Alton Towers Discussion Thread

[KarlaKoaster]

I like the look of the Enchanted Village and it will be nice once the trees grow which will hopefully not be too long. I think the restaurant building is fairly bland though which is a shame. I never realised Splash Landings was the budget option at Alton Towers, I assumed it was in the same price bracket as the Alton Towers Hotel.

 

Oh and it's great they're restoring the tower in the gardens. It's nice that they are looking after stuff like this.

[tpainrad]

I'll be headed to the park Monday, March 23rd - the parks first full-operating weekday. It will also be my first time in England. Any tips for the park on being able to knock it out from 9 to 5? Want to try and get the coasters with Hex, Duel, or any other cool rides Im not aware about.

 

From what I've gathered from TowerStreet.com and a few other Alton sites is to take the monorail and get the parking paid for before the end of the day. Since I am a single rider, I will utilize the single riders line. Which I cannot seem to confirm if The Smiler has a SRQ? I'd rather not spend the 95GBP, but want to make sure I can get multiple rides in on the coasters.

 

Any tip is greatly appreciated!

[KarlaKoaster]

I normally do Smiler first, then go across and do Rita as that seems to get long queues, and do Thirteen while I'm in the area. I then normally get the cable car across to Forbidden Valley to do Nemesis and Air, then walk back through Katanga Canyon and do the rides there. Then it's normally around lunchtime and you can do the rest of the park at your leisure. Oblivion doesn't seem to get too busy, and if it does, then maybe just come back to it as the queue normally goes up and down quite a bit.

 

Duel and Hex rarely get queues so they should be easy to fit in. Hex is a lot of fun and is really well themed

[Dar]

Try to do the park in a circular fashion! It's far to big to be able to zig-zag across

 

The Smiler does have SRQ!

 

Oblivion is a queue eater, it's throughput is usually around 1600pph!

 

Rita has an awful queue, so try to get that done ASAP although it also has SRQ.

 

You definitely shouldn't need fasttrack at all I wouldn't have thought.

 

Have fun!

 

[mousch]

Make sure to reride Nemesis at the end of the day as it is so much better!

[jackandylan123]

My usual route around Alton Towers is to hit Nemesis and Air first (Nemesis will be open for Early Ride Time from 9-10, so do it a few times in this period before Air and the rest of the park open), I normally then take a walk through the gardens (under the Skyride station) to get to Rita and 13 before they get a decently long wait time (especially Rita). By this time a few of the rides may have queues, this is the perfect time to get a ride on Hex, and check out some of the smaller rides while you are there. After that I would get a ride on Oblivion as there is never really a queue for it on weekdays and possibly the Smiler if the Single Rider Queue is reasonably quiet. From then on it depends how the queues build up throughout the rest of the day. If you need somewhere to eat, I would say get something from Pizza and Pasta Buffet just opposite the Runaway Mine Train. Hope this helps and have a good time

[thedazza]

I'll be headed to the park Monday, March 23rd - the parks first full-operating weekday. It will also be my first time in England. Any tips for the park on being able to knock it out from 9 to 5? Want to try and get the coasters with Hex, Duel, or any other cool rides Im not aware about.

 

From what I've gathered from TowerStreet.com and a few other Alton sites is to take the monorail and get the parking paid for before the end of the day. Since I am a single rider, I will utilize the single riders line. Which I cannot seem to confirm if The Smiler has a SRQ? I'd rather not spend the 95GBP, but want to make sure I can get multiple rides in on the coasters.

 

Any tip is greatly appreciated!

 

Yes The Smiler does have a single rider queue and usually the wait isn't too long in it. Also on Nemesis the single rider queue is right next to the exit of the ride so a lot of the time you can get off the ride and straight back onto the train you have just got off if you want to get re-rides in. Although as you aren't guaranteed which row you get I would definitely recommend getting a ride on both the front and back rows so if the normal queue isn't that big get in that and queue for those rows.

Rita and th13teen tend to get big queues although the single rider queues on those go down quite quickly.

Oblivion can be hit and miss when it comes to single rider, sometimes can move quickly and sometimes the wait can be longer than the normal queue seeing as there are 8 riders to a row it is easier to fill them from the normal queue.

Sonic Spinball's queues are biggest at the beiginning and end of the day so go on that in the middle of the day. Although, the slightest bit of rain they are only allowed to run it with maximum of 3 riders per car so in that case the single rider queue will move very quickly.

[tpainrad]

Thanks for all the tips, everyone!

 

I should have been more clear - with the SRQ, it sounds like they are not always open. That the SRQ is only available when the park gets busy. This is what I gathered after reading a few of the parks response to posts on TripAdvisor.

[jackandylan123]

SRQ's are almost always open, the one on the Smiler is ALWAYS open

[Stu K]

Rumours circulating about an announcement for Nemesis 21st. Heard backwards may happen . Alton supposed to be doing and anouncment soon.

 

Stu K

[thedazza]

Rumours circulating about an announcement for Nemesis 21st. Heard backwards may happen . Alton supposed to be doing and anouncment soon.

 

Stu K

 

 

From Alton Towers Facebook, emphasis on the "Sit Back" so yes most probably backwards facing, maybe a couple of rows or possibly full train.

The forces on that back row aswell as being able to see everything behind you as you go, sounds good to me.

[rctneil]

Backwards on Nemesis would be a very intense and awesome thing to try out. I hope the rumours come true for this one

[Dar]

Isn't that the ride's tagline? That has nothing to do with backwards seats?

[Stu K]

Hope its just back few rows lol i'm to old for backwards lol.

 

Stu K

[rctneil]

Yes, that is the tagline that has accompanied the ride since it opened

[KarlaKoaster]

They've announced that they're doing a special day with a talk by John Wardley and an ERT after the park closes. No mention of backwards seats thank god. The over analysis of the 'sit back' font did make me smile though

[StealthFan]

Yes, that is the tagline that has accompanied the ride since it opened

 

Exactly! It amazes me that even though the tag line is common knowledge for 99% of UK enthusiasts dumb people instantly assumed it meant that the ride was going to run backwards. The ride ran forwards during half term and I would find it hard to believe that the park would put the train on to run forwards just to then spend time and effort to remove the train again, turn it around, make the needed adjustments to the train, test it then open it, all before the park re opens!

 

Here is what the park put on their Facebook about the Neme21s birthday event.

On 26th March, Alton Towers Resort will celebrate Nemesis’ 21st birthday and we’d like you to join us. With talks from both John Wardley (the creator of Nemesis) and Andy Hine MBE (Chairman of the Roller Coaster Club of Great Britain) as well as a chance to ride the ride once the Theme Park has closed, it will be an event not to be missed!

Places are extremely limited so please tell us why you should be part of the Nemesis celebrations! Share your best stories with us at happy@alton-towers.com

Look no backwards!

[nemesisfan08]

With only a couple of weeks until opening day Alton towers have released the 2015 park map, the map however does not feature the blade. This could mean we see it as sbno or removed all together. The website towers times has an article on the news.

[rctneil]

The Blade definitely has had its time at the park. It fits in nicely though and will be missed but things move on.

 

Apparently the Blade was running yesterday for the John Lewis event and it was also running during February Half Term. I'm having a guess that it may run for the first part of the year and then stop part way through the season which is why it's been removed from the map.

 

Unsure what will take its place though. Can we get Thunderlooper back please Brazil?!

[thedazza]

The Blade definitely has had its time at the park. It fits in nicely though and will be missed but things move on.

 

Apparently the Blade was running yesterday for the John Lewis event and it was also running during February Half Term. I'm having a guess that it may run for the first part of the year and then stop part way through the season which is why it's been removed from the map.

 

Unsure what will take its place though. Can we get Thunderlooper back please Brazil?!

 

Blade's closure and the tree removal around the area is all pointing towards the next big coaster being in that area. It's looking more and more likely that the cross valley woodie may finally be getting built. I know the official given reason for the tree removal is that they are diseased and need removing, but the main reason the original plans for the cross valley coaster were denied was because of the amount of trees that would need to be removed. Well now they need to be removed anyway so there is no real reason that planning permission should be denied so is the perfect time to put it in. New trees can be planted anywhere but there are only so many places they can put a big coaster so that it can't be seen outside of the park so this would be the perfect opportunity for them to use the valley without needing to remove many trees that wouldn't have been removed already anyway because of them being diseased.

 

If it is happening then here's hoping for an RMC, although I think Gravity Group did the original designs for it so they may go with them, which i'm sure will also be very good.

[Anything]

Tree removal has also been taking place on the other side of the valley, close to Rita.

[StealthFan]

Tree removal isn't uncommon for the park though as it happens pretty much every year due to the age and health of some of the trees. If Blade is to go though I'm pretty sure it will signal the end of Ripsaw as well as that will free up a nice amount of space for a new ride.

[Phatage]

Hi all, I'm planning on visiting this Sunday the 22nd, also just by myself (on business during the week in London). I've found all the advice you've given tpainrad very helpful, but I had one more question. Since I'll be going on a weekend, should I get Fastrack or will the SRQ's be enough to let me hit the main rides in the 6 or so hours I'll have?

[StealthFan]

^I think single rider queues should be fine but if you want to make 100% sure you get on everything I would at least recommend the Smiler fastrack as that ride can be very temperamental and gets very busy.

[silenthillXD]

In all honesty the single rider queues are normally fine. Even on The Smiler the single rider queue never gets ridiculous. My advice is if the single rider queue is relatively far out of the building, than opt to get a fast track. If it's not outside the building, or is only just outside of the building, opt for the single rider queue. Personally I find Thirteen and RITA to be far more troublesome with single rider, some days RITA seems to not even bothering opening it. I'm assuming you'd want the cred, so personally i'd get the fast track for that.