Matt N
CF Legend
Hi guys. We went to Alton Towers today for a bit of midweek fun, and let me tell you, it was certainly fun! We left home at just before 7am, so we were at the park by about 9:40am, and inside by just after 10am:
For our first ride, we actually started differently to our last two trips, and went to ride an attraction I haven’t done since July 2020...
The Smiler
Smiler was on an advertised 0 minute queue, so we headed over. However, when we were over there, a queue had built up, and we later ascertained that the queue board was broken. As such, we ended up queueing for 60 minutes. So, how was the ride? I’ll admit that Smiler isn’t my favourite coaster, and it remained that way after today’s ride, but I was sat on a front row inside seat, and I have to say that that was one of the smoothest rides I’ve had in a while! The infamous final 3 inversions were very rough as per usual, and there were 1 or 2 other areas of slight jolting, but the rest of the ride had little more than a slight rattle, which I was glad about! So overall, as much as I still wouldn’t say that Smiler is one of my favourite rides, it was one of the more enjoyable rides I’ve had on Smiler in a while:
After Smiler, me and my dad rode the other coaster in the area...
Oblivion
Bizarrely, Oblivion was listed as closed, but it had people entering the queue and people going round on the ride, so we joined it. The ride did ultimately end up being open, and we only waited 15-20 minutes, which is a plus! So, how was Oblivion? Well, I’m pleased to report that it was fantastic as ever; I absolutely love Oblivion for the airtime on the drop and the raw speed, and it was certainly providing these in droves today:
After Oblivion, we headed to what is controversially a personal favourite of mine within Alton Towers...
Wicker Man
Wicker Man was on an advertised 45 minute queue, so we joined it. The first of many surprises on Wicker Man today was the pace at which the queue moved; it felt like we barely stopped moving! I calculated the throughput to be 1,048pph (exceeding the ride’s theoretical of 952pph by a fair amount), and to be honest, I’m surprised it was that low; as such, we waited only around 15-20 minutes from the bit of the queue that exits the first turnaround, which I didn’t think was bad at all! So, how was the ride? Well, the ride provided the other surprises I was alluding to; as luck would have it, I had my first ever ride in row 12! And my oh my was it wonderful! Firstly, the pacing felt absolutely obscene, and the ride was throwing us round every corner at what felt like breakneck speed! But the most surprising part was the airtime; Wicker Man is never a ride that people think of as having loads of airtime, but oh my goodness it was like a bucking bronco on that ride! The airtime was absolutely ridiculous; the ride was hurling us out of the seat over what seemed like every drop, and some of the drops even rivalled the obscene first drop on Megafobia’s back row! With all the crazily forceful, abrupt airtime moments and the crazily fast pacing, it’s honestly what I can imagine Steel Vengeance or another RMC feeling like, and that ride alone was easily one of the most airtime-filled rides I’ve ever had on a UK coaster! To top it all off, the slight moment of roughness I complained about on my last visit was non-existent this time, meaning that the ride was back to being completely comfortable in woodie terms! Overall, I have to say I was absolutely floored by my first experience of Wicker Man in the back row, and despite me not usually being much of a woodie person, I almost think that ride might well be my favourite ride I’ve ever had on a UK coaster! I don’t usually scream much on rides, but I’m slightly ashamed to admit that I practically screamed the whole way round back row Wicker Man! I should clarify that the photos of Wicker Man are from varying points in the day, as my phone’s battery was being slightly erratic, meaning that my phone was working at points and not at others:
After my amazing back row ride on Wicker Man, we began to head on past it towards Forbidden Valley, with me and my mum taking a brief detour to ride a personal guilty pleasure of mine...
Runaway Mine Train
Runaway Mine Train was on an advertised 5 minute queue, so me and my mum decided to join it. The queue was fairly accurate, as we probably waited no more than 10-15 minutes for RMT. So, how was it? Well, we were seated in row 7, and in spite of us being near the front of the train, the ride was still really fun, and surprisingly fast; I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, but that helix into the tunnel does not feel like an element on a 0.9m height restriction family coaster, and feels way faster than the billed 22mph top speed! I know it’s probably slightly blasphemous that I have a Mack powered coaster in my top 30, but RMT is the absolute definition of a guilty pleasure coaster for me, and I think it’s a crying shame that I don’t ride it more! Due to my aforementioned phone battery issues, I have no photo of RMT; sorry about that!
After RMT, we headed down to Forbidden Valley to take a ride on...
Nemesis
Nemesis was on an advertised 40 minute queue, so we joined it. The queue was a little overestimated, with us probably only waiting 30 minutes or so, which was a definite bonus! So, how was the ride? Well, we were on row 7, and it was great, although there was a bit of headbanging, so my ears were slightly sore afterwards; that does take away from Nemesis for me slightly:
After Nemesis, we were going to do Galactica, but the ride was closed, and sending around empty trains:
Because of that, we instead headed back towards the other end of the park, but on our way by, we had another ride on Wicker Man. This time, we were seated in row 4, and even though the ride wasn’t quite as obscene as it had been in row 12 earlier in the day, it was still absolutely breathtaking, with blisteringly fast pacing and some excellent airtime!
After another amazing ride on Wicker Man, we headed behind The Towers to do something new...
Gangsta Granny: The Ride
Gangsta Granny was on a (relatively) low advertised queue time of 45 minutes, so we decided to give it a go. I was quite keen to see The World of David Williams and ride Gangsta Granny, as I was actually a big fan of Walliams’ books when I was a bit younger. Our wait for Gangsta Granny actually ended up being one of the longest of the day, at around 60 minutes. One thing I’ll firstly warn you about if you’re wanting to ride Gangsta Granny is; the queue moves pretty slowly, so even though it might not look as though the queue has many people in it, it might end up being longer than you expect. This might change once they’re able to fill cars to capacity again, though. So, how was the ride? I’ll do a longer review in the World of David Walliams thread, but in short; I really liked it for what it was, and I thought it was a very well-done family dark ride, with some elements that I’ll admit surprised me in spite of having already seen a POV:
After Gangsta Granny, my mum and I had a 3rd ride on Wicker Man. I know that 3 rides on Wicker Man in 1 day might seem excessive, but I do absolutely love it, and as the choice was an advertised 40 minute queue for my favourite ride in the park or a 60+ minute queue for the 3 big coasters we hadn’t ridden, I knew which I wanted to do! We were once again seated in row 4, and the ride was once again phenomenal; in fact, the ride somehow felt even faster than it had in the same row earlier in the day!
Feeling extremely satisfied after the final ride on Wicker Man, we decided to end the day there, and as such, we embarked on the walk back to our car.
So in conclusion, we had an excellent day at Alton Towers today! With an absolutely smashing ride count of 8, I’m thrilled with what we managed to get done today, especially seeing as one of the rides was on the new for 2021 Gangsta Granny! As you may have guessed from my photos, the weather was somewhat dreary & overcast with on-and-off rain, and it was actually surprisingly cold for late June, but in spite of that, I’d have to say that today was perhaps my favourite day I’ve had at Alton Towers in a fair while; I don’t know whether it was the amazing ride count, but something just seemed particularly great about today!
I hope you enjoyed my trip report! Apologies about the strange ordering of some of the photos, and lack of in some cases; as I said, my phone’s battery was very erratic, turning my phone off randomly and going up and down. You won’t be waiting too long for the next trip report, as I’m off to Thorpe Park on 11th July!
For our first ride, we actually started differently to our last two trips, and went to ride an attraction I haven’t done since July 2020...
The Smiler
Smiler was on an advertised 0 minute queue, so we headed over. However, when we were over there, a queue had built up, and we later ascertained that the queue board was broken. As such, we ended up queueing for 60 minutes. So, how was the ride? I’ll admit that Smiler isn’t my favourite coaster, and it remained that way after today’s ride, but I was sat on a front row inside seat, and I have to say that that was one of the smoothest rides I’ve had in a while! The infamous final 3 inversions were very rough as per usual, and there were 1 or 2 other areas of slight jolting, but the rest of the ride had little more than a slight rattle, which I was glad about! So overall, as much as I still wouldn’t say that Smiler is one of my favourite rides, it was one of the more enjoyable rides I’ve had on Smiler in a while:
After Smiler, me and my dad rode the other coaster in the area...
Oblivion
Bizarrely, Oblivion was listed as closed, but it had people entering the queue and people going round on the ride, so we joined it. The ride did ultimately end up being open, and we only waited 15-20 minutes, which is a plus! So, how was Oblivion? Well, I’m pleased to report that it was fantastic as ever; I absolutely love Oblivion for the airtime on the drop and the raw speed, and it was certainly providing these in droves today:
After Oblivion, we headed to what is controversially a personal favourite of mine within Alton Towers...
Wicker Man
Wicker Man was on an advertised 45 minute queue, so we joined it. The first of many surprises on Wicker Man today was the pace at which the queue moved; it felt like we barely stopped moving! I calculated the throughput to be 1,048pph (exceeding the ride’s theoretical of 952pph by a fair amount), and to be honest, I’m surprised it was that low; as such, we waited only around 15-20 minutes from the bit of the queue that exits the first turnaround, which I didn’t think was bad at all! So, how was the ride? Well, the ride provided the other surprises I was alluding to; as luck would have it, I had my first ever ride in row 12! And my oh my was it wonderful! Firstly, the pacing felt absolutely obscene, and the ride was throwing us round every corner at what felt like breakneck speed! But the most surprising part was the airtime; Wicker Man is never a ride that people think of as having loads of airtime, but oh my goodness it was like a bucking bronco on that ride! The airtime was absolutely ridiculous; the ride was hurling us out of the seat over what seemed like every drop, and some of the drops even rivalled the obscene first drop on Megafobia’s back row! With all the crazily forceful, abrupt airtime moments and the crazily fast pacing, it’s honestly what I can imagine Steel Vengeance or another RMC feeling like, and that ride alone was easily one of the most airtime-filled rides I’ve ever had on a UK coaster! To top it all off, the slight moment of roughness I complained about on my last visit was non-existent this time, meaning that the ride was back to being completely comfortable in woodie terms! Overall, I have to say I was absolutely floored by my first experience of Wicker Man in the back row, and despite me not usually being much of a woodie person, I almost think that ride might well be my favourite ride I’ve ever had on a UK coaster! I don’t usually scream much on rides, but I’m slightly ashamed to admit that I practically screamed the whole way round back row Wicker Man! I should clarify that the photos of Wicker Man are from varying points in the day, as my phone’s battery was being slightly erratic, meaning that my phone was working at points and not at others:
After my amazing back row ride on Wicker Man, we began to head on past it towards Forbidden Valley, with me and my mum taking a brief detour to ride a personal guilty pleasure of mine...
Runaway Mine Train
Runaway Mine Train was on an advertised 5 minute queue, so me and my mum decided to join it. The queue was fairly accurate, as we probably waited no more than 10-15 minutes for RMT. So, how was it? Well, we were seated in row 7, and in spite of us being near the front of the train, the ride was still really fun, and surprisingly fast; I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, but that helix into the tunnel does not feel like an element on a 0.9m height restriction family coaster, and feels way faster than the billed 22mph top speed! I know it’s probably slightly blasphemous that I have a Mack powered coaster in my top 30, but RMT is the absolute definition of a guilty pleasure coaster for me, and I think it’s a crying shame that I don’t ride it more! Due to my aforementioned phone battery issues, I have no photo of RMT; sorry about that!
After RMT, we headed down to Forbidden Valley to take a ride on...
Nemesis
Nemesis was on an advertised 40 minute queue, so we joined it. The queue was a little overestimated, with us probably only waiting 30 minutes or so, which was a definite bonus! So, how was the ride? Well, we were on row 7, and it was great, although there was a bit of headbanging, so my ears were slightly sore afterwards; that does take away from Nemesis for me slightly:
After Nemesis, we were going to do Galactica, but the ride was closed, and sending around empty trains:
Because of that, we instead headed back towards the other end of the park, but on our way by, we had another ride on Wicker Man. This time, we were seated in row 4, and even though the ride wasn’t quite as obscene as it had been in row 12 earlier in the day, it was still absolutely breathtaking, with blisteringly fast pacing and some excellent airtime!
After another amazing ride on Wicker Man, we headed behind The Towers to do something new...
Gangsta Granny: The Ride
Gangsta Granny was on a (relatively) low advertised queue time of 45 minutes, so we decided to give it a go. I was quite keen to see The World of David Williams and ride Gangsta Granny, as I was actually a big fan of Walliams’ books when I was a bit younger. Our wait for Gangsta Granny actually ended up being one of the longest of the day, at around 60 minutes. One thing I’ll firstly warn you about if you’re wanting to ride Gangsta Granny is; the queue moves pretty slowly, so even though it might not look as though the queue has many people in it, it might end up being longer than you expect. This might change once they’re able to fill cars to capacity again, though. So, how was the ride? I’ll do a longer review in the World of David Walliams thread, but in short; I really liked it for what it was, and I thought it was a very well-done family dark ride, with some elements that I’ll admit surprised me in spite of having already seen a POV:
After Gangsta Granny, my mum and I had a 3rd ride on Wicker Man. I know that 3 rides on Wicker Man in 1 day might seem excessive, but I do absolutely love it, and as the choice was an advertised 40 minute queue for my favourite ride in the park or a 60+ minute queue for the 3 big coasters we hadn’t ridden, I knew which I wanted to do! We were once again seated in row 4, and the ride was once again phenomenal; in fact, the ride somehow felt even faster than it had in the same row earlier in the day!
Feeling extremely satisfied after the final ride on Wicker Man, we decided to end the day there, and as such, we embarked on the walk back to our car.
So in conclusion, we had an excellent day at Alton Towers today! With an absolutely smashing ride count of 8, I’m thrilled with what we managed to get done today, especially seeing as one of the rides was on the new for 2021 Gangsta Granny! As you may have guessed from my photos, the weather was somewhat dreary & overcast with on-and-off rain, and it was actually surprisingly cold for late June, but in spite of that, I’d have to say that today was perhaps my favourite day I’ve had at Alton Towers in a fair while; I don’t know whether it was the amazing ride count, but something just seemed particularly great about today!
I hope you enjoyed my trip report! Apologies about the strange ordering of some of the photos, and lack of in some cases; as I said, my phone’s battery was very erratic, turning my phone off randomly and going up and down. You won’t be waiting too long for the next trip report, as I’m off to Thorpe Park on 11th July!