We arrived at Alton Towers before 9:30, and soon got on the monorail train to head from the car park to the entrance. As soon as we got off the train, we were greeted by an unusual sight: two purple corkscrews with gold supports. These were from the park's first rollercoaster, Corkscrew, which was removed at the end of 2008 to make way for their newest ride, Thirteen (also stylised as Th13teen). It was truly a bizarre thing to see, but a monument to what put Alton Towers on the map, so it only seems fair that the signature element of that ride was kept and put on display for all to see. After buying the tickets, myself and Peter split off from our parents (and that's pretty much how it stayed for the rest of the day), and we ran down to the bottom of Towers Street, where hundreds of other people were waiting. At about 10am, the barriers were removed, and everybody poured through and ran to the rides. Annoyingly, parts of the park were closed off due to some concert thingy, and the Skyride was (and, as far as I'm aware, still is) out of action - allegedly due to the fact that the cable needs replacing, which can't be done until the closed season for issues of health and safety. This meant that a lot more walking than normal was going to happen.
The first ride we went on was Sonic Spinball - a rollercoaster which has cars that rotate independently of the track direction, depending on the weight of each rider. We only ended up waiting 10-15 minutes to get on it, but it was a good start to the day. Next was Oblivion. Opened in 1998, this rollercoaster was the first in the world to have a vertical drop (it's actually about 88.8°, because at the time, the technology didn't exist for a drop to be truly vertical). Only two criticisms of Oblivion. One is that it's a bit too short, but they only had a limited amount of space to work with in what was Fantasy World [now X-Sector], so that's expected). The second is that this year, the ride is sponsored by Fanta, and there are several rather garish-looking posters dotted around the queue lines and the station, and it detracts from the scary feel of the ride, making it seem more colourful and fun than it should be. Anyway, with Oblivion, it was basically a walk-on, as it was so early in the day. On Oblivion, there are two loading platforms, with four bays in each platform, despite there only being two rows on each train, but bear with me. They load two trains at a time (one behind the other). Each loading platform has four bays, as mentioned, named 'A1', A2', 'A3', and 'A4' for the first station, and 'B1', 'B2', 'B3', and 'B4' for the second. They load from two different loading bays each time - for example, in station A they load from bays A1 and A3 one time, then from A2 and A4 the following time, before going back to A1 and A3. The system works the same for the other station. When you think about it, it's actually quite a logical system. After getting into the trains and fastening the harnesses, the trains leave the station (the one from station B gets stopped at the bottom before the lift hill, because only one train is allowed on the lift hill at once - it would be too much weight on the chain otherwise!) and go up the lift hill before reaching the top and making a slow curve to the left. Then the train stops at the top of the drop for a few seconds, while you read a sign painted on the floor that says 'Don't Look Down'. (Can you see the blatantly obvious irony there?) You're only held there for a few seconds, but it feels like quite a while if it's your first time on it. The drop. You just plummet to the ground and enter the hole (no, this is NOT supposed to be dirty!), before levelling out underground. Eventually, you emerge into the daylight, before going around a massively overbanked turn, then up a short hill, before hitting the LONG brake run, then making a left, before arriving back in the station. Yes, it's short, but they had a limited amount of space to work with, and it was a prototype, so B&M (Bolliger & Mabillard, the manufacturers of Oblivion, as well as other famous rollercoasters across the world) probably wanted to do a fairly short first one, just to see how things went. And they've done well with the Dive Machine (the official model name)! After Oblivion, we walked over to the Dark Forest to ride Thirteen (the newest rollercoaster in the park), but we kinda cheated the queue a little bit - we went into the single rider queue, so we pretty much just walked straight onto the ride! Yes, we were on separate trains, but I didn't mind much, to be honest. The secret element to it is that after going into and around the forest, you enter the station building. But not the station itself. The crypt goes dark, and then with no warning, you just drop several feet onto another level, before the train goes backwards through a tunnel. I found it slightly tame, but it was a good ride. Then was Rita - a launched rollercoaster, first opened in 2005. I'd ridden it on my previous visit in 2007, but even so, I'd forgotten how fast it was! We then received a call from one of my friends to say that they were queuing for Nemesis, which was on the other side of the park. Annoyingly, the Skyride transportation system wasn't working, so we had to walk across the park to get to the other side. We went on the Rapids on our way there, which was a pretty good call, even if we did get a bit wet. After exiting the Rapids, we eventually got to Forbidden Valley, and we found my friends from school queuing for Air, but the queue was 70 minutes long. We joined the queue anyway, but it increased to 90 minutes, so we all left that. Stevie, Miles, Esther and Tim wanted to go on the Flume, and Peter wanted to go on Nemesis, so we decided that Peter and I would queue for Nemesis while the others went on the Flume. We were queuing for Nemesis for about 50 minutes, but it was definitely worth it. Nemesis was constructed in the mid-1990s, and opened in 1994. It was the first 'major' rollercoaster at Alton Towers, and thrills thousands of people every day. It was the first suspended rollercoaster in Europe. After exiting the station, the train climbs up the lift hill. After reaching the top, the track curves down and towards the left, before hitting the first inversion - a corkscrew, followed by a fast turn, then a zero-g roll over the station. After that, a 'stall turn' follows, then comes a vertical loop, and another corkscrew, followed by a turn back up to the station. From there, Peter and I walked back through the park to where The Flume was, but we got a bit bored, so we had a little bit of a wander, but not too far. When the others got off the flume, we just had to laugh at them, because they were so soaking wet!
The others wanted to go on Thirteen, so we then went and did that, but queued for over an hour to get on it. It was worth it, though, especially seeing as Peter and I forgot to tell the others about the drop in the middle, and it was brilliant to see the looks on their faces afterwards! Oblivion followed, and we were on in about 20 minutes, which was pretty good. The best bit was seeing how mad and crazy Miles' hair was after getting off! We were rather hungry after this, so we went to try and find some food, before finally getting some stuff in Mutiny Bay (I went for Burger King). Seeing as we hadn't ridden Air earlier in the day, we wandered back over to the far end of Forbidden Valley and rode it. A fantastic ride, and we just managed to get two rides on it in a row before the queues closed. We couldn't be bothered to take the shortest route back to the main entrance, so we walked through the Gardens, which made a nice change. Miles, for some bizarre reason, decided that he wanted to buy a Merlin Annual Pass. Peter and I then decided, after buying some stuff in the gift shop, that we really needed to get back to Mum & Dad, so we entered the queue for the monorail. We were queuing for quite a while, but we got on eventually, after saying goodbye to Miles, Stevie, Esther and Tim, and Miles had to drive back down to Cornwall. (Stupidly, they went up from Cornwall and back in one day - they had to leave Cornwall at about 4am!) The ride queues closed at 6, but we didn't get back to Mum and Dad until gone 7. To be honest, we didn't care at all, and Mum & Dad didn't seem all that bothered, either.
So, there it is - the trip report from a fantastic day out at Alton Towers. The weather was fantastic, the location was fantastic, and the fact that some friends of mine were there on the same day made it even better - what more could I have asked for?
The others wanted to go on Thirteen, so we then went and did that, but queued for over an hour to get on it. It was worth it, though, especially seeing as Peter and I forgot to tell the others about the drop in the middle, and it was brilliant to see the looks on their faces afterwards! Oblivion followed, and we were on in about 20 minutes, which was pretty good. The best bit was seeing how mad and crazy Miles' hair was after getting off! We were rather hungry after this, so we went to try and find some food, before finally getting some stuff in Mutiny Bay (I went for Burger King). Seeing as we hadn't ridden Air earlier in the day, we wandered back over to the far end of Forbidden Valley and rode it. A fantastic ride, and we just managed to get two rides on it in a row before the queues closed. We couldn't be bothered to take the shortest route back to the main entrance, so we walked through the Gardens, which made a nice change. Miles, for some bizarre reason, decided that he wanted to buy a Merlin Annual Pass. Peter and I then decided, after buying some stuff in the gift shop, that we really needed to get back to Mum & Dad, so we entered the queue for the monorail. We were queuing for quite a while, but we got on eventually, after saying goodbye to Miles, Stevie, Esther and Tim, and Miles had to drive back down to Cornwall. (Stupidly, they went up from Cornwall and back in one day - they had to leave Cornwall at about 4am!) The ride queues closed at 6, but we didn't get back to Mum and Dad until gone 7. To be honest, we didn't care at all, and Mum & Dad didn't seem all that bothered, either.
So, there it is - the trip report from a fantastic day out at Alton Towers. The weather was fantastic, the location was fantastic, and the fact that some friends of mine were there on the same day made it even better - what more could I have asked for?
