Alton Towers Trip Reports

[Luke_A]

Yes, Duel had problems when we walked past, just thought it was about that time and yes I did see the Oblivion Breakdown, wasn't for long though, someone just had to go to the top and press some buttons by the looks of it.And no Hex I don't actually know why we didn't do it, My Sister didn't seem to keen about the idea that it 'pretends' you go upside down, but oh well, plenty of other times! But 6 rides on Oblivion was nice <3.

[Mark9]

Alton Towers - 19th April 2011Awesome trip today, one of the best for a very long time. Shared many of the hallmarks of the epic Chessington trip from last week. Excellent staff, Great people, Great weather and low queues. Only one bug bear which I will get to in a moment.Firstly, I've got to say I've had some of the best rides I've had for ages today on many of Alton's rides. Nemesis was stunning, absolutely stunning. I know its the old cliche that it gets faster every year, but my god! I came off with numb legs, I was blown away, it was fast, thrilling intense and B&M beauty all mixed into one grubby little alien in a hole package. Wonderful stuff. The Florida Dragons and Katun have a lot to live up to at this rate. Inferno had no chance, epic stuff.Air was okay, they seemed to be working bloody fast on their dispatches. Both stations were running and they were well ahead of themselves with trains ready to go as soon as possible. Duel was wonderful with many effects back and some sound effects returning. Had a great time.Two of the most memorable rides were Mine Train and Congo. The interactivity between these two rides is second to none and everyone comes off both rides with huge grins and a real sense of pleasure. I don't care if Mine Train's got slower, it has atmosphere in bucket-loads and was a favourite of everyone on todays trip. Onto Oblivion, it's sponsorship isn't as horrific as first thought to be honest. Can be easily ignored and un-noticed if you weren't looking for it. Now for the bug bear. Thirteen. Considering the awesome work seen on Air, RMT, Congo, Maurauders Mayhem and Oblivion, Thirteen staff could have really put a small black cloud over our day if guest services had not been able to pick up the pieces of their frankly rubbish operation.Firstly, if your ride breakdowns you do not play an announcement four times in around 40 minutes of downtime. Considering how quiet the speakers are for Thirteen and considering how ambigious the breakdown announcement actually is, it was no surprise that, actually no one in the queue knew what was going on. "Mystical disturbances" yeah, whatever.Secondly apart from the announcment of uselessness, there was no communication from Thirteen staff about anything that was going on or the situation. Was the ride going to open again? were they testing it? Were they taking trains off? The staff at their baggage point seemed more concerned with talking to each other, rather then actually talking to the queueline. Finally, when Thirteen did eventually reopen there was again no communication from the ride team. We only knew it was testing because some people in the queue started applauding. So we get to the merge point with fastrack, staff member has no completely abandoned his post. Great. We get into the station, staff don't seem particularly bothered about batching people properly instead just double, triple batching us all at rows. We get onto the ride and the staff member can't even be bothered to check my restraint. He instead moves his arm towards it then moves it away quickly away from it. I know my restraint is safe but that isn't the point at all. According to guest services a fire alarm went off. Did it burn the third train then because that had dissapeared to. It was just a rather bizarre thing to say as every other Alton Towers staff member had been excellent, efficient, hard working and more importantly friendly. So apart from the Thirteen situation, Alton provided an excellent day out with I'd say 95% of its rides really delivering the goods. Vastly superior trip to any from last year.

[AstroDan]

I agree that the Th13teen breakdown announcement is ambiguous. They need to re-record it with a clear "the ride has technical problems" - because at the moment "disturbances"... well, you'd be firgiven for presuming that was just part of the theme!The batching on Th13teen has got a little fraught this season. They do seem to be batching up to triple... I do agree that double batching is fine, but I don't really see the need for the triple batching. It just makes the whole area get very congested. Frustrating to say the least.Glad you had a good time, and great news about Air! For once, compliments for the throughputs!

[Fred]

Gotta love Air's station races. They've been doing them an awful lot recently.

[Mer]

Agree with Mark, was a brilliant day!Trip report for Alton Towers Tuesday 19th AprilSo, had a lovely 4am start, although I didn't actually get out of bed until Mark called me saying he and Ian were on their way to pick me up! Had a lot of food and sweets and energy drinks for the journey, fun times! We picked Tommy up from Watford and the journey up to Alton was fine, got there nice and early for the early rides.The monorail was quite amusing, we had the "Celebration train" with random bubble noises playing!First we headed to X Sector for Oblivion, which was walk on. Great first ride, very refreshing and a good wake-up! Sausage surprise on the drop too!Then we headed over to RITA (to get it out the way lol), the trick is to keep your head forward to avoid the pain of that first, silly corner! Next was Nemesis, still my favourite ride at Towers and probably my favourite ride overall. We got the back row which gave a pretty intense ride! No matter how many times I go on it (and regardless of where I sit), the intensity of it always gets me, especially the first corkscrew and that corner, the photo section...aaah!Then we headed to Duel, which I was quite excited about, not sure why, I just was! Was a fantastic ride, definitely better than Tomb due to the faster pace, although it does make it more challenging and for people like me who don't have much experience on these rides, it's not always a good thing! Although I did get a better score than I did on Tomb at the Chessie meet. Also the effects were brilliant, I jumped so much! I probably jumped more in there than all the times I've been in all the Thorpe mazes put together! Absolutely love it!Next up was Runaway Mine Train, great, fun ride, great interacting staff.The others were starting to get hungry but I wasn't, so we decided to do the Flume, as we thought the long ride time may give me more time to become hungry =P Not much to say, a good laugh but it's so bumpy!Then I was feeling hungry! Success! So we headed to the Coutyard and all ended up having Lattice Fries, om nom nom.Headed towards the Dark Forest and did Hex. We were in a good group of people, most of them interesting in the storyline which was good, and they loved the ride! Then we did Th13teen which was about a 30 minute queue. This was my second time ever on it, and we sat at the front, which obviously gives better views but makes the first drop pretty dull (the last time I went on was near the back and my stomach did go over a bit at the bottom of the drop!). The drop in the tunnel didn't get me as much either. The best bit is clearly the launch into the station ;)Headed back to Forbidden Valley for more Nemesis action, but riding Blade beforehand. Bumpy, wobbly Blade. Lol.This time we rode Nemesis at the front, which was a fab view and in some ways felt more intense than the back row. After the first corkscrew, up unti after the photo, I was greying out pretty badly! And my legs...aah! So crazy. Aaaah love love love it! :DRode Duel again, this time I sat on the left which didn't seem as jumpy as the right hand side, and the trigger on my blaster was really stiff so I got a naff score, grr! And very painful fingers/wrist.It was warming up, the sun was shining, so obviously it was time for Congo River Rapids! The queue looked long but was very fast moving and pleasant in the sunshine. The ride was brilliant! We were sat with a mum and her son and daughter, which was nice, and the ride was such a laugh. Lots of big waves, which mainly got Ian, though I had a lot down my back! Then an enormous wave hit the mum, which we could all see coming, it was like it was in slow motion! But she and her children were laughing and really enjoying it, we all couldn't stop laughing...brilliant!Then we did RMT again, bit of a bigger queue but again, not too bad, can't remember exactly but definitely no more than 30 mins. Had a great ride, random poking going on, random photo, higih fiving staff as we went through the station, and the interaction between Congo in the tunnel, everyone waving and cheering at each other! We then headed over to Mutiny Bay for Marauders Mayhem, which Ian sat out. The spin on this ride is far superior to Thorpe's Storm In A Teacup. We had such a laugh on this ride, I could hardly breathe!Met up with Ian at the Courtyard and the Golden Parrot pirate show was just finishing. What we saw looked good for its target audience, and had some good fire and water effects. I think it's great that Alton does these shows, the small bit I saw I found enjoyable, because I know the children and families will enjoy it, and I love how the park puts the effort in :DUnfortunately this good mood soon dissolved, when we queued for Th13teen. The pre-recorded breakdown announcement played in the queueline, and we were expecting the operator to make one, as it was barely audible and as others said, is ambiguous. But no, we didn't hear anything, just more pre-recorded announcements. No staff communication whatsoever. Grr! Eventually the ride started again, and we eventually got on. No batching in the station, lol. And as Mark said, his lapbar was for some odd reason, not checked, but the attendant went to check it. Strange indeed. We all tried to look moody on the photo but none of really looked it, I know I was trying not to laugh!So we headed over to Sonic Spinball and saw the ridiculously big queue, which prompted us to go to Guest Services and have a good old moan! Well, we mentioned the abysmal staff at Th13teen and added at the end that we really wanted to ride Sonic but due to Th13teen (if we'd had announcements from the op we would have left the queue), we wouldn't have time...so got ourselves a priority pass. I hate saying it like that, but why should I feel bad? Staff failed to do their job, which made us unhappy and caused us to waste time, so it's only fair we get compensated tbh.Luckily our ride on Spinball was good! We got to the top of the lift hill when Ian said "I hope this spins" (and there's me going "Sausage Surprise!")...and the moment we drop, wow, we DID spin! Woop! Still, Fury is better.Jumped on the Monorail, this time in a Splash Landings themed train. I was in fits of laughter at the Caribbean guy who talks! We went to the Splash Landings bar for a drink and a well-earned chill, it was a shame we couldn't stay over. I love that hotel, the Caribbean atmosphere, the music, the view of Cariba Creek...eee! Definitely my best ever Alton Towers trip! Lots of laughs and wasn't actually that busy, our second ride on Nemesis was a 20 minute queue!Then, sadly, it was time to leave. Stopped off for McDonalds, which was pretty busy, probably Alton guests! Journey back was fine, just all very tired. Once again, thank you to Mark for picking me up and driving to and from Towers, and to Ian for dropping me off home =)Infact, thank you to all three of you for such an awesome, brilliant, fantastic, fun, hilarious time! I have been feeling so happy recently, it may just be the anti-depressants, but seeing you TPM peeps cheers me up so much, and I hate leaving you all! Hopefully will see people again soon!

[Tom]

My trip report:Epic.I was the reason we spun on Spinball, but of course Fury is better.Thanks for the lifts and the drops.Just very happy all day.

[Deleted Users]

Wish I wasn't stuck in bournemouth for this Sounds like you had a great time though!

[Mer]

Mark9's Alton Towers Birthday Weekend CelebrationFriday 10thHeaded up to Towers on Friday 10th. Me and Ian met up with Mark, Chris, Alex and Sophie in Tesco, wahey! Went for noms at a pub nearby, then headed off to Splash Landings hotel I absolutely love it there, the theming, music, smells...everything! Such a brilliant atmosphere! They now have a giant deck chair by the windows and there was a character there with some children. The simple things like that are one of the many reasons I love Alton so much!We did think about swimming but it was too late obviously, and not everyone had their swimming stuff.Checked into our rooms, and discovered we had a lovely view of the outside pools, mmm! Chilled, had drinks, played Top Trumps...headed down to the awesome bar...had some gorrrgeous cocktails! I think we would all recommend the Woo Woo! As for the blue vodka slushy thing...it was tasty (from what I can remember!) but pretty strong. Needless to say, drunk times! Saturday 11thChecked out of the hotel, sad times. Headed for the monorail, to discover a never ending queue, so we walked to the park.Ride count:Oblivion, a very refreshing start to the day and a good wake-up for a hangover! I never get bored of it, gotta love that drop!Headed to the Flume for a more relaxing start to the day, not much of a queue. Not much to say about the ride really, apart from numerous attempts to take photos due to trees constantly getting in the way! And I got very wet somehow!Next up was Congo, as always a great laugh and again, got soaked. Got a good on ride photo!It was then time for RMT, another great ride for interaction, love the tunnel where you go past Congo! I was rather amused by a man infront of us who looked like Rolf Harris And turning around onride to look at him and watch his hair go flying...Now it was time for NEMESIIIIIS! Great ride as always, queue was about 30 mins. And this time I didn't actually grey out! I actually found it quite bumpy/head-banging, but it didn't give me a hurrendous headache or make me feel like I was going to have permanent brain damage *cough*SAW*cough* so it's al good =)Next it was time for Air, and for the first time in my experiences there, it had the extensions open! I don't know what one is the first, second etc, but the one that goes left and up/down hill was open when we joined, then they opened another extension! It wasn't too bad though, I felt quite chilled in the queueline. The dispatching etc in both stations was actually good and fast too, woo! Good ride on it, although my hair got in my face like it always does! The photo was just great, I looked like Cousin It!Then on the way to Pizza Pasta we did Duel! Yaaay! Definitely in my top 3 of favourite Alton rides. Theming, music, everything. And yes, I jumped at those men again! I focused more on the theming for a change and I just love it! Nommed at Pizza Pasta, then let our food go down in the long Th13teen queue. What can I say about the ride? Hmmm...it's just...yeah. It's aimed at families I know, but there's just something about it which is just...lol!W were going to do RITA but there was a huuuuuge queue so we headed to Oblivion, thinking of coming back to it, but by the time we'd done Oblivion it was getting late and we were getting tired.So yeah, last ride was Oblivion, good fun and a great way to end a brilliant day. Looked at the walkabout photo that was taken in the morning, bought them, went to Towers Trading - shopping time! I love Alton and really wanted a good browse at the merchandise, and to treat myself. They have some great stuff in there, really love how the merchandise is improving across Merlin parks this year. I won't go on too long but I'm sure you will all see for yourselves when you go, it really is a great shop!But...wow, it was HECTIC! That was the only negative of my day, the packed shop. People don't look where they're going either or don't move when you politely ask them, grr!Anyway, after much browsing, grr-ing, pushing and shoving, being pushed and shoved, I bought...Oblivion BearOblivion Pen.Alton Towers keyring setAlton Towers pin badgeOblivion hoodyAlton Towers snow globe.Snow globe:All I'll say is got to love Annual Pass discount!Headed to the monorail, there was a 15-20 minute queue but none of us had the energy to walk and our feet were hurting. I got my wish; we had the Splash Landings train. Had a giggle at the voice over man and his amazing Caribbean accent!Chilled at the Alton Towers Hotel bar, a well-needed sit down! Then the entertainment started...hmm. It's great they do it of course, but it was awkward as it wasn't busy and we just wanted to relax! Headed off to get noms, with a stop to Tesco first, for snacks. Ian went and got painkillers and drove to Wetherspoons as he wasn't up to walking. Alex had issues with the self serve checkout, then Chris had fun with the recycling machine, which made some interesting noises!Went to Spoons, love the cheap food there! Had spicy noodles which were yummy and a glass of wine, mwuhaha.Then it was dessert time. Well, when Ian earlier on left Tescos and didn't want to walk...he was actually buying a surprise birthday cake for the Lord of the Nines and arranging with Spoons for them to bring it out with ice cream! How nice! The staff were great about it all too.Needless to say, we were all stuffed after all that food! Headed off to Travelodge, checked in, chilled out, had some drinks and played Disney Monopoly. Fun times!Sunday 12thAfter some delay with people getting ready on time, we FINALLY left for our McDonalds breakfast. The only problem? It was raining. And it was horrible, non-stop rain. So unfortunately, we decided against a second day at Towers. Which I agree with as it is horrible, but it's a shame too, it's nice to get to do 2 days on park.Had a good journey home, although I didn't want to leave!Thank you to Ian for picking me up and Mark for dropping me off home ;)Infact thanks to everyone for such a fun weekend! Love you all <3

[Fred]

Sounds like a brilliant weekend .With air - you're lucky when you visit then! 4 short (the one you explained was open) is almost always open apart from right at start and end of days. Thats 40min queue full. To experience less than that on your visits before is.. just... lucky

[Mer]

^^ Really? ;)Usually when I go I just go in, turn right etc, go along, and either carry on to the right hand station or left and up the stairs to the other one, if that makes sense

[Fred]

Yeah, queue to the entrance with only area 3 open is only 20mins. And air is pretty much always over 20mins.

[Mark9]

Hey Hey, another Alton Towers trip report involving me. Yay Ok, so basically went to Alton Towers on Saturday. Despite the gate figures being apparently the lowest since the dawn of time this season, the park was surprisingly busy.More importantly, I want to start this trip report talking about Hex. That ride is awesome, genuinely excellent. In fact, I'm putting it out there, the best dark ride and themed experience in this country. It is so genuinely atmospheric and grand and just. yeah I know most people know about Hex but it is just not talked about enough. Here is a ride and a story that only Alton Towers can do and it's pure genius. I came off wowed. Takes a lot these days.The next best thing was the breakfast on Towers Street. I love it and for only £4.00 it was well worth the money. Lovely stuff to and I've decided how that is how I want to start every trip to Alton Towers, with a nice breakfast. After my last trip I've decided Alton is a park of two halves. The Forbidden Valley, Gloomy Wood and Katanga Canyon side is fantastic. It saw the best side of Tussauds and has rides that stand the test of time. Runaway, Nemesis, Duel and Air, are wonderful, brilliant rides.And there's the other side, absolutelly dismal. I like Hex and Oblivion but I couldn't give a toss if I rode Rita, Charlie, Submission, Enterprise, Spinball or Thirteen. Each one is just so bland and useless. Queuing 60 minutes for Rita? 70 for Spinball? No thank you. The B&M's really save Alton Towers for me these days. Nemesis is just sex in rollercoaster form. So what can you make of this trip report. I enjoyed my trip but so many rides these days in the park are on my can't be bothered to go on list I'm starting to wonder why I go.

[Fred]

Despite the gate figures being apparently the lowest since the dawn of time this season, the park was surprisingly busy.

I don't understand this, I think it's just TowersTimes just using this without any facts really .The new marketing thingy they're starting is interesting. Big 5 coasters and the marketing is about voting for your favourite. You really do show the massive difference between the B&Ms and the two intamin coasters!

[Benin]

You really do show the massive difference between the two B&Ms and the two intamin coasters!

I do hope you mean Forbidden Valleys B&Ms, otherwise someone needs to look behind the sofa for a missing coaster...

[AstroDan]

I don't understand this, I think it's just TowersTimes just using this without any facts really .

Alton Towers is categorically having a poor season (thus far). I can't realy go into detail, but there are sufficient sources knocking about that comfirm this! This isn't to say there haven't been busy days, there have - but not as busy as their budgets were expecting.

[Fred]

The only time when it's been different was over easter - due to the lack of overlap with school holidays there, which messed things up a bit. That's knocking around in solid written proof.Other than that, it's no different really. Only difference is they increased the staffing budgets from "smalls" that they had last year to no less than "mediums" since easter.

[AstroDan]

Are you saying that the park is maintaining the visitor figures of last year? I am not quite sure if you're agreeing or disagreeing that it's quieter than last season.

[Fred]

I'm agreeing that it's quieter, which overall they expected (slightly below 2010 is the official expectation), it's just nowhere near as dramatic as TTF people want to believe.

[Paul]

After a LONG anticipated visit to Alton Towers this year after waiting 7 years, I've got to say, I was slightly disappointed. I can't seem to put my finger exactly on why, but I just prefer Chessington as a park, and prefer my days there than I did at Alton. I was also disappointed by the waterpark, it just seemed to lack something.

[James6]

The waterpark sucks, not gonna lie, was bored after about half an hour because of the fact there is one decent slide.A huge shame to hear you had a dissapointing trip though

[AstroDan]

I can't say I would comprehend CWOA being better than Alton. If you're a family, probably yes. But as someone who wants thrills and spills in equal measure, Alton is superior.The Waterpark is just a cash cow. It's very well themed but has had nil investment in nigh on 9 years.

[Paul]

The waterpark sucks, not gonna lie, was bored after about half an hour because of the fact there is one decent slide.A huge shame to hear you had a dissapointing trip though

I just think that in all that time leading up to the trip I had built up my expectations so high, that when I arrived I think I was just expecting too much.

[Benin]

Interested to hear in much more detail what you thought/did at the park...

[Paul]

I'll do a full report tomorrow

[thorpeparkjack]

So finally it was time for the trip I had been looking forward to for so long. However the morning was just a nightmare. First of all my 5.30 alarm decided not to go off resulting in a last minute panic with us only just making the 6.36 stopper from Woking to Waterloo. It then went from bad to worse as when we departed the train at Vauxhall, I stupidly left my bag on the train. I went after it but it was nowhere to be seen. Thats a good camera and around 200 quids worth of stuff gone. Then our Virgin Train to Stoke departed 25 minutes late due to 'operational difficulties'. But somehow I managed to pull myself together. I thought to myself - it doesn't matter - I am on the way to the best theme park in the UK, one of my favorite places EVER. My positively minded attitude must of impressed 'god' because our train made up time, our Taxi was already at the station and we managed to dump our bags at the wonderful Malthouse B&B and get to the park by just after 11. Now I'm not going into a detailed 'we did that then we did that' report for all four days, I just want to make some overall comments. Firstly the rides themselves. My favorite still is Air. It is simply majestic, despite it's lack of any theme I still enjoy the experience immensely. However, It would be better if they did open the right handed station earlier in the day before the line got longer. Nemesis. Rose into my number two spot after this short break. It was running pretty great. I had never really appreciated Nemesis before this trip and always thought it was 'over hyped'. Although that is still the case to a certain extent, I do understand where people are coming from now. The theme, the setting, the intensity are all brilliant. And if Nemesis didn't lose speed through the overbank and the last turn, I'm sure it would be my number one. Rita. I have always rated this off the shelf Intamin launcher, and this remains the case. The layout is more interesting that Stealth and the ride really does have some ejector airtime. It 'kind of' fits in with the new area, much better than it did in UG land. Oblivion is a one trick pony, but the trick is still as good as ever and the theme is unique and in my opinion enhances the ride experience significantly. I love the drum and bass in the station and that drop still packs a punch. They need to stop stacking the shuttles though, the wait to get back into the station is about 100 times longer than the experience itself. Th13teen is special. The ride station is a masterpiece (minus the celing) and I love the ride's atmosphere and theme. The outdoor section is fun, BUT PLEASE ALTON REMOVE THOSE TRIMS. The trim on the main drop and just after the carousel turn are pathetic and without them the ride would be improved a million times. The last twisty turn dropy thing is taken so slowly that it becomes a pointless element. Still love it though. Hex just gets better and better. It is one of the best attractions on offer at the towers and it saddens me that so many people visit Alton without riding it. It one of, if not the only experience that still retains that bit of 'Alton Magic' for me. It is a spooky, epic and mysterious tale. LOVE IT. Other attractions I enjoyed during my break were Congo River Rapids, Duel and the Mine Train. Katanga is without a doubt my favorite themed area in the park. It works so well and the interaction between the Mine Train and Rapids is fantastic. Also, with all you can eat Pizza, what more could you want!? The flume is fun, but is really old and decaying now. It needs some sort of investment and soon. I am now going to comment on the park as a whole. To be honest, I think it is the fact that I am now visiting the park more frequently the 'Alton magic' is slowly starting to fade. I think it must be that more than the park itself, unless anyone else has had similar experiences over the past year or two? So although I really did have fun during my visit, I won't be rushing back so soon. Not because I didn't enjoy myself, but so that next time I go I will enjoy myself to the same level. On an additional note I just want to comment on Alton's staff. Just brilliant. Words cannot describe how good they were for 4 whole days. Everyone was so friendly, helpful and welcoming. THANK YOU. If anyone is looking for a local B&B in Alton whilst visiting the Towers I would highly recommend the Malthouse. I can't fault the place. The people were so friendly, the breakfast was brilliant it just had everything you could ask for. Thank you for reading guys.