Alton Towers Discussion Thread

[hamb04I Guess Donkeys Are Okay]

Sub Terra - Sub Standard !!! (thanks Neil)

Myself and two other TPR club members were in line just after nine on Saturday morning, opening day, we expected to be on the ride for half past and we were, half past ten!! The wait was made more palatable by the valiant efforts of the N-ST team members, this along with the incredible hype on how intense this ride was going to be seemed to make it ok, O how disappointed we were to be.
The "elevator" down to the ride was poor to say the least and when we entered the actual ride it all seemed very familiar, does anyone remember "Alien Encounter" at Disney, a pretty scary encounter to say the least, well this was a clone with a twist, it wasn't scary! It had the potential to be better, it had a "drop", unfortunately the drop was a damp squib, the effects less than scary and overall you were left in disbelief and the "what just happened there then " feeling.
After exiting the ride we were met by a canvasser who wanted our views of the ride, we told him!
Next to him was an older gent who informed us that he was a contractor who was working on the rides special effects (also a TPR member, so hi if your reading this), he asked if a number of effects had worked, they didn't, he was disappointed but not as much as us.
Overall the ride had potential, maybe need to look at it again when the ride effects are working but cant see it being better than just ok.
If i were to score it out of 10 today then it would have to be a generous 4.

[MayTheGForceBeWithYouStar Wars is gay.]

^When I read Larry's article, I was also thinking this was going to be something similar to Alien Encounter.

I'm bummed that it didn't deliver after reading multiple reviews. It seemed to have SO much potential.

[netdvnWhy do I still have a donkey title???]

Leave it to Merlin marketing to blow their rides out of proportion.

It looks like a fun little addition to the park though. Maybe if they spent more of their advertising budget on the ride itself, it would be less disappointing

[AstroDanI teach at the school of donkey!]

Some information regarding Sub Terra:

The ride feedback at the weekend was very poor. It appears that AT are very dissatisfied with the ride experience as it stands.

Expect some major changes in the coming weeks.

[rctneilA zonkey is a cross between a zebra and a donkey.]

As Chris stated on the previous page. On opening day it was an extremely disappointing experience. From all the hype and marketing surrounding the lead up to it's arrival it sounded fantastic. The Twitter account, teaser photos all made the lead up rather exciting. The look of the ride, theming, staff interactions are all superb but the ride itself and the duration of it was just too short and dull to really be worth anything.

I understand more effects are on the way, ie: a poke in the back and a breath of hot air from behind but I really can't see those making a huge difference.

What would improve it is multiple drops and a slightly extended and maybe less rushed ride time. A better understanding of the story would be very useful too as everyone was left rather confused as too what the whole thing was about and it was all very quick and rushed overall.

From entering the pre lift to exciting the post lift was only shy of 2 minutes. If the ride was extended slightly they could get a much better experience along the lines of Hex maybe as that's a superb attraction.

Anyway, I'll give it another ride ina few months and see if it has improved. It has the potential, loads to be honest but it just is not there at present.

Neil

[snoflake15Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Donkey.]

Won't be rushing to AT for this then.

[cfcI've gone pantless!]

There are plenty of other good reasons to visit Alton.

[themightyjackCan I park my donkey here?]

Here is a spolier video of the incredibly forceless ABC drop. I think Extremis is more forceful due to the size of the drop (seating 20 people, not 10).


YouTube Videolink

[JAMMYD778I Guess Donkeys Are Okay]

This is a rundown of the attraction which was shown on the local TV news programme. Still over-hyping it.


YouTube Videolink

[andybarnes84Beware of the Magic Donkey at Lotte World!]

Went on the ride a couple of times today. Personal opinion of course, but having read a few spoilers etc I found it to be a great little ride, nothing majorly exciting but well executed given capacity issues. A decent drop actually, very similar to the drop on thirteen, perhaps they have modified the ride since initial opening? Looking forward to the full experience once they get all effects working. I think the ride left a positive impression on me because it's pretty unique, perhaps a little random, but not my worst nightmare

Just a note of interest for some, there were many big guys from Merlin HQ (a guess) at the ride for most of the day so there's obviously a lot going on behind the scenes regarding the negative feedback. I think they need to make the point of the ride more obvious, you just don't get enough to time to understand what's going on once you're inside because you never get to see whats attacking you. They really should have spent money on an animatronic alien in the cave screaming at you (which is what I expected) as no one really has an idea what's attacking us. At least with Alien Encounter you had this which made the dark section all the more scary.