Nemesis

[Inferno]

Ahh great!  That’s good news to see that making a comeback!

I love that it’s also the usual pink rather than blood red 😂

[Benin]

Given that an image like this would be everywhere else right now I'm not exactly on the side of belief here.

[JoshC.]

This is a photoshop, along with the poster's other post in the Hyperia thread. 

 

@towersnurd we are all for people sharing their thoughts of how they want things to look, and sharing photoshopped images. But please make sure you say this.

If these aren't your photos then link where you found them.

[Mattgwise]

Clearly fake, but that said... 

 

Red river Birmingham

 

😂

 

 

[Inferno]

🤦‍♂️

[Benin]

 

 

She's back on Saturday.

 

 

[Mark9]

OH WE ARE SO BACK. 

 

 

[Cal]

Looks stunning. Actually quite like the changes they've made, the new soundtrack sounds nice 

 

Didn't bother with Towers all of last season but I'll be there asap for this alone

[Benin]

Press night tonight with spoilers abound.

 

Looks great though. Gonna be a long week to wait.

[Cornflakes]

Have some in-depth thoughts about Nemesis Reborn and the new Forbidden Valley, entirely about the new theming, as you all know the ride itself is excellent - It’s Nemesis!

Been looking forward to this a lot, but had some reservations regarding Forbidden Valley and its theming, I do think it’s a real shame that Forbidden Valley has lost its Post Apocalyptic, Mad Max-y vibe, but what’s been done with the new theme is - regardless of personal taste - very impressive.

Almost every major set piece moves, every set piece has sound, the station and shop have their own small show sequences, the theming is dynamic in a way that Merlin hasn’t really attempted before. The area makes you feel like you’re in a bombastic monster movie, if old Forbidden Valley was about exploring where an event had happened, New is about seeing it, hearing it, and feeling it happen. This whole project feels like Merlin’s first step into the modern era of theme parks, if this is the new quality bar for Merlin there’s a lot to be excited about.

Towers' continual commitment to street theatre helps the area shine as well. I’m not under the illusion there will be this many characters out all the time, but knowing you’ll see at least one of them is a lot of fun and helps the area feel alive. I’m particularly fond of the Mushroom Cloud Tour Guide, hope you find your bus king!

This isn’t to say everything’s perfect of course, the “school perimeter” fencing is ugly and the gun in the queue line screams “We tried to move the old one but it fell apart, so we threw this together” But what’s wrong is pretty minor and fixable, after seeing the tweaks Alton Manor got last year I wouldn’t be surprised if we *actually* saw this stuff worked on.

But yeah, really impressed with it all, Forbidden Valley truly feels like it belongs to Nemesis again. I’m looking forward to spending more time in the area throughout the year and seeing how it evolves over the coming years, they cooked!

[Inferno]

I haven’t been yet - going next month - but everything I’ve seen looks incredible.

 

I love a good dispatch sequence and this one looks fab. The whole station interior looks extremely good!! A lot better than the old one with the dreadful audio.

 

The eye is pretty cool.  Can anyone confirm what it actually does?

I've seen that it closes (Nemesis sleeps) when a train is not going round, ‘looks’ to the right when a train leaves the station to watch it going up the lift, and “shakes” and roars when it goes over the station - but does it also follow the train around the track or do anything else? I’m fascinated with it to be honest - think it’s great what they’ve done with it and it really does set the bar high for future projects 

[Mark9]

10 hours ago, Inferno said:

I haven’t been yet - going next month - but everything I’ve seen looks incredible.

 

I love a good dispatch sequence and this one looks fab. The whole station interior looks extremely good!! A lot better than the old one with the dreadful audio.

 

The eye is pretty cool.  Can anyone confirm what it actually does?

I've seen that it closes (Nemesis sleeps) when a train is not going round, ‘looks’ to the right when a train leaves the station to watch it going up the lift, and “shakes” and roars when it goes over the station - but does it also follow the train around the track or do anything else? I’m fascinated with it to be honest - think it’s great what they’ve done with it and it really does set the bar high for future projects 

 

That's pretty much all the eye does. It's given life by the claws around the eye moving up and down like its in anger. There was already some dead pixels so hopefully its an easyish fix.

 

I was very excited for the return of Nemesis and I'm very happy that it's already running incredibly well, pretty much picking up where the old OG left off. I was concerned it might run slow but it isn't. I think it's a success and the energy around Nemesis was electrifying. Managed 6 rides including a front row and a back row and I'm happy. 

[Cal]

Got back on Nemesis today. 

 

Overall, they've done a great job with the area and I do like the new colour scheme. I do prefer the original music, and the original queue line too. Yes the new queue offers new views of the ride I hadn't seen before, but I quite liked queuing down in the pit and getting close to the ride.

 

It didn't open till around 1ish today so was a bit busier than I expected. They also decided to take a train off 20 mins before park close, causing a queue. Weird decision unless there was an issue with the train. Apart from that though, they were running it flawlessly as usual with little to no stacking.

 

Strange decision to remove the front row queue. Was also annoying having a batcher in the station so you can no longer choose a row. Hoping this doesn't last long, they never bothered with that before and it never seemed to be an issue.

 

Hoping for a better day tomorrow and to get on the back row.

[Cal]

17 hours ago, Cal said:

Hoping for a better day tomorrow and to get on the back row.

Well this aged well, been on 1 train all day today and only loading the front 4 rows. 
 

With RAP at the exit, only the front 3 rows being loaded from the main queue. 

[Mark9]

Word on the grape vine is that there's been enough comments about 'vibrations' on one train in particular for them to be taking precautions. The 'vibration' is worse the further back you go.

 

I personally can't help people are being over sensitive though. Aside from the last corner where the train oddly shuffles, the rest of the ride is graceful, intense and smooth. It seems a bit over the top to me but maybe Towers are just being cautious and doing any work they can now before the Easter holidays. 

[Benin]

Same today it seems.

 

Was hoping for a good number of rides on it tomorrow. Looks unlikely.

[Cal]

Have also heard it was due to the rattling, and would make sense if it was worse further back. I personally didn't notice a rattle on any of my rides, but I didn't get further back than row 5 unfortunately.

 

9 hours ago, Benin said:

Same today it seems.

 

Was hoping for a good number of rides on it tomorrow. Looks unlikely.

 

Apparently it was running 2 today, still only front 4 rows though. Not as painful as 1 train though at least.

 

Hopefully they can get this sorted before the Easter holidays! 

[Benin]

Started on one then second added around midday.

 

Is very strange. Saw claims of overspeeding which might make sense with the new magnetic brakes and over sensitive modern day sensors. Would also explain the half filled trains.

 

However if on the weekend they revert back to full loading it'll make little sense.

[Benin]

Back on fully loading 2 trains this morning.

 

She's back ❤️

[Matt N]

For anyone interested, I managed to see Nemesis Reborn for the first time last weekend (23rd & 24th March). I promised a longer written review of the project in my trip report from the weekend, so here it is!

 

Let me start with the theming and overall Forbidden Valley area. The change in vibe from Nemesis to Nemesis Reborn has certainly been divisive throughout the construction process, but I have to say that overall, I'm a big fan of the final product. The area looks absolutely fantastic, and in my view, the new changes have added a real energy to Forbidden Valley that it arguably lacked before. I heard a review describing the new-look Forbidden Valley as "dynamic", and I have to say that that is an excellent descriptor, in my view! Pretty much every new theming element in the area has some degree of audio, movement, or both, and it does give off a sense that things are happening around you and really elevates the atmosphere beyond that of the previous area. In terms of some particular positives for me, these include:

• I have to say that the eye is an absolutely stunning piece of theming; it's just huge, and while I did not personally see the teeth move, I think it still really delivers on visual impact alone! The screen is very convincing, and overall, I do think that it serves as a very cool focal point of the new area!
• I was originally unsure on the loss of the original queue layout, which involved you going under the ride, but I have to say that the new queue was a pleasant surprise! It's littered with bits of theming, and they've woven some very nice bits of storytelling into it, in my opinion. As I said about the wider area above, most of these new theming pieces have some degree of audio or movement. I particularly like the helicopter near the stall turn, which has some nice audio, smoke and movement, and the Phalanx lab, which has some nice bits of storytelling audio associated with it. Overall, I do think that the back portions of the queue are overall far more interesting than they were before, and while the lack of queueing under the ride is a loss compared to the previous iteration, I think the new theming and storytelling makes up for it!
• On that subject, I do really like the new views of the ride the queue provides. It is very cool to be able to look over the whole ride area, and you do still get a couple of the close encounters that the old queue was good for. The stall turn comes pretty close at one point, and you are also close to the first drop!
• The new station is awesome, and a huge improvement on what came before! I always said that I liked the idea of turning the station into the inside of the monster, and I have to say that I think they've executed this brilliantly! The new dispatch sequence is brilliant, the new audio in there is brilliant, the lighting is brilliant, the theming is brilliant... it's just brilliant all round, really!
• I have to say that I think the Nemesis monster itself looks better than it did before. I think the darker grey/black paint job really suits it, the new tentacles look brilliant, the tail at the back looks better, and overall, I think they've done a really good job of refurbishing it! It's faithful to what was already there while also being enhanced and looking wonderfully shiny and new!
• Perhaps controversially, I think that the new soundtrack is awesome, and much improved on what was there before! I'm not too much of a music nerd, so I can't go into too many specific nerdy details, but I personally think that the new soundtrack sounds a lot more exciting, dramatic, and just overall more catchy and pleasing to my ear! It sounds like the soundtrack to a really awesome Hollywood monster movie, and I personally much prefer it to the old one, as good as the old one was.
• I really like some of the new triggered effects. For instance, I think that even something as simple as the smoke spraying the train going through the zero-g roll is really cool and really adds something to the overall theming!
• I've heard people say that the overall area gives off quite a "Swarm" vibe, and I do agree with this somewhat. However, I've always loved Swarm Island at Thorpe Park as an area, so that's certainly no bad thing, in my view!

There are probably more, but those are just some of the ones I could think of! However, I don't think the new theming is perfect. Some minor areas for improvement from me are:

• As much as I do really like the new black aesthetic of the area and fences (it's definitely grown on me a lot since the initial reveal!), I think that if I'm being really pedantic, they could have gone for some slightly more interesting ride area fencing. For instance, maybe even just having some red lights on top and slightly more beefed up fencing, to give off the impression of it being in an enclosure similar to something like the raptor paddock on VelociCoaster, would have been really cool!
• Again, I'm being really pedantic here, but I do think that the helicopter near the stall turn is perhaps slightly too small. The one at the entrance to the area looks absolutely brilliant and is really impactful, but I think this one is perhaps a bit too small to have that sort of impact.
• If we're thinking wishfully, I would have loved to have seen the budget stretch to a retheme of Galactica to make it fit with the rest of the area, as that ride does stick out like a sore thumb when the rest of the area is so wonderfully themed and cohesive. However, I fully appreciate that that's wishful thinking, and I'm happy that they put more into the rest of the area as opposed to spreading themselves too thinly and trying to include Galactica if the budget didn't allow for it.

Let's now discuss the ride itself. Now, you might think that there isn't loads to discuss because, well, it's the same Nemesis it's always been. And to an extent, that is true. However, I still feel like I want to talk about it a little, as the retrack has given me some thoughts.

 

Overall, it's great to have Nemesis back in the lineup. It's an excellent, excellent coaster, and getting back on it over the weekend definitely reinforced how much it adds to Alton Towers' lineup. I have long held the view that I don't rate Nemesis as highly as many enthusiasts, and while I stand by that view to an extent and would say that the retrack hasn't drastically changed my opinion of it, I think that I have a newfound appreciation for it in some ways and that I would perhaps rank it a few spots higher than I did before visiting Alton last weekend. I had 2 rides; a row 7 inner seat and a row 4 outer seat. To me, the ride felt a little bit faster in spots (particularly the two turnarounds), definitely smoother (it certainly didn't have any of the headbanging that the original was prone to in its latter years!), and definitely just as thrilling and exciting as it ever was! This isn't anything new, but I have to say that riding Nemesis again gave me a new appreciation for some of the more unique aspects of its layout design. That opening salvo, where the speed just builds and builds out of nowhere, is particularly awesome and so exciting, and I have to say that I think that the way the ride keeps its pace right to the end, closing with that snappy final corkscrew, is just brilliant! And overall, I think there's something intangibly... pleasing about the way it rides. Is Nemesis my favourite coaster at Alton Towers? Definitely not. I definitely enjoy Wicker Man discernibly more than the rest of the coasters in the park, and I think that Oblivion may also usurp Nemesis for me too. However, Nemesis is a very solid 3rd place within Alton Towers for me, and while not a top 10 coaster, I'd definitely say it's a top 20, possibly a top 15 if I'm feeling generous (I haven't quite decided on its exact placement post-retrack yet; it was at #18 out of 111 before, but I could definitely see a touch of upwards movement if I took another look...).

 

One thing I've often heard discussed is a notable rattle on the retracked version. I don't know if I just rode on the "good" train both times I did it, but if people hadn't mentioned it, I honestly wouldn't have thought anything of this rattle despite having a relatively low roughness tolerance. The ride felt perfectly smooth to me; I hardly felt a thing on the row 7 inner seat ride, and while the rattle was slightly more noticeable on the row 4 outer seat ride, it was certainly nothing that even vaguely impacted enjoyment for me. I'd liken it more to the relatively benign "Mack rattle" on Icon than the rather distracting bounce on something like Mandrill Mayhem.

 

So overall, then, my view of Nemesis Reborn is profoundly positive. I think the project deserves all of the plaudits it is getting, and while I can quibble all I like about not rating it quite as highly as many, it's simply great to have Nemesis back at Alton Towers. She really is back with a vengeance!

 

Here are some photos I took of the ride and area:

[Cal]

Was back at Towers today for the afternoon, few things I noticed since the last time I went

 

- A couple seats broken on each train, being a single rider meant I kept getting back row which was nice

- Seemed to be staff training going on today but worst ops I've ever seen on Nemesis, lots of faffiing in the station. Stacking every train. Wasn't an issue as it didn't have a queue but it was noticeable

- Towers seem to have implemented the headsets Thorpe have got which is good to see - unsure if this was on every coaster as didn't go on most of them but they had them on Galactica too, not on Wickerman

- The new queue is a pain to walk around for re-rides  

- Noticed a little rattle which seemed more prominent on train 1, but not as bad as people are making out

[iEddiez]

Had my first Reborn rides this weekend.

Whilst the area is fantastic, the new queue line is a nice addition and the station is incredible, I can't help but be disappointed with the ride experience.

We rode Train 1 twice on Saturday, Row 5/6 and both my friend and I noticed a rattle on certain parts of the ride.

I can never remember the OG riding like that, enough for us to not re-ride quickly. It got worse as the day went on, assuming as the ride warms up, it runs a little quicker.

Sunday we rode Train 2 Row 6, better but still rattly.

 

For a ride that's <3months old I am amazed how rattly it felt.

 

The area is amazing, the ride still slaps, but I do worry for the quality of the ride over the next few years.

[Cal]

I came across this video the other day, starting at 17:01, a Nemesis engineer talks about the current rattle/vibrations on the trains.

There are numerous reasons why they think it could be happening, for example with the track now being sand filled, vibrations which were once being absorbed by the track are now being felt on the train. He did say there are ways to iron this out in the future so hopefully its something they'll work on it during closed season.