Mark9

Alton Towers - 17th March Headed to the towers with Benin, Nicky and Dan9 yesterday for trip to the UK's best loved theme park. One thing that made itself clear from the off is that the park is as quiet as the grave. This become more apparent through the day as rides such as Thirteen went down to one train (and even then the queue was only 5 minutes) and Oblivion was only using two of its four ride cars. Every trip I've made to Towers has usually started with a trip to Forbidden Valley for rides on Air and Nemesis. This time, because Dan had never visited Intamin land and we thought the park might be busy, we decided to start the park in a different direction. So off to Thirteen we went where the ride was on two trains. Dan may tell you his own feelings on it in a seperate trip report. I came off slightly bored. Last year I enjoyed my go but I wasn't feeling the love this time around. Later on in the day we returned for a second go and whilst slightly better, it wasn't great, just average. Next ride was Rita with its ridiculous scaffolding. Ride was okay, warned Dan about the launch into a corner and there was a good amount of ejector air time during the ride actually. Don't remember it being that forceful in the past. Again, we returned later in the day where the staff were struggling to fill the two trains with people. A very rare sight. Next rides were Charlie which is looking okay and Hex which is looking stunning. A real kudos to the Towers for their work here, it really shows how far they can stretch a budget in the right places. Off to X-Sector next with the Smiler where pictures really don't do the size of the project justice. It is a huge project and with so much track still left to install from near the car park, its hard to think it will be up and running in May. Oblivion looks absolutely fantastic, in fact the whole of X Sector is looking shiny and new. The trains loook all done up, the black of the track returns Oblivion to its dark and sinister look and its great to see the ride cars with bright orange restraints like back to when it first opened. Marvellous job Towers. I took Dan on a journey on Submission. It wasn't running both sides (dun,dun,dun) but really didn't need to. After some Smiler admiration we had a go on Spinball (10 minute queue), had a go on Squirrel Nutty (no queue) and went on a life changing ride on Riverbank Eye Spy where we witnessed a mallard raping his female friend. Not a great look. With two hours in the park completed and not a view of Nemesis and Air even had, it was time for lunch. We went to the Burger Kitchen in Cloud Cuckoo Land and whilst the food wasn't gourmet quality, it was as I expected it to be, fast food. The sit down out of the cold was nice to have had. We next ventured onto the skyride skyride skyride and off to Forbidden Valley. I'm liking the Smiler adverts, if only for their comic value. Nemesis Sub-Terra. Wow. The last time I'd been on it, back in March 2012, it was a hated attraction which I had really enjoyed. The changes they've made to it have allowed the ride to become a truly immersive experience and one which everyone on the ride genuinely fears. The effects, the videos, the lighting, the story is of such a high quality. In terms of dark rides in the UK, IMO it is only narrowly behind Hex. The only thing that lets it down is the end corridor with the actors needing gas masks. I don't think much of halloween mazes as it is so for me it feels tacked on and in terms of the actual story, is completely unnecessary and confused. The ride for me is enough. Nemesis and Air followed, their usual reliable selfs. Is it me or is Air running very well this year. It felt really smooth, forceful and graceful throughout, something I've never felt that often on it. It was on two trains but they had the third craft ready in the second station in case they needed. Definitly not today where at about 4 o clock, one train was going round with only two people on it. How often can you say you've seen that happen on a Sunday in open season? Nemesis was running as well as ever and we even managed to walk straight onto the front row at 4:20. So good. To complete our first cycle of the park we travelled onto Duel, Runaway Mine Train and Congo River Rapids. They were all their reliable selfs. We decided to have a look around Towers Street shop where the merchandise for the six major rollercoasters on park is really evident. Whilst Smiler has the majority of attention and according to staff is selling almost too well (struggling with demand is what I heard), the other rides are well served. Little resin replicas of Rita trains, Oblivion logo paper-weights, pin badges, ride trophies for Nemesis and Smiler, special edition shot glasses, some actually tasteful ride hoodies and shirts theres a very large selection to buy and I was very tempted. I settled for the Smiler bear which smells like strawberries. And so completes a perfect visit to the Towers. I'll probably never see the place as quiet as that again.

/\ Chinese Fireball

Thanks to Towers Nerd. Looks so good....

Completely blanked that one out. Woops.

Like the look of The Smilers merchandise based on pics from Towers Nerd.

INTO THE DANGER CAVE!!!! Hard to get much about what it feels like to be on it so based on the video I do feel a bit disheartened at the luck of effort to hide the sheds/animal enclosures and on the surface it looks like a little trip through the mud around the Surrey countryside. I wasn't expecting it to be just a radio playing, I thought it would feature the driver doing the talking like on Kilimanjaro Safari. I stopped watching at the cave bit, to avoid spoilers.

Many thanks to Thorpe Park and everyone on TPM for the meet yesterday. Whilst it was short notice it was great to see so many people there and the happiness despite the poor weather. It definitely set a high standard for my own Thorpe trips this year.

So had a few goes on The Swarms back and front rows last night. I am undecided on my preference. Whatever row, it gives you a solid, dependable ride so thats a positive and there is no way that viewing the rides backwards has in anyway ruined the experience. Back is definitely preferable in the rain though, the front is like riding through speeding bullets.

So yeah, went to Thorpe yesterday via South West Trains which I haven't done for a while. Got to Thorpe and was with Ian, Marc, Ricky and Smidget. Nemesis Inferno - They've done a fantastic job this year with, what budget they've got has been used well. Love the light changes and the return of the dispatch music. And then the return of all the mist effects, just brings Inferno above being just a bog-standard inverter and into something special. Easily the most improved ride at Thorpe this year. Saw: The Ride - Not too bad this time around. Didn't notice anything too spectacular. Slammer - Oh Slammer . Best ride of the year by far. Just by being open on the first days of season for the second year in a row. Bravo to Thorpe engineers on all their hard work. Colossus - Enjoyable ride on Colossus. It's second train seems to have returned from its little holiday and was chilling on the break run Lost City - Samurai, Rush, Vortex and Zodiac are all awful these days. Samurai was giving okayish rides but isn't designed for theme park service, Zodiac sounded ill and is alright, Rush was only giving us two high swings. On a quiet day like it was yesterday, would it have killed them for giving us longer rides. Vortex was appalling. If they ever have to decide between Vortex and Slammer, please scrap Vortex. It no longer serves its purpose with one sole top swing. All that build up to nothing. Quantum was amazing as per usual, the ride decided to go mad again. The park looked fresh with several areas repainted such as air gates and stations, buildings and areas. Reliability was also good with only Vortex breaking down whilst we were on it and every ride that was due to open, being open. All in all, a really great day at Thorpe. I just Thorpe they can carry this through the season.

The hell with that. I'd rather queue for the forward facing rows then put up with all the faff.

Unbelievable. It astounds me that someone could live in the 21st century and have such prehistoric viewpoints.

Sorry about that.

Make that two successful trips so far Mark

Frankie and Bennies? Better start selling my friends again.

Of the one I have ridden I thought it's powerful start was let down by its disappointing ending. That and it travelled through concrete troughs which I'm not much of a fan of.

Your wish is my command Josh C. I have to admit that coaster battles are difficult things to write. As you say each ride has its own different factors, different budgets, different goals and can be effected by weather, age of the attraction and even park efficiency. That is why I try to keep the rides fairly similar. As for the battle of the B&M inverts.. well I decided to just go for it and write a piece on Nemesis VS Katun. What with their placings in the Mitch Hawker poll, I thought it was an apt time to compare the worlds best inverters. http://mark2262.wordpress.com/2013/03/12/coaster-battle-2/ As always feedback is more then welcome.

I also went last season. Love Shambhala, such a fun ride.

An all expenses paid, three night stay in the Crash Pad

An all expenses paid three night stay in the Crash Pad

We've been through a period where very few rides at Thorpe Park and Chessington have been removed. From the list of rides in the poll, please select all the rides you have been fortunate to ride before their closures. I have kept this as Chessington and Thorpe Park as there are too many rides at Blackpool and Alton Towers that have been removed.

http://sfneonline.org/2013/03/05/six-flags-catapult-removed/ Just the confirmation of the end of Catapult for any doubters out there. It has been cut up and is likely to be heading to the scrap yard. Slammer is officially the most unique ride at Thorpe Park.

I love how you are planning all these meets for my weekends off work. I'm definitly this one, the last Chessington meet in 2011 was fantastic.

I truly admire Thorpes engineers on their determination to keep Slammer working.

I genuinely thought Depth Charge was on its way out so I'm a bit taken back that they've given it new boats.