June 9, 201312 yr comment_160420 Since 9 year ago, I think. Spinball Whizzer has always had a playlist, at least since they renamed it anyway. In fact, why does Adventure Land even exist? It's a big fat nothing!
June 9, 201312 yr comment_160424 It always had a playlist of general songs up until it was Sonic Spinball, although often you couldn't hear it due to the loudness of the ride. When it changed to Sonic Spinball it had a sonic themed soundtrack. Maybe they have reverted back to the original tracklist.
June 9, 201312 yr comment_160425 Both spinballs have had pop music playing, you just can never hear it unless it's broken down. Sonic hasn't had a sonic themed soundtrack, unless noah and the whale is sonic related.
June 10, 201312 yr comment_160438 It has had a sonic soundtrack. Had voices of the characters and ring sound effects. I have heard it on all my visits since it was rethemed. Two sources to back this up also... This page on towersstreet mentions Sonic Spinball as having one of the most Annoying soundtracks on park due to the sonic voices etc: http://www.towersstreet.com/wiki/Alton_Towers_Music_Database#Adventure_Land This website actually has loads of the announcements and voices: http://www.sonicwrecks.com/dep/gamesounds/altontowers/
June 10, 201312 yr comment_160448 That's not the soundtrack, those are the continuous announcements. The soundtrack is the music, which is still pop music. Otherwise whizzers soundtrack was just a happy man saying GOT ANY KEYS? Which it wasn't.
June 10, 201312 yr comment_160477 Ok then but have to say since the change have never heard pop music play on any of my visits since 2010. Like you say though might be due to the noise the ride itself makes.
June 10, 201312 yr comment_160479 If you want to hear the areas audio next time, there's a couple of speakers behind the noodles. That runs off the same system, and can relatively easily hear what the music is!
June 20, 201312 yr comment_161469 Oblivion's still closed. B&M officially worse then Gerstlauer. I hate you B&M and your high throughput, crowd pleasing rides.
July 25, 201312 yr comment_164076 And the queue for Storm Surge is 70 minutes right now (according to Thorpe).
August 3, 201312 yr comment_164639 Just a quick question:I've never used ERT before as usually use BOGOF so not entirely sure how the system works. I have won a competition and have Alton towers tickets. Would I be able to have ERT with these tickets as surely I can just enter the park as I already have the tickets or are there specific ERT tickets you need to be entitled?
August 5, 201312 yr comment_164798 A few points to make... People say the magic has gone from the park, perhaps this is true of the 90s stuff, but there is still something there within the park... Going to a park with non-enthusiasts is always a good experience, because you see the excitement on their faces throughout the trip and it's rather catchy at times... With Woodland Walk reopening for ERT you can see why they plan on opening more in that area rather than elsewhere (although Oblivion/Hex/Thirteen were all still open this weekend), because it's effort... They also need to advertise it more, as we were the only group of people on it on Sunday morning, as most hotel guests got the Monorail (maybe as a result of Smiler possibly opening at 10 that day though)... Also of note, you don't need to prove you're of the hotel to use it, which may be of interest to enthusiasts... Smiler being down all Saturday meant we went on the GS ride, with unsurprisingly lots of other angry guests of varying levels... They were starting to pull the old "it's on the website" line, which is a bit off considering it had no message for a few days of it being closed, but as we'd booked in advance we got entry for another day for the non-MAP holders and a fastrack adrenaline (or of choice of any of the bronze packages) for myself and Nicky... I sense that the level of complimentary entry however was not high once they put the message up on the website... Poor show... On the other hand, Smiler has really captured the GP as a brand and ride... I've never seen so many specific ride shirts being worn by guests over a weekend at any park before... They've also added a strobe to the indoor section of the queue which is mental and annoying in equal measure... They could also do with LOTS of fans to keep it cool, because it's a hotbox when people remain stationary for a long time... Seemed slightly smoother on my rides as well (although the Cobra Roll jolt still exists), and it's a brilliant ride... Duel's trommel is back on after being broken, Sub Terra's exit lift seemed to not move (left side), Charlie was struggling with life as always and Hex still over-shoots... Thirteen's shutter didn't close but tbh it's not overtly noticeable in a weird way? It seemed brighter but I had to look back to see if it was down to the shutter, it's nowhere near as bad as Polar X-Plorer with that shutter CLOSED... Aside from Smiler, I didn't see many breakdowns, though Spinball and Rita both had some small ones (surprise surprise)... A big burden was at Courtyard BBQ/Hot Dogs where they weren't taking card for some reason, it's nice to be told this after queuing 10 minutes for food, taking that 10 minute walk to the free cash machines and back before queuing 10 minutes again... Apparently they can't post up a sign mentioning cash only? That's a load of rubbish, so we complained about it, because we wasted 30 minutes as a result of the issue... Poor, poor show... To end this on an extremely positive note, the entertainments department this year on park is out-doing itself immensely... When I heard about the orchestra I was worried that it would mean the removal of the Park Keepers, but nope, they're still there and roaming, the Pirates are still roaming, and the Orchestra are rather good... When we left yesterday all 3 groups were around Towers Street and interacting with each other, and it really does top off a day at the park... The Pirate Show is still brilliant and the Park Keepers are excellent as well... If there's anything to keep Towers positive this year, it's the ents due to the amount of stuff they are doing on a limited budget... The hotel singers though need to be turned though a lot, because it's headache fuel... Be interesting to see how Scarefest affects the current ents as well and what they might try and do for it... Speaking of the hotel, Splash Landings repaints are not that bad at all, and Secret Garden is really good for the food as well... Shame it's limiting but the Salmon of JOY made things worthwhile... I had an excellent weekend overall, where it wasn't too busy and we got on all major rides aside from the Flume... If they can sort out any further issues with Smiler (without the need for queue evacuations and extended downtime, though cracked concrete is a fair reason in the end) then they might be able to salvage something out of the season and push on...
August 19, 201312 yr comment_165816 Loving the new queue line boards and side adverts! Credits to TST for the photo
August 19, 201312 yr comment_165822 I like the board and advert thing here but I somewhat can't say I like the location there as it seems to obscure the view of the towers in the distance, a beautiful, exciting and also important feature on entering the park in my opinion.
August 20, 201312 yr comment_165978 Love those new queue boards. They need more of them. As long as they've got the advertising on the right correct.. Advertise ERT correctly, advertise where to go at beginning of the day to reduce those going to smiler, then use the rest of the day advertising Burger Kitchen or hotels or fireworks etc. Perfect then. Love it so much.
August 21, 201312 yr comment_166322 No that's not good. When rides are quiet we want them to stay quiet! Joking aside, it is quite nice to be honest and a welcome change.
August 30, 201311 yr comment_167283 In a complete change to the usual trend of Towers based operating times, they've actually EXTENDED their ride close to 7 for the weekend... *dies of shock*
September 21, 201311 yr comment_168882 Just realized how many negative reviews there are of the place! http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g3491573-d285167-Reviews-or20-Alton_Towers-Farley_Staffordshire_England.html#REVIEWS
October 10, 201311 yr comment_170278 Interesting piece of news from TowersStreet: Front Row FastrackIt has come to light that Front Row Fastrack tickets are now available for guests to purchase for some of the park’s major attractions, including The Smiler and Air. TowersStreet members saw these tickets being used on The Smiler during Saturday 28th September, and it is thought the same premium option may be available for Rita and Nemesis, though this is unconfirmed. The cost is not yet known and there was no evidence of advertising the ticket around the park. Now whilst I'm not against front row Fastrack (anymore than I am against the entire system) I do find it wrong that you can purchase one for The Smiler yet, the general queue aren't allowed to queue and most of the time when asking for front row aren't given it. Other rides with a front row queue like Rita I can understand (Stealth has had it since it opened?) but with a ride you can't physically queue for the front seems wrong. I've noticed the same has appeared on Saw recently which I also don't quite understand. But, I guess if people are willing to buy it it shall be sold.
October 10, 201311 yr comment_170281 It's a ridiculous system, but this is how they're doing it anyway. It's £3 per front row ticket, which you have to buy on top of a package (say the £12 scream). They're limited to 20 per day, per ride. Pretty much noone buys them. Infact, I'm surprised someone actually bought one for smiler. Or that they are selling front row smiler when you can just **ask** to do it and the staff allow you. The other rides, you can buy normal fastrack and use front row with barely any additional wait.
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