New for 2004 (Alton Towers (Staffordshire))

Member Name: freediveheaven

Product:	Alton Towers (Staffordshire)
Date:	08/07/04 (525 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: top thrill rides, oblivion always scares me

Disadvantages: queues, queues, quite hilly in places

Every year Alton Towers adds some new rides to keep on encouraging us to return year after year and now that my kids are beginning to grow past the height restrictions for most rides it was time to make the trip back up the M1.

Planning

Queues are the major downside with Alton Towers and planning to avoid them is key to a good day. Check out the website for the days that are classed as the least busy, the site also advises of key days where it is best to avoid the park, these are not always the holidays as corporate events or music festivals can also swell the ranks of people attending. It is always worth ringing the park to check if any such events are happening. I discovered this through bitter experience one day in May last year we visited the park to find it full of teenagers attending a festival all intent on going on the big rides, queuing times went up to 3 hours for Air and Nemesis.

Once you have picked a day plan the day so you know which rides you want to go on remembering to check on the height restrictions if taking kids. Arrive to enter the park when it opens and get to the fastrack machines. Make use of the fastrack tickets to get a time slot on the popular rides and then get into a queue on one of the big roller coasters. Couple of tips, water rides are quieter in the morning and eat early to avoid long waits for food.

The Rides

The park is laid out into a number of areas; these can be reached on foot or for some by using the skyride. Be aware that the park is built across a small valley so it is steep in places if you walk around all day. The walk across the valley through the gardens is pleasant but be prepared to hear the moans of those not used to walking.

Adventure Land


This is home to the new thrill ride for 2004 Spinball Whizzer. This ride is basically a roller coaster with the car resembling a waltzer car, which spins around as you go up and down. It does not rely on great hei
ght or particularly fast speeds (it resembles the mousetrap at Blackpool) rather the fact that no two rides are the same as the car spins and rotates. One minute you are facing forward the next you are plummeting down backwards. Each round car seats four people and in total there are about six cars running at any one time. Here in lies the only downside to this ride. It does not have fast turnover hence the queues move very slowly, what appeared to be a relatively small queue turned into a 40 minute wait and towards the end of the day queues were over 2 hours long. To put this into context for those who know Alton Towers well the queues on Nemesis never got over 30 minutes long all day. Minimum height on this ride is 1.2m and was voted tops by my 8 year old, it certainly was an original ride and one I enjoyed but not worth a 2-hour wait.

Also in Adventure Land is The Beastie a very small roller coaster for the under tens and a children?s soft play area.

X Sector

This area is home to Oblivion a white-knuckle ride with a minimum height requirement of 1.4m. This is a simple ride, you sit in one of two rows of about 12, and the car then begins to climb before reaching the edge of a sheer drop into a hole in the ground. To add to the suspense (and terror) the rides hesitates on the brink so you can appreciate the view before plunging underground before reappearing, banking around and coming to a rest. It is a short ride but the one for me that gets the heart pumping the most.

Also within X Sector is the Black Hole a fairly standard roller coaster layout but in complete darkness, be aware that it does make use of strobe lighting. You will also find Enterprise a standard fair ground ride and Submission which is a bit like a pirate ship style ride however this one does not carry out an arc rather it suspends you upside down both forwards and backwards. All of these rides have a 1.2 m height requirement.

Ug Land

This is h
ome to the Corkscrew the original roller coaster on which Alton Towers became famous, it includes two corkscrew turns which by today?s standards are fairly tame but truck fear into the heart of a 12 year old boy too many years ago to remember. This area has a number of smaller rides for the tots and is adjacent to the main house, which now has within in a new ride called Hex. A similar ride to this exists at Drayton Manor, it is basically a walk through haunted house where you proceed through several chambers whilst being told a story about an ancient curse. The tour ends in a room where you are seated in pews, these then proceed to tilt while the walls move creating the illusion that you are moving over greater distances than is actually the case. As a ride it is a little boring as I spent most of the time explaining the illusion to both kids.

Forbidden Valley

This is home to the best concentration of thrill rides being home to both Air and Nemesis.

Air was the new ride from last year, a roller coaster with a difference you are hanging from the overhead rail facing the floor, as you are transported along the ride being twisted and turned upside down you spend part of the ride on your back doing a pretty good impression of the dying fly (this will only mean something to those who spent Saturday mornings watching Tiswas in the 70?s) and the ride includes loops and a decent amount of speed however it is your body position that makes the ride. Top tips, women avoid low cut tops and if any of you take of your shoes make sure your socks are clean,

Nemesis also makes use of an overhead rail from which you swing however this time in a seated position. This ride is fast with a number of vertical moments and a couple of loops and is a thrill from start to finish.

Both rides have a 1.4 m height requirement and are very popular with long queues however fastrack tickets are available.

Also in this area is Ripsaw on which you
will get wet and the Blade, which is a straightforward pirate ship style ride.

Gloomywood

This area contains Duel, a haunted house in which you travel through zapping ghosts with a laser gun, which keeps a running score of your hits. Again lots of flashing lights to contend with and the usual temptation to shoot at people in the other cars.

Katanga Canyon

This is the area to get wet in once you have dried off from Ripsaw. The Flume has received a face lift this year however do not get too excited as this seems to have consisted of replacing the old log shaped boats with bath shaped ones, the route is the same and the drops are pretty standard. The long queues on this ride certainly did not reflect the quality of the attraction

Congo River Rapids are again a fairly standard rapids style ride however one plus point is that the number of boats on the ride means that the queue moves constantly and you will get wet on this ride much to the delight of the children.

You will also find the Runaway Mine Train in this area which although fast moving has no big drops at all and the 3D Cinema which has a new film which is quite entertaining although not as much fun as watching all the people reaching out in front of them to grab the objects.

Costs

I have to confess I have never paid the full entry price to Alton Towers, this trip was funded by complimentary tickets from a friend of a friends brother, other visits have been paid for by Tesco clubcard vouchers of offers in the press. The website explains the numerous pricing options available but you should always be able to avoid paying the full price if you shop around for discounts. For this year it will set you back £26.50 for an adult entry.

What is expensive is the photo?s on the rides £4.99, or five for £19.99.

Also be aware that after every ride the exit takes you through either a shop of arcade (or both) so if you have kids get a s
ign with NO printed on it, your voice will be the better for it.

Food is your standard fried options provided by the big M, Pizza Hut or KFC, £6 a head should cover it, one draw back with taking a packed lunch is that you have to take it with you or lose part of your day travelling back and forwards to the car parks on the monorail.


In summary Alton Towers is still a top day out but a pricey one, the new rides have added something to the park although if you went last year I would not rush back this year unless like me you have never really grown up.

Web site for Alton Towers

http://www.alton-towers.co.uk/

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