Unpopular Opinions

[Mark9]

Of the 11 Gerstlauers I've ridden I only dislike Saw. That's a pretty good hit rate in my book. For Intamin, for them to be right is completely luck of the draw. For now they are being completely destroyed by the Mack equivalent which provides a smoother, more reliable experience. And thats the thing really, whilst B&M are smooth, Vekoma are adaptable, Mack are technical perfectionists and Gerstlauer are daring, Intamin don't provide anything that the others don't do better IMO.

 

Intamin probably get things a bit more right now because they have far less projects to build. Back in the 00's they were building rides left right and centre but now the accelerator boom has ended they do less and less big projects.

[TPC]

Saw is a bit rough, but is it really as rough as everyone makes it out to be? To be honest, I found it just as rattley as inferno and the swarm nearer the back of the train. If anything, it adds to the theme of torture. Trust me, I've done a lot rougher rides. Wild Maus XXL was painful, Stampida red made me feel like I was about to die and dragon khan simply is rough, no question or doubt!

[TarinMaria]

Tornado at M&D's is actually fab.
Oh, it's rough, it bruised me, but I went on it again, it's insanely designed, you can only marvel at it's craziness.

[Matt 236]

Mack is my favourite of the big five with B&M followed by Intamin then Vekoma snd then Gerstlauer last.

 

There’s traits I generally love of all these companies. Mack’s Innovative attitude, B&M’s perfection, Intamin’s daring traits, Vekoma’s progression from rough to smooth and Gerstlauer’s versatility (and often better for smaller parks). Each manufacturer has made jewels and flops.

 

Saw for me is probably my least favourite Gerstlauer. Think I need to do more non UK gersts!

 

Anyway, back on topic!

 

I find Colossus more uncomfortable than Furious Baco 

[Charlesberg]

1 hour ago, Timber Creek said:

I find Colossus more uncomfortable than Furious Baco 

I find Furius Baco uncomfortable but fun. Colossus on the other hand is just uncomfortable and certainly not fun.

[MysticOrb]

I know, that this is a very unpopular opinion, but I didn’t find Juvelen enjoyable at all. Your thighs are literally crushed during the banked turns, it provides little to no airtime (at least, that was what it felt like, when I rode it last year; maybe I just got a bad ride, idk) and I find the layout on these kind of coasters very boring. Piraten was astounding, though – by far the best ride in the park

[Coaster]

Not sure if this is an unpopular opinion or not, but given the choice I would rather still have Wild Mouse and no Icon.

[Mark9]

8 hours ago, MysticOrb said:

I know, that this is a very unpopular opinion, but I didn’t find Juvelen enjoyable at all. Your thighs are literally crushed during the banked turns, it provides little to no airtime (at least, that was what it felt like, when I rode it last year; maybe I just got a bad ride, idk) and I find the layout on these kind of coasters very boring. Piraten was astounding, though – by far the best ride in the park

 

5 hours ago, Coaster said:

Not sure if this is an unpopular opinion or not, but given the choice I would rather still have Wild Mouse and no Icon.

 

 

 

These two are the gold standard in unpopular opinions. 

[JoshC.]

On 27/11/2016 at 8:08 PM, BaronC. said:

Ipeaking of Phantasia, I think Mystery Castle is pretty naff as a ride.  Theming is good, actual ride is bad.

 

I got a lot of hate on Twitter for saying this after riding again at the weekend, so I'm posting it again.

 

As a ride, Mystery Castle is just so dull.  The up part is meh, the down part is meh, the theatrical side of it after the ride starts (lights on a ceiling plus a crash of thunder!!) does nothing for me.  It's such a shame, as the queue and build up to it are decent, but the ride, are really attraction as a whole, is just bad.

 

I literally walked straight through the queue and walked straight on and I still feel like I wasted time doing it.

[Benin]

 

[OlivusPrime]

Put me in the minority, but I didn't see what the fuss was all about regarding Blue Fire. It's a great launched coaster with plenty of airtime etc. etc., but not exceptional. The layout isn't anything extraordinary and the theme gives little pause for thought. Having only ridden Hollywood's Revenge of the Mummy in the States, it's what I imagine a lot of the enormous chart-topping coasters over there are like - quite physically thrilling, but without much structure or detail otherwise.

[Mark9]

I don't know why but I find the people who moan on twitter at Towers really funny. Some of them I understand, but the ones that only get on two rides in 6/7 hours really crack me up. Literally, what were you doing with your day.

[Coaster]

54 minutes ago, Mark9 said:

I don't know why but I find the people who moan on twitter at Towers really funny. Some of them I understand, but the ones that only get on two rides in 6/7 hours really crack me up. Literally, what were you doing with your day.

Plausible if they were waiting for Wicker Man, I've a friend who joined the queue at 9:30am and didn't get off until gone 2pm due to all the breakdowns.

[Mega-Lite]

1 hour ago, Mark9 said:

I don't know why but I find the people who moan on twitter at Towers really funny. Some of them I understand, but the ones that only get on two rides in 6/7 hours really crack me up. Literally, what were you doing with your day.

Getting to the park at half 9, queuing 30 minutes for the monorail, then queuing over 30 minutes to buy tickets because the idiots have removed all their ticket booths, then queuing 20 minutes to go through the turnstiles.

 

So it's now give or take 11am.

 

Wait outside Wicker Man for 20 minutes watching it testing, then the queue opens and you join the back of an almost 2 hour queue. You get to almost the pre show batch point then the coaster breaks down. Despite the ride dying at 1pm, they leave you standing there for 50 minutes, then decide to evac the queue. Get given priority passes.

 

It's now 2pm and you're hungry, of course.

 

Walk to Wood Cutters to be presented with a rabble that refuses to be roused, while a staff member screams, "s'gonna be a wait for tables lads". F**k this, walk to Burger Kitchen to eat average burgers and awful fries.

 

Almost 3 now and it's time for Hex, all the worries float away as you enjoy the UK's best dark ride (that isn't called Valhalla). 1 ride down boys.

 

Walk to Smiler, it's walk on, but you notice on the app that Wicker Man is now reopen. Let's get fruity.

 

20 minute fast track queue for Wicker Man, then it breaks down for 10 minutes, but you finally get on it and it's lovely.

 

Holy crap it's half 3 now and I've been on 2 rides!

 

Head back to walk on Smiler, it's riding well! 3 rides.

 

It's actually against the law to go to Alton Towers and not ride Nemesis, offenders will be blacklisted. Ride Duel on route and be bitterly disappointed by the "refurb". 4 rides.

 

Nemesis is running 1 train and it's now 4:20 with a 5pm close.

 

Leave Nemesis (5 rides) at 4:55 and run from Forbidden Valley to Wicker Man, get in the queue with seconds to spare, have an even better 2nd lap and leave the park at 6:30pm with 6 rides to your day.

 

That's an answer to Mark's question and an above average (the average is that bad these days) trip report from my last visit. Plus I'm a shameless bastard who doesn't mind running and looking a fool. I spoke to a friendly bloke in the Nemesis queue who didn't plan to run after his lap and had only managed 3 rides previously because he let his son have his Wicker Man priority pass.

 

If it wasn't for this experience (I had a good time either way and have done the park enough to not care anymore) I'd be like you and be dismissive, but no it does happen and if it was your first visit to the park it must suck hard.

[Mark9]

 

-> Don't queue for the monorail, walk to the entrance. Save 20 minutes

-> Buy tickets online, print ticket out at home. Save 30 minutes

-> Don't head to the new ride straight away. Instead hit Oblivion, The Smiler, Rita, Thirteen. Save 3 hours and ten minutes

->Head to Wicker Man later on when the queue is likely to be lower. You haven't then only got on two rides, you've managed to hit at least four of the major rollercoasters, probably got on Nemesis just as it opens, saving a 35 minute queue and have probably managed to get in Duel, Rapids and the Mine Train because you didn't just head to the new thing, remembered its still going to be there 6 hours later after you've entered the park and woah and betide, managed to get on more then two rides, haven't had to go on Twitter to moan at the Towers team and had a much better day because you haven't been following the crowds all day.

 

Time saved, 4 hours and 35 minutes. This is how Mega-Lite should have gone around the theme park that day.

[Coaster]

In fairness, the majority of coasters don't open until 11 so Wicker Man is naturally the first ride people come to, terrible planning from Alton really.

 

Hardly the sign of a decent park either when you have to go round it in a particular way in order to get on any rides, where's the fun in that?

[Mega-Lite]

21 hours ago, Mark9 said:

 

-> Don't queue for the monorail, walk to the entrance. Save 20 minutes

-> Buy tickets online, print ticket out at home. Save 30 minutes

-> Don't head to the new ride straight away. Instead hit Oblivion, The Smiler, Rita, Thirteen. Save 3 hours and ten minutes

->Head to Wicker Man later on when the queue is likely to be lower. You haven't then only got on two rides, you've managed to hit at least four of the major rollercoasters, probably got on Nemesis just as it opens, saving a 35 minute queue and have probably managed to get in Duel, Rapids and the Mine Train because you didn't just head to the new thing, remembered its still going to be there 6 hours later after you've entered the park and woah and betide, managed to get on more then two rides, haven't had to go on Twitter to moan at the Towers team and had a much better day because you haven't been following the crowds all day.

 

Time saved, 4 hours and 35 minutes. This is how Mega-Lite should have gone around the theme park that day.

No mate...

 

Like always you've completely missed the point again, but I'll help you out, I'm nice like that.

 

I was giving an example of how my day played out, a day in which I wasn't rushing and was only really there for the Wicker Man. The entire point of my post, was to show, it is infact possible to leave Alton Towers with not much above 2 rides to your day. As I said before, I spoke to a member of the GP who was having an even less successful day, a man who wasn't just there for Wicker Man, a man who paid full price to get in, a man I'm sure would love to hear he's doing it wrong from someone on the internet who didn't even bother reading the full post.

 

As for your plan.

 

I'd rather not walk to the entrance and use up most of my energy before the day has already started, done it once before (didn't like it) and I wasn't in a rush on this day. Most of the GP automatically assume they have to use the monorail anyway, so we'll just write this one off.

 

I have an Annual Pass (for now anyway) and could have just slithered in, but my brother needed to pick up his cheapo annual pass ticket (which you can't print at home, as they need to see me and my pass as proof), so your logic is make my brother pay more just to get on more rides in a park I've done hundreds of times? Judging by the queues, 40% or so of the GP buy/collect their tickets on the day, so another mute point.

 

Smiler had a 90 minute queue at opening (I've ridden it many times before so f**k that, also I got it walk on later). Rita, Nemesis, Craplactica & Thirteen weren't open yet. Oblivion and Spinball are crap. Wicker Man is what I came for and because it's the new hip thing, it's what most of the GP head to first.

 

Wicker Man was up and down like crazy throughout the day, if I followed your plan I'd almost certainly not have got to ride it twice, this was the ride I went for, so I made the right decision I think. 

 

Where in your master plan did you factor in an almost 3 hour unplanned breakdown and evac for Wicker Man? Alot of people were in that queue and lost almost 3 hours of their day, I guess they should be punished for doing it wrong?

 

Get off your high horse and put yourself in the shoes of those there on the day before making fruitless comments about how everyone was doing it wrong...

[Benin]

Problems with ride count? Ride Mauraders Mayhem and Heave Ho...

 

Doubt most people would go with an opinion of "that ride is crap, won't ride it" either...

 

Would wager that a lot of the queues for tickets are down to poor staffing levels, plus being unable to organise a drinking session in a brewery... 

 

There are plenty of ways for the standard guest to plan their day far more efficiently for any park though... Nothing wrong with that viewpoint, it ranges from people arriving at 12 on the busiest day of the season to those buying Platinum Fastrack when there's no queues...

[Mark9]

2 hours ago, Coaster said:

In fairness, the majority of coasters don't open until 11 so Wicker Man is naturally the first ride people come to, terrible planning from Alton really.

 

Hardly the sign of a decent park either when you have to go round it in a particular way in order to get on any rides, where's the fun in that?

 

Don't ever go to a Disney park my friend. Going to any Disney World park involves planning where you are going to eat 6 months in advance, what fast passes you want to book 3 months in advance which means knowing what parks you are going to be doing 6 months before you get to them. Besides, the people who don't go a particular way around a theme park, like the ones you describe, aren't exactly having fun with their 2 rides are they. A little planning goes a long way.

 

 

[Coaster]

13 minutes ago, Mark9 said:

 

Don't ever go to a Disney park my friend. Going to any Disney World park involves planning where you are going to eat 6 months in advance, what fast passes you want to book 3 months in advance which means knowing what parks you are going to be doing 6 months before you get to them. Besides, the people who don't go a particular way around a theme park, like the ones you describe, aren't exactly having fun with their 2 rides are they. A little planning goes a long way.

 

 

My point is that you shouldn't HAVE to go a particular way around the park in order to achieve more than 2 rides in a day.  Whilst planning your day will of course mean you get on more rides, it's pretty shocking on Alton's part that people are coming away having only been on a handful of rides in the day.

[JoshC.]

But anyone can visit any park in the world and only come away by going on a handful of rides.  Remember last year when Legoland quoted their official park data as showing that guests, on average, go on 5 - FIVE - rides in a day (and that people are content with that number).

 

If you want to maximize the number of (different) rides you get on one day, you have to do a bit of forward planning.  And, by and large for basically any park, there's usually one certain way (or two, depending on size of park) that you can do that.

 

 

I tend to find the ones who get in two rides in a standard day are the ones who faff about for 30 minutes deciding where to have lunch after deciding 'we're having lunch', spend an hour eating lunch, walk all the way round the park looking for one ride when it was right next to them, etc.  No wonder you only got two rides when you spend half the time treating the park like a shopping centre.

[Marc]

Whilst I can see it’s possible if absolutely everything went against you, you’d have to be incredibly unlucky to manage just 2 rides in a full day at towers, even with the staggered opening of the coasters.

 

As for the comment of “the man” man who paid full price to get in, that means he has a season pass and can return all season for what will no doubt be a more successful trip!

[JoshuaA]

 

I think planning and preparation is great until every ride you go-to breaks down.. Luck is a massive factor I think when it comes to ride-counts, as you can plan all you like but you never know when a ride is gonna breakdown and how long it will be down for.

 

For example the other day in Thorpe I was hanging around Stealth (having a bite to eat) which was down for quite a few hours. Just after I finished eating the ride was back up and I was exactly at the right place at the right time so I got on Stealth walk-on, easy. This wasn't planning, pure luck.

 

Though obviously good operations and reliable rides (Europa) usually put the luck much more in your favor.

[Mega-Lite]

1 hour ago, JoshuaA said:

Just after I finished eating the ride was back up and I was exactly at the right place at the right time so I got on Stealth walk-on, easy.

Riding a roller coaster just after eating, those were the days!

[Mark9]

9 hours ago, Coaster said:

My point is that you shouldn't HAVE to go a particular way around the park in order to achieve more than 2 rides in a day.  Whilst planning your day will of course mean you get on more rides, it's pretty shocking on Alton's part that people are coming away having only been on a handful of rides in the day.

 

I get your point. You don't have to actually plan each day in minute detail though, I'm saying, actually take a logical way through the park. I still maintain its absurd people are only managing two rides though. They are just to using their time well IMO.