I'm a huge theme park enthusiast. I have visited every major UK theme park as well as theme parks in the USA, Holland, France, Germany, Spain, etc. Alton Towers was always on my 'to go to' list. Their TV adverts really attracted me and I researched the park massively before I visited with my family in 2008. Admittedly, I was quite young back then but I do remember the day clearly.

I will skip out all the family rides, for I do not bother myself with them, and review the thrill rides.

Air was the first ride that I went on. We ran through the park to get there and managed to take our place in the queue perhaps 10 or 15 minutes after opening time? The queue was already 40 minutes long and I remember saying to my mum 'wow, the queues are going to be huge in an hour's time'. For starters, the queue was not 40 minutes long, it was at least an hour. I was very much excited to go on this ride and I just found the whole thing underwhelming. As you move into your 'flying' position, the seats hoist you up. However, my seat had a light on it which kept flashing and three times my seat had to be readjusted before I was ready to ride. This made me feel very uneasy, as if there was a problem with my seat, so maybe that's why I didn't enjoy the ride. However, it does have a strong point in that its seat positioning is very unique, so I appreciate that Air does offer riders a unique rollercoaster experience. 3/5

Nemesis was another ride I was really looking forward to going on. The queues by this point were quite ridiculous and everything was so slow moving. The ride itself boasts 81 km/h speeds, which just didn't feel very fast at all. The ride is very similar to Nemesis Inferno in Thorpe Park. The scenery around the ride is lovely, it has a sort of 'underground' feeling. The ride itself just wasn't very enjoyable to me. I wanted a bigger thrill. 2/5

Oblivion was next. In all honesty, I don't quite know what happened to me during the queue for this ride, but I just became so ridiculous petrified. I was only 13 at the time but I'd always been very resilient to rollercoasters. In the queue, TV screens show a man constantly telling you that if you ride, you will fall to your death, so maybe that had something to do with my pathetic attitude. I think I was just too worried about this ride to enjoy queueing. The ride itself was not that scary at all really, but the concept of being vertically plunged 60 metres into a smokey black pit just scared me silly! If you want to ride this then do, don't be too scared, because it is not worth worrying over it like I did! If anything it is quite boring, very simple and over very quickly. 2/5

Rita was the final ride I went on. I rode it twice, once with each parents. I'd never been on a ride which shot off at the beginning before, so this was a new experience for me. After riding Stealth at Thorpe Park (0-80mph) and more recently Top Thrill Dragster in Cedar Point (0-120mph), Rita's 0-60mph doesn't seem all that impressive, but at the time I remember finding it so so so fun. You definitely get that 'wow!' moment as you shoot off; your hair/head flies backwards and you definitely skip a heart beat. The fact that I rode this ride more than once shows how much I enjoyed it. Honestly it's really fun. 4/5

As previously said, the queues for this day were just ridiculous. There were so many rides (Ripsaw, Submission, Hex) which I wanted to ride but just didn't get a chance to. Such a shame. If you manage to go on a day which is emptier then I'm sure it makes all the difference!