Such a long title for a blog, and a long day too! This was our first ever theme park enthusiast event and was hosted at Alton Towers and put together by the fine fellows at Your Experience Guide(YEG) (Formally Pleasure Beach Experience).
The day started off early at 8am where we all congregated around the turnstiles of Alton Towers, we were checked in and greeted by the YEG team and given our event lanyards and passes. Once we’d gotten sorted, we just stood around and took in what was going on before eventually noticing Loops and Donuts, someone who I’ve been messaging back and forth with on Facebook and was excited to finally meet! We accompanied each other throughout the day and we had a right laugh, so thanks very much for that folks!
Once Alton Towers were ready for us, we went though bag checks and followed the YEG team to Wicker Man for the first of our two sessions of Exclusive Ride Times (ERT) for the day. Exclusive ride times are blocks of time set out, usually outside park hours, to allow complete takeover of a ride or attraction. In our case we were given ERT on Wicker Man from 9:00-10:00 and Oblivion from 18:30-19:30. In this hour, you just keep riding and riding as much (or as little) as you like and it was fantastic! Not only did we get to essentially pick whatever row we wanted, but also the trains were filled with likeminded individuals who were waving at everyone and just generally creating a real buzz of an atmosphere. Such a great time, and this was only the first part of the day!
Once our ERT had ended, we moved onto the shop to see what new merchandise was available this year. I was a bit disappointed to find very few things in 2XL sizes. Because of this, I ended up with a couple of pairs of socks and about 10 pin badges. These were priced at £8 a piece which I think is incredibly expensive, but I had set aside money for T-shirts and hoodies that I couldn’t buy so badges will do nicely.
Next we made the long trek over for our first ride on The Curse at Alton Manor, the reimagining of Dual in Haunted Hollow. I will be doing a blog going into detail of what I liked and disliked, and my overall impression of the ride but for now I’ll say that it was a great ride with some really unexpected sequences! Look out of the new blog here when I write it!
Galactica was our next stop and the ride was suffering a little from a breakdown which meant we ended up queuing for a bit longer but once they cleared the issue, we had a good ride on the old flyer. There does seem to be a little bit of attention being given to Galactica, as it has had some new decals placed about and tidied up a bit. It still could do with a good paint or cleaning, and the tunnel is still very bare, but a good ride nonetheless.
Now we’d finished up with Galactica, we headed over to the Skyride to find that it was closed, and had been all day, so we made the long walk through the gardens towards Dark Forest to see what was happening with Rita and Th13teen. After seeing the queues and noticing the time we decided to have dinner at Burger Kitchen, ride Flavios Fabulous Fandango and head over to Katanga Canyon for the second part of the event, an unofficial takeover of Congo River Rapids at 3pm.
Though not the same as our ERT earlier, this takeover saw the whole group join the queue for Congo River Rapids with the general public and have a right laugh doing so! The boats were being filled, ours had the full 7 in and we barrelled down the course, getting wet and having a few good bumps along the way. This is definitely the best way to ride the rapids!
Next stop was another unofficial takeover, this time on Curse at Alton Manor. This gave us ample time to not only compare it to our earlier ride, but also see things we missed the first time.
The next part of our event was at 18:30, so that left us with about 3 hours to fill, so we headed back up to Runaway Mine Train for a ride on the classic coaster. The area and theming has seen a good tidying up and the entrance looks brand new again thanks to a lick of paint and some sprucing up! It still rides the same as it always has, and it was a squeeze to get into the cars, but we managed and a fun time was had by all.
Our next stop was back over in Dark Forest for a ride on Th13een and Rita. Th13teens queue line has seen a lot of the trees and bushes cleared away, opening it up a bit and you can even see the coaster as it does the outdoor section in the forest. I quite like that you can see this, but it is also a shame that it doesn’t look so overgrown and supernatural now. A back row ride for us which was great fun!
Our next stop was Rita but this ended up being our last stop for the day as when we entered the queue, an announcement was made that Rita was experiencing technical issues but we stayed in queue as there was still another 35 minutes of park time left. By the time it came to 5:45 however, the staff informed us that the engineering team still hadn’t arrived and by the time the arrived, fixed and sent test cars out, it would be after 6pm, so we headed into X-Sector for the Smiler Shop (as the Smiler was also having issues).
The Smiler shop was the same story as earlier unfortunately. Lots of great merchandise to buy, but nothing at all in 2XL here. Now I’m not sure if I should be asking whether they have things in my size, or whether they just don’t get as many lines in 2XL as they used to, but I hope we see more larger sized apparel!
With the Smiler shop being our last stop, the final part of our day was an ERT on Oblivion. It was scheduled to run from 18:30 until 19:30, however there were technical issues that meant the ride wasn’t ready in time. However we weren’t left to be bored as the ride operators, specifically Kian (I think that was his name) had us playing a game where you have to try to catch the finger of the person next to you while the person on the other side does the same to you. Great fun and loads of people interacting keeping the atmosphere positive whilst things were fixed in the background.
Shuttles did eventually start raining down the Oblivion track, so they allowed us on at around 18:50 and our hour started from then which was great to hear! I don’t remember exactly how many rides I got on Oblivion, somewhere around 8, but each one was fantastic and really showed me how much fun Dive coasters are. I usually overlook Oblivion as a one and done sort of affair, but I had a lot of fun doing back to back rides on it, made all the more fun by Tracy, Loops and Donuts and the rest of the crowd!
At this point I would like to mention the staff at Alton Towers as every single person we spoke to seemed interested in our day and our wellbeing. We were constantly checked if we were having a good time, and it never felt forced either. The staff always felt as though the actually had an active interest in your day and conducted themselves professionally and were very welcoming!
Finally I do want to thank all the folks at Your Experience Guide for making the day run as smoothly as it did and put on an excellent event! From greeting us at the start of the day, to keeping us informed throughout and even just shaking my hand and thanking us for coming at the end of the day, it all added onto a very memorable visit to Alton Towers! The same can be said for Loops and Donuts too. As I mentioned earlier, we spent the whole day together and we thoroughly enjoyed their company (and I think they did ours too!) Thanks again for a great day, and hopefully see you on our travels in future!
Photo taken by Paul Young and used with permission (Featured image too)
There are plenty of rides in the UK offering new and exciting ways to thrill you. The smiler can send you upside down 14 times, Stealth can launch you to 80mph in 1.8 seconds and Odyssey can take you to heights no inverted coaster in the UK gets close to. However sometimes you have to look to the past for something new to thrill you.
Step in Wicker Man. At the time of writing, this is Alton Towers newest attraction. A wooden rollercoaster manufactured by Great Coasters International, themed to a cult worshipping a Wicker Man and sending you as sacrifices to feed the flames!
It stands at 22m (72.2ft) tall, has 795m (2608ft) of track and reaches speeds of 43 mph (70.2km/h) and replaced the much loved Flume attraction. It is marketed as the first wooden rollercoaster to incorporate fire into its theming and the first wooden rollercoaster in the UK in 20 years. The last being Megafobia at Oakwood.
Now I love Wicker Man. I like the theme, I love the ride experience and I particularly enjoy the scent pods they use in the preshow, but there are some much older woodies in the UK that can give the new comer a run for its money! So how does the newest major woodie stack up against its older compadres?
The first I’d like to compare it to is Roller Coaster at Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach. This is one of 2 scenic railways in the country (the other is at Dreamland Margate) and despite it being over 70 years older than Wicker Man, it still manages to top it’s top speed, reaching 45 miles an hour! Though the ride isn’t quite as thrilling as Wicker Mans’, Roller Coaster is still a great ride and comes in just behind Wicker Man’s biggest competitor, Megafobia.
Megafobia is a Custom Coasters wooden coaster located at Oakwood and is very well received as woodies go. This is the UKs fastest woodie, reaching 48mph (77km/h), reaches heights of 85ft and is 2956ft long. So Megafobia edges out Wicker Man in all categories, though it has no theming at all. When I first started writing this blog in mid 2022, I’d have said that Megafobia was the top woodie in the UK, but Wicker Man is bedding in and feels like it’s getting better and better with every passing season. There is little to split these two in my eyes, but Megafobia does give the more uncomfortable ride, not too harsh at all, but because of that small factor, and the theme difference, I’ve put Wicker Man above Megafobia. Atleast for now!
The next contenders for best UK woodie (that I’ve ridden) are all at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Nickelodeon Streak, Grand National, Blue Flier and Big Dipper. Blue Flyer is a good little kids ride but not quite in the big leagues and I’d say the same is true for Nickelodeon Streak too. Though Nick Streak has a great layout with loads of hills, I feel it takes them a little too slowly and doesn’t give as much airtime as the layout might suggest! It does slightly edge out the next competitor though.
Next up is Big Dipper. Turning 100 years old this year, this is a classic wooden rollercoaster built by William Strickler. It cost £25,000 in 1922, which would be over £1.9 million today, not bad when compared to Wicker Man’s £16 million!
The ride itself has age related roughness to it, though certainly not the hardest ride at Pleasure Beach. It will throw you into unbanked corners and drop you into the dips with a lot of force. The same can be said of Grand National which is arguably the most hardcore of the UK wooden coasters. If Big Dipper throws you into corners and dips, then Grand National launches you into them. It’s certainly not for the faint hearted and it can feel very intimidating, especially if you’ve ridden Wicker Man first!
I feel that Grand National gives the truest wooden rollercoaster experience as it feels raw and untamed, it’s noisy and rough and good fun to boot. Tracy will tell you it’s horrible, which is somewhat understandable as the ride can assault you as much as it thrills! I do enjoy Grand National, but if Wicker Man is a nice and velvety smooth wooden coaster, then Grand National is a slap in the face followed by a stiff drink. Brutal and yet fun.
There are a few other wooden roller coasters in the UK that I’ve yet to ride, such as Scenic Railway at Dreamland Margate and Antelope at Gullivers Warrington. There’s also Tyrolean Tubtwist at Joyland but I don’t think Tubtwist is of the same type as all the other woodies here. It does have wooden side panelling along the sides of the layout that are needed to help the cars spin and though it is classed as a wooden coaster, but that’s all there is, it hasn’t got a wooden structure or anything else, where all the others I’ve mentioned have.
Antelope looks like great fun and has a decent layout so I’d expect that to rank quite well but since I’ve not ridden it, I can’t rate it unfortunately!
So to summarise, here is the list of how I currently rank all the UK wooden coasters!
Alton Towers is set well into the Staffordshire countryside amongst the ruins of the famous Alton Towers stately home. In this guide, I aim to give my own tips and suggestions of how to get the most out of a day at Alton Towers, from arriving at the park, to food options and advice!
Arriving
There are two main ways to get to the park, by car and public transport. No matter how you arrive at the park, I would definitely suggest getting there between 9:00 and 9:30. This gives you time to do toilet breaks before you enter the park, go through security checks before the main gates and get into the park.
Arriving by Car
The monorail (red) runs between the entrance plaza and main car park
The park is accessed via road through the village of Alton or Farley and has a lot of twisting country roads, some of these can be quite tight so take your time. You’ll have 2 car park options, the first of which is right by the front gates called express parking, but costs a bit more than standard. The second is using the general car park which is cheaper, but does require a 15 minute walk up to the front gates, or waiting for the parks Monorail, which starts running at 9am. (Though it can sometimes start running late so the walk can be quicker)
Car parking charges are as follows:
Standard car parking is £7 (free if you hold a gold (previously premium) or platinum Merlin Annual Pass)
Express Car Parking is £19 (but is reduced to £12 for passholders)
Blue Badge Disabled parking is also charged at £7 but is located next to the express car park (included with Gold or Platinum passes too)
Main Car ParkExpress and disabled car parking
Public Transport
The bus stop is highlighted here in white
The other way to access the park is by public transport. This is unfortunately something I have never done as we live too far away for it to be a viable way to get there. There is a bus stop on site right by the main entrance and has buses that go between Stoke on Trent, Nottingham, and Derby.
Taken from the Alton Towers website, you’ll want the X41 if travelling from between Stafford – Uttoexeter – Alton Towers, 32X which is between Hanley – Cheadle and Alton Towers, or the X52 which runs from Nottingham, Derby and the Alton Towers Resort.
The closest train station is Uttoexeter, but there is also Derby and Stoke on Trent which are well connected too. Do take into account that you’ll need about 30 minutes if coming from Uttoexeter by bus, 1 hour if coming from Derby, and about 25 minutes from Stoke on Trent (though this would be by taxi).
Park Entrance, Turnstiles and Towers Street
Google maps view of Towers Street
The park entrance is home to the famous Corkscrew rollercoasters’ Corkscrews as a static welcoming display, as well as the monorail station, toilets in the corner and security.
It is advised to arrive with as little as needed, but I generally turn up with a bag full of cameras, food and supplies, and I get through security quite quickly. Once you’ve gotten through security, you’ll be getting to the turnstiles, here you’ll scan your pass or tickets and be into the a park!
The first area you’ll encounter is Towers Street and has a few food and beverage outlets towards the bottom. You’ll also find toilets, lockersguest services at the very top by the entrance to the right. Next down is the resort box office. Here you’ll be able to buy photo passes, ride fast passes and various upgrades to your visit. The box office tends to get very busy at the end of the day as people try to sort out photo passes and digital photos, where guest services gets very busy at the start of the day with ride access passes and queries.
Towers Street during the annual Scarefest event
Ride access passes are another element of Alton Towers, and the wider Merlin group, that I have no information about as I’ve never used them. Thought gist seems to be that they are designed for guests who need extra assistance or can’t queue for extended periods of time . This isn’t the same as fast passes though, so do take this into account. You’ll be given more information when you apply for it than I ever could so click here to find out more about it!
The final stop on Towers Street is Towers Trading, the resorts shop. Here you’ll find all sorts of merchandise, ranging from gloves and socks, to T-shirts, ride resins, pin badges, prints and more! I do advise visiting the shop early as they do allow you to leave your purchases behind to be picked up later on which will save a lot of time as the stop gets busy as the park closes. You’ll need to leave a few details and keep your receipt too!
Towers Trading, the parks shop
Planning your day
There are a fair few themed areas with attraction in each.
Towers Street with shops and guest services
Forbidden Valley where Nemesis (closed for 2023), The Blade, Funk n’ Fly and Galactica reside.
Dark Forest with Rita and Th13teen.
X Sector is home to The Smiler and Oblivion, Twistotron and Spinjam
CBeebies land has all the childrens rides.
Gloomy wood is a walk through area that connects The Curse at Alton Manor(the parks dark ride) to Mutiny Bay.
Mutiny Bay is home to Wicker Man, Heave Ho and Marauders Mayhem
Katanga Canyon, home to Runaway Mine Train and Congo River Rapids.
The World of David Walliams is where you’ll find Gangsta Granny The Ride, Raj’s Bouncy Bottom Burp and Flavio’s Fabulous Fandango.
Assuming you’ve arrived early and gotten through the gates by around 9:30 or so, head straight to either Wicker Man or the Dark Forest. When we go, I usually get to Wicker Man first as the queue starts to form before the rides open at 10am (something in the enthusiast community known as a rope drop). Beating the rope drop means you’ll start waiting for a ride before the ride opens, lessening your time used during park opening hours, if that makes sense?
Wicker Man – The parks most recent coaster
The reason I suggest Wicker Man and Dark Forest is because Wicker Man gets busy and stays busy all day, so less time lost waiting for it, is more time trying other attractions. Dark Forest on the other hand is a good walk away from the entrance so not many people head there, meaning you’ll be able to ride Th13teen and Rita without waiting much at all.
If you started at Wicker Man, your next best stop would be Katanga Canyon, then The Curse at Alton Manor, then onto Forbidden Valley. If you started in the Dark Forest, then you’d be better going to The World of David Walliams, then using the Sky Ride to get over to Forbidden Valley.
The Sky Ride usually opens around 11am and will take you from Towers Street to Forbidden Valley, and then to Dark Forest, and back again.
The Skyride.
The rides that tend to have lower queues throughout the day are:
Hex (more on this later)
Heave Ho (a rocking tug boat ride in Mutiny Bay)
Marauders Mayhem (themed tea cups in Mutiny Bay)
Battle Galleons (a splash battle ride which can get busy if the weather is warm and dry)
Flavio’s Fabulous Fandango (a twister ride in The World of David Walliams)
The Royal Carousel (a carousel set in The World of David Walliams)
Raj’s Bouncy Bottom Burp (A junior frog hopper ride also in The World of David Walliams)
Most of CBeeBies land is busy until around dinnertime when it starts to quiet down, so if you’re heading there, I’d wait until later on in the day. Notable rides here are Octonauts, Postman Pats Parcel Post, Get Set Go Treetop Adventure and In the Night Garden Magical Boat Ride (all of which can be enjoyed by anyone, not just the kids!)
All the main roller coasters will be busy during the day, though The Smiler and Wicker Man usually have the longer lines. Galactica is hit and miss as to whether that gets too busy, though it will be alone in Forbidden Valley for the 2023 season so it might see more riders, therefore longer queues! Oblivion can also get busy, but usually runs many trains and therefore gets through guests quite quickly too.
Rita and Th13teen (if not done early) can get busy, usually around the 45 minute mark and Th13teen also won’t run in any rain at all, so it might be worth riding it early if you know rain is on the way. Finally there’s Runaway Mine Train, which has quite a high capacity, but can sometimes get very lengthy queues, especially if its running more than 2 laps of the track.
One of the biggest suggestions I have for visiting Alton Towers is making sure you’re not losing time by walking long distances back and forth between areas. The app will certainly help you here as it allows you to see what rides have what queues in real time so you can head to or avoid certain areas.
The app showing live queue times (all closed as the park isn’t open currently!)
The Sky Ride is also a great transport option, so if you do start in Dark Forest, you can use it to get all the way back to Wicker Man and the Mutiny Bay area, or stop off at Forbidden Valley. The choice is yours as each day is different so its impossible to say for certain what an optimal route through the park will be every time you go.
One final thing to note is that queue lines close at the parks advertised closing time, but the rides don’t. So if you wanted to have a go on The Smiler buy have been waiting all day for a smaller queue, it might be worth waiting until last thing, joining the queue and guaranteeing a ride. For the last ride of the day, I do suggest Wicker Man or The Smiler due to their lengthy queues throughout the day and neither one should be missed if time allows!
On a side note, if you are reading this and just starting out as an avid thrill seeker, it’s worth mentioning that rides run differently depending on the time of day you ride them. They need to warm up, and a properly warmed up roller coaster will run slightly faster than one that’s taking its first circuit for the day. Wicker Man, The Smiler, Nemesis (when it reopens) and Rita are all worth a few different rides to see how they compare!
It might also be worth leaving Forbidden Valley until the end of the day as there’s a gate by Galactica’s portal that opens up straight to the car park saving you a long walk or waiting for the monorail.
Food Options
Alton Towers has plenty of different food options, ranging from takeaway hotdogs and snacks, to steaks, gourmet burgers and chicken.
We usually alternate between Burger Kitchen, which is at the back of the park by The World of David Walliams, Pizza and Pasta Buffet in Katanga Canyon and Just Chicken in X Sector. Though if you want to get as much done as possible, I would suggesting bringing your own food options and eating whilst in a queue to minimise downtime.
Last year we visited the park with a friend who has a vegan centric diet and we found that offerings were a bit thin on the ground, so it might be worth bringing your own if you have specific dietary needs. Each venue we looked at seemed to have 1 or 2 vegan/vegetarian options which might not suit everyone.
There is also Woodcutters Bar and Grill, which is aimed at healthier eating, and offers things like steaks, hunters chicken, halloumi, a good offering of non gluten meals as well as drinks too.
As I mentioned previously, it is worth bringing along your own food along if you want to get the most out of the day as you can easily lose an hour queing to buy food, then waiting for it to be made and of course eating it. If you do end up eating in the park, eat early or late as the restaurants get busy around the hours of 12 til around 2/3pm, at least from what we’ve seen!
Another thing to consider is if you are going to spend some time eating, it might be worth looking at the Rollercoaster Restaurant in Forbidden Valley (right next to Galactica). At the time I’m writing this, you can’t book for any time before 16:00 but if you’ve ridden all you want to and have worked up an appetite, then Rollercoaster Restaurant is a good stop.
It is the UKs only restaurant of its type and food is sent from the kitchens down tracks to each table. You order using a tablet and each table has a Lazy Susan to allow you to grab your food without getting up. It can be a little pricy, but it is a proper restaurant and worth trying at least once!
A quick overview of the bigger rides
If you’re just starting out as a thrillseeker, or you’re unsure of your ride tolerances, then the best starting ride would be Runaway Mine Train. It has a little force, but for the most part is quite gentle, and has great interaction between guests and the ride operators!
The next coaster up would probably be Th13teen. Though it does have a surprise element, it is best left as a secret and tried for the first time without knowing what’s coming. The ride itself is on the gentler side, but does have a few thrills too! It can’t run in the rain or even light mist as the lift hill uses drive tyres that don’t work as well when its wet.
Next on the thrill scale would be Spinball Whizzer. This is a spinning coaster so depending on your tolerance to spinning, it might be something to avoid at first. It doesn’t always spin very fast, sometimes barely spinning at all but it is a fun little ride and worth a visit! If you want to try it and have as little spinning as possible, try to ride it as a group of 4 where everyone weights about the same. The car will be evenly balanced and shouldn’t spin massively. On the other hand, if you want more spinning, try to put heaving guests on one side of the car and lighter on the other!
Wicker Man would be the next ride along as it is quite a loud and untamed wooden coaster. The theming and ride construction all add to the attraction, and the ride features a preshow to set up the story of the Beornen. If you feel like you want to start off in the middle ground, then Wicker Man is a great start as it offers good thrills and speed, lots of noise, no inversions and overall a good introduction to bigger rides.
Next up is Galactica. This is a very gentle giant and though it looks like a big and scary beast, it is quite the tame ride compared with the ones that follow! You’ll ride this one in a flying position, which sees you sitting down like a normal rollercoaster, but the seats will fold 90 degrees upwards so you’ll be looking at the ground to begin with. It is a unique feeling, especially in the UK but it will have you on your back for parts of the ride, so bare that in mind!
The next two I’d say are on equal footing depending on what you’re into/scared of. These are Rita and Oblivion. Rita is a launched coaster and manages to get from 0-62 in 2.5 seconds which is very thrilling. It’ll then navigate a series of turns before getting back to the station. It only last 55 seconds!
Rita in The Dark Forest.
Oblivion on the other hand is all about fear of heights. Though not actually the tallest rollercoaster at Alton Towers, it does still have the a formidable 180ft drop into the ground. The ride will hold you at the top giving you a chance to look straight down into the abyss before letting you free fall. Much like Rita, once you’ve done the scary bit, the ride is pretty much done so it’s a good taste of what bigger drops will feel like. If you want to avoid seeing the drop, but still want to try out the ride, ask for a back row ride as you can’t really see anything as the train doesn’t move far enough over the drop to the holding brakes.
Finally, the last two are parks signature attractions, Nemesis and The Smiler. Much like Rita and Oblivion, these two are closely matched based on what you might be into.
The Smiler is the parks world record holding inversion machine. It’ll see you turned upside down 14 times and it’s a very thrilling ride. As mentioned earlier, this one always gets longer queues so it’s worth visiting when you have a bit of time spare or as your last ride of the day. The ride did suffer a nasty accident in 2015, as it was all over the news, but since that day, it hasn’t had a single issue at all and is perfectly safe, so don’t let that put you off this record breaker!
The Smiler.
Finally there’s Nemesis. Currently this ride is closed for a major refurbishment so you’ll be unable to ride this I’m the 2023 season, but it’s worth knowing a bit about it before you go! The ride is an inverted coaster, so the track will be above you, unlike the other coasters at Alton Towers (except Galactica). The reason this one ties with The Smiler as top of the thrill chain is because of the forces the ride puts on you. It takes a lot of the elements with great speed and is also one of the very few rollercoasters from the UK to have acclaim abroad! We can’t wait until 2024 for it to reopen, and hopefully you’ll be able to join us there too!
I think I should mention some of the non rollercoaster attractions the park has too, with Hex being one of the most notable. Another ride that’s best tried without knowing what’s coming, this is a story based attraction with a ride section at the end, don’t spoil it for yourself, have a go yourself and enjoy, it’s really good fun!
The Curse At Alton Manor is new for 2023 and is a complete refresh for Duel, the parks interactive dark ride. The ride features a few jumps and scare and is quite family friendly, but may not be entirely suitable for smaller children or guests who fear the dark or don’t like jump scares. It must be tried at least once, as with Hex.
Heave Ho and Marauders Mayhem are both family rides in the Mutiny Bay section and are great for all ages as they are quite gentle and welcoming. Marauders Mayhem, being a themed tea cup ride, does allow you to manually spin your car so it can be quite forceful if you spin it a lot!
Battle Galleons! You’ll probably get wet though!
The park has 2 water rides, Battle Galleons and Congo River Rapids. Battle Galleons will get you fairly wet, where Congo River Rapids won’t so much. Though each ride does have dryers located next to their exits and have additional costs to use them. Though my advice here is to bring additional clothing if you do get soaked, and store it in a locker (or the car if you wanted to save money over saving time!)
Finally there the Retro Squad. These are a set of rides that Alton Towers brought in to help ride capacity. Currently there’s Funk n’Fly, a Super Trooper ride in Forbidden Valley, Spinjam is an Extreme model and Twistotron, a Trabant Style ride that both sit in X Sector. As for riding them, they are all run a lot slower than how they would be a funfairs so it might be better for some, and not for others!
Final few thoughts and tips
Fastrack tickets
This is a bit of a touchy subject with some folk, but I really don’t mind fast track tickets myself. The idea is that if you spend a bit extra, you can drastically shorten down the queue of a ride or multiple rides depending on the ticket you get. Each roller coaster has its own single use fast track ticket and costs £8 -£10 each.
They do also offer packages for the following:
Bronze* is £30 and gets 4 fast tracks on Hex, The Curse at Alton Manor, Spinball Whizzer or Runaway Mine train
Silver* is £50 and gets you 5 fast tracks on Wicker Man, Oblivion, Galactica, Rita, Th13teen or The Smiler
Gold* is £70 and gets you 12 fast tracks on Wicker Man, The Smiler, Galactica, Oblivion, Rita, TH13TEEN, Marauders Mayhem, Battle Galleons, Congo River Rapids, Runaway Mine Train and Spinball Whizzer, Gangsta Granny, Hex and The Curse at Alton Manor.
Platinum* is £110 and gets you on all the same rides as gold but as many times as you like during the day.
*Nemesis has since been removed from all packages and Gangsta Granny and The Curse at Alton Manor have been added.
Refillable drinks
The park offers a refillable drinks cup that costs £15 initially but drops to £8.50 if you bring back your cup and recharge it. There is also a hot drinks version too.
There is also a multi buy option that makes it cheaper the more cups you buy, which I can imagine is better for families. If you buy 2 or more, it’ll cost £14 per cup and 3+ will be £13. Not huge savings, but when a 500ml bottle of coke can cost around £2.80, these can be great value!
You can refill your drinks at any 1 of 16 machines throughout the park, these are located at the following:
Towers Street
Mutiny Bay – By the Welcome Inn opposite Wickerman
Katanga Canyon – By Congo River Rapids
The X sector – Behind Just Chicken
The Dark Forest – Next to Rita’s Photography unit
Forbidden Valley – By the Galactica Lift
Earlier I mentioned lockers and these are located at the very start of the park by the entrance and another set is located by Galactica in Forbidden Valley, some in X Sector and a final set are in Dark Forest. These are priced at
£5 for a small one per day
£10 for a large one per day
There’s also a first aid station located behind Towers Street before the skyride entrance, though this isn’t a facility I’ve ever had to use thankfully!
With that I think this mammoth guide has come to an end. I think I’ve covered everything you could possibly need to enjoy a decent day at Alton Towers! Don’t go with expectations of getting on every ride the first time around, this only happens of you’re very lucky and the park is quiet, but if you set realistic goals to ride the most important rides to you, anything over and above that is a bonus!
For context, the very first time we went to Alton Towers, we went in blind and managed Wicker Man, Nemesis, Galactica, Rita, Th13teen, Oblivion, The Smiler, Runaway Mine Train and Hex if I recall correctly. I did have a £25 fast pass which at the time got me on Nemesis, Galactica, The Smiler and Oblivion as Tracy wasn’t quite up to the big stuff just yet!
Cheat sheet for getting the most of your day
Arrive at the park gates for around 9:30
Head straight to Wicker Man or Dark Forest
Plan next stop based on queue times of next area
Wicker Man and The Smiler will be busy all day
Th13teen can’t run during the rain
Cbeebies land is quieter after 1pm
Bring your own food and eat in queues
Head to The Smiler just before queue lines close (unless it is quieter during the day)
Use the Skyride optimally, if you’re heading to Dark Forest, do The World of David Walliams next
It might be worth doing Forbidden Valley last as the park opens the Galactica gate for exiting to the car park (also the possibility of eating at the Rollercoaster Restaurant)
And there we have it. This has taken quite a while to write and I hope at least 1 person finds it useful! Feel free to reach out and contact me if you have any questions or suggestions around this guide!
Our final visit for the 2022 season was, of course, to the Alton Towers Fireworks Spectacular!
I was very excited for this display as I’d read that it was a celebration of the big 7 coasters and though they did a similar thing last year, I really enjoyed it!
The show starts off, a little prematurely I might add, with a drone display. The lights go out all across the park and just before 7pm when the fireworks where due to start, the drones began and I wasn’t ready for them!
Misty night for the Firworks!
The drone preshow was good, though leaned into the demonstration of what drones can do, rather than a display that matched up with the theme of the fireworks. for example they drew out a version of the Towers, and a rollercoaster and moving train and such, but not specific ride logos or links to anything else from the park.
They also showed a 3D cube and spiral which was great to see, it really was, but it felt like they were showing off the drones as apposed to using them to further the fireworks story.
As for the fireworks, they were much longer than Legoland’s, clocking in at around 30 minutes. They were well choreographed and timed to the music great, as Legoland’s were.
As I mentioned earlier they were a celebration of the big 7 coasters, Nemesis, Th13teen, Rita, Galactica, Oblivion, Wicker Man and The Smiler.
Each segment had its own theme to it, such as Nemesis being a bit harder and more serious, where The Smilers was upbeat and a little silly.
The star of the show was actually Oblivion as it played music that fit on with Oblivions theme and the show was just spectacular to see, especially the laser and lights.
I feel that Nemesis was done alright but could have been so much better. They also did Nemesis first and I feel it should have gone last, you know saving the best until last and all that.
I didn’t really like Rita’s section as it felt a bit out of place. I know Rita I’d supposed to be a drag racer and even had an opening featuring drag queens but I didn’t really enjoy the music featured here.
Rita should be classic 80s rock, big and bombastic, but they went with Abba and Kylie Minogue. They were remixed versions too. Shame really but it can’t all be perfect!
It was also nice to see Galactica get a mention and a decent segment too. Very predictable space themed tracks though, which leads me onto the the lack of each attractions own themes or voice lines. Rita has the ‘You must escape’ and Oblivion has ‘Don’t look down’, Galactica and The Smiler both have excellent scores and none of these were utilised which in my own opinion, was a missed opportunity.
The show finished with a quite emotional part paying homage to the Towers themselves and the music and fireworks used were very well done. The climax was of course set to In the Hall of the Mountain King as usual and I felt the final barrage of fireworks was a bit of let down. I love it when the sky is filled with lights and colour, and the finale here didn’t really do that unfortunately!
Though I’ve been critical and I might sound a little negative, it was still arguably the second best display I’ve ever seen. 2021s display was so good that I think it’ll take some topping!
Once the fireworks had finished we headed off towards Nemesis as this would be our final ride of the beast until 2024.
I feel like we missed out massively as we went on Saturday the 5th but Sunday the 6th had so much more going on around Forbidden Valley. I wish I could have been there to see that but what will be will be!
Our final ride on Nemesis was great, the queue wasn’t anything like as long as the 75 minutes advertised and the only negative was that the camera didn’t flash for our ride so we missed out on our final on ride photo. There was a lot of mist around the park after the fireworks so I assume that was causing the sensors to go amiss! The mist also caused my DSLR to fog up and meant that most of the photos I took ended up looking terrible so apologies for the image quality!
I’ve written a dedicated blog for the sending off of Nemesis 1.0 and I’m also working on a video for it too, I’ll link it here when it’s done, but you can watch the fireworks here!
We had another great day at Alton Towers and though our season is now over, I’ve got loads of stuff still to talk about to keep me busy until March next year!
Last year we visited Alton Towers for their Oktoberfest event and thoroughly enjoyed it (you can read about it here), so it was a certainty that we’d visit this year!
I’ll go into the actual event elements as I run through how our day went, but first we visited Oblivion!
Oblivion
We usually head into the park and queue for Wicker Man first as we get there early enough to be nearer the front, however we ended up losing a bit of time on the monorail so instead went to Oblivion for our first ride of the day.
There wasn’t much to say here as the ride was running decently well, shuttles were being dispatched regularly. The only thing to note was that each shuttle had its right hand most seats blocked off. I’m not sure why the outer seats were unavailable but I’ve read that it’s been that way for a while. Possibly a safety issue?
We watched the Smiler go round a bit, checked out the Just Chicken restaurant incase it sold chicken nuggets but since it was closed, we couldn’t see the full menu!
We also found out that the Coca Cola Freestyle system the park has been operating since 2020 were out of use in their entirety. We were told by two separate employees that there were no refillable drink options at all which was a little disappointing but not the end of the world!
We did find out later in the day though a sign in Forbidden Valley that said we could purchase and reuse the blue Merlin ones, but I doubt this would have worked either. A little confusion here and it could have been a little better advertised, whether it be on the website or at the park entrance, just so we knew in advance!
Rita
Next was Rita as the queue was short. Same ride as it’s always been! I enjoy it, but I understand some people’s issues with the ride and its elements. We would have ridden Th13teen at this point too but it was closed, likely due to their being a light morning dew, but there could have been other issues too!
We didn’t really bother with Roller Disco. The music it plays is excellent but the attraction is quite lacking, just a one and done for me!
Nemesis
Our next stop was the Skyride as it takes you from Dark Forest to Forbidden Valley and our next stop, Nemesis!
I am quite proud of this one!
I wanted to get a couple of rides in on this classic staple as it’ll be unavailable next year due to the retrack work taking place. The ride was just as thrilling as ever and wasn’t too shaky either! I’ve ridden Nemesis Inferno a lot since I last went on the original so it was much easier to compare and contrast the two again. Nemesis is still top!
Wicker Man
Another Skyride trip back to Towers Street now, something I don’t believe I’ve ever actually done and then onto Wicker Man.
I’ve got plans to go into great detail about my feelings towards Wicker Man, as well as the other UK wooden roller coasters so I’ll be brief here. The more I ride Wicker Man, the more I enjoy it! I’ve even decided that I think Megafobia, though a good ride, isn’t actually as good as Wicker Man is. More on that coming soon though!
We did have a bit longer than usual to wait as there was a very minor breakdown whilst queueing but it only added about 15 minutes or so on. Someone apparently dropped something onto the track, not sure if that’s true or not but it was quite quick to resume the ritual!
Oktoberfest part 1
Once we’d had our ride on Wicker Man, we headed down to the lawns for some dinner and to sample the Oktoberfest delights. We ended up having chicken and chips from a vendor and a pint of Spaten beer. The chicken and chips were alright, nothing spectacular but filled a hole. As for Spaten beer? I really enjoy it!
I’m far from a beer connoisseur but needless to say, I don’t often enjoy lager, but Spaten is quite tasty and isn’t as gassy as others are! I enjoyed it last year and once again this year too.
While we ate our dinner, there was one of the 8 different shows on, which happened to be The Oktoberfest Sing – Along show followed by the LUNAFALL Party Band. The Sing Along was excellent, enjoyable to watch and felt really in keeping with Oktoberfest! LUNAFALL weren’t really my thing personally. They didn’t really fit and weren’t quite as exciting as some of the other acts that we saw. They weren’t bad at all, just not as good as others!
As for the lawns, they were covered in long tables so there was plenty of space for everyone to sit, as well as various different food and drink stalls, selling a lot of Oktoberfest staples such as German sausages, pretzels, marshmallows for toasting, the afformentioned chicken and chips and of course, beer!
Later on we’ll revisit the lawns after the rides closed at 7pm, but for now, we finished our food and headed into Katanga Canyon
Katanga Canyon
After dinner we had a wander into Katanga Canyon and went for a ride on Congo River Rapids. We’d usually get on the Runaway Mine Train, but queues were 45 minutes for a lot of the day and we felt there were better uses of our time here.
As for Congo River Rapids, it’s certainly better than Rumba Rapids at Thorpe Park, and arguably on par with Adventure Cove River Rapids at Drayton Manor. Though Drayton’s attraction is much better themed, Alton’s feels a little bit more, well, rapid. The UK really needs a decent rapids ride, one that can get you wet in summer and is enjoyable but drier in the winter.
Duel and Nemesis again
Since we didn’t have a go on the Runaway Mine Train, we headed off back towards Nemesis via Duel. We knew in advance that Duel was closed as it’s due to undertake extensive work to change the attraction and improve it, but we wanted to see the site just the same.
It’s nice to see that they haven’t just closed the ride and left it at that. Instead they’ve put up some posters about the ride area saying the property has been repossessed. This is quite clever as it’s both repossession, as in taken back by the bank, or repossessed as in new ghosts and ghouls have moved in…Could that allude to a Ghostbusters theme in future? I personally hope not, but we’ll have to see what the future holds!
After visiting Duel, we carried on to Forbidden Valley for another ride on Nemesis as mentioned earlier! Another great ride here, operations were even better as we hardly waited this time around.
Galactica
Next up was a lucky ride on Galactica. We’d arrived by the entrance to see what the queue time would be and found it was closed, with a queue of around 40 odd people, so we waited and said that if after 15 minutes we hadn’t heard anything then we’d move on.
We were literally in queue for all of 2 minutes when the gates were reopened and we headed down the queue line for a ride on this B&M Flying coaster.
The ride itself was the standard Galactica, no real sense of urgency as the train navigated the run, though I did get quite a bit of force from the ‘on your back’ section which wasn’t the most pleasant, but I put that down to having ridden Nemesis literally right before.
Th13teen & David Walliams World
After Galactica, we got on the Skyride and went over to see what Th13eens queue was doing and found a 15 minute queue so headed in.
Like Wicker Man, I’m finding the more I ride Th13teen, the more I like it. It’s not the most thrilling, and it was very over hyped before its release, but I think its marketing misdeeds have long been forgotten, leaving a great family ride.
We then headed into The World of David Walliams to see what was going on here. We’d expected a few changes here with the passing of her majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Though not much had changed, the area did seem a little eerie. There were no guards entertaining folk and Raj was absent from the shop too. There was a barrier around the photo opportunity where you could pretend to be the Queen, but other than that the area was untouched.
Gangsta Granny was running the same as before with no scenes altered or omitted, and though I count myself as joining in on the mourning of The Queens passing, I feel that not changing the attraction is the right thing to do. Just my personal opinion and not meant to offend of course!
Spinball Whizzer
After we’d finished on Gangsta Granny, time was starting to run short with rides closing at 7pm. We had the choice of another ride on Rita, or go for a spin on Spinball Whizzer, and opted for the latter.
The queue was showing as 45 minutes, but felt more like 30. The queue lines are now completely void of the pinball games and the area is starting to feel a little forgotten in the grand scheme of things, however the score still plays at least!
Our ride was one of the better ones in memory, giving a good amount of spin without going too far and making either of us dizzy! Plenty of force in the helixes and a genuinely good laugh here! A great way to finish our rides for the day.
Oktoberfest part 2
Once rides had closed, we headed back down to the lawns to watch some more of the Oktoberfest entertainment. By the time we got sat down, The Lebhaft Tanzen (translates to lively dancing) show was already in full swing. Featuring a stage full of dancers dressed in Bavarian costumes dancing along to plenty of Oktoberfest themed music, the show was another great one!
The real stars of the show though were definitely The Oompah Party Band who played Oompah versions of club classic tracks, such as Alice Deejay, Vengaboys and some of Rihanna’s tracks too.
The crowd were having a great time, the band were really hyping everyone up, and if health and safety had allowed it, I’m sure the tables would have been full of revellers too!
One of the really great things about this event, and something from last years too, is that despite the alcohol theme to Oktoberfest, there wasn’t any nastiness or folk going a little too far with things. I’m sure security would have stepped in should it have occurred, and I did see a small group approached by security but I didn’t see anything come of it so I gather it was a little telling off!
It would be nice to see the event have an ‘after hours’ part that is purely for adults where it gets a little bit more lively but the lack of this doesn’t take away from the event. It is marketed as a family friendly festival anyway so I wouldn’t like to see any changes that might effect this!
Summary
We’ve so far done Festival of Thrills, and Thorpe Parks’ Mardi Gras and Carnival events, and though all have been good, Oktoberfest was a step above the others!
I think I’d like to see how Thorpe Park do their event next year to see if Alton Towers simply do it better, or whether Thorpe Parks one differs in any way.
The whole day was great from start to finish, the rides were running well and the festivities seemed to get better as the day went on! I hope that we get a similar sort of atmosphere at Scarefest, which is our next visit to Alton Towers, before the highly anticipated Fireworks event! Looking forward to more excellent events at Towers this year!
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