I should start this one all the way back in 2022 when Nemesis closed to the public and the marketing campaign for the ride began with the Phalanx being created and taking over Forbidden Valley.
Alton Towers showed that they know what they’re doing when they put their mind to it. The Smiler Takeover wasn’t that, neither were some of the scare maze decisions last year, but to close the ride and hold an event for it, then keep up the hype train all year with various marketing details and documenting the rides retracking is masterful work.
There wasn’t a single enthusiast in the country that didn’t know what was going on with the ride. Even the general public had a much better idea than you’d expect when a ride is being built and it’s all down to that excellent marketing campaign. The creation of characters, the Phalanx and Nemesis herself were all done justice.
Fast forward to 2024 and the marketing is coming to a close, we know what the new beast will look like, we know what the new story is (to some extent) and excitement for the rides return is at an all time high.
Opening day arrives on the 16th of March 2024 and people are talking about camping out to get as close to the front of the queue as they can. The park opens and 5 hour queues form to get onto the new ride as we’ve all missed it in the last year.
I wasn’t in the first 5 hour queue, I got to the area to see what else had been done around Forbidden Valley. I knew that they’d replaced the original Nemesis cannon with a helicopter and I wasn’t that enthusiastic about the change but getting into the area and seeing that first instantly changed my mind. It’s massive!
It’s one of many changes through the area to bring Forbidden Valley and the Phalanx Research facility to life, and in my opinion, make it a world class area now.
The area isn’t just Forbidden Valley and the ride area isn’t just Nemesis, it’s now the Phalanx Research facility and the Nemesis containment area and the little details really sell it. The signage for the containment area is all twisted and bent, as though something large has pulled at the signs and almost attacked them.
Then there’s the station. My god, the station. It’s been overhauled and tidied up, and new effects added. Inside the station platform now resembles the innards of the Nemesis beast, with what looks like ribs and viscera all over the ceiling. The outside looks incredibly smart and the biggest new feature is the eye.
This appears to be a curved screen that loops animations of Nemesis’ eye and it gets angry as the train passes by and vents smoke onto the train. This looks visually impressive and because of the trains design, it pulls the smoke across the top of the station, adding even more to it!
The queue line has been moved around a little and has a large, if unaspiring looking canon built into it that ‘fires’ at the train as it passes by the first corkscrew. I say fires, but it’s just a sound effect and the canon is a little on the plain side compared with other parts of the queue line.
There’s also a container in the queue that belongs to a group of Nemesis sympathisers that want the beast setting free as they feel it should be left to its own devices and they claim the Phalanx are up to no good.
It is heavily implied that the Phalanx are now conducting experiments on the beast and forcing it to lay eggs that can be turned into weapons. What I got from all this is that they’ve lost control and are now panicking and are trying to save themselves from the wrath of Nemesis as well as those that would find out what they’ve been up to!
It’s very sinister and almost feels like it should be part of X Sector. Even the new Forbidden Valley sign feels very X Sector, but I won’t be complaining in the slightest!
As for the ride itself, it is still Nemesis. It does have a little of the iconic roar as it bounds around the layout, it is nice and intense where it used to be and it’s comfortable. The only issue, and it’s a fairly big one, is that the trains seemed to have developed a rather annoying bounce to them. It almost judders around certain parts and I hope this can be rectified in time as it’s about the only negative I can give for the ride!
Otherwise, John Burton has done John Wardley proud, his team have taken what Mr Wardley started 30 years ago and improved on it in almost every way possible in my view. Merlin have shown what they can do and I really hope Alton Towers gets even more of the good stuff in the years to come so they can thoroughly cement themselves as the UK’s premier theme park and a world class destination.
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