Tag: Galactica

Blog, Reviews

Attraction soundtracks

Loops&Lapbars

One of the things I rarely ever hear anyone talk about are attraction soundtracks. The music that plays in the queue line, station building or themed area. Something that adds ambiance to an area, or builds up excitement for the ride you face!

I don’t know why this is as there are some excellent scores to some great rides here in the UK, and saying that, there are some excellent rides that are missing musical accompaniment!

The good!

When I think of musical scores, the first one that usually comes to mind is The Big One’s theme from Pleasure Beach or Helix at Liseberg. Both of these are euphoric dancey tracks, and even though I haven’t ridden Helix, I can imagine it fits really well. I could easily see Helix’s theme used with Icon at Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

Icon, with Big Dipper and Big One behind

Another score I really like is Galactica’s. It fits the ride perfectly, has a sense of wonder about it and adds to the space exploration theme Galactica has. I love this one!

Galactica. A lovely soundtrack to a lovely ride!

Nemesis also has a great theme, chilling and foreboding, it helps to add to the terror of the area and the ride itself.

Another thing I do like it how Imascore, who did the music for Galactica, Spinball Whizzer, The Smiler and Wickerman at Alton Towers included parts from In the Hall of the Mountain King, Alton’s unofficial theme. A very nice little attention to detail by some very talented musicians!

The same can be said for Thorpe Parks theme, it incorporates segments of the big 5 roller coasters, and the themed areas appear to have excerpts from the main theme too. I also like Derren Brown’s Ghost Trains score.

Tornado Springs at Paultons Park also has a great score, feeling very in keeping with the 1950s American theme they have there. Same for Storm Chaser, thats theme is great too, mixing 50s guitars and rock with the sounds of a raging storm.

Tornado springs at Paultons Park

Chessington World of Adventures has some good themes, its overall park theme is fun and inspires adventure, Croc Drop’s theme is also good, but Vampire’s theme is excellent and fits the ride and station building fantastically.

The not so good!

Personally I like, but don’t love Icon’s score. It has some excellent parts, but a lot of it I find to be quite lacking. I just doesn’t have the epicness in my opinion!

Rita is another rides whos score is just ok. I didn’t get to experience Thunder Rock radio when Rita was still part of Ug Land, but I could see that fitting really well. The score it has now, does still fit the Dark Forest and Rita’s final chance of escape theme, but it could be so much more. The fault lies in the fact that Rita doesn’t properly fit Dark Forest and didn’t fit Ug Land when it was there either.

The bad!

For me, the worst score that a ride has is Oblivion. The repetitive techno track doesn’t really fit the theme of Oblivion being a next level of fear that you have to overcome, riders disappearing into nothingness and not returning, but with a techno backing track? I really don’t like this one, but I do wonder what could be used instead?

Riders braving the drop (and score) on Oblivion

Aside Oblivion, I haven’t heard a score/theme that I really don’t like, but I’m sure there will be others out there that are good, not so bad and terrible!

I haven’t been to Europe or the USA to sample their delights, but I have heard a few scores like Taron’s and Helix as mentioned earlier, and I can’t wait to get abroad and see what hidden gems there are!

Blog, Reviews

Stafford & Alton Towers – Stop 2

Loops&Lapbars

After leaving Blackpool, we headed on to Days Inn at Stafford M6 southbound services. The rooms were standard rooms, twin beds, desk and the like, with an excellent shower but a lack of air conditioning. We had a very good nights stay here.

The following morning we were up, fed and on the road again ready for a day at Alton Towers!

We’ve visited Alton plenty of times before hand and are well rehearsed in how to dodge most of the queues, but I made a fatal mistake, by booking Alton Towers on a bank holiday Monday. The park was extremely busy and it meant we didn’t have much time to do many of the excellent rides this time around.

Our first stop was the new for 2021 World of David Walliams and Gangsta Granny: The Ride. There was a little confusion as to where the queue for the ride actually started, as they weren’t letting folk into the purpose made cattle pens initially, but eventually they filtered us in and after taking our photo in the queue, we boarded the ride car.

I knew nothing of the story aside a few little things I’d picked up from the queue line, but by the end of the ride, i’m pretty certain I know whats going on! The ride was brilliantly done! Very bright and vibrant, the motions, smells and visuals were a real delight to behold, and both of us thoroughly enjoyed it!

After we’d finished in the shop, we had a go on Flavio’s fabulous fandango and the Royal Carousel. Both were good times, though the operations on Flavios were quite poor, with the ride ops seemingly not fussed about getting people onto the ride in any meaningful time.

The Enterprise, finally running!

The next stop was to X-Sector where I finally got to have a go on the Enterprise ride. I’ve seen it many times before on previous visits, and always wanted a go, but for whatever reason, it’s never operated. So I had my go, Tracy sat it out as she wasn’t much of a fan of the ride type. I wasn’t disappointed! Though I do feel that the bulk of the fun of the ride is actually when it’s laying flat, it was still fun to go up in the air and experience nothing but the ride’s forces keeping you in place.

Next we tried our first Retro Squad ride with Mixtape. I’ve never seen anything like one of these before, its a real visual treat when its going and the audio they had on was great and really fit in. I think that if they gave it a bit of a repaint and fit it permanently, it would fit perfectly in X-Sectror with The Smiler and Oblivion.

We skipped The Smiler and Oblivion as their queues were quite lengthy and instead we headed up to the Dark Forest for a ride on Rita, one of my all time favorite rides. We ended up buying Fast Passes though as we couldn’t stay too late and the queue was into the 90 minute realms. As usual, we really enjoyed it, the launch is still exhilarating and the airtime we get keeps us coming back!

Rita!

After Rita, we were pretty much done. The crowds were a bit too much and operations were quite slow so we missed out on the other Retro Squad rides, Forbidden Valley and Wickerman this time around, but we’ll be back later in the year.

While we were there, Alton Towers was hosting Mardis Gras, which involved each areas having its own festival, with plenty of entertainment, street food, bright colours and music all around the park. Though not as good as what Scarefest was in 2020, it was still a great addition to the yearly line up, and we hope they do it again next year! We did feel that some of the food on offer was very expensive, but there was plenty to choose from, with cheaper options available.

Overall, a bit of a disappointing visit to Towers this time around, but I know it was my fault booking on a bank holiday, but we still had fun, experienced the big new ride for this year, and experienced things for the first time, so it wasn’t all bad news!

Next stop is Hereford, and onto Oakwood!