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Alton Towers | Nemesis Reborn | B&M Retrack | 2024

Where do I start, that was beyond my wildest imaginations. The area looks fantastic, hands down the best themed coaster in the UK, without a single doubt in my mind. The eye is superb, one of the best theming pieces I've seen anywhere, ever. It was just the nice surprise we needed, along with the inside of the station. (Although there are LOTS of little surprises... I won't ruin them all.) All this with the same great coaster at the heart of it. Honestly, if you didn't know better, you could have been riding the original in it's earlier (smoother) years.

We rode the mine train first, whilst waiting for a few people to catch up. Then we joined the back of the queue, at the mine train entrance!!!! Yes it took 4 hours plus, but every single second of it was a pleasure. Great company, great atmosphere, and extra roaming entertainment put on by Towers. The atmosphere was electric

I don't know what to say really, just brilliant brilliant brilliant.

It doesn't stop there though, operations were good all around the park, with little down time on rides, considering it was opening day and as busy as Towers will ever get outside of fireworks. Any stoppages on Nemesis (except the last) we're dealt with in a matter of single digit minutes. (A staff member told us they had a maintenance team assigned to the ride all day for just that reason. That is forward planning BPB, take note!)

As somebody that visits the park a LOT, it was easy for me to spot the improvements all around the park. And I don't remember a single year where we've come back on day one to so many different little bits of TLC all around the park, actually, I don't remember a year that comes even remotely close. Bianca, whatever you're doing, for the love of Nemesis, please keep doing it. This is what should be achieved every closed season!

Unfortunately, for the final night ride, the heavens opened up hard, I've no idea if it was linked to the rain, I would guess so (we all know how new sensors can misbehave in the rain until they're fine tuned) but the ride stopped, and had to be evacuated from the lift hill, so we were all escorted out of the queue line. No night ride. I was a bit downhearted at first, but honestly, just seeing the area at night was a spectacle enough in it's own right. Rides have teething issues, opening days are mayhem and as far as new rides go, today's issues were few and far between.

The negatives though, no waterfalls or blood... Not going to drag on about this again, but it's a missed opportunity. I also don't like the fact that the main queue no longer passes over the bridge. However, if that means less idiots vandalise the structure's theming, as they wait next to it, then I can live with that. I'm a bit concerned too about the length of the queue at the top, specifically that I don't recall seeing any / many shortcuts for quieter days. I wasn't looking for these though, so perhaps somebody can put my mind at rest here?

All in all, the negatives are insignificant. I think Alton Towers can take a bow this evening, for not only doing justice to one of the UK's greats, but for exceeding almost everybody's expectations with Nemesis and FV, and for beginning to bring the magic back to the towers with their work all around the park... More to do of course, much more, but they're well and truly on the right track under Bianca IMO. 👏

(P.s for those criticising the eye, have you actually seen it in person? Because I cannot fathom how you could have seen it and not been blown away. I don't think I've ever seen so many people waiting to take photos in front of a single theming piece before, it's stunning.)
 
Imagine complaining about a new effect that didn't even need to be included when the whole area looks objectively miles better than it did before. Smh
Imagine complaining about someone else complaining.

If you're going to add a cool effect why not do it properly. It looks great but just seems unfinished.
 
Imagine complaining about someone else complaining.

If you're going to add a cool effect why not do it properly. It looks great but just seems unfinished.
Have you seen it in person?

Edited: I'm going to guess no, and if that's the case: Please, please, please wait until you do. I haven't seen a single video or photo since getting back, including my own, that does it justice. Sure, the teeth could 'move better,' but they're such a small aspect of the whole element. I'm sure you'll appreciate it much more in person, especially in the dark.

Also, forgot to mention @Dar it is timed to the train, it screams as the train goes past into the inversion. ;) Without spoiling too much, it's not the only theming element that's timed to the train either. :)
 
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I'm sure you'll appreciate it much more in person, especially in the dark.

Not to be "that guy", but it it will be hard to appreciate it in the dark when the ride will only be open in the dark for a handful of days.

Everything looks fantastic though, a very pleasing redo of the attraction. Excited to see it in person.
 
That was an absolutely incredible opening day! Managed to get on the 2nd public train, right on the front row and what a buzz it was 😍. Everyone chanting Nemesis, clapping, cheering....ahh it was just perfect!

I must agree that operations were pretty decent too, especially for an opening day. Managed to get on Nemesis 3 times, queueing 0 minutes for the first time, 2.5 Hours for the 2nd, and only 1 hour for the third. Mind, it's definitely still a back row ride 😉

The theming is incredible, the station is up there as one of my favourites now (both inside and out), they've really done a great job on bringing Nemesis to life. And it ran just as good as it ever used to, perfect.

It is a shame about the waterfalls but let's hope it's something they can get sorted in the future? Overall, an amazing day, an amazing coaster and it was great to meet so many fellow enthusiasts yesterday too😁
 
That was an absolutely incredible opening day! Managed to get on the 2nd public train, right on the front row and what a buzz it was 😍. Everyone chanting Nemesis, clapping, cheering....ahh it was just perfect!

I must agree that operations were pretty decent too, especially for an opening day. Managed to get on Nemesis 3 times, queueing 0 minutes for the first time, 2.5 Hours for the 2nd, and only 1 hour for the third. Mind, it's definitely still a back row ride 😉

The theming is incredible, the station is up there as one of my favourites now (both inside and out), they've really done a great job on bringing Nemesis to life. And it ran just as good as it ever used to, perfect.

It is a shame about the waterfalls but let's hope it's something they can get sorted in the future? Overall, an amazing day, an amazing coaster and it was great to meet so many fellow enthusiasts yesterday too😁
Did you notice all the new plumbing up top that led into each of the waterfalls? It had all been renewed. Now it could have just been drainage, but I doubt it with one of the connecting pieces being the kind of 'chonky' cast piece you only use where there's pressure... (Plus you should never use blue piping for drainage.) I'll try and take some photos on Monday. Looks like they tried, and for whatever reason abandoned their plans. :(

I took this one, which shows brand new plastic piping, but there's another part clearly visible, below the first drop, which I didn't photograph, that shows more including brand new shiny fittings.

IMG_3032.jpg

Trouble is, I don't know whether this gives me hope, or if it means that they tried and failed to solve the issues, making it even less likely. :/ (Or even if it is just drainage.)
 
Even though I sadly missed the chance to ride it (which I will quietly remain forever salty about). I would agree with everyone that the theming work they've done is fantastic. The atmosphere around the ride area was unmatched by anything in the park, the station is so much more convincingly monster-like than before, and the eye looked great in the daytime and brought a lot of people into the usually derelict lower pathways (though I don't think it looked great at night due to the projection making the eyelid very bright. Oh well, it's still absolutely worth the addition). The new queue layout (from what I saw) made much more sense than before and gave some excellent vantage points to see the ride.

Lastly, the walk around actors (presumably for the opening day) were all doing an excellent job and brought so mutch life and cheesy charm to the area. Kudos to all of them!
 
Oh look, a shipping container.

It all looks very good I have to say, and the extended lore is very nice too, including protestors at the entrance to the queue line. What I really like is how respectful to the original it all seems to be, whilst bringing something new. The code on the Shipping Container was a nice touch ;)

The queue is moving very quickly, ops are really on top of it to get people through. Good on you Merlin!

Very disappointing to see how much litter people have dropped already, the ride has only been open a day for goodness sake. People really are the worst.
 
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Oh look, a shipping container.

It all looks very good I have to say, and the extended lore is very nice too, including protestors at the entrance to the queue line. What I really like is how respectful to the original it all seems to be, whilst bringing something new. The code on the Shipping Container was a nice touch ;)

The queue is moving very quickly, ops are really on top of it to get people through. Good on you Merlin!

Very disappointing to see how much litter people have dropped already, the ride has only been open a day for goodness sake. People really are the worst.
Did you notice the cannon, or more to the point it's purpose?

Also did you notice that'd broken the old drill down into parts and scattered them around?
 
Nemesis currently has an almost 5 hour wait!

It’s 1994 again

5 HOURS?!
 
Did you notice all the new plumbing up top that led into each of the waterfalls? It had all been renewed. Now it could have just been drainage, but I doubt it with one of the connecting pieces being the kind of 'chonky' cast piece you only use where there's pressure... (Plus you should never use blue piping for drainage.) I'll try and take some photos on Monday. Looks like they tried, and for whatever reason abandoned their plans. :(
If you can take some pictures I can try to identify it. Love a good pipe pic. ;)
 
Using (presumably) old track as extra tentacles coming out of the ground was a great addition as well.
 

This is very interesting, looks like water running through the (presumably) new plumbing? 🤔
Oh yeah, from that video that is 100% a pressurised water pipe. The thing in yellow is an isolating valve - either before/after a branch or after a significant pipe length (for maintenance purposes). The blue is typical (usually buried) plastic pipework - HDPE most commonly.

Seals at the joints don't look very good mind...

...and lord knows what it's serving...
 
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I do love bringing this up, but I think it put the speculation to bed because of some of the new theming elements include;

- a piece of track coming in and out of the ground like a tentacle
- a new “support” holding the crab pincer in place

Can we all finally agree that the track is the tentacles and the supports are the “cage”??
 
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