous song from The Simpsons*

Upon entering the park, there was the beautiful sight before us. Over 150 miles had been covered to get here...and we had made it!

With no reason to take the A route into X-Sector as usual, the B route through Mutiny Bay/Katanga Canyon/Gloomy Wood was taken with one destination in mind - the Forbidden Valley...and its main antagonist - Nemesis.


After two decent runs on this beast (which now apparently permanently bleeds clear blood), I felt the urge to fly away...



Suddenly an unknown force dragged me mid-flight to the north of the park and I plunged into the terror of the Dark Forest! Apparently a certain number has caused mysterious disturbances within an ancient crypt...


I sensed there must be evil afoot. I unwittingly journeyed into The Towers to find out...

...but my findings only brought me to an unexpected occurrence! I found myself falling into the dark pits of Oblivion...



I had to break myself free of this curse! And the only thing for it was to be shaken out of it...literally.


"But the story didn't end there..."
Day 2:
"Legend has it that CoasterDude became so obsessed with the events of the previous day that he returned to the park the following morning..."
...and so I did!

My first guess that the curse had been triggered by me missing out on a few rides...including the likes of...

But then it dawned on me. I had to use the powers of the ride that perfectly demonstrates an intense experience. The ride that was actually heavily themed. The ride...that at 21 years old would always be the top attraction. That ride was...






"Then, CoasterDude became locked into a furious battle...of Nemesis versus the supernatural. Conducting its awesome forces in a desperate attempt to finally banish the evil power of the curse...forever."


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Report of Day 1:
Nemesis: x2
Air: x1
Oblivion: x2 (walk-on both times )
Hex: x1
TH13TEEN: x4 (3x consecutive rides via single rider while waiting for family to get off Rita )
Sonic Spinball: x1
Skyride: x1
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: x1 (total waste of time)
Pros:
- Consecutive rides on TH13TEEN were nice. (The single rider queue was literally empty)
- Hex's new effects were cool.
- Starting the day on Nemesis was great.
- Oblivion's queue was walk-on
Cons:
- Sub-Terra wasn't open this weekend.
- The Smiler was a rather sorry sight...although it'll always look amazing as just a twisted torrent of track.
- Air opened later than usual due to some apparent fallen trees in one of the ride areas.
- CatCF's existence
Report of Day 2:
Nemesis: x4
Air: x2
Oblivion: x1
Hex: x1
TH13TEEN: x1
Runaway Mine Train: x1
Duel: x1
Skyride: x2
Pros:
- Nemesis was as good as ever.
- Queues were very short again (highest queue time being 20 minutes) .
Cons:
- Duel was far too dark in places.
- Having to leave at the resort at the end of the day (all in all this weekend went far too quickly! ).
Hotel Experience:
- Rooms were in good condition (apart from the first one which my parents were in. They were moved to a different room due to the first one smelling of vomit).
- Food was okay.
- Waterpark was far more dull than I hoped.
- Lifts weren't quite what the Alton Towers Hotel have ("Mysterious Lifts")...but the Splash Landings ones having the Captain Pugwash theme tune playing was very amusing.
- General mood of the hotel was pleasant (especially out the front of the hotel), thanks to the heavy Caribbean theming.
Merch Purchases:
- Nemesis ORP
- NEME21S shirt
- Oblivion bag

Sup nerds,
So today I had my first visit to a seaside amusement park, with my charity taking a bunch of our disabled Young People.
We went to Funland Hayling Island just outside Portsmouth, a cute little place right on the beach a lot bigger than it appears from the outside, with actually some decent stuff.
First came a twister, pretty much what it says on the tin but it was on a pretty good setting.
Then there was the Klondlike rollercoaster that was really good surprisingly, if a little cramped inside the cars. It even had an inversion and one of the steepest drops of a 1.2m limit coaster I've ever seen.
Next we went on this little log flume, meandered about between some bushes for a bit (yawn) and then did one large drop that got you soaked wherever you sat in the boat (as two of the kids found out when they tried to sit behind me thinking I would take the worst of the water for them... Mwahahahahaha!) The only problem, other than the fact it was a little boring at the start) was that it was ridiculously shallow, so bad our boat scraped along the bottom all the way round and actually stopped at one point. I had to use the walls of the tunnels and sides of the trough to push us along.
We then went on another flat, I can't remember the name of it but you see them everywhere, think it's made by Huss but probably isn't. Anyway, you sit in a long row of seats all next to each other, and swing around in sideways circles. Anyway, it was being manually controlled by the guy in the booth, who kept making us think it was going to stop, before starting us spinning again much to the enjoyment of the young people.
It really makes you see the advantages of little parks like that, we only had just over an hour but hardly queued, walked straight on to pretty much all of the rides bar the log flume (it was a really hot day!) Each ride accepted tokens at the start from all the young people (or unlimited ride wristbands) and obviously they knew us or had been told or something as they knew I was looking after my group of young people and let me on free. But due to them being manually controlled you got really good value for money for your tokens thanks to the non-existent queues!
The only slight annoyances were we weren't allowed long so barely scratched the surface of all the rides there, I might try and go back at some point during July, and this young ride op who counted three too many of us onto the twister due to three young siblings who all wanted their own booth rather than sharing with their brother/sister.
Ah well, I'll head back at some point and try out the rest, I'll probably get a wrist band next time...
See ya!

Sup ridefans,
So I work for a charity where we run playschemes and respite care for disabled children up to disabled young adults, split into three groups; play (5-12), youth (12-18) and young adults (18-25); specialising in our 'non-exclusion policy', meaning any young people are welcome, no matter how severe or not severe their disability is. I work at the youth scheme near Guildford, and on Saturdays we sometimes go on day trips. So today, we went to Chessington.
That was an experience. I don't know if I've ever been to Chessington on a Saturday, but it definitely has never been like this. It was so busy the disabled/fastrack queues were almost as long as the normal ones, and when you are standing with a bunch of disabled teenagers... Well. It could have been worse.
Still. We arrived at 12 and sat on the grass by the sealions to eat and watch the show from a distance, then split into two groups. One to go on the fast rides (three staff and four young people) and another group for the slower rides/going around the zoo (one of the girls was in a wheelchair). Our leader went to the place to pick up our wristbands and access passes,and returned with both them and a very inexperienced looking staff member who insisted on putting the wristbands on the young people instead of staff despite them very clearly stating on the band that they were "on behalf of", meaning she had to peel them all off when she realised there weren't enough and put them on us instead.
The fast group's first ride was Bubbleworks which had been insisted on by two of the young people in our group, then we headed down to check if Vampire was open as we hadn't seen it go past, but hadn't seen displayed anywhere that it wasn't. Of course it was closed which disappointed a lot of us, and took quite a bit of explaining for some of our young people to get them to acknowledge that we couldn't ride and had to go elsewhere.
For the next bit I have to explain how we work.
When filling in the paperwork before their child can attend, the young persons' parent/guardian must indicate how much care their dependent requires. We have mostly 1:1's, meaning the young person must have their own carer at all times, few 2:1's (two staff to one young person) and some are non-1:1's, so they don't need their own carer and can be dealt with in the same manner as a normal child in a playscheme, though bearing in mind that even the non 1:1's are a spectrum with some more disabled than others that can pretty much be fine.
Our group had two 1:1's and their carers, and one other staff member with two other 1:1's. When we approached Seastorm, only the two non-1:1's wanted to ride, meaning the two 1:1's and their carers were planning to watch at the side. When reaching the front of the queue however; the staff member with the two young people were told that despite their care ratio there must be one staff member with each young person. Meaning I had to leave my 1:1 to go on a ride with a young person who was practically fine mentally and physically instead of watching from a position where I could have seen him and been five feet away the whole time not on the ride, and could have actually done more to help from that position were anything to happen (which it wouldn't have). This also meant leaving two 1:1 young people with one staff member, one of which was my 1:1 who had epillepsy, putting me in a position where I would have only been able to sit and watch had anything happened.
We encountered a similar problem on Dragon's Fury, where a 1:1 and both non-1:1's wanted to ride, and one staff member and 1:1 did not. But once again as each young person needed to be accompanied by one carer we had to take two first, then wait for me to queue AGAIN with the last young person and let him have a ride.
So it was a stressful day with a lot of people, lots of young people having to wait around for their rides and us finding there was a limited amount for both the slow and fast groups to go on, leaving me to believe that the best place to be is somewhere in the middle, being able to ride the large rides but not being picky about going on smaller ones.
Ah well, apparently they've had much better visits to Paulton's in the past, so we'll probably just go there next time.

I just realised I hadn't written a blog from the TPM LEGOLAND Meet! Should have been a quite important one too seeing as I haven't been before...
First impressions of LEGOLAND, it was alright! Obviously designed with little children in mind but it was a fun day all the same. Though I will admit that I fear I'm too much of a thrill seeker and it definitely needs a few more serious coasters...
Still loving the meets though
Lego Bingo... Got very competitive. Got a list of 20-ish questions from Peaj the night before and sent my answers back, and on the morning we were sent a list of the questions and people's answers. Then you have to work out who gave which answer. But some answers apply to more than one person, and some people apply to more than one answer. Ugh. Talking to people.
I'm vaguely ashamed to admit that I came second... Alpengeist killed my winning streak But we were the only two to actually complete the list. He just got it faster than me.
So SCB, you'd better be grateful I gave you my prize.
To the park then, Dragon was quite good, probably the fastest coaster I've been on with only a lap bar (Yeah, REALLY shows how travelled I am that...) and lots of the other rides were quite good. LOVED the Lego theming. Like, really, it was fab Now I understand why the LEGOLAND brand works so well for Merlin. I would love to work on a project like that, building things like that. Miniland was amazing, I could have just wandered around for hours.
This is all really increasing my belief that Scruffy Dog could be my dream job...!

Today celebrates the 25th anniversary of Universal Studios Florida (and in essence the entire Orlando Resort but more on that later). Instead of revising for my exams I've decided to share how the park has fallen, picked itself up hugely and become a real competitor to Disney.
It started nearly 35 years ago with the idea of Universal building a theme park on the East Coast coming into managers minds in 1981. It was a big move, Hollywood was already in place as a working studios with the studio tour built to it and the theme park slowly around it. This time, Universal would have to build from the ground up! With Disney and SeaWorld in place in Orlando and doing well, it was decided the park would be built in Orlando and the original piece of land they wanted is what they have today. When Disney were looking at building in Florida, they had also looked at this plot of land (a section between the I4 and Florida Turnpike) but decided there wasn't enough land available, but Universal were happy with the size.
During development between 1982 and 86, the park sought for other investors to help remove the risk. One company they approached was Paramount Studios (oh the irony of that today) and Eisner who was one of the executives at the time. He didn't take up the project but he sure did remember what he saw. Later in 1984, Michael Eisner became CEO of Disney and knew what Universal were up to. Disney had already been looking at a studios styled theme park but now plans were hurried along. In 1986, land clearing of the swamp land Universal purchased began and in 87 the park is announce with a proposed opening of December 1989. Although Universal had a years head start, MGM Studios (now Disney's Hollywood Studios) opened a whole year and a month earlier on May 1st 1989. Why? Disney has there own planning area/council that gives out building zone permits etc, the Reedy Creek Improvement District (basically why Disney can build what they want whenever).
It seemed Disney had the upper hand, but Universal now knew that Disney were rushing through a studios park with the main component supposed to be a studio tour (which is originally what USF was going to utilise). Universal decided to rethink its move, and instead of making the studio tour the main aspect, it looked to the Hollywood tour for inspiration. On that, you go through Amity where Jaws makes an appearance to attack your tram. Universal therefore decided to use this one aspect and build the boat tours through the village of Amity giving Jaws its own ride. Working closely alongside Spielberg, the E.T ride was developed and Kongfrontation. All of these were going to push the boat out with ride technology and thrills. Spielberg also wanted a Back to The Future Ride which began development. In 1988 the park delays their opening date till 1st May 1990 and in 1989 MGM Studios open whilst Universal claim Disney and Eisner stole many of the concepts they originally created.

Original entrance
Now 1990, and at the end of January the opening date of USF is once again pushed back, this time to 7th June 1990. Soft openings did begin in late May but all the main attractions were still undergoing testing and fixing glitches. 7th June arrives, but the park is filled with technical glitches everywhere! Jaws, Kongfrontation and Earthquake all struggle so much so the park begins to give out vouchers entitling guests to a free visit when the attraction are finally operational.

One of the first park maps (late 1990 early 1991)
Jaws didn't feature on this map however, because the ride was fundamentally flawed technically. So much so, on 30th September 1990 Universal close the ride to fix it up. They sue the original company (Ride & Show Engineering) and get Totally Fun Company to completely redesign and create the ride basically from the scratch. In 1993 Jaws reopens and in the two years closed, Back To the Future, The Blues Brothers Show and Fright Nights (which was renamed Halloween Horror Nights) began in the park. With the park finally finding ground and critics admiring the highly advanced rides (that were now working) the park announces it expansion into a resort complex with a second park to be built.
Before that let's take a look at a ride that is renowned and one I wish I had ridden, Kongfrontation! Based on the 1976 film and King Kong Encounter segment on the Hollywood Tour (which burnt down in 2008 to be replaced by King Kong 360) it was about escaping the Manhattan Island in these aerial trams as Kong is rampaging the city. Like many of the elder Universal rides, it relied on spieling as well as physical sets/effects to portray the story. I've heard from people who rode it that it was a brilliant experience, especially for its time when it opened and that the "Banana Breathe" King Kong animatronic was truly something!

It was designed by Totally Fun Company who re did Jaws, and manufactured by Arrow Dynamics. Sadly, it only lasted 12 years before it was replaced with The Mummy. http://www.themeparktourist.com/features/20141225/29776/5-things-you-never-knew-about-kongfrontation-universal-orlandoBrilliant article here on Kongfrontation and some secrets. Truly remarkable that Kong entered the ride car envelope which on most rides would cause an e-stop.

Universal Studios in 1990 (the car park in the forefront of the photo is now IOA)
Many of the parks original attractions now don't exist (only E.T, The Horror Make Up Show and A Lucy Tribute remain from 1990). Something I found out was the studio tour the park once had that went through the studios in use and the Nickleodeon Studios that were on the site that upon exiting the ride you went through the Universal Studios Store which still exists today in the same place!
With IoA moving ahead (although construction which was meant to start in 1995 started two years late in 97) Universal continued to open new attractions, such as Terminator2: 3D, Twister and A day in the park with Barney (all of which remain today). More attractions were built up to 1998 like Woody Woodpecker, Kidzone and Men In Black along with the IoA preview centre by Kongfrontation. In 98, Disney also opened Animal Kingdom, once again the two giants were battling each other head on.
May 28th 1999, Islands Of Adventures opens to the park with many new technologically advanced rides. At the same time, CityWalk, a replica of the restaurant district at Hollywood, and the first hotel opened making Universal a resort. Marketed as Universal Studios Escape attendance didn't rise as they had hoped. This was largely put down to people thinking Islands Of Adventure was just a new area of the Studios park, not a whole new park on its own! Disney are said to have had E-Ticket attractions ready and lined up for each of its parks in case Universal's attendance boomed but it's impact was non existent to Disney so these were cancelled. Beastly Kingdom was the planned one for Animal Kingdom but instead we got Camp Minnie and Mickey (soon to become Avatar... maybe Disney are battling Universal ride on ride, land on land).
In 2002 the Resort is renamed to Universal Orlando Resort and Kongfrontation is closed. For the next 7 or so years the parks direction was often slashed by enthusiasts as investors didn't seem to do much that was new and exciting. Island's had NO major new attraction invested in until 2010 and Universal just replaced outdated attractions with modern overlays. The Mummy replaces Kong in 2004 and is a sublime coaster with brilliant effects (although it does stick out a bit). Disaster overlays Earthquake in early 2008 which doesn't go down to well, nor does the closing of the classic Back to the Future ride to replace it with a Simpsons simulator (which when it opened stuck out like a sore thumb). The following year the park opens Rip Ride Rokit. The public enjoy the coasters, as do I, but its structure is an eyesore and it feels cheap (especially with all the problems it had and still has). It doesn't seem to fit in with the park one bit. Whilst all this is going on though, Island's have announced they're building a castle, a special Hogwarts castle! And in the background, Comcast is buying shares of NBC Universal from GE. And in 2010, the Universal that operates today with its non stop investing began.

Sure was popular
Wizardirng World Of Harry Potter opened to the public and was a huge success! Islands attendance increases from 5.2 million in 2008 to 7.6 million in 2011 which was the first time the Studios park was surpassed by Islands (and Islands remained ahead for 2012 and 13). With the Comcast agreement battling on as they seek to buy out all the shares from GE, Studios announces the closure of Jaws at the end of 2011, Despicable Me opens in 2012 and Transformers in 2013. The park then announces its main plans, Diagon Alley on the old Jaws site with the Hogwarts Express to link the two parks for summer 2014. Springfield is also announced which makes the Simpsons ride fit in much more into an area instead of just being a ride.
2014 arrives and Diagon Alley opens on July 18th in an attempt to put Studios ahead of Islands once more. By now, Comcast have 100% of the shares in NBC Universal and are investing left right and centre with a Springfield in Hollywood, Harry Potter in Japan and one in Hollywood for 2016. Diagon Alley is well received with its further immersion and realism to the films. Crowds flood to the park applying serious pressure to the star attraction (Gringotts) which opens on a reduced capacity and regular break downs.

The queue times achieved make news globally. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2686145/Hope-brought-book-Harry-Potter-fans-wait-line-SEVEN-HOURS-new-theme-park-ride.html
The 2014 TEA Theme Index report thing shows how Universal is booming evermore! Studios Orlando saw a 17% increase to 8.26 million causing it surpass IoA once again which is at 8.14 million (still nearly double the parks figuer of 4.27 million in 2009). The other Universal parks are growing well too though, with Hollywood having a 11% increase and soon a Potterworld of its own, and Japan's Potterworld opened last year giving the park a 16.8% increase to 11.8 million, making it the 5th most visited park in the world and jumping the 3 Floridian Disney parks that aren't Magic Kingdom. Comcast's persistence in investing may seem risky, but it sure is paying off majorly at the moment and why stop when figures are growing massively every year.
Universal is starting a theme park revolution. It is going all out on an immersive experience write down to what you eat and drink. The battle is on between Universal and Disney with both parks continually announcing expansions and the next best thing! Disney open Frozen next year to Universal's Kong. Disney open Pandora to Universal's amazing new waterpark Volcano Bay.
The Comcast era of Universal is one to enjoy. The company themselves say they'll invest in one major new attraction at each site every year for the next five years at least. With Kong opening next year, Volcano Bay in 2017 and potential rethemes of Twister or Disaster in that time as well, rumours are the Studios next big investment will be a further Potter expansion to replace Fear Factor Live. Although the Unviersal Parks division makes up a tiny amount of Comcast's profits, the company are happy to keep taking risks and invest big in an attempt to fight Disney. Will they ever win, no. But it's sure fun to watch and even better for new ride technologies as both chains plough money into developing the latest thing.
"Theme parks, I think, when we first showed up, were something that came with the rest of the company, now they're right at the core of what we're all about and we think provide a tremendous growth opportunity."- Steve Burk, CEO of the NBCUniversal division of comcast at Comcast's 2015 analyst report
So 25 years on from a park opening to take on Disney head to head on what was a swamp, the companies are finally clashing big time and the results are glorious! To the next 25 years!

Sup ridefans,
So I work for a charity where we run playschemes and respite care for disabled children up to disabled young adults, split into three groups; play (5-12), youth (12-18) and young adults (18-25); specialising in our 'non-exclusion policy', meaning any young people are welcome, no matter how severe or not severe their disability is. I work at the youth scheme near Guildford, and on Saturdays we sometimes go on day trips. So today, we went to Chessington.
That was an experience. I don't know if I've ever been to Chessington on a Saturday, but it definitely has never been like this. It was so busy the disabled/fastrack queues were almost as long as the normal ones, and when you are standing with a bunch of disabled teenagers... Well. It could have been worse.
Still. We arrived at 12 and sat on the grass by the sealions to eat and watch the show from a distance, then split into two groups. One to go on the fast rides (three staff and four young people) and another group for the slower rides/going around the zoo (one of the girls was in a wheelchair). Our leader went to the place to pick up our wristbands and access passes,and returned with both them and a very inexperienced looking staff member who insisted on putting the wristbands on the young people instead of staff despite them very clearly stating on the band that they were "on behalf of", meaning she had to peel them all off when she realised there weren't enough and put them on us instead.
The fast group's first ride was Bubbleworks which had been insisted on by two of the young people in our group, then we headed down to check if Vampire was open as we hadn't seen it go past, but hadn't seen displayed anywhere that it wasn't. Of course it was closed which disappointed a lot of us, and took quite a bit of explaining for some of our young people to get them to acknowledge that we couldn't ride and had to go elsewhere.
For the next bit I have to explain how we work.
When filling in the paperwork before their child can attend, the young persons' parent/guardian must indicate how much care their dependent requires. We have mostly 1:1's, meaning the young person must have their own carer at all times, few 2:1's (two staff to one young person) and some are non-1:1's, so they don't need their own carer and can be dealt with in the same manner as a normal child in a playscheme, though bearing in mind that even the non 1:1's are a spectrum with some more disabled than others that can pretty much be fine.
Our group had two 1:1's and their carers, and one other staff member with two other 1:1's. When we approached Seastorm, only the two non-1:1's wanted to ride, meaning the two 1:1's and their carers were planning to watch at the side. When reaching the front of the queue however; the staff member with the two young people were told that despite their care ratio there must be one staff member with each young person. Meaning I had to leave my 1:1 to go on a ride with a young person who was practically fine mentally and physically instead of watching from a position where I could have seen him and been five feet away the whole time not on the ride, and could have actually done more to help from that position were anything to happen (which it wouldn't have). This also meant leaving two 1:1 young people with one staff member, one of which was my 1:1 who had epillepsy, putting me in a position where I would have only been able to sit and watch had anything happened.
We encountered a similar problem on Dragon's Fury, where a 1:1 and both non-1:1's wanted to ride, and one staff member and 1:1 did not. But once again as each young person needed to be accompanied by one carer we had to take two first, then wait for me to queue AGAIN with the last young person and let him have a ride.
So it was a stressful day with a lot of people, lots of young people having to wait around for their rides and us finding there was a limited amount for both the slow and fast groups to go on, leaving me to believe that the best place to be is somewhere in the middle, being able to ride the large rides but not being picky about going on smaller ones.
Ah well, apparently they've had much better visits to Paulton's in the past, so we'll probably just go there next time.

I'm gonna say this straight out, I love my job. I'm so happy to finally have one, it's a massive weight off my chest
But I am way too used to having so much freedom to organise what I do.
For everyone that doesn't know, my air cadet squadron is my life. Completely. Almost everything I do within my cadets capacity isn't for myself, it's for them. I run my squadron's marching band which I have actually built myself from nothing, I have to organise most events, and I help the staff run the squadron on a regular basis. But if they will have a habit of organising events that clash, and they only let us know about a week or two before... Well when I have to book my rota for work like a month in advance it is never going to work. There is no way I can fit in everything I want to do, and planning now for June is the first time I've really noticed that Plus for the first time I went and booked myself onto this drum major course, something that I really want to do for me, but it means I have to miss quite a big marching band performance and I feel awful for it.
When it comes to nerding here with you lot, I have the opposite problem Things here are sometimes organised so far in advance I find myself hesitating in case something else comes up or I get called into work or something goes wrong. I need to be more confident in saying "Right this is what I want to do this day, this is my priority"
Work is brilliant so far. I've been there for a few weeks now and I love it I work for a charity called Challengers, who run play schemes and respite care for disabled children and young adults. I work with the youth group, 12-18 year olds and they're all fantastic.
The thing is, they're horrendously sort staffed. I ended up properly working on what was supposed to be my induction day (I was only meant to be there for an hour or two), and I was asked to book into extra shifts before I'd even had my proper first day. Still, I know it's just because they're desperate and there isn't any real pressure so it isn't a problem, it's just another really important thing vying for my time.
The final thing that isn't brilliant right now is I have absolutely no idea where I'm going to be next year. University if all goes right but I really don't know what to expect and so what I'll be able to do and how much I'll be able to come back. Still, that hurdle will be there when I get to it
To end on a positive note, I love living so near to Thorpe. It was great to turn to SCB one day when we finished college early and say "Shall we pop down and grab a few rides?" PS, the park is really quiet on Wednesday afternoons
If you've stayed on until the end, congratulations, remind me to give you a hi-five at the next meet I see you at But honestly, thanks for listening to my rant
See you at Legoland!

So yeah, my family booked a trip to Marwell Wildlife (zoo) for my birthday. Here goes...
It was in the middle of nowhere, but there was really bad traffic for the last mile or so (reminds me of a certain Staffordshire theme park), but we made it in.

And here we have the main attraction: The man with a pushchair!

Thier Penguin enclosure is a great deal bigger than Chessie's.

'Just smile and wave boys, smile and wave.'

This animal looks like my dog.

It's a pink chicken.

The world's fastest animal did not move at all during our visit. Typical.

Oh look, they seem to have stolen some theming from Zufari....

...And the Smiler, too.

This cow is the best cow in the world. It's ginger.

You could go and see the giraffes at feeding time. How sweet!

Unfortunately all we saw of the world's rarest big cat, the Amur leopard, was this little fluffy sleeping blob.

This zebra was actually in the middle of doing the moonwalk when I took this photo. This is also one of two subspecies of zebra at the zoo.

Meerkats can always look cute.

It's not just the meerkats that like sunbathing....

See? The Amur tiger does too. (These tigers are WAY bigger than the Sumatran tiger at Chessington, but less rare)

Grey Chicken.

This red panda was so high up the tree that I couldn't see him much.

Wow, they have thier own mini Towers!

Along with their own Island Like No Other...

Complete with chavs Macaques!

More stolen theming, now from Wild Asia.

Ginger Lemur is Ginger.

Lemur hug!

Wow, they even have rollercoasters here!

*dies of happiness* Snow leopards are the best.
And I shall end this blog with a picture of some rare Obese Unicorns.

Alton Towers finally happened!
SCB can tell you, we've had a countdown going for ages and finally we went, so I am no longer an AT 'virgin' as some would put it.
When it came to actually going I was nervous, as a lot of hate had been spread around about low standards and operations and the like compared with last season; however this time I once again found myself in the position I was in at CWoA, not knowing what to expect so practically being an ordinary punter.
So, day one.
We started the day at TP, as there were a few rides I wanted to compare to those at AT (namely Colossus and Smiler, Nemesis Inferno and the original Nemesis, Stealth and Rita, and yeah you get the picture). Got everything we wanted done plus a few extras within an hour and a half; bar Inferno which was already in it's full extension with only one train running... Yeah so as we wanted to get to AT at some point that day we decided it was best to not.
Arrived at Towers at around 2pm to find the car park practically empty. We definitely chose a good week to go, up North aren't on their Easter break yet, so it was mostly families and adults there, which helped a lot with both the atmosphere and the queue times for the types of rides we wanted to go on.
First thing we walked straight on to Smiler, despite the signs saying it had a 15 minute queue (still would have been good), and I really didn't get what everyone was on about it being rough. Yes I am a fan of Colossus and the fact that it's rough (even though it has gotten notably worse this season) but I will at least admit that it is rough. With Smiler, I don't know if it was the rain or that they'd done some work, but I found it as smooth as I knew Inferno to be.

Did all the big rides except Nemesis and Air, we had them on ERT the next day anyway and as I've been struggling with walking recently walking all the way over there wouldn't be great. So just to taunt SCB we took the monorail over Nemmy twice.
Found the staff all very friendly, after going round some areas multiple times (SMILER) some of them even started to recognise us, which made the atmosphere seem a lot lighter. Those staff with roles stayed in them well, and there was this one ride op on the Smiler who was pulling faces at everyone and waving through the glass.
Day two was much the same, started in Forbidden Valley and worked our way back round the park to the X-Sector, as SCB had booked a surprise lift hill walk and behind the scenes tour on the Smiler. It was awkward how they had Nemmy and Air on ERT, however two other rides over there so far out of the way that didn't open until 11. Still as we knew this we planned around it and didn't end up having to wait long.

Then it came to our behind the scenes tour. Earlier that day we had spoken to the awesome Smiler op in the bag room where he made some joke about giving him $0 for the wristband (the code on it was $0) to get our bag back. We discovered his name was Dave and as we waited for our BST we found ourselves wishing it would be him to show us around. Lo and behold a few minutes later over the tanoy came "Dave can you please go to the ride entrance" Yay!
Dave showed us around and showed that the ride staff all really know their stuff, telling us all about the ride systems and what they have to do in the winter maintenance - the amount they do is crazy. All the staff were joking around and chatting and made us feel really at ease, encouraging us to ask any questions we wanted, no matter how stupid. The other ride op Matt and a Smile Assistant called Anna took us up the lift hill and were really helpful, and then we toured the dark section of the ride down below the station learning one particular secret that SCB will go into more detail about in his blog all about the tour... It's hilarious. Watch this space, but for now here's a few photos I took...
Evening checks from the op box

The whole of the lift hill

The 'Smile' taken from the pit beneath the ride

The rest of the ride from the pit

What the inside of the dark section really looks like


Couldn't get over the view from the top of the Smiler... I think I found my next drawing project.

Come day three the Sun remembered the Earth existed and decided to come out a bit, which mean so did the people. Still AT reacted to this quickly and we hardly noticed at all. We knew Dave and Matt would be opping Oblivion so we went up to see them, and Dave called out to us over the tanoy (remembering both of our names, which was more than we expected) and had a little chat to us after. We'd found out the day before that Oblivion was his favourite ride in the world and he'd ridden it over 2,500 times! Wow. So he wanted to know how we found it and made a joke about having words with us later when we said it was a bit meh.
Went on Enterprise next and the member of staff there recognised us from the night before and asked how we'd enjoyed the lift hill which was really nice and made us feel really special, as he held the car for us to get out and everything. Saw Dave again later in the day opping Enterprise covering this guy's break, and he made some joke about it being my "16th" birthday and got all the people in the queue to sing for me, he also made some joke to SCB about if he felt sick my hood was right in front of him...
Also we felt a little adventurous, so decided to explore the Towers themselves. They were amazing and it's surprising how much you are allowed around, plus you get some brilliant views from the roof. My only problem was at the front by the exit for Hex there is a huge stained glass window that is in brilliant condition, however you can only see it from the outside which is disappointing. It would look much better from the inside; however after extensive checks every single entrance to this particular room is blocked off. So then we went back to the Smiler

Went back to Oblivion last thing to say bye to Dave and Matt and to say thanks before we went home, and Dave once again drew attention to me over the tanoy and we sang again, except this time I was 14. Typical. I do NOT look 14! He came to talk to us after and wished us a good journey back and asked us if we had any more questions, and then we went on our way.
It all just proved how much the staff make a difference, and how a few personal touches really can make your trip even if it's just them talking to you a bit before the ride, rather than ignoring you like they do at TP. Before this I hadn't been to a park that was huge on theming, as both Thorpe and Chessie have gone a bit downhill in that area recently, and the difference it made was huge. The atmosphere of each area was different and the stories were clear, unlike parks down here.
Meh, one can hope this might improve soon in these so called theme parks, but it seems recently all they've cared about is IPs and "world's first"s.
I guess we'll see.
PS, Sorry Colossus... I have a new favourite <3

Alton Towers finally happened!
SCB can tell you, we've had a countdown going for ages and finally we went, so I am no longer an AT 'virgin' as some would put it.
When it came to actually going I was nervous, as a lot of hate had been spread around about low standards and operations and the like compared with last season; however this time I once again found myself in the position I was in at CWoA, not knowing what to expect so practically being an ordinary punter.
So, day one.
We started the day at TP, as there were a few rides I wanted to compare to those at AT (namely Colossus and Smiler, Nemesis Inferno and the original Nemesis, Stealth and Rita, and yeah you get the picture). Got everything we wanted done plus a few extras within an hour and a half; bar Inferno which was already in it's full extension with only one train running... Yeah so as we wanted to get to AT at some point that day we decided it was best to not.
Arrived at Towers at around 2pm to find the car park practically empty. We definitely chose a good week to go, up North aren't on their Easter break yet, so it was mostly families and adults there, which helped a lot with both the atmosphere and the queue times for the types of rides we wanted to go on.
First thing we walked straight on to Smiler, despite the signs saying it had a 15 minute queue (still would have been good), and I really didn't get what everyone was on about it being rough. Yes I am a fan of Colossus and the fact that it's rough (even though it has gotten notably worse this season) but I will at least admit that it is rough. With Smiler, I don't know if it was the rain or that they'd done some work, but I found it as smooth as I knew Inferno to be.

Did all the big rides except Nemesis and Air, we had them on ERT the next day anyway and as I've been struggling with walking recently walking all the way over there wouldn't be great. So just to taunt SCB we took the monorail over Nemmy twice.
Found the staff all very friendly, after going round some areas multiple times (SMILER) some of them even started to recognise us, which made the atmosphere seem a lot lighter. Those staff with roles stayed in them well, and there was this one ride op on the Smiler who was pulling faces at everyone and waving through the glass.
Day two was much the same, started in Forbidden Valley and worked our way back round the park to the X-Sector, as SCB had booked a surprise lift hill walk and behind the scenes tour on the Smiler. It was awkward how they had Nemmy and Air on ERT, however two other rides over there so far out of the way that didn't open until 11. Still as we knew this we planned around it and didn't end up having to wait long.

Then it came to our behind the scenes tour. Earlier that day we had spoken to the awesome Smiler op in the bag room where he made some joke about giving him $0 for the wristband (the code on it was $0) to get our bag back. We discovered his name was Dave and as we waited for our BST we found ourselves wishing it would be him to show us around. Lo and behold a few minutes later over the tanoy came "Dave can you please go to the ride entrance" Yay!
Dave showed us around and showed that the ride staff all really know their stuff, telling us all about the ride systems and what they have to do in the winter maintenance - the amount they do is crazy. All the staff were joking around and chatting and made us feel really at ease, encouraging us to ask any questions we wanted, no matter how stupid. The other ride op Matt and a Smile Assistant called Anna took us up the lift hill and were really helpful, and then we toured the dark section of the ride down below the station learning one particular secret that SCB will go into more detail about in his blog all about the tour... It's hilarious. Watch this space, but for now here's a few photos I took...
Evening checks from the op box

The whole of the lift hill

The 'Smile' taken from the pit beneath the ride

The rest of the ride from the pit

What the inside of the dark section really looks like


Couldn't get over the view from the top of the Smiler... I think I found my next drawing project.

Come day three the Sun remembered the Earth existed and decided to come out a bit, which mean so did the people. Still AT reacted to this quickly and we hardly noticed at all. We knew Dave and Matt would be opping Oblivion so we went up to see them, and Dave called out to us over the tanoy (remembering both of our names, which was more than we expected) and had a little chat to us after. We'd found out the day before that Oblivion was his favourite ride in the world and he'd ridden it over 2,500 times! Wow. So he wanted to know how we found it and made a joke about having words with us later when we said it was a bit meh.
Went on Enterprise next and the member of staff there recognised us from the night before and asked how we'd enjoyed the lift hill which was really nice and made us feel really special, as he held the car for us to get out and everything. Saw Dave again later in the day opping Enterprise covering this guy's break, and he made some joke about it being my "16th" birthday and got all the people in the queue to sing for me, he also made some joke to SCB about if he felt sick my hood was right in front of him...
Also we felt a little adventurous, so decided to explore the Towers themselves. They were amazing and it's surprising how much you are allowed around, plus you get some brilliant views from the roof. My only problem was at the front by the exit for Hex there is a huge stained glass window that is in brilliant condition, however you can only see it from the outside which is disappointing. It would look much better from the inside; however after extensive checks every single entrance to this particular room is blocked off. So then we went back to the Smiler

Went back to Oblivion last thing to say bye to Dave and Matt and to say thanks before we went home, and Dave once again drew attention to me over the tanoy and we sang again, except this time I was 14. Typical. I do NOT look 14! He came to talk to us after and wished us a good journey back and asked us if we had any more questions, and then we went on our way.
It all just proved how much the staff make a difference, and how a few personal touches really can make your trip even if it's just them talking to you a bit before the ride, rather than ignoring you like they do at TP. Before this I hadn't been to a park that was huge on theming, as both Thorpe and Chessie have gone a bit downhill in that area recently, and the difference it made was huge. The atmosphere of each area was different and the stories were clear, unlike parks down here.
Meh, one can hope this might improve soon in these so called theme parks, but it seems recently all they've cared about is IPs and "world's first"s.
I guess we'll see.
PS, Sorry Colossus... I have a new favourite <3

Alton Towers finally happened!
SCB can tell you, we've had a countdown going for ages and finally we went, so I am no longer an AT 'virgin' as some would put it.
When it came to actually going I was nervous, as a lot of hate had been spread around about low standards and operations and the like compared with last season; however this time I once again found myself in the position I was in at CWoA, not knowing what to expect so practically being an ordinary punter.
So, day one.
We started the day at TP, as there were a few rides I wanted to compare to those at AT (namely Colossus and Smiler, Nemesis Inferno and the original Nemesis, Stealth and Rita, and yeah you get the picture). Got everything we wanted done plus a few extras within an hour and a half; bar Inferno which was already in it's full extension with only one train running... Yeah so as we wanted to get to AT at some point that day we decided it was best to not.
Arrived at Towers at around 2pm to find the car park practically empty. We definitely chose a good week to go, up North aren't on their Easter break yet, so it was mostly families and adults there, which helped a lot with both the atmosphere and the queue times for the types of rides we wanted to go on.
First thing we walked straight on to Smiler, despite the signs saying it had a 15 minute queue (still would have been good), and I really didn't get what everyone was on about it being rough. Yes I am a fan of Colossus and the fact that it's rough (even though it has gotten notably worse this season) but I will at least admit that it is rough. With Smiler, I don't know if it was the rain or that they'd done some work, but I found it as smooth as I knew Inferno to be.

Did all the big rides except Nemesis and Air, we had them on ERT the next day anyway and as I've been struggling with walking recently walking all the way over there wouldn't be great. So just to taunt SCB we took the monorail over Nemmy twice.
Found the staff all very friendly, after going round some areas multiple times (SMILER) some of them even started to recognise us, which made the atmosphere seem a lot lighter. Those staff with roles stayed in them well, and there was this one ride op on the Smiler who was pulling faces at everyone and waving through the glass.
Day two was much the same, started in Forbidden Valley and worked our way back round the park to the X-Sector, as SCB had booked a surprise lift hill walk and behind the scenes tour on the Smiler. It was awkward how they had Nemmy and Air on ERT, however two other rides over there so far out of the way that didn't open until 11. Still as we knew this we planned around it and didn't end up having to wait long.

Then it came to our behind the scenes tour. Earlier that day we had spoken to the awesome Smiler op in the bag room where he made some joke about giving him $0 for the wristband (the code on it was $0) to get our bag back. We discovered his name was Dave and as we waited for our BST we found ourselves wishing it would be him to show us around. Lo and behold a few minutes later over the tanoy came "Dave can you please go to the ride entrance" Yay!
Dave showed us around and showed that the ride staff all really know their stuff, telling us all about the ride systems and what they have to do in the winter maintenance - the amount they do is crazy. All the staff were joking around and chatting and made us feel really at ease, encouraging us to ask any questions we wanted, no matter how stupid. The other ride op Matt and a Smile Assistant called Anna took us up the lift hill and were really helpful, and then we toured the dark section of the ride down below the station learning one particular secret that SCB will go into more detail about in his blog all about the tour... It's hilarious. Watch this space, but for now here's a few photos I took...
Evening checks from the op box

The whole of the lift hill

The 'Smile' taken from the pit beneath the ride

The rest of the ride from the pit

What the inside of the dark section really looks like


Couldn't get over the view from the top of the Smiler... I think I found my next drawing project.

Come day three the Sun remembered the Earth existed and decided to come out a bit, which mean so did the people. Still AT reacted to this quickly and we hardly noticed at all. We knew Dave and Matt would be opping Oblivion so we went up to see them, and Dave called out to us over the tanoy (remembering both of our names, which was more than we expected) and had a little chat to us after. We'd found out the day before that Oblivion was his favourite ride in the world and he'd ridden it over 2,500 times! Wow. So he wanted to know how we found it and made a joke about having words with us later when we said it was a bit meh.
Went on Enterprise next and the member of staff there recognised us from the night before and asked how we'd enjoyed the lift hill which was really nice and made us feel really special, as he held the car for us to get out and everything. Saw Dave again later in the day opping Enterprise covering this guy's break, and he made some joke about it being my "16th" birthday and got all the people in the queue to sing for me, he also made some joke to SCB about if he felt sick my hood was right in front of him...
Also we felt a little adventurous, so decided to explore the Towers themselves. They were amazing and it's surprising how much you are allowed around, plus you get some brilliant views from the roof. My only problem was at the front by the exit for Hex there is a huge stained glass window that is in brilliant condition, however you can only see it from the outside which is disappointing. It would look much better from the inside; however after extensive checks every single entrance to this particular room is blocked off. So then we went back to the Smiler

Went back to Oblivion last thing to say bye to Dave and Matt and to say thanks before we went home, and Dave once again drew attention to me over the tanoy and we sang again, except this time I was 14. Typical. I do NOT look 14! He came to talk to us after and wished us a good journey back and asked us if we had any more questions, and then we went on our way.
It all just proved how much the staff make a difference, and how a few personal touches really can make your trip even if it's just them talking to you a bit before the ride, rather than ignoring you like they do at TP. Before this I hadn't been to a park that was huge on theming, as both Thorpe and Chessie have gone a bit downhill in that area recently, and the difference it made was huge. The atmosphere of each area was different and the stories were clear, unlike parks down here.
Meh, one can hope this might improve soon in these so called theme parks, but it seems recently all they've cared about is IPs and "world's first"s.
I guess we'll see.
PS, Sorry Colossus... I have a new favourite <3

Awards, we love them, some may hate them, but we all strive to get them! Amongst other blogs I may post (and to get the award for posting a first blog entry ironically) I will be posting to say a big thank you to the award system, in the system we trust, and continue to strive to be the members the forum asks us to be.
The Award System! *Raises glass*

So, spooning.
I've tried to describe this to many people without it sounding completely strange, and failed miserably. It is bizzare, but definitely fun. Especially if you win on your first ever time
Hold onto a spoon at a theme park all day. How? Oh and come 3pm people can attack your spoon. What?! Those are the rules, but they aren't always stuck to. Shoutout to J.S217 who managed to go through three spoons in one day... Whereas I was the first person ever to finish the day with a complete spoon... With only one crack from where I had chewed it at the beginning of the day
It was great to go to a proper meet as a full member with lots of others there. I was at Guildford but wasn't a full member and there weren't that many people. And I was there at the beginning of the London Christmas meet but had to go do other things
I was surprised how nice everyone was. I felt like I could just go up to anyone in that group (all 25ish people) and have a conversation with any of them reasonably easily, and the group feeling was great
Oh and thanks for the Easter egg Peaj, I know I should have shared I with SCB for protecting me all day from attacks, but I got really hungry on Monday...
As for I'm a Celebrity, I was pleasantly surprised. The whole thing looks amazing, and considering how many effects it relies on the fact that (as far as I know) only two of them weren't working (and one was some of the time) was great. I wasn't keen at the start, I only really went for four extra hours of ride time and the first dark rides of the season. But I did quite enjoy it... And would probably go again if there wasn't much of a queue
Though why all the actors had to pretend to be past winners is beyond me...
Anyway, to the priorities, only four days til me and SCB go to Alton Towers, my first time ever. But after all the troubles every park has had this season part of me doesn't want to go, not wanting to be disappointed. I've always wanted to go to Towers... Since I was a kid.
Ah well, I'm sure it will still be amazing

For a few years now Towers has been subject to a mind marmalising force known as the Ministry of Joy and I think it's only time I reveal some of the hidden secrets after we persuaded a few Smile Assistants we want to help correct others. To do so we had to receive a grand tour of the correctional device. Be warned, what you see and read today is top secret and may correct you just by looking at it. It is your own choice to continue reading this...

Before embarking upon the process we decided to analyse the mysterious goings on by the Ministry. Maybe if we could work out their ways we'd be able to avoid correction.
However, it is very difficult to understand this mess.
Some advocates were being corrected as we watched on.

As we approached we were already being told to join them.

We knew from the start, trying to find out how they correct people without being corrected would be difficult.

Here is a vehicle to make you smiling advocates. Did you know, on Smiler they are called vehicles, Oblivion are shuttles, Air are crafts and the other coasters are trains. Random.

It was time to reach the top and try and understand the mess.

It seems to completely correct you it has two halves... must be two rides.

Crazy.

We were informed by the Smile Assistant Matt that this large tree in the middle is the height tree for X-Sector. Back in 1998 when the lord of Darkness was trying to force people to look down, the Ministry of Joy had to make the tree taller so put more ground under it. By doing so they could build Oblivion. However, in 2011/12 a storm threatened the trees existence so they chained it down because without it they may have had to close Oblivion and wouldn't have been able to build the correctional device that is Smiler. It is also 1 metre taller than Oblivion.

Low and behold the device itself! In the background you can see Enterprise but originally that was meant to leave instead of Submission. Engineering got £10,000 to get Submission back to having its two arm working together which the Ministry couldn't wait for! However, some management people decided it hurt too many people and wasn't making them Smile so they got rid of it and spent the £10,000 on Enterprise.

Under the twisted track is the queueing pen. It is made up of 6 areas, area 1 the Optical procedure room, area 2 the one outside that, area 3 has the shop alongside area 4, area 5 being the back corner and area 6 the new extension up to the toilets. Now, there are 3-5 ways of fully optimising the queue but you are meant to do it in order so 6-5-4-3-2-1 as much as possible so people can work out the queue time. Smile Assistant Dave told us of this time he made it do like 6-5-2-3-1-4 or something crazy and no one could work out the queue time... it has also never been replicated as no one can work out how he did it. In total there are as many as 20 possible queue line possibilities in some form.

Here we see the first lift... the secrets lie within the tunnel.

For the geeks.

These arrows help you to know where correction is... not like you have a choice though.

This door <3 There used to be a set of stairs here. The door is in the baggage room and it was meant for Smile Assistants to use in case a vehicle stopped on the brake run before the first lift. However, some staff took the fun too far and were opening it going boo, knocking on it and so on. So, they moved the metal staircase around the corner to which it now leads to nowhere and the door is permanently locked.

The first of 14.

So elegant. (I fear I'm starting to be corrected...)

Ah the glass floor. Smile Assistant Matt told us it works better with the lights on and was meant to help correction. But, due to delays on the Swiss side of things the whole tunnel was rushed to completion. It was originally meant to continue the Optical Procedure but this never happened. They'd love it to get completed but don't think it ever will.

Here is where you leave the station.

If you wave at the Smile Op and they wave back at you with their foot, that is because upon dispatch they have to hold two buttons down for 5 seconds before Correction can begin. And you all thought they were just being weird (yeah they are).

We then went into the pit. Yes, it is mainly made of concrete.

And track.

And muddy arrows.

Confusing.

The reason parts of the supports go into the concrete and others like this tiny one are encased in footers is because the support wasn't long enough (due to the groundwork issues) so instead of waiting for new pieces they used the materials they had (a lot of concrete obviously).

The Marmaliser.
It was all starting to get too much!!! So we went for a walk.

We came across this chained up tree.

On the walk a witch stopped us and said "You will either get corrected or for every geek who comes to visit this tree Nemesis will slowly be destroyed." I couldn't let this happen!
So 7 goes later followed by a further 4...

We were corrected.

And Nemesis keeps going strong!
So remember one thing guys,
Smile. Always.

Alton Towers finally happened!
SCB can tell you, we've had a countdown going for ages and finally we went, so I am no longer an AT 'virgin' as some would put it.
When it came to actually going I was nervous, as a lot of hate had been spread around about low standards and operations and the like compared with last season; however this time I once again found myself in the position I was in at CWoA, not knowing what to expect so practically being an ordinary punter.
So, day one.
We started the day at TP, as there were a few rides I wanted to compare to those at AT (namely Colossus and Smiler, Nemesis Inferno and the original Nemesis, Stealth and Rita, and yeah you get the picture). Got everything we wanted done plus a few extras within an hour and a half; bar Inferno which was already in it's full extension with only one train running... Yeah so as we wanted to get to AT at some point that day we decided it was best to not.
Arrived at Towers at around 2pm to find the car park practically empty. We definitely chose a good week to go, up North aren't on their Easter break yet, so it was mostly families and adults there, which helped a lot with both the atmosphere and the queue times for the types of rides we wanted to go on.
First thing we walked straight on to Smiler, despite the signs saying it had a 15 minute queue (still would have been good), and I really didn't get what everyone was on about it being rough. Yes I am a fan of Colossus and the fact that it's rough (even though it has gotten notably worse this season) but I will at least admit that it is rough. With Smiler, I don't know if it was the rain or that they'd done some work, but I found it as smooth as I knew Inferno to be.

Did all the big rides except Nemesis and Air, we had them on ERT the next day anyway and as I've been struggling with walking recently walking all the way over there wouldn't be great. So just to taunt SCB we took the monorail over Nemmy twice.
Found the staff all very friendly, after going round some areas multiple times (SMILER) some of them even started to recognise us, which made the atmosphere seem a lot lighter. Those staff with roles stayed in them well, and there was this one ride op on the Smiler who was pulling faces at everyone and waving through the glass.
Day two was much the same, started in Forbidden Valley and worked our way back round the park to the X-Sector, as SCB had booked a surprise lift hill walk and behind the scenes tour on the Smiler. It was awkward how they had Nemmy and Air on ERT, however two other rides over there so far out of the way that didn't open until 11. Still as we knew this we planned around it and didn't end up having to wait long.

Then it came to our behind the scenes tour. Earlier that day we had spoken to the awesome Smiler op in the bag room where he made some joke about giving him $0 for the wristband (the code on it was $0) to get our bag back. We discovered his name was Dave and as we waited for our BST we found ourselves wishing it would be him to show us around. Lo and behold a few minutes later over the tanoy came "Dave can you please go to the ride entrance" Yay!
Dave showed us around and showed that the ride staff all really know their stuff, telling us all about the ride systems and what they have to do in the winter maintenance - the amount they do is crazy. All the staff were joking around and chatting and made us feel really at ease, encouraging us to ask any questions we wanted, no matter how stupid. The other ride op Matt and a Smile Assistant called Anna took us up the lift hill and were really helpful, and then we toured the dark section of the ride down below the station learning one particular secret that SCB will go into more detail about in his blog all about the tour... It's hilarious. Watch this space, but for now here's a few photos I took...
Evening checks from the op box

The whole of the lift hill

The 'Smile' taken from the pit beneath the ride

The rest of the ride from the pit

What the inside of the dark section really looks like


Couldn't get over the view from the top of the Smiler... I think I found my next drawing project.

Come day three the Sun remembered the Earth existed and decided to come out a bit, which mean so did the people. Still AT reacted to this quickly and we hardly noticed at all. We knew Dave and Matt would be opping Oblivion so we went up to see them, and Dave called out to us over the tanoy (remembering both of our names, which was more than we expected) and had a little chat to us after. We'd found out the day before that Oblivion was his favourite ride in the world and he'd ridden it over 2,500 times! Wow. So he wanted to know how we found it and made a joke about having words with us later when we said it was a bit meh.
Went on Enterprise next and the member of staff there recognised us from the night before and asked how we'd enjoyed the lift hill which was really nice and made us feel really special, as he held the car for us to get out and everything. Saw Dave again later in the day opping Enterprise covering this guy's break, and he made some joke about it being my "16th" birthday and got all the people in the queue to sing for me, he also made some joke to SCB about if he felt sick my hood was right in front of him...
Also we felt a little adventurous, so decided to explore the Towers themselves. They were amazing and it's surprising how much you are allowed around, plus you get some brilliant views from the roof. My only problem was at the front by the exit for Hex there is a huge stained glass window that is in brilliant condition, however you can only see it from the outside which is disappointing. It would look much better from the inside; however after extensive checks every single entrance to this particular room is blocked off. So then we went back to the Smiler

Went back to Oblivion last thing to say bye to Dave and Matt and to say thanks before we went home, and Dave once again drew attention to me over the tanoy and we sang again, except this time I was 14. Typical. I do NOT look 14! He came to talk to us after and wished us a good journey back and asked us if we had any more questions, and then we went on our way.
It all just proved how much the staff make a difference, and how a few personal touches really can make your trip even if it's just them talking to you a bit before the ride, rather than ignoring you like they do at TP. Before this I hadn't been to a park that was huge on theming, as both Thorpe and Chessie have gone a bit downhill in that area recently, and the difference it made was huge. The atmosphere of each area was different and the stories were clear, unlike parks down here.
Meh, one can hope this might improve soon in these so called theme parks, but it seems recently all they've cared about is IPs and "world's first"s.
I guess we'll see.
PS, Sorry Colossus... I have a new favourite <3

Alton Towers finally happened!
SCB can tell you, we've had a countdown going for ages and finally we went, so I am no longer an AT 'virgin' as some would put it.
When it came to actually going I was nervous, as a lot of hate had been spread around about low standards and operations and the like compared with last season; however this time I once again found myself in the position I was in at CWoA, not knowing what to expect so practically being an ordinary punter.
So, day one.
We started the day at TP, as there were a few rides I wanted to compare to those at AT (namely Colossus and Smiler, Nemesis Inferno and the original Nemesis, Stealth and Rita, and yeah you get the picture). Got everything we wanted done plus a few extras within an hour and a half; bar Inferno which was already in it's full extension with only one train running... Yeah so as we wanted to get to AT at some point that day we decided it was best to not.
Arrived at Towers at around 2pm to find the car park practically empty. We definitely chose a good week to go, up North aren't on their Easter break yet, so it was mostly families and adults there, which helped a lot with both the atmosphere and the queue times for the types of rides we wanted to go on.
First thing we walked straight on to Smiler, despite the signs saying it had a 15 minute queue (still would have been good), and I really didn't get what everyone was on about it being rough. Yes I am a fan of Colossus and the fact that it's rough (even though it has gotten notably worse this season) but I will at least admit that it is rough. With Smiler, I don't know if it was the rain or that they'd done some work, but I found it as smooth as I knew Inferno to be.

Did all the big rides except Nemesis and Air, we had them on ERT the next day anyway and as I've been struggling with walking recently walking all the way over there wouldn't be great. So just to taunt SCB we took the monorail over Nemmy twice.
Found the staff all very friendly, after going round some areas multiple times (SMILER) some of them even started to recognise us, which made the atmosphere seem a lot lighter. Those staff with roles stayed in them well, and there was this one ride op on the Smiler who was pulling faces at everyone and waving through the glass.
Day two was much the same, started in Forbidden Valley and worked our way back round the park to the X-Sector, as SCB had booked a surprise lift hill walk and behind the scenes tour on the Smiler. It was awkward how they had Nemmy and Air on ERT, however two other rides over there so far out of the way that didn't open until 11. Still as we knew this we planned around it and didn't end up having to wait long.

Then it came to our behind the scenes tour. Earlier that day we had spoken to the awesome Smiler op in the bag room where he made some joke about giving him $0 for the wristband (the code on it was $0) to get our bag back. We discovered his name was Dave and as we waited for our BST we found ourselves wishing it would be him to show us around. Lo and behold a few minutes later over the tanoy came "Dave can you please go to the ride entrance" Yay!
Dave showed us around and showed that the ride staff all really know their stuff, telling us all about the ride systems and what they have to do in the winter maintenance - the amount they do is crazy. All the staff were joking around and chatting and made us feel really at ease, encouraging us to ask any questions we wanted, no matter how stupid. The other ride op Matt and a Smile Assistant called Anna took us up the lift hill and were really helpful, and then we toured the dark section of the ride down below the station learning one particular secret that SCB will go into more detail about in his blog all about the tour... It's hilarious. Watch this space, but for now here's a few photos I took...
Evening checks from the op box

The whole of the lift hill

The 'Smile' taken from the pit beneath the ride

The rest of the ride from the pit

What the inside of the dark section really looks like


Couldn't get over the view from the top of the Smiler... I think I found my next drawing project.

Come day three the Sun remembered the Earth existed and decided to come out a bit, which mean so did the people. Still AT reacted to this quickly and we hardly noticed at all. We knew Dave and Matt would be opping Oblivion so we went up to see them, and Dave called out to us over the tanoy (remembering both of our names, which was more than we expected) and had a little chat to us after. We'd found out the day before that Oblivion was his favourite ride in the world and he'd ridden it over 2,500 times! Wow. So he wanted to know how we found it and made a joke about having words with us later when we said it was a bit meh.
Went on Enterprise next and the member of staff there recognised us from the night before and asked how we'd enjoyed the lift hill which was really nice and made us feel really special, as he held the car for us to get out and everything. Saw Dave again later in the day opping Enterprise covering this guy's break, and he made some joke about it being my "16th" birthday and got all the people in the queue to sing for me, he also made some joke to SCB about if he felt sick my hood was right in front of him...
Also we felt a little adventurous, so decided to explore the Towers themselves. They were amazing and it's surprising how much you are allowed around, plus you get some brilliant views from the roof. My only problem was at the front by the exit for Hex there is a huge stained glass window that is in brilliant condition, however you can only see it from the outside which is disappointing. It would look much better from the inside; however after extensive checks every single entrance to this particular room is blocked off. So then we went back to the Smiler

Went back to Oblivion last thing to say bye to Dave and Matt and to say thanks before we went home, and Dave once again drew attention to me over the tanoy and we sang again, except this time I was 14. Typical. I do NOT look 14! He came to talk to us after and wished us a good journey back and asked us if we had any more questions, and then we went on our way.
It all just proved how much the staff make a difference, and how a few personal touches really can make your trip even if it's just them talking to you a bit before the ride, rather than ignoring you like they do at TP. Before this I hadn't been to a park that was huge on theming, as both Thorpe and Chessie have gone a bit downhill in that area recently, and the difference it made was huge. The atmosphere of each area was different and the stories were clear, unlike parks down here.
Meh, one can hope this might improve soon in these so called theme parks, but it seems recently all they've cared about is IPs and "world's first"s.
I guess we'll see.
PS, Sorry Colossus... I have a new favourite <3

Alton Towers finally happened!
SCB can tell you, we've had a countdown going for ages and finally we went, so I am no longer an AT 'virgin' as some would put it.
When it came to actually going I was nervous, as a lot of hate had been spread around about low standards and operations and the like compared with last season; however this time I once again found myself in the position I was in at CWoA, not knowing what to expect so practically being an ordinary punter.
So, day one.
We started the day at TP, as there were a few rides I wanted to compare to those at AT (namely Colossus and Smiler, Nemesis Inferno and the original Nemesis, Stealth and Rita, and yeah you get the picture). Got everything we wanted done plus a few extras within an hour and a half; bar Inferno which was already in it's full extension with only one train running... Yeah so as we wanted to get to AT at some point that day we decided it was best to not.
Arrived at Towers at around 2pm to find the car park practically empty. We definitely chose a good week to go, up North aren't on their Easter break yet, so it was mostly families and adults there, which helped a lot with both the atmosphere and the queue times for the types of rides we wanted to go on.
First thing we walked straight on to Smiler, despite the signs saying it had a 15 minute queue (still would have been good), and I really didn't get what everyone was on about it being rough. Yes I am a fan of Colossus and the fact that it's rough (even though it has gotten notably worse this season) but I will at least admit that it is rough. With Smiler, I don't know if it was the rain or that they'd done some work, but I found it as smooth as I knew Inferno to be.

Did all the big rides except Nemesis and Air, we had them on ERT the next day anyway and as I've been struggling with walking recently walking all the way over there wouldn't be great. So just to taunt SCB we took the monorail over Nemmy twice.
Found the staff all very friendly, after going round some areas multiple times (SMILER) some of them even started to recognise us, which made the atmosphere seem a lot lighter. Those staff with roles stayed in them well, and there was this one ride op on the Smiler who was pulling faces at everyone and waving through the glass.
Day two was much the same, started in Forbidden Valley and worked our way back round the park to the X-Sector, as SCB had booked a surprise lift hill walk and behind the scenes tour on the Smiler. It was awkward how they had Nemmy and Air on ERT, however two other rides over there so far out of the way that didn't open until 11. Still as we knew this we planned around it and didn't end up having to wait long.

Then it came to our behind the scenes tour. Earlier that day we had spoken to the awesome Smiler op in the bag room where he made some joke about giving him $0 for the wristband (the code on it was $0) to get our bag back. We discovered his name was Dave and as we waited for our BST we found ourselves wishing it would be him to show us around. Lo and behold a few minutes later over the tanoy came "Dave can you please go to the ride entrance" Yay!
Dave showed us around and showed that the ride staff all really know their stuff, telling us all about the ride systems and what they have to do in the winter maintenance - the amount they do is crazy. All the staff were joking around and chatting and made us feel really at ease, encouraging us to ask any questions we wanted, no matter how stupid. The other ride op Matt and a Smile Assistant called Anna took us up the lift hill and were really helpful, and then we toured the dark section of the ride down below the station learning one particular secret that SCB will go into more detail about in his blog all about the tour... It's hilarious. Watch this space, but for now here's a few photos I took...
Evening checks from the op box

The whole of the lift hill

The 'Smile' taken from the pit beneath the ride

The rest of the ride from the pit

What the inside of the dark section really looks like


Couldn't get over the view from the top of the Smiler... I think I found my next drawing project.

Come day three the Sun remembered the Earth existed and decided to come out a bit, which mean so did the people. Still AT reacted to this quickly and we hardly noticed at all. We knew Dave and Matt would be opping Oblivion so we went up to see them, and Dave called out to us over the tanoy (remembering both of our names, which was more than we expected) and had a little chat to us after. We'd found out the day before that Oblivion was his favourite ride in the world and he'd ridden it over 2,500 times! Wow. So he wanted to know how we found it and made a joke about having words with us later when we said it was a bit meh.
Went on Enterprise next and the member of staff there recognised us from the night before and asked how we'd enjoyed the lift hill which was really nice and made us feel really special, as he held the car for us to get out and everything. Saw Dave again later in the day opping Enterprise covering this guy's break, and he made some joke about it being my "16th" birthday and got all the people in the queue to sing for me, he also made some joke to SCB about if he felt sick my hood was right in front of him...
Also we felt a little adventurous, so decided to explore the Towers themselves. They were amazing and it's surprising how much you are allowed around, plus you get some brilliant views from the roof. My only problem was at the front by the exit for Hex there is a huge stained glass window that is in brilliant condition, however you can only see it from the outside which is disappointing. It would look much better from the inside; however after extensive checks every single entrance to this particular room is blocked off. So then we went back to the Smiler

Went back to Oblivion last thing to say bye to Dave and Matt and to say thanks before we went home, and Dave once again drew attention to me over the tanoy and we sang again, except this time I was 14. Typical. I do NOT look 14! He came to talk to us after and wished us a good journey back and asked us if we had any more questions, and then we went on our way.
It all just proved how much the staff make a difference, and how a few personal touches really can make your trip even if it's just them talking to you a bit before the ride, rather than ignoring you like they do at TP. Before this I hadn't been to a park that was huge on theming, as both Thorpe and Chessie have gone a bit downhill in that area recently, and the difference it made was huge. The atmosphere of each area was different and the stories were clear, unlike parks down here.
Meh, one can hope this might improve soon in these so called theme parks, but it seems recently all they've cared about is IPs and "world's first"s.
I guess we'll see.
PS, Sorry Colossus... I have a new favourite <3

Alton Towers finally happened!
SCB can tell you, we've had a countdown going for ages and finally we went, so I am no longer an AT 'virgin' as some would put it.
When it came to actually going I was nervous, as a lot of hate had been spread around about low standards and operations and the like compared with last season; however this time I once again found myself in the position I was in at CWoA, not knowing what to expect so practically being an ordinary punter.
So, day one.
We started the day at TP, as there were a few rides I wanted to compare to those at AT (namely Colossus and Smiler, Nemesis Inferno and the original Nemesis, Stealth and Rita, and yeah you get the picture). Got everything we wanted done plus a few extras within an hour and a half; bar Inferno which was already in it's full extension with only one train running... Yeah so as we wanted to get to AT at some point that day we decided it was best to not.
Arrived at Towers at around 2pm to find the car park practically empty. We definitely chose a good week to go, up North aren't on their Easter break yet, so it was mostly families and adults there, which helped a lot with both the atmosphere and the queue times for the types of rides we wanted to go on.
First thing we walked straight on to Smiler, despite the signs saying it had a 15 minute queue (still would have been good), and I really didn't get what everyone was on about it being rough. Yes I am a fan of Colossus and the fact that it's rough (even though it has gotten notably worse this season) but I will at least admit that it is rough. With Smiler, I don't know if it was the rain or that they'd done some work, but I found it as smooth as I knew Inferno to be.

Did all the big rides except Nemesis and Air, we had them on ERT the next day anyway and as I've been struggling with walking recently walking all the way over there wouldn't be great. So just to taunt SCB we took the monorail over Nemmy twice.
Found the staff all very friendly, after going round some areas multiple times (SMILER) some of them even started to recognise us, which made the atmosphere seem a lot lighter. Those staff with roles stayed in them well, and there was this one ride op on the Smiler who was pulling faces at everyone and waving through the glass.
Day two was much the same, started in Forbidden Valley and worked our way back round the park to the X-Sector, as SCB had booked a surprise lift hill walk and behind the scenes tour on the Smiler. It was awkward how they had Nemmy and Air on ERT, however two other rides over there so far out of the way that didn't open until 11. Still as we knew this we planned around it and didn't end up having to wait long.

Then it came to our behind the scenes tour. Earlier that day we had spoken to the awesome Smiler op in the bag room where he made some joke about giving him $0 for the wristband (the code on it was $0) to get our bag back. We discovered his name was Dave and as we waited for our BST we found ourselves wishing it would be him to show us around. Lo and behold a few minutes later over the tanoy came "Dave can you please go to the ride entrance" Yay!
Dave showed us around and showed that the ride staff all really know their stuff, telling us all about the ride systems and what they have to do in the winter maintenance - the amount they do is crazy. All the staff were joking around and chatting and made us feel really at ease, encouraging us to ask any questions we wanted, no matter how stupid. The other ride op Matt and a Smile Assistant called Anna took us up the lift hill and were really helpful, and then we toured the dark section of the ride down below the station learning one particular secret that SCB will go into more detail about in his blog all about the tour... It's hilarious. Watch this space, but for now here's a few photos I took...
Evening checks from the op box

The whole of the lift hill

The 'Smile' taken from the pit beneath the ride

The rest of the ride from the pit

What the inside of the dark section really looks like


Couldn't get over the view from the top of the Smiler... I think I found my next drawing project.

Come day three the Sun remembered the Earth existed and decided to come out a bit, which mean so did the people. Still AT reacted to this quickly and we hardly noticed at all. We knew Dave and Matt would be opping Oblivion so we went up to see them, and Dave called out to us over the tanoy (remembering both of our names, which was more than we expected) and had a little chat to us after. We'd found out the day before that Oblivion was his favourite ride in the world and he'd ridden it over 2,500 times! Wow. So he wanted to know how we found it and made a joke about having words with us later when we said it was a bit meh.
Went on Enterprise next and the member of staff there recognised us from the night before and asked how we'd enjoyed the lift hill which was really nice and made us feel really special, as he held the car for us to get out and everything. Saw Dave again later in the day opping Enterprise covering this guy's break, and he made some joke about it being my "16th" birthday and got all the people in the queue to sing for me, he also made some joke to SCB about if he felt sick my hood was right in front of him...
Also we felt a little adventurous, so decided to explore the Towers themselves. They were amazing and it's surprising how much you are allowed around, plus you get some brilliant views from the roof. My only problem was at the front by the exit for Hex there is a huge stained glass window that is in brilliant condition, however you can only see it from the outside which is disappointing. It would look much better from the inside; however after extensive checks every single entrance to this particular room is blocked off. So then we went back to the Smiler

Went back to Oblivion last thing to say bye to Dave and Matt and to say thanks before we went home, and Dave once again drew attention to me over the tanoy and we sang again, except this time I was 14. Typical. I do NOT look 14! He came to talk to us after and wished us a good journey back and asked us if we had any more questions, and then we went on our way.
It all just proved how much the staff make a difference, and how a few personal touches really can make your trip even if it's just them talking to you a bit before the ride, rather than ignoring you like they do at TP. Before this I hadn't been to a park that was huge on theming, as both Thorpe and Chessie have gone a bit downhill in that area recently, and the difference it made was huge. The atmosphere of each area was different and the stories were clear, unlike parks down here.
Meh, one can hope this might improve soon in these so called theme parks, but it seems recently all they've cared about is IPs and "world's first"s.
I guess we'll see.
PS, Sorry Colossus... I have a new favourite <3